Bo Sox Ridiculous Pen

In Robothal's latest, he mentions the strength of the Red Sox Bullpen:

One American League executive views the Red Sox's bullpen as especially formidable because each reliever is capable of producing a strikeout in a key situation.

The eventual promotion of right-hander Daniel Bard from Class AAA could make the 'pen even more dominant.

In his first 10 2/3 innings, Bard struck out 18 and walked only three. The only two hits he allowed were homers. Last Wednesday, he struck out the side on just nine pitches, and only one hitter even managed a foul ball.

"He looks like a big leaguer," Sox manager Terry Francona says.

Sox right-hander Michael Bowden, 22, made his 2009 debut with two scoreless innings of relief Sunday, but his future is in the rotation.

The Sox envision him as a potential No. 3, a Joe Blanton type, only with more fastball.

This is just laughably good. To recap their pen: they have a current 3 starter (Masterson) spot starting/relieving, a future 2-3 starter relieving (Bowden) a former allstar closer (Saito) pitching in the 7th, an allstar lefty not needed to set up (Okajima), a top closer (Papelbon), a future closer setting up (Delcarmen 12 scoreless inning this year), a great pickup for Coco Crisp (Ramon Ramirez 11 scoreless innings this year) and another future closer in AAA (Bard). And just for shits and gigs they have a 2nd lefty in Javier Lopez, and a young pitcher Hunter Jones who came up and threw 1.2 scoreless inning. Tough to beat, that's like Rivera and Wettland in '96, if the Yankees had another Mo and another Wettland.

This doesn't mean the Sox have the best team, and doesn't even necessarily mean they have the best pitching, but they certainly have the best bullpen and the best pitching depth. Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, Pettitte, Joba was the best rotation in the league in March, but we see what happens when just one or two of those doesn't work out, the Yankees have statistically the worst pitching in the league so far. The Red Sox however can just plug in Masterson when DiceK goes on the DL. Beckett can go down in July and Smoltz can come in, Lester can get tired in August and Bowden can come in.

Wang could get this sorted out, Hughes could be brilliant tonight, and Joba could find his groove, but the Yankees may need those things to happen. It's not even May and the Yankees have been playing without their best player, so you can't just count em out, but no team ever goes without problems and the Red Sox look like the team best built to play through those problems. Oh, and let's not forget about those Rays...

Trouble in Texas

Circling the Bases is a great new blog on NBC with an allstar cast of writers that I would read on my own, let alone together in one. Anyways, they recently pointed me towards the news story that Nolan Ryan has abandoned pitch counts in Texas:

Ryan has banished the use of the pitch count in determining how long a pitcher stays in the game through out the organization.

One could confidently say that Nolan Ryan knows a bit more than I do about pitchers, but in terms of pitching and injuries maybe I know more about what it's like to be human. They say the best players don't make the best coaches, because they expect greatness to come at a relative ease like it does for them. Maybe Ryan expects injuries to have the same effect on his pitchers as it did for him, meaning they're nonexistent? Not many pitchers pitch through their mid 30's let alone mid 40's without any injuries.

"The ceiling is off," said Maddux. "This is a mental thing we have to overcome. We have to change the attitude of the starters to want to go deep and believe they can."

The plan is to build a foundation with a fitness program heavy on stamina, and to get pitchers over that "mental" aspect. Pitching in baseball is on par with golf (pun intended) in terms of the mental aspect, but injuries are physical. Sure being strong mentally can help me go from 120 pitches to 140 pitches during a game when I don't think I can do it, but in 2 months when the workload has caught up and my shoulder is busted and I can't lift a can of soda, the issue is no longer mental.

Strict pitch counts aren't the greatest thing, but all in all you are probably better off safe than sorry. However, each pitcher has their own unique pitch count, to use a blanket approach on pitchers is probably stupid, so Ryan has a point there, but to assume in general pitch counts are stupid is, well, just stupid. Pedro Martinez had his threshold when he became ineffective (we all know Grady screwed that one up badly) and I'm sure even Roy Halladay has is. The point is being every pitcher reaches a ceiling where they should no longer be in the game, by lifting that ceiling you are likely hurting your teams performance.

I have this theory on drugs in rock and roll and I think it can be applied here. Some rockers' bodies were able to digest copious amounts of drugs and they survived, the one's that couldn't died. I don't think Keith Richards is alive because he worked on building a foundation aimed for stamina to take more drugs, and I don't think Janice Joplin died because she didn't do that. Similarly, some pitcher's are just able to throw more pitches, if you force every pitcher to throw more pitches some are going to come out of it fine while others will overdose, I mean get hurt.

Yankees CF Situation

This year Brett Gardner had a great spring training (even showing some power!!!!) and was given the CF job for the Yankees. Last year Gardner also had a great spring training, but didn't get a spot because Melky had a pretty good regular season the year before. Melky proceeded to suck the entire year going.249/.301/.341 and with average CF defense (having a good arm is not that important in CF, and having a good arm doesn't make one a great fielder, unfortunately). He had 8 HR and 87 RBI with 5 HR and 12 RBI coming in April, so you can tell he really struggled.

Brett Gardner then came up in the 2nd half and he continued to suck as well. Although he sucked for only 141 plate appearances, with better defense and speed, so after a great spring and after Melky being pretty darn awful last year, we were happy to forgive his sucking. He also out WAR'd Melky in far less playing time 1.1 to .3. Well, now he's sucking again and Melky is playing pretty well.

Gardner has a .248 wOBA, Melky a .432. The Melk Man has 4 homers and is slugging .667 but with a career high SLG of .391 I think it's safe to say he's not a power hitter, although in the new Yankee Stadium he may end up seeming like one. Regardless, he's outplaying Gardner. Brett Gardner can track fly balls, he can steal a lot of bases, he can bunt men over, and in the minors he got onbase at a good clip. He also can't hit, in the majors at least, yet.

In the minors in 2008 Garnder had a BB% of 17%, very good especially considering that he's one of the fastest players in the league. However, in 2008 in the majors he had a BB% of 5.9% and this year so far it's 4.8%. He also strikes out a lot, striking out over 20% of your ABs is pretty poor especially when you can't hit for power, at all, and likely never will. Apparently Kevin Long worked to get Gardner's legs more involved for power, and maybe it takes time to work but he slugged .299 last year and this year he's at .271, so I don't see that happening.

In the beginning of the year I was all for giving Gardner the job. The Yankees had to find out what Gardner could do for them in a starting job, but at some point he has to play well enough to keep the job. 65 plate appearances is not enough to make a final judgement on Gardner so I'm still on board with him still playing, but he can only steal, shag, and sacrifice for so long until .220/.254/.271 becomes completely unacceptable.

Bad Ideas In Baseball

Tim Marchman gives his take on some things baseball would be better off getting rid of.

They are good ideas, and he gives sound advice for each one. They are:

• Tall Catchers
• Pulling your best hitter for a pinch runner
• Pitchers batting ninth
• Calling in the closer with a three-run lead
• Managers in uniforms

I more or less agree with everything, except I like how managers still wear uniforms. I mean I like it because of the absurdity of it. It' pretty pointless, but it doesn't hurt anyone and it's a neat tradition to have. It's not like batting the pitcher 8th, where the evidence suggests it helps a team win. If wearing a suit in the dugout would prove to increase your teams production, than yea make the change, but that's not the case. With that said, baseball shouldn't be so strict about it. If Francona wants to wear sweatshirt he shouldn't have to actually have the jersey top underneath.

If baseball allowed managers to wear suits, would the managers want to? It's one thing to wear a suit on a basketball court, but would managers want to scuff their nice shoes on the pitching mound? And if they didn't, sneakers with a suit just look silly.

Now that I think about it although managers wearing jerseys is a ridiculous idea, I'm so used to it that having them wearing anything else would start to look silly, and I think that would be hilarious, in a good way. So I think I'll change my mind on this one. I'd love to see Don Zimmer try to dress nice, or watch Lou Pinella go crazy in an Armani suit, and especialy would like to see Jim Leyland keep his cleats on with a sport jacket.

Irabu Comeback Baby!

Maybe, not at the major league level but it's looking like a comeback!

I remember when the Yankees got Irabu, being so excited. This guy over in Japan is throwin high 90s heat, and the best team in baseball gets to add him to their roster? What a coup!

Obviously things didn't work out well, and Upperdeki Irabu totally stunk. I guess one good thing was it forced Mendoza to the bullpen, and that turned out to be an incredible move. I feel obligated to say this after that statement, no that doesn't mean Joba should be moved to the pen. Mendoza was an eh starter who turned into a great long man, Joba is a great starter.

Back to Ramiro, cause I love the guy. The Yanks dynasty would never give up, and having a guy like Mendoza to put up zeros after the starter gets knocked out early really helps your team steal a few extra wins in the season. When Wang goes out in the 2nd, and Claggett comes in, you see what happens. When Sabathia just doesn't have it one game and Girardi is forced to use a 1-2 inning pitcher like Albaladejo for 3-4 innings, you don't normally stop the bleeding. The Yanks seemed to have 5 great starters to start the year, that doesn't mean you won't need a long man, as the Yankees have shown. I'm still kinda surprised that after all this the Yankees still don't have one on their roster. In terms of long menor spot starters, nobody quite did it like Ramiro, and you really appreciate that sort of thing now.

Finally, back to Irabu.

Is that really good enough to even pitch in an independent league? Technically yes, I'm sure some fans will go just to see Irabu, like I'm sure some went to see Canseco. But in terms of ability, I'm not sure.


(hat tip to BBTF)

What's Wang with Wang?

Everyone has already kinda tackled this subject, and I'm definitely late to the party, but that headline was too good to pass up.

Chien-Ming Wang, is strictly a sinker ball pitcher, and he throws (or used to throw) hard. He still throws a hard sinker, but it's no longer in the mid 90s range, it is now in the low 90s. Every major leaguer can play the game, the differences between the good ones and the bad ones are pretty small, but have huge effects. The difference in just a couple MPH to Wang's sinker can make a previously great pitcher into a current ineffective one.

Wang had a foot injury last year, it seemed like he would make a full recovery because well, it wasn't his arm. I'm not saying Wang is hurt, because he says he feels fine. But isn't likely that his foot just isn't as strong as it once was? It could be perfectly stable and 100% healthy, but that doesn't make him just as strong as he was last year. That little difference could be the reason for a little difference in velocity which so far this year is making a big difference in his effectiveness.

The success rate for pitchers like Wang (no Ks) isn't good. Guys who strike out guys at the rate that Wang does, don't have long lasting careers. After Wang was a great pitcher for almost 4 years, it seemed as though he would go against the norm, but now we are starting to see why guys like him don't last long. As a groundball pitcher with a career 4.01 k/9, Wang lets a lot of balls in play. When he's going good, those balls aren't hit well, but just a slight decrease in his stuff, those balls begin to get hit a lot harder.

Wang's k/9 increased the last 3 years, but he never really changed his approach. Not that he should have necessarily because what he did was working. However, since he never pitched changing speeds, or fooling hitters with an out pitch, it should be no surprise that once his main pitch lost a little bite with age/injury, that he won't be the same pitcher.

Wang's ERA this year clearly won't remain at 34.5, but it likely won't be all that pretty. I don't think you will see Wang post an ERA under 4 from this point on, or maybe again in his career. He can still be an effective pitcher, he just has to learn how to get out hitters differently, at this point I don't see him learning that at the major league level. Unless of course he is lying, and he isn't 100% healthy. But if we take him at is word and these are the results, we shouldn't expect Wang to give us a different result next time he goes out, if he pitches in a similar fashion. Girardi can say all the bull shit he wants how his sinker was moving the best it has yet this time out, the point remains Wang's pitch selection throwing sinker after sinker aint workin'.

Are the Marlins Legit?

Doug Butabi: So anyways, I was standing there waiting to use the pay phone.
Steve ButabYeahi:Yeah, he was, seriously.
Doug Butabi And this guy who was on the phone, turns around and tips his hat like this.
Steve Butabi: And who do you think that guy was?
Doug Butabi: Emilio Estevez.
Steve Butabi: The Mighty Duck man, I swear to God, I was there.
Doug Butabi: Of course you were, you were the one who yelled the Breakfast Clubber's name.
Steve Butabi: I was like, "Emiliooooooooooooooo."


That's a tough question to ask, who asked it? Oh me, so I have to now answer.

First I'll give the copout answer, it depends on your definition of legit. Are the Marlins going to be the best team in baseball? No. Are they likely going to be in the race all year? Yea.

Now I'll give my real answer: the Marlins are not legit. They are not a 10-1 Team. They have 6 wins against the Nationals, and as I type this they are down 8-0 against Pittsburgh. They have won several close games, and won 2 games against the Nationals on blown saves. Emilio Bonifacio has struggled recently, and he's still hitting .321/.345/.434, to show how unreasonably well he was playing early. He's likely to bat .260/.320/.350 the rest of the way. The Marlins have won in spite of his recent struggles, but that doesn't mean the Marlins will continue to win at this pace.

It's not like the Marlins are a bad team though, only getting lucky, they have a solid club. The Marlins pitching is great. Josh Johnson is going to be a Cy Young candidate (although Mr. Santana is starting off pretty pretty good), Nolasco is going to find his groove, Anibal Sanchez looks like he'll have a good rebound year (not great but good), and Chris Volstad has looked very solid as well. Also, Hanley Ramirez has been struggling recently and he won't bat .245 all year.

However, in March most people figured the Mets and Phillies were better than the Marlins, I'm not about think differently after 12 games. Yea Josh Johnson's rise has to be taken into consideration, but even so, it doesn't mean the Marlins atop the NL East is something we should get used to seeing.

UPDATE: When I wrote this for whatever reason, I forgot about the Phillies pitching troubles. I was still under the assumption that Hamels is a clear ace, but last years heroics have clearly affected him this year. Unless he reemerges as a legitimate ace, I'd say it's pretty likely the Marlin, and even the Braves can pass the Phillies.

Boomer Wells Gets a Multi Year Deal!

...with TBS of course.

Tough question, would Wells be a better analyst for TBS or a better pitcher right now in the bigs? Call it a toss-up, where everyone loses.

Charles Barkley has had a pretty nice post playing career working on TNT, maybe TBS thinks they need a Barkley equal in the baseball booth. If that's case, Wells is then a mighty fine choice.

I like John Kruk as a person, when they'll show a clip of him hitting against Randy Johnson in the all star game, or how he sold his number to Mitch Williams for a case of beer, or just listening to him talk about how he played the game. But I don't like listening to him on Baseball Tonight, analyzing the games. I imagine David Wells will be similar on TBS. It'd be great to hear him chirp in about pitching in the World Series, but I don't picture myself wanting to hear him actually analyzing the game.

When Justin Upton is struggling and getting benched, I want to hear Rob Neyer talk about how he needs to get his bats, and even putting him in AAA is better than riding the pine. I don't want to hear Kruk, or maybe soon, David Wells talk about how Eric Byrnes brings a veteran presence and helps the Dbacks chances of winning.

Joba Breakdown

Over at RiverAveBlues, they did an awesome Pitch f/x breakdown of Joba's start yesterday.

They said they won't do this for every start, and that kind of bummed me out, because I love looking at this stuff.

Joba's slider and changeup come from more or less the exact same release point, and his slider, changeup and fastball are on the same plane until right before it reaches the plate. That's pretty dirty, obviously.

However, his curve (like most curves) can be be differentiated from the other pitches right after release. This is why the Yankees tell their young pitchers to scrap their curves and teach them sliders. I'm not sayin Joba should scrap his curve, but you can see why a fastball, slider, change combination is ideal, and Joba has that and just throws a curve in there as well. This may be why Brett Myers, who relies on a curveball, gives up too many homers, or maybe why Barry Zito is no longer a good pitcher.

One last thing about Joba's velocity. In 2007 when he first came up strictly relief, he threw 97 average fastball velocity. Last year between starting and relieving he threw 95. Early in the spring there were concerns about his velocity, but this shows there should definitely not be any more concerns. On a cold wet day, before Joba's arm is even at full strength, he was sitting right around 92-93, even touching 96. It's not the same as when he relieved, but it shouldn't be, and doesn't need to be in order for Joba to be an extremely capable starter. When he needs he can gear it up to the high 90s, but in the 3rd inning against Miguel Olivo, there is no reason to max out.

So please, don't let any bozo who prefers Joba in the pen fool you into thinking that is a good idea if he talks about Joba's velocity. A lot of pitchers would kill for consistent mid 90s velocity as a starter, and as the Pitch f/x shows you his stuff is crazy good as a starter.

Manny- "I would like to play for Cleveland one more time"

Manny Ramirez, just starting a new 2 year deal with the Dodgers that took more than the entire offseason decides now to talk about where he wants to play after he's done in LA:

...before his career ends he hopes to be reunited with his first love: the Cleveland Indians.

"I would like to play for Cleveland one more time, to go back where I started," said Ramirez, with the Dodgers playing their home opener Monday against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. "I have so many good memories there, why not?

"I think to go back where you started is everyone's dream."[...]

Thome and Ramirez each might be eligible for free agency this winter if Ramirez opts out of his two-year contract. And if they become free agents, Ramirez told Thome, they should both consider returning to Cleveland.

"Manny was very sincere when he brought that up to me," Thome said. "Manny was saying how special that would be for us to both go back together. He was very passionate. Baseball's such a weird thing. You never know what's going to happen."[ ...]

"Me and Thome back in Cleveland?" Ramirez said. "That would be sweet.

"I love L.A. I really do. But the way the city responded to me, it reminded me a lot of how it was in Cleveland."

I just want to know, was this before or after he didn't get that 4-5 year deal this offseason? If Manny was signed for 4 years with the Dodgers, would we be hearing him talk about how he wants to play in Cleveland at age 42? Doubtful. Is Manny being sincere, or is Boras pulling some strings to get Manny his next contract, after he barely starts his current one? Hard to say, I don't think Boras deserves the benefit of the doubt, and I don't really think you can take what Manny says seriously anyways.

I was admittedly a pretty sizeable Indians fan growing up considering I was actually a Yankee fan. I loved all RFs as a kid and there were some real great ones to root for outside of NY with Abreu, Vlad and of course Manny (he used to play there). Plus, that Indians lineup was just insane, cool, and in their prime, it's kind of a shame they couldn't get a title. Just look at that 1999 Indians lineup, it's sick. Lofton, Vizquel, Alomar, Manny Thome, that's such a killer 1-5. It could easily have 4 guys in the Hall of Fame, and Lofton is one of the greatest leadoff hitters of his time. And that's not even counting Sandy Alomar, a young (and good) Richie Sexson, Travis Fryman, and David Justice.

So, as you can see I kind of liked those Indians teams, so seeing Manny and Thome would be cool in 2010 right? Eh not really at all. In 2010, the Indians will still owe Travis Hafner $37.5m for 3 years, I don't think signing 2 more DHs next year for the Indians would be smart, possible, or even as Manny says, sweet.

Closer Today, Gone ToMorrow?

Miguel Batista got credit with the ole BS last night (which by the way is total BS for my fantasy team), but Brandon Morrow didn't really help him out. Bottom 9 in a 5-3 game against the lowly hitting Twins, Morrow in for the save. He gets two quick outs on 9 pitches, then he proceeds to walk 3 straight hitters. Like I said, the Twins lineup sans Mauer just outright stinks. How do you walk Carlos Gomez with 2 out, and then walk Jason Kubel and Brian Buchser? Carlos Gomez at best can hit a double off you, and when you walk him with 2 out and up 2 runs, he's going to take 2nd base without a throw anyways. So really, walking Gomez is worse than throwing it right down the middle, every pitch.

Brandon Morrow took it upon himself to be a closer this year, not a starter. If he really wants to keep the job he chose for himself, I advise him to be better at it. Miguel Batista only needs 2 months of the closer job to possibly look good enough to trade his contract. Morrow has never been consistent, I don't see him keeping the job all year long, and I definitely won't be surprised if he's starting games again.

Sabathia and Teixeira are Officially Busts

4.1 Innings 6 runs 5 walks and 0 strikeouts, are you kidding me Black Sabbath?

0-4, with 4 men left on base Teix, what a bum!!!

Obviously it's too early to judge these players, so obvious in fact it's not worthy of a post, so I won't say more on the subject.

Other stuff I saw today (from the box scores at least):

• Mets bullpen working out perfectly. All else equal with even a dece closer last year the Mets would be in the playoffs, that's why I'm choosing them over the Phillies.
• Cliff Lee's magic from last year is over. I know, how can I comment on Sabathia's start being meaningless and then say Cliff Lee's start has meaning? It's easy actually, Sabathia has been the best pitcher in baseball the last three years, and Cliff Lee had one good year. He'll be fine, but he's not winning 22 games this year, he won't even win 18, and if he's not ace-worthy, the Indians are in trouble.
• I hope St. Louis gives Motte more chances to close, one outing doesn't mean anything, please don't resort to the shitty veteran who has experience, when that "experience" is saving 17 while blowing 8.
• It's just one game, but I think I was sleeping on Arizona, they could definitely win that division, if a few guys step up. It's not asking for veterans to get better, it's asking for guys entering their prime years to get better, pretty fair assumption.
  
• Detroit doesn't have good pitching with a sick Verlander, if he's just dece again, yuck, last place again.
  

Halladay Trade Likely?

Well I wouldn't say likely, but it's starting to pick up some steam, along with the Jake Peavy rumors.

MLBTradeRumors, had a piece today linking to articles talking about both, and they asked the question, which would you rather have? To me that seems fairly obvious, and the answer is Roy Halladay.

Jake Peavy is younger, he's going to be 28 this year while Halladay will turn 32. However, any team looking to get Peavy or Halladay want them for a small window where they can win, they are not trying to acquire an ace pitcher to help them rebuild. Therefore I feel the age difference doesn't really help Peavy. You could say since he's younger he may be more durable, but there lies Halladay's biggest strength. Peavy may give you a lower ERA, but in 190 innings and missing a couple starts. Halladay will give you his 3.5 ERA at worst over 230 innings.

The biggest case for Halladay however is context. He pitches in the AL, and in the AL East, and in a more or less neutral ball park. Jake Peavy pitches in the NL, the NL West, and in Petco. At this point Petco deflates hitting more than Coors inflates it. Last year Peavy had a 2.85 ERA and a 121 ERA+. Roy Halladay had a similar ERA in 2.78, but had a 154 ERA+. Same ERA, but when you count for park and league, Halladay is significantly better. Last year Halladay had a 3.71 ERA, looks good but not great right? Well his ERA+ was 120, virtually the same as Peavy last year when he had an ERA over a run lower.

So I made my case for Halladay and I think it's a pretty strong case. Halladay is owed $14.25m this year and $15.75m in 2010. Peavy is owed $8m this year, and has a 3 year $52m extension for 2010-2012. Both pitchers are basically bargains compared to what they would get on the market, and there is definitely an argument to be made that you should take the younger pitcher who is locked up longer, but I still feel Halladay is the better bet. If Joba doesn't work out in the rotation, are the Yankees going to want to see what Peavy is like outside of Petco, or do they want the guy that has dominated the AL East his entire career? I think you get my point.

Now, do I think either will get traded this year? I kinda think at least one gets traded. The Padres are terrible, and the Blue Jays aren't far behind. I think ticket sales could be worse than maybe teams have expected, or at least worse than what they are maybe telling. The Padres don't have a good farm so trading Peavy could help rebuild it. The Blue Jays actually have some nice young players coming up, and adding a few more with a Halladay trade gives them a chance to compete in the future, because they aren't going anywhere this year.

The Yankees got the Rangers to pay $80m of Arod's contract, could they get the BlueJays to pay some of Vernon Wells' and get him and Halladay in a trade? If Brett Gardner is batting .230 in May, Melky does worse since he's given the job, and a pitcher goes down why not? It's just money to the Yankees and they get a good CF and a great pitcher. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I'm just saying...

Home Grown?

Over at Sox And Pinstripes they go through the Yankees and Red Sox rosters to see I guess, who's is more homegrown:

So get over it, the only difference between the two teams is the Yankees have bloated salaries on former homegrowns and just went on a spending spree to replace: right field, two starting spots, and a position in the field along with most of the bench. Those guys figure to be part of the long term plans in New York. Either way, if you eliminate: Posada, Jeter, and Rivera's salary alone (as in, they weren't so good they just kept getting raises), the Yankees would already have around $50 million less in payroll, which would put them, you guessed it, within 20 million of the Red Sox, who are bound to have a rising payroll when guys like: Beckett, Papelbon and Bay are ready to strike a deal.

Yea they are pretty equal, but the Red Sox homegrowns are young and just entering their primes while the Yankees homegrowns are all years removed from their primes and overpaid.

They basically make the same case I did, except they quickly throw it aside:

They are very similar, the difference is the Yankees have a combination of players from their farm a decade ago and now assisting their team, while the Sox have made up for lost time with all recent talents.

Nobody had any problems with how the Yankees created their teams during the 90s run. Those teams are basically the Red Sox now. Pettitte=Lester, Jeter=Pedroia, Bernie=Ellsbury, Tino=Ortiz, O'neill=Bay, Posada=Varitek, Brocius=Lowell, Cone=Beckett. Essentially 90s Yankees and current Sox are a perfect mix of young players in their primes and older players picked up on the cheap or signed during free agency.

The problem people have with the current Yankees is that they are now mostly FA signings. Therefore you can't really count the layovers from the 90s that were homegrown and call the Yanks and Sox even in that regard. Because in 2 years when Jeter is bad, Posada is on the way out, Pettitte is retired, and Mo is retired, the Sox will still have all of their homegrown players and the Yankees will only have a few left.

When people give credit to the Sox for their recent player development it's in comparison to the recent Yankees, not the 1996 version. To quote Yankee homegrowns like Jeter, Posada, Pettitte, and Mo as reasons why both teams have equally used the farm is just ridiculous. Finally the Yankees have developed some newer players, but they don't compare with the young talent the Red Sox have, that's why the Yankees had to spend half a billion this year, while the Red Sox just picked up a few pieces in the bargain bin.

Baseball is Back

So finally baseball season is here. Tonight at 8 the Phillies play the Braves. The Phillies will get to give out their rings, and put up their championship banner, reminding the Braves and the rest of the NL East, that they are the team to beat.

Derek Lowe vs. Brett Myers. I think the Phillies have a better team, and I don't think anyone will doubt that, but it's hard to pick the Phillies here with Myers on the hill. He's not a bad pitcher, it's just that hes so inconsistent and hasn't really been good since 2006. He was great down the stretch last year but it's hard to just forget the fact he was sent down to the minors last yaer. When he was coming up they called him a young Curt Schilling. So far that obviously hasn't been the case, but being as Schilling was nothing special before his 30th birthday, maybe something is still in the cards for Myers.

He has the talent and I wouldn't be surprised if he had an outstanding year, but I don't think it's starting tonight. If Cole Hamels was healthy and pitching it would be a no brainer, but he's not. Lowe won't dazzle you but he's a rock, he's always at least pretty good. So with that said, Braves win 5-4.

Sheffield to the Mets?

I really hope for the Mets sake that none of these rumors are legit, and if they are that they don't actually sign Gary Sheffield.

Yes, Ryan Church is no model of health, Fernando Tatis isn't all that great, and Daniel Murphy has never played a full season in the majors, but why sign Sheffield? There is a reason the Tigers ate $14m to get rid of the guy. That's no small change. He's a headache who's worth it when he's healthy and raking, the last 3 years he's been neither.

I know Frank Thomas is a DH and only a DH, but why is Sheffield getting all these rumors and Thomas not even a sniff? Sheffield can't play the outfield any more than Thomas can play 1b. His role is only pinch hitter, and at this rate I'd take Thomas over Sheffield in that role. Baseball people love using the old adage that if you've done it before you can do it again. The only problem is that Sheffield can't do it again.