I think I already explained this series of posts but I'll do it again because it was a while back. Every year I do a preseason comparison of the top teams in the AL East position by position and a final post at the end to sum it up. While I included the Rays last year, they finished so far behind the Yankees I don't think their's really much of a reason to include them. Not that they can't be a wild card competitor, I just don't think they have what it takes to win the division.
Anyway, it tends to be a long series of posts and I've ran out of time in the past, which is why I'm starting in January. Obviously, some positions remain unsettled. Left field could still change for the Yankees, Boston could conceivably pull off an Adrian Gonzalez trade that would shake up both their third and first base situations, and the back of the rotation, bullpen, and bench roles will remain unsettled until the end of Spring Training. So, those will be pushed back until the last possible moment. Normally I adress the backups in a separate section devoted to the bench. However, because of the amount of starts that backup catchers typically get I'll include them in this post.
Its been pretty popular in the past and I appreciate your feedback on whether or not I got it right on which team is stronger at each position. Enjoy. :)
Yankees- Jorge Posada/Fransisco Cervelli- Every year we talk about how little time Jorge Posada really has left behind the plate. However, by all accounts he had a succesful 2009. It would have been nice to see him play more than 111 games but he remains one of the top offensive catchers in all of baseball. He hit .285/.363/.522. The only catcher in baseball with a wOBA higher than Posada's .378 was a guy named Joe Mauer.
Their are reasons to be concerned though, after all, he's 38 and not to many catchers last as long as he has. He was never a great defensive catcher and I don't feel comfortable with him behind the plate when the Yanks play teams like the Rays or Angels. More importantly though, he's only played a total of 162 games the past two years. Nearly his entire 2008 was lost to injury and he missed a good chunk of time in 2009. They need that bat in the lineup which is why we'll be seeing a lot of Fransisco Cervelli.
Count me among those who feel a little nervous about entrusting Cervelli with this role. He profiles as Jose Molina Part 2 with a great arm and a knack for working with pitchers but very little in the way offense. However, Molina could at least provide some offense. Let's remember that back when Posada and Molina both got hurt, Cervelli was just some guy hitting below the Mendoza line in AA. I don't see much of an alternative though and he sure is fun to watch, so the Yankees will just cross their fingers and hope Posada can stay healthy.
Red Sox- Victor Martinez/Jason Varitek- For the first time since the Clinton administration the Red Sox will go into a season without Jason Varitek as their starting catcher. In 2010 their Captain should be sitting on the bench more often than not watching Victor Martinez handle the catching duties. Realizing that Varitek's days were numbered, Boston made a panic inducing deal at the deadline to bring in Victor Martinez for a package including young pitchers Justin Masterson and Nick Hagadone.
Martinez played well for them and did what he does best, hit. Splitting time pretty evenly at first base and catcher, he hit .303/.381/.480 for Boston and Cleveland. Good for a .375 wOBA, among catchers that put him behind only Posada and Mauer. V-Mart was also coming off a rough 2008 season where he was hit by the injury bug and hit only .278/.337/.365. However, it appears as if that was just an outlier. Other than that he's been worth around four or five WAR every year since 2003. No, he's not the best defender in the world and probably should play a good chunk of his games at first base but he sure can hit.
It doesn't look like Varitek has all that much left in the tank though. Despite getting into 109 games last year, he hit a meager .209/.313/.390. No matter how great he is at working with pitchers or offering up leadership, he's a very ordinary backup catcher at this point who will get more starts than he really deserves in 2010. Obviously, he's just a backup at this point and you really can't expect much but some seem to still be afraid of the name Jason Varitek.
Advantage- Red Sox- This one could probably go either way. I could see somebody making the argument that Varitek could end up getting a lot more playing time than he deserves but Posada's age really just has me scared. He's injury prone and they don't have all that much behind him. In fact, I'm afraid we may end up seeing Jesus Montero rushed into a situation where he's playing everyday for the major league club. Think about it, if Posada goes down and Montero is mashing in Scranton, how patient are Yankees fans going to be with Fransisco Cervelli? I just can't trust Jorge Posada to stay healthy at this point in his career.
