What team has the best pitching (starting & relief) in the Al East?

Well I will say it would be closer between the Yankees and Redsox. Rays are still good but not as good as the Red Sox. I'm going to use each pitcher's 2008 Wins-Loses and ERA, but only ERA for the bullpen to compare the two teams. I'm taking out Chase Wright because he isn't in the bullpern and I'm putting Phil Coke in.

Yankees Rotation:

CC Cabathia: 17-10 2.70

A.J. Burnett: 18-10 4.07

Chien-Ming Wang: 8-2 4.07

Joba Chamberlain: 4-3 2.60

Phil Hughes: 0-4 6.62

Bullpen:

Mariano Rivera: 1.40

Edwar Ramirez: 3.90

Phil Coke: 0.61

Jose Veras: 3.59

Damaso Marte: 4.02

Brian Bruney: 1.83

David Robertson: 5.34

Redsox Rotation:

Josh Beckett: 12-10 4.03

Jon Lester: 16-6 3.21

Daisuke Matsuzaka: 18-3 2.90

Tim Wakefield: 10-11 4.13

Brad Penny: 6-9 6.27

John Smoltz: 3-2 2.57

Bullpen:

Jon Papelbon: 2.34

Manny Delcarmen: 3.27

Ramon Ramirez: 2.64

Takashi Saito: 2.49

David Aardsma: 5.55

Javier Lopez: 2.43

Hideki Okajima: 2.61

Justin Masterson: 3.16

Yankees Rotation totals:

W-L

47-29

ERA

4.01

Yankees Bullpen:

ERA

2.95

Together: 3.48

Redsox Rotation w/ Penny:

W-L

62-39

ERA

4.11

W/ Smoltz

W-L

58-32

ERA

3.68

Redsox Bullpen:

ERA

3.06

Together: 3.37

So going by the stats of last year despite the injuries the redsox have the slight edge in ERA so I would say its really close this year.

Why would you not include Toronto? If you check the stats, you'll see that they had the best pitching the AL by far last season:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_2008....

Granted, they've now lost Burnett and Marcum may not make it back all season, but with their fantastic bullpen and a top three of Hallday, McGowan and Litsch, they'll likely be as good as the other staffs you've mentioned. Their offense won't score enough to win, but they won't lose many games because of pitching.

Edit - You're likely right about a dropoff from the Jays. And even if they get amazing pitching, they still won't score enough runs.....we're headed for fourth place.

Yankees all the way man. The bullpen was actually one of the teams greatest strengths last year, and they have pretty much all the same guys, and now you throw in the best rotation in the division on top of that! The Sox are hoping the 3 guys they just signed can actually do their jobs well coming off injuries, which is questionable, thats the only reason I dont have them on the level with the Yankees.

I would say the Red Sox, but they could easily be the worst or be the best by a long shot between the three. If Beckett keeps this every other good year thing going then it will be the Red Sox for sure, or maybe even if he has a average year they could be the best. A lot of it depends how Brad Penny and John Smoltz do. If they stay healthy also they will probably be the best. The best case scenario for the Red Sox is(and all of these will not happen but...)

- Josh Beckett plays like a Cy Young Candidate

- Dice K plays the same but more consistent

- Jon Lester plays the same( possibly even better)

- John Smoltz and Brad Penny are healthy the whole year

- Clay Bucholz play like he did his rookie season

- Justin Masterson plays like last year( starter or reliever)

Again not all of these will happen!

Someone loves the Rays... let's do a comparison LF jennngs < Crawford 1-0 sox not even close C John Jaso = Salty thats about even RF Zobrist > Drew 1-1 thats only if zobrist returns to 09 form 3B Longoria < Youkilis Lets be real, gold glove defense with .300 avg 30 hrs and 100 rbi 2-1 sox DH Joyce < Ortiz not even close 3-1 sox CF Upton < Ellsbury 4-1 sox, ells is way faster, better at defense and hits for a higher avg 2B Rodriguez <<< Pedroia 5-1 sox that goes without saying, best all around 2B in recent history 1B Johnson < Gonzalez 6-1 sox come on not even close again SS Brignac < Scutaro 7-1 sox ........ Pitching Price < Clay 2nd best era in the AL only to King Felix 8-1 sox Hellickson < Lester 9-1 sox Garza < Beckett if beckett returns to form he is a cy young candidate, dont forget he had 20 wins a couple years aog 10-1 sox Shields < Lackey It appears you forget he was a cy young candidate a few years ago and had a 3.2 era just 2 years ago 11-1 Davis > Dice-K Dice-K sucks and i accept that 11-2 sox Rays pen = Sox pen Red sox are clearly the better team

Well...

I think the starting rotation of both the yanks and the sox are pretty even... the yanks have 3 proven aces in their top 3 starters and 2 with little experience... (unless they resigned Andy P.) The Sox has a pretty experienced and reliable rotation provided Penny and Smoltz are healthy. But they do have Masterson and Buchholz who can step in anytime. As for the Bullpen, the sox have a stronger and deeper bullpen.

This is gonna be an interesting season...

Well, it IS NOT the Yankees. Sabathia is back in the AL where he's been seen but will still be effective, Burnett & Wang have been injured, so who knows. Chamberlain (my prediction) will blow his arm out as a starter and Hughes/Acevedo are unproven.

Boston helped themselves with Penny- also injury prown, and Smoltz who can fill any role needed. Plus they dumped Timlin.

Top to bottom, I think the Rays have the best OVERALL pitching staff. The 4 starters from last year all won about 14 games each and the only question in the pen is Percival. All the other relievers can come in at any time with the only question is Nelson.

Bottom line, though, is winning games. I'm a Rays but I still think Boston is the team to beat.

The Red Sox hands down. I like the Rays relief pitching too. It's a tossup to be honest between the Red Sox and Rays. But once again I will go with my Red Sox.

I think all 3 teams have awesome starting rotations -- too close to call. Putting Masterson in the bullpen is huge for the Red Sox. After signing Saito, they have by far the best bullpen. The Yankees are 2nd and the Rays are the weakest.

i think the Yankees have the best rotation, but they need a other lefty to be the best bullpen because Marte wasn't effective like he was in the national league. But the Yankees will be the best bullpen if they do pick up a lefty. As of right now Boston has the best bullpen.