Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees: 3 early-season AL East thoughts

Three weeks into the 2023 season in the American League East, the Tampa Bay Rays have separated themselves from the four other teams, but the season is young and the standings will look different than they do today when the regular season comes to an end on Oct. 1.

In the first three weeks, there have been some surprises and disappointments, while teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are already dealing with key injuries. Giancarlo Stanton, really to the surprise of nobody who has struggled to stay healthy in his time in the Bronx, is going to be out for up to six weeks according to manager Aaron Boone with a hamstring injury.

One of the biggest surprises through the first week of the season was the start Adam Duvall had with the Red Sox in center field. Batting fourth, he was hands down their best hitter and most productive hitter in the lineup for Alex Cora. His injury leaves a void, but after getting swept by the Rays last week, they came home and took advantage of the Los Angeles Angels in two by winning three out of four and then rallying to beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4, in 10 innings on Tuesday night.

In what many consider to be the best division in baseball, there has been no bigger surprise in Major League Baseball so far than Kevin Cash’s Rays. This is where we will start with some random thoughts about the AL East through three weeks.

Rays: Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen have been strong in Tampa’s rotation

The Rays began the season winning their first 13 games and currently sit at 16-3 following winning two out of three over the Cincinnati Reds this week on the road. Their offense has been one of their strengths this season, but their pitching has been just as good with Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen leading the way.

It should come as no surprise that McClanahan is off to the start he is this season. He’s 4-0 with a 1.57 ERA in 23 innings pitched and batters are just hitting .185 off of him. After 13 consecutive wins to begin the season, Tampa Bay hit its first bumps in the season last weekend, losing the first two games of the season against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Rays were looking to avoid being swept in Canada and McClanahan came to the rescue by scattering four hits, striking out six, and allowing just one run in six innings of work in an 8-1 win. It would not be surprising to see him make his second straight All-Star appearance this summer.

Rasmussen has been just as good as McClanahan early this season with a 3-1 record and a 2.01 ERA in 22.1 innings. Opponents are hitting just .182 this season off of him and he has a 0.94 WHIP with 26 strikeouts. In 28 starts last season, he went 11-7, but this season he is solidifying himself at the top of the rotation.

Tampa Bay has been putting up some runs early this season, but their pitching has been just as good and will be a big key as the season goes along.

Red Sox: veteran roster additions not looking like it’s going to work out

If there has been one common theme in the Chaim Bloom era in Boston, it’s been finding veterans on cheap deals to fill in the pitching rotation. Over the winter, he took it to another level by letting Nathan Eovaldi leave in free agency and they basically replaced him with Corey Kluber, while also signing James Paxton. What could go wrong?

Well, just about anything that could have gone wrong, has gone wrong for the Red Sox. Kluber looks like someone who is clearly on the backend of his career and for some strange reason, he was named the Opening Day starter over Chris Sale. Whether that was Alex Cora making the decision or Bloom, it was a head-scratcher then and it is still one now.

In four starts, he has a woeful 8.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched and he has allowed 19 hits and 17 earned runs. Six of his 19 hits have been home runs. It has not been anything like what the Red Sox were hoping when they signed him last off-season.

He’s not only not giving the Red Sox a chance in any of the starts, but he’s been putting behind early in the game and there are only so many times you can dig an early hole and expect to get out of it. How much longer will he be on the roster?

To compound matters, Paxton had an outing for the Worcester Woo Sox in Triple-A Wednesday night that is not exactly promising. In two-thirds of an inning against Lehigh Valley out of the bullpen, he gave up five hits, seven earned runs, and walked two. He faced just nine batters. Talk about adding more problems to a pitching staff that is not built to be a contender.

The Red Sox signing pitchers who still think they have something left is not working out well and it’s going to bury them in the standings by Memorial Day. It’s hard to believe that the once big-spending Boston Red Sox are in this situation and model in 2023.