Trying To Exorcise The Demons

The Devil has been given his walking papers in Tampa. Next year, Florida's American League franchise will be known only as the "Rays."

Unfortunately, the Tampa Bay Rays are now the only rhyming team in all of baseball, and of course the reality is, they could call themselves the Tampa Bay Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Canadiens, or the Tampa Bay Silly Nannies (Family Guy reference) but until they get some pitching to compliment Scott Kazmir, they're not going to get any better.

I do see what Tampa is trying to do though, and I must admit, I don't hate it. They're trying to start fresh...trying to reinvent a team that doesn't have much of an identity yet. Will the new hats and jerseys work? Not by themselves they won't. But at least the team isn't content to idle along.

This is the only franchise in baseball with a winning percentage below .400. This is a franchise that in 10 seasons, has lost 95 or more games a total of seven times, has never finished higher than 4th in the division, and has never won 71 games. They can only go up from here.

And there are teams with a more bleak outlook for 2008. In addition to Kazmir, the Rays will return Carl Crawford, promising up-and-comers B.J. Upton and Delmon Young, closer Al Reyes, and likely, newly anointed Silver Slugger winner Carlos Pena. They might not be a playoff team any time soon, but they won't be this bad for too much longer...no matter what you call them.

M-Cab...The New A-Rod?

Apparently the Marlins and Yankees are talking about it, although given that New York doesn't appear to be interested in parting with Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, I don't see why Florida would trade their 24-year-old superstar to the Yanks, even though he is a free agent at the end of '08.

There's no question this guy is a franchise cornerstone, though. In four and a half big league seasons, he's already a career .313 hitter with 138 homeruns, 523 RBI, and an OPS of .930. If he stays put and Johan Santana does too, the '08 trading deadline has the potential to be absolutely nuts!

Is He Worth The Weight?

Curt Schilling resigned with the Boston Red Sox today for $8 million dollars plus a lot more, potentially, in incentives. He turns 41 next week, so in that regard, $8M+ seems like the Sox got ripped off. But given that he is (a) no ordinary 41-year-old, (b) clearly still a dominating postseason performer, and (c) easily the best free agent starter on the market, I'd say the Sox did just fine.

What I find, curious I guess, is one particular clause in Schilling's deal. It says he can get an extra $2 million dollars next season if he successfully passes 6 monthly weigh-ins.

My question is, why would a veteran starting pitcher, who clearly needs to rely on conditioning, endurance, and location at this stage in his career, need financial motivation to stay fit?

The story I saw didn't say what Schilling needs to weigh to earn his bonuses, but on his ESPN.com bio page, he's listed at 6'5'', 235 pounds. It also says his middle name is "Montague." Who knew?

First Team, All-Free-Agent

The deadline to file for free agency is November 13 and many players already have. Here's a look at some of the top names.

Catcher: Jorge Posada, Paul LoDuca, Michael Barrett, Yorvit Torrealba

First Base: Sean Casey, Brad Wilkerson

Seconod Base: Luis Castillo, Kaz Matsui

Shortstop: David Eckstein, Mark Loretta

Third Base: Alex Rodriguez, Pedro Feliz, Corey Koskie, Mike Lamb, Abraham Nunez

Outfield: Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Aaron Rowand, Barry Bonds, Mike Cameron, Corey Patterson, Shawn Green, Cliff Floyd, Geoff Jenkins

Designated Hitter: Mike Piazza, Mike Sweeney, Sammy Sosa

Starting Pitcher: Curt Schilling, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia, Livan Hernandez, Josh Fogg, Kenny Rogers, Tom Glavine, Jeff Weaver, Kip Wells

Relief Pitcher: Mariano Rivera, Francisco Cordero, Todd Jones, Eric Gagne, JC Romero, Kerry Wood

Based on that, I would have to say the starting lineup of best available free agents would look something like this...

SS David Eckstein
LF Aaron Rowand
CF Torii Hunter
3b Alex Rodriguez
C Jorge Posada
RF Andruw Jones
1b Sean Casey
DH Mike Piazza
2b Luis Castillo

SP Cust Schilling
SP Bartolo Colon
SP Freddy Garcia
SP Livan Hernandez
SP Josh Fogg
SU JC Romero
CP Mariano Rivera

Aside from A-Rod and Hunter, there is a whole lot of risk in this year's crop, and not many sure things.

Hello Joe: Part II, And More

Joe Torre will manage the LA Dodgers this coming season, setting up the all-important question: does this mean Alex Rodriguez will follow? It sure would make sense because he would give LA a big bat in a lineup that desperately needed one last year. After all, the Dodgers' leading homerun hitter (Jeff Kent) had 20 and their leading RBI man (Russ Martin) had 87. If they did get A-Rod, the new LA lineup look something like this...

CF Juan Pierre
SS Rafael Furcal
C Russ Martin
3B Alex Rodriguez
1b James Loney
2b Jeff Kent
RF Andre Ethier
LF Matt Kemp
P Derek Lowe

Funny how adding one of the best players in baseball history makes a team look pretty damn good.

It's hard to say how LA will do before we know where A-Rod will land. But there's no question Torre is an improvement over Grady Little. I would imagine the Dodgers' win total should follow suit.

Hello Joe

Joe Torre is out and Joe Girardi is in as the manager of the Yankees. The deal is reportedly worth $7.5 million a year- 50% more than what they offered the guy who took them to the playoffs 12 years in a row and won 4 World Series titles.

Somebody asked me today if I thought the Yankees would make the playoffs and at this point it's really hard to know because we don't know where free agents like Alex Rodriguez, Torii Hunter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Barry Bonds, Mariano Rivera, Curt Schilling (or so it seems), and others will end up.

Pitching help, which the playoffs clearly showed us they desperately need, is just not there this offseason. So if they lose Pettitte and if Clemens retires for good, Wang will be about the only sure thing in their starting rotation. Phil Hughes certainly shows signs that he is ready to be a productive big leaguer, but it will still be his first full season, so counting on him for much more than 14 wins is a stretch. And let's not forget about how difficult it will be to replace A-Rod and (potentially) Jorge Posada.

So basically they're looking at question marks at catcher, first, third, starting pitchers 3, 4, and 5, plus they need to find a closer (is Joba Chamberlain ready now?), all with a brand new manager. And it's not like Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, LA, or Seattle will be getting significantly worse.

That's why my answer was no.

One Busy Day

For the first day of the offseason, there sure is a whole heck of a lot going on. We'll start with the Red Sox, who are scheduled to have their victory parade today and it's certainly well-deserved. Their 29-10 margin of victory in the World Series was the biggest ever for the fall classic.

Next, it seems (and rightly so) that Major League Baseball is not particularly thrilled with Alex Rodriguez or his agent, Scott Boras, for upstaging the Sox Sunday night with his "opt out" announcement. And yet he wonders why some people don't like him (this could apply to A-Rod or Boras, frankly).

A-Rod's former team, the New York Yankees, are said to be close to signing Joe Girardi to be his manager after making him an offer yesterday (and in doing so, losing bench coach Don Mattingly, who also interviewed for the job). It's so premature to speculate about whether Girardi will get the Yanks in the playoffs next year, it's silly. We don't know who is going to end up on this team, come opening day.

The man how used to manage the Yankees, Joe Torre, could be in line to succeed Grady Little as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. As if Game 7 of the '03 ALCS wasn't punishment enough for Little, now the man who clearly outmanaged him from the opposing dugout could be taking his job. Repeat after me..."WHO'S YOUR DADDY?!?! clap, clap, clap-clap-clap."

And oh, by the way, Torii Hunter and Barry Bonds are officially free agents, along with A-Rod. And the Braves dealt Edgar Renteria to the Detroit Tigers for a couple of minor league prospects.

All this, and the winter meetings are still weeks away!

My BWSC's Understudy On Game 2, Now That The Season Is Over

The story of Game 2 starts in Maryland at 8 in the morning when I picked up BWSC's dad (Mr. P for the sake of brevity throughout this post). From the time I picked him up, through the rest of the trip, one of the two of us would periodically comment how we couldn’t believe we were doing this. We stayed outside of Boston in Waltham in what was probably the last hotel room available in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I’m not kidding… our room didn’t even have heat.

We took "The T." I believe it stands for “Transit.” Buses and commuter trains also go by “The T.” Why they chose to further abbreviate MBTA to "T" is beyond me. It’s sort of like referring to a strike out as a “K,” but I digress. We went to Fenway to meet Brian and (not Joe) Morgan for lunch and do some souvenir shopping. And for the record, they stayed at their friend, Monica's (not Geller) place. She went to high school with the Baseblogger and the BWSC.

Anyway, when we got there at 2, there were already fans milling around the streets and shops and the buzz only built from there. There was a line of fans waiting for the game-day release of tickets that stretched all the way down Lansdowne Street. We’re talking thousands of people taking part in what was probably a futile exercise unless you were in the first 100 feet of the line, if that. From this point on, my excitement started to skyrocket. BWSC did a pretty good job of describing the scene around Fenway so I’ll just jump to 6 pm, when we entered the stadium. Here are the highlights:

They opened the gates early enough for us to see the Sox take BP. It’s a rare treat to get to watch the home team hit and it leads me to my first real baseball observation of the post. As BWSC mentioned, the Rockies put on quite a show. The Sox, however, probably disappointed a few casual fans. Sure Big Papi put a couple in the seats, but I don’t remember anybody else hitting one out, even Manny. The hitters were working on going the other way and hitting solid line drives. Guess which approach translated to a World Series title (actually it was a 2-1 game with very little action so this will probably be my only real baseball observation)?

The media frenzy is outrageous. Pretty much every inch of foul territory was taken up by some sort of news set-up. I have never seen anything like it and I spent most of BP waiting for somebody to hit a frozen rope off of Leyritz’s stupid leather golf cap. He was far enough down the right field line that it was a distinct possibility. Nobody did. It also gave me a chance to see some of my favorite baseball personalities up close including Gammons, Kurkjian, and Harold Reynolds (who, despite my "moobs," did not hit on me). Also Mr. P walked headlong right into Buck Martinez in the concourse behind home plate (we found this funny, but we were pretty giddy by this point).

I grew up going to Fenway, but I haven’t been in a few years due to the fact that I moved halfway down the east coast. I sort of forgot what it was like to go to a game there. BWSC touched on the fans and how they live and die with every pitch, but I think it is worth repeating. When the Rockies scored first you could hear a pin drop, it was almost scary (as opposed to, say, Camden Yards, where unless the place is filled with Yanks or Sox fans you can always hear a pin drop...sorry, had to). On the flip side, if things are going the Sox way it can be deafening in there, without any prompting from the scoreboard. Maybe the Nation has become diluted by bandwagon jumpers, but for a guy like me it was refreshing to be part of the crowd in Game 2. There was one guy who, despite being obviously pumped to take in a World Series game, was not particularly interested in the outcome and was actually playing Tetris on his Blackberry while Papi was batting with 2 guys on in a tie ball game. Mr. P and I considered lobbing his BB over the back wall of the stadium. We refrained, but the more I think about how many people would kill for that seat and it was occupied by that effer… man, it fires me up.

Finally, late in the game I started to get a little tense because of the close score, but instead of dreading them blowing the game (which I would have been doing pre-2004) I was thinking of what they need to do to win it. As a Sox fan, realizing this change in thought was very liberating.

There is a lot more that I can write about (Okajima’s warm up song, how loud the bullpen band was, what it was like to have “Shipping up to Boston” playing while Paps warmed up, watching what was probably Schill’s last game with the Sox), but this thing is long enough (that's what she said). Combine that with the fact that I’m pretty sure words can’t accurately describe the experience I had on Thursday night or what it meant to me (literally, a lifelong dream come true) and I think I need to stop here. Congrats to the Sox and my fellow fans on another championship. Here’s to many more (preferably without A-Rod).

One Bad Night For The Yankees

I hereby proclaim Monday, October 29th, 2007 "Hug a Yankee Fan" Day.

Let's face it, it's the right thing to do.

Not only did the Bronx bombers and their faithful have to watch their arch rivals sweep the Colorado Rockies in the World Series, but then they learned their best player, Alex Rodriguez (in the minds of some, another arch-rival) is leaving.

I think most people saw these things coming, but c'mon- both on the same night?! That's just mean!

First, to the Red Sox. Back of another strong showing by rookies Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester, they held off the Rockies last night, 4-3. Mike Lowell was named World Series MVP after hitting .400 with a homerun (in the 7th inning of Game 4, no less), and 6 runs scored. Personally, I think Jonathan Papelbon should have earned the honor for his 3 saves, 0.00 ERA over 4 1/3 critical innings pitched, 3 K's and just 2 baserunners allowed. If it had gone to a 5th game and Josh Beckett dominated again, it would have been his honor. Either way, the Sox played some of their best baseball this October and look locked and loaded for 2008. For the record, Colorado hit just .218 in the World Series as a team, and scored a meager 10 runs in the 4 games.

Now to the whole Alex Rodriguez thing. Much to the delight of the Texas Rangers who no longer have to pay him, agent Scott Boras says A-Rod is going "A-Way Rod" (clever nickname copyright 2007, Baseblogger) because he's not sure how good the Yankees are going to be next year. We already know Joe Torre's not coming back. Now, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada may leave as well. It's funny to think A-Rod's leaving because of them, and now they may leave because of him.

I'm proud to say I saw this coming back in February, and I'm still inclined to think the Chicago Cubs are the front-runners to sign him. A-Rod would be the man, the Cubs offense would be the best in the league, and he and Lou Piniella are boys. I don't see how he'd fit in as a New York Met because they already have David Wright and Jose Reyes on the left side of the infield. The LA Angels would be interesting though- they could certainly use the offensive help and protection for Vlad. And what about A-Rod to the Red Sox?

Theo Epstein: "Thanks for winning the World Series MVP, Mike Lowell, but we're going to go in another direction at third next year."

Mike Lowell: "Isn't A-Rod hitless in his last 18 October at-bats with men on base?"

Theo: "..........."

Mike: "Theo, you there? Theo?"

I suppose they could flip him back to shortstop and part with Julio Lugo's .295 on base percentage, but I just don't see Red Sox nation welcoming this guy with open arms- something A-Rod clearly wants and needs.

The worst news of all for Yankee fans is, most bad things happen in threes, meaning (a) A-Rod is going to sign with Boston (b) Derek Jeter is about to be indicted on federal catfighting charges, or (c) New York is set to introduce John Rocker as their new manager.

So if you see a Yankee fan, give them a hug or a heartfelt clap on the shoulder because it's shaping up to be a long winter.

Will Baseball Season End Tonight?

It's sure looking that way.

The Boston Red Sox have found just about every way to win so far in the 2007 World Series. They've had great pitching, great hitting, and even great hitting pitchers. Their superstars have played well, and their role players have played well. Their veterans have come through in the clutch, and so have their rookies. They've handed the Colorado Rockies more losses in the last 4 days than they'd had in the previous 39. And in case you're keeping track, the Sox haven't lost a World Series game in 21 years.

If the Rockies have any saving grace at this point, it's that rookie Jon Lester is trying to close out the series for the Sox against veteran Aaron Cook, at Coors Field. But if the World Series play of rookies Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Daisuke Matsuzaka is any indicator, it won't matter that Lester is still a freshman.

Let me be, not the first, to say this Boston team is going to be awfully good for an awfully long time.