Comparing the Yankees & Orioles Lineups

The Baltimore Orioles may have been the biggest underachieving team in the entire American League in 2015. Many had the defending American League East champions not only winning the division again in 2015 but many had the team making a deep run into the postseason despite the loss of Nelson Cruz at the DH position. Chris Davis bounced back in a big way and Manny Machado had a relatively healthy and productive season while Adam Jones battled injuries for much of the second half. Matt Wieters though did not bounce back from his Tommy John surgery the way the team had hoped and JJ Hardy didn’t really either. The injuries piled up and the underperformance did as well leaving Baltimore in third place in the division and on the outside looking in at the postseason. Baltimore was left looking up at the Yankees and left watching the Yankees play for the American League Wild Card. Now Davis is gone, Wei-Yin Chen is too and a slew of others but Wieters is back on a qualifying offer, will he and the core in Baltimore be enough to catch the Yankees and the mighty Toronto Blue Jays in 2016? Well it all starts with the offense…

Catcher

Brian McCann/ Matt Wieters

First Base

Mark Teixeira/ Ryan Flaherty

Second Base

Robert Refsnyder/ Jonathan Schoop

Third Base

Chase Headley/ Manny Machado

Shortstop

Didi Gregorius/ JJ Hardy

Left Field

Brett Gardner/ Nolan Reimold

Center Field

Jacoby Ellsbury/ Adam Jones

Right Field

Carlos Beltran/ Junior Lake

Designated Hitter

Alex Rodriguez/ Mark Trumbo

Looking at the final tally I have the New York Yankees “winning” six spots out of the nine. Remember, bolded player wins. Baltimore is going to miss Chris Davis and his home run power more than they think they will in my opinion. I can see the Orioles adding a bat via free agency, maybe even a Justin Upton or a Jason Heyward to be honest, but as it stands today this offense needs a lot of help. Big names are gone but so are the role players like Steve Pearce that are not mentioned nearly enough but are maybe just as important to the team as the Davis’s and Chen’s. Baltimore has some work to do and Dan Duquette is likely to put in that work but as it stands today the Yankees lineup, again in my opinion, is far superior to Baltimore’s at many key positions. 

Comparing the Yankees & Rays Lineups

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. 

Comparing the Yankees & Red Sox Lineups

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox rivalry is one of the most storied and at times hated rivalries in all of North American sports. While the rivalry has taken a back seat in recent years these two teams are always a high-and-tight fastball away or two good teams away from rekindling the flame. That season could come in 2016 as the Red Sox look to rebuild and retool in hopes of getting back to the playoffs and out of the cellar of the American League East Division. We will do a run of these lineup comparisons now, as they stand, today and we will have to do another the closer we get to the regular season. A trade in Boston is coming, you don’t give former Yankees outfielder Chris Young a multi-year deal if you’re not about to trade one of your talented outfielders, and that trade may change the entire landscape of the AL East. 

Catcher

Brian McCann/ Ryan Hanigan

First Base

Mark Teixeira/ Hanley Ramirez

Second Base

Robert Refsnyder/ Dustin Pedroia

Third Base

Chase Headley/ Pablo Sandoval

*could be a push. Homer in me makes me go Headley

Shortstop

Didi Gregorius/ Xander Bogaerts

Left Field

Brett Gardner/ Rusney Castillo

Center Field

Jacoby Ellsbury/ Jackie Bradley Jr.

Right Field

Carlos Beltran/ Mookie Betts

Designated Hitter

Alex Rodriguez/ David Ortiz

Looking at the final tally I have the New York Yankees “winning” five spots out of the nine. Remember, bolded player wins. I think we all thought the Yankees would have the advantage in the lineup department over the Red Sox, especially now, but I think we all know a lot of change is coming to Bean Town. With Dave Dombrowski at the helm and a plethora of prospects for him to trade for established talent I don’t expect the Red Sox to stay down long, especially in David Ortiz’s last season. I can see the Red Sox going all in this season with their young core and established farm system. This is not good news for the New York Yankees so enjoy the “victory” while you still can.

Also it’s worth mentioning that the Boston Red Sox had one of the worst records in the American League in 2015. They finished in last place in the AL East Division and were a whopping 15 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place. I’ve already shown why I think the Yankees have a better offensive player in six or seven of the nine positions over Toronto but have  New York winning less positional battles here. This goes to show you that it is a team sport, not a sport for individuals, and it all comes down to actually putting in the work and getting the job done. Winning on paper is fun, winning in real life is so much better. This is the perfect example, to answer a question I received on the Toronto vs. New York lineup comparison, of how the Blue Jays can outscore the Yankees by over 120 runs and lead the league in offense and still “lose” the head-to-head battles.