Incompetent AL East?
After reviewing the moves that the AL East has made so far this year, I have to question whether or not the GMs and Presidents running the AL East teams have any brains. The AL East can claim to have the two biggest spenders in baseball with the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The AL East also has the fiscally retarded Baltimore Orioles and the economically deprived Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Toronto Blue Jays.
As far as the Devil Rays and Blue Jays are concerned, they cannot be blamed for their inability to sign Tier-1 Free Agents. Their only hope can be to develop Superstars through their minor league systems and keep those stars as long as their financing can support them. The Jays and Rays need to style their baseball operations after that of Billy Beane's in Oakland. Keep young talent as long as you can afford them, and then ship them out for hot, young prospects before the stars reach free agency. The Baltimore Orioles are a disaster waiting to happen. The Orioles are in an unfortunate situation being in the same division as the Red Sox and Yankees. If the Orioles were in any other division, they might be able to buy a division title and playoff birth. The Orioles have the revenue to compete with an $85 M + roster, but they spend that money stupidly. Instead of paying for top-notch players that could help the team win, they seem to overpay for players. These roster moves are usually the result of the Sox or Yankees. The Orioles make these deals in an attempt to show the fan base that they are trying to compete with the Payroll Titans.
Now onto the Red Sox and Yankees. Between both teams not a single extremely cunning move has been made. The Red Sox allowed Pedro Martinez to walk, signed John Halama, signed Edgar Renteria, signed David Wells, and re-signed Doug Mirabelli. The Yankees have signed Carl Pavano, traded for Felix Roderiguez and Mike Stanton, and seem to be on the verge of acquiring Randy Johnson. Does either team have any idea what it is doing?
Now the Yankees signing Carl Pavano doesn't sound bad on the surface, but lets dig a bit deeper. Pavano has a career 57-58 record with a career 4.21 ERA. It's not the signing which is disappointing, but the amount of the contract. Pavano will be paid a reported 4 year- $44 million deal. $11 million a year for a pitcher that has only had 1 very good season. Isnt Carl Pavano the same pitcher that the Red Sox lit up a few years back when the Sox won like 26-5? That doesn't bode well for the Yankees seeing that 2/3 of the Red Sox lineup that bombed Pavano still plays for the Red Sox. Now onto Felix Roderiguez. I actually like this move for the Yankees. Roderiguez is a very solid relief pitcher. The only thing about this trade was that it offsets a stupid move by the Yankees. They traded Kenny Lofton for Roderiguez. Lofton was an overpaid bench player who never really contributed to the Yankees. Mike Stanton has been a great reliever over his entire career, but will turn 38 during the season. How long until he isn't effective anymore? This is my same arguement against Randy Johnson. Johnson is a great pitcher, one of the best of his generation, but he's 41 and will have an extended contract with the Yankees. This man is bound to hit a wall sooner or later, and its going to be sooner then people realize. For $16.5 M for the next 3 years, I'm not sure if that was where the Yankees should have invested their money.
The Redsox will start the season with out two of their starters from 2004 in Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez. Granted, Lowe and Martinez combined for an ERA in the high 4 range, but how can you replace a dominant pitcher like Martinez and someone like Derek Lowe who always had the potential to be spectacular. In Pedro's situation, I understand that the money didn't work for the Red Sox, but what about Lowe? I mean who is better that is available right now. Lowe clinched all three series for the Sox in 2004, shouldn't that count for something. Instead, the Red Sox replaces these two pitchers with a 41 year old lefty with a history of back problems and hatred of Fenway Park in David Wells and should I dare say (gulp) Byung-Hyun Kim as the fifth starter. Wells' back could break down at any time and BYK has no mental stability. This could be a disaster. If one of those two fail, the Sox will look to John Halama as a starter. Anytime you have to resort to a Tampa Bay reject, you know your in trouble. And finally, the Sox signed Edgar Renteria to a 4 year- $40 million contract. Edgah is an exceptional SS, but doesn't this go against exactly what the Red Sox planned? Wasn't the plan for the Red Sox to have Hanley Ramirez become the fulltime SS by 2006? Now Renteria could be holding that position until 2008. If they didn't plan on having Ramirez take over, why not re-sign Orlando Cabrera. He played a terrific defensive 2B, while have solid performance at the plate, nevermind the fact that he was already part of the team and aquainted with all the other players, facilities, manager etc? Nowif the Sox decided to sign Edgar(which they did), they should have immediately peddled Hanley Ramirez off for a top flight starter like Tim Hudson. Unfortunately, Hudson was traded to the Atlanta Braves, leaving the Red Sox with nothing.
When will these guys learn? I don't know, but my suggestion is that it better be soon. For all the trust Theo gained during the 2004 World Series Championship season, the beginning of the 2005 season doesn't seem so great.
-S-
As far as the Devil Rays and Blue Jays are concerned, they cannot be blamed for their inability to sign Tier-1 Free Agents. Their only hope can be to develop Superstars through their minor league systems and keep those stars as long as their financing can support them. The Jays and Rays need to style their baseball operations after that of Billy Beane's in Oakland. Keep young talent as long as you can afford them, and then ship them out for hot, young prospects before the stars reach free agency. The Baltimore Orioles are a disaster waiting to happen. The Orioles are in an unfortunate situation being in the same division as the Red Sox and Yankees. If the Orioles were in any other division, they might be able to buy a division title and playoff birth. The Orioles have the revenue to compete with an $85 M + roster, but they spend that money stupidly. Instead of paying for top-notch players that could help the team win, they seem to overpay for players. These roster moves are usually the result of the Sox or Yankees. The Orioles make these deals in an attempt to show the fan base that they are trying to compete with the Payroll Titans.
Now onto the Red Sox and Yankees. Between both teams not a single extremely cunning move has been made. The Red Sox allowed Pedro Martinez to walk, signed John Halama, signed Edgar Renteria, signed David Wells, and re-signed Doug Mirabelli. The Yankees have signed Carl Pavano, traded for Felix Roderiguez and Mike Stanton, and seem to be on the verge of acquiring Randy Johnson. Does either team have any idea what it is doing?
Now the Yankees signing Carl Pavano doesn't sound bad on the surface, but lets dig a bit deeper. Pavano has a career 57-58 record with a career 4.21 ERA. It's not the signing which is disappointing, but the amount of the contract. Pavano will be paid a reported 4 year- $44 million deal. $11 million a year for a pitcher that has only had 1 very good season. Isnt Carl Pavano the same pitcher that the Red Sox lit up a few years back when the Sox won like 26-5? That doesn't bode well for the Yankees seeing that 2/3 of the Red Sox lineup that bombed Pavano still plays for the Red Sox. Now onto Felix Roderiguez. I actually like this move for the Yankees. Roderiguez is a very solid relief pitcher. The only thing about this trade was that it offsets a stupid move by the Yankees. They traded Kenny Lofton for Roderiguez. Lofton was an overpaid bench player who never really contributed to the Yankees. Mike Stanton has been a great reliever over his entire career, but will turn 38 during the season. How long until he isn't effective anymore? This is my same arguement against Randy Johnson. Johnson is a great pitcher, one of the best of his generation, but he's 41 and will have an extended contract with the Yankees. This man is bound to hit a wall sooner or later, and its going to be sooner then people realize. For $16.5 M for the next 3 years, I'm not sure if that was where the Yankees should have invested their money.
The Redsox will start the season with out two of their starters from 2004 in Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez. Granted, Lowe and Martinez combined for an ERA in the high 4 range, but how can you replace a dominant pitcher like Martinez and someone like Derek Lowe who always had the potential to be spectacular. In Pedro's situation, I understand that the money didn't work for the Red Sox, but what about Lowe? I mean who is better that is available right now. Lowe clinched all three series for the Sox in 2004, shouldn't that count for something. Instead, the Red Sox replaces these two pitchers with a 41 year old lefty with a history of back problems and hatred of Fenway Park in David Wells and should I dare say (gulp) Byung-Hyun Kim as the fifth starter. Wells' back could break down at any time and BYK has no mental stability. This could be a disaster. If one of those two fail, the Sox will look to John Halama as a starter. Anytime you have to resort to a Tampa Bay reject, you know your in trouble. And finally, the Sox signed Edgar Renteria to a 4 year- $40 million contract. Edgah is an exceptional SS, but doesn't this go against exactly what the Red Sox planned? Wasn't the plan for the Red Sox to have Hanley Ramirez become the fulltime SS by 2006? Now Renteria could be holding that position until 2008. If they didn't plan on having Ramirez take over, why not re-sign Orlando Cabrera. He played a terrific defensive 2B, while have solid performance at the plate, nevermind the fact that he was already part of the team and aquainted with all the other players, facilities, manager etc? Nowif the Sox decided to sign Edgar(which they did), they should have immediately peddled Hanley Ramirez off for a top flight starter like Tim Hudson. Unfortunately, Hudson was traded to the Atlanta Braves, leaving the Red Sox with nothing.
When will these guys learn? I don't know, but my suggestion is that it better be soon. For all the trust Theo gained during the 2004 World Series Championship season, the beginning of the 2005 season doesn't seem so great.
-S-
posted by Nick at 2:07 PM
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