From: darryl@cs.yorku.ca (Darryl Gamble)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Blue Jays vs. Red Sox
Date: 6 Apr 92 20:35:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: yetti.1169
Distribution: world
Organization: York University, Dept. of Comp. Sci. - Toronto

In article <1992Apr5.164309.4694@cs.cornell.edu>, tedward@cs.cornell.edu (Edward [Ted] Fischer) writes:
|> 
|> The biggest reason why the Blue Jays are overrated: They have good
|> defense.  People give them credit once for their pitching (which has
|> an artificially low ERA due to the defense), and *again* for the
|> defense.  Yet those runs are only prevented once!
|> 
|> Of course, their offense is overrated too.  Position by position:
|> Boggs vs. Alomar	No contest here.  Boggs runs a *far* better
|> 			OBP, with similar SLG.  SB?  Who cares?

Yep, poor guy must be a Red Sox fan.  Who cares about stolen bases, our team
doesn't use them so they aren't really useful.  Boggs OBA shadows Alomar's by
a large margin, so we'll give the edge to Boggs here.

|> Reed vs. White	White was better in his career year, but not by
|> 			incredibly much.  It'll probably be pretty close.

Oh yeah...let's see Jody has 13 HR's over the past three seasons, and 14 SB.
White had 17 HR's and 33 steals last year alone.  Fairly big edge to Reed in
average, but come on look at those numbers above.  Pretty close ? I think not.
Edge to White and he plays great center field defense.

|> Plantier vs. Carter	No contest.  Plantier will out-hit, out-slug, and
|> 			out-walk Carter.  By approximately two and a half
|> 			miles (or 150 points of OPS, whichever you prefer).

I admit I really like Plantier.  And he could very well, out hit, slug and will
definitely out walk Carter.  But Carter does drive in runs.  I know, I know...
but let's make sure Plantier doesn't have a hole in his swing somewhere first,
alright ?  Let's call this a wash for now.

|> Burks vs. Winfield	I admit Winfield had the better year last year.
|> 			But Burks is hitting in Spring Training, and I
|> 			expect him to return to 1989/1990 form.  Edge Burks
|> 			by a significant margin.

Burks has averaged 16 homers over the past three seasons.  His average will
probably rebound into the .290-.300 range, and he'll drive in 70-80 runs.
I expect Winfield to get 20-25 homers, bat .260, and drive in about the same
number of runs.  Of course, Burks is 27 and Winfield is 40...edge to Burks.

|> Greenwell vs. Olerud	Pretty similar, really.  Both will rebound.

Yeah, I agree.  This could be where the big difference between the Jays and
the Red Sox is formed.  I'll call this a toss up, with either team having a
chance to win big or lose big.
 
|> Clark vs. Gruber	Gruber will bop a few more HR.  Clark will walk his
|> 			way to a .380+ OBP.  Significant edge to Clark.

Clark will out walk Kelly in his sleep, I'm sure.  But if Kelly can come back to
his 1990 numbers this one is pretty close.  Still the edge goes to Clark.

|> Vaughn vs. Bell		Can't really call this one.  But if I had to, I'd
|> 			give Vaughn the edge.  The power is the difference.
|> 			They both hit for a reasonable BA, and Vaughn
|> 			probably won't walk much more often.

I don't think Derek Bell was given Minor League Player of the Year for nothing.
I think this one is a edge for the Jays, and I'm not even that high on Bell.

|> Rivera vs. Borders	Slight edge to Borders, but not by much.

Let's take a look at Rivera's numbers...20 HR's, .247 avg. over past three years.
Borders has batted .263 while hitting 23 homers.  I would have to call this even. 

|> Pena vs. Lee/Griffin	Does *anybody* compare unfavorably to Manny Lee?  :-)

I wish I could say..."yes someone does", but as far as I know only Cory Snyder
really makes Lee look good.  And now the Giants have him. :-(

|> 
|> The Sox lineup has more power in practically *every* lineup position,
|> and more OBP in *every* lineup position.  I don't even see it as being
|> close.

Well, when you say things like White and Reed are pretty close, I think your
a little, shall we say, biased.  Perhaps looking through Red Sox coloured
glasses ?  (Of course, almost everyone in this group knows your a Red Sox fan
so that's expected.)  I think Boston does have as good an offense IN THE
NUMBERS as the Jays, but there is one other very important thing.  The Red Sox
are putting up there numbers in Fenway...on of the best hitters parks in the
majors.  And when you look at it that way, I think you find a very close
comparison between the Jays and the Red Sox based on hitting alone.

When you get talking about the pitching, I think that the Jays look better than
the Red Sox.  And that's why I believe the Blue Jays will win their division
again this year with Boston finishing second by about 4 games.

My 2 cents worth,
Darryl Gamble    (darryl@cs.yorku.ca)
York University, Toronto
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball