Saturday, March 15, 2008

2008 Red Sox-Yankees Comparison- Right- Field

Opening Day is coming soon and I`ve been busy lately so I`ve decided to change the way I`m going to work things. After I do RF and DH then I`m going to do the starting pitchers all at once instead of each player separately. I will do the bench and bullpen the same way.



Left-Field



Yankees- Johnny Damon- Damon is expected to get most of the time here. His move to left is long overdue. In recent years his arm has fallen to Bernie Williams levels. He reported to camp last year out of shape and his range definitely appeared to suffer. However, he will probably be an upgrade over Matsui defensively who was in left most of the season. Damon's hitting also declined last year. After having a year with his second highest career SLG% he posted the fourth lowest of his career with it dropping almost 90 points. Keep in mind two of the three years worse than that happened in his first and second full years. His BA suffered greatly, although his OBP only fell a few points. His EQA was a nearly average .264. Supposedly this year he came into camp in great shape and hopefully this will help him reverse his decline.

Red Sox- Manny Ramirez- We all know who Manny is. He`s a future hall of famer and one of the best right handed hitters of all time. Manny also declined last year. His defense has always been terrible. Manny`s OBP of .388 is a lot lower from either what it was the year before or his career numbers. His SLG% was even worse. Last year it was .493 which is exactly a 100 point drop off. Its tough to say if its a one year anomaly or the start of his decline. Its probably a combination. He has one year left on his contract and then an option. Manny is stil a very good player.

Conclusion- Red Sox- Manny is clearly better. Damon has an edge in baserunning and fielding but Manny's advantage at the plate is just to huge to overcome.

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