Funny part is, those top 6 ARE their projected starters this year at those positions. Granted, the other 3 not in the lineup are just a tad important to their success, but the other 6 don't exactly make you quiver in your boots. Can the Yankees win with only 4 legit bats (the missing 3 + Posasda) in their lineup?

Can Baltimore win, yes. Does it matter who wins, no. We are still watching players work the kinks out and try things they would not in a regular game. Still fun to watch.

Hey geek,

You mean things they wouldn't do in a regular game... like most of the games in 2009?

Is it me or did NY and Boston go a step backwards in their lineups this year?

------------Yankees------------
Additions:
Javier Vazquez, Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson,Randy Winn

Subtractions:
Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Chien-Ming Wang,Melky Cabrera

The Yanks added Vasquez, but he has a career 4.19 ERA as opposed to his (what I think was a) fluke year last year.

Johnson has a killer OBP, but no power...is he a DH this year or what?

Granderson is just another free swinger with a lot of K's under his belt. 30 homers and 141K's. I just don't see the upgrade over Damon there.

Winn is just getting old and I assume will be a backup. But I never see backups being key additions. I assume they will platoon him with Garner, but the combination of the two really just doesn't thrill me.

Wang was good until he lost his confidence and went bonkers, but he won 19 games 2 years in a row. Let's see if he gets his head back on straight. Also, Damon put up decent numbers last year and like I said, Melky was better last year than Winn and I think it stays that way. 10 years difference in age between the two, who do you think is going to get better and who do you think will get worse.

Boston:

Additions:
Mike Cameron, John Lackey, Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre

Subtractions:
Jason Bay, Rocco Baldelli,Alex Gonzales

Mike Cameron is no Jason Bay. The guy is 37 years old and while he had a decent year last year, I can't see him putting up numbers to replace Bay.

Lackey has always been a decent pitcher, but never an overly dominant one. Good pickup, though too pricey...but too much pitching is better than no pitching.

Scutaro is better than Gonzales was, but he's getting up there in age too. Not overly powerful or anything and is a career .265 hitter.

Beltre might be the one of the most worthless baseball players I've ever seen. How do you go from .334 48hr 121rbi to less than half of that? He may be a good fielder, but he stopped roiding it up and might be starting to fall apart.

Besides the pitching, I don't really see the Red Sox as super dominating this year and think they have an average lineup at best. Though they do have a bit more power than the O's do. Hopefully we can nab Prince Fielder next year and change that last statement.

Yes popodan..... it's you!

And your last paragraph... you have given posters material for days.

'besides the pitching' - a classic!

'nab prince Fielder next year' - and your drug of choice is?

wayne,

Someone presents you with the facts, and you still can't believe it? Even MLB network, on its 30 clubs in 30 days segment and where they found something nice to say about Pittsburgh and Kansas City- it's their job-, thinks Boston might have trouble scoring.

Mel Mora might have had a better year last year than Beltre, the Sox have Marco Scutaro, MARCO SCUTARO, to play SS, Pedroia is solid, Youk is solid, Mike Cameron is 200 years old, the most games Drew has ever played in a season is 146, and that was his last year in LA, Jacoby Ellsbury is solid. What will they lose defensively going from Varitek to Victor? And Ortiz? I think his days of 40+ HRs are over. That is not a great offensive team.

They better hope Lackey, Beckett, Dice-K, Lester and some combination of Bucholz, Wakefield or Bonser come through. That team is not the dominating club they used to be.

I honestly don't see the Sox pitching as that dominant in 2010.

Lester's an ace without question, and Beckett's surely a nice #2, but if I were the Sox, I'd be extremely worried about Lackey, Matsuzaka and the rest, for obvious reasons.

Same thing with the Yanks pitching. CC's an ace without question, but past that, I'd be worried if I was Joe Girardi.

not brooks,

But you wouldn't be worried if you were wayne, anonymous and all the other RedSox/Yankee lovers and Orioles haters.

Remember, to them, NYY and BOS can do no wrong, only the Orioles have no clue.

hey ken,

I'll take the Sox problem all day long. In fact, I'll take it all season long.

Maybe they won't win the series, but they'll be in it... They'll be playing meaningful games - all the time.

Watch the Sox embarrass the O's yet again this year ken.... watch even closer when their fans take over the Yard.... and I mean 'take over'.

No, I've never said the O's can spend like those clubs. Never! But I've said they should spend like the medium market they are, not like one of the cheapest.

It's embarrassing ken....... as are many of the post I've seen lately. Those making excuses for this very bad baseball team.

No drugs here, I do get drug tested randomly after all. Do you just want us all to be negative or what? I simply stated that those two teams haven't upgraded as much as ESPN and the big sports guys say. I'm pretty sure Big Papi is looking more like Big Porky and less like the feared plate presence that he was when Manny was in town. The Yankees on the other hand can downgrade and still kick most teams butts.

Wow

Boston saw a deficiency and fixed it-- IMMEDIATELY. Not some drawn out nonsense that takes 5 yrs -IMMEDIATELY

Not suprisingly, apologists cant see the improvements made by the competition, they always compare the orioles with the previous yr's orioles

boston wanted to fix their defense, so they went out and got a GoldGlove CF and 3b

Their 3rd starter is WAYYYYYYYYYY better than our so called ace despite the fluke season he had last yr

The Yanks 4th starter led the NL in strikeouts, their line up is huge and granderson wouldve led the O's in HR's last yr

The yanks #8 hitter had 30 hr's last yr

Our team leader had 25 and this yrs clean up hitter had 14 hr's last yr

then again, power costs money and so do ace pichers, no wonder the os have been missing those for so long

cant cut into the profits

Jason,

stop with the logic already! Besides, see how improved and motivated the O's look already this year.....

... just don't look at the won/loss record. Things like that don't matter in this town... not for baseball anyway.

you read what you want...I never said anything about the orioles being world beaters or even them being better at all. all i said is that the top two teams in the AL East didnt upgrade as much as everyone has said.

boston got some great gloves, but the offense isnt what it was 2 years ago with manny and ortiz at the top of their games. i dont understand the love for granderson though, so he hit 30 homers...he also struck out over 140 times and had a piss poor batting average. I'm not comparing him to the O's players, just saying that he isnt any kind of an upgrade.