Big Mike: My Secret Crush On The Red Sox

AJ, right now I’m feeling nothing but contempt for my Cubs. It’s like a marriage wherein one or the other partner must endure a stretch of loathing for her/his mate in order for the relationship to work out in the long run.

Hungry Jim Hendry didn’t move Milton Bradley during the winter meetings in Indy this week. Maybe he laid the groundwork for a surprise deal in January. It’s possible, but he’d better get it done ASAP because the organization’s off-season activity has screeched to a halt. There’s not much Hungry Jim can do while saddled with Gameboard’s $21 remaining salary.

How Cub-like — the team has the majors’ third highest payroll budget but must proceed like a small market team because so many guys are locked up in dumb-ass, NTC deals. And even if they weren’t NTC’s, most of the guys making big bucks on the Cubs wouldn’t be movable because they’re worth a fraction of their deals in the real world — that is, the world outside Hungry Jim’s fantasy baseball imagination.

Like many a spouse who goes through a period of loathing, I’m starting to get a wandering eye. The Red Sox look awfully good to me. They’re attractive, intelligent, ambitious. They’re nothing like my, ugh, guys.

The Red Sox have essentially the same payroll budget as the Cubs yet they spend oh-so wisely. The Red Sox farm system is productive, not only developing good, useful parts but imparting the proper mindset  and fundamentals to each and every kid within the system. And the Sox play in a decrepit, old-time ballpark from which they must squeeze every dime to keep up with the competition, just like the Cubs. Finally, both are adored by millions. The Red Sox and the Cubs are more than just their city’s pro baseball teams — they are national brands.

The differences between the two teams are personified by their bosses: Theo and Hungry Jim. How I’d love for Theo to be running the Cubs. You have no idea how lucky you are.

Let’s look at what he’s done this past week at Indy:

• They’re the frontrunner for Adrian Beltre, a brilliant gloveman who just might be a damned decent hitter in Fenway (I checked the home-road splits for his career and for the last several seasons — he’s a lot better away from Dodgers Stadium and Safeco Field;)
• They traded an aging Mike Lowell (Theo clearly was worried about Lowell’s surgically-repaired hip) for a high-ceiling catcher, Max Ramirez, pending medical exams on both players;
• They took a minimal-risk flyer on the recuperating, back of the rotation pitcher Boof Bonser;
• In trying to either retain Jason Bay or sign Matt Holliday, they’re bidding smartly against the Mets, rather than panicking (the way you-know-who would) and throwing U.S. mint at one or the other.

And just prior to the meetings, Epstein nabbed shortstop Marco Scutaro who will be the Sox’ most popular player next year, guaranteed.

Theo has a plan, as always. Hungry Jim has none, as always.

My guess is Beltre is signed by Christmas and Bay eventually re-ups. Man, that’s a good freakin’ lineup:

1B: Youkilis

2B: Pedroia

3B: Beltre

SS: Scutaro

LF: Bay

CF: Ellsbury

RF: Drew

C: Martinez

DH: Ortiz

David Ortiz may not be David Ortiz anymore, but even two-thirds of the old Papi is still better than any other full-time DH now in the league. Youk, Pedroia, Bay, Drew, and Martinez are locks to replicate their consistent yearly outputs (barring injury.) Beltre can do what he did in Seattle and still be an asset, flashing that spectacular leather — but again, I think he’s going to hit a Fenway .290 rather than a Safeco .265. And if Ellsbury continues to improve his K/BB ratio, he’ll become a productive offensive force.

That lineup, with Boston’s pitching, has 100 wins written all over it. Yeah, the Yankees may win 105 (now with Granderson in left — Cashman, for my money is almost as brainy as Theo) but the Sox will be the wild card. That’s all they need to be. Once in the playoffs, the team with the hot pitching advances. Why can’t it be Boston?

As for my boys, I iterate: they can win the NL Central with 85-90 wins or just as easily lose 90 games. I think I want to have an affair with the Red Sox.

AJ: This is Why I Hate the Yankees

I am pissed.  The Yankees just got Curtis Granderson, the Tigers’ All-Star centerfielder, for virtually nothing!  Are you fucking kidding me?

OK, the Yankees gave up Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy and minor-league prospect Austin Jackson in the three-way deal, which included the Arizona Diamondbacks, along with the Tigers.  But, all I care about is that the  World Series champion Yankees just got better.  

(This outcome is pending final approval of all details of the deal, including a review of players’ medical records, etc)

The Yankees are already the best team in baseball.  They have, BY FAR, the best hitting lineup in the game.   Great starters, best closer in history…..and, now, they add Granderson, who can hit for power (30 HRs last year) field well in center, and, steal bases.   This is why, indeed, I despise the Bombers.  Just when they’re on top of the world, they add to their kingdom.  The rich got richer.

I’ve always respected Granderson’s ability at the plate.  He looks like a hitter and hits for contact and power.  He has long at-bats.  And, he’s one of those guys who often seems to start trouble – i.e. – a rally.  He’s a terrific baserunner.  Not only does he steal often, but, often, he gets the extra base on a hit.  He’s an all-around player.

Granderson is only 28.  His 2009 salary was $3.5 million – with a total of an additional $25 million left on his contract before he’ll become a free agent after 2011.  His average dropped from .302 in 2007 to .280 in 2008 to .249 in 2009.  Last year, however, Granderson had 30 HRs, 71 RBIs and 20 steals and made the All-Star team.    Granderson is better than his stats indicate, in my view.   I can see him thriving on the Yankees.

So, just when the Yankees face a dilemma of potentially losing Johnny Damon and/or Hideki Matsui, now, suddenly, they eliminated any concern about a void in the outfield.  They’ll move Melky Cabrera out of center and can trade Damon, if they don’t want to meet his salary demands. 

I cannot believe the Yankees pulled this off.  I have to give Yankee GM Brian Cashman credit.   

There is only one tiny consolation to this story:  It puts even more pressure on Red Sox GM Theo Epstein to make a BIG move rather than just signing a left-fielder.

Big Mike: The Silver Lining

AJ, I’m as disappointed as you surely are that the Yanks won the Series last night. But I’m a lifelong depressive who has learned to seek out positives, no matter how small they may be, in any discouraging situation. So I’ll say this — I’m really happy for Alex Rodriguez.

He may be the most misunderstood player in the bigs since…, hell, I don’t know…, since I became a fan in 1967. All he ever did wrong was sign a contract for a quarter of a billion dollars back in 2001. That is, that was his only sin before he was outed in the steroid witch hunt just this past spring.

Yankees fans have treated him as if he’s the guy who mutated the Swine Flu into a human malady. Or as if he implied that Iraq was a half hour away from blowing up Manhattan with one of its ghost nukes.

He’s been portrayed as selfish and a choker. Puh-leaze!

From reasons I can’t fathom, New Yorkers have compared him unfavorably to Saint Derek Jeter. Guys like Tim McCarver have watered and fertilized the Jeter myth that he’s some kind of uber-human, a player who transcends the game with his grit, his desire, his smarts, his devotion to his team and so on ad nauseum. Don’t get me wrong, I think Jeter’s a Hall of Famer-in-waiting. But he can’t now nor could he ever hold either A-Rod’s bat or his glove.

When Brian Cashman brought Rodriguez and his wheelbarrow of cash over from Texas in 2004, he was already the greatest shortstop in the history of the game. Not Wagner, not Ripken, not Banks, not Smith — Alex Rodriguez.

Unfortunately, the beatification of Jeter had begun years before that. But Jeter, although the second-best shortstop in the game at the time, already was seen as lacking in range  by us stat geeks of the world. The right move — and, no doubt, the move Cashman had in mind — was for Jeter, then aged 30, to switch to second base and together with A-Rod form the best double play combination ever.

Did Jeter do that? Hell no! I’m the captain of this team, Jeter hollered, as Rodriguez was  modeling pinstripes for the media. This is my team. I’m not moving for anybody!

Hell of a team player, no? What did A-Rod do? Did he bitch and moan and say, Hell, I’ve won Gold Gloves, I’ve won an MVP (for a last place team, no less), I hit 50 homers a year, I oughta be the shortstop of the New York Yankees? Uh uh. He moved to third base. He had to learn a new position and didn’t complain about it. He struggled a bit but finally got the hang of it. Four years later he only turned in the greatest season any third baseman ever has.

For that New Yorkers have branded him selfish and a choker. Dopes.

Let’s take a quick look at this purported choker’s post-season production. After all, the playoffs is when the real men shine, right? That’s what they say about Saint Derek.

Over 54 post-season games, Rodriguez has smacked 13 homers, driven in 35 runs, batted .302, and posted a .568 slugging percentage and a .409 on-base percentage for a robust .977 OPS. Yeee-owww! That’s in October (and, this year, November), when the eyes of the world are upon him and he’s facing the best pitchers.

Derek Jeter? Mr. November? The god of clutch? The greatest man ever to stride the Earth? In his 138 post-season games, he has batted .313, slugged .479, gotten on base at a 38 percent clip. Good numbers…, no, great numbers, especially for a shortstop. Still, they’re not A-Rod numbers.

So what’s the problem with Rodriguez? Nothing. But as long as the Yanks failed year after year to win the World Series, spoiled and demanding New Yorkers had to blame someone. May as well have been the guy with the quarter-billion-dollar contract.

No more. He’s now a champion. Of course, in my mind he’s always been.