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Yankees could be team to beat

Author: Rose Young
Date: 01/04/2009

Another long off-season has passed during which the two New York baseball teams combined to spend the kind of money that would be impressive as the GDP for a small Pacific island.

The question hanging over the 2009 season, ignoring the ongoing debate about players such as Alex Rodriguez, who was revealed this winter as being a former drug user, is whether the spending will, finally, equate to results.

Last season the Yankees and their $209million payroll were toppled by the Tampa Bay Rays ($43million) before the post-season began, while the Mets and Detroit Tigers - who have the second and third largest wage bills - also failed to advance to October.

The solution has been to throw more money at the problem, which for the Yankees means their pitching - a joke in 2008.

CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett have been brought in at a total cost of $243.5million for 12 years' potential service.

Sabathia is one of the top-five active pitchers while Burnett is in the top 30, so the Yankees have risked no more than they usually would with their money and in doing so have jumped from also-rans to favourites for the World Series.

The tag is a highly debateable one, although they are a good bet for the play-offs, but their short odds are also due to the signing of slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira for $180million over eight years and the likely improvement of talented youngsters Joba Chamberlain, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera.

The gradual inclusion of youth into what was a veterans-only team is a policy borrowed directly from the Mets' playbook.

The Queens-based club bought top pitching last season, signing Johan Santana to the biggest ever contract for a hurler, but have included young stars Jose Reyes, David Wright and Mike Pelfrey for a number of seasons.

The inclusion of young but proven relief pitching in the shape of JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez gives them a more rounded shape than the Yankees, but both clubs face fierce competition in their own division.

The Yankees have the 2008 World Series runners-up, the Tampa Bay Rays, who have a young roster with a year's extra experience and a new slugger, world series winner Pat Burrell, with which to push their east coast opponents.

They also must compete with rivals Boston Red Sox, who have had an ominously quiet winter after falling to the Rays in last year's ALDS (semi-final), while the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles always look like decent teams that have just been given a tough division.

The Mets will be taking on the reigning champions and online betting favourites, the Philadelphia Phillies, who have lost almost nothing except perhaps - like the Rays - the element of surprise. Just like in the Yankees' AL East, the NL East is likely to provide one of the World Series teams for this season.

Elsewhere in the National League, the Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals will scrap over the Central division, while the West is a toss-up between a number of average sides, of which Arizona is the least-worse.

The AL West is more competitive after Oakland signed sluggers Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi while the LA Angels lost key players.

The Central contains five similar sides of which Cleveland, Minnesota and Detroit are the most likely to prevail.

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