As Spring Training is already underway and the regular season rapidly approaches, I know all Yankees fans have the same question. Yes, they have made improvements to their 100 win 2018 squad, but have they done enough to catch the Sox? Like it or not, the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry is good for baseball. Let’s take a look to see how the Yankees and Sox matchup at each position, starting with the overall pitching staff.
Starting Pitching:
One of the biggest misconceptions about the Yankees this year is that they had a weak starting staff. That simply isn’t true. Luis Severino was bad in the second half of last year, no way around that, but you can’t simply ignore the Cy Young first half that he had. James Paxton was the ace of a Mariners team that won 90 games. Mashario Tanaka has consistently been an above average pitcher since coming over from Japan. JA Happ is aging like a fine wine and CC Sabathia might be the best fifth starter in baseball (seriously, look it up). For the Sox, it all comes down to the health of Chris Sale’s shoulder. We know what he is when he is healthy, but watching Sale in the second half and the postseason, it was clear that he wasn’t. If Sale is healthy, Price can slot into the number 2 spot with Porcello behind. Price had a brilliant 2018 postseason and Sox fans are hoping that translates to 2019. Porcello, coming off his Cy Young in 2016, has been comfortably average since then. Another wildcard is Nathan Eovaldi. The bionic man, with two Tommy John surgeries will be looking to continue his historic 2018 postseason with a full 2019. I’m not buying it; Eovaldi is constantly hurt and has only started over 30 games once. Eduardo Rodriguez rounds out the Sox staff. For me, the staff’s come down to whether we see first half Luis Severino and second half Sale; if so, I give the edge to the Yankees, but until then, I believe in Sale turning it around more than I believe in Sevy.
Edge: Red Sox.
Bullpen:
Well, the Yankees have 5 relievers who could be top 20 in baseball and the Sox have 0. All that could change before Opening Day, but until then, the easiest of them all.
Edge: Yankees
So far, its Yankees 1 and Red Sox 1. Let’s see how the two stack up once we breakdown the infield positions next.
