Thankfully got some preview magazines arriving tomorrow in the mail, the countdown begins! Anyone care to share what's the consensus back home? I'd imagine most people picking Boston to repeat with the Wild Card fought for between us and Dee-troit...
Also, does anyone remember the Bill Mazeroski Yearly Preview that came out every year? When did they stop publishing that, was always one of my favorite guides..

http://tinyurl.com/yqeabp

Sorta feels like Opening Day ST style for me today. Finally getting to see some live game action. Joba and Kennedy to boot!

I'll have the game on at my desk, but job demands and deadlines will surely distract. Counting on the live blog n' banter to keep me in the game.

Let's go Joba! Hit the mitt, kid.

But honestly, here are the rotations:

1. Wang to Beckett
2. Pettitte to Dice-K
3. Moose to Wakefield

Sure, the Sox get the edge at #1. But, conservatively, I can't see how #2 and #3 aren't pushes. Dice-K might get better, but I don't know how a sophomore gets the benefit of the doubt over Pettitte. And while Moose sucks, Wakefield is no guarantee either.

After that, don't the Yanks have the edge at the back of the rotations? Both in projected strength and in the limited performances so far (Hughes, Joba, IPK vs. Lester and Buchholz).

Now all that means the rotations are very, very close, especially with Schilling likely toast. But the Yanks scored 100 more runs last year and both lineups are almost identical to 2007. Furthermore, while the Sox pitching staff is mostly unchanged, apart from losing Schilling, the Yanks would be hard-pressed not to upgrade from:

27 GS of Moose at 87 ERA+
12 GS of Igawa at 72 ERA+
6 GS of Clippard at 71 ERA+
6 GS of DeSalvo at 72 ERA+

That's 51 craptastic starts! I should damn well hope those top two aren't give half as much of an opportunity to suck as bad.

And it seems one of the kids could approximate Rocketjuice of 17 GS at 107 ERA+ for 18 million less.

The only real advantage the Sox would seem to have is in the bullpen. But even there, results may appear closer than they are. Maybe that's why Baseball Prospectus is calling the Yanks the favorites?

If you recall, half the Yankee lineup tanked in April and May, and the rotation and bullpen were a mess. Now, perhaps things always even out, but if the Yankees can get off to a better start, and the infusion of Joba/Phil/IPK can make up for the dregs that the Yankees sent to the mound in the first two months of April/May, the Yankees will have the inside track on the division.

8 I was thinking along those lines as well, but I imagine the other side would point to Manny and Papi (at least as far as power) as having below their average years. But the point remains - the Sox had no major injuries last year. The health of just Schilling puts a big crimp in their plans. If one more pitcher goes down for any length of time then their 2008 starts to look like our 2005, but they have less room for error with their offense.

Manny is perhaps a good bet to improve on offense, but I think the more disturbing trend for Boston is that he has only played 130 games in each of the past two seasons.

Also bear in mind, if things go as planned this year will likely be our worst year in the near future. With players like Ajax, Montero, Tabata, Bettances, Brackman, Melancon, Sanchez....etc. all in the pipeline I think this team is only going to get better. A lot better.

13 Right on both counts. I was just trying to argue the other side. There's something to be said for the fact that Manny and Papi "only" produced 55 HR and 205 RBI's.

It will be interesting to see what playing time LaRoche gets in LA this year.

That's why we play the season.

If the Dodgers make that deal, the honeymoon could end quickly for Joe.

Seriously can anyone name one rookie, besides Jeter (and yeah, that was because of Tony Fernandez and I think it being Torre's first year), that started the year as a starter under Torre?

For the life of me, I can't.

Cano came up in late May.
Wang got his first start at the end of April.
Melky wasn't the starter last year.
Bubba Crosby and Andy Phillips were on the bench for multiple seasons.
We all know he never developed one relief pitcher.

Is there anyone? In eleven seasons not one rookie starter? Really?

And as Mendoza (unlike Mo) did not make his debut until 1996 - and started 11 of 12 games his first year to boot! - you can credit Torre with him as well, and as a relief pitcher.

You can probably count Brian Boehringer, and Mike Buddie, and Randy Choate as relievers as well. Its up to you, if you want to call them successes or not. =)

I always doubted Torre's abilities to work a rookie hitter in myself, but, in looking over the rosters, the truth is, he never really had many opportunities to. And I don't think you can fairly hold Melky against him. Going into '06, Melky had hit .248/.309/.366 in AAA at the end of '05 - numbers that scream "needs more time at AAA". I don't recall any of us pining for Melky going into '06. It was only when he destroyed AAA pitching at the start of '06 that he earned his call-up. And Melky played almost fulltime.

Torre's real problem with the Yanks was, especially the last couple years, when an established regular got hurt, he turned to crappy vets, instead of rookies with some potential.

Ledee though wasn't really a starter. True, he started the opener but then sat on and off all season.

I'm a bit more hesitant to call it for the relief pitchers. They were always buried then had to earn their keep. There was never a starting pitcher in the rotation from the beginning of the year?

I disagree on him not having chances though. I count a bunch of borderline guys that never really got a shot with the Yanks because Torre wouldn't give them a fair shake - from Ledee and Juan Rivera to Andy Phillips and Bubba Crosby to Josh Phelps and Carlos Pena.

With what's happening in LA, I have to think Torre deserves more, if not most of the blame, for Womack, Minky, Long, Cairo etc because those types are barely in the running this year over the youngsters (Duncan, Betemit, and all the young starters). That tells me it was the manager more than the GM.

I agree with that last sentence though.