Excuse the Fan a moment while he mourns the passing of a great Yankee.



Okay. I can go on now. Andy Pettitte agreed to a three year deal with the Houston Astros today. The 31 year old, 21 game winner took less money to go to Houston. Less money means $7 million less. Knowing how much the Yankees meant to Pettitte and how much he wanted to go home, it sounds like Pettitte did what was right for him and his family.

For Yankee fans, it hurts to lose such a valuable pitcher who was a part of the great teams from 1996 on. Pettitte is a great competitor, is still in his prime and should do very well for a number of years to come. The only worry for him is that he is a fly ball pitcher in Houston's little band box. Unless Pettitte can keep hitters up the middle in the air, he could have trouble.

The Yankees are trying to answer their need with Pettitte's loss by trading for Kevin Brown. Again, the Yankees go for a star over 35. Brown had a great year and finally appeared over two years of injury. But the man is 39 years old. The only good thing for the Yankees is that it would give them a chance to end the torture that was Jeff Weaver. The man has talent, but man oh man did he stink in New York.

The worst part of the stories about Pettitte was him mentioning that he is working on his good friend, Roger Clemens to pitch one more year in Houston. I hope that doesn't happen. Clemens went out in style and on top of his game. He should leave it there. Pettitte should leave it there.

In other news, the White Sox didn't lose all their good pitchers. They signed left-hander, Mark Buehrle. Buerhrle is only 24 and already has 53 major league wins. He had an off year, but there is no reason he won't bounce back and get back to his 19 win season in 2002.

Last night was one of those nights. I was excited to report on my take of the deadline that passed Sunday and the consequences the deadline had for three great Atlanta Braves players, the Phillies and the Florida Marlins. After writing a long post, I went to post it and Blogger burped. I lost the whole thing. Disgustedly, I shut the thing down and went to bed. I'll try to keep my composure tonight.

Sunday marked the deadline for teams to offer their free agents arbitration. If the teams failed to do so, those teams cannot sign the free agents until May 1. Failing to offer arbitration usually means the teams have no intention of signing the player. The Braves made such a statement to Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield and Javey Lopez.

Greg Maddux pitched for the Braves for eleven years. During that time, his average seasonal record was 18-8 with a 2.60 ERA. That's a pretty good run. The Braves gave up a chance to have their long time fans see Maddux reach the magical 300 win milestone in a Braves uniform. The Braves have to cut $20 million in payroll which just doesn't sound right considering their nationwide audience and long run atop the National League East.

The Braves also said goodbye to Javey Lopez and Gary Sheffield. That's 82 homers and 241 RBI of production gone from their lineup. I'm sure the Braves will remain competitive, but their reign on the NL East could come to an end. Especially with what's going on with the Phillies.

The Phillies did offer arbitration to Kevin Millwood. That means they have until December to sign him or let him go through the arbitration process. They would like to keep him at least one more year but do not want to commit to him long term. That makes sense these days where markets change. It doesn't make sense to sign a player for three years knowing that salaries have come down for two years and that player could be over priced by the end of the contract. Millwood hasn't exactly been the rock of health over his career either.

The Phillies did sign Tim Worrell who did a great job for the Giants last year closing games for their injured Robb Nen. Worrell had never been a closer and saved 38 games for the Giants. He should be a great tandem with Billy Wagner.

Bartolo Colon immediately improved the Angels' pitching staff by signing with that club. Who knows, if Colon ever gets in shape over the off season, he could become the lights out superstar that he's had the potential for his entire career. It's a risk for the Angels as there has to be a reason why Colon has bounced from team to team.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays continue their history of pursuing players nobody else wants. They offered a deal to Carl Everett today.

Everyday Eddie Guardado will no longer pitch every day for the Minnesota Twins. Guardado signed with the Mariners and should improve an already good bullpen there.


The Red Sox relationship with Nomar Garciaparra continues to get uglier. Nomar phoned in from his honeymoon with Mia Hamm to say how the trade talks rumored between the Rangers and Red Sox to swap A-Rod for Manny Ramirez. Garciaparra wants to play his whole career with the Red Sox.

It would be a big mistake for the Sox to lose Nomar and I don't know why one of the two shortstop can't play third base. Yesterday, Nomar's agent said that the trade talks are a slap in his client's face. Red Sox owner John Henry lashed back and called the agent's comments hypocritical. The agent has already turned down one high priced three year deal for Garciaparra.

This is stupid folks. Get a deal done. Too few teams have players left who started in their systems and became superstars. Nomar is one of the rare ones and should be kept at all cost--well...at a reasonable cost anyway.

Does the average Fan care much about Barry Bonds testifying before the grand jury in the BALCO case? If I am an average fan, the answer would be no. Oh sure, most of us--if not all of us--believe baseball should be protected from steroid abuse. But it's not a concern that is about the best interest of the game, it's about the best interest of the players. In a sport where so much money is involved, an athlete is not always going to make the right choice. MLB should help those players only have the right choice.

Why doesn't the average fan have much concern for the welfare and integrity of the game? Because most of us played the game at some level and understand that a hormonal boost, artificial or not, is not going to help a player hit a little white blur in a fraction of a second. Nor will it help that pitcher train his body to hit that little white rectangle called a strike zone.

The enhancements probably help in the training process and players are probably stronger, but I still don't buy that the increase of homers is a result of steroids or other enhancements. The extra homers are a result of too many mediocre sliders thrown by a thinner pitching pool. Anyone who watched the post season could see that good pitching still shuts down those artificially enhanced sluggers.

No, fans do not want steroids in baseball. But we don't want them because of Lyle Alzado and other athletes whose lives were cut short because of the price they were willing to pay to give them a perceived edge. But saying that, I am not aghast and mortified thinking the game is in mortal danger of scandal. Instead, I am appalled by the thought that some players are playing Russian Roulette with their health.


Lost in the big news of the Yankees, Phillies and Red Sox moves, the Cincinnati Reds made Dave Miley their manager. Who? Miley has been in the Reds organization for twenty-four years and finished out the season last year after Boone was fired. This time he will have a chance to bring his own team into the season.

If Griffey comes back healthy along with the Reds core of other stars, he could look like a genius. More likely, the Reds will be also rans and Miley is on board to bring along young players. The Reds couldn't afford a high profile manager and instead promoted from within. Good for them and good for him. Anything has to be better than the Boone regime.

The Fan doesn't buy all the talk in the press of the Red Sox and Yankees competing against each other for headlines this off season. What you are seeing are two very good general managers who have the luxury of larger payrolls trying to better their teams. Both are after pitching first and will shore up their lineups next. But these two teams aren't the only ones working hard to improve their teams. The Phillies are also having an active off season.

The Red Sox did the expected and hired Terry Francona as the team's new manager. Francona was strongly plugged by Curt Schilling and it isn't beyond the realm of possibility that hiring Francona was part of the deal. Francona brings a lot of energy to the team and is a young former player who was a smart player. He didn't fare that well with the Phillies but a manager can't always help the deal he was dealt. Look how unsuccessful Joe Torre was before he came to the Yankees. Francona's stint with the Phillies probably taught him a lot that will now be the benefit of the Red Sox.

The other nice thing about the Francona selection is that a non-Caucasian is coming to a club with a spurious history of fighting enlightenment. His signing has to give hope that we are making slow progress in this country towards going beyond our cave man past.

In a blockbuster trade, the Montreal Expos traded their best pitcher, Javier Vazquez, to the Yankees for Juan Rivera, Randy Choate and Nick Johnson. The jury is still out on Rivera's potential and Choate was basically a throw in to the deal. The real prize for the Expos is Nick Johnson. The 25 year old first baseman was coming into his own with the Yankees and had the potential to be one of their better players for a long time.

Although injury prone so far in his career, Johnson has shown real discipline at the plate and his loss in the lineup will really hurt the Yankees who strike out too much. I really feel that Johnson had a brighter future with the Yankees than Soriano. But that's baseball and the fans can only sit back and see what happens. Vazquez is a horse and will really help the Yankees. But even with the addition of Gary Sheffield in the lineup, how many 3-2 games will the Yankees continue to lose?

The Phillies quietly continued their quest for excellence. They acquired Eric Milton from the Twins for basically nothing and have really strengthened their staff. Milton can be a big winner if he stays healthy. Although he isn't a flame thrower, he's a pitcher with a proven ability to win and can win 15 to 20 games with the Phillies. Will this be the year the Braves run ends?

A couple of blockbuster stories fed the off season water cooler set this week. First, Peter Gammons announced that Gary Sheffield has agreed to sign with the New York Yankees. Next, after the Schilling to Boston deal was finalized (Schilling had to pass a physical), the Diamondbacks and Brewers pulled off a nine player deal with Richie Sexson moving to Arizona.

Brewers fans are going to be upset as Sexson was one of the most popular players ever to play in Milwaukee--and for good reason. Sexson has become one of the steadiest sluggers in the game. Sexson has hit 180 homers in the last four year and drove in 458 runs in that same time period. Sexson has also increased his walk total and lowered his strikeouts. You can count on Sexson to hit in the .270s every year as he is very consistent.

There will be some teeth gnashing in Milwaukee tonight because the Brewers didn't get a lot of real value in return. Overbay, Moeller and Counsell are all useful players, but none in the star caliber of Sexson. The only possible stars are Junior Spivey, who slumped badly after a great rookie campaign, and Jorge La Rosa, the minor league pitcher the Red Sox sent to Arizona for Schilling. La Rosa has a big upside but it's all speculative. Spivey is 27 years old but could still have a very good career.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have really upgraded their lineup and have erased what has been a left-handed dominant lineup that could be pitched around. It's tough to lose Schilling, but Sexson should get a lot of folks in Arizona excited.


Okay, call the Fan cynical, but why can't the Yankees sign a superstar who is less than 35 years old? Carlos Beltran would have been a much better long term option. Sheffield is a great player. But why has he been on six teams? He is another player who has found a negative place in fans' hearts. It will be interesting how well he fits in with the Yankee team culture, which starts with Joe Torre. Sheffield has also never played for a man like Steinbrenner.

Again, Sheffield has been a great player. But he's 35 and he's been a bit troublesome. I'm not sure I like this deal for the Yankees. Beltran could have taken over centerfield, moving Williams to left and Matsui to right. Now Williams will have to go back to centerfield and he has slowed down in the past two years. The only other option is to move Soriano to center, but that leaves Bernie out and he's getting paid too much money and is too much a part of the clutch Yankees to put to pasture.

It will be an interesting year in Yankee Stadium this year.

The Red Sox Nation has held its collective breath since Monday to see whether Curt Schilling would accept the trade from the Diamondbacks to the Red Sox. Tonight, the Nation could breath again as Schilling agreed--with the help of a contract extension--to come to Boston and bring a championship to the Red Sox.

On paper, the deal does much to bolster what should be a good pitching staff. The tough part about paper is making it reality. Will Pedro hold up? How much does Schilling have left at 37. Will the real Derek Lowe stand up? On paper, who Boston gave up to get Schilling doesn't seem to hurt much. It is unclear whether Casey Fossum will ever be a successful MLB pitcher and Brandon Lyon shows promise but not exceptional promise.

For Red Sox fans, this will be a bold strike and will hearten even cynical fans. Schilling is considered a superstar and anytime your home town team gets a superstar, it's exciting.


Although the Marlins have promised their fans that the red tag sale that happened after their last championship won't happen this time, they do have to manage their money wisely. The Marlins' first attempt at that objective was to trade first baseman Derrek Lee to the Cubs for fellow first baseman, Hee Sheop Choi. I believe this trade hurts the Marlins.

Not only was Lee a pretty good hitter, he was one of the best fielding first baseman in baseball. The Fan has written in the past how much a good fielding first baseman improves total infield defense and pitching ERA. To repeat some of the points I made back then, look at how the Mets went from record setting defense with Jon Olerud to mediocrity the next year with Todd Zeile playing first. There is no coincidence that the Mets went from contenders to chumps in a short time after the Olerud trade.

Olerud is largely responsible for the great run the Mariners have had and he was a big part of the Blue Jays championship seasons because his defense allowed the Tony Fernandez and Bret Boones of the world range more freely and be more daring on the infield. The Marlins team defense will suffer without Lee and team defense is one of the reasons they were champions in the first place.

Indications are that the Marlins are far away from being able to keep catcher, Ivan Rodriguez. If they can't sign him, that will be two of the leagues best defenders lost in one off season. Yikes!

The Red Sox are on the cusp of making a blockbuster deal that would obtain Curt Schilling from the Diamondbacks for Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon and two prospects. The deal hinges on whether the Red Sox hire Terry Francona as manager and agree to give Schilling an extension on his contract. But is he worth the risk.

Schilling’s career has a definite pattern. He pitched over 200 innings in 1992 and 1993 and broke down the next year. He combined for only 380+ innings in total for the following three years.

He repeated that pattern by pitching over 250 innings in 1997 and 1998. He broke down again in 1999 and only pitched 390+ innings over the next three years. The pattern isn’t a good one for the Red Sox as he pitched 250+ innings in 2001 and 2002 and broke down last year. Will history repeat itself? Would you want to risk $36 million over three years to a 37 year old pitcher to find out?

On the positive side, Schilling did strike out 194 batters in his 168 innings last year and kept his ERA under 3.00. It’s a gamble the Red Sox are probably willing to take.


The Angels made a great signing today in acquiring free agent Kelvim Escobar for three years at “only” $18.75 million. That’s not bad for a great arm that has big time potential for greatness with the Angels.


Warren Spahn died today. The lefthander with the most career wins had an astonishing thirteen twenty game winning seasons on the way to compiling 363 wins. He won 23 games in his 21st major league season! He then played three more years too long, but that did not diminish a sparkling career.

Spahn was a part of that great Braves refrain: “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” A decorated WWII veteran, Spahn still pitched from the early forties until 1966. I saw him pitch in the last years of his career while struggling with the 1965 Mets. But he was still a lot of fun to watch and you could just tell that the man lived to play baseball and had a joy that made his smile just shine throughout the park.

Spahn was legendary, but his charm was that he was also ordinary. Baseball fans everywhere will mourn his passing today and also celebrate what he meant to baseball.

Two recent stories warmed the Fan's Yankee sensibilities. First, Derek Jeter will not need thumb surgery this off-season. That is a major breath of relief as the soul of the Yankees would have started on the bench. What Jeter has accomplished the past two seasons despite chronic pain and injuries is phenomenal. He is the Brett Favre of baseball.

The second story was the trade of Tino Martinez from the Cardinals to Tampa Bay. Martinez will join another ex-Yankee, Lou Piniella which is fitting because the two are major cogs in separate Yankee championship runs. Piniella was the crusty, professional hitter that kept the Yankees together many times during the early Steinbrenner years and Martinez was a prominent member of the Yankee, post-Mattingly teams that won four championships in five years.

Martinez has never had it easy. He followed a saint in Don Mattingly in New York and I remember my own negative feelings about him taking the place of a beloved first-basement who was adoringly called "Donnie Baseball." All Martinez did was come in with remarkable consistency in anchoring the Yankee attack through all their championships.

Where Paul O'Neill was the fiery leader of the team, Martinez was the rock who drove in runs and hit important homeruns. There is no coincidence that the Yankees haven't won since Martinez moved on and O'Neill retired. Martinez drove in 690 runs in his six years with the Yankees. Now that is the definition of a rock.

The Yankees then let Martinez go and he signed with the Cardinals. There he replaced Mark McGuire. Mattingly and McGuire...imagine replacing those two players? Tino never got going in St. Louis and his production dropped off. Perhaps a fresh start in Tampa will revive his career for at least one season. I hope so as Tino has never been given the credit for those great Yankee seasons that he deserves.

Today was one of those days that fans of MLB enjoy. There was a surprising trade, another award, a free agent signing and the culmination of another scandal. Let's look at the trade first.

Ted Lilly was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Bobby Kielty. The move was surprising as Lilly seemed to be coming into his own as a pitcher. There must be cash considerations involved as the A's consistently have to hold down their budget. The A's also have Rich Harden who showed promise in a few starts this past year. Lilly will be a big addition for the Blue Jays, especially in their multiple series against the lefty vulnerable Red Sox and Yankees.

Kielty also has a lot of promise and is excited about the opportunity to play in Oakland. He is a selective hitter and felt that the Twins wanted him to be more aggressive. The A's stress patience when hitting and he should fit right in. So this deal does both teams well, at least in foresight. Hindsight will have to wait.

Toronto also signed Pat Hentgen to come back home after four years away. Hentgen, who has won 129 games in his career, came back this past year from Tommy John surgery to post his best ERA since 1997. Hentgen was 6-3 in the second half with an ERA of 3.10 after the break. Toronto now boasts an effective starting staff with Lilly, Hentgen and Cy Young winner Halladay. If these moves work out, the Blue Jays could contend strongly this coming year.


Bobby Bonds won his third straight Most Valuable Player award. It's hard to argue with the selection as the Giants would have been a .500 ball club the last two years without him in the lineup. Pujols was also deserving but should have plenty more years to contend with the honor.

That leaves the AL MVP award as the only one of the year that seems arguable. There have been years where Alex Rodriguez could have won the award but played on non-contending teams. This year, he had a year that was less spectacular than past years but he wins the award. Carlos Delgado should have won the award as his batting average was higher and he drove in an amazing 145 runs.

A case could be made for David Ortiz, who carried the Red Sox into the post season. Ortiz had an amazing number of huge hits and provided an emotional core for the team. In my mind, he was the MVP.


And finally, Bill Singer paid for his stupid comments at the GM meetings with his job. Singer, who was just hired a few weeks ago, did not understand that these are a different time and world from the locker room he used to share with his fellow players. This is a world where our words are measured and an insensitive joke is going to blow up in your face. The man is probably a decent sort of guy who made a really stupid mistake. Gone. Thanks for playing.

The general managers meeting broke up with only one trade plus a faux pas from the Mets' Bill Singer. The one trade was a great one for the San Francisco Giants as they picked up the Twins' catcher, A.J. Pierzynski for Joe Nathan and two minor leaguers. At first, I was upset for Twins fans at this trade until I broke it down a bit.

Pierzynski is one of the true leaders on the Twins. He is a great defensive player with a lifetime batting average over .300. He has had clutch hits in big games and is in the same class--though he is rarely mentioned that way--with Jorge Posada and Jason Varitek. So why would the Twins trade him other than for money reasons?

First, the Twins have Matthew LeCroy who only caught twenty games last year, but between catching and at DH, LeCroy had 17 homeruns and 64 RBI in only 345 at bats. Pierzynski was great, but he wasn't a big power guy. But even more exciting for the Twins is the world's best catching prospect ready to step in: Joe Bouer. Bouer was the minor league player of the year last year and has all the tools and then some. He is considered "can't miss." That's why the Twins could expend the arbitration eligible Pierzynski.

And! The Twins received big time arm, Joe Nathan. Nathan has pitched through some injury but has a lifetime (four years) record of 24-10. This past year he had more strikeouts than innings pitched and can be downright nasty. Nathan, minor leaguers and the ability to plug in Joe Bouer makes this trade a good one for the Twins and the Giants as Pierzynski will give them a solid presence where few are available other than Bonds.


The most embarrassing moment of the general manager meetings had to be the Mets newly hired Bill Singer making stupid guttural noises to mimic oriental speech in response to meeting Kim Ng, the Dodgers assistant general manager. How childish and boorish can you be? It will be interesting to see if the Mets fire Singer for this really stupid act despite Singer's public apology.

Former players are former players and they all have had sheltered lives. Pampered, set apart and sheltered from the real world for most of their early lives, players can get away with asinine attitudes and be somewhat excused for their lack of exposure to more enlightened thought and experiences.

The trouble comes when a former player now has to act in the real world of business. Let's face it, MLB is a business and general managers are on the business end of things. Singer, a former 20 game winner, now has egg on his face as he has made a major transgression that probably would have generated guffaws in major league locker rooms.

Major League Baseball finally started down the correct path by deciding to test all players for steroids. Random testing found that five percent of players tested positive for steroid use. Though that percentage is better than expected, it is enough to cause the fan to wonder about the performance of MLB's players.

I don't believe this will go smoothly and some players will be sure to attempt legal action to stop what they will call a loss of privacy. If players knew the minds of the fans, they would know how important this issue is. I don't believe that steroids help a player any more than cork in a player's bat. But if the perception is there that the competition is unfair, then MLB needs to take this stance and this action.

Many fans of MLB point to the parity of the NFL and how the salary cap is responsible for that parity. MLB on the other hand tried to deal with the issue by issuing a luxury tax on teams that spent more than a set amount. Neither method would help the current state of team payroll levels in baseball. No team proves that point better than the Milwaukee Brewers.

Today it was announced that the board of directors of the Milwaukee Brewers recommended that the Brewers cut their payroll from $40 million to $30 million. The recommendation means that the Brewers will probably have to trade their two best players: Geoff Jenkins ($8 million) and Richie Sexson ($8 million).

The plight of the Brewers is complicated as the community put up a lot of money to build the Brewers a stadium. They have a right to expect the Brewers to be entertaining. Sexson and Jenkins play hard, play well and play exciting ball. Now with Podsednik and pitching starting to fall in place, the team had a chance to be much better. Will it be able to now?

One of the reasons given for the cut is the drop in attendance to 1.7 million. Geez, the Devil Rays would have a celebration for that kind of attendance. Even if the average ticket price was $10--and it has to be higher--that's $17 million. Add in the TV rights, MLB products and their results from the same luxury tax the Yankees are paying and you have to wonder why the team would need to cut payroll.

What's the answer? Put in a salary cap? Make the cap $80 million? The Brewers are still going to spend only $30 million. How is that going to help poorly run teams? There is no provision that the poor owners spend the luxury tax on their teams. Then what good is it? For every George Steinbrenner there will be a Carl Pohldad or Bud Selig's daughter. The Brewers story is a sad one and is a lightning rod of warning for the storm that baseball still faces.


So far, the awards seem to be going to the players that earned them. Berroa and Dontrelle Willis are the correct choices though I wouldn't have argued if Podsednik had won the award in the National League. Halladay won the AL Cy Young award. The National League will announce theirs on Thursday. If that decision follows the common sense winners to this point, Eric Gagne will win that award.

A fixture on the field at Yankee Stadium for half a decade has been hired to manage the Baltimore Orioles. Lee Mazzilli, the former outfielder for the Mets and Yankees had to be the underdog since he was competing for the job against former Orioles, Rick Dempsey and Eddie Murray as well as Grady Little and Terry Francona.

Mazzilli was a popular coach with the Yankees and he was frequently used by television crews to wear microphones during important games. He inherits what could be a very good team. The Orioles played half a season with an offense that was right up there with Boston and the Braves before injuries to Melvin Mora and others derailed their progress. Don't be surprised if they become a contender in the coming season.

In what I thought were classy moves, both Yankee owner, George Steinbrenner and manager, Joe Torre, praised Mazzilli and were excited and positive about Mazzilli's opportunity.


Speaking of underdogs, the Mexico team beat the United States team and knocked the defending country out of the Olympics in Athens. The stunning loss means that if the Olympics would have been one last way to see Roger Clemens pitch, that dream is over and his win in the World Series could be his last game ever.

Tommy Lasorda, who managed the gold medal winning American team in the last Olympics said it was a shock and a disgrace that the American team lost. That criticism won't sit very well with Hall of Famer, Frank Robinson, who managed this year's Olympic hopeful team.

Baseball news has been pretty quiet the last few days. 208 players have already filed for free agency including Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte of the Yankees. Clemens, of course, has said he is retiring. But if he changes his mind, he will have the right to talk to any team.

Andy Pettitte has said that he can't imagine pitching for any other team and who can blame him. He was drafted by the Yankees and has pitched for them since the 1995 season. His record of success is remarkable judging from his record as it's one of the best in winning percentage history. Add that to his post season success and he seems like a must sign for the Yankees.

The Mets did score a very good victory in landing Oakland A's pitching coach Rick Peterson. Peterson has developed the A's remarkable pitching story and his philosophy is used through the A's farm teams. The Mets were always famous for their development of pitching talent but that has not been the case in recent history. There hasn't been a Doc Gooden, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman or Nolan Ryan come out of their farm system in a long time.

Peterson will upgrade the entire Mets' system and the addition of Bill Singer to the Mets front office to find the talent to develop means that the Mets are doing all the right things to rebuild that franchise. But Bobby Valentine will be in Japan. Alas!

I have to wonder what will become of the Athletic's pitching with Peterson's departure. Will their big pitchers continue to develop without him? Will they continue to keep coming up with great arms from the minor leagues. Look what Peterson did for Ted Lilly in his first full year with the team. Lilly went 12-10 in his first full season and had a perfect ERA in the playoffs (0.00).


In the "I've-got-to-see-this" category, the San Diego Padres announced that they will have new uniforms this coming season. What a victory for that team! That's even better news than having a new stadium. The Padres have consistently had the worst looking uniforms in baseball. They went from those awful brown and yellow uniforms in the 80's to equally ugly blue uniforms in the 90's.

Have you ever seen pictures of Dave Winfield in those old Padres' uniforms. Yeesh! No wonder he wanted to get out of there. Speaking of Winfield, I remember watching him while he was with the Yankees. No one consistently hit the ball harder than Winfield. Infielders used to play in the short outfield when he came up. Anyway, he had this way of wiggling his butt when he was waiting for the pitch. That used to drive the women crazy. It didn't do much for me but I can imagine what they were looking at.

There wasn't a picture in the news reports about the uniforms but they were described as a tri-color pattern of sand, navy and sky blue. Hmm...sounds like an improvement.

The first big bombshell of the off season has exploded with the Astros trade of closer Billy Wagner to the Phillies for Brandon Duckworth and two minor leaguers. Wow!

The Phillies Achilles heel all last season was the bullpen, especially with Jose Mesa closing games. Mesa had an ERA over 6.00 well into the season and never looked effective or even scary. Wagner will come in with his 100 MPH fastball and his 44 saves in 47 chances and give the Phillies a legitimate shot at making the game a seven inning game.

Brandon Duckworth is a big potential pitcher who has shown short flashes of his capabilities in two seasons with the Phillies. Yet he has a losing career record and has given up more hits than innings, which isn't a good sign for a supposed power pitcher.

Houston has a lot of arms in the bullpen but they need every one of them as their manager is a bullpen killer. Houston also has a penchant for having their top arms come up injured in a similar way to the Marlins before Jack McKeon took over. Most likely, Houston will try Dotel as a closer and if that doesn't work out, go with another of their electric bullpen arms. But you have to ask the question: What does it tell the fans and your team to trade away a sure thing in what looks like a money deal?


Two managerial decisions came down today. Both were surprising. First, the Chicago White Sox made a great decision in choosing Ozzie Guillen as their new manager. Guillen will bring fun and enthusiasm to a team in sore need of it. In much the same way that Tony Pena brought a spark to the Royals, Guillen could do the same for the White Sox.

The move is also a big day for MLB as Chicago now has a former African American in charge of the Cubs and a former Hispanic player in charge of the White Sox. We've come a long way when one of the top cities in the country can boast such an alignment. Good for Chicago and good for baseball.

The second decision is somewhat sad in that Bobby Valentine decided to sign a three year deal to go back to Japan and manage over there. He said the money was flattering and that at this point in his life, it's important to him to feel needed and wanted. It's a shame that there wasn't a spot for Valentine on the American field as he is a creative and fiery competitor and manager.

Valentine also did a super job on Baseball Tonight for ESPN and always seemed on point and dead on with his commentary and analysis. He will be missed on that show and on this continent. I hope he comes back someday.


The Yankees made an excellent move in bringing Don Mattingly in as their batting instructor. Mattingly did wonders for Tino Martinez when Tino got in slumps. It is a good sign when the first move the Yankees make after their disappointing loss to the Marlins is a classy one that will please the fans. Mattingly is one of the most popular players to ever wear the pinstripes and should have the respect of his players.

As predicted, Manny Ramirez did not inspire any MLB general managers to spend twenty million a year to grab him. There is no doubt in the Fan's mind that the Red Sox will feature Manny in their opening day lineup.

Unfortunately for Chicago White Sox fans, Frank Thomas decided to exercise his option and stay with them. In better news, the team also announced that Esteban Loiza is staying too.

Thomas did hit more than forty homers this past year for the first time since 2000 but for a man with a lifetime batting average of .310, he has hit .252 and .267 the past two years. His runs scored and walk totals were below his lifetime season average while he has posted his career high in strikeouts the past two years as well.

Thomas is hard to totally dismiss. From 1991 to 1997, the man was amazing, scoring over 100 runs, knocking in over a hundred with total numbers never seen before in the majors. Perhaps, after looking at the numbers, even I have not given him his due. After all, he has driven in 1390 runs in his thirteen year career while walking 1386 times to go with his 2018 hits and 418 homers.

There is just this feeling in baseball and in baseball fans that he has been the number one reason the White Sox have never been to where it always appears they should go. It's hard to say why and it's certainly a mystery.

Loiza came out of nowhere and won twenty-one games. That kind of year just can't be a fluke and I saw him pitch a couple of times and he just seems to know how to do it. His season reminds me of Dave Stewart who pitched for nine years with a total of 39 wins before he exploded for four straight twenty win seasons. Loiza can be that kind of pitcher.

Across town, Sammy Sosa also decided to ignore the clause in his contract that would have allowed him to walk away after this year to become a free agent. The decision means that he will be a Cub for at least two more years. The news is great news for Cub fans and for the game of baseball.

There were lots of emotional reactions today in Red Sox Nation with the news that the team put Manny Ramirez on irrevocable waivers. The move means that the Red Sox are pulling a Henny Youngman: "Take my Manny...please."

But the move doesn't mean that the Red Sox will lose Ramirez. Any team can claim Ramirez but then they would have to pay his $20 million price tag and who besides the Yankees (who don't want him) have the money to pay him?

The move was a plea from the Red Sox for anyone in baseball to make them a deal...an offer...anything or anyway for the Boston team to unload Manny's salary and his one-dimensional play.

Isn't it sad that someone as talented as Manny Ramirez will never really be wanted for very long by anyone. Can he change that? Does he want to?

In any case, the odds are good that the Red Sox lineup on opening day will feature Manny Ramirez...the best hitter in baseball nobody wants.

The MLB off season has already started to be fun to watch. Several key Braves have filed for free agency including Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield and Javy Lopez. Most sources do not believe that Maddux will sign with the Braves as the Braves will want him for much less than the $14 plus million he made this year. Sheffield and Lopez will be interesting to watch as their big bats led the Braves to their most potent lineup in recent history.

The year Javy Lopez had would be considered a career year. It is hard to imagine that he could put together another one like it. But even if he hits thirty plus homers and drives in ninety to a hundred runs, that's better production than any catcher out there with the exception of Posada and Ivan Rodriguez.

Recent Brave history also indicates that they are downsizing their budget and it wouldn't be surprising if all three big stars move on. Will this be the year the Braves incredible run of division titles ends? It seems really hard to imagine that they wouldn't want to have Maddux go for his 300 victories as a Brave. But that just goes to show how little warmth there is in that franchise from and for its stars.

An even more intriguing deal rumored is the New York's Soriano for Kansas City's Carlos Beltran. Beltran will cost too much for the Royals and Soriano has a few more years before eligibility for free agency. I like this deal as Beltran can play center for the Yankees, moving Williams to a corner position. Beltran brings as much excitement and strength to the Yankees as Soriano does.

Beltran has hit 25 plus homers three years in a row which is great in a big park like Kansas City. He has driven in over a hundred three years in a row and scored more than a hundred in those three years as well. He has also hit over .300 in two of those years and most dramatically lowered his strikeout total from 135 in 2002 to 85 in 2003. That shows more maturity in his plate presence. And best of all, he stole over forty bases this year too.

Yes, I like this deal. Soriano seems impossible to teach and prone to prolonged stretches of ineptitude. He has a lot of upsides, but I would take Beltran over him any day. And Beltran is only twenty-six years old.

Oh yes, this is fun and there will be a lot to talk about this long, cold winter.

The Fan has had a ball this season writing this post every day. I have always wished that I had been a journalist and this outlet at least lets me act like one.

I have been writing every day since March 3, and I think I missed a total of six days during the season. I really appreciate some of you who have become loyal readers. That meant a lot to me. I would like to continue. Any baseball fan knows that the off season can be as much fun as the season. Speculating on what teams do what and reacting to moves that are made are part of the tradition and fun. I want to share that with you.

I want to thank Blogger.com for doing what they do. It's a great service for people like me who have a need to express in ways not normally available. I'm sure there are a lot of really bad blogs out there but there are many more good ones. The baseball blogs I have read have been excellent. The sites that link other baseball blogs are super and hopefully I'll soon figure out how to return the favor.


So...the post-post season begins and the first big bombshell is not from the Yankees but from Boston. The firing of Grady Little seems incredulous at first glance and maybe the second. Here is a guy that took a team that started with no bullpen, only two or three legitimate stars and brought them within five outs of the World Series. And you know what? The Red Sox could have beaten the Marlins.

But Little left Pedro Martinez in the game in the eighth inning when hindsight says he should have removed him. Let's compare this to the Marlins sixth game of the World Series. Josh Beckett has won fourteen games in his MLB career. Until the post season, he had NEVER thrown a complete game. Here he is in Game Six on three days rest and nearly every inning from the sixth inning to the eighth, the Yankees had at least one runner on base. There was no way that his manager was going to take him out of the game. If Beckett had given up a game tying or winning homer with one of those runners on base and the Yankees came back and won the series, should he have gotten fired?

Beckett's manager went with his gut and stayed with what he thought was his best pitcher. He's a hero and just signed on for next year. Little did the same thing and is fired. He is the John McNamarra of his day. Sometimes baseball isn't fair.

Little did stir the pot a little bit to his own demise. Peter Gammons reported that Little wanted guarantees for next year but he was under contract and could have come back without the guarantees but was incensed when he did not receive them (for Gammons' column, see espn.com). Bad move.

But all I can remember as a fan was watching Boston's players hugging each other before they even got to the playoffs. This was a team that came together and played together as no team I've ever watched before. You have to give some of that credit to the manager. Two years ago, during the September 11th tragedy, a much more talented Red Sox team folded quickly because they had no cohesiveness and no respect for each other or anything else. Some of that credit went to the manager and he was fired.

Grady Little deserved another season. He was a good manager who made some colorful choices. That's baseball. Do you think Mike Hargrove would have won 96 games with that team? Enough said.

Oh, and one of the candidates for Little's job is Bud Black. Have you seen a picture of him? Let me just say that he is the spitting image of Grady Little. Weird...very weird.

Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. The Florida Marlins won the World Series because they made the clutch plays, pitched the clutch pitches and hit the clutch hits. They had great pitching, great defense and a good enough offense to beat some of the best starting pitchers who have played this game.

That's not all very easy for me to say. In the course of writing here every day, I've endeavored to present a fair and unbiased view of baseball. That's not always possible but I did try. The Yankees have been my team since 1965...a year after their great years ended. I grew up with a Met fan for a dad and grand dad, but the Yankees were my team.

When the final four teams shook out and it was the Yankees, Red Sox, Marlins and Cubs, I thought, "Great! I'll be happy whichever team wins." But the truth is, I am crushed that the current Yankees didn't win it all. I turned the game off in the seventh inning the last game because I knew they were going to lose and I didn't want to watch. I had a day of mourning and life goes on.

But isn't that what makes this game so good? Such loyalties are long-standing and palpably real to the true fan of baseball. I enjoyed the Red Sox season and the Cubs charge and the Marlins. The four teams I rooted for all year made it to where I wanted them to be. But deep down, despite my words, I wanted Jeter to win another one and Roger Clemens to go out a champion and all the other players I have come to root for. But it wasn't meant to be for two reason. One is that the Yankees had too many holes despite the $180 million and two because Beckett wouldn't let them win.

Let me start with the latter. Again, you have to tip your cap to what Beckett did. It reminded me of what Jared Wright did to the Yankees in 1997 when Cleveland beat my team to go to the World Series. It was that good. What made it hard to watch was that, though Beckett pitched a game for the ages, he is my least favorite Marlin and one I have no respect for.

The kid is a punk and showed himself to be with his disrespect for Sammy Sosa and Sosa's reaction to a ball thrown at his head. If Beckett was a good person, he would have understood that Sosa is a proud man and had been beaned in the head not once but twice in the same season. But Beckett had to use the occasion to put Sosa down and his disrespect for one of the greatest players in the game's history was scornful.

And of course, any semi-lip reader could understand the filth that was pouring out of Beckett's mouth whenever something went well or poorly for him. Bad people shouldn't win, but he was good enough to do so. In fact, he was masterful. So my cap is tipped, but I will be waiting for his humbling and it will come someday.

Another reason the outcome was sad for me is that I've followed Steinbrenner too long to not know that he will dismantle this team. Like I said, the team has holes, but instead of plugging the holes, some of the good things will go to. Pettitte will be gone. Don't be surprised if Bernie Williams is gone. Zimmer is already gone. Stottlemyre might be gone. And don't be surprised if Joe Torre is gone. This won't be the same team for a long time.

So it was a last hurrah for this Yankee team. The Marlins were better. It's sad, but I tip my cap.