Now that Papelbon is back in the bullpen, how do the Red Sox and the Yankees rotations compare?

Question

Schilling / Beckett / Dice-K / Wakefield / Tavarez vs Mussina / Pettitte / Wang / Pavano / Igawa

I think it's pretty even. Would like to get some objective opinions from non-Bosox/Yanks fans, please.

Answer 1

Schilling/Mussina--This has to go to the Sox. I'll take Schill at 80% over Mussina at 100% any day of the week. (Plus if you're going to say Schill is an injury risk, Mussina is as well. He's pushing 40, and wasn't great in the second half last year.)

Beckett/Pettite--This is a toughy. Pettite was great last year for the Astros, but this is a whole new ballgame. He's still a good pitcher, but he's not the pitcher he was when he left the Yankees. Major injury risk here. As for Beckett, he should bounce back a bit this season, I doubt hell be giving up as many homeruns as last year, but for now, slight edge to the Yanks.

Matsuzaka/Wang--Another toughy. Matsuzaka has looked brilliant all spring, and did prove that he could beat major league hitters on a high pressure stage during the WBC last spring. The biggest question here is whether or not he can adjust to pitching every fifth dsay instead of every sixth, as he did in Japan. Wang got extremely lucky last season. Considering how few batters he strikes out, expect his ERA to rise as his opponents start to get more bloop hits and dribblers through the middle. With the amount of balls put in play against him, it will be very surprising if his OBA stays the same. I'm going to call this one a draw. An unproven commodity versus a pitsher that is likely to regress. Who knows??

Wakefield/Igawa (sorry, but Pavano is the #5 on the Yanks, not Igawa.): Edge to the Sox. A consistent pitcher who rarely gets injured (last season was an anomoly) and will put up 14-16 wins each year vs. a guy who wasn't even that great in Japan and got rocked in the WBC last spring, plus hasn't looked particularly good this Spring? I'll take Wake any day of the week. Major edge to the Sox.

Tavarez/Pavano: At least Tavarez can stay healthy. Pavano is a joke. I'd take Tavarez or Kyle Snyder over Pavano any day of the week, considering Pavano has thrown a pitch in the majors for, what, a season and a half? (As for the person who mentioned Clement, he won't be back until after the break at midseason, so he's irrelevant to this discussion). You also have to note that Jon Lester should be coming up from AAA by the break, and he's a lot better than Tavarez. The Yanks also have Phil Hughes in the system, but seeing as he hasn't pitched above AA, I refuse to consider him a legitimate starter. He is a pitcher to watch, however. I give this one to the Sox. More depth makes them more likely to find a guy who will succeed in the five-hole of the rotation.

Answer 2

If what you have above are the rotations they're going with then I'd have to say the BoSox have a slight edge.
Schilling as old as he is is still a work horse and can get the job done. If Beckett can keep more pitches from leaving the ballpark, he'll be okay. Matsuzaka is a legitimate threat but he has alot to prove here. Wakefield continues to due well even when his best pitch comes in under 70 MPH on the radar. Tavarez as a starter? Maybe Piniero can be plugged in there if that deson't work out.

I am a fan of Wang, even though he strikes out virtually no one. Mussina and Pettitte won't be as dominant, but will get 14-16 wins apiece. Pavano was aces a few years ago (he kept my Cubs from reaching the WS!!!) but has had nothing to show the past couple of years due to injury. Will he be the same or a second coming of Mark Prior? Igawa, I couldn't tell you anything about other than he's Japanese.

These were my 2 cents.

Answer 3

Ok I am and Indians fan so I will give a completly unbiased opinion.

Schilling vs Mussina Edge:Yankees

Schilling and Mussina aren't far apart in age but Mussina constantly puts up good numbers and Schilling hasn't been dominant since his bloody sock in 2004.

Beckett vs Pettitte- Edge:Yankees

Not even close Pettitte is one of the best pitchers in the game and Beckett is very inconsistent.

Matsusaka vs Wang- Edge:draw

Wang is a good pitcher but by looking at how Dice-k has done in spring training he looks better.But we can't be right for sure,he could fall apart when the season starts.

Wakefield vs Pavano Edge:Red Sox

Wakefield isn't the best pitcher in the world but he doesn't get injured every other day.

Tavarez/Clement vs Igwa Edge:draw

I don't think Tavarez will do very well as a starter and Clement hasn't been the same since he got hit on the head never mind his arm.Igwa I don't think will be that great either so no one wins this.

Overall I give the edge to the Yankees but neither rotation is really that good.

Answer 4

Slight edge to sox. A healthy shilling edges out mussina. Beckett and Pettite is probably a push. Ditto with wang and Matsuzaka. The tail end of the sox rotation is a slight edge i think and the sox have more options if tavarez falters (snyder, piniero, and 2 or 3 guys in the minors that are just about ready). If pavano gets hurt the yanks can go to hughes but i dont think he's ready yet.

Answer 5

The Red Sox have fewer questions in the starting rotation. On paper they are better then the Yankees. The Yankees have a much better bullpen, even including Papelbon in the mix.

The bigger question in my mind is which Paplebon will show up in the pen. Will it be the one who converted 19 out of 20 saves to start the season or the one who blew 6 out of the last 18 save opportunities. Or will it be somewhere in between.

The real key to the Red Sox pitching is Wakefield.

Schilling still has enough left in the tank to be a legitimate number 1 starter. Beckett will never reach his full potential, but he is still good enough to be an above average starter and a pretty solid number 2.

Dice-K looks like he will be a superior number 3 starter. The last time Tavarez was a full time starter, he was a .500 pitcher with an era in the 4's, I think. He finished last season looking very good, and he never started for a team with as much fire power as the Sox have offensively. There is no reason why he can not finish a few games over .500 with the Sox.

This leads us to Wakefield who is getting very old. Health is the key with him. Because Mirabelli is apparently the only person on earth who can catch Wakefield, the Sox have to carry a back up catcher who has a batting average below the Mendoza Line. Veratek is coming off a year where he hit .238. It is obvious watching Veratek that he needs more rest and more days off during the season. During Spring training, Mirabelli has been catching Beckett with greater frequency. I think we can all agree that no one in Baseball calls a better game than Tek. Beckett is the type of Pitcher who needs someone to call a good game, because if left to his own devices, he makes bad decisions. Tek will be behind the plate for Schilling, because Schilling will insist on it. He will be behind the plate for Dice-K because he does not speak english and needs someone who will take the time to learn his needs as a pitcher. Tavarez is enough of a hot head, that he needs someone with authority to call his games, and that is Tek. Wakefield will throw to Mirabelli. This leaves Beckett. If Tek is going to get games off, the most likely candidate for him to take a game off is Beckett. This means having an inferior hitting catcher, Mirabelli in the line up. Mirabelli does not call the quality game that Tek does. This will have an adverse effect on Beckett that can only be counter balanced by a solid performance by Wakefield. If Wakefield is hurt or pitching poorly, it will hurt the Sox in several ways.

Ultimately the best solution for the Sox would have been for them to sign a closer and try Paplebon as a starter. He might have been the best 5th Starter in baseball. You would have a decent closer if you had picked up on of the two acquired by the Braves, Tavarez is a decent 7th or 8th inning Pitcher. If Wakefield goes down and you have to Start Tavarez, you still have a decent bullpen. By mid season, Lester will probably be ready, and Tavarez could bridge the gap until then. Ultimately, being forced to send Paplebon to the bullpen in my mind is bad news. Any way you cut it, 200 innings of Paplebon is more than 60 innings of Paplebon.

Answer 6

I know you didn't want to hear from any Yankees fans, but I couldn't help myself.

I hate to say this, but I honestly think that the Red Sox pitching staff is way better than the Yankees pitching staff. I am worried about our team this year. I think the Red Sox have done a lot to improve their team while all the yankees did was get a middle aged pitcher that wasn't even dominant in the NL last year, and now he is coming back to the AL and people think he is going to be like he was 5 years ago. I don't think so. This is the first time in a long time that I am worried about the Yankees making the playoffs, nevermind winning the division. I am a huge Yankees fan and I hate the Red Sox, which makes this very hard for me. I think George is going to have to make a deal or 2 before the trade deadline, because right now the Sox have a way better team than the Yankees.

Answer 7

They're about equal.
Schilling, Beckett, and Wakefield are solid. Dice-K could be great, but we don't know yet. I'm not that familiar with Tavarez.
Wang was great last year. Mussina and Pettite are solid. Pavano is a mystery because he's coming back from injuries. Igawa doesn't look like an all-star, but he can definitely can end up with a winning record.

Answer 8

Schilling-Mussina....Slght edge to Schilling.
Beckett-Pettitte...Pettitte. Beckett has to get over his ego and throw more off-speed stuff
Dice-K-Wang...Wang. Very good ground ball pitcher
Wakefield-Pavano...Wake. Both injury prone at this point, but when healthy Wake can give you innings and rest a bullpen. Very underrated value
Tavarez-Igawa...incomplete. Igawa is unproven. Tavarez was good in Sept, but that's only a month when they were out of it. I would be more inclined to say if Lester can recover his strength, he will be no. 5 and that would give the Sox the edge


of course this all depends on whether they stay healthy.

Answer 9

On paper I would say the Red Sox,but unfortunately that doesn't get it done.Lots of things can happen during the course of the season so you can never tell.The Yankees have Hughes and the Sox have Lester in case of injury and who knows where Clemens will end up.Let the games begin!!

Answer 10

I say push, and then Mariano beats Papelbon 2 seal the deal 4 the Yanks.