Time for a Counter?

With their surprising activities Friday night the Yankees firmly threw down a gauntlet in the AL East. The question has been raised if the Sox need to counter the Yankees' machinations. When asked about the Yankee moves Boston skipper Bobby Valentine noted that they "probably" upgraded the Yanks.Tim Britton in the above quoted piece (“probably”) made an excellent point. He noted that while the additions of Pineda and Kuroda appear to be substantial upgrades on paper on the field they may be less meaningful.In 2011 the Yanks got 26 starts out of Bartolo Colon with an ERA+ of 111. It is unlikely that Pineda, will represent a dramatic upgrade there though he should be expected to give more than the 164.1 innings Colon gave.Kuroda will be replacing A.J. Burnett though and here there should be some upgrade with Burnett having provided an ERA+ of 86 over 32 starts. However, Kuroda is projected by one measure to give just a 102 ERA+ which while good, is hardly earth-s...