2013 Jays vs Yankees In Their Prime

Sep 28, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (2) and third baseman Alex Rodriguez (13) look on from the dugout against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 11-4. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY SportsAll offseason people said one of the reasons the Toronto Blue Jays went all in trying to contend is that there was an opportunity to win the AL East because the Yankees and Red Sox weren’t as great as they’ve been in the past.

As a Jays fan you can’t help but feel offended by that idea because it feels like the 2013 Jays would be able to compete with any team in baseball history.

So with the Yankees in town can the 2013 Jays even compare to the Yankees in their prime.

First off at 3rd base Brett Lawrie is never going to touch A-Rod’s career. That can be assumed.

Comparing Robinson Cano to Maicer Izturis or Emilio Bonifacio would be even more ridiculous.

You also can’t even compare J.P. Arencibia to Jorge Posada. Even Posada at his worst was better than Arencibia.

Curtis Granderson is more accomplished than Colby Rasmus. If Rasmus ever got his act together one of these years you might be able to compare the two but right now Granderson wins at center field by a long shot.

It doesn’t matter who the Yankees DH was/is/will be he’ll be better than Adam Lind.

So the Yankees hands down were/are better than the Jays at 5 positions. So how about the rest of the positions?

It turns out Brett Gardner had a 6 WAR season in 2010 with a 383 on base percentage and a 4.9 WAR season in 2011 with a 345 on base percentage. Gardner was injured in 2012 so his last 2 seasons are better than Melky’s last 2 seasons. So I guess Gardner would have the leg up on Melky as of right now…things you learn writing a post!

So the Yankees in their prime are better at 6 positions I guess.

At 1st base Encarnacion only has 1 big season under his belt but if he continues being the hitter he was in 2012 you could compare him with Mark Teixeira. That remains to be seen. If we were to only compare their careers up to now Teixeira wins by miles.

Did you ever think the Blue Jays would have a shortstop comparable to Derek Jeter in your life? If you watched every Jays game before Jose Reyes got injured you know he’s the real deal. Reyes obviously isn’t better than Jeter in his prime but he’s not worse.

The one position the Jays win at hands down is right field with Jose Bautista. Bautista is better than Nick Swisher. I’ll also take Bautista over Ichiro in his prime which I wouldn’t do for the majority of players.

Well this ended up being a bad depressing topic that didn’t make the 2013 Jays look very good. Makes you wonder if the last few years of “mediocre” Jays teams were really mediocre or if the Yankees were just that much better than everyone else. Especially if the “World Series favorites” 2013 Jays can’t even compare.

Oh well they had to get old and injury prone sometime, let’s hope the Jays can take advantage!