Who's Back, I'm Back.

So, lets see where we stand.

Red Sox won the World Series. Yep, up 3-0 the Yankees lost the ALCS in 7, and the Sox went on to steamroll the Cards. Hmmmm. Unexpected, yes, but sub-par pitching can only carry you for so long. Hot Stove is buzzing these days. Yankees signed free-agents Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright, and are some Dodger BS away from bringing Randy Johnson and Kaz Ishii into the fold. Jon Leiber is a Phillie, Vazquez would go in the Unit Trade, Duque declined arbitration and Loaiza wasnt offered. In the pen, the Yankees dropped one Felix (Heredia) and signed another (Rodriguez). Mike Stanton brings back some old Championship mojo to the pen. As I see it now, the 2005 Yankees sstaff should shake out like this:

Starters: 1) Randy Johnson 2) Mike Mussina 3) Carl Pavano 4) Jaret Wright 5) El Duque/Loaiza/Kevin Brown/ Sturtze

Relief: Rivera, Gordon, Quantrill, Stanton,Kaz Ishii, Felix Rodriguez, Steve Karsay, CJ Nitkowski, Brad Halsey

Now there is no questioning that this would be a vast improvement over last year, and this staff may challenge as one of baseball's best. The questions are still there to some extent

-Will the Johnson deal finally get done? When it does, will Randy's knee hold up for another year?
- Can Pavano, who is coming off a career year but still a lifetime .500 pitcher, make the transition to the AL, and repeat the success he had last year with Florida? Same applies for Wright from ATL.
- Can the new acquisitions provide a steady bridge to QGR?

I am personally confident that, should all the deals come to pass, the Yankees are the prohibitive favorite for number 27. This is before Beltran is even dealt with. We would have the dominant pitcher in baseball, on a team that can hit for him, and a left-hander to boot. The rotation will have gotten much younger, and an already solid bullpen will now be titanium. George was not going to let a huge collapse to the Sox, much less a Sox World Series stand, and he has acted accordingly.

Now the defending champion Sox (feels weird to type) have undergone some major changes. Out is Pedro to the Mets, in is Boomer Wells from the Pads. Presumably gone is Derek Lowe, and in is Matt Clement. Varitek may not be back behind the dish, and Manny is inexplicably being shopped around again. Curt's ankle is still bad, and he may miss significant time to open the season. They did replace Orlando Cabrera with Edgar Renteria, which is an upgrade on paper. However, the 2005 version of the Sox is not as strong as their predecessors.

With the Big 3 in Oakland down to one, Minnesota running on borrowed time, Seattle picking up Sexon and Beltre, the Angels one year into the Vlad dynasty... etc, the AL playoff landscape should look much different next year. One constant should remain though, the Yankees playing meaningful games in October.

I'll have more on the NL, as well as the NBA later in the week.