If you have ever been fortunate enough to visit Coopersown, NY., home of the Major League Baseball, you've taken in the sight of the bronze plaques commemorating each Hall of Famer.
They are unique works of art, and the ones I love are the ones that are, well, clean.
I'm not talking about anything steroid-enhanced or in need or rustoleum, I'm talking about the bit at the top, where the teams the players played for, and the appropriate seasons, are listed.
My favorites are the ones for players who spent their entire careers with one team - Ted Williams, BOS (AL) 1939-1960; Lou Gehrig, NY (AL) 1923-1939; Tony Gwynn, San Diego 1982-2001; Cal Ripken, Jr., Baltimore, 1981-2001.
I'll even accept the multi-team players as long as there's a nice, clean distinction (Ozzie Smith, San Diego, 1978-1981, St. Louis, 1982-1996; Rod Carew, Minnesota, 1967-1978, California, 1979-1985). It's unrealistic to expect all great players to play their careers in one place, as Manny's Cleveland/Boston and Vlad's Montreal/Los Angeles of Anaheim plaques will one day attest.
What drives me batshit is the ridiculous clutter some guys have on their plaques.
A pair of f'rinstances:
Ryne Sandberg. I think we all remember him as the most dominant 2B of the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s, but he has the screwy line of:
1981 PHI (NL), 1982-1994, 1996-1997 CHI (NL)
Yes, Ryne Sandberg began his career as a Phillie. The Cubs and the Phillies made a deal for Larry "Let's make Scott Rolen a pariah in Philadelphia" Bowa for Ivan "My base-running skills are negated by the fact that I'm constitutionaly incapable of reaching base" DeJeusus.
Sandberg was a throw in.
As for the missing '95 season - Sandberg was going through a divorce, and decided to forego a year of making big money to avoid monster alimony payments.
Then there is a great pitcher I was fortunate enough to see in person, even though he was at the end of the line, Steve Carlton:
STL (NL) 1965 - 1971, PHI (NL) 1972 -1986, SF 1986, CHI (AL) 1986, CLE 1987, MIN 1987-1988.
The St. Louis/Phildelphia split would have been fine, but what's up with his journeyman status at the end of his career?
Of course, Baseball history abounds with player like this - Braves great Warren Spahn spending the end of his career with the Mets and the Giants, Tigers' greats Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg hanging on for dear life with the A's and Pirates, respectively, at the end of their careers, and Babe Ruth's end-of-career-embarrasment tour with the Boston Braves in the last season of his career.
What gets me now is the current players who are sullying their HOF plaques with a load of team changes at the backend. Frank Thomas is a great example - it seemed like he was going to be a career White Sock, but now he'll have (at the least) Oakland and Toronto engraved for posterity.
The next HOF candidate who is absolutely guaranteed of enshrinement (assuming he ever quits the San Diego Surf Dawgs) is Rickey Henderson, whose plaque will read:
1979-1984, 1989-1993, 1994-1995, 1998, OAK, 1985-1989 NY (AL), 1993 TOR, 1996-1997, 2001 SD, 1997 ANA, 1999-2000, NY (NL) 2000 SEA, 2002 BOS (AL), 2003 LA.
How will there be room for his achievements after all that is listed?
(And while we're on the subject, does anyone else feel for Tim "Rock" Raines. He was probably the second-best leadoff hitter of all time - certainly better than Lou Brock, a borderline Hall of Famer fer sure - who suffered the misfortune of having a career that parallelleld that of the greatest leadoff hitter ever)
When I heard that Greg Maddux was going back to the Cubs a few seasons back, I envisioned a pretty little HOF plaque that involved his Braves' years being bookended by his Cubs years. Now he's marred that by a half-season with the Dodgers and whatever he's going to do with the Padres.
Mike Piazza has been sullied for awhile. He started out with the Dodgers, but was traded twice in mid-season in the same year (how many people remember that he spent a week and a half with the Marlins in '98?) and now that he's bounced to the Padres and the A's the last two season - that's going to be an ugly plaque.
And then there's Roberto Alomar's plaque - I still think he's a Hall of Famer, but that thing is going to be a mess when it covers his final seasons.
This is all dependent on my own sensibilities - that a player either spend his entire career with one team, or have strictly delineated breaks between a few teams. But who wants to see that Tom Seaver split '86 between the Sox of Chicago and Boston? That's not why we remember him, and no one wants to talk about the fact that he was traded for a guy who Fox fired for making racist comments about Lou Pinella.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Spoiled
We're spoiled.
Red Sox fans are spoiled, Yankees fans are spoiled.
And it's not just from the oversaturation of the rivalry by the media, it's the players.
To whit, consider the 5th starter.
I suppose this all fits in with the Roger Clemens thread that kicked this all off, but stay with me.
Curt Schilling's "We don't need him ," comment about Clemens was ill-considered, but who would Clemens have been replacing? Beckett is finally living up to his ace potential, the Schilling of today still retains enough of the Schilling of old, Dice-K's had some bad innings, but his K/IP ration can't be argued with, and Tim Wakefield's having another of his, "all right - hit this knuckler - really, I dare you," seasons.
So, again, who does Clemens replace in Boston?
The 5th starter - the seat that Julian Tavarez is keeping warm for Jon Lester.
To digress into Tangentown for a moment, I have reason to believe that Julian Tavarez has a reason to sabotage the Red Sox this season.
That reason is... me.
In 2004, I attended a spring training game between the Cardinals and the Orioles.
The Cardinals had the game in the bag when they brought Tavarez out to close things out in the 9th.
He promptly squandered much of the team's lead and had basebunners arrayed on the diamond behind him.
Then, it began to rain.
We were in the Marlins' A-Ball stadium in Jupiter, FL. This was a place where a capacity crowd wouldn't much exceed the 4,000 mark, and we weren't close to it that today.
When the rain (which only lasted about 15 miuntes) began to come down, most of the crowd headed for the covered concourse to escape the weather. Pete Bratton and I were among the dozen or so people who stayed to watch the outcome.
Pete and I were right behind home plate.
Tavarez was taking roughly 15 minutes between pitches at this point. This behavior is what prompted me to yell;
"They're not going to call the game just because you're afraid to throw the ball!"
This was perhaps my proudest moment at a professional sporting event since I picked my nose on the Jumbotron at a Nashville Predators hockey game. And just as I know that all the people in the crowd in Nashville saw me that night, I know Tavarez heard me.
Admittedly, Tavarez made more of a case for my conspiracy theory last year with his gasoline artist tendencies out of the pen, but this year he's been downright respectable as a 5th starter.
And Jon Lester, cancer-free, should win about 60% of the time...
Which brings me back to my original point:
We're spoiled.
The leading case for this is Bronson Arroyo.
On the one hand, Bronson Arroyo is responsible for the two events that derailed A-Fraud's reputation ("We don't throw at .240 hitters, the bitch-slap incident), but more importantly, he was a savvy under-the-radar pickup by the Theo Epstein Red Sox - cheap, available, and promising.
In 2004, Arroyo was the Sox 5th staret, and went 10-9 during the regulare season, and was nails as a relieve in the World Series.
(Of course, does anything prove the inferiority of the NL vs. the AL more than the fact that Bronson Arrroyo went form a disposable 5th starter in Boston to an All-Star in Cincy despite the fact that he's an extreme fly-ball pitcher pitching in one of the most homerun-friendly stadiums in the MLB?)
By way of contrast, Josh Beckett was 9-8 in '03, started changing clothes in a phone booth, whupped up on the Yankees in the World Series and decided, "Forget this Dolphin Stadium noise, I'm going to Fenway."
The point here is that Red Sox fans have higher-than-realistic expectation of a 5th starter. Clemens would have been awesome, but with Tavarez/Lester, they're losing less than one might think. Besides, this means they have the money to add a contract later in the season, though ther aren't any obvious flaws (a shutdown right-handed set-up man would be nice) that need to be addressed.
On the contrary, I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, the '07 Yankees starting rotation.
Hughes struggled once, dominated once, then got hurt.
Wang needs start keeping the ball down again.
Mussina has always been a guy who seems like he'd be a greate #2 in the classic 1-2 punch (think Koufax and Drysdale) starting rotation. Unfortunately for the Yankees (and before that, the Orioles), he's never found his #1.
Andy Pettite is the closest thing the Yankees have to an ace, and I think that even Teddy has to agree that he's really only a 2-3 at best. I mean, he won 19 games in 2000 (4.35 ERA) and 21 in 2003 (4.02 ERA), so he's certainly a member of the Derek Lowe Joy Luck Run Support Club.
The simultaneous return of Pettite and Clemens (as opposed to their simultaneous flight to Houston in '04) is an interesting subplot. I can never fully trust Pettite as an ace or sub-ace primarily because of an article by Buster Olney I read a few years back.
Unfortunately, I don't have my sources and I'm not all kickass-hyperlink, so I can't give you the original source story, but here's the gist:
Andy Pettite lives his life the way he pitches: He never shakes the catcher off.
After the Boss made all these derisive comments about Pettite in the '03/'04 off-season and made it sound like they'd be doing him a favor if they brought him back, Pettite was courted by the Astros.
The Astros made it very easy on him - "Hey, Andy, come on down, you get to play in Texas, you'll be near your family. You like your family, right?"
In the end, the Yankees actually outbid the Astros, but the Astros made it easy for him.
I imagine this season the Yankees made it easy for him again:
"Come on, Andy - the Astros are losers. You liked it here, right? Besides, if you come back, maybe Roger will, too..."
The cynic in me says that Clemens/Mussina/Pettite/Wang/Hughes is going to make Schilling/Beckett/Matsuzaka/Wakefield/Lester look like... well, pick your year and insert a Devil Rays rotation (but subtract Kazmir).
Still, as Curt Schilling (then of the Diamondbacks) said in '01, Aura and Mystique are stipper names - and we'll have to wait to see whether this year's Yankees turn out to be the old school, kickass, 25-cent peepshow Times Square, or the new, lame, limp and Disney-fied version.
P.S. Despite Kei Igawa's incredible relief effort against the Sox, he still got sent down to A Ball. i look forward to seeing him and his interpreter the next time I have to go to the gas station for beer. I mean this literally, as the Yankees' A-Ball affiliate is the Charleston Riverdogs, and all those guys live in my apartment complex.
Red Sox fans are spoiled, Yankees fans are spoiled.
And it's not just from the oversaturation of the rivalry by the media, it's the players.
To whit, consider the 5th starter.
I suppose this all fits in with the Roger Clemens thread that kicked this all off, but stay with me.
Curt Schilling's "We don't need him ," comment about Clemens was ill-considered, but who would Clemens have been replacing? Beckett is finally living up to his ace potential, the Schilling of today still retains enough of the Schilling of old, Dice-K's had some bad innings, but his K/IP ration can't be argued with, and Tim Wakefield's having another of his, "all right - hit this knuckler - really, I dare you," seasons.
So, again, who does Clemens replace in Boston?
The 5th starter - the seat that Julian Tavarez is keeping warm for Jon Lester.
To digress into Tangentown for a moment, I have reason to believe that Julian Tavarez has a reason to sabotage the Red Sox this season.
That reason is... me.
In 2004, I attended a spring training game between the Cardinals and the Orioles.
The Cardinals had the game in the bag when they brought Tavarez out to close things out in the 9th.
He promptly squandered much of the team's lead and had basebunners arrayed on the diamond behind him.
Then, it began to rain.
We were in the Marlins' A-Ball stadium in Jupiter, FL. This was a place where a capacity crowd wouldn't much exceed the 4,000 mark, and we weren't close to it that today.
When the rain (which only lasted about 15 miuntes) began to come down, most of the crowd headed for the covered concourse to escape the weather. Pete Bratton and I were among the dozen or so people who stayed to watch the outcome.
Pete and I were right behind home plate.
Tavarez was taking roughly 15 minutes between pitches at this point. This behavior is what prompted me to yell;
"They're not going to call the game just because you're afraid to throw the ball!"
This was perhaps my proudest moment at a professional sporting event since I picked my nose on the Jumbotron at a Nashville Predators hockey game. And just as I know that all the people in the crowd in Nashville saw me that night, I know Tavarez heard me.
Admittedly, Tavarez made more of a case for my conspiracy theory last year with his gasoline artist tendencies out of the pen, but this year he's been downright respectable as a 5th starter.
And Jon Lester, cancer-free, should win about 60% of the time...
Which brings me back to my original point:
We're spoiled.
The leading case for this is Bronson Arroyo.
On the one hand, Bronson Arroyo is responsible for the two events that derailed A-Fraud's reputation ("We don't throw at .240 hitters, the bitch-slap incident), but more importantly, he was a savvy under-the-radar pickup by the Theo Epstein Red Sox - cheap, available, and promising.
In 2004, Arroyo was the Sox 5th staret, and went 10-9 during the regulare season, and was nails as a relieve in the World Series.
(Of course, does anything prove the inferiority of the NL vs. the AL more than the fact that Bronson Arrroyo went form a disposable 5th starter in Boston to an All-Star in Cincy despite the fact that he's an extreme fly-ball pitcher pitching in one of the most homerun-friendly stadiums in the MLB?)
By way of contrast, Josh Beckett was 9-8 in '03, started changing clothes in a phone booth, whupped up on the Yankees in the World Series and decided, "Forget this Dolphin Stadium noise, I'm going to Fenway."
The point here is that Red Sox fans have higher-than-realistic expectation of a 5th starter. Clemens would have been awesome, but with Tavarez/Lester, they're losing less than one might think. Besides, this means they have the money to add a contract later in the season, though ther aren't any obvious flaws (a shutdown right-handed set-up man would be nice) that need to be addressed.
On the contrary, I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, the '07 Yankees starting rotation.
Hughes struggled once, dominated once, then got hurt.
Wang needs start keeping the ball down again.
Mussina has always been a guy who seems like he'd be a greate #2 in the classic 1-2 punch (think Koufax and Drysdale) starting rotation. Unfortunately for the Yankees (and before that, the Orioles), he's never found his #1.
Andy Pettite is the closest thing the Yankees have to an ace, and I think that even Teddy has to agree that he's really only a 2-3 at best. I mean, he won 19 games in 2000 (4.35 ERA) and 21 in 2003 (4.02 ERA), so he's certainly a member of the Derek Lowe Joy Luck Run Support Club.
The simultaneous return of Pettite and Clemens (as opposed to their simultaneous flight to Houston in '04) is an interesting subplot. I can never fully trust Pettite as an ace or sub-ace primarily because of an article by Buster Olney I read a few years back.
Unfortunately, I don't have my sources and I'm not all kickass-hyperlink, so I can't give you the original source story, but here's the gist:
Andy Pettite lives his life the way he pitches: He never shakes the catcher off.
After the Boss made all these derisive comments about Pettite in the '03/'04 off-season and made it sound like they'd be doing him a favor if they brought him back, Pettite was courted by the Astros.
The Astros made it very easy on him - "Hey, Andy, come on down, you get to play in Texas, you'll be near your family. You like your family, right?"
In the end, the Yankees actually outbid the Astros, but the Astros made it easy for him.
I imagine this season the Yankees made it easy for him again:
"Come on, Andy - the Astros are losers. You liked it here, right? Besides, if you come back, maybe Roger will, too..."
The cynic in me says that Clemens/Mussina/Pettite/Wang/Hughes is going to make Schilling/Beckett/Matsuzaka/Wakefield/Lester look like... well, pick your year and insert a Devil Rays rotation (but subtract Kazmir).
Still, as Curt Schilling (then of the Diamondbacks) said in '01, Aura and Mystique are stipper names - and we'll have to wait to see whether this year's Yankees turn out to be the old school, kickass, 25-cent peepshow Times Square, or the new, lame, limp and Disney-fied version.
P.S. Despite Kei Igawa's incredible relief effort against the Sox, he still got sent down to A Ball. i look forward to seeing him and his interpreter the next time I have to go to the gas station for beer. I mean this literally, as the Yankees' A-Ball affiliate is the Charleston Riverdogs, and all those guys live in my apartment complex.
Random Thoughts...
To begin by mixing my pop culture references, Xander once told Willow, "You have too many thoughts" and right now there are a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what have yous going on in the old Duder's head.
But here goes...
I hadn't gotten a whiff of Carl Pavono's pre-emptive Tommy John surgery until Teddy mentioned it. This is the most hilarious thing I have ever heard that I haven't said myself. I mean, it's like giving a nun breast implants. "Hey, you're not using them now, they're not going to be of use to anyone later, but why not?"
I'm also looking for some clarity on the exact situation regarding the Rocket's return to the Bronx. I had seen a headline from Joe "I'm-the-greatest-second-baseman-ever-so-I-must-have-something-insightful-to-say-about-basebal" Morgan, regarding Clemens' decision not to travel with the team, and how it would be harmful. So does Clemens' only pitch at home game for the Yankees' this season? I mean, if I was making $4.5 million dollars a month, I could pay off my credit card debts, buy my cats nice toys, and install a PBR tap in my apartment, so lord knows what the Rocket is doing with his paychecks.
I think this pretty much negates the whole, "Clemens as a positive clubhouse influence" put forth by Teddy. I mean, the guy isn't going to be there when he isn't pitching, and the days he is there I'm sure he'll be all locked-in and T-1000 about his business, so how can he really influence the other players?
I'm sure this will be spun appropriately by the usual Yankee mouthpieces. Torre and Jeter will both say something to the effect of, "If the Rocket could telecommute and throw strikes while sitting on his couch eating pig's knuckles and drinking Miller High Life we'd still be thrilled to have him," but I just don' t see him having an influence on the overall team chemistry. The fact that it sounds like he's only going to show up for home games in the Bronx makes him sound even more mercenary than ever.
And what's the statute of limitations on all of this? If the Yankees are on a road trip to Arlington and his turn comes up, does he start then? Is his pitching in the World Series conditional on the Yankees playing the Astros?
I also can't let Teddy's "Yankees who returned during the dynasty" comments slide. Two of those players (Homer Bush and David Wells) were in fact the same two players that the Yankees' traded to Toronto when the Rocket was in his whole "I'm-going-to-orchestrate-my-way-out-of-Toronto" phase.
By way of making a snide comments - the closest Homer Bush could get to a Homer was his first name. And if you want to say anything about his last name and his luck with the ladies... well, you get the idea.
To switch gears - steroids have been the primary story in baseball for awhile now. I'll make my token defense of David Ortiz's comments by pointing out that A) the guy will say pretty much anything to anyone; B) the story came out of the Boston Herald, which is only slightly less credible than the National Enquirer; and C) Ortiz has been actively working to prevent steroid use by amateur players in the Dominican since at least 2004. Apparently, unscrupulous agents will give kids vials they claim contain steroids, and contain something horrifically toxic and lethal to inject, such as horse urine.
So that was a tangent - the point is, we have Barry Bonds grinding his way towards the home run record (I fully expect him to get to #754 and then be intentionally walked for the rest of his career) and Sammy Sosa flailing away in pursuit of HR #600.
Sosa's pursuit makes me think of two guys. There's Dave Kingman - who, with 442 HRs (against 1816 Ks) long held the record for the guy with the most career home runs who had not been elected to the Hall of Fame. His natural position was DH, even though he did spend time in the NL (in fact, he played with 4 teams - the Mets, Padres, Angels, and Yankees - in 1977) but no one would ever confuse him with a Hall of Famer.
The guy who trumped his record was Jose Canseco - whose last few comeback attempts were mainly geared at pushing him over the 500 HR mark. At that point, Canseco was defying HOF voters from denying a 500 HR guy a place in Cooperstown. (At last count, he has 462 HRs)
Sosa seems to be pushing the envelope further, defying the voters to deny him after 600 HRs and retiring 5th on the all-time list.
Which makes me wonder, what of the third player in the unholy trinity of obvious steroid abusers?
No, I'm not talking about Jason Giambi (he's more the John the Baptist of this scenario) - I'm taling about Big Mac.
What I'm waiting for is the erstwhile A's and Cardinals slugger's inevitable comeback as...
A Pitcher.
Picture it: With Chris Carpenter out until about Labor Day, Tony Larussa needs an ace. Can't you imagine Big Mac stepping into the rotation, reeling off a couple of 15 K starts, and then responding to the press:
"I'm not here to talk about the past."
On a last note, I would like to mention George Steinbrenner's recent and little-seen press conference, regarding Joe Torre.
The Boss deflected questions about the future of his club's manager, and instead talked about upgrading the current lineup.
He then pulled a telegram (email is too modern for him) from his pocket, and read the following words:
"Put Rickey in, Rickey's ready to play."
But here goes...
I hadn't gotten a whiff of Carl Pavono's pre-emptive Tommy John surgery until Teddy mentioned it. This is the most hilarious thing I have ever heard that I haven't said myself. I mean, it's like giving a nun breast implants. "Hey, you're not using them now, they're not going to be of use to anyone later, but why not?"
I'm also looking for some clarity on the exact situation regarding the Rocket's return to the Bronx. I had seen a headline from Joe "I'm-the-greatest-second-baseman-ever-so-I-must-have-something-insightful-to-say-about-basebal" Morgan, regarding Clemens' decision not to travel with the team, and how it would be harmful. So does Clemens' only pitch at home game for the Yankees' this season? I mean, if I was making $4.5 million dollars a month, I could pay off my credit card debts, buy my cats nice toys, and install a PBR tap in my apartment, so lord knows what the Rocket is doing with his paychecks.
I think this pretty much negates the whole, "Clemens as a positive clubhouse influence" put forth by Teddy. I mean, the guy isn't going to be there when he isn't pitching, and the days he is there I'm sure he'll be all locked-in and T-1000 about his business, so how can he really influence the other players?
I'm sure this will be spun appropriately by the usual Yankee mouthpieces. Torre and Jeter will both say something to the effect of, "If the Rocket could telecommute and throw strikes while sitting on his couch eating pig's knuckles and drinking Miller High Life we'd still be thrilled to have him," but I just don' t see him having an influence on the overall team chemistry. The fact that it sounds like he's only going to show up for home games in the Bronx makes him sound even more mercenary than ever.
And what's the statute of limitations on all of this? If the Yankees are on a road trip to Arlington and his turn comes up, does he start then? Is his pitching in the World Series conditional on the Yankees playing the Astros?
I also can't let Teddy's "Yankees who returned during the dynasty" comments slide. Two of those players (Homer Bush and David Wells) were in fact the same two players that the Yankees' traded to Toronto when the Rocket was in his whole "I'm-going-to-orchestrate-my-way-out-of-Toronto" phase.
By way of making a snide comments - the closest Homer Bush could get to a Homer was his first name. And if you want to say anything about his last name and his luck with the ladies... well, you get the idea.
To switch gears - steroids have been the primary story in baseball for awhile now. I'll make my token defense of David Ortiz's comments by pointing out that A) the guy will say pretty much anything to anyone; B) the story came out of the Boston Herald, which is only slightly less credible than the National Enquirer; and C) Ortiz has been actively working to prevent steroid use by amateur players in the Dominican since at least 2004. Apparently, unscrupulous agents will give kids vials they claim contain steroids, and contain something horrifically toxic and lethal to inject, such as horse urine.
So that was a tangent - the point is, we have Barry Bonds grinding his way towards the home run record (I fully expect him to get to #754 and then be intentionally walked for the rest of his career) and Sammy Sosa flailing away in pursuit of HR #600.
Sosa's pursuit makes me think of two guys. There's Dave Kingman - who, with 442 HRs (against 1816 Ks) long held the record for the guy with the most career home runs who had not been elected to the Hall of Fame. His natural position was DH, even though he did spend time in the NL (in fact, he played with 4 teams - the Mets, Padres, Angels, and Yankees - in 1977) but no one would ever confuse him with a Hall of Famer.
The guy who trumped his record was Jose Canseco - whose last few comeback attempts were mainly geared at pushing him over the 500 HR mark. At that point, Canseco was defying HOF voters from denying a 500 HR guy a place in Cooperstown. (At last count, he has 462 HRs)
Sosa seems to be pushing the envelope further, defying the voters to deny him after 600 HRs and retiring 5th on the all-time list.
Which makes me wonder, what of the third player in the unholy trinity of obvious steroid abusers?
No, I'm not talking about Jason Giambi (he's more the John the Baptist of this scenario) - I'm taling about Big Mac.
What I'm waiting for is the erstwhile A's and Cardinals slugger's inevitable comeback as...
A Pitcher.
Picture it: With Chris Carpenter out until about Labor Day, Tony Larussa needs an ace. Can't you imagine Big Mac stepping into the rotation, reeling off a couple of 15 K starts, and then responding to the press:
"I'm not here to talk about the past."
On a last note, I would like to mention George Steinbrenner's recent and little-seen press conference, regarding Joe Torre.
The Boss deflected questions about the future of his club's manager, and instead talked about upgrading the current lineup.
He then pulled a telegram (email is too modern for him) from his pocket, and read the following words:
"Put Rickey in, Rickey's ready to play."
Crafting a Good Brew, other notes
I agree with Doug's view of the Brewers. The pieces are coming together, but I think this can be chalked up to a hot start. However, they are in a good position to become a yearly contender for the NL central seeing how the Cardinals age and lack of a strong farm system will be their demise and the Astros pitching is mediocre with the losses of Pettitte and Clemens. I predicted the Brewers to go 85-77 this year and finish behind the Cubs in the NL Central. But they'll be in the wild card chase for sure.
The Tigers vs Brewers comparision is interesting given that both teams are coming from virtually the same roots circa 2002 when Milwaukee was 56-106 and Detroit 55-106. Both teams have rebuilt themselves to respectability, though I'd argue the Brewers have done so more like the Indians than the Tigers with a focus on homegrown talent--Sheets, Hardy, Fielder, Hart, Hall, and Weeks.
They have also used some sluggers to get some crucial pieces: Sexson yielded Capuano, Lee yielded Cordero, and Overbay yielded David Bush.
The smart thing the Brewers will have to do, which they did with Ben Sheets, is to sign some of the young talent to long-term deals. Veterans help some too, and though Jeff Suppan sure isn't a $42 million player over four years, he will be a big help if he pitches the way he did in the second half of last season.
Give it a couple years and you may see an Indians versus Brewers World Series.
Some other notes:
The Tigers vs Brewers comparision is interesting given that both teams are coming from virtually the same roots circa 2002 when Milwaukee was 56-106 and Detroit 55-106. Both teams have rebuilt themselves to respectability, though I'd argue the Brewers have done so more like the Indians than the Tigers with a focus on homegrown talent--Sheets, Hardy, Fielder, Hart, Hall, and Weeks.
They have also used some sluggers to get some crucial pieces: Sexson yielded Capuano, Lee yielded Cordero, and Overbay yielded David Bush.
The smart thing the Brewers will have to do, which they did with Ben Sheets, is to sign some of the young talent to long-term deals. Veterans help some too, and though Jeff Suppan sure isn't a $42 million player over four years, he will be a big help if he pitches the way he did in the second half of last season.
Give it a couple years and you may see an Indians versus Brewers World Series.
Some other notes:
- The Carl Pavano saga continues. Again it's a he said the Yankees said debate with conflicting reports. Apparently Pavano decided upon Tommy John surgery before being assessed as a candidate for it. On the ride home from the Yankees game Sunday, Tommy John was on WFAN (NY's sports radio program) and is someone Pavano reaches out to frequently because the two developed a relationship back when they were with the Expos (John was a scout). I'm not saying Tommy John told Pavano to get the surgery named after him, but during the interview it was clear Tommy told Pavano about the procedure. Of course the Yankees are doing their own assessment and want Pavano to either rehab his elbow or get other opinions. I honestly don't know what to believe other than Pavano seems to be a head case the last two years when it comes to his injuries.
- It's official, it's Phil Hughes, not Phillip reports Will Carroll.
- Rickey Henderson proves he can still play baseball. With Damon constantly banged up I say why not get Rickey. Some of these Yankees do like their gambling and Rickey could teach them a couple tricks I'm sure.
Caution, Catastrophe, Destiny
How about them Brewers?
There are stories on Yahoo! Sports about how the Brewers are this year's Tigers.
I don't entirely agree with this premise, if only by taking a look around the NL Central. To me, the great think about the Tigers renaissance last year - excepting the corresponding Jim Leyland renaissance -was the fact that this was the restoration of a classic organization.
I mean, the Tigers have a history that includes Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg (in the distant past) and Jack Morris, Doyle Alexander, Kirk Gibson, Lou Whitaker, and Alan Trammel (in my lifetime) - this should not be some woebegone American League cellar dweller who doesn't have anyone better that Rob Fick to put into the All-Star game - this is a franchise that should always be in the elite.
So when I think of the NL Central, I think of the Pirates (Wagner, Clemente, Stargell) and the Reds (Bench, Rose, Morgan) as the grande olde teames to rise up from the ashes.
By the same token, I do remember my early years following baseball, being utterly fascinated with Robin Yount and Paul Molitor - Brewers and future Hall of Famers.
This year's edition of the Brewers in many ways refutes George Will's Blue Ribbon Council on the game - Fielder, Weeks, and Hardy make up a young, cheap, and potent infield, and it's not thier fault that the unit is rounded out by Craig Counsell.
Looking at their pitching staff, Jeff Suppan is still working with mirrors, Chirs Capuano is still managing to fly under the radar Red October-style, and Ben Sheets hasn't come around yet.
Despite being burned many times in Fantasy leagues, I'm still drinking the Ben Sheets Kool-Aid and believe that he is bona fide ace material.
The guy who deserves credit for the Brewers pitcching - not just this year, but over the last few years (if you check the Brewers' stats the last two seasons, pitcing was not the problem) - is Mike Maddux.
In case you aren't sure, that's Greg's big brother. The guy who the 4-time Cy Young winner once claimed had better stuff than he did.
Now, granted, there are accounts that Greg Maddux complimented Matt Clement on having better stuff than he did (this is, of course, prior to Clement taking a Carl Crawford line drive to the head; and to get on a Red Sox tangenet for a moment, Clement is the mouse that has not yet roared for the Sox this year - he is due back in June, and could either take a role in the rotation, in the bullpen, or be useful trade bait - Clement and Tavarez for Helton!) but Mike Maddux was a decent pitcher. I remember him being a great middle reliever for Boston in the '90s, though a review of his pitching line contradicts that.
Still, Maddux took Dan Kolb from zero to hero a few years back, and Kolb's tutelage under Leo Mazzone somehow made him a worse pitcher. Of course, looking at Braves relievers in the '90s, it would seem that Mazzone was always better with starters anyway.
The Brewers are a great early-season story, but so were the Orioles in '04, led by Brian (These Vitamin B-12 injections Miggy Tejada is giving me are great!) Roberts, and they ultimately slid to their customary 4th place finish.
Of course, after Chris Shelton stopped hitting last year, the Tigers were supposed to be done, too.
There are stories on Yahoo! Sports about how the Brewers are this year's Tigers.
I don't entirely agree with this premise, if only by taking a look around the NL Central. To me, the great think about the Tigers renaissance last year - excepting the corresponding Jim Leyland renaissance -was the fact that this was the restoration of a classic organization.
I mean, the Tigers have a history that includes Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg (in the distant past) and Jack Morris, Doyle Alexander, Kirk Gibson, Lou Whitaker, and Alan Trammel (in my lifetime) - this should not be some woebegone American League cellar dweller who doesn't have anyone better that Rob Fick to put into the All-Star game - this is a franchise that should always be in the elite.
So when I think of the NL Central, I think of the Pirates (Wagner, Clemente, Stargell) and the Reds (Bench, Rose, Morgan) as the grande olde teames to rise up from the ashes.
By the same token, I do remember my early years following baseball, being utterly fascinated with Robin Yount and Paul Molitor - Brewers and future Hall of Famers.
This year's edition of the Brewers in many ways refutes George Will's Blue Ribbon Council on the game - Fielder, Weeks, and Hardy make up a young, cheap, and potent infield, and it's not thier fault that the unit is rounded out by Craig Counsell.
Looking at their pitching staff, Jeff Suppan is still working with mirrors, Chirs Capuano is still managing to fly under the radar Red October-style, and Ben Sheets hasn't come around yet.
Despite being burned many times in Fantasy leagues, I'm still drinking the Ben Sheets Kool-Aid and believe that he is bona fide ace material.
The guy who deserves credit for the Brewers pitcching - not just this year, but over the last few years (if you check the Brewers' stats the last two seasons, pitcing was not the problem) - is Mike Maddux.
In case you aren't sure, that's Greg's big brother. The guy who the 4-time Cy Young winner once claimed had better stuff than he did.
Now, granted, there are accounts that Greg Maddux complimented Matt Clement on having better stuff than he did (this is, of course, prior to Clement taking a Carl Crawford line drive to the head; and to get on a Red Sox tangenet for a moment, Clement is the mouse that has not yet roared for the Sox this year - he is due back in June, and could either take a role in the rotation, in the bullpen, or be useful trade bait - Clement and Tavarez for Helton!) but Mike Maddux was a decent pitcher. I remember him being a great middle reliever for Boston in the '90s, though a review of his pitching line contradicts that.
Still, Maddux took Dan Kolb from zero to hero a few years back, and Kolb's tutelage under Leo Mazzone somehow made him a worse pitcher. Of course, looking at Braves relievers in the '90s, it would seem that Mazzone was always better with starters anyway.
The Brewers are a great early-season story, but so were the Orioles in '04, led by Brian (These Vitamin B-12 injections Miggy Tejada is giving me are great!) Roberts, and they ultimately slid to their customary 4th place finish.
Of course, after Chris Shelton stopped hitting last year, the Tigers were supposed to be done, too.
Rocket Redux
All right - Teddy was supposed to start this, but I'll take the lead on this, much the way the Sox are doing in the AL East, and leave Teddy in the dust, much the way the Yankees are currently situated.
So the Texas Con Man is back in the Bronx. I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a reaction to this.
I'd also be lying if I said that I wasn't hoping for him to come back to Boston. I mean, he only needed one more victory in a Red Sox uniform to surpass Cy Young as the winningest pitcher in club history. Fortunately, we have Tim Wakefield clocking in at 3rd on the list. Since he will probably pitch well into his 50s, he will probably surpass them both.
It would have been a fairy tale ending. As a Sox fan, I began to forgive Clemens after his comments about Boston in '03 and the way he screwed over Yankees' ownership in the wake of his first faux retireMment.
I certainly entertained visions of a sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows world in which he came back to Boston both last year and this year. It would have allowed me to feel good about rooting for the first great sports star of my youth without reservation all over again.
There really isn't any point in trying to turn this into something witty - years ago, Bill Simmons, the erstwhile Boston Sports Guy, wrote the column which posed the question, "Is Roger Clemens the Anti-Christ?" which covers the ground so perfectly it would be a disservice to try and top it here.
My father is one of the posterchildren for Red Sox nation - the eternal pessimist - and it's his rhetoric that I will turn to here.
I remember when Pedro signed with the Mets after the '04 season, his rationale was that the Mets' showed him more "respect". To my father, "respect" for Pedro always transalated into "a dollar sign followed by a crooked number and a long string of zeroes seperated by commas".
This past offseason (I can't remember where the Sox overbidding and the Yankees underbidding on Dice-K fits into this chronology), the Yankees stated that they would not be outbid for Clemens' services. They would, in my father's cynical view, show him the most respect.
By all accounts, the Red Sox made a decent offer to Clemens, but the Yankees trumped it. I suppose either "respect" or "Andy Pettite" ended up being the deciding factor. Clemens eschewed the storybook ending, and went back to the Bronx.
I will defy Teddy to claim that Clemens' return to the Bronx means anything close to him what the Rocket's return to Boston would have meant to me. For Yankees' fans, what's the difference between Giambi, A-Fraud, Abreu, Mussina, and Clemens, really? Aren't they all just hired guns? You might care about them while they're defending the family ranch from desperadoes, but would you really invite them over for dinner and drinks?
Yankees fans in the '80s had Mattingly. Red Sox fans in the '80s had Clemens.
How would Yankees fans have felt if Mattingly had fled to Boston to win a World Series?
Exactly.
Of course, Mattingly has more character than Clemens, and would never do that. The Rocket's comeback confirms the worst of everything that has ever been said about him.
The most cringeworthy of the many cringeworthy things that Curt Schilling has said lately is "We don't need him," when referring to Clemens.
I took that as a sign that Schilling, Beckett, Dice-K, and Wakefield's right arms would all simultaneously fall completely of their bodies - much in the style of Pedro Martinez (Go Mets!).
Fortunately, Beckett then went out and trumped Clemens' best start in a Sox unifrom, while Dice-K went north of the border and pitched like he was worth 100 million (Canadian) Dollars.
The way the Sox are built now, I can't help but agree with the loud-mouthed right-hander from Anchorage.
The last two seasons, the Red Sox kicked off the season by mashing their way to respectability until their pitching staff was exposed.
This season, the Sox really don't seem to be hitting (their stats still don't look that impressive after two straight games in which they scored 9 runs) but the pitching is getting it done.
And that offense will come around. It's the second-biggest offensive juggernaut in New England (Brady to Moss).
What really impresses me is the bullpen. Papelbon, restored to the closer role, has been nails. But the real bullpen MVP to me has been Okajima. The Red Sox had a great closer in '04 in Foulke, but the Embree/Timlin set-up crew was always a bit suspect. To find something akin to Okajima/Papelbon, you'd have to go back to the days when Derek Lowe was setting up Flash Gordon.
I know my history too well to count the Yankees out (unless they're leading the ALCS 3-0) so I'm not going to fall into the Red Sox National trap of writing off the Yankees at this early stage. It's entirely possible that come July 31st Cashman will trade Igawa and Pavano to the Twins for Santana (and get the Twins to pay off the rest of Santana's contract) - a lot can happen in a 162 game season. The Yankees clearly need starting pitching, and I can't even begin to speculate what the Red Sox mid-season needs may be (beware injuries), but I think after the rather disappointing aspect of the rivalry the last two seasons, we're going to return to '03-'04 levels.
So the Texas Con Man is back in the Bronx. I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a reaction to this.
I'd also be lying if I said that I wasn't hoping for him to come back to Boston. I mean, he only needed one more victory in a Red Sox uniform to surpass Cy Young as the winningest pitcher in club history. Fortunately, we have Tim Wakefield clocking in at 3rd on the list. Since he will probably pitch well into his 50s, he will probably surpass them both.
It would have been a fairy tale ending. As a Sox fan, I began to forgive Clemens after his comments about Boston in '03 and the way he screwed over Yankees' ownership in the wake of his first faux retireMment.
I certainly entertained visions of a sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows world in which he came back to Boston both last year and this year. It would have allowed me to feel good about rooting for the first great sports star of my youth without reservation all over again.
There really isn't any point in trying to turn this into something witty - years ago, Bill Simmons, the erstwhile Boston Sports Guy, wrote the column which posed the question, "Is Roger Clemens the Anti-Christ?" which covers the ground so perfectly it would be a disservice to try and top it here.
My father is one of the posterchildren for Red Sox nation - the eternal pessimist - and it's his rhetoric that I will turn to here.
I remember when Pedro signed with the Mets after the '04 season, his rationale was that the Mets' showed him more "respect". To my father, "respect" for Pedro always transalated into "a dollar sign followed by a crooked number and a long string of zeroes seperated by commas".
This past offseason (I can't remember where the Sox overbidding and the Yankees underbidding on Dice-K fits into this chronology), the Yankees stated that they would not be outbid for Clemens' services. They would, in my father's cynical view, show him the most respect.
By all accounts, the Red Sox made a decent offer to Clemens, but the Yankees trumped it. I suppose either "respect" or "Andy Pettite" ended up being the deciding factor. Clemens eschewed the storybook ending, and went back to the Bronx.
I will defy Teddy to claim that Clemens' return to the Bronx means anything close to him what the Rocket's return to Boston would have meant to me. For Yankees' fans, what's the difference between Giambi, A-Fraud, Abreu, Mussina, and Clemens, really? Aren't they all just hired guns? You might care about them while they're defending the family ranch from desperadoes, but would you really invite them over for dinner and drinks?
Yankees fans in the '80s had Mattingly. Red Sox fans in the '80s had Clemens.
How would Yankees fans have felt if Mattingly had fled to Boston to win a World Series?
Exactly.
Of course, Mattingly has more character than Clemens, and would never do that. The Rocket's comeback confirms the worst of everything that has ever been said about him.
The most cringeworthy of the many cringeworthy things that Curt Schilling has said lately is "We don't need him," when referring to Clemens.
I took that as a sign that Schilling, Beckett, Dice-K, and Wakefield's right arms would all simultaneously fall completely of their bodies - much in the style of Pedro Martinez (Go Mets!).
Fortunately, Beckett then went out and trumped Clemens' best start in a Sox unifrom, while Dice-K went north of the border and pitched like he was worth 100 million (Canadian) Dollars.
The way the Sox are built now, I can't help but agree with the loud-mouthed right-hander from Anchorage.
The last two seasons, the Red Sox kicked off the season by mashing their way to respectability until their pitching staff was exposed.
This season, the Sox really don't seem to be hitting (their stats still don't look that impressive after two straight games in which they scored 9 runs) but the pitching is getting it done.
And that offense will come around. It's the second-biggest offensive juggernaut in New England (Brady to Moss).
What really impresses me is the bullpen. Papelbon, restored to the closer role, has been nails. But the real bullpen MVP to me has been Okajima. The Red Sox had a great closer in '04 in Foulke, but the Embree/Timlin set-up crew was always a bit suspect. To find something akin to Okajima/Papelbon, you'd have to go back to the days when Derek Lowe was setting up Flash Gordon.
I know my history too well to count the Yankees out (unless they're leading the ALCS 3-0) so I'm not going to fall into the Red Sox National trap of writing off the Yankees at this early stage. It's entirely possible that come July 31st Cashman will trade Igawa and Pavano to the Twins for Santana (and get the Twins to pay off the rest of Santana's contract) - a lot can happen in a 162 game season. The Yankees clearly need starting pitching, and I can't even begin to speculate what the Red Sox mid-season needs may be (beware injuries), but I think after the rather disappointing aspect of the rivalry the last two seasons, we're going to return to '03-'04 levels.
#22's Redux
"Make no mistake about it, I've come back to do what they only know how to do here with the Yankees, and that's win a championship. Anything else is a failure, and I know that." --Roger Clemens in his conference with the sports media on rejoining the Yankees
Clemens is back and not only talking like a Yankee but also getting paid like one--$28 million to be exact pro-rated over the course of 5 months. I was fortunate enough to be at the Yankee game when Clemens came on the outfield screen after the 7th inning stretch. Of course my immediate reaction was one of elation, but after the drive back home to Maryland where I live I gave the whole thing more thought.
Why did Clemens pick the Yankees?
1. Money.
As Peter Gammons pointed out the Yankees simply had the money to afford Clemens. Well, let me correct that--afford him as the highest bidder. The Red Sox put in a bid as did the Astros and both fell short as the Yanks upped their offer given their record 10 starters in the first 30 games and sub-.500 performance so far. But let's be honest here, it's in the Yankees nature to spend tons of cash--that's a given. I don't want to get into the whole buying a World Series discussion. What is most interesting here is how Clemens can consider retirement well into April the last three seasons, decide to come back and has seen his salary go up $10 million over the period ($18,000,022 to $28,000,022). The guy has his own market, a monopoly in fact, where you must bid X million dollars with a Jackson and two GWs.
2. BFF, Pettitte.
Andy certainly has leverage over Roger. I'm starting to wonder about this baseball relationship. No not like that, but I can't recall seeing two ball players, who didn't come up together and whose careers started at different times with different teams, become so inseparable. Obviously this didn't shock any Astros players.
Before the season started I thought, now that Pettitte's a Yankee again I wonder if he'd throw out the idea of telling Clemens to go to the Red Sox? Ya know, mix up the relationship a bit, try something new, exciting and even dangerous. But I guess they're trying to rekindle something--see point #4 below. I won't be suprised to these two to retire together and then travel the world and the seven seas.
3. Safe pick for playoff run and World Series run.
Eleven straight AL East titles is what some may call a trend. But alas, the Yankees dynasty days are long gone, however they're a safe bet to make the playoffs every year and cannot be discounted to make a run at the World Series. And on top of that they still have one of the top offenses in all of baseball again (aka run support), though one has to wonder about the bullpen so far (more on that later).
4. Past Glory
Tino Martinez, David Wells, Mike Stanton, El Duque, Andy Pettitte, Ruben Sierra, Luis Sojo, Jeff Nelson, Homer Bush. These are all guys that played on the dyntasy teams from 1996-2001, left and have come back in the post-dynasty era. There's a lot of notalgia there and for most of them it was just that when they returned. Add Clemens to the list now.
5. Retire as a Yankee again?
Another Hummer? The first one Clemens got in 2003 is already four years old.
Seriously though, I think Clemens wants to retire a Yankee. He won his rings with the team afterall and has been great with the fans. This may also have some connotations regarding the Hall of Fame and which hat he will enshrined with when he goes in.
How does this help the Yankees?
The starting pitching staff is in shambles. Other than using 10 starters already, the five man rotation they were going to start with--Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Pavano, Igawa--hasn't even pitched in that order once. Only Pettitte and Igawa have been healthy and don't get me started on Igawa, his shades he wears, or that he's one ugly dude. Assuming Clemens stays healthy (not a guarentee) and doesn't get sent packing to single A ball, he increases the value of the Yankee's rotation.
There's also the whole NY thang--you know, the one that makes players like A-Rod put up dismal .290/35/121 seasons and do nothing in the playoffs. Clemens knows how NY, the Yankees and it's fan base work and went through his period of strife back in '99. He'll be able to fit in, albeit a different club.
I can't forget to say he's not with the Red Sox this year. I know they don't need him, but again this is another of those Yankee strategies--get this player before he goes to the Red Sox--whatever the cost.
I'd also add that Clemens always appeared to be a club house leader on and off the field. I can't imagine what Philip Hughes must be thinking right now. Players look up to Clemens, respect him, and will learn from him. Afterall, he's arguably the best pitcher baseball's seen in the last 25 years.
What are the risks at play?
A typical Yankee fan is probably thinking, "Yeah, we got Roger, we're gonna win it all now. Hey do I hear Cotton Eye Joe?" Let's be realistic here. First, Clemens is a pitcher and will get the ball every five days if those days happen to be in the Bronx. So we're talking about 20 games or so between June 1st and September 30th that he'll have any sort of impact on the team's chances of winning. Combine that with what most analysts are saying, Clemens will be a 5 to 6 innings guy which means Torre will still have to rely on the pen. Lord knows how that hangover will be doing by June.
Also for the non-stat heads reading this--Clemens won't dominate as much as he did the last three seasons. The three years and Cy Young in Houston proved that Clemens was still one of the best, but we're talking about the NL Central which is weaker compared to the AL East. However, I think all baseball fans shut up last year when the Cardinals won the World Series.
Some have also argued, wrongly, that Clemens is great in the playoffs. Please view his playoff stats here and tell me if he's one of the best playoff pitchers ever.
Did I mention Clemens is 44 going on 45--yes he's still great at that age and constantly in touch with his body, but can his body deal with another few months of baseball? Clemens' pitching game depends on his legs and he's dealt with his share of tweaks even heading into the playoffs as was true during the Astros' '05 World Series run.
Final Thoughts
It is great to have Clemens back in NY with the Yankees. This could be his last season for all I know, so I'll have to appreciate it for what it's worth, all $28 million. Given the way the '07 season has started for the Yankees, Clemens adds pitching value, leadership value, and even sentimental value. But in no way having Clemens guarentees the Yankees a playoff spot (hey, they could be going for the wild card this year) or a trip to the World Series. And if there isn't a championship in New York City, another year of failure will be upon the Bronx Bombers.
Clemens is back and not only talking like a Yankee but also getting paid like one--$28 million to be exact pro-rated over the course of 5 months. I was fortunate enough to be at the Yankee game when Clemens came on the outfield screen after the 7th inning stretch. Of course my immediate reaction was one of elation, but after the drive back home to Maryland where I live I gave the whole thing more thought.
Why did Clemens pick the Yankees?
1. Money.
As Peter Gammons pointed out the Yankees simply had the money to afford Clemens. Well, let me correct that--afford him as the highest bidder. The Red Sox put in a bid as did the Astros and both fell short as the Yanks upped their offer given their record 10 starters in the first 30 games and sub-.500 performance so far. But let's be honest here, it's in the Yankees nature to spend tons of cash--that's a given. I don't want to get into the whole buying a World Series discussion. What is most interesting here is how Clemens can consider retirement well into April the last three seasons, decide to come back and has seen his salary go up $10 million over the period ($18,000,022 to $28,000,022). The guy has his own market, a monopoly in fact, where you must bid X million dollars with a Jackson and two GWs.
2. BFF, Pettitte.
Andy certainly has leverage over Roger. I'm starting to wonder about this baseball relationship. No not like that, but I can't recall seeing two ball players, who didn't come up together and whose careers started at different times with different teams, become so inseparable. Obviously this didn't shock any Astros players.
Before the season started I thought, now that Pettitte's a Yankee again I wonder if he'd throw out the idea of telling Clemens to go to the Red Sox? Ya know, mix up the relationship a bit, try something new, exciting and even dangerous. But I guess they're trying to rekindle something--see point #4 below. I won't be suprised to these two to retire together and then travel the world and the seven seas.
3. Safe pick for playoff run and World Series run.
Eleven straight AL East titles is what some may call a trend. But alas, the Yankees dynasty days are long gone, however they're a safe bet to make the playoffs every year and cannot be discounted to make a run at the World Series. And on top of that they still have one of the top offenses in all of baseball again (aka run support), though one has to wonder about the bullpen so far (more on that later).
4. Past Glory
Tino Martinez, David Wells, Mike Stanton, El Duque, Andy Pettitte, Ruben Sierra, Luis Sojo, Jeff Nelson, Homer Bush. These are all guys that played on the dyntasy teams from 1996-2001, left and have come back in the post-dynasty era. There's a lot of notalgia there and for most of them it was just that when they returned. Add Clemens to the list now.
5. Retire as a Yankee again?
Another Hummer? The first one Clemens got in 2003 is already four years old.
Seriously though, I think Clemens wants to retire a Yankee. He won his rings with the team afterall and has been great with the fans. This may also have some connotations regarding the Hall of Fame and which hat he will enshrined with when he goes in.
How does this help the Yankees?
The starting pitching staff is in shambles. Other than using 10 starters already, the five man rotation they were going to start with--Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Pavano, Igawa--hasn't even pitched in that order once. Only Pettitte and Igawa have been healthy and don't get me started on Igawa, his shades he wears, or that he's one ugly dude. Assuming Clemens stays healthy (not a guarentee) and doesn't get sent packing to single A ball, he increases the value of the Yankee's rotation.
There's also the whole NY thang--you know, the one that makes players like A-Rod put up dismal .290/35/121 seasons and do nothing in the playoffs. Clemens knows how NY, the Yankees and it's fan base work and went through his period of strife back in '99. He'll be able to fit in, albeit a different club.
I can't forget to say he's not with the Red Sox this year. I know they don't need him, but again this is another of those Yankee strategies--get this player before he goes to the Red Sox--whatever the cost.
I'd also add that Clemens always appeared to be a club house leader on and off the field. I can't imagine what Philip Hughes must be thinking right now. Players look up to Clemens, respect him, and will learn from him. Afterall, he's arguably the best pitcher baseball's seen in the last 25 years.
What are the risks at play?
A typical Yankee fan is probably thinking, "Yeah, we got Roger, we're gonna win it all now. Hey do I hear Cotton Eye Joe?" Let's be realistic here. First, Clemens is a pitcher and will get the ball every five days if those days happen to be in the Bronx. So we're talking about 20 games or so between June 1st and September 30th that he'll have any sort of impact on the team's chances of winning. Combine that with what most analysts are saying, Clemens will be a 5 to 6 innings guy which means Torre will still have to rely on the pen. Lord knows how that hangover will be doing by June.
Also for the non-stat heads reading this--Clemens won't dominate as much as he did the last three seasons. The three years and Cy Young in Houston proved that Clemens was still one of the best, but we're talking about the NL Central which is weaker compared to the AL East. However, I think all baseball fans shut up last year when the Cardinals won the World Series.
Some have also argued, wrongly, that Clemens is great in the playoffs. Please view his playoff stats here and tell me if he's one of the best playoff pitchers ever.
Did I mention Clemens is 44 going on 45--yes he's still great at that age and constantly in touch with his body, but can his body deal with another few months of baseball? Clemens' pitching game depends on his legs and he's dealt with his share of tweaks even heading into the playoffs as was true during the Astros' '05 World Series run.
Final Thoughts
It is great to have Clemens back in NY with the Yankees. This could be his last season for all I know, so I'll have to appreciate it for what it's worth, all $28 million. Given the way the '07 season has started for the Yankees, Clemens adds pitching value, leadership value, and even sentimental value. But in no way having Clemens guarentees the Yankees a playoff spot (hey, they could be going for the wild card this year) or a trip to the World Series. And if there isn't a championship in New York City, another year of failure will be upon the Bronx Bombers.
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