Rodriguez joins Yankees

The official ceremony introducing Alex Rodriguez as a member of the New York Yankees was held in Yankee Stadium on February 18. It is obvious that their 100-year rival, the Boston Red Sox, must have been annoyed and reminded of the second Curse of the Bambino.

The curse is the most famous jinx in major league baseball, referring to Boston’s failure to win a championship since it traded Babe Ruth to Yankees at a dirt-cheap price in 1918. The American League home run king for the past three years, Rodriguez is a big hitter who matches Ruth’s power. Boston made its best effort to acquire Rodriguez for two months, but a late competitor, the Yankees, snatched him only in four days.

Undergoing an extensive restructuring during the off-season for its 86-year old hopes for a championship, will Boston kneel down to the Yankees? Lets compare the presumed capacity of two permanent favored teams on the transfer of Rodriguez.

-Pitching

Last year, the Yankees earned a major league high 101 wins, the same total as Atlanta of National League, due to its powerful starting pitchers. Supported by the best closer in baseball, Mariano Rivera (40 saves), the number of wins gained by their five starters amounted to 77 (76.2%). Meanwhile, with a system using several closers, Boston got 62 wins out of 95 (65.3%) from their starters.

However the situation is reversed this year. Boston acquired starting pitcher Curt Schilling to complement Pedro Martinez, giving the Red Sox the best one-two pitching tandem ever. Boston also acquired All-Star closer Keith Foulke from Oakland, addressing one of the team’s weak points and enabling Kim Byoung-hyun to move into the starting rotation. It is evaluated that the third, fourth and fifth starters of Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield and Kim Byoung-hyun are the best lines.

In contrast, Kevin Brown (formerly of the Los Angeles Dodgers) and Javier Vazquez (Montreal) joined Yankees, but the holes in the Yankee rotation seem huge after the departure of former ace Andy Pettitte (21 wins), Roger Clemens (17 wins) and David Wells (15 wins). Boston is competing with the Chicago Cubs for the first place in starting pitching rankings, but the Yankees only rank fifth in a public poll by ESPN.

-Batting

The strength of each team’s hitting has reversed. Boston were superior to Yankees last year with nine hitters exceeding their required at bats and four who batted over .300. Meanwhile only six Yankee hitters satisfied the number of required minimum number of at bats and only Derek Jeter hit above .300.

However, the Yankees have brought outfielders Gary Sheffield (Atlanta) and Kenny Lofton (Cubs) onboard, as well as third baseman Rodriguez to overcome the departure of second baseman Alfonso Soriano (Texas) and outfielder Karim Garcia (Metz). Boston added veteran DH Ellis Burks (Cleveland) for second baseman Todd Walker only to take a step back.

Hwan-Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com