I forget which broadcast I was watching (and I'm not even sure it was last night), but I can't believe the constant criticism and labeling of the Edgar Renteria signing being a bust. Actually I was watching NESN and they had Bob Ryan on complaining that the team screwed up by not signing O-Cab. Now sure O-Cab was hurt, but even when he played he was inferior to Renteria, with the possible and I mean possible, exception of defensively. Renteria did have a hire Range Factor so it is possible it was not so much worse than O-CAB. Other numbers - OCab batted .257/.315/.403 vs. .288/.345/.385 and Renteris scored 100 runs - that is a lot of runs. Now I agree he was a bit below his potential, but he was not a bust. If they'd signed Cabrera for 4years/$32MM, they would now be questining that move.
Watching Pettite last night was creepy. I never liked that guy. His beedy little eyes peering out from behind his glove and hat. But it would kind of be nice as GR said, to have MFY fans watch their two best pitchers from 2003 win a WS with another team one year after watching their mortal enemy dance on their lawn and then do what they could not do the year before.
The whole Eddings thing is unbelievable. And sad. I wish we were not talking about this and were, instead, talking about what a tight, exciting series it has been so far.
Interesting to see Reggie Sanders play like Reggie Jackson this year. Especially after he sucked so bad in his 5 other trips to the post season. Including last year when he went O for the world series. But then again the Sox did that to a number of batters.
Does anyone other than the NY media really care what Joe Torre says about the Boss when he launches his promised season ending comments on George. I looked at a couple of Yankee blogs and lets just say, I did not see a single reference to the upcoming missives. Lots of talk about what went wrong. And some (stupid) speculation that every GM in baseball will just give NY their best players (Vernon Wells, Aaron Rowand, and Torri Hunter) and and happily take Giambi off NYs hands now that he is back. My guess is that Joe takes the high road. As usual.
Plus like they say. If you take George's money, you also have to take his crap.
I agree with you on pretty much everything you said. I was never a fan of the Renteria signing, and was particularly annoyed when everyone was all over Bellhorn but didn't even mention Renteria, who had almost the same offensive numbers (but was worse on defense and grounded into many, many more double plays). But the criticism the last couple weeks has been insane. So yeah, he was useless in the playoffs; no one mentioned his massive hot streak a couple weeks in September, when the rest of the team (even Ortiz and Manny) was ice-cold; it's possible the Sox don't make it to the playoffs without his hitting.
ReplyDeleteMy guess (or hope) is we'll see a different player in 2006.
Also, Roy Oswalt is in a zone. Pretty scary intensity....
ReplyDeleteOswalt is a machine
ReplyDeleteOswalt is a machine
Oswalt is a machine
Reggie Sanders -- ouch. I can't believe he's walking around. That fall was broken tailbone/whiplash/concussion material.
ReplyDelete(But, I must say, his replacement it So Taguchi.)
Do you think maybe the Astros will trade us Oswalt for, like, Arroyo? We can throw in an autographed Big Papi baseball card, maybe.
ReplyDeleteOh boy andrew - you are frightening me. Here was an actual post - don't even bother to think about retorts, just enjoy it for its absurdness:
ReplyDelete"Last year on the fan I was screeming for the Yankees to ignore Beltran and trade for Andrew Jones. I said trade Brown for Jones and pay 1/2 Brown's salary. At the time Jones was coming off his worst year as a professional and was due 15 million per year for the next 3 years. Suzanne Waldman said why would the Yankees want an overweight centerfielder who was in decline. I responded the guy's pretty much the same age as Beltran and although his stats declined the previous year is the best CF in baseball. Well it turns out that would have been a great trade, and one you could have secured in December 2004. No one in the Yankee brass pushed for that far as I know, and Waldman once again proves she rarely knows what she's talking about.
What the Yankees need is a CF, I vote for Torri Hunter. One good idea that the media explored (put enought monkey's at a type writer and eventually something coherent will come about) was trading Sheffield (This may not be easy because of his no trade clause). Hunter would be perfect as an OF in NY he has a great arm and covers ground, bat him 9th or 1st depending on how well he gets on base .328 OBP over the past 5 years bodes well for the 9th spot. DO NOT TRADE CANO FOR HUNTER. The one risky thing on Hunter is the injury he got, if its serious and their is any question of him coming back next year I withdraw my recommendation. Another Trade is Aaron Rowan. He is a terrific Young CF, the Whitsox with money may like a guy like Sheffield. The bottom line is this Get me a scrappy CF who can flat out play defense, and the whole complexion of the team changes. Another Idea being floated around is Sheffield for Vernon Wells. I love it the guys 26. Not as good defensively as Hunter or Rowand, but with a strong arm and above average defense for now should be a great addition. Ideal situation is to get both. Wells could play Right with Hunter in Center and Matsui in Left. It may be tough to pull this off, but its not impossible. With Wells and Hunter close to free agency, this may well be exactly what the Yankees need. Also Keep in mind that this deal would bring an OF with ages of 37-37-31 to be 30-31-26. I did say not to trade Cano however if it means securing a Matsui, Hunter, Wells Outfield I would be tempted, depending on who I bring back at 2B (Soriano??). At the end of the day this arrangement puts our OF at 29 Average Age, and assuming we pull of this without losing Cano, the Infielders from 3B to 1B would be 30-31-22-35.
Last question is Giambi. Ever since we signed Giambi we haven't won a damn thing. When Healthy Giambi has been fine, HOWEVER, the question is this, does Giambi have value where we can unload his contract and reassess. One idea would be to trade Giambi to LA and acquire Konerko a good hitting and fielding 1B who is 29, by trading Giambi to LA we secure enough prospect to secure Vernon Wells and Hunter."
You know... I'd laugh, except these people turned Javy Vazquez and Dioner Navarro into Randy Johnson. For whatever reason, teams roll over on trades with the Yanks; part of Yankee fan arrogance with trades is borne of stupidity, but the rest is from experience.
ReplyDeleteWell at least AZ got something for the Unit who would have been gone from them after this year. Don't forget, the Yanks also threw $9MM to AZ. Sure it was a bit of a head scratcher, but they sure did better in that trade than the one they had made a year earlier.
ReplyDelete...plus the Yanks gave up Brad Halsey as well, who's making league minimum and is only 24. So it wasn't quite as lopsided a trade as you make it out to be.
ReplyDelete