Red Sox / Tigers - Game 28

Bronson Arroyo was the story yesterday. He had a no-hitter going into the 7th inning and I must admit that I was worried that the Sox had only scored 1 run of support up to that point. I had visions of the Tigers scoring 2 and robbing Arroyo of a well deserved victory. For some reason, even with 8 outs to go - I didn't think I was going to see a no-no.

Luckily the Sox won 2-1 and Bronson got the win.

The final line for Arroyo was 8 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and 8 k's. As good as David Ortiz has been - Bronson Arroyo may end up being Theo Epstein's coupe de grace. So far this season, Arroyo is 4-0 with a 3.17 ERA. Can you imagine that Pittsburgh didn't want him?

Right now Bronson is pitching better than anyone on the Yankees (faint praise - I know) and better than just a handful of starters in the AL. I mention the Yankees because I think Bronson highlights the fundamental difference in approaches the two teams have. Arroyo was acquired via the waiver wire while the Yankees starters were either free agents (Mussina, Pavano, Wright) or acquired in trades where the Yankees were giving up the prospects and taking on the big contract (Johnson, Brown).

When you look at the final 25-man rosters to start the season - you would find a bunch of low risk free agent signings for the Sox (Mantei, Miller, Halama), a couple of players picked up via Rule 5 (Stern and Neal) and a couple of players that were acquired in a trade where the Sox literally gave up nothing (Payton and Vazquez - note I'm not saying Dave Roberts is nothing but if you know the history of how Roberts was acquired you'd know that he was basically free). The Sox also had a couple of free agent signings (Wells and Clement) who I think are relatively low risk because of the way their contracts were structured.

On the Yankees - when you look at how the new players on the Yankees final 25-man roster were added, you'd find mostly free agents (Pavano, Wright, Womack, Tino Martinez, Sanchez). Martinez ($3 mil) and Womack (2-years, $4 mil) are what qualifies as low risk free agent signings in the Bronx but for their money combined the Sox signed just about everyone mentioned above - meanwhile the Yankees got two players most people think were bad baseball moves. The Yankees also got three players via trades where equal value was exchanged (Rodriguez for Lofton, Stanton for Heredia and Johnson for Vazquez, Halsey and Navarro).

I would like to remind folks that I was one of the few who didn't think Johnson would be great shakes in the Bronx (I predicted 14 wins and a 4+ ERA) but I wouldn't have thought the trade with Arizona would be so one sided for the Diamondbacks.

Halsey and Vazquez are a combined 5-2 with a 4.12 ERA and Navarro was traded to the Dodgers for Shawn Green who is hitting .264 with 3 HR and 16 RBI.

Now this was a long way to go to explain why Brian Cashman will be the fall guy for the Yankees collapse. The Red Sox position starters are about equal (I think they have a large edge but just for the sake of argument). The big difference between the two teams are the moves and extra parts Epstein gets versus the moves and spare pares Cashman gets. Compared to Epstein, Cashman was been horrible and that is why he won't last the season.

Just like Nomar was always compared to Jeter (and vice versa). Cashman is compared to Epstein by most people who follow the Yankees / Red Sox rivalry and right now Cashman is playing Bobby Bonilla to Epstein's Barry Bonds.