AL East Comparison

Today I'll be taking a look at the three contenders for the AL East title (Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays) and see how they match up position-wise. On another day - I'll do a comparison of their pitching.

I'm going to give teams a 3 if they have best player at a position, a 2 if they have the second best player and a 1 if they have the third best player. At the end - I'll add up the totals and see which team comes out on top. Note: there will probably be some ties which I'll handle as I see fit.

Catcher: Jorge Posada is coming off a great year (23 HR 93 RBI) and is in his contract year but is going to be 36-years old this season. Jason Varitek is a year younger than Posada but is coming off an awful year and many Red Sox fans are afraid that he's over the hill. Greg Zaun is actually the oldest of the bunch and he's known as a back-up not as a starter. Overall I think Varitek will have a bounceback year but his intangibles behind the plate aren't enough to overtake Posada for the top spot.

Yankees - 3; Red Sox - 2; Blue Jays - 1

1st Base: Toronto has Lyle Overbay who is a solid hitter (.312 BA / 22 HR / 93 RBI). The Red Sox have K-Y - Kevin Youkilis who is also a solid hitter but to a lesser degree than Overbay (Youkilis hit .279 with a .381 OBP in 2006). The Yankees have a three-headed monster going at first with Doug Mientkiewicz, Andy Phillips and Josh Phelps battling for the starting job. The ranking here is pretty clear.

Blue Jays - 3; Red Sox - 2; Yankees - 1

2nd Base: The Red Sox are starting rookie Dustin Pedroia. The Yankees are starting 25-year old future batting champion Robinson Cano at 2nd. The Blue Jays are also starting a 25-year old 2nd baseman in Aaron Hill. The rankings at 2nd are also pretty clear-cut.

Yankees - 3; Blue Jays - 2; Red Sox - 1

Shortstop: Many people thought that Derek Jeter should have been the MVP last year (not me though). Julio Lugo should be a huge addition to the Red Sox but he's not in Jeter's class. Meanwhile it looks like Toronto is serious about starting Royce Clayton. Maybe the easiest rankings yet.

Yankees - 3; Red Sox -2; Blue Jays - 1

3rd Base: Third base is tougher to guage than you may think. Sure Alex Rodriguez is a great player and a future Hall of Famer but Troy Glaus may have more power at 3rd and Mike Lowell may be the better glove at 3rd. I think A-Rod gets the nod as the best 3rd baseman of the bunch but I'm going to call it a tie between Glaus (who is also a very good glove) and Lowell based mostly on Glaus's injury history. If it was guaranteed that Glaus would reach 500 AB this year - then I would gve him the nod for second place.

Yankees - 3; Blue Jays - 1.5; Red Sox - 1.5

Left Field: Manny Ramirez is a Hall of Famer and people don't appreciate how well he defends the Green Monster when at home in Fenway. Hideki Matsui may be a better defender but he's not close to Manny's power with the bat. Reed Johnson will be 31-years old this year and it looks like he'll never hit 20 HR in a season.

Red Sox - 3; Yankees - 2; Blue Jays - 1

Center Field: Vernon Wells is among the elite center fielders in baseball. Yankee Stadium was made for Johnny Damon's lefty swing. Coco Crisp has a lot of questions facing him this season after an injury plagued 2006.

Blue Jays - 3; Yankees - 2; Red Sox - 1

Right Field: For all the hype of Bobby Abreu as a hitter - he still only hit 15 HR last year even though he played his home games in two very lefty friendly hitters parks. Alex Rios also didn't manage 20 HR last year (just 17) for Toronto. JD Drew did hit 20 HR last year even though he played half his games in the cavernous Chavez Ravine. My gut tells me to give the edge to Drew in this category because he may be the best all-around player but instead I'm going to call it a draw and award 2 points to each player.

Red Sox - 2; Yankees - 2; Blue Jays - 2

DH: David Ortiz is the clear leader here but I think Jason Giambi and Frank Thomas are a draw.

Red Sox - 3; Yankees - 1.5; Blue Jays - 1.5

So the totals for the position starters are:

Yankees - 20.5 points
Red Sox - 17.5 points
Blue Jays - 16 points

You can see how closely the talent matches up for these three teams. The position players are so close that it will probably come down to pitching which we will look at shortly.