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In our final NY v. BOS v. TAM segment, we look at the fielding prowess of each team, position-by-position.

Career & 2009 UZR/150 are given for each position player except for Catcher, as UZR is not yet calculated for backstops. In lieu of UZR, career & 2009 Range Factor per 9 innings and Caught Stealing % is given.

C:
Navarro/Shoppach
RF/9 Career: 9.28/6.66
RF/9 2009: 7.61/6.79
CS% Career: 30/27
CS% 2009: 27/23

Posada
RF/9 Career: 7.47
RF/9 2009: 7.98
CS% Career: 29
CS% 2009: 28

Navarro is the best fielding catcher here. He’s in the Rays lineup despite his bat, whereas the others are relied upon to produce offensively. While Shoppach is certainly worse than average behind the plate, the fact that he will most likely split time or even play less than Navarro gives the Rays the nod here.

Martinez has always had the reputation for being a really good hitter that happens to catch and for good reason. His lack of ability as a catcher has caused teams to try and hide him at first base, but with Youkilis as the Sox full-time first baseman, there’s nowhere else to put him.

We always wonder when age will catch up to Posada. He’s been an adequate fielding catcher for a long time, but when will he starting paying his AARP membership costs?

Advantage: Rays

1B:
Pena – Career: -2.7, 2009: -6.2
Youkilis – Career: 6.5, 2009: 15.2
Teixeira – Career: 1.7, 2009: -4.1

As a slugger who’s paid to hit HRs, Pena does just that and not a whole lot else. UZR seems to be undecided about him as his yearly ratings have fluctuated quite a bit. He’s probably an average to below average fielder and nothing about his play at first jumps out at you.

Converting from third to first has been nice to this colossal a-hole. He was already a solid fielder at the hot corner and that has translated to first base with terrific range and a sound glove. His chin bush also makes Josh Beckett jealous.

The Texy Boy has a reputation for being one of the finest fielding first basemen in the league. While the metrics say he's been above-average for his career, they don't confirm what the beatwriters say when they wet their pants over him. Doesn’t it seem like he has to dive for an awful lot of ground balls that are hit right near him? His range definitely leaves something to be desired (I'm sure I'll get death threats for saying this).

Advantage: Red Sox

2B:
Rodriguez – Career: -0.9 in only 56 career games
Pedroia – Career: 7.4, 2009: 10.6
Cano – Career: -5.4, 2009: -5.2

With Rodriguez, we have our first appearance of the small sample size police. Angels fans will tell you that S-Rod was quite the slick fielder when he filled in for Howie Kendrick in 2008. For now, let’s say he’s better than Cano but not as good as Pedroia. Ben Zobrist will also fill in at 2nd where he’s played well in 99 career games.

The king of Napoleon Syndrome has led the league in getting pissed off at people sliding too hard into second every year since 2007. But that’s just part of what makes Brett's brother an elite fielder at second base. Ask any Red Sox fan and they’ll tell you that he works harder than anybody else, has tons of guts, a pair of brass balls, ice water in his veins, he eats lightning and craps thunder, and has miles and miles and miles of heart.

Some Yankee fans thought Robinson Cano should have won a gold glove last year. We say, "you so crazy." Robbie may not kill the Yanks with his glove but he certainly doesn’t help them at all. He’s got a general stiffness about him in the field that appears to hurt his range and sometimes he plays second like he's on the And-1 Tour. The metrics back that up, as according to UZR, he has cost the Yankees more than 16 runs due to poor range over the course of his career. If he was as good in the field as he is in postgame interviews, it would put a whole new paint job on things.

Advantage: Red Sox

SS:
Bartlett – Career: 8.4, 2009: -6.8
Scutaro – Career: -2.9, 2009: 1.0
Jeter – Career: -4.6, 2009: 8.4

Bartlett’s UZR has decreased every year since his rookie season, but last year he was especially hurt by a flukish -4.0 in Double Play Runs. At 30 years old, he's not nearly as old as his counterparts, so improved fielding is not beyond the realm of possibilities for him this year.

Theo Epstein's latest attempt at SS has played all over the field in his career, but he will man the position he played with the Blue Jays in 2009. Unfortunately for him and the Red Sox, his weakest infield position is shortstop. The 34-year old has had below average range at the position his entire career and age will not help that at all. Adrian Beltre may hide his range problems by intercepting balls in front of his backhand-side this year.

Did you watch Sesame Street when you were a kid? Which of these things is not like the others? -0.3, -3.8, -0.4, -12.6, -7.2, -16.7, -0.7, 8.4. Those are The Captain’s UZR/150 ratings in consecutive years since 2002. If math isn’t your thing that last one (2009) is positive while the others are negative. Jeter shut everybody up last year with stellar play in the field. Some in the Yankee organization say it was because of improved positioning and increased lateral quickness training. Whatever it was, we hope he can keep it up. Key word, hope.

Advantage: Rays

3B:
Longoria – Career: 19.6, 2009: 19.2
Beltre – Career: 13.6, 2009: 21.0
A-Rod – Career: -2.2, 2009: -11.7

Longoria is hands-down the best young star in the game and his glove work has a lot to do with that. His play at the hot corner over the last two seasons has been nothing less than brilliant and he will be an elite third baseman for many years to come.

Yo Adrian Beltre has been the gold standard at third for about 10 years now. At the age of 31, his ridiculous range shows no signs of slowing down. No third baseman in the league right now has been as consistently good as Beltre in the field.

Once one of the top shortstops in MLB, a switch to third, bulking up, age, and a bum hip have caused A-Rod’s play in the field to deteriorate significantly. The good news is that with a clean bill of health now, his range should improve and save the Yanks a few more runs. The bad news is that Kate Hudson is gone, Madonna may be lurking in the shadows of Yankee Stadium, and the gap between A-Rod and his counterparts here is larger than the gap for any one player at any other position.

Advantage: Red Sox

LF:
Crawford – Career: 14.4, 2009: 17.5
Ellsbury – Career: 21.8 in only 80 career games in LF
Gardner – Career: 36.8 in only 17 career games in LF

Hot Carl has the reputation of being the best left fielders in the league. While DeJesus may give him a run for his money, it’s hard to argue with that reputation. With tons of speed he can cover ground that most other outfielders can’t.

The Boy Wonder is wisely moving Ellsbury to left from center this season. He’s played well there in limited action, and with Cameron in center that trend should continue as he will have even less ground to cover.

The sad news broke this week that Gardner will be in left field and Granderson in center. However, what this gives the Yankees is a proven top notch center fielder playing left field where he should outplay the competition. Ellsbury has been below average in center for his career, and Crawford has never really been given a chance there -- an indication that maybe the Rays wouldn’t trust him there on an everyday basis. So what are we saying? Gardner is the best outfielder of these three and will play the best left field.

Advantage: Yankees

CF:
Upton – Career: 9.7, 2009: 11.8
Cameron – Career: 5.7, 2009: 10.3
Granderson – Career: 4.9, 2009: 1.6

Bossman Jr. entered the league as a hitter with power and a huge upside that happened to play the infield. After making Chuck Knoblauch look good, he took his superb athleticism and turned himself into one of the best center fielders in the league. He’ll turn just 26 during this season and should hang on to that description for a while.

Over the last 2 years, the 37-year old Cameron continues to flex in center. Fenway Park does has an awkward CF and you have to wonder if Father Time will come calling at some point.

C-Grand's defensive metrics over the last two years have been well-below what he put up in his first two full seasons in the bigs (in which he was a top 4 center fielder). You can blame injuries in 2008, but the bottom line is that his play in center has not been trending in the right direction -- making a switch to LF that much more logical. But que sera, sera. At least he will have the range of Gardner helping him to his right and he’ll be moving from the spacious Comerica Park to the slightly less spacious Yankee Stadium. Regardless, he’s the weakest centerfielder of this bunch.

Advantage: Rays

RF:
Zobrist – Career: 40.2 in only 61 career games in RF
Drew – Career: 7.4, 2009: 15.7
Swisher – Career: 6.0, 2009: -1.2

As a super-utility guy, Zobrist has played all over the diamond and shown flashes of brilliance with the leather at certain spots. Right field is one of those, but we have to ring the small sample size bell. While he may have a good glove out there, it’s too soon to gauge just how good it is.

Staying on the field has been a problem for Nancy Drew his whole career, but when he’s on it he plays it pretty well. All the time off he’s had has seemed to serve him well as age isn’t hurting him. He’s shown some of the best range of his career over the past two seasons. Assuming he holds up, the Red Sox should expect another fine season in the field from him.

Most people assume Nick Swisher can’t field because he looks rather portly in a baseball uniform. Truth is he’s a pretty decent corner outfielder. He may take odd routes and look goofy out there at times, but he gets solid range out of his stocky body and has even been asked to play center throughout his career. The South Bronx could certainly do worse than Nick Swisher in right field.

Advantage: Red Sox

So there you have it, it’s no surprise that the Yankee’s gloves are no match against a young team built on speed and athleticism and a team that spent a good part of the off-season looking to improve their shoddy fielding from last year. Who’s better between the Rays and Red Sox? Very tough call, but unlike Rocky and Apollo, we’ll go with the beauty before age and take the Rays.

Will Derek impress with the glove again this season?