2006 AL East EWSL Report

Once more into the breach of my annual division-by-division roundups, powered by Established Win Shares Levels (EWSL is explained here, and you should read that link before commenting on the method; 2006 revisions to the age adjustment discussed here). Due to time constraints, and for ease in reading the charts, I’m leaving off the intermediate adjustment column, and just listing each player’s raw EWSL and the age-adjusted number. Bear in mind as always that (1) EWSL is a record of past performance, adjusted by age to give an assessment of the available talent on hand; it is not an individualized projection system; (2) individual EWSL are rounded off but team totals are compiled from the unrounded figures; and (3) as demonstrated here in some detail, nearly all teams will win more games than their EWSL total because I’m only rating 23 players per team (and I considered going to 24, but I’m not convinced it would make the system more useful, since it would tend to overrate teams that stuff their back bench slots with aging ex-regulars). As always, the depth charts here are drawn from a number of sources and modified to list the guys who will do the work (e.g., if there are two guys battling for a fifth starter spot I’ll often list one of them with the relievers if I think they’ll both end up pitching), but I take responsibility for any errors. It’s still a fluid time for rosters.
One final methodological note: Dave Studeman and others have suggested that a better method would look at WSAB, which measures marginal contributions and thus better adjusts for playing time. The short answer is that I fiddled a bit with WSAB but just didn’t have the time this year to incorporate it in the system. Next year I may try something new in that regard.
Without further ado, we start with the AL East, where time and chance happeneth to no one; the race is always to the swift, the battle always to the strong.
The Hated Yankees
Raw EWSL: 297.00 (99 W)
Adjusted: 317.17 (106 W)
Age-Adj.: 280.18 (93 W)

Other pitchers we are likely to see include Tanyan Sturtze and, if he gets healthy enough to pitch this season, Octavio Dotel. Carl Pavano is clearly the key guy on this team; a solid year from Pavano gives them three dependable starters, with a chance for 4 if Wang holds up (no, I don’t expect the fairy godmother to give Chacon and Small a new set of ball gowns this season), and could take the pressure off a bullpen that yet again is shaky behind the sandman. On offense, the Yanks are 8 men and out once again, with the decrepit Bernie eating up at bats and minimal help from the bench. And, of course, this is an old, old team.
With Bonds ailing last season and Palmeiro having hung it up, we haven’t yet had a test of a guy with the kind of steroids bullseye Sheffield now has painted on him; 2006 will be that test, and we’ll see if Sheff proves that he’s still impervious both to age and to the media. Long term, of course, if it turns out that a lot of the performances by mid/late-30s slugging of the past decade have been steroids-driven, and those performances don’t hold up in the future under the new testing regimes (two big ifs), that could adversely impact Steinbrenner’s business model of buying established over-30 veterans.
I’m not optimistic about Cano, who came into camp out of shape and isn’t the most disciplined player to start with.
Boston Red Sox
Raw EWSL: 289.17 (96 W)
Adjusted: 292.00 (97 W)
Age-Adj.: 269.77 (90 W)

I could easily have listed Willie Harris or Tony Graffanino instead of Cora, but the results would be similar. Ditto for whether you consider Youkilis or Snow as the #1 guy at first. I imagine that the Pena deal squeezes Dustan Mohr out of the picture.
Will Loretta still be this good? Coming back from injuries gets harder at his age, but a full recovery to 20+ Win Share territory would be a big help for this team. And for those of you who haven’t followed the offseason moves that carefully, that’s the Florida Alex Gonzalez, not the one who used to play for the Blue Jays.
This is an even older pitching staff than the Yankees, and with even more question marks, but the Sox may have more alternatives to fall back on. I’ll be surprised if we don’t see Craig Hansen pitching important innings by July, and Papelbon in the rotation at some point.
Toronto Blue Jays
Raw EWSL: 222.50 (74 W)
Adjusted: 238.00 (79 W)
Age-Adj.: 224.76 (75 W)

Though the Jays are now making happy noises about Eric Hinske beating out Rios and Johnson, your guess is as good as mine as to who will end up with the playing time. The Jays and their fans may talk themselves into thinking this is a credible contender, but all you need to do is look at the DH and outfield corner slots to see why this is still a second-rate team; none of those guys is a championship-caliber regular.
One of the drawbacks of EWSL is the mechanical nature of the age adjustments; I don’t seriously expect Gustavo Chacin to take that big a step forward in 2006 (he’s probably less than a 50/50 bet to tread water). But even if that is balanced by what I regard as lowball figures for Halladay, Burnett and especially Ryan, it is a useful reminder that the Jays will need those guys to step up from what they’ve done thus far, at least in terms of Halladay and Burnett’s durability.
Baltimore Orioles
Raw EWSL: 229.83 (77 W)
Adjusted: 235.33 (78 W)
Age-Adj.: 211.61 (70 W)

Parrish and Williams are hurt; I should go back and fix the numbers to replace Parrish with Eric DuBose, but that will have to wait until I have a free minute, and it only makes a slight difference in the bottom line.
As with Loretta, I’m skeptical that Roberts will match his EWSL, especially given the severity of Roberts’ injury. And as with the Jays, even if Corey Patterson comes up with a good year, the 1B/LF situation in Baltimore is pretty desperate. Who expected Jeff Conine to still be a regular or semi-regular at 40?
Cabrera, Bedard and Chen should be a good test case for Leo Mazzone.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Raw EWSL: 152.33 (51 W)
Adjusted: 169.80 (57 W)
Age-Adj.: 181.17 (60 W)

A good roundup of what’s happening with Tampa’s roster battles can be found here. I probably should have listed Nick Green instead of Branyan. On the other hand, the EWSL totals would be higher if I listed Sean Burroughs, who is apparently on the verge of getting cut.
Other than Travis Lee, the Devil Rays lineup and bench don’t look that terrible, especially when you project out more playing time for Baldelli, Gomes and possibly Gathright and add in BJ Upton – who may already be their best hitter but still lacks a fixed position unless he can redeem himself at shortstop in AAA – and, by season’s end, possibly even Delmon Young in place of Gathright.
But beyond Scott (gag, cough, retch) Kazmir, the pitching to carry the AL East’s long-time doormats to adequacy just isn’t here.
You can compare the prior AL East roundups for 2004 here and 2005 here.