The Red Sox are good.

"One team tried to solve its problems with $423 million worth of free agents. The other team brought in a bunch of guys who spent about 423 million days in the trainer's room."

It's Red Sox vs. Yankees. A novel approach by a baseball writer, for sure.

Let's not mention the team that won the AL East in 2008.


"But as we sit here now, less than a month from Opening Day -- and less than 72 hours away from the first Red Sox-Yankees game of 2009 (Grapefruit League edition) -- we're not sure the American League East looks the way many people think it looks."

"Many people" is vague enough to make that statement indisputable.

I'd say the Red Sox are probably the favorites to win the AL East in 2009.

The Yankees didn't make the playoffs last season and haven't won the division the past two seasons. They lost a 20-game winner and you-know-who is on the DL.

I checked out Vegas odds from a month ago, and they had the Yankees at 96 wins (I wish) and the Red Sox at 94.5. Of course, that was before ARod's injury.

So, even though the Red Sox Underdog story is irresistible, it's not valid in the least.


"The four free agents they imported -- John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Takashi Saito and Rocco Baldelli -- cost this team 4 million fewer guaranteed dollars ($12.5 million total) than the Yankees will pay Burnett alone this year."

Frankly, I wouldn't expect much from any of the players the Red Sox acquired.


"So let's do the math. Smoltz, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka are 25-7. Add in Jon Lester and Penny, and the five of them are a combined 30-11.

Record of the Yankees' group: 17-15. But Burnett and Joba Chamberlain have never started a postseason game. Sabathia's postseason ERA is a scary 7.92. And Andy Pettitte's last postseason win was four years (and five starts) ago."

Cool.

Stark doesn't like the Yankees' off-season acquisitions, but he's already put the Yankees in the playoffs.

I'll take it.


" 'Smoltz is the key, for me,' said one scout. 'I'd be very confident throwing John Smoltz in Game 1 right now, because I know he'll find a way. His pain tolerance is phenomenal. And you know he's got something to prove.' "

Alrighty, but you just dismissed Pettitte's recent playoff record, while Smoltz only has one playoff start in the past ten years.