AJ: Red Sox Face Tough Choices for 2010

The Red Sox are in a major transition, but, we don’t know how much change will come before 2010, or, after next season.  

GM Theo Epstein and the Sox brass have hard choices this winter, including whether to make a big deal or two NOW  to improve the team or to stick it out in 2010 with the 2009 roster largely intact.  

It’s hard to predict.  On the one hand, Theo and company have a history of shaking things up.  On the other, this year’s class of free agents is supposed to be sub-par and perhaps the team will stand pat and hope for patience.  (Not easy given that Boston fans have no patience).

The current Red Sox executives are accustomed only to winning.   Since John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner bought the team in 2002, the Red Sox  have made the playoffs most years, won two World Series and made it to the ACLS twice and lost.  Of course, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were the core of those teams until, for the first time, in 2009, the team had neither – if you consider that Ortiz was not his old self much of the year.  That’s why, in an important way, the Sox’ transition began during 2009, when they had to find ways to win without their old Gehrig/Ruth duo.

To the Red Sox’ credit, they found a way to win 95 games in 2009 with key contributions by pitchers Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon and left fielder Jason Bay and newly-acquired Victor Martinez.   Yet, one sensed, as the year unfolded, that certain players were on a downhill trajectory.

Ortiz and Mike Lowell are both older and unlikely to keep producing at the same level.  Ortiz has said he plans to follow a different work-out program in the offseason.  Maybe he can improve a bit, but signs in 2009 suggest he’ll face limitations in 2010.   Lowell, with a bad hip all of 09, hit well, but is also in the ending phase of his career.

 Though knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is recovering from surgery on a herniated disc and says he intends to return, it’s hard to expect much from him.  He’s 43 and has broken down at the end of recent seasons.  Catcher Jason Varitek, long the captain and a team leader,  must decide if he wants to be the backup to Martinez.  Varitek is good with pitchers, but, on his last legs as a performer.

Theo can count on quite a few key players – including the starting pitching rotation – to return.  The challenge will be keeping the team’s offense strong, particularly if Jason Bay signs elsewhere.  The Sox are expected to talk to Bay in the days after the World Series when they have exclusive rights to talk to him, but, if they cannot reach agreement then, Bay will probably attract higher offers elsewhere and leave.  

It seems, on what we know, that the Sox have only a few options.  One might be trying to make a trade for Adrian Gonzalez of the San Diego Padres, but, that’s all speculative, and, who knows if the teams could work that out.

One of the only players I think the Sox might think about trading is Papelbon.  I doubt it’ll happen because Pap is still so good, and, Daniel Bard, his heir apparent, is young and still inexperienced to assume the closer role.  However,  Papelbon is unlikely to remain on the team more than another year.  He, himself, has said he wants to cash in on a big deal.  So, in many ways, he’s the only significant “chip” the Sox have. 

Who else would they trade?  Not Ellsbury, Pedroia or Youkilis – all young and viewed as “the future.”  Not Victor, who helped revive the team in mid-season.  JD Drew, at $14 million a year,  is untradeable.  Ortiz and Lowell are old and unlikely to draw interest.    Neither of their two shortstops, veteran Alex Gonzalez or Jed Lowrie, would bring much.  They’ll want to hang onto their pitchers:  Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, Matsuzaka, Bard, Okajima, Ramon Ramirez.   Maybe they’ll trade Manny Delcarmen, but, not for much.

So….either the Sox get lucky and sign Bay OR they put a few prospects or players together in a deal to get Adrian Gonzalez OR they choose the wild option of dealing Papelbon.   If none of these work out, what options will Theo have?

The Red Sox are one of  many teams talking to Aroldis Chapman, the 21-year-old, Cuban left-handed “stud” pitcher who throws a 100 mph fastball.   Even if the Sox win that competition, Chapman needs time in minors.

There are a few promising young players on the way up – including budding shortstop Jose Iglesias and pitcher/shortstop Casey Kelley, but, reportedly, they need more time in the minors.

2009 was another excellent year for the Sox, but, they got swept in the playoffs and fell short of the Yankees in more ways than one.  The Sox went after Mark Teixeira very aggressively, but, he chose the Yankees, who offered him $10 million more.

The Yanks appear ready to bring back most  of their roster for 2010.  If the Red Sox don’t make a big move, they appear poised to fall short again, but, perhaps by a greater margin.

If I had to guess, I believe Theo Epstein will, again, surprise us with a significant move before 2010 spring training.  It’s just my hunch.

Big Mike: Anything Left In The Wells?

As I wrote yesterday, I love this time of year in baseball. I’m already over the Cubs‘ latest disappointing season. Anything can happen now. The Cubs have just as much chance to play in the 2010 World Series as a dozen other teams.

And, as I wrote yesterday, step one in getting there is dumping Milton the Monster. Now, who in the hell wants to take on a guy who’s owed $21M over the next two years and has a rep for alienating everyone who comes within 10 yards of him?

Maybe someone who needs his very potent bat and has an even more onerous contract they want to shed? How about the Blue Jays?

I mentioned Canada yesterday as a potential destination for Milton Bradley. Now comes a report from Toronto (via Bleed Cubbie Blue) that the Blue Jays and Cubs just might be talking about a deal wherein Bradley and centerfielder Vernon Wells swap uniforms. Blue Jays accountants would be ecstatic with the deal because, according to reporter Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, the teams would split the difference in salaries owed the two. Wells has $107M due to him over the next six years, the remainder of  a ridiculous extension ousted general manager JP Ricciardi signed him to three years ago. Subtract Bradley’s $21M from that and you have $86M — meaning Toronto would pay $43M of Wells remaining salary.

Wells, for a brief shining moment, appeared to be on his way to becoming one of the top ten players in the game. His 2006 season was a marvel: he hit home runs, was an all-star, won the Gold Glove and earned a few MVP votes. Ricciardi rewarded him with a deal worthy of one of the ten top players in history.

Then Wells became very pedestrian. Many of his woes could be blamed on nagging injuries. Even his fielding has suffered. The Hardball Times ranked him the third worst fielder in the game, relative to position, this past season. Yuck.

That deal, among many other sins, got Ricciardi fired.

Wells, though, might be a decent risk for the Cubs. Throw him in Wrigley Field’s more cozy centerfield, meaning Kosuke Fukudome goes back to his more natural position in right, and maybe Wells doesn’t look so bad. Plus — and I’m remembering Andre Dawson’s move from Montreal to Chicago — maybe playing on natural grass will restore the spring to Wells’ legs.

baseball-reference.com, using its Batting Similarity Scores metric, compares Wells most closely with Reggie Smith through ages 29 and 30. Smith, it must be noted, turned in several sweet seasons after he hit 30. Why not take a chance on history repeating?

Like I say, anything can happen.

Big Mike: Milton The Monster

Wrigleyville (the community of fans as opposed to the neighborhood around the ballpark) is abuzz with speculation about whom the Cubs will get in exchange for one Milton (no middle name) Bradley of Harbor City, California.

Shoot, I thought all mass murderers or assassins had middle names. Isn’t that what Milton Bradley is? For all the bile spewed in his name since his very first game at Wrigley Field as a Cub, Bradley has to rank among John Wayne Gacy and Richard Franklin Speck as a local villain.

Of course, he’s brought much of the odium on himself but the rage expressed at Bradley is alarming. I mean, jeez, he’s just a ballplayer, albeit one with a paranoiac streak and who can’t control his rages and alienates just about everyone he’s ever shared a shower room with. It’s not like he lied to the country to whip up war fever or is mad because taxpayers won’t pick up the tab for an eight-figure bonus he thinks he should get.

Still, don’t count me among the Bradley defenders. (Then again, are there any Milton Bradley defenders anywhere?) I’m one of those numbers-crunching stats geeks old-time baseball fans like to pillory. I’ll always look to a player’s BAbip, VORP, WARP2, OPS+, UZR, and occasionally his pH level rather than fairy tale attributes like “character,” “ability in the clutch,” and (ugh) “scrappiness.” I have no idea what a “gamer” is but I do know how many Runs Created each player on the Cubs roster was responsible for in 2009. And Milton Bradley is one fine ballplayer based on any metric you can name.

That said, there’s no place for him here next year. If you can find anybody who’ll disagree, then you ought to play the lottery.

Gameboard is owed $21M for both the 2010 and ’11 seasons. The other 29 GMs in MLB know Jim Hendry has to exile Bradley from Cubville. So you might think Hungry Jim is over a barrel. He may have to eat up to $10M of Milton’s remaining pay and accept some other team’s albatross in the bargain. You may be right. Yet, there’s always someone who thinks he can handle the other guy’s problems, especially if that problem is good for a plus-.375 on-base percentage. Might someone be willing to swap some usable talent for him?

The Mets are said to be sick to death of both Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. The Rays are stuck with Pat Burrell’s big contract. The Blue Jays may want to rid themselves of Vernon Wells’ bloated contract. Then there are the Red Sox who always are on the lookout for hitters who produce, leaving others to fight among themselves over the Boy Scouts.

Some say Hendry ought to agree to a deal with the first team that offers to take Bradley off his hands, no matter the return. But reporters like Ken Rosenthal and Bruce Miles claim their sources tell them Hendry already has received more than courtesy calls regarding the wayward rightfielder. Even if Hendry takes his time to sort through whatever competing offers there may be, he has to close the book on Bradley before or at least early on in December’s general managers meeting. The Cubs absolutely cannot stand still as they did in the 2004-05 off-season while trying to exile Sammy Sosa. Not only did they get next to nothing back for a man who’ll waltz into the Hall of Fame, they were unable to pull the trigger on any other signings that might have actually improved their chances the next season. In the weeks leading up to Sammy’s foregone departure, other teams snapped up the likes of Beltran, Magglio Ordonez and even Roger Clemens. I’m getting aroused just thinking about any of those three on the Cubs.

Anyway, Hungry Jim has about five weeks, max, to peddle Bradley. If he doesn’t do the deed by then he may as well hang on to him, which means a lot of unneeded clubhouse drama next season. Whereas clubhouse drama doesn’t necessarily preclude the winning of the World Series, as the mid-70s A’s or late-70s Yankees proved, it doesn’t make the task any easier. And, it must be said, the 2010 Cubs will not compare favorably with either the of those champs.

Had I magic in the snap of my fingers, I’d put together a package of Carlos Zambrano, Milton Bradley and Sean Marshall for Beltran and Reyes. Everybody’s happy that way — the Mets get rid of a couple of guys whom they (wrongly) consider lacking and they get the stud pitcher and outfield masher they so crave. The Cubs, meanwhile, wave bye-bye to their most villified player since Todd Hundley as well as a guy whose mound blow-ups are becoming increasingly intolerable. Plus, they get a brilliant switch-hitting leadoff man shortstop and slugging centerfielder, neither of which they’ve had since the Fillmore administration. Sigh.

Will it happen? Hell no! But that’s what I love about the hot stove season — I can pretend it might.

Pedro Showed His Stuff Even In Phillies’ Loss

Call me crazy, but, I felt Pedro Martinez’ performance last night was extraordinary.   I will remember it for a long time.

Why?  Because Pedro overcame tremendous odds and obstacles to perform as well as he did.   Pedro, 38,  had pitched only since August, when he joined the Phillies’ rotation.   With diminished skills, an 89 mph fastball, and less consistent bite in some of his other pitches, Pedro would have to summon all his creative powers if he was to make it through that lineup of Yankee hitters — one of the best in baseball history.  Plus, he’d been sick the past two days.

I was one of many who didn’t think he’d survive long.  I thought Yankee hitters would be patient and sit on his fastball.   What I didn’t realize was the extent to which Pedro had reinvented himself since I last watched him!

Pedro used his changeup and curve so often and effectively that he fooled Yankee hitters during much of his six-inning outing.  His off-speed stuff was so good that his fastball appeared faster to hitters.   He kept hitters guessing all night and managed to strike out both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez twice.   That was no easy task for Pedro even back in 2004.

Pedro moved the ball around in the zone and mixed his speeds.  He was so careful, knowing he had to be precise with his location, or, he’d get knocked around.  I had never seen him throw so much breaking and off-speed stuff for an entire outing, and, likewise, I’d never seen him “fool” hitters by surprisingly throwing a fastball.  He’s made a full transformation to a slower, finesse pitcher.

Most of the time, he kept the Bombers off balance.  Mark Teixeira hit his home run by waiting for a changeup, but, Hideki Matsui hit his home run by golfing a very low pitch over the short right-field fence.  I thought Matsui’s home run was a fluke.   

The story would’ve been nicer if Pedro had gotten the win, but the Phillies couldn’t hit A.J. Burnett, anyway. 

I had never expected to see Pedro at center stage again.   He had lost his effectiveness a few years ago, before having shoulder surgery.  Then, even after rehabbing, it wasn’t clear he could regain his form.   He considered retirement as he waited to find a team that’d pay him what he felt he deserved.  The Phillies were smart to sign him in July, and, I feel we’ve been lucky to see Martinez’ two sharp starts in the playoffs.  

I just love watching an athlete defy the odds and the pundits.   To me, Pedro did that last night.  Many baseball writers and fans overlooked how unlikely it was for him to hold his own vs. the 2009 Yankees.

Whenever a Red Sox pitcher this year (or, in recent years) held the Yankees to two or three runs over six or seven innings, I considered that a very good outing.  

I considered Pedro’s outing last night even more special due to all he overcame.

AJ: Pedro Faces His Worst Pitching Jam

Preface:  Pedro Martinez is my favorite athlete of all time.  I appreciated every minute of Pedro’s time in Boston and will never forget his brilliant, unique pitching talent or colorful personality. 

That’s precisely why I wish the Phillies were not starting him in Game Two of the World Series against the Yankees.   It’s unrealistic to expect Pedro, now 38, with a limited pitching arsenal, to contain perhaps the most potent Yankee lineup of all time.  

I think Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel is badly misjudging the situation.   He has said it’s the kind of big-pressure moment made for Pedro, but, he’s not focusing realistically on the hitters facing Pedro.  It’s a good story, for sure.  People love seeing Pedro, but, he’s no longer equipped to deal with the Yankees.

I hope so, so much that I am wrong.  I’d be THRILLED to watch Pedro miraculously find a way to contain the Yankees for six or seven innings and complete a good start.

Yet, it’s hard for The Best pitchers to get through this Yankee lineup.  Pedro is about nine years beyond his prime.  I don’t know how Pedro will get his much slower 89 or 90 mph fastball by Yankee hitters.  I know he’s relied a lot on his terrific change-up this year, but, he’ll have to mix his pitches creatively to prevent the Bombers from hitting him, particularly in the second or third time through the lineup.

Consider what John Smoltz just told Tom Verducci, in an article posted yesterday on CNN/SI yesterday.  Smoltz said the Yankee lineup is so good that he’d suggest bringing in a new pitcher every two or three innings - like in a spring training game  - to prevent hitters from wearing the starter down.  It was the Yankees who battered Smoltz in his last start for the Red Sox in 2009, prompting the Sox to part ways with Smoltz.

It’s one thing for Pedro Martinez, in 2009,  to pitch well recently against the LA Dodgers, but, asking him to start vs. perhaps the best hitting NY Yankee lineup ever is not smart.   I think reveals how little confidence Manuel has in his other pitchers.  

I used to worry how Pedro Martinez would get through the Yankees’ line-up five or six years ago – and, believe it or not, it was because Pedro, in 2003 and 2004, had lost some velocity on his fastball and some consistency in his changeup and curve.   Back then, Pedro could still, on occasion, have a very good start vs. the Yanks, but, in 2004, he struggled more and more against the Bombers.  In fact, after he lost yet another game against them, he commented, famously, “….”I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my Daddy.”

Pedro has a few fantastic memories of pitching against the Yankees.  He struck out 17 Yanks in his September, 1999, masterpiece one-hitter at old Yankee Stadium.  In the 1999 ACLS, in a highly-touted matchup vs. Roger Clemens, Pedro struck out 13 and gave up only two hits vs. the Yanks, who easily won the series.   Then there was Pedro’s enigmatic performance in Game 3 of the 2003 ACLS vs. the Yanks, which I attended at Fenway. Pedro had nothing that day, and, was really struggling as the Yanks rallied to score and threatened for more.  Suddenly, Pedro threw the ball behind Yankee Karim Garcia and the Yankee bench erupted, thinking it was an attempted beanball.  Later, both benches emptied, but, what I’ll always remember was that Pedro, who was pitching like crap at the start, found some adrenalin after the controversy, and started mowing down the Yanks for a couple of ininngs to keep the Sox in the game. 

That was vintage Pedro, finding something when he seemed to have nothing.   Of course, he did that, perhaps most heroically, in the 1999 playoff game vs the Indians, when, badly hampered by an injury, Pedro came in from the bullpen to pitch six no-hit innings against the Indians, who had a terrific lineup.  He pulled it off without despite being unable to throw his fastball normally the whole night.

Pedro was so “off the charts” good that he’d often win a game when he had only one of his three primary pitches working.   His fastball and changeup were unbelievable and his curve, in his prime, was damned good too.

Returning to Pedro’s history with the Pinstripes, Pedro gave one of his funniest one-liners, late in the 2001 season, after winning a game vs. the Bombers following several unsuccessful attempts.  Someone made a remark that prompted Pedro to comment on the so-called “Curse of the Bambino” that had jinxed the Red Sox:   

“I don’t believe in rivalries,” Pedro said.  “I don’t believe in curses.  Wake up the Bambino, maybe I’ll drill him in the ass…”

Those were the days.  Pedro was on top of the world.   I hope, somehow, he can conquer the Yankees in Game Two.   It’d be like going back in time.

Big Mike: Ricketts Needs A Strong Stomach

My day of days has arrived! The sale of the Cubs from the Tribune Company to the Ricketts clan is official now.

TribCo purchased the team in August 1981 for $11M. They sell today for $845M. I’m sure the company’s happy with it’s 27-year reign. Its return is nearly 78 times greater than its initial investment! The team set attendance records nine times. Tribune Tower suits, Cubs front office honchos, the players, coaches, ushers, security people, washroom attendants, vendors, and even Chicago cops out directing traffic after games all raked in piles from the money tree.

The results on the field? Eleven Cubs teams finished above .500. One made the playoffs as a wild card entry. Five were division champs. One team won a playoff series. No team reached the World Series.

Big deal.

The Trib’s first act as proprietor was wise; it turned the keys over to Dallas Green. The irascible Texan cracked the whip, sending a letter to all players in the organization to get the hell in shape before spring training. He cleared the clubhouse of fat and happy paycheck-cashers and actively sought players who’d trip their own grandmothers as they rounded third. He modernized and professionalized all facilities and departments. He realized Wrigley Field needed lights for the team to compete financially so he threatened to move if the city didn’t give him permission to play night games. In his third year at the helm, he sensed the Cubs had a shot at the division title so he traded a couple of promising young studs and a beloved oldster for a couple of pitchers who made it happen. His farm system a few years later began producing the likes of Greg Maddux, Rafael Palmiero and Mark Grace. He was the man who’d lead the Lovable Losers to the Promised Land.

Of course, Dallas Green was forced out after six years on the job. Since Green’s ouster in October, 1987, very little TribCo has done in the name of the Cubs has made any goddamned sense.

Good riddance.

Now we have an owner who became an adult in Wrigley Field. Tom Ricketts fell in love with the Cubs as an 18-year-old in the bleachers in 1984. He met his wife there as well. His brother lived in an apartment across the street from the ballpark. It’s the next best thing to me owning the Cubs.

Of course, Tom Ricketts is now a few hundred mill in debt. But his family runs TD Ameritrade and he founded Incapital LLC. He’s been in high-end investment banking and stock trading all his life. He’ll find a way to dig up lunch money. It’s just that he won’t be dumping bushels-full of cash at every free agent who hits the market.

That’s okay, too. Nobody ever built a championship team solely by signing free agents  — not even the New York Yankees.

The advantage Ricketts will have over previous team owners is he’ll have an emotional stake in the fortunes of the team. I’m hoping (and praying to the god I don’t believe in) that he won’t be satisfied merely by a healthy quarterly report from the team’s accountants. Oh sure, he’s a businessman. He wants the firm to make dough. But here’s hoping he has the good sense to shed a tear or two while he’s counting receipts after a year in which the Cubs fail to make the playoffs.

That said, here’s my unsolicited advice for the new Cubs owner:

Call Alan Trammel in and tell him he’s the manager after Sweet Lou retires next fall. Forget good old Ryne Sandberg. Dreamy-eyed sentiment has no place in this decision. I never thought Ryno was an intellectual titan. Nice guy, I’m sure. Loves baseball. Loves the Cubs. Loyal as the day is long. So what? Those qualities describe me as well. I doubt Tom Ricketts would consider me for the job.

Rid the team of Milton Bradley. Not an easy task, sure, but it has to be done. Signing Gameboard was the dumbest-ass thing Jim Hendry ever did. If Hendry can’t find an equitable trading partner for him, he has to work out a financial settlement with Bradley that would grant him immediate free agency.

Speaking of Hungry Jim, I’d call him into the office and tell him I’m bringing in a Vice-President of Baseball Operations with whom he’ll have to work hand in hand. Hendry may not care to share his responsibilities. Fine, I’d say, let’s work out out nice severance package. Thanks for everything.

Hire a smart, creative, risk-taking, envelope-pushing GM. Someone like Kevin Towers, Billy Beane or Kim Ng. It’d be fascinating to see what any of them would do with a $125M+ player budget.

See what the trade market is for Carlos Zambrano. Perhaps the strongest personality in the clubhouse, Big Z is another in the Cubs’ long line of dumb ballplayers. He can’t control his emotions and he tries to do more than he’s capable of. He’s the anti-Greg Maddux. If the Mets, say, want to talk about sending Jose Reyes or Carlos Beltran here, I’d have to listen to them very carefully.

See what the trade market is for Derrek Lee. I love him. He’s a terrific hitter, a fine fielder and an upstanding citizen. He’s also just about ready to become a very old man. Among the teams that hope (rationally and otherwise) to compete for division crowns next year, the Red Sox, Rangers, Mariners, Braves and Mets all could find a comfortable spot for Lee. Might the Bosox, for instance, wish to move Kevin Youkilis back to third base and ship minor league monster Lars Anderson our way for him?

Find a second baseman, shortstop and centerfielder. You don’t win without superior talent up the middle. As I’ve yelled before, the Yanks became a powerhouse only when they started running the likes of Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada out there. You won’t win anything with Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and a platoon of Reed Johnson and Sam Fuld, especially if Geo Soto continues to suffer from the terminal munchies.

See? That’s all you have to do to reverse a hundred years of bad luck, bad decision-making and bad baseball. Ha! I hope Tom Ricketts has half as much emotional strength as ready cash.

AJ: Angels Went Out With A Whimper

I was really disappointed in the Angels’ showing against the Yankees.

I know they were underdogs, but, God, their hitting was pathetic.  They made errors that seemed to be due to nerves.  (or, some would say, choking)  They didn’t steal many bases, and, they just didn’t play up to their potential.  

Chone Figgins, usually a key to the Angels’ offense all year, was 3 for 23 in the ACLS.   Bobby Abreu was 4 for 25.  Kendry Morales was 4 for 24.  And so on, down the lineup.  Who would have expected that Vlad Guerrero would be the Angels’ best hitter for the series?  He hit .370 and had more hits than all his teammates.  Jeff Mathis, of all players, was the next best hitter. 

Why were they SO bad? 

 Well, the ACLS got me thinking about patterns that seem to repeat themselves every year in baseball playoff series.   One is old and simple, but always relevant:  Good pitching beats good hitting.   That certainly applied to the Yankee pitching dominating the Angels, especially the Big Man – C.C. Sabathia, who is THE hottest pitcher in the game now.   Andy Pettitte silenced the Angels too.   Yet, some of the Angel hitters seemed to be pressing.  They  seemed to take the wrong pitches or swing at the wrong pitches.  The Angels were too good a hitting team to look THAT bad!

As I watched the series unfold, I thought about another important dynamic that applies in the playoffs:  “Contact hitters” often make critical contributions in money games.  Guys like Johnny Damon, who is so damned good at having long, tough at-bats that end with him slapping the ball for a clutch hit – as he did in Game Six.  Let’s face it:  It’s because teams face the best pitchers in the playoffs that you NEED hitters who can find a way to make contact and poke a single any way they can.  I’m referring to guys who can not only hit fastballs, but breaking pitches, or, even reach out of the strike zone to place the ball to the opposite field or do whatever is necessary to get a hit.    THE question in the playoffs and World Series is whether hitters can scratch out a few meaningful hits against the big stud pitchers.  Will the Phillies, for example, get wood on the ball against Sabathia or look helpless like the Angels?  Well, I’ve noticed in my years of observing Yankee hitters that they tend to make even the best pitchers work like hell on the mound.   The Yankees hitters are unique in that almost all nine can hit for contact, and power too.  That is incredibly unusual.   Most lineups have a couple of big HR hitters and a couple of great “contact” hitters, but not whole lineups capable of extending at-bats, showing patience, fouling off pitches and hitting tough pitches the way the Bombers do.    

I have not seen Cliff Lee pitch in ages, but I have doubts that he can shut down the Yankee lineup or pitch deep into the game without his pitch count getting too  high, but I hope I’m wrong.

I thought back on past playoffs and World Series, and, while it’s easy to conclude that teams with the best pitching usually win, a corollary to that is sometimes that the winning team finds ways to put together just enough hits and walks to stay in the game — and they often do it with guys like Damon and Jeter, who can stick their bats out and knock the ball to the opposite field.

I remember, as a kid, when I was lucky enough to go to the 1967 World Series between the Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals.  This is when Bob Gibson was the Cards’ ACE.  He totally shut down the Sox, and, I recall feeling so happy when my hero at the time, Yaz, found a way to get a hit off Gibson.  I felt a little of the same when, many years later, after Dave Roberts made The Steal in the 2004 ACLS game 4 against the Yankees,  Bill Mueller, a great contact hitter, lined a single off the immortal Mariano Rivera, to tie the game. 

It’s hard enough to hit a 95 mph pitch, but, hitting the ball off the best pitchers – under enormous pressure in the playoffs – often is what separates the men from the boys in baseball.

Big Mike: That Phallus In A Sweater-Vest

No matter which site I’ve posted on about the Cubs, one thing is always perfectly clear — I wish Jim Hendry would be kidnapped by aliens. I blame him for just about anything I can think of, up to and including Global Warming.

But, really, Hungry Jim is not my ultimate Cub bete noir, only the latest. No, the honor for the biggest dope to run the Cubs in the Tribune Company era can be fought tooth and nail over by Jim Frey, Larry Himes or the loathsome Andy MacPhail, a man whom many Cubs watchers nicknamed MacFail and whom I’ve always referred to as that phallus in a sweater vest.

Frey was just plain dumb. Himes was a jerk. Their sins could fill a book. Their respective signature missteps were Frey’s 1991-92 off-season splurge on George Bell, Danny Jackson and Dave Smith, and Himes’s role in the departure of one Gregory Alan Maddux. But Andy MacPhail’s transgressions are the most infuriating.

I can understand the bone-headed actions of bone-headed men. Frey’s and Himes’s idiocies were there for the world to see. MacPhail’s incompetence was subtler. In fact, many credited him with doing a fine job during his term as president of the Cubs. He packed the ballpark and brought the team to the brink of respectability a time or two. Yuck.

I’ve never given a shit how well the Cubs are doing financially any more than I have a rooting interest in the bottom line of Wal-Mart or the Disney company. I don’t care to watch accountants balance their books but I love to see outfielders run down long flies and hitters lash line drives into the alleys. All I know is that Cubs’ cumulative record during the MacPhail presidency was 916-1011. The twelve teams he ran finished under .500 seven times. They lost 90-plus games in a season four times and finished in last place four times. Sure, there were the 1998 Wild Card team (or, more accurately, Sammy Sosa and a bunch of guys wearing the same uniform) and the 2003 division champs (the phrase “five outs away” is acid-etched into my brain.) Big deal. The Yankees or the Red Sox would consider those off years.

Even though the Cubs in the MacPhail era were godawful with the exception of those two startling playoff appearances, I’d always felt that MacPhail went to bed each night saying to himself, Man, I’m good. The ballpark is full and I’m making money for the company. I trust he didn’t linger over the team’s record — if he had, he’d have never fallen asleep.

Now, though, I read in George Castle’s fine blog, Bench Jockey, that MacPhail’s bosses in the Tribune Tower could hardly believe how penurious their own bean counter was after they looked at MacPhail’s books one year.

Castle gives an historical rundown of what a bunch of cheapskates the Cubs were even before the Trib bought the team in 1981. The Wrigleys, Phil and son Bill, made the notoriously miserly George Halas look like a drunken conventioneer. The Trib continued the tradition of penny-pinching until Sam Zell took over the company and ordered Hendry to turn the Cubs into a decent ball team so he could sell it. MacPhail, thankfully, was long gone by that time.

Here’s what Castle revealed about MacPhail’s heartfelt concern for the Mother Corp.’s piggybank. The Cubs front office under MacPhail, Castle writes, “…was discovered to be grossly understaffed, ranking 29th of 30 teams[.] They did not have enough scouts and player development people for a big-market team. [MacPhail] …in July 2005 told me he preferred to be understaffed; he’d rather be ‘one man too short than one man too heavy’ so that all his employees could be suitably ‘engaged.’ MacPhail’s Tribune Co. overseers were shocked to find he was not spending the money on player payroll and baseball operations they expected.”

That rumbling you hear emanating some 1000 miles WSW of Boston is me, about to erupt. That bastard Andy MacPhail — that phallus in a sweater vest — dicked around with my emotions merely to add few few extra bucks to his yearly bottom line, a few extra bucks that his own bosses didn’t even care about.

Benny Jay and I went to a Cubs game one sunny afternoon in late September, 1992. The Pirates were in town. Greg Maddux was on the hill. Batting third for Pittsburgh was Barry Bonds. It was years before Bonds bulked up. Still, he was already acknowledged as the finest ballplayer in the game. Maddux had the Bucs in the palm of his hand that day, shutting them out on seven hits. It was Maddux’s 20th win of the year. He’d win the National League Cy Young Award after the season. Bonds would win his third Most Valuable Player plaque.

Both Maddux and Bonds were free agents that off-season. Benny Jay and I discussed the Cubs future as we sat along the right field foul line. We figured they’d re-sign Maddux — after all, only a pack of idiots would let him walk. Then we drooled over the prospect of Bonds in a Cubs uniform. He’d solve so many problems for the team that his value was virtually incalculable. Wisely, though, we put the brakes on such dreamy talk. The Cubs would never sign a free agent of Bonds’s caliber — when pressed about this or that big-time free agent, Cubs honchos normally would imply that such a signing would be, well, wrong — almost evil.

Of course, the Tribune and Larry Himes let Maddux walk and neglected even to make a courtesy call to Bonds’ agent. A year and half later, MacPhail came aboard. The Cubs wasted no opportunity to remind Chicagoans that his Twins had won two — count ‘em, two! — World Series in five years under his watch. I knew — just knew — things were changing for the better. (Naturally, I chose to ignore the fact that the core of those Twins champs was in place well before he took over in Minnesota.)

Over the next 12 years that MacPhail controlled the Cubs’ purse strings, the following free agents became available: Albert Belle, Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Jason Giambi, Jim Thome and Miguel Tejada. I’m sure there were more, equally eye-popping names available for the taking. These are only the ones I remember. Not a one came within a lightyear of signing with the Chicago National League Ball Club.

Perhaps Andy MacPhail thought none of them would be “suitably engaged” in Wrigley Field.

Big Mike: We Both Hate The Rich

How right you are my dear Mr. Ajemian. I studied the lineups of every team from 1956 to this day and found only one that could come near the top-to-bottom goodness of the Yankees’ 2009 batting order.

In 1999, the Indians scored more than a thousand runs — something done only once since the Great Depression (by your Red Sox in 1950). The Tribe batting order usually went something like this:

cf Kenny Lofton

ss Omar Vizquel

2b Roberto Alomar

1b Jim Thome

rf Manny Ramirez

lf David Justice

3b Travis Fryman

dh Wil Cordero

c Einar Diaz

We’re talking four future Hall of Famers (Vizquel, Alomar, Thome and Manny), two other guys who turned in sparkling careers (Lofton and Justice) and another (Fryman), who at his peak was good for 20 homers and 90 to 100 rbi per year. And just for kicks, they could bring Richie Sexson, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Harold Baines off the bench. Wow!

Sadly, though, Fryman was no longer at his peak and Cleveland had to lug around Diaz’s bats. They should have billed him for shipping charges. Diaz might have been a fine handler of pitchers and field general but as a hitter, he blew.

No one in the 2009 Yankees lineup was as impotent as Einar Diaz. The weak link in the Bombers order was cf Melky Cabrera, whose production, based on OPS+, was a hair below the league average.

The Tribe might have had a little edge on the Yankees in that they had firepower on the bench. New York really had a crappy bench this past season but that’s irrelevant — you challenged me to find a better starting lineup than the Yankees and I couldn’t.

If the Yankees don’t win the World Series this month, it will be an upset of historic proportions.

So how did the Yankees build this offensive juggernaut? Five of their nine hitters are home grown, two came in trade and two were free agents. That is balanced team-building!

Of course, it’s easy to complete that great job when you can throw around almost a half a billion clams on three guys.

On the other hand, it’s equally true to say the Yankees don’t win this year if they don’t develop that terrific home-grown core of talent.

AJ: But…the Money HAS Been Key For Yanks

Big Mike, I agree with your main point:  That the Yankees found the wisdom to develop their own first-rate players like Derek Jeter.  Hell, to this day, I think Jeter is the best player I’ve ever seen.  But, in their past 13 years of tremendous success, the Yankees have OFTEN complemented their homegrown talent by signing incredibly talented free agents AND I want to bring you back to the present team.   I repeat:  The Yanks were the ONLY MLB team that had the capacity to spend $423.5 million on THREE players in one fell swoop – Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira.   Some baseball teams’ total budgets fall way below that total for three guys — and these aren’t just any three.  If the Yanks win it all, one can argue powerfully that that $423.5 million made all the difference in getting the championship !  

Think about Sabathia alone.  He is, by far, the hottest post-season pitcher, and, very possibly, will carry the Yanks on his back to the title.

The Yanks acquired Damon because they were willing (or able) to offer him more than Boston – another year on a deal, for a bit more money.   They got Teixeira after offering him $10 million more than the Sox, and, for a bit longer contract.  I didn’t even get into the contracts for A-Rod (a super free-agent) and the others, but, I think we know the totals are staggering.

So, even if the Yankees have a good minor-league system – and they seem to have improved in that area – they have NEVER had to live with the same limits, or, in the same world, as most other teams.

Yes, the Yankees are like other teams in certain ways, but, then again, in other, very important ways, they’re NOT like any team in MLB.   Can you think of any team in your lifetime that had nine hitters in their lineup as good as this 2009 Yankee team?  The answer is NO.