Off-Season Moves On Balance
By Kevin Horn
It's been a month into our MLB season and it's time to take a look at who made the best moves this off-season. Going into the season, it was greatly believed that the Blue Jays and the Red Sox had done the most to improve themselves. The Sox, acquiring players through trades instead of free agency, added Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Mark Loretta, Alex Gonzalez, Coco Crisp and Wily Mo Pena to play various roles on their squad. Lowell, Crisp and Pena have all made an impact with their bats (although Pena has been ... 'generous' in the outfield), while Loretta and Gonzalez have shored up middle infield defense, an area the Red Sox struggled with last year. Josh Beckett pitched fantastically at the start of the season, but has since come back to earth with a couple of weaker starts.
The Yankees were surprisingly quiet this off-season, only adding one high-profile free agent all Red Sox fans will be familiar with. Johnny Damon's nickname in New England went from "Jesus" to "Judas" this off-season, as he 'took the money and ran', to the New York Yankees. Damon has had a productive season to say the least, but the Yankees have struggled in the pitching department and unless they get another starter pitching well not named Mussina, one wonders how easily their success will be sustained.
Without a doubt the team in the East with the most money to burn was Toronto. GM J.P. Ricciardi spent like a kid in a candy store, using a combination of trades and signings to bring in: closer B.J. Ryan, starter A.J. Burnett, first baseman Lyle Overbay, third baseman Troy Glaus and catcher Bengie Molina. These five players generated more buzz and enthusiasm than the Blue Jays have seen since the World Series years. So far, so good. Only Burnett, due to his trick elbow, has failed to live up to expectations. Glaus has shown great power, Overbay's great clutch hitting, and Molina's strong handling of the young pitching staff. Ryan has been superlative, owning an ERA of 0.00 and only allowing 3 hits over the better part of 13 innings.
Perhaps I retract my earlier statement that we can tell the off-season winners after a month. Right now it appears the big 3 in the East are all at very similar levels. The Red Sox have added a great supporting class for their big two, and the Blue Jays have sprinkled talent on every corner of the diamond, virtually eliminating a formerly weak line-up. The Yankees kept it simple and have so far been rewarded with Damon's good play and a potent offensive line-up. For now, let's call it even.
The race in the East is tighter than Don Zimmer's waistline, with the Sox and Yankees sharing the number one spot again, seemingly destined to continue this arrangement for eternity. The Blue Jays sit a game and a half back, with the Orioles and Devil Rays floundering below .500 once again. For the first time in a long time though, the AL East appears to be the weak sister division of the American League. With the White Sox, Tigers and Indians all playing exceptional baseball in the Central, as well as the Rangers and A's playing well in the West, the East is not retaining it's stranglehold on the headlines. Most of this has to do with the big three in the East beating up on each other, the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays having seen each other a lot in this early season. It shows how close all of these teams are together with nobody really leaping away from the pack. Who knows what the next few weeks of play will bring us, as these three teams get a break from one another and hope to gain some wins against some other competition. With just 6 games between the Yankees and Red Sox over the next month, as well as 3 between the Jays and Sox, it's time for one time to pull away. Who that might be of course, is anybody's guess.
