Odd. Looking at the Yankee roster and salary, I figure they could trim off easy 22.5 m for next year, but looking at who makes what, it is of interest to note that 5 of the top 7 salaried players came up from the farm system - Jeter, Pettite, Bernie, Mariano, Posada. In two years, if they resign Pettite, it will be 7 of 10 as Soriano and Nick Johnson will join the list. Soriano makes 800k and Johnson 364k. Even wells makes 3.25m Very few high priced flops on this team : Karsay, Weaver, Aaron Boone, Bubba Trammel. That's about it.
Getting a decent fielding second baseman (and saving maybe 30 hits + turning a lot more DPs) won't cost that much while getting a really good pitcher will. Lowe's 2002 season was a career year. I don't think anyone expected him to do it again. In fairness to him, he finished 17-7. When he lost, he got rocked. He also should NEVER pitch on turf. He's 6-11 lifetime with a 5.71 ERA. This year, on grass, he was 16-5 with a 3.86 ERA. He's definitely not a great #2 guy, but then if Manny and Ortiz hit they way they're supposed to... Interesting comparison of RS pitchers from last year to this. I didn't realize it was that bad.
Not a good day to be a baseball fan of the teams here in the Bay Area... Giants eliminated, BoSox hold off the A's and stay alive. Fortunately I'm a Yankee fan.
Bill Welke would be more like it. Two weak calls. Chavez was a target of return throw and made a genuine attempt to catch the ball, while Mueller should not be even in the play. Steve Palermo’s explanation was simply bizarre: ‘"The runner is in peril to be put out," said Steve Palermo, a baseball supervisor of umpires. "Bill Welke determined that Miguel Tejada would not have scored if there had not been obstruction."’ Hey, the ball was not only late but 10 ft off the line and high! Having said that, I think the A’s should blame themselves more for the loss –- 4 errors and a couple of bonehead plays. Put it another way, A's deserved to lose, but Red Sox didn't deserve to win, with such abysmal hitting and weak fielding (2 would-be costly errors only luckily saved by A's bonehead plays).
Tejeda was a moron for just stopping. I couldn't believe it! Also, when Byrnes pushed Varitek in anger, the ump could have prevented the baserunners from advancing.
Very good point. That was a lot more obvious obstruction than Muller on Tejada. And, it was Tejada's own fault for stopping running. Basic principle, don't assume the call's going your way.
Come back from commerical, and all of a sudden Tim Hudson's out of the game. Still don't know if it's the forearm, shoulder, or what. It must be pretty bad to come out of this game.
A's just blew another one. I think they screwed up the karma big time in game 3. Now it looks like Yankees/Red Sox for ALCS.
Well, let's not get carried away yet. Oakland is still the best Home team in the AL, and they've got last year's Cy Young, the best lefty in baseball, going for them against a team that simply doesn't hit lefties. Nonetheless, you gotta feel like the Sox have lots of momentum right now, and Pedro might be on a mission. And with the bullpen in its finest form of the season so far this series, things certainly are looking up in Beantown. By the way, if the Sox win tomorrow, their rotation will set up as follows against the Yanks: Game 1: Wakefield v Mussina Game 2: Lowe v Pettite Game 3: Martinez v Clemens (sweet!!) Game 4: Burkett v Wells If Oakland wins, you have to wonder about their rotation at this point. Is Hudson out? I think the rookie Harden might start Game 1. Yikes. [Games 1,2 in NY, then 3-5 in Boston or Oakland, then back to NY for 6,7] And in case anyone doesn't get it: that Game 3 matchup between Pedro and the Rocket could very well also be the Game 7 matchup if it went that far. How awesome would that be?
Good point. Go Cubs! Most of the country is praying for a Cubs v Red Sox World Series. If it happens, Selig will probably bring back the "Tie" to baseball, and both teams will somehow fail to win yet again.
This is an event hard to digest. For 37 years, I just took it for granted that the Cubs would fall short in the end. Tonight, that paradigm is gone for good. I beleive that this team is going to win the Series. Cubs in 6 in the NLCS. Bill Q. www.thefirealarm.com
Assuming we make it that far, I would like to see Kim start instead of Burkett. Burkett was incredibly lucky to "only" allow 4 runs in 5 1/3 innings. Ugh. Unfortunately, I've heard nothing to suggest that anyone is even considering starting Kim. At this point, I'd consider Suppan (who only allowed 2 runs in 7+ inning in NY last month). Maybe Saeurbeck can discover an "injury"
Or a comet strikes the earth on the day of game 7. Ends up the comet was signed by Steinbrenner. Startling. Now that the Yanks have gone through, I'm really hoping the Sawwwx make it to the ALCS to avenge their horrible loss from '99. Can anyone say, phantom tag? Cubbies and Fish. This is a tough one. However, I don't think the Cubs have a good enough bullpen. I don't know though, it's a tough one to call. Kenny Lofton has made a nice choice of picking his team these past 2 seasons though. The Cubs knocked out the Braves so I'm thankful for that and I'll root for them. And of course I'll be cheering for whoever faces the Yanks.
I live 2 blocks from the ball park so you have to know it was fun watching the show going on in the neighborhood last night. Bill Q.
Apparently, I'm the only Giants fan on here, but whatever, I'll talk about it. You just can't leave 18 guys stranded on base in a game three situation and expect to win. No clutch hitting and a season full of errors in one series. I believe the Giants had the least number of errors in the NL (if not the majors) for the regular season?? We needed Cruz, Jr. to find his early season offense and we needed Santiago to come through with his clutch hitting that he gave us last year in the post-season. On a sad note, that was more than likely JT Snow's last game as a Giant.
The Bosox'll be down 3-1 going into game 5. Yankees should be able to beat Oakland without Hudson. Yanks Cubs World Series anyone?
Agreed. Suppan, Kim, hell even Arroyo would all be better bets. I don't see it happening though. Oh well. Let's hope this is something we need to worry about.