McCarthy Faces Easier Competition In The AL East

For the longest time when a team added a pitcher from the National League, especially the NL West, you added at least a run to their ERA to try and predict his stats in New York. That may no longer be the case with a very top heavy NL West with the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers and a mediocre at best American League East. Could McCarthy and his 2.89 xFIP actually get better in the rest of the statistical departments with a move to New York and Yankee Stadium? In a word, yes!

The most commonly used stat for a team is run differential. The NL West has scored a combined 1,771 runs and allowed 1,846 runs for a -75 run differential. The Giants and the Dodgers have a +56 and +26 run differential respectively to lead the division while McCarthy's old team, the Diamondbacks, have a -74 differential.

The AL East has combined to score 1,799 runs with a designated hitter and allowed 1,859 runs for a run differential of -60. The run differential for the first place Baltimore Orioles is only +22 while the Toronto Blue Jays trail in second place with a +28 differential.

When you consider that there is more parity in the AL East and less dominant teams in the American League other than the Oakland Athletics, who we are done facing this season, McCarthy absolutely can improve in the AL East this season. Even if he sticks with his first half numbers he is still an upgrade over Vidal Nuno and a marginal upgrade is still an upgrade.