It has been two months since my last post, but in the spirit of the winter meetings, and the holiday season, where generosity seems to flow much more freely than normal, I feel its time to offer some new contributions to you fine readers.
The monetary generosity of major players in the free agent market is certainly abundant. Carl Crawford's new deal may be the best indicator of this. At $20 million a year for seven years, the Red Sox have locked up the most dynamic hitter in this year's free agent pool. This after acquiring slugger Adrian Gonzalez (who, by the way, will absolutely have more of an impact than Crawford will this year) just two days earlier while managing to keep their 25-man roster intact. The Red Sox, with these moves, now have the targets on their backs. Never mind that they didn't make the playoffs last year. You can't put a better lineup on the field than what Boston has right now.
And if you're the Yankees, how much pressure must you be feeling right now? Yeah, maybe you extend your own generosity to Cliff Lee and give him $160-165 million over 7 years, but to me, that's not going to be enough to temper the Red Sox. When healthy, the Red Sox still have better pitching than the Yankees do as a whole. While the Yankees' frontline starters may be better, especially if they sign Lee, the Red Sox can round out their rotation with John Lackey and Clay Buchholz. I shudder to think about how good the Red Sox are going to be this year. They might win 120 games, if they weren't playing in the best division in baseball.
Which brings me to another point. Why is the AL East the best division in baseball? Their overwhelming generosity is the answer. No other division spends money like the AL East, because no other division features the Yankees and Red Sox. These two teams always land the top free agents, year in and year out, and free agents want to play for them because they pay. They pay big. They try and outbid the other, and drive the price up on the Carl Crawfords and Cliff Lees in the process, not only to put the other at a disadvantage, but to put the rest of Major League Baseball at a disadvantage. Any other teams interested in these high-profile players simply aren't willing to shell out the dough, which grants the Yankees and Red Sox a monopoly on them. The result: star-studded lineups like the one the Red Sox have put together this offseason. A complete, well-rounded club that would easily dominate any other division in baseball. This year, the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry might be the most exciting its been since the ALCS in 2004.
Because the Red Sox are back.
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