Comments on the Youth Movement
I have had Manny-like focus on the starters so far this season on the blog, but I will take a moment here to comment on the lineup. I have heard some people call in to local radio talk shows lately and comment how the NYY are getting valuable early season experience for their young guys (Hughes, Kennedy, Chamberlain in particular), that this will bode well for the team in the future, and the Red Sox should do the same. Um, hello idiots! Buccholz and Lester are in the rotation! Ellsbury is starting most days, plus we are now seeing some Jed Lowrie right now. Keep in mind that Pedroia is only in his second full season. Those are the position players. Delcarmen is earning an increased role in the pen, and Mr. Papelbon is still a youngster.
So, here is a list of all the players currently on the Sox and NYY rosters who were born later than 1/1/1980.
| RED SOX | vs. |
NYY |
| Josh Beckett | Chien-Ming Wang | |
| Daisuke Matsuzaka | Ian Kennedy | |
| Jon Lester | Phil Hughes | |
| Jonathan Papelbon | Joba Chamberlain | |
| Manny Delcarmen | Brian Bruney | |
| David Aardsma | Russ Ohlendorf | |
| Jacoby Ellsbury | Melkey Cabrera | |
| Dustin Pedroia | Robinson Cano | |
| Jed Lowrie | Alberto Gonzalez |
So, call-in idiots, are you paying attention?
Both teams are filling their lineups, and pitching staffs with younger players. Just because Beckett, Dice-K, Lester, Papelbon, Delcarmen, Pedroia, and Ellsbury all have World Series rings, that does not mean they are old veterans. They are still improving and will continue to grown as players the more they play. Remember, the prime age range of most Major League Players careers is 28 to 32 years of age. I would certainly have the Sox group on the way up with the experience of winning in 2007 than I would the NYY group that hasn’t won anything yet.
Oh, by the way, big Papi is heating up. He went 7 for 16 against the Rangers in this weekend series, with 11 RBIs and a OPS of 1.592.
On last thing, the Sox have the same record (14-7) after 21 games as they did in 2007. This group has certainly done it differently. Last year, they had 13 QS at this point; this year only 10.
| Comparison | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | ERA |
| 2007 |
132.67 | 120 | 52 | 11 | 35 | 107 | 3.53 |
| 2008 | 120.33 | 106 | 58 | 12 | 60 | 95 | 4.34 |
Look at the differences in IP, ERA, and BB. Certainly, the start for this staff has not been as impressive as the 2007 group (Beckett, Schilling, Wakefield, Dice-K, Tavarez).
And thru 21 games, which team (‘07 or ‘08 ) would you guess had scored more runs? Well, given Papi’s early struggle and Lowell’s injury, I was surprised to see that the ‘08 team had scored 6 more runs through the same number of games as the ‘07 team (112 to 106). The pitching staff has given up many more runs, 100 in 2008 vs. 73 in 2007. Basically over a run more per game. This year’s team is already 4-0 in 1-run games and 4-0 in 2-run games. So, what can we tell so far? This is a good team, wins close games, scores some runs (5.33 per game). But, they also give up some runs, they haven’t played great defense, and they have had some injuries. We are basically 1/8 of the way through the season. This team is not going to win 100 games, but they could very well win 95. Bill James’ Pythagorean Win predictor, based on runs scored and runs allowed, has the expected total, based on the results so far, at 90 wins.
Just so you know, the same win predictor tool (based on their first 20 games) for those ‘young, up and coming’ NYY – 74 wins.
