Schilling vs. Vazquez

Now that the Yankees have retaliated, it seems to make sense to compare the two moves, the Sox getting Curt Schilling, and the Yanks getting Javier Vazquez. Schilling more or less takes the place of John Burkett, while Vazquez does the same for Roger Clemens. That obviously leans towards the Sox's advantage, but how much? I went over to Baseball Prospectus, where they have some unique stats, including support-neutral won-loss records, which to give an oversimplistic description, gives the hypothetical won-loss stats for pitchers assuming that they had to face completely average circumstances. Here are the records for the four:

Vazquez 16.0 wins and 8.5 losses
Clemens 14.2 wins and 9.6 losses

Schilling 12.8 wins and 4.9 losses
Burkett 9.1 wins and 11.2 losses

The Yankees would appear to pick up one win, while the Sox seem to gain about five. There have been other moves, of course. The Yankees will be adding Gary Sheffield, have given up on Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera, and added Paul Quantrill, Tom Gordon, and Felix Heredia to their bullpen. The Yankees are better, but significantly? I see a very expensive roster that was largely born during the hippy years, which is not a good thing. What is their insurance now if Jason Giambi goes down? And how come it's taking so damn long to sign Andy Pettite? Is David Wells coming back, and does he have anything left?

As a Sox fan, I sleep well these days, with dreams of ARod dancing through my head.

Not my most complete entry ever, but hey, not bad seeing I've spent some time on the bench.

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