Red Sox Moves Vs. Yankees Moves

Big name signings versus under the radar signings. Long term signings versus one-year deals. Big money deals versus short money deals. The moves of the New York Yankees this off-season couldn't be more in contrast to the moves of the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees added CC Sabathia (7 years and $160 million), AJ Burnett (5 years and $85.5 million) and Mark Teixeira (8 years and $180 million).

The Red Sox added Rocco Baldelli (1 year $500,000), John Smoltz (1 year $5.5 million), Brad Penny (1 year $5 million) and yesterday they signed a 1-year deal with Takashi Saito.

Just as important as who was added is who has been lost. The Yankees lost Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte meaning AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia would have to win a combined 34 games next season to just replace Mussina's and Pettitte's totals. The Yankees also lost Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi to free agency. Teixeira is a definite upgrade at first but will his offense along with Nick Swisher offset the production of Giambi and Abreu? Probably - but not by the degree many may expect.

The combination of Smoltz and Penny will replace the production of Bartolo Colon and Paul Byrd (who is still on the roster). This is a big upgrade no matter the health of either player. If the Red Sox get 350 plate appearances from Baldelli then he'll more than equal the contribution they got from Coco Crisp last season. And speaking of Crisp - he's the one major loss from last year's team (I'm assuming the Red Sox re-sign Jason Varitek to a 1 year deal) but Crisp netted them Ramon Ramirez who along with Takashi Saito will provide the Red Sox with a much stronger bullpen.

In short - the Yankees' moves may have made more headlines but the Red Sox moves will translate into more wins and not saddle the team long-term.