Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Stats show that Mike Aviles defense was just fine for the Red Sox. It was his offense that was the problem. His batting average was just .250 and his OBP was an anemic .282. You could get better defense from Jose Iglesias if you are willing to live with the 76 OPS+ that Aviles put up... If ESPN still did that "You got jacked up" segment then Vince Wilfork's hit against Buffalo would be shown 17 times straight. As Tom Curran pointed out - I think that's the last time you see any team try a middle screen against the Patriots this season.. If there was a Church of Bacon I'd be a parishioner - maybe even a priest... I think it would be funny to see a re-make of the musical Paint Your Wagon made with just on-air personalities from the NFL Network. Rich Eisen can play the Lee Marvin role... I have to think this is the end of the road for Jason Giambi. Not a Hall of Famer but considering he's made over $131 million in salary in baseball - I don't think we'll see him panhandling any time soon... I have to agree with this cartoon...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Tonight for Halloween I will be dressing up as a woman with no shadow - it can mean whatever I want it to mean (which actually means that I will not be wearing any costume)... Ford to reintroduce 1965 Mustang... Is it possible that Occupy Wall Street is actually some sort of David Blaine stunt gone horribly wrong?... Who knew - Ralph Wilson originally wanted his AFL team to be based in Miami. Buffalo was his second choice... Jason Giambi had his option picked up by the Rockies. Giambi has made over $131 mil in his career - better living through chemistry indeed!... Very cool video on the scale of the Earth in relation to some of the other heavenly bodies... What will be viewed as a bigger joke in years to come - Obama's Attack Watch web site or the "I am the 99%" meme?... Of Tom O'Brien, Jeff Jagodzinski and Frank Spaziani - who could have guessed that Coach Spaz would potentially be last one with a head coaching job?... Ronald Reagan came up with his 11th Commandment "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican" precisely because of treatment Mitt Romney is getting from people like George Will.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

There are five players on the Red Sox 40-man roster whose last name is the same (at least phonetically) as a city or town in Massachusetts. Can you name them?... The Red Sox have the question of Manny's $20 million option hanging over their heads. Going into the season I felt that unless Manny completely dropped off the map offensively wise then the option would definitely be picked up. I still feel that it will be but I'm not 100% sure anymore. "Manny Being Manny" has worn on the nerves of many people and an OPS of .908 is not exactly Manny being the Manny we had grown used to. Likewise the Yankees have Jason Giambi's $22 million option hanging over their head. Going into the season I was sure this was an option that would not be picked up. Now I'd guess that it will be picked up. Giambi is very popular both with the other players on the team and with the fans. Plus his production has been back up this season (currently 8th in OPS and 6th in HR). In the end - I see both options being picked up by the teams... If the AL Cy Young Award was presented today - there is a very good chance that Justin Duchscherer would win it (or at least finish second to Roy Halladay). For Red Sox fans Duchscherer is the fish that got away. He was a Red Sox draft pick who was traded away for Doug Mirabelli back in 2001. This is in no way Larry Anderson for Jeff Bagwell but it is worth noting... Today is Bobby Thigpen's 45th birthday. There is a good chance that this will be Thigpen's last birthday that he can have as the holder of the single season record for saves (the Angels Francisco Rodriguez looks poised to shatter the record). It's interesting to note that Thigpen set the record but still finished 4th in Cy Young Voting back in 1990. I guess that tells you how much the voters value saves... Answer to the question: Tim Wakefield, Mike Lowell, Jon Lester (Leister), Craig Hansen (Hanson) and Eric Hull. You'd have to be a real fanatic to get Eric Hull...

The New York Yankees

The Yankees are poised to have a significant turnover in their roster from this year to next. They have 7 big contracts that could be coming off the books after this October. The players include:

Jason Giambi - $5 million buy-out or $22 million club option. So if they do the buy-out they still save $16 million over 2008 costs. Buh-bye.
Bobby Abreu - $16 million. I don't think he'll be back but I could be wrong.
Andy Pettitte - $16 million. Very well could be back as insurance against the youngsters continuing to stumble. If the Yankees fail to land a top free agent starter - then he'll definitely be back if he wants to pitch.
Mike Mussina - $11 million. Buh-bye.
Carl Pavano - $1.95 million buy-out or $13 million option. So if they do the buy-out they save roughly $9 million over 2008 costs. Buh-bye.
Kyle Farnsworth - $5.5 million. Baseball's answer to the hockey goon.
LaTroy Hawkins - $3.75 million. God awful. Buh-bye.

Combined those 7 players equate to $71.75 million (after buy-outs) that could be coming off the books after this season. If those players were let go then that would open holes in RF, 1st, a couple of starter positions and a couple of bullpen positions. What free agents would be available to fill those slots?

The big target would be Mark Teixeira and I'm guessing Scott Boras will squeeze Hank Steinbrenner for a Jason Giambi type deal. If they fail to land Teixeira then they may have to go with a young player or convert Matsui or Posada to a 1st baseman.

The other big target (pun intended) will be starter CC Sabathia. Look for Steinbrenner to throw Johan Santana money at CC (and if Sabathia's appetite for money is anything like his appetite for food then Cleveland can probably waive bye-bye to CC). Best case scenario for the Yankees is a rotation of Sabathia, Wang, Chamberlain, Hughes and Kennedy.

So the Yankees could possibly spend $44 million or so on Teixeira and Sabathia and still have about $27 million available to fill in the rest of the holes with marginal free agents and young players from the farm system. If the Yankees fail to land at least one of these two targets then they could be in a world of hurt next year.

Two things to note and neither item should be overlooked:

First - with that many aging veterans in their "walk" years the Yankees will probably be faced both with injuries and with an elevated level of selfishness in the clubhouse for the rest of the season. The selfishness is only natural when you think of how pampered and self-centered most millionaire athletes are in the first place. There could be lots of sniping in the clubhouse and the problem could spiral out of control with no Joe Torre father-figure around to keep it in check. Don't discount this factor in what looks to be a 3rd place finish for the Yankees in the AL East this year.

Second - the Yankees biggest rivals - the Red Sox - have no such issues. The Sox will just have to deal with a new contract for Jason Varitek and Varitek has made it clear he wants to stay in Boston.

Angel Berroa and Ben Grieve

Angel Berroa was the 2003 American League Rookie of the Year. Now he's 29-years old, four seasons removed from his ROY performance and apparently washed up. It's interesting that Berroa was part of a trade involving another former ROY who turned busto. From the Baseball-Reference.com page for Berroa:

January 8, 2001: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Oakland Athletics with A.J. Hinch to the Kansas City Royals. The Oakland Athletics sent Ben Grieve to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays sent Cory Lidle to the Oakland Athletics. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays sent Roberto Hernandez to the Kansas City Royals. The Kansas City Royals sent Johnny Damon and Mark Ellis to the Oakland Athletics.

Looking at the trade:

- The Royals got Berroa who had one breakout season and then zilch, AJ Hinch who was a poor-man's Doug Mirabelli for two seasons in KC, and a 36-year old Roberto Hernandez who had two decent seasons closing for the Royals (but how important is a decent closer to a 5th and 4th place team?).
- The Devil Rays got 1998 AL ROY Ben Grieve who hit 55 HR in his last two seasons in Oakland but just 31 for the rest of his career after being traded.
- The A's came out the clear winner in this deal. They got Johnny Damon, Cory Lidle and Mark Ellis. Damon was only there for one season but he helped the A's win the AL West and hit over .400 in the playoffs (a 5 game loss to the Yankees). Ellis has been the starting 2nd baseman for the A's the past 5 seasons. Lidle arguable had the two best seasons of his career in Oakland going 21-16 with a combined 3.74 ERA in 40 starts over 2 seasons.

I brought up Berroa in the first place because it occurred to me that even though it was Grieve who received more media attention as a former ROY gone bust - it was Berroa who was the bigger bust overall. Looking back at this trade, however, through the jaded eye of steroids speculation you are also given much cause to pause and think.

Ben Grieve was in Oakland at a time when Jason Giambi went from a 20-HR guy to a 43-HR MVP. Grieve won the 1998 ROY Award largely due to his power numbers and Grieve was valuable as trade bait largely due to his HR hitting potential. Grieve leaves Oakland and sees his power shrivel like the testicles of a juicing first baseman. Lack of motivation or too much pressure are given as the reasons for Grieve's sudden decline.

Berroa was expendable in the first place because Oakland had Miguel Tejada blocking his path to the bigs. This is the same Miguel Tejada who went from 11 HR in 105 games in 1998 to 34 HR and an MVP award just 4 seasons later. This is the same Miguel Tejada named in both Jose canseco's first book and the Mitchell Report. Berroa won his ROY Award also largely due to his power numbers. Berroa hit 17 HR in 2003 to beat out Hideki Matsui and Rocco Baldelli.

You have to wonder if maybe, just maybe the 1998 and 2003 AL ROY Awards are tainted. It also makes you wonder if the phrase "cheaters never prosper" applies here.

Roger Clemens Cheated (the Red Sox)

Everyone today is calling Roger Clemens a cheat. That begs the question - who did he cheat? I put forward that the group most harmed by Clemens' "cheating" were the Boston Red Sox and the fans of the team

Follow me on this.

If you take away Clemens' resurgence to greatness due to steroids - the Dan Duquette's observation that Clemens was in the twilight of his career was correct. Clemens going on to win a couple of Cy Young Awards after leaving the Red Sox coupled with the equally contentious exit of Mo Vaughn (who was also named in the Mitchell Report) caused a GM controversy and unease in Boston.

Speaking of Cy Young Awards - that second one Clemens won in Toronto came at the expense of Boston's Pedro Martinez who went 19-7 with a 2.89 ERA in 1998 only to lose out to a juicing Roger Clemens.

Finally and most importantly - Boston fans who bemoan the steroids era point to game seven of the 2003 ALCS and that fact that steroids cheater Jason Giambi hit 2 HR in that game and without those HR - the Yankees lose and the Red Sos advance to the World Series. I would like to point out that Roger Clemens won game 3 (and co-steroids cheater Andy Pettitte won game 2). Without the steroids enhanced pitchers - never mind the steroids enhanced Giambi - the Yankees get blown out by the Red Sox.

Red Sox fans who feel cheated by Roger Clemens have a very good case to make about the damage done by the needle injecting Roger Clemens.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I have to laugh at all the regular baseball writers who have written about wondering what Curt Schilling will say about his 1-hitter on his blog 38pitches.com. I'm amused by all the writers talking about Schilling's blog for 2 reasons; 1. it is tacit confirmation that it is better to hear direct from the athlete himself without the filter of a sportswriter and 2. Schilling hasn't posted anything yet but all the people going to his site to check to see what he has to say must be really driving up his traffic numbers. The same scribes who belittle Schilling and his blogging are helping to make his site more successful... People think that Manny Ramirez has been slumping (and according to his usual numbers he is) but after hitting .327 in May and .423 so far in June - his season batting average is up to .288 and climbing... The Red Sox are lucky not to be seeing Brandon Webb in this series against the Diamondbacks. I'd rather see Randy Johnson every day of the week than see Brandon Webb... John Donovan has a nice take on Bud Selig and MLB being intent on "putting the screws" to Jason Giambi to speak honestly and openly to George Mitchell and his committee. I think this has more to do with trying to punish Giambi for breaking the MLB unwritten rule of omerta than getting to the truth. Just remember that Selig was the guy who signed a full page love note in USA Today to Rafael Palmeiro in July of 2005 when Palmeiro got his 3,000th hit even though Selig KNEW that Palmeiro had failed a steroids test in May of 2005. Donovan makes an excellent point that maybe Selig is pressuring Giambi because they know something the rest of us don't and they can use that as leverage. You have to remember that speculation is that Giambi was honest with the BALCO grand jury in large part because they also had something on his brother Jeremy. Supposedly Giambi's "honesty" helped keep any criminal charges off his brother. Maybe Selig has similar dirt to use against Giambi?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Red Sox have two players in the top 10 in stolen bases (Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp). I wonder when the last time that happened?... The other day I was taking a walk and I saw written on a Volvo station wagon in that white crayon type stuff used car lots use "I hope you find a homeless family living in your car". It was signed by "K" with a heart drawn around the K. Not sure if this was a curse or a joke. I just know I chuckled at it... I was in New York City yesterday and one of the big stories there is the refusal of Aaron Sele to cut his hair like all the other members of the Mets have done. This is not the same as when Johnny Damon refused to cut his hair back in 2004 with the Red Sox. This is Aaron Sele not Tom Glavine (the future Hall of Famer even agreed to a buzz-cut). Sele has bounced around baseball with 7 different teams and I say if he doesn't cut his hair - the Mets should trade him to his 8th team... Because of Josh Beckett's injury - this week Red Sox Nation learned the definition of the word "avulsion". According to the American heritage Dictionary an avulsion is, "The forcible tearing away of a body part by trauma or surgery." That sounds a bit over the top for describing Beckett's cut on his finger. At the other end of the scale to the word "avulsion" was Hartford Courant's Jeff Greenberg who described the injury as a "boo-boo"... In case you missed it - Jason Giambi has been just 4 for 28 in his last 10 games. Good thing that Giambi has the putrence of Bobby Abreu to cover for his slump... Grady Sizemore went 4-5 last night to raise his batting average 20 points - from .239 to .259. Despite the relatively low batting average - Sizemore has an OBP of .394.... I meant to say something about the Red Sox incredible come from behind victory on Sunday. The Sox were down 5-0 to the Orioles coming into the bottom of the 9th but ended up winning 6-5. The final play saw Kevin Millar ranging too far to his right to field a ball that should have belonged to the 2nd baseman. This meant the pitcher had to cover the base and Millar's throw was fumbled allowing the tying and winning runs to score. This going too far right and not staying home at 1st is something Millar does all the time and something that drove me crazy when he was with the Red Sox...