Beyond the Box Score: Bendix: Just How Much of an Upgrade Are CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett?

First The Babe Ruth Story and now this!

Of course, this is somewhat unfair: Mussina will not return in 2009 no matter what, and if they Yankees didn’t sign Sabathia or Burnett, they would likely have to give his innings to an inferior pitcher. But the point remains: as good as Burnett and Sabathia are, they’re only a four-win upgrade over the pitchers they’re replacing, because the Yankees pitching staff in 2008 wasn’t that bad. Four wins is no small amount – especially for a team like the Yankees that will probably be fighting for their playoff lives – but it’s probably less of an upgrade than many Yankee fans, and perhaps the front office themselves, believe.

The Yankees pitching should be even better thanks to a full season from Chien-Ming Wang and perhaps Joba Chamberlain. However, none of this changes the fact that their offense is average and their defense is awful. If anything, we can expect their offense to be worse next season: yes, Posada will be back, they’ve acquired Swisher, and we can expect some improvement from Robinson Cano. However, losing Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi will be a big blow, Johnny Damon is probably going to regress, and Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter will be a year older. Furthermore, their team defense is still in shambles (although adding Mike Cameron would be a huge boost).