No, they didn’t do that “just because” the Red Sox were worse. But the original point (not made by me) is that it’s easier for a team to make a big leap in a year where the other teams in the division have become relatively weak than it is to do when they’re relatively strong. That’s all.
And just a technical point about how close those division winning percentages are. Don’t forget that 76 of 162 games are against divisional opponents and the wining percentage in those games is always going to be .500. If you look only at the 86 games outside the division, the year to year winning percentage differences are greater. Roughly speaking, each extra win is equal to .003.
While Lamar may be a unique case because of his running load, other running QBs have not aged worse than pocket QBs. And Lamar has outproduced a lot of them as a passer.
I still don't really think that aging slows you down per se, it just makes recovery longer. That is a bigger problem for a RB because a RB still takes way more carries than Lamar.
That said, i think we are all assuming that he will use his time now to develop his pocket skills so that later when he can't rely on his legs as frequently, he can still be a passer more consistently. I understand if you're not ready ready to make that assumption, but given the difficulty in finding a franchise qb, I am.
Mancini gets right of first refusal for any Grapefruit 1B reps he wants, right?
Maybe Hyde gets a text thread going among the three of them so by breakfast they all know what's up this afternoon.
Chris Shaw may or may not be in the list.
Astros, Cubs and Red Sox all have those recent rings (couldn't say if they had Best 5-Year Record in their League), and I think those give cover to re-do those bottom lines on the rolling 7-10 year balance sheet. We have to beat $300M of Yankees three years out, but the Red Sox really can't pitch and Xander's shortstop clock strikes 30 in the not too distant future. It'll be tougher if Devers (and Vlad) stay trim.
The 2023-2024 Yankees do already have almost $100M of it committed to Stanton, Hicks, LeMahieu, and then Cole much more productively. We'll see if Judge gets a Springer-ish AAV, or Voit keeps getting tendered.
I think I think a healed up Chris Sale is more of a trade acquisition possibility than someone tormenting us in 2023.