New York Nine

You knew that the Red Sox were not going to sit back idly forever, and today they made it quite clear that they weren’t going to rest on their laurels of a 95 win season. For certain, while some teams may be satisfied with such an impressive season, Boston has demonstrated that nothing less than a World Series title is satisfactory for their Nation’s adoring fans. In the wake of the Yankees’ heist of Curtis Granderson the great Yankees-Sox Arms race marches on without a hint of a détente in sight with some very smart signings by Theo and company. And while it’s not clear what either team will do next to one up the other team, what is clear is that the Red Sox have spent their money well on two very solid major leaguers in John Lackey and Mike Cameron.

The signing of right-hander John Lackey today for five years 85.5million by the Sox today shows that in the major leagues you can never have enough starting pitching. Indeed, already armed with easily the best one-two punch in the majors of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, the Red Sox added the much hated Angels’ ace to be their number three starter, and you could certainly do a lot worse for that slot. Coming off a season where he log 176 innings despite starting the season on the DL, Lackey last year and in fact every year in the majors has shown himself to be a very solid starter, posting an ERA+ of 118, striking out 139 while only walking 47. While only 30, John has demonstrated himself to be a guy who eats up innings, averaging 219 a year despite his injury ridden season this year, and when he’s in he’s done more than just eat innings, he’s been solid and at times dominant in big spots. In fact, Lackey, who made his introduction to the baseball world in Game Seven of the 2002 World Series, has been even better in the postseason throughout his career, posting an ERA nearly a run lower in 80 innings of work. In brief, Lackey, while perhaps not an “Ace” that he has been for the Angels the last couple years is nothing less than a very good pitcher that will only get better filling in behind Boston’s pair of real aces and that makes their rotation downright scary. With Lackey in place now, Boston can trot out Beckett, Lester, Lackey, and Bucholz in a playoff series; who in that rotation do you want to see? Every guy is a good if not great pitcher (Bucholz while not as established has the stuff to be a number one on most teams) who’s going to make the opposition work very hard for every run. For sure, Theo Epstein probably more than any other general manager out there recognizes that a run prevented is as good as a run scored, and while the Yankees are getting more bats the Sox are doing the opposite. By making their already great rotation even better, Boston makes themselves immediately more dangerous and ultimately much harder to score on. They say that great pitching beats great hitting and it seems that the Red Sox have taken this mantra to heart.

And while signing John Lackey would be big enough for most people on a day, it seems that the Red Sox were not content and made a nearly equally solid move by signing outfielder Mike Cameron to a two year 15.5million dollar deal. Now I know there are people out there saying, “Mike Cameron? Really? I mean wasn’t he on the Mets a few years ago and they traded him for Xavier Nady?” and while people may not have realize it, Mike Cameron has very quietly been one of the better outfielders in the game. Indeed, while on the older side, already 36, Cameron has been an all around force for the Brewers and the Padres with the bat and the glove and shows no signs of slowing down. Posting a +4.8 UZR last year in centerfield (compared to a -11.5UZR for Bay) Cameron has demonstrated exceptional range while being in both center and left field last year and represents a huge upgrade defensively for the Sox. Further, Cameron has shown to be a force at times with the stick too, posting a .250/.342/.452 line last year, belting 24 home runs while swiping bases at a 70% efficiency rate. While asking Cameron to duplicate Bay’s numbers last year would be unrealistic, Mike’s overall game combined with his very reasonable contract of 15.5 million over two years represents a great buy and a low risk move for the savvy Red Sox. To be frank, I had been hoping the Yankees would sign him to play left field for the Yankees, but it seems the Sox have beat us to the punch and made quite an impact.

While there remain some concerns on the Sox that their management will need to address, namely a lack of run support, it appears that Boston is well on its way to making 2010 turn out better than 2009. What the Sox have lost in Bay, they have gained in Cameron and Lackey that improved in both their pitching and defense significantly. To be sure the Sox are doing their best to make life for my Yankees quite miserable next year, but such is the great arms race between our two great baseball towns. I for one can’t wait to see what the next move will be.