At Home Plate - Offseason report card: AL East

At Home Plate

Written by Jonathan Leshanski (Contact & Archive) on January 14, 2008

Baltimore Orioles

Gained: Luke Scott (Trade), Troy Patton (Trade), Matt Albers (Trade), Dennis Safate (Trade), Chris Roberson (Trade)
Lost: Miguel Tejada (Trade)
Other Free Agents: Kris Benson, Paul Bako, Corey Patterson, Steve Trachsel

Verdict: Loser

Boston Red Sox

Gained: None
Lost: Matt Clement, Eric Gagne
Other Free Agents: Eric Hinske, Bobby Kielty, Doug Mirabelli, Kevin Cash

The Red Sox were the best team in baseball last year and sometimes being at the top of the heap stops you from making many moves and keeps you sitting tight. So the real question is are the Red Sox a better team without Eric Gagne? Yes. At least the version of Gagne who showed up in Boston last season, but taking that into account and looking at the balance sheet its clear that the Sox lost depth by losing Hinske, Kielty, Mirabelli and Cash.

Verdict: Loser, but by the most nominal amount.

New York Yankees

Gained: LaTroy Hawkins (Free Agent), Jonathan Albaladejo (Trade)
Lost: Luis Vizcaino (Free Agency), Tyler Clippard (Trade)
Other Free Agents: Roger Clemens, Ron Villone, Doug Mientkiewicz

In terms of players the Yankees gained by the subtraction of the obviously overextended Roger Clemens and by swapping up in terms of relievers by adding LaTroy Hawkins for Luis Vizcaino. But the big question that has to be asked is how well will new manager Joe Girardi will do - and what repercussions if any will come from Joe Torre walking away?

Verdict: Winner, but by the most nominal amount.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Gained: Matt Garza (Trade), Jason Bartlett (Trade), Cliff Floyd (Free Agency), Troy Percival (Free Agency)
Lost: Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, Jason Pridie, Tim Lahey, Elijah Dukes, Brian Stokes, Chris Snelling (all by trade)
Other Free Agents: Josh Paul, Jorge Velendia, Shawn Camp

The D’Rays are as usual treading water and not looking to become contenders any time soon, but they’ve taken some steps in the right directions this offseason. They swapped out five tool rookie Delmon Young for a solid second baseman (Jason Bartlett) and a pitcher (Matt Garza) who was regarded by some as the gem of the Minnesota Twins pitching prospects. To compensate somewhat for the offensive step backwards they signed aging slugger Cliff Floyd. They also added Troy Percival to take over the closers duties. This all adds up to a better team next year.

Verdict: Winner

Toronto Blue Jays

Gained: Scott Rolen (Trade), David Eckstein (Free Agency), Marco Scutaro (Trade), Buck Coats (Trade)
Lost: Josh Towers (Free Agency), Troy Glaus (Trade)
Other Free Agents: Sal Fasano

The Troy Glaus - Scott Rolen deal is still dependent upon both players passing physicals but it looks like a deal which will be completed. If the Jays get the Rolen of four years ago this deal will be a winner for the Jays, but if they get the Rolen of the past three seasons, which is more likely, it will cost the Jays in terms of production. However Rolen is coming off of several surgeries to correct the problems which have hurt his production over that time while Glaus is coming off of steroid allegations so this deal might just be best to consider a wash at this point.
However the Jays went to town and added spark plug David Eckstein to the mix which should stabilize the team at the shortstop position. He’ll serve as a tablesetter and add to the top of the lineup.
The loss of Josh Towers can’t be considered major at this point since he’s pitched under 170 innings the past two seasons and posted ERAs of 8.42 and 5.38 respectively in ’06 and ’07.

Verdict: Winner.

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