Article:Don't say need

From www.thebaseballfix.com

I keep hearing from friends, co workers and the local media about how the Red Sox needed to sign Teixeria. So, being the fan that I am I decided to dig back through numbers for last season, as well as what is projected for the upcoming season. And, just as I thought we didn’t need him. Would it have been nice? Sure but he is not an elite talent so why pay him like one. Now for those numbers I was speaking of. Last season the Sox finished second in team .OPS and after the departure of Manny they slipped all the way to fourth! This happened with Varitek turning in arguably the worst offensive season of any catcher in baseball, David Ortiz having his worst season in a sox uniform and getting next to nothing from short stop, not to mention Mike Lowell missing significant time. Now, you can call me the eternal optimist if you like but I am willing to wager a substantial amount that this lineup is even better next year by nothing more then default. Not to mention they still finished in the top five in defensive efficiency according to baseball prospectus. Were one of the best base running teams in all of baseball according to Bill James online and oh just happen to have one of the best rotations and a top three closer in all the game. So again I ask, what exactly did we ''need? ''

             As for the Yankees, they will be better but I find this interesting. For all the talk about how great this line up will be now, has anyone, fan, media member, etc. taken the time to actually break it down? Jeter, Posada, Cano, Swisher and Matsui all posted wOBA under .350. The league average is .335. So nearly half of their everyday lineup was the equivalent of average. Sounds to me like a team going more off of reputation then results. One last thing I have not heard mentioned with all these deals with regards to the Yankees signings. Between Tex, CC and Burnett they committed twenty years in total. Nineteen of those twenty will be spent with all the players over the age of thirty and thirteen will be spent with players over the age of thirty two. Not to mention that A-Rod is thirty four next season.