Red Sox & Yankees Hangover
This was an comment from one of my previous posts about the Sox and Yankees series:
Ahh the frustration of the red sox fans, continually beaten down by loss. Curt Schilling is learning a lesson of humility. He choked Tuesday, because of his public insult. This put too much pressure on himself. There is no curse. Only a team choke. The Red Sox have a formidable team, if only they could learn the exemplary professionalism of the Yankees.
Pedro has learned the lesson of humility FINALLY, I doubt we will see as much arrogance as we have in the past. He still should not have made the comment that he can only do so much for the team, that they had to score more. This was obvious and he should not have said it, bad for team chemistry. These are the things the Red Sox need to learn before they can stand up to the Yankees.
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Posted by Rick J to The Metropolitans at 10/15/2004 03:33:49 PM
I guess the exemplary professionalism is when A-Rod tried to girlie bitch slap the ball out of Arroyo's glove. Funny how he speaks of the Schilling choking too. As far as learning a lesson of humility, I think the Yankees may have learned some as well. Now I don't think Rick was saying anything that bad, but the this is the reason that I have contempt for Yankee fans. They exhibit extreme arrogance at times because the root for a team that has more money than anyone else and wildly spends it instead of constructing a team intelligently. The Journal News touches upon this topic and it is something that I've echoed a few times. The Yankees get too much credit for being a team that is so great at picking talent, running the team, and spending money wisely. For every good move they have there is Hidiki Arabu, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Brown, Raul Mondesi, Kenny Lofton, Jason Giambi, Steve Karsay, Chris Hammond, Drew Henson, etc. They spend to band-aid up the holes and mistakes. If the Yankees get Beltran next year, they will have two DH's and they will be making a ton of money. Giambi does not figure into playing first base anymore if he even plays a large part in the team at all. He's due $11.0M in 2005, $18.0M in 2006, $21.0M in 2007, and $21.0M in 2008 with a $5.0M buyout in 2009. Bernie Williams is due $12.0 M next year and a $3.5 million dollar buyout in 2006. Any other team would be absolutely crippled with those two players, but the Yankees will spend, spend, spend to cover up their colossal mistakes with more colossal contracts. They paid $7.5 million into their 2004 bullpen in players that did not even pitch for them in Chris Hammond and Steve Karsay. They had a need so they spent $6.5 million in Gordon and Quantrill to anchor the bullpen. That is basically $13.5 million on two middle relievers. Intelligence? Hardly. The last time the Yankees won the World Series was in 2000 and that was a team that resembled a normal baseball team. You had Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch, Scott Brosius, Derek Jeter, Ricky Ledee, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, Shane Spencer, and David Justice. That was a team that had role players and was not a collection off All-Stars making $10M + per year. That was a team that was intelligently put together. These days they teams they assemble are a joke. Taking the most expensive contracts and mistakes teams are trying to rid themselves from and overpaying for everyone on the free agent market does not take many brains.
Bill Simmons does a great job describing Yankee fans:
It wasn't just that the Yankees always win. It was everything else that came with it -- the petty barbs, the condescending remarks, the general sense of superiority from a fan base that derives a disproportionate amount of self-esteem from the success of their baseball team. I didn't care that they kept winning as much as they were a-holes about it. Not all of them. Most of them.
This loss is not going to do anything to change that. But they will have their day soon enough. They are team that is only going to get older with unmovable contracts on their hands and overpaid players clogging holes in their lineup. Now that day may not be coming soon, but it will be coming.
#5 is particularly funny because of one young and wet behind the ears Alex Rodriguez celebrating with Edgar Martinez.
3. Eric Milton. The best young free agent southpaw starter (ignore the combustible Odalis Perez). The homers against are worrisome, but he has some postseason success, a Yankee pedigree and if Beltran is in center Milton will have someone who can track long flyballs.
The homeruns are worrisome? The guy gave up 43 homeruns in 34 games while posting a 4.75 ERA. I would have to say worrisome is not the right adjective for that. Try horrifying. If that is an improvement to the staff somehow, go ahead. The 'combustible' Odalis Perez is a much better pickup than Milton.
4. Billy Wagner. The Yanks need a lefty reliever and why stop at anything short of the best? How about Jon Lieber and Kenny Lofton for Wagner? Lieber ($8 million option that should be picked up) is going to be real good next year coming off a strong postseason and another season removed from Tommy John surgery. Wagner ($9 million) would enable the Yanks to more comfortably deal Gordon.
Bill Wagner? What a great idea! Except the Phillies picked up his option because they wanted to keep him while picking up Felix Rodriguez's option to keep their solid bullpen together. They still have Tim Worrell and their pen is still a strength of the team. The most ridiculous idea is that he wants to trade Lofton and Leiber for Wagner...WHAT!!!! Sherman should really not drink in the morning, the Phillies would not make the deal in a million years.
posted by michael o. at 9:39 AM
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