Over the course of time, those interactions will balance out — Jeter is a .319 hitter against the Red Sox starting rotation, comparing favorably with his .314 career mark.
In the upheaval of offseasons, players come and go to and from the division. It gives guys like Josh Beckett and Jon Lester and the rest of the staff a new set of regular combatants. In some ways that’s good. In others it can take away an easy out.
This is not a forecast of how each starter will do in the 2011 season. It is simply a look at how some of the division’s new faces, and those that have left it, could affect matchups with Red Sox starters:
Josh Beckett
This is one guy happy with the trade that sent Vernon Wells from Toronto to Anaheim. Wells is 12-for-38 (.316) in his career against Beckett. Five of the hits are homers and four are doubles. Throw in five walks and Wells owns an OPS of 1.225 vs. the Red Sox righty. Much of the damage was done in 2006, when Wells gave Beckett a rude introduction to the AL by hammering four home runs off of him.
In part due to what Wells has done against him, Beckett has a 7.03 ERA in 14 career starts vs. Toronto. Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera, the two players the Blue Jays got in the swap, are only 3-for-27 (.111) with a double off Beckett. He’ll take that trade-off any day. Also, former Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay, who was 13-for-38 (.342) with six walks in their meetings, is gone to Pittsburgh.
Three new faces in Baltimore — Derrek Lee, J.J. Hardy and Mark Reynolds — are 7-for-15 with three homers off Beckett.
Beckett has never faced Manny Ramirez. Johnny Damon is 14-for-48 (.292) against Beckett.
Jon Lester
There will be no shortage of prognosticators tabbing Lester as the 2011 Cy Young Award winner. One factor in his favor is the departure from the division of a whole host of guys he hated to face. Overbay, Ty Wigginton, Carlos Pena, John Buck and Jason Bartlett, each of whom is now in the National League, are a combined 41-for-123 (.333) with eight home runs, 25 RBIs and 18 walks against Lester.
Lester would love to still get a crack at Wells, who is a .179 (5-for-28) hitter vs. the southpaw.
John Lackey
Perhaps no one is as thrilled with the Red Sox’ additions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez as Lackey, who won’t have to face them anytime soon. Crawford was 21-for-45 (.467) with six extra-base hits, nine RBIs and five steals against Lackey. Interestingly, Lackey never walked him. Not once.
Gonzalez was 6-for-14 (.429) with a walk and four RBIs vs. Lackey.
Unfortunately for Lackey, those two are largely replaced by Damon and Ramirez, who join Tampa Bay with a combined 31-for-83 (.373) mark against him. Ramirez, with five home runs and 10 walks in limited action against Lackey, has an otherworldly 1.485 OPS in their matchups.
Clay Buchholz
His experience is limited so Buchholz doesn’t have a long history with too many guys. That said, he’ll be sorry to see less of Wells (5-for-22, no home runs), Bartlett (4-20, five Ks) and Pena (2-for-15).
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Crawford owned Matsuzaka, going 9-for-23 (.391) with four doubles against him, so that’s no longer an issue. Pena also had his successes, mostly with the base on balls — he drew 10 of them in just 35 plate appearances vs. Matsuzaka.
Marcus Thames, the former Yankee who is now a Dodger, had a homer and a double in five at-bats against Matsuzaka. Napoli, Rivera and Rajai Davis, the three new Blue Jays, are a collective 2-for-14 (.143) vs. the Japanese right-hander.
