A bunch of us decided to put our heads together on the year in sports and have some fun, in spite of all of the dark days, with what the world of sports has taught us, what we already knew, and what we have yet to learn. You can find the link here:
Enjoy, and let us know if we missed anything.
Just to give you a quick rundown of Wednesday’s crazy happenings:
Alfonso Soriano was traded to the Nationals for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge and a PTBN.
The Padres and Red Sox swapped Mark Loretta and Doug Mirabelli.
The Astros elected to not offer arbitration to Roger Clemens, preventing the future Hall of Famer from re-signing with the Astros until at least May 1.
The Cubs picked up Juan Pierre for a trio of minor league pitchers.
Trevor Hoffman turned down more money from the Indians to re-sign with the Padres, so Cleveland turned around and inked Bob Wickman to a one-year deal.
The Blue Jays dealt three minor leaguers to the Brewers for Lyle Overbay.
The Pirates traded Mark Redman to the Royals for a minor league reliever and a PTBN.
The Devil Rays got Sean Burroughs from the Padres for Dewon Brazelton.
There are also trade rumors swirling around Edgar Renteria, Bobby Abreu, Barry Zito, Hank Blalock, Javier Vazquez, David Wells and, yes, Manny Ramirez, while free agents like Johnny Damon, Nomar Garciaparra, Matt Morris, Frank Thomas and Kevin Millwood remain unsigned.
For all the headlines, go here.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Let’s talk baseball.
So Jim Thome’s a South Sider now. Huh. The sox gave up Aaron Rowand and two top pitching prospects to get Thome, who’s coming off his worst season, a season cut short by elbow surgery.
This isn’t to say that the White Sox were nuts to go after Thome. The guy’s good for 40 dingers and 100+ walks a year, and he’s one of the nicest guys in baseball. But the White Sox were nuts for going after him so early. There were not many teams that were even interested in taking on that contract, and the Sox surely could have cut a better deal had they waited a little bit longer and sweated the Phillies out a little bit. On the other hand, this makes Frank Thomas completely expendable, and provides insurance in case they don’t re-sign Paul Konerko. But come on, are they really going to keep Thome and Konerko? Paulie’s as good as gone for Anaheim.
As far as trades go, this is not one of Ken Williams’ best, falling somewhere at or below the trade with Pittsburgh that netted Todd Ritchie but cost them Josh Fogg and Kip Wells. Still, it’s more than the Cubs have done. Juan Pierre is a nice addition and all, but it’s hardly enough.
If I’m a GM, I’m wary of dealing any prospect the Marlins are interested in, the same way I’m wary of dealing a prospect that Billy Beane is interested in:
The Red Sox and Marlins have come to a tentative agreement on a trade that would send Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston for shortstop Hanley Ramirez, right-handed prospect Anibal Sanchez and a minor-league pitcher.
Whoa. Rotogeeks have been hearing about Hanley Ramirez since the days before they ran Nomar out on a rail. This Anibel Sanchez is supposed to be no slouch, himself. And yet, the Red Sox are giving them BOTH up for a corner infielder due $18 million (actually, he’s due more than that; Boston is on the hook for $18 mil) whose 2005 line was .236-8-58, and a pitcher who has hit the DL about 36 times in four years. Are these two guys worth mortgaging the future?
On the other hand, Sanchez and Ramirez are just prospects at this point. They could turn out to be nothing, we’ll just have to wait and see. Still, this is a mighty big gamble. At least in the rumored deal with the Rangers, the Marlins were getting a young, healthy third baseman in Hank Blalock. In Lowell, they get a Gold Glove, but the guy is two seasons removed from flexing any kind of power. Still, I suppose he’s an upgrade over Bill Mueller.
One can only wonder what Theo Epstein thinks of this. Are we going to see WWTD bumper stickers popping up in the Boston area? And how pissed are NL-only keeper league managers at the moment? To just lose a guy like Beckett like that…tough luck, dudes.
Awesome, awesome, AWESOME. Finally, a Series between two teams that have absolutely everything to lose. Chicago hasn’t been there since 1917 (WWI was called The Great War back then, by the by). Houston never advanced to the NLCS until last year. This isn’t like the Yankees or Braves or Cardinals, or even the Marlins, going to the Show. This is history, kids. I can’t wait.
The breakdown, piece by piece:
Starting pitching: Houston, by a nose. What’s that, you say? The Sox have been unhittable of late, plus are extremely well rested to boot? Fine, say what you want, but in this game of Texas Hold ‘em, three of a kind (Clemens, Pettite, Oswalt) beats two pair (Buehrle & Garcia, Contreras & Garland) any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Besides, Oswalt won’t likely pitch again until Game 3, which is next Tuesday, in Houston. Houston may not be as well rested, but they’ll be better rested, if you know what I mean.
Relief pitching: Houston. Sure, he gave up a 900-foot dinger to Pujols in the bottom of the ninth in Game 5, but he’s still Brad Lidge. Most guys don’t have that luxury, and you can bet that Lidge doesn’t throw that pitch again for another 15 years. Chicago’s bullpen has been tough lately, but they flamed out at inconvenient times all year. This would be a most inconvenient time to flame out, which means they’ll do it at least once. Maybe twice.
Hitting: Chicago. The great myth about this team is that they can’t hit for power. Nonsense, through and through. Konerko is the biggest bat, sure, but Iguchi, Rowand, Crede, Uribe and Dye can all go yard if need be. I’m sure they’d love to have a pinch hit bat like Frank Thomas at their disposal, the way that Houston has in Jeff Bagwell (how much do you suppose it killed him to not play in Games 5 or 6 of the NLCS?). But they’ll do just fine with what they’ve got.
Manager: Chicago. Sure, he’s never been to the Show as a manager before, but he’s a fucking lunatic. It’s like when Crash Davis told Nuke LaLoosh to hit the mascot with a pitch. After he did, Crash looked at the hitter, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I don’t know what he’s going to do next.” The hitter was so freaked out of his skull that he struck out on a pitch a foot and a half off the plate. That’s Ozzie Guillen ball. That’s the Chicago way.
Defense/Intangibles: Chicago. Houston stacks up a lot like the Sox in terms of teams that play great defense and do the little things. But Chicago is better at the little things. They steal more bases, they get runners over, and they generally seem to cause more trouble for teams. Houston doesn’t have that many speedsters, which means that Biggio may be sticking that elbow out like Roger Dorn in “Major League.”
My Pick: Chicago in 6. Sure, it may not be the Cubs, but so what. It’s Chicago, and they’re due, dammit.
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