Janice
02-09-2004, 04:32 PM
Time to Start Thinking About National Pastime Again
Start It Off With Five Pressing Spring Training Questions
Like you, I was appalled by what happened last weekend in Houston. Like you, I wondered how the NFL could allow such a thing. Can all those men in all those blue suits and power ties really be so clueless?
Imagine playing the Super Bowl on the same day the Caribbean World Series is beginning.
How utterly ridiculous.
How could the NFL expect fans to think much about football when America’s pastime is cranking up one of its penultimate events?
And I have no idea what penultimate means.
Well, at least it’s over now, and we can move on to more important things.
Like spring training.
This one, perhaps more than any in recent years, will be greeted with enthusiasm in places that haven’t had much in recent years.
When the owners demanded that rich teams share more of their revenues with poor teams during the last labor negotiations, they said too many teams had no hope of contending.
Hope has returned.
Besides the Yankees and Red Sox, who feel good as usual, fans are also excited in Kansas City, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Houston.
The Braves and Mariners don’t seem to be as strong, but the Devil Rays continue to inch toward respectability.
Here now, we present the first installment of Five Pressing Spring Training Questions.
Otherwise known as FPSTQ.
1. Are the Yankees toast?
Absolutely not. They’re older and they’re dramatically different, but don’t bet against a ninth straight postseason appearance. Gone are Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and David Wells, who combined for 53 victories, 633 innings and a 4.02 ERA.
Most teams could not replace that kind of pitching, but the Yankees aren’t like most teams. Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez and Jon Lieber pitched more innings (674) and had a lower cumlative ERA (3.30) the last time they were all healthy.
Lieber hasn’t pitched a full season since 2001, but if he has fully recovered from elbow surgery, the Yankees will look smarter than ever for signing him right after surgery, then giving him a season to recover.
Manager Joe Torre’s challenge will be in making the various parts fit. Kenny Lofton will take over for Bernie Williams in center, allowing Williams to become a DH. Gary Sheffield, one of the five best offensive players in the game, fills the hole in right.
There will be problems. Torre is in the final year of his contract, and Steinbrenner has gone out of his way to humiliate him in recent years.
But if the Yankees get off to a good start and Brown and Lieber stay healthy, the playoffs will be making a familiar pass through the Bronx next season.
2. Is this finally the year for the Red Sox?
On paper, they stack up with any team, including the Yankees. But the popular perception that the balance of power in the AL East has shifted to Boston is wrong.
The Red Sox will come to camp after a winter in which they whispered sweet nothings to Alex Rodriguez, placed RF Manny Ramirez on waivers and attempted to trade SS Nomar Garciaparra.
When the Rodriguez deal fell through, they were forced to attempt to mend fences with Garciaparra and Ramirez.
Welcome to Boston, Terry Francona.
If the new Red Sox manager can keep everyone happy -- and that’s a big IF -- the Red Sox and Yankees could give us another wonderful summer of hardball.
Only internal problems -- or injuries -- could derail the Sox. The front three of Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe is one of the best in baseball. New closer Keith Foulke led the American League with 43 saves last season and transforms a bullpen that had 21 blown saves in the regular season. And there was the biggest one of all, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. The offense scored 67 more runs than any other team last season.
3. Are the Marlins done already?
Yes. That didn’t last long, did it? Owner Jeffrey Loria promised there’d be no gutting of the roster after winning the World Series, but the club still was unable to keep C Pudge Rodriguez (85 RBI), 1B Derrek Lee (31 home runs), RF Juan Encarnacion (94 RBI), closers Braden Looper and Ugueth Urbina and left-hander Mark Redman, who tied for the team lead in wins.
The Marlins will be respectable as long as Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis and Brad Penny are healthy, but they seem unlikely to recapture last fall’s magic.
More depressing for team leaders should be that the World Series failed to stir interest in the club. Season-ticket sales remain in the 5,000 range, and there seems to be little chance that a publicly funded ballpark will be built anytime soon.
4. At least the Marlins won a World Series. The Twins also had a bad offseason, didn’t they?
Indeed. After back-to-back division championships, the Twins say payroll considerations forced them into tough decisions. So the back of the bullpen, Eddie Guardado and LaTroy Hawks, is gone. So are left-handers Kenny Rogers and Eric Milton and catcher A.J. Pierzynski.
Twins general manager Terry Ryan has done his job almost as well as any man in the game, and now he’ll be leaning on his farm system to fill some of those holes.
Catcher Joe Mauer, one of the most highly touted prospects in the game, will take over for Pierzynski. Kid pitchers Grant Balfour, J.D. Durbin and Jesse Crain will all get a chance.
Teams forced into these kinds of moves sometimes get energized by the infusion of youth, but it’s probably not that kind of a team geared for a playoff run.
First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz has already offered what sounds like a concession speech.
"We had a chance to do something special together here," he said. "And I'll always wonder what might have been."
5. The Cardinals made more changes than anyone, but did they get better?
Probably. They had way too much of their payroll devoted to position players, so general manager Walt Jocketty did what a lot of his colleagues would have been afraid to do.
He made changes.
Big changes.
Fifteen of the 34 players who played for the Cardinals last season are no longer in the organization. Twelve of the 25 players on the Opening Day roster are gone. The Cardinals had 16 free agents, tops in the majors, and re-signed only four of them.
Gone via trade are veterans Tino Martinez, J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero. Leadoff hitter/second baseman Fernando Vina departed via free agency.
Now, how do they get better?
They get quality work from Jeff Suppan, Chris Carpenter and Jason Marquis, who are being counted on to fill in the rotation behind Woody Williams and Matt Morris. They get solid performances from relievers Julian Tavarez and Mike Lincoln in front of closer Jason Isringhausen.
The Astros and Cubs made bolder moves this winter, but the Cardinals had the guts to shuffle their deck. And they still have five of the best players in baseball in the middle of the order -- Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Edgar Renteria and Mike Matheny.
"I guarantee you that when we get ready to play, people will be talking about us like they're talking about the teams (Chicago, Houston) that made all those moves," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I guarantee you the 2004 Cardinals will uphold the Cardinal tradition."
NEXT WEEK: Five more, including the popular: Is this the year the Cubs end 96 years of bad planning, bad karma and just plain bad to win a World Series?
By RICHARD JUSTICE, AOL Exclusive
Start It Off With Five Pressing Spring Training Questions
Like you, I was appalled by what happened last weekend in Houston. Like you, I wondered how the NFL could allow such a thing. Can all those men in all those blue suits and power ties really be so clueless?
Imagine playing the Super Bowl on the same day the Caribbean World Series is beginning.
How utterly ridiculous.
How could the NFL expect fans to think much about football when America’s pastime is cranking up one of its penultimate events?
And I have no idea what penultimate means.
Well, at least it’s over now, and we can move on to more important things.
Like spring training.
This one, perhaps more than any in recent years, will be greeted with enthusiasm in places that haven’t had much in recent years.
When the owners demanded that rich teams share more of their revenues with poor teams during the last labor negotiations, they said too many teams had no hope of contending.
Hope has returned.
Besides the Yankees and Red Sox, who feel good as usual, fans are also excited in Kansas City, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Houston.
The Braves and Mariners don’t seem to be as strong, but the Devil Rays continue to inch toward respectability.
Here now, we present the first installment of Five Pressing Spring Training Questions.
Otherwise known as FPSTQ.
1. Are the Yankees toast?
Absolutely not. They’re older and they’re dramatically different, but don’t bet against a ninth straight postseason appearance. Gone are Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and David Wells, who combined for 53 victories, 633 innings and a 4.02 ERA.
Most teams could not replace that kind of pitching, but the Yankees aren’t like most teams. Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez and Jon Lieber pitched more innings (674) and had a lower cumlative ERA (3.30) the last time they were all healthy.
Lieber hasn’t pitched a full season since 2001, but if he has fully recovered from elbow surgery, the Yankees will look smarter than ever for signing him right after surgery, then giving him a season to recover.
Manager Joe Torre’s challenge will be in making the various parts fit. Kenny Lofton will take over for Bernie Williams in center, allowing Williams to become a DH. Gary Sheffield, one of the five best offensive players in the game, fills the hole in right.
There will be problems. Torre is in the final year of his contract, and Steinbrenner has gone out of his way to humiliate him in recent years.
But if the Yankees get off to a good start and Brown and Lieber stay healthy, the playoffs will be making a familiar pass through the Bronx next season.
2. Is this finally the year for the Red Sox?
On paper, they stack up with any team, including the Yankees. But the popular perception that the balance of power in the AL East has shifted to Boston is wrong.
The Red Sox will come to camp after a winter in which they whispered sweet nothings to Alex Rodriguez, placed RF Manny Ramirez on waivers and attempted to trade SS Nomar Garciaparra.
When the Rodriguez deal fell through, they were forced to attempt to mend fences with Garciaparra and Ramirez.
Welcome to Boston, Terry Francona.
If the new Red Sox manager can keep everyone happy -- and that’s a big IF -- the Red Sox and Yankees could give us another wonderful summer of hardball.
Only internal problems -- or injuries -- could derail the Sox. The front three of Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe is one of the best in baseball. New closer Keith Foulke led the American League with 43 saves last season and transforms a bullpen that had 21 blown saves in the regular season. And there was the biggest one of all, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. The offense scored 67 more runs than any other team last season.
3. Are the Marlins done already?
Yes. That didn’t last long, did it? Owner Jeffrey Loria promised there’d be no gutting of the roster after winning the World Series, but the club still was unable to keep C Pudge Rodriguez (85 RBI), 1B Derrek Lee (31 home runs), RF Juan Encarnacion (94 RBI), closers Braden Looper and Ugueth Urbina and left-hander Mark Redman, who tied for the team lead in wins.
The Marlins will be respectable as long as Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis and Brad Penny are healthy, but they seem unlikely to recapture last fall’s magic.
More depressing for team leaders should be that the World Series failed to stir interest in the club. Season-ticket sales remain in the 5,000 range, and there seems to be little chance that a publicly funded ballpark will be built anytime soon.
4. At least the Marlins won a World Series. The Twins also had a bad offseason, didn’t they?
Indeed. After back-to-back division championships, the Twins say payroll considerations forced them into tough decisions. So the back of the bullpen, Eddie Guardado and LaTroy Hawks, is gone. So are left-handers Kenny Rogers and Eric Milton and catcher A.J. Pierzynski.
Twins general manager Terry Ryan has done his job almost as well as any man in the game, and now he’ll be leaning on his farm system to fill some of those holes.
Catcher Joe Mauer, one of the most highly touted prospects in the game, will take over for Pierzynski. Kid pitchers Grant Balfour, J.D. Durbin and Jesse Crain will all get a chance.
Teams forced into these kinds of moves sometimes get energized by the infusion of youth, but it’s probably not that kind of a team geared for a playoff run.
First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz has already offered what sounds like a concession speech.
"We had a chance to do something special together here," he said. "And I'll always wonder what might have been."
5. The Cardinals made more changes than anyone, but did they get better?
Probably. They had way too much of their payroll devoted to position players, so general manager Walt Jocketty did what a lot of his colleagues would have been afraid to do.
He made changes.
Big changes.
Fifteen of the 34 players who played for the Cardinals last season are no longer in the organization. Twelve of the 25 players on the Opening Day roster are gone. The Cardinals had 16 free agents, tops in the majors, and re-signed only four of them.
Gone via trade are veterans Tino Martinez, J.D. Drew and Eli Marrero. Leadoff hitter/second baseman Fernando Vina departed via free agency.
Now, how do they get better?
They get quality work from Jeff Suppan, Chris Carpenter and Jason Marquis, who are being counted on to fill in the rotation behind Woody Williams and Matt Morris. They get solid performances from relievers Julian Tavarez and Mike Lincoln in front of closer Jason Isringhausen.
The Astros and Cubs made bolder moves this winter, but the Cardinals had the guts to shuffle their deck. And they still have five of the best players in baseball in the middle of the order -- Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Edgar Renteria and Mike Matheny.
"I guarantee you that when we get ready to play, people will be talking about us like they're talking about the teams (Chicago, Houston) that made all those moves," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I guarantee you the 2004 Cardinals will uphold the Cardinal tradition."
NEXT WEEK: Five more, including the popular: Is this the year the Cubs end 96 years of bad planning, bad karma and just plain bad to win a World Series?
By RICHARD JUSTICE, AOL Exclusive