BOSTON vs. NEW YORK '08

[JerseySoxFan19]

alright the season's almost here and everyone but a fly knows that's it's gonna be Boston or NY at the top of the AL east this year so what are our predictiions for 2008?

[SwissRedSoxFan]

huh? Boston is clearly the favorite in the AL east...

NY has three SP without a full season of MLBexperience...NYY will aim the wildcard.

[JerseySoxFan19]

alright let's change this up a bit, i just thought of this idea. keep in mind i'm just screwing around and want to see where this heads when i say this. let's say we are tied for first and are playing a tiebreaker i want you guys to create the scenarios in a kinda what-if scenario. you write for lack of a better word a script for that tiebreaker. i want the line-ups and starting pitchers and an inning for inning detail. i think it'd be fun to not really predict but script a tiebreaker between New York and Boston. i know most of you are gonna pick the sox to win so if we actually had a tiebreaker how do you think it would happen?

[ChrisLDuncan]

huh? Boston is clearly the favorite in the AL east...

NY has three SP without a full season of MLBexperience...NYY will aim the wildcard.

Not so fast, Schilling may not pitch this season. Which means that Boston's rotation would look like:

Beckett
Matsuzaka
Lester
Buchholz
Wakefield/Tavarez

So Boston will have two starters with out a full year of MLB expierence, to start the season. If Wakefield and Tavarez are ineffective, it is likely that they will give Bowden, Masterson, or Hagadone a callup.

Clearly the favorite? Yeah, that's because they finished ten games up in the division. Also considering that they may lose Schilling for the season, I don't know about "clearly" Favorites, probably, "clear" favorites? I'm not so sure.

[SwissRedSoxFan]

i think they will get a free agent sp for one year. hagadone will not pitch in the bigs next year. no chance at all. he has a half season of proffessional baseball under his belt. there are some other young pitchers with a callup chance. such as hansack, masterson or johnson.

[Babe-Rod"3"]

I agree!! 2 game lead and all of the sudden the red sox own the AL east. C'mon!!

[ChrisLDuncan]

i think they will get a free agent sp for one year. hagadone will not pitch in the bigs next year. no chance at all. he has a half season of proffessional baseball under his belt. there are some other young pitchers with a callup chance. such as hansack, masterson or johnson.

Hagadone spent sometime in college, and it looks like he was only at U-Dub for three years, I thought he was there for four. My apologies, he's not getting the call up. Looks like the call will go to Materson.

[JerseySoxFan19]

it'd be nice if we didn't go and trade gabbard, we coulda thrown him in the mix

[ChrisLDuncan]

I agree!! 2 game lead and all of the sudden the red sox own the AL east. C'mon!!

Well they are still the favorites, but losing Schilling hurts, alot. Buchholz's innings should be capped at 170 if the organization is smart. However, with the loss of Schilling and no one really to replace the production, they may be tempted to push him past 200, which may cause cataclysmic damage to his arm. The free agent pool left isn't anything special, realistically they should just stay pat, and give the innings to Masterson if anything. I'm not quite sure as to what they are expecting from Lester, or how many innings they expect him to pitch, a conservative estimate would be:

160 innings, 120 Ks, 85 walks. 4.3 ERA, nothing special.

They'll have to count on Beckett and Matsuzaka to rack up some innings inorder to reduce the workload on the bullpen, as their 3-5 guys really aren't your typical innings eater horses. They'll likely win the AL East, but it won't be by much.

[Westlake]

Chris, earlier you said you thought Schilling was going to be bad this season. Now missing him is going to hurt a lot?

[ChrisLDuncan]

Chris, earlier you said you thought Schilling was going to be bad this season. Now missing him is going to hurt a lot?

He'd give the team innings, about averageish. Even 100 or so innings with an ERA+ around 95-105 would still help out. The team wouldn't be pressed to push Buchholz to go over his innings cap. When did I say that Schilling was going to be bad? If it was after the news about his right shoulder tendon, that's a different case.

[Westlake]

He'd give the team innings, about averageish. Even 100 or so innings with an ERA+ around 95-105 would still help out. The team wouldn't be pressed to push Buchholz to go over his innings cap. When did I say that Schilling was going to be bad? If it was after the news about his right shoulder tendon, that's a different case.

No, it was before that. You talked about his age and how you though he wasn't going to be very effective anymore.

Anyway, of course it hurts the team. We'll see how the rotation holds up.

[ChrisLDuncan]

I'm also prone to hyperbole (if you didn't notice), so bad may mean average or not what he did last season.

[ChrisLDuncan]

Anyway, of course it hurts the team. We'll see how the rotation holds up.

They should be fine, that is if they are willing to give some innings to Masterson. I've seen rumors of a Blanton trade, but I highly doubt that.

[Babe-Rod"3"]

Well they are still the favorites, but losing Schilling hurts, alot. Buchholz's innings should be capped at 170 if the organization is smart. However, with the loss of Schilling and no one really to replace the production, they may be tempted to push him past 200, which may cause cataclysmic damage to his arm. The free agent pool left isn't anything special, realistically they should just stay pat, and give the innings to Masterson if anything. I'm not quite sure as to what they are expecting from Lester, or how many innings they expect him to pitch, a conservative estimate would be:

160 innings, 120 Ks, 85 walks. 4.3 ERA, nothing special.

They'll have to count on Beckett and Matsuzaka to rack up some innings inorder to reduce the workload on the bullpen, as their 3-5 guys really aren't your typical innings eater horses. They'll likely win the AL East, but it won't be by much.

I'm not taking anything away from the red sox,they are the defending champs, so they're technically the team to beat.But they, like the Yankees,are going into this season with pretty much the same teams. So its a battle of the young talent, which seems pretty even right now.Well I guess my biggest point is, just give the Yanks their respective credit. Let's not forget who dominated the AL East for the last decade, be it by 1 game or by 10.