Yanks v Sox, rivalry renewed

[Nick]

All kidding aside, big kudos to Yankees for being restrained financially over the last few years.

They have only one bad contract and that belongs to Jacoby Ellsbury. He has 3 years left at $22M per.

Their luxury tax payroll is only $176M, $21M below the threashhold.

CC has a one year deal at $10M. His payroll comes off the books.

Brett Gardner has a $13M deal for 2018 with $2M club buyout for 2019.

David Robertson is in his last year of his contract at $11.5M.


Theoretically that's $45M coming off the books. Obviously Yankees will need replacements to fill the void.

That adds up to $75M of war chest for 2019 free agents (inlcudes $9M bump in luxury tax threashhol), $95M if they want to pay the 12% surtax.

But the beauty of it all for Yankee fans is that Gary Sanders, Luis Severino and Aaron Judge all have 5 years of team control (along with Stanton).

It will be a dog fight next few years in AL East.

ps Machado and Harper would slide in nicely.

[harmony]

Will the AL East represent the American League in the World Series for only the second time in nine seasons?

Could happen.

[Kimmi]

Will the AL East represent the American League in the World Series for only the second time in nine seasons?

Could happen.

Could happen, but as of now, the Astros remain the team to beat.

[dgalehouse]

Will the AL East represent the American League in the World Series for only the second time in nine seasons?

Could happen.

Will the Seattle Mariners represent the A.L. in the World Series for the first time ever ? Could happen. But I doubt it.

[moonslav59]

The AL East is back to being the toughest division in MLB... IMO.

[Spudboy]

The AL East is back to being the toughest division in MLB... IMO.

I like this kind of talk Moon. I consider a strong AL East to be a normal state.

I doubt that the Jays, Os, and Rays will compete for a playoff spot but good luck to any team trying to beat them routinely.

[iortiz]

The AL East is back to being the toughest division in MLB... IMO.

Totally agreed.

[harmony]

The AL East is back to being the toughest division in MLB... IMO.

For what it's worth, FanGraphs projects these combined WAR totals for each division:

AL East: 200.0
AL Central: 146.5
AL West: 192.2

NL East: 157.3
NL Central: 185.9
NL West: 181.9

https://www.fangraphs.com/depthchart...n=ALL&teamid=3

Perhaps this is the year that the AL East will live up to the annual refrain that it's the toughest division in baseball.

Or not.

[harmony]

Will the Seattle Mariners represent the A.L. in the World Series for the first time ever ? Could happen. But I doubt it.

I doubt it as well.

[fxkatt]

Advantage Yanks goes to homer power: Judge, Stanton, Sanchez, Bird, Hicks, and Gregorius.

Yanks x factors: Severino and Montgomery. I'm guessing they'll pitch beyond expectatations.

Red Sox advantage could be a barrage of doubles--and maybe, just maybe the return to a high team batting average as in the past (no reason to doubt the possibility of a .283 team average, although first pitch swinging will undermine this)

[jacksonianmarch]

The sox advantage is that their starting pitching, if it reaches its potential, could be scary. Sale and vintage Price would be sick. The question is whether vintage Price still exists

[baseball jones]

Stanton isn't playing in the N.L. basement anymore....he won't win anymore mvp's here.i think he's the one in for a surprise this year.

judge has holes and there gigantic.

with a new manager and his new crew i dont fear your homerun hitters.except when playing them at yankee little league park.lol

but yes its nice to have rivalry back.its going to make for some great baseball

[S5Dewey]

The AL East is back to being the toughest division in MLB... IMO.

I was talking with a Yankees fan today and we agreed that if the Sox and Yankees were playing in different divisions they'd both have a legitimate shot at 100 wins.

[A Red Sox fan named Hugh]

The sox advantage is that their starting pitching, if it reaches its potential, could be scary. Sale and vintage Price would be sick. The question is whether vintage Price still exists

I'm hoping David Price has a bounce back year, I think he's a strong candidate to do so. Sale + Price at the top of the rotation is going to be a pretty lethal 1 2 punch.

[Bellhorn04]

I was talking with a Yankees fan today and we agreed that if the Sox and Yankees were playing in different divisions they'd both have a legitimate shot at 100 wins.

Although in theory we should be able to clean up against the other 3 teams in the division.