We’ve had so much success in comparing the lineup for the New York Yankees to both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays that I decided to compare the Bronx Bombers to the rest of the American League East as well. That continues this afternoon with a comparison of the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays struggled to put runs on the board in 2015 and relied heavily on their pitching, led by Chris Archer and Nathan Karns. Karns is gone and Brad Miller is in, will that improve the Rays offense and put to bed their offensive woes that kept them in fourth place in the AL East in 2015? Not likely but let’s take a look anyway.
Catcher
Brian McCann/ Rene Rivera
First Base
Mark Teixeira/ James Loney
Second Base
Robert Refsnyder/ Logan Forsythe
Third Base
Chase Headley/ Evan Longoria
Shortstop
Didi Gregorius/ Brad Miller
Left Field
Brett Gardner/ Desmond Jennings
Center Field
Jacoby Ellsbury/ Kevin Kiermaier
Right Field
Carlos Beltran/ Steven Souza Jr.
Designated Hitter
Alex Rodriguez/ Logan Morrison
Looking at the final tally I have the New York Yankees
“winning” six spots out of the nine. Remember, bolded player wins. The Rays
offense stunk up the joint for much of the 2015 season but the team stuck
around in the second Wild Card chase despite it all. The Rays are now trading
from a position of power, prospects and pitching, in hopes of improving the
offense a bit. As it stands right now, and again we will do another one of
these before the 2016 season begins after the free agency dust begins to settle,
the Rays offense is only marginally better than it was in 2015. The pitching,
in my opinion, took a step back both in the rotation and the bullpen. Alex Cobb
will be back and Matt Moore should be better but that means very little when
you’re losing games 1-0 and 2-1. As it stands today I see a lot of that
happening and a lot of, well no probably not a lot of but a few, unhappy fans
inside Tropicana Field this season.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)