Monday, January 12, 2015

FanGraphs: Sox Top The Majors In 'Deep Depth'

After the disastrous 2012 season, Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino said the team would be pursuing "deep depth" during the off-season. That's exactly what Ben Cherington did and the result was the franchise's eighth World Series Championship in 2013. After another bummer of a year in 2014, it appears that Lucchino's prescription is back. According to the authoritative FanGraphs.com, the Red Sox are number one in major league baseball in the "amount of depth" on their current roster. The site's Jeff Sullivan put together the analysis that measures how many players each team has on the roster of at least a projected 1.0 WAR (excluding bullpens). Amazingly, Boston tallies 24 such players—four ahead of the Pirates and Twins (yes, the Twins!). The A's, Mariners and Yankees follow next on the list—with the Braves and Phillies bringing up the rear. It's an interesting analysis and suggests the Sox may be better positioned than we think in the watered-down AL East.