Tag: baseball

Money for nothing?

The numbers wouldn’t be quite so shocking — $180 million over eight years — had the Yankees not already written some big checks in recent weeks.

Mark Teixeira is reported to have signed the latest big-money deal with Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, bringing to about $425 the amount spent by the Bronx Bombers on three players this off season alone. And this doesn’t take into account the $300 million deal Alex Rodriguez signed a year ago, or the millions upon millions owed to Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.

As ESPN points out,

Teixeira’s salary gives the Yankees, who are preparing to move into their $1.3 billion new ballpark in April, the four highest-paid players in Major League Baseball, including third baseman Alex Rodriguez, shortstop Derek Jeter and Sabathia.

Teixeira’s agreement also comes just one day after the Yankees received a $26.9 million luxury tax bill for 2008, when their streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances ended. But with the revenue from their new stadium, where tickets are priced at up to $2,500 per game, their appetite for free agents wasn’t diminished.

It’s truly mind boggling to think how much money the franchise has tied up in a handful of players, but then these are some pretty good players.

Consider that the infield boasts four all-stars — two of whom are essentially automatic first-ballot Hall-of-Famers. They also have the games all-time greatest closer.

At the same time, this is a team with three huge questions hanging over it:

  • Starting pitching after CC Sabathia includes a pitcher coming off a major injury (Wang), a pitcher with a history of injuries and only pitching well in his walk year (Burnett) and a kid or two.
  • The outfield is either old (Matsui and Damon), coming off a career year (Nady) or just not worth much (Swisher and Cabrera).
  • Robinson Cano has shown a troubling tendency to coast.

So, we’ll see if this spending spree has the desired effect. It has been eight years since the Yankees won the World Series and five since they made it to the series. As things stand right now, I don’t know if they even can be considered the favorite to win the pennant.

But then, I’ve never been a fan of the pinstripers.

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Economic meltdown?Manny to the rescue

My friend Mike has decided that he is done with Major League Baseball. The reasons, he says, is Manny Ramirez.

“Here we face the biggest financial crisis in years,” he told me this morning, “and he’s getting $45 million guaranteed.”

Yep. But it’s not $45 million. It appears to be at least $60 million — though I suspect there will be a team out there that will guarantee him a cool $100 million for four years. Ouch.

My friend Demetri, however, may have a solution that will get Manny his cash, while also helping with the meltdown of the financial sector.

I got it, the US Treasury should sign Ramirez and work out a revenue sharing deal with MLB. He could be rotated among various teams and a portion of “Manny Games” revenue could go toward buying up the banks’ toxic debt. I think that this is win-win for all involved, especially Manny and his ego.

But why limit this to Manny? How about CC Sabathia — who the Yankees reportedly plan to offer something in the neighborhood of $150 million over six years — or one of the other, high-profile free agents?

It’s a win-win, as Demetri says. The plan is out there, now it’s up to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to make it work.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Defending David Wright

We listen to WFAN in the office frequently and Mike Francesca has been on a “break up the core” kick regarding the Mets. As part of his argument, he says that the Mets should not take trading David Wright (pictured, from MLB site) off the table. Wright, he says, is good but not that good and probably not the best thirdbaseman in the league and that he’d rather have Evan Longoria of the Rays and Kevin Youkilis of the Sox. He’d trade him straight up for either — an odd proposal based on the track records of the three players discussed.

Youkilis, for instance, is 29 — four years older than Wright — and had a big year this year that wasn’t even as good as Wright’s. Youkilis, in two other seasons as a starter, drove in only 155 runs total, though he has come up big in the playoffs (five series over the last two years, two of them huge, three of them not so hot).

As for Longoria, it is way too early to know what he is. I think he is likely to be one of the best at his position, but what does that mean? Can we expect a .300 batting average, 30 homeruns and 100 RBIs? How is that better than Wright?

Consider: Wright is the only third baseman in baseball to hit better than .300 each of the last four seasons — his first four full seasons in the majors. during that time, Wright has 444 runs batted in, second among third baseman only to Alex Rodriguez (510), and 116 home runs — third behind A-Rod (172) and Aramis Ramirez (122, with 424 RBIs).

Has Wright been good with the chips on the line? No. But he was not as bad as people are saying, his performance in clutch situations being decent (according to the numbers), though his failures have come in the highest profile situations. He did hit .330 in the second half with a good September and a .375 average over the last week of the season — but with no RBIs or extra basehits.

But let’s be honest: No other third baseman belongs in the conversation if the conversation is about who the best at the position is.

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Random thoughts on the Mets

The Mets are 81-63 with 18 games to go — which is somewhat remarkable when you consider the way this season has gone.

First, there was the collapse from last year — blowing a seven-game lead with 17 to go — and the hangover it created this year.

There was the turmoil surrounding Willie Randolph and the slow painful movement toward his firing.

And there have been injuries — four starting players, three starting pitchers, the closer and two important bench players have missed significant time.

But here they are, 18 games over .500 and 2 1/2 games up in the division.

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Pedro Martinez has actually not pitched all that badly over the last month — except against the Phillies. In seven starts, he has tossed 41 1/3 innings and given up 21 earned runs — not exactly stellar stats. In two starts against the Phillies, however, he has thrown just nine innings and given up 11 earned runs compared to 32 1/3 innings and 10 earned runs in the other five games.

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Carlos Delgado is third in the league in homeruns and fourth in runs batted in. Who would have thought that back in May.

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Johan Santana is 5-0 since the all-star break and probably should have more wins. Mike Pelfrey is 5-3 and Oliver Perez is 4-2.

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