Post #6: Memo to Ca$h: Just Say No To Mediocrity!

My personal reflection has led to this startling discovery re: NYY starting rotation...
Wang and Hughes are the future (2009 and beyond) because at that point Mussina, Pavano and Johnson are all gone. I would be hesitant to fill one of the 3 remaining 2009 rotation spots right now with anyone on the FA market (even Zito and Schmidt). Personally I'd wait, because the team has a chance to be special in that window starting in 2009 and I'd rather sign 2 of Zambrano, Santana and Carpenter [all free agents in the next two years] which would add very little to payroll [Johnson/Mussina/Pavano combine to make nearly 40 million as a 2007 trio, fiscally it is feasible for Zambrano and Santana/Carpenter to make 40m/year as a duo and have another kid-inhouse option working for 300 G's, so in both cases its 3 pitchers at 40 million, so don't think about telling me that Cashman wants to lower the payroll and this is antithetical to said plan] making that rotation, with the last spot going to yet another in-house option (Betances? Chamberlain? Garcia? Kennedy? Clippard? Sanchez? will any pan out?)
Can you imagine a 2009 rotation of Santana, Zambrano, Hughes, Wang and Betances? Why are we rushing to fill that spot with a Zito when a new dynasty is on the horizon, one for the next generation of Yankee fans, in a new stadium with new faces and probably even a new manager. I have a dream!
Yankee fans: this would mean "suffering" in 2007 with a mere rotation of Wang, Mussina, Pavano, Johnson and *Karstens (*Until Hughes is ready mid-season after starting in AAA). I believe this to be a worthy cause, considering this rotation isn't worse than last year's (Wang, Mussina, Johnson, Wright, Lidle) which combined with the aforementioned dynamic offense to win 97 games and run away from an excellent AL East. In fact I predict it will be better, as Pavano has to prove basically his manhood or else he will surely die (or won't ever get a big contract again whichever he views as worse.) Johnson won 17 lucky games and will once again be a shell of his former self as he embarasses himself yet again, but I believe Hughes will live up to the hype with Verlander/Liriano-esque production in 18+ starts in the #5 spot and the Yankees should win 100 easily. So if this is "suffering" just for 1 year, until we sign Zambrano to replace Johnson and then Carpenter or Santana the following year, then it is suffering I plan to do. Then we have Zambrano in 2008 and the dynasty will be berthed.
In summation, option #1 this offseason would be Clemens or Pettitte to a 1 year deal. Option #2 for me would be a 2 year deal to a middling starter. This would hamper 2008 a little because Wang, Mussina, Pavano, this guy in his 2nd year, and Hughes would not really allow for Zambrano to be signed. But I'm sure it could be done anyway and Pavano will be done away with. However, absolutely no 3 year deals, even to Zito or Schmidt, that isn't an option! Heed me, Cashmoney!

Did you know? You obviously don't know me very well if you expect me to actually give you $10 for naming Olerud and Martinez, but in any event, that's totally ok! Anyways, here is my 2nd installment of the quiz version of did you know: Who did I omit from the following very prestigious club: .295+ avg, .405+ obp, 400+ homers and 1500+ runs (In ascending order of total runs scored if that helps):
Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth

Post #5: Time for Plan B

OK a lot has happened since my last baseball post. Sheffield was dumped to the Tigers for Sanchez, Whelan and Claggett, all 3 of which are good young arms. Sanchez according to Cashman projects to be a back of the bullpen type of guy, which could be very helpful in the near future. Whelan is talented with nasty stuff and is a year or so away from the Majors by most accounts. Clagget is a young unknown who randomly pitched over 60 innings with an under 1 era for single A. Needless to say I am extatic about this move. Cashman has been looking to stockpile young arms to replenish the system and he picked up 3 nice ones with someone he doesn't even have a spot for on the 07 team. The Tigers fill their middle of the lineup need with a nice bat in a particularly shallow market, although Shef is declining, can't play defense (he will be asked to DH - I wonder how long before he starts barking about Ordonez that he should be the one out in right?) and is coming off of major wrist surgery (even casual fans who have seen him take 1 AB should know how important his wrists are to his swing). There really is no downside to this package that Cashman clearly took over several others. I don't care about facing the Tigers in the playoffs and Sheff's vengence. Please. The Tigers with their backload of pitching of Miller, Minor, Verlander, Bonderman, Rogers, Maroth, Robertson off the top of my head are capable of starting could afford to trade the young arms. I think its a trade that works for both sides. I do not understand why the Tigers signed Sheffield to a 2 year extension of 14 million per, though. He will be 40 in 2009 are you kidding me? His OPS has been declining every year since 2003 that is way too much money for him as a 40 year old in 2009.
Then they traded Wright to the Orioles for Chris Britton, a 23 year old righthander with decent numbers in a tough park/division who has been healthy and not overworked. Thats a lot of checks on the checklist you have when evaluating relievers. Wright had a decent year for the Yankees, although Torre's inability to manage him (taking him out despite cruising along in the 5th and 6th innings) put stress on the bullpen and taxed Proctor and Villone into submission. I can write a whole article with proofs, etc, just about that but I will leave it for another time as I still haven't gotten to the meat and potatoes (Matsuzaka and rotation plan B) of this post. I don't understand why the Orioles want a mediocre starter who won't give you 200 innings even for $3 million. Don't tell me he's reunited with Mazone, he had that 1 good year with Atlanta not because of the damn pitching coach but because of the division and league and park. With Villone likely leaving in free agency (he's spent out: take the Type B pick for him and let some other team buy high on him) its important to rebuild the bullpen and Sanchez/Britton joining Proctor/Farnsworth and possibly Dotel as the bridge to Rivera is a good start. I don't think Cashman is done with the pen though. I can't wait to rock Jaret Wright 5 times a year.
The Red Sox put $51.1 down to talk with Matsuzaka. I am not happy about this. All indiciations are he will be a very solid pitcher and that 51.1 doesn't count to payroll/luxury tax. He will be the most expensive player in baseball at about 30 mil/year but that doesn't comfort me enough. I was fully expecting the Yankees to win the bid and slot him in at 1.5 as a complement to Wang who I also view as a 1.5 type pitcher in the rotation. The Sox can't trust Clement to be healthy, Lester is by all accounts out for '07 with cancer, and Wakefield is aging and on his last leg. Even with Matsuzaka they need Schilling to repeat his solid 06 season and for Beckett to improve drastically or else they will finish 3rd in the division yet again.
I can't blame the Yankees for not bidding that high, but people who are saying the Red Sox are stupid are wrong, imo. Yes they are clearly hypocrites as they cried poverty last year at the deadline (Theo saying he can't compete with the Yankees and take on Abreu's contract, also their whole "eye towards the future thing" with Crisp instead of a couple of million more for Damon last offseason). However that 51.1 will be partially recouped by opening Japanese market (a cut of Mats' merchandise sold in Japan, and advertising in Fenway a la Yomiuru newspaper ads in the Stadium). Besides, they needed a starter and he is by far the best one out there.

What can the Yankees do now? What is plan B? They resigned Moose for 2 years/22.5 million, (a nice short term deal I was advocating) which is arguably a hometown discount for a guy who is statistically better than Zito and Schmidt.
Mussina, Wang, Pavano and Johnson will make up next year's rotation. I will go through the options and come to 1 conclusion as to what should be done for the 5th and final spot:

• I'd rather not start the year with Hughes as he is unready for a 200 ip load yet and I don't want to have to keep his strict pitch count on the major league level like some advocate (imagine a 1-1 score scenerio in the 5th inning and Hughes has thrown 90 pitches but has to leave even though he's pitching well - his development should not cost the Yankees winning games and I fear it may).
• Karstens or Rasner are more than capable of handling the 5th spot for 2007, but is that rotation (Wang, Mussina, Pavano, Johnson, Rasner) good enough to win a world series? Probably not even if Pavano somehow turns his career around.
• As I see it there are 3 groups of FA starters left. Group 1 are the good starters who will come at a high price. This is Zito and Schmidt. Should we go out and sign Zito or Schmidt to long multi year deals? No. My rotation plan calls for, eventually, by 2008 opening day, 2 of the 5 spots to belong to the "future" (the future means from the group of Hughes, Clippard, Garcia, Betances, Rasner, White, Whelan, and anyone else being developed now in the minors or who will be acquired by Cashman in the near future). As it stands, Randy Johnson's spot will be vacant by 2008 and can be occupied by a future member. If we sign Zito or Schmidt to a long term deal then come 2008, Zito/Schmidt, Wang, Mussina and Pavano will only allow for 1 future spot. But what if Whelan and Hughes are Verlander and Jered Weaver of 2008? It would be a gluttonous, expensive, unacceptable logjam.
• Should we sign someone from group b of the free agent starters, namely the middle to back of the rotation types who will be cheap fliers? Wolf, Batista, Lilly and Meche primarily make up this group with hordes of others as well. But there will be the same problem as if Zito/Schmidt were signed, by 2008 there won't be room. This is more acceptable because most likely they will require 2 or 3 year deals as opposed to 4 or more, so by 2010 the spot will be reopened. But this isn't good enough for me. I want 40% of my 08 rotation to be non-Wang future types.
• The logical conclusion. The third free agent starter type: The last hurrah close to retirement reliable starter: Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. As much as it hates me to say it (I hate both of them especially Clemens) signing one of them to a 1 year deal (they are both by all indications open to a 1 year deal) is the best option. They will fill out the rotation: Wang, Clemens, Mussina, Pavano and Johnson and make it a very formidable one for the regular season as well as short series in the playoffs. Talent isn't in question for either, neither is health for the most part, and both have not just handled but thrived in NY before. Then come 08, Clemens/Pettitte will be off the books. Johnson will be off the books. The 2 "future" starters can come up fully ready for a full season and start the initiation for the new dynasty (which as I tell everyone begins in 2009 with the new stadium and new manager.) And if only 1 future starter is ready, which is more realistic, like only Hughes for example, then we should sign a big time free agent next offseason and here is why: big time starters will be cheaper next year then ever, with Zambrano, Oswalt, Schilling, Smoltz and others all free agents. The Yankees in the offseason before 2008, thinking about 2009, will realize that both Mussina and Pavano are gone after that season and they will need to be replaced so why not now (ie 2008) when the market is cheap for big time starters.

That' s right I'm looking ahead to looking ahead to the next offseason. When Mussina and Pavano are entering their final years it will be smart to replace 1 of them for 2009 while allowing the other one to be replaced in-house by the aforementioned future group.

That's enough for now, you can leave comments, I hope I was clear with my ideas and reasons if not my explanation is lacking not the ideas themselves so leave comments and I will embellish if necessary on anything written in this post.

Did you know? According to ERA+ (which is park and league adjusted) Pedro Martinez is, BY FAR, the greatest pitcher who ever lived (at not giving up runs) with a 160 ERA+ and its not even close. Rounding out the top 5 are epic names like Lefty Grove 148, Walter Johnson and Dan Quisenberry and Hoyt Wilhelm and Joe Wood at 146, Ed Walsh at 145, and Roger Clemens and Johan Santana at 144.

Post #4: Day Took Er Jubs!

If there is a hobbie/passion in my life greater than baseball it is without a doubt South Park. This here post will be the honorary first South Park post and probably not the last. Being such, I will be more inclusive and detailed in said post. To begin, if you are unfamiliar with South Park (that's you, dwellers of under the rock) South Park is an animated show on comedy central which uses 4 foul mouthed kids and their wacky town as tools to mock conservatives and liberals, democrats and republicans, to mock celebrities, to mock people who believe ridiculous nonsense, and generally to tackle every issue in a humorous manner to expose the ridiculousness of the extremists positions within the issue on both sides of the spectrum. As M&T (the shows creators) often say, whatever is funny goes. They don't draw lines as to what is/isn't fair game. Social topics covered, off the top of my head, include but are FAR from limited to: fad of metrosexuality, gay marriage, abortion, saving the rainforest, immigration, scientology, the Mohammod cartoon, voting (Puff Daddy's Vote or Die campaign), the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, Michael Jackson, and much much more.
Currently the show is in its 10th season. Being that I own every episode, every special, and practically every interview M&T ever did on my hard drive and have watched them all multiple times, I feel more than qualified to say that the show is not what it used to be. Some people point to the better animation (claiming that the older, choppier animation and sound from the first 6 or so seasons had more "charm") or the morphing of some of the character's personalities/voices (particularly Cartman) as negative points of change. I disagree, those have neither taken away from or added to my enjoyment of the show. It's just that some of the recent episodes (some not all) have first of all featured unnecessary nastiness, ie disgusting scenes (like the gay sex scene between Richard Dawkins and Mrs. Garrison, the teacher who had a sex change) that are not intrinsic to the plot. When the etzem nastiness is part of the process of parody, it is not only acceptable but enhances the experience. But when it is separate and apart and even random from the myseh parody, a la some recent episodes, it is a huge detriment. I hope you chapped that.
Another point of decline in my estimation is a tangible lack of ferocity in the parody. Usually great exaggeration is used to really "stick it" to the victims of the parody, but recently (particularly in the episode "Mr. Teacher Bangs a Boy" about Ike having an affair with his teacher a la the recent LeFleur and other scandals) there is a large void, a vancantness in the episode. It lacks essense. In other words, like in that teacher episode, Kyle does NOT give a 2 minute long "I learned something today" speech in the end detailing the extent of the teachers obvious retarded psychotic state. Also there are a lot more pauses of dead air which bother me and add to the lack of intensity.

Anyway, despite all of this, it is still my obssession and favorite show and always will be as long as they continue to keep the premise of the show going. I will now discuss the current episode: Go, God. Go! Part 2 was last Wednesday's episode. It was named part 2 for reasons unknown yet (the previous episode was completely unrelated). The following is the summary of the episode from Wikipedia, which for some reason has DIE HARD south park fans updating it constantly as you will soon see, so if you already saw this episode just scroll down a bit:

Cartman is unable to wait three weeks until the Nintendo Wii comes out, spending his time mindlessly pacing in front of a store called EV Games (a parody of EB Games) and asking how long until it comes out at intervals of about five seconds. Unable to wait any longer, he decides to go into suspended animation and get unfrozen as soon as the Wii comes out. Cartman gets Butters to bury him in the snow in the nearby mountains to ensure that he won't be disturbed until the release of the Wii.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Garrison — strongly against her wishes — is forced to teach evolution; however, she hates the theory and doesn't seem to know very much about it, and instead teaches the students about "retarded fish frogs having butt sex." Principal Victoria decides to hire Richard Dawkins to teach the theory along with her — they quickly get into an argument, and Mrs. Garrison decides to "act like a monkey" if she's related to one, ultimately throwing her own feces at him. However, Dawkins turns out to be infatuated with Garrison, and she becomes very excited about her first real date since becoming a woman.
On their date, Dawkins and Garrison hit it off, and Dawkins manages to convert Garrison to atheism (citing the Flying Spaghetti Monster), before the two have sex; the next day, Garrison – just as outspoken about her new atheism as her former beliefs — denounces God to the class and makes Stan sit in the "dunce chair" for suggesting God could exist along with evolution, after Stan makes the suggestion that evolution could be the answer to how and not why lifeforms are the way they are. Dawkins is at first reluctant to be so brazen, but Garrison tells him he was too soft on religious people in the past and that together they can rid the world of religion and all the violence it causes. To celebrate their new idea the two have sex again. Meanwhile Proffessor Chaos and General Disarray race to find Cartman, but remains hidden for 540 years after an avalanche covers his body. Finally he is unfrozen, and despite his loved ones being dead, is most upset that the future people do not have a Nintendo Wii.
Cartman is told that his unfreezers might be able to retrieve an antique Wii from a technology museum. In the future, everyone is atheistic and believes only in science (often saying things like "Oh my Science" and "Science Damn you!," but mocking Cartman for using similar, religious phrases). They tell Cartman that they think someone he knew caused the atheistic revolution, but before they can tell them who, they are attacked by another atheist group (the United Atheist Alliance, or Alliance Atheists), which kills the first group (the Unified Atheist League) and takes Cartman. They then contact a group of superintelligent sea otters (the Allied Atheist Allegiance) with whom they are also at war, who tell Cartman that the world will soon be theirs.
The episode ends, to be continued.

A couple of interesting notes which may/may not be obvious to you:
The whole point of the various Atheists in the future is to show the people who believe that religion is a major cause for war, that even without religion there would still be fighting and lack of unity. (It's obvious even to a mild fan that they love to attack hippies on this show, in a recent interview they were open about enjoying sticking it to radical liberals more than anyone else. The song Imagine by John Lennon, King Hippie himself, references the fact that religions = war.)
Also as someone pointed out on a South Park message board, its interesting that Atheists exist in the South Park universe considering Jesus lives in South Park, Santa and Mr. Hankey are frequent holiday visitors, God himself made an appearance at the New Year, and Satan has a recurring role.
Another point is Stan asking "Couldn't evolution be the answer to how rather than who" to ask that aren't evolution and the idea of intelligent design not necessarily mutually exclusive.
For reference, this is the second time someone was frozen and revived in the future. In the episode Prehistoric Ice Man (Season 2 Episode 18 original air date 1.20.99) Steve/Gorak/Larry was found frozen from the ancient time of 1996. Also interesting is that Steve Irwin, the late crocodile hunter first made an appearance in Prehistoric Ice Man and then wasn't seen until 2 weeks ago's episode, the Hell on Earth 2006 Halloween special in which he appeared with the sting ray tastelessly yet hilariously attached to his chest as a member of hell. You see? This is the type of stuff you get from Simmyball.
Another important episode to reference is Goobacks, the episode about immigration from Season 8 Episode 7 on 4.24.04. This is one of my favorite all time episodes, the origin of Day Took Er Jubs ("They took our jobs"). It is about people from the future called "goobacks" (they have gooey backs) who come back in time to current South Park because the world in the future is overpopulated and there aren't enough jobs. From Wikipedia: in the newscast it is reported that the time-traveler is looking for work because of the overpopulation in his time, and that the money he earns will be enough to feed his family in 3045. The time portal he took is said to follow "Terminator rules," as it is a one-way portal, (as opposed to the two-way "Back to the Future rules").
At the bottom of the wikipedia page someone who is now my idol wrote:
Despite what the episode states, "fading" occurs in the Back to the Future movies, not the Terminator movies. Under The Terminator rules, when someone comes from the future, they remain in the present time even if they alter the course of events so that they no longer exist in the future. The Back to the Future rule says that when someone comes from the future and alters the future so they will no longer exist, they fade in the present day into nothingness, along with any other tangible proof of their existence. Regarding the rules of time travel discussed in the episode, the time portal itself is the only thing which follows the rules designated by films, while the actual physical manifestation of the person from the future follows different rules.
If you weren't sure, the goobacks faded at the end of the episode. Anyway, the goobacks are from 3045 and Cartman was transported to the future in 2546. It is to be determined if the one way time travel which exists in 3045 was invented yet in 2546. My guess is that Cartman will get to either playing the ancient Wii or a cooler new system and won't want to leave the future, but somehow get tricked into returning to the past.

Did you know? There are 3 players in baseball history with a .424+ OBP, 1500+ RBI and less than 1300 Strikeouts: Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig and Frank Thomas.