Going to a new league and possibly getting hit hard in the AL East could cost him millions as a FA. except this was about him being traded to boston, which is one of the AL East teams that hits pitchers hard. here's the rankings in OPS of the other AL East teams: Yankees: 1st (.802) Toronto: 9th (.749) Baltimore: 21st (.708) Tampa: 24th (.692) so basically one really good offense, one good offense, and then two lousy offenses. unless he ends up facing the yankees like 5 times in 10 starts, i fail to see how he's going to lose out much. That's true, but you also need to figure in that he doesn't know the AL hitters and that he will be facing other AL teams with the DH. Everything I've seen makes it sound like he prefers staying in the NL. Of course, I suppose he could change his mind if the RS offered him a big contract extension. Switching leagues typically seems to help pitchers for a while. Hitters are the ones who struggle.