December 05, 2008
Rotation, Rotation, Rotation
Peter Abraham discusses why the Yankees should concentrate on pitching. It's based on presentations by students of Vince Gennaro, a wise business analyst.
I don't necessarily buy it. Teams that are extreme at one end of the offense/defense scale only need to be okay at the other to make the playoffs. The years the Red Sox won in the late 1980s early 1990s, they posted the best offense in the AL with a team ERA in the middle of the league. Is it really that difficult to trot out a rotation with a 4.50 ERA? If a team scores 6 runs per game and allows 4.7 runs per game, that should work out to around 100 wins. If New York signs Mark and Manny, brings Pettitte back, and gets Hughes and Kennedy to post ERAs under 5.00, I think it's a pretty good team.
In '04 and '07 Boston led the AL in pitching and won the WS - those are the only times since God knows when they've led the league in pitching. There's no sliding by in the AL East.
most of those Red Sox teams got swept out of the playoffs too. New York only seems satisfied if they at least make the World Series and they have decided pitching is the way to do that.
If they don't change their offense though, it could be a big issue. Their offense wasn't good last year and needs to improve.