Hot Stove Baseball Thoughts

Congrats to the Boston Red Sox on winning their 2nd world series in 4 years. They were the best team this year and deserve to win. My only concern is that I picked them to win in 5. I feel bad that the Rockies had to wait 9 days between games. I am guessing with a little less of a layoff, they might have been a bit more competitive, but the better team prevailed in the end.

Alex Rodriguez and Scott Boras, have to be the most arrogant and egotistical combination of player and agent ever. First they upstage the World Series by saying Arod is opting out of his contract during Game 4 of the World Series, before the 10 day waiting period had even begun. They demonstrated that they believe Rodriguez is more important than any other aspect of the game. Whether Boras demanded $350 million to simply come to the table with Yankees or not, (which if true is simply ridiculous) they could have given them at least a few of those 10 days, rather than opting out before the season is over. But I am sure this was a cold calculated PR move to get us talking about Arod (I know, they succeeded). Yeah sure Boras issued the perfunctory apologize but it is still pretty sleazy, and I certainly did not see any contrition with the apology. It seemed like just another tactic in their marketing campaign

Once again, this means Rodriguez and Boras simply cannot be taken at face value, and are proven liars. I only hope that whatever team ultimately winds up paying them $300 Million winds up putting themselves in such a hole (2001 rangers anyone?) that they cannot compete for 10 years and A-rod is mired in the cellar again. He better not say anything about wanting to win, since only the Yankees and Red Sox are willing to pay every year to win, and should just admit it is about the money. Then the ultimate ballsy move by Boras wasss to invite the Yankees back to the table after they shunned and essentially embarrassed the new Yankee brain trust. Kudos to Hank Steinbrenner for telling him to piss off.

I hope the new Yankee management stays true to their and stays out of the negotiations unless they go in to simply drive his price up, and send another team in to the tank for the next 10 years. That would be sweet revenge.

They new Yankee brain trust definitely punted the Joe Torre situation. The appearance is they never wanted him back. I am in the camp that change is inevitable. Although the Yankees were the best team from June to September, they failed to respond in October for the third straight season. In order to avoid becoming the Atlanta Braves or the Buffalo Bills made a bold decision to make a change why they still have most of there core. They handled the whole process atrociously, but I have no objections to changing managers after 12 years. I support Joe Girardi, he has experience and will bring a different voice to the clubhouse. Now they need to focus on getting Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada re-signed. Doing that should convince Andy Pettite to come back in 2008.

Does Curt Schilling really address any of the Mets needs? This is essentially the Tom Glavine signing a few years ago all over again. Lets sign an aging superstar in order to stabilize the rotation. Glavine might have been above average at best during his years in Queens. Curt Schilling is on the downside of his career and will not provide stability and long term solution that the Mets need to avoid another September collapse. It will be interesting in seeing how hard they pursue Schilling. Rumors say they are also interested in Jorge Posada (good for the Mets if they get him, bad for the Yankees) and maybe the aforementioned Arod, though do you want David Wright playing 2b or 1b?