it was the heat of the moment

July 31, 2009 at 12:02 pm | In Baseball | 9 Comments
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Trade deadline live-ish blogging!

4:32: Whoa. Late in the game, Padres pull off biggest deal of the day. Pitchers Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Adam Russell, and Dexter Carter for Peavy. Peavy’s locked down through 2012, but he’s currently injured, and that’s a lot of talent – mostly Poreda – for such a question mark. If the Padres wanted to shed payroll, they did a nice job doing so with no leverage against Chicago.

4:27: Is this an elaborate joke by a few writers on Twitter (notably Jon Heyman) and MLB Trade Rumors? Apparently, Jake Peavy has been traded to the White Sox, despite being on the DL for the last few months. This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen this late in the game.

4:19: Chase Weems, not Austin Jackson, for Jerry Hairston. Much better for Yankees, alas; Weems would have to be a great defensive catcher for his offensive abilities to portend anything but minor league fodder. Reds also gave up too much for Scott Rolen – Edwin Encarnacion just isn’t that bad, and they gave up two near-ready arms in Josh Roenicke and Zachary Stewart. I don’t see future superstars there, but two solid relievers and Encarnacion looks steep, unless the Blue Jays are paying some of Rolen’s $10 million for 2010. That said, I am also jealous; I was hoping Rolen was Boston-bound if they could flip Lowell.

4:16: I’m a bit frustrated that the Red Sox didn’t go after Nick Johnson instead of Casey Kotchman, but it mighta taken too much time to find another taker for LaRoche. Plus, Kotchman’s defense essentially makes this a lateral move for 2009. Now, I’m just waiting for confirmation that Halladay’s staying in Toronto and that the Padres and Yankees have been stagnant.

4:09: Clarifying my last comment: I meant for Johnson and for the Marlins. Certainly not for the Nationals, as prospect Aaron Thompson is a pretty laughable return for Johnson. 22 and struggling at AA? Ugh.

4:03: Rumors of Nick Johnson to Marlins. I like this on both ends; very glad to see Florida actually going for it and Johnson moving to a possible contender.

3:58: Apparently not Austin Jackson for Hairston, and Rolen’s for Encarnacion plus a minor leaguer. Okay, back to Cincy not having a great day, but not a BAD day, depending on prospects.

3:48: Austin Jackson for Jerry Hairston? Looks like a big overpayment by Yankees; I’ll retract what I implied about Cincy not knowing what it’s doing if this report is accurate.

3:40: Rolen to Reds. Seems odd that they’re trying this “win now” stuff in Cincy while dealing a big piece of their bench (Hairston), and presumably Edwin Encarnacion heading north.

3:28: Adam LaRoche for Casey Kotchman? That’s a downgrade for the 2009 Red Sox, but cheaper in the future. Of course, Sox + cheap = WHY?

3:23: Stuff coming fast and furious now, but with no idea what prospects are involved in any of these deals. Rockies added a nice bullpen arm in Joe Beimel.

3:20: This Gonzalez-to-Dodgers thing has to be made up. How could Padres walk away from that with anything less than Kershaw? Yankees add Jerry Hairston, Jr.; should be a nice piece off the bench, and sadly, no schadenfreude about an Arroyo acquisition yet.

3:12: Bryan Price as third pitcher to Cleveland… college reliever moved back to starting; looks very good in A-ball, but it’s A-ball. Seems like another Knapp for Cleveland – high upside, no guarantees. Meanwhile, Gordon Edes says Adam LaRoche to Braves; I’m hoping this means bullpen help for Red Sox.

2:56: MLB Network reports that Dodgers may have a chance at Adrian Gonzalez. If that happens and if they don’t get completely taken, I’ll be crushed that the Sox didn’t make that deal instead of getting Martinez.

2:40: Reportedly Justin Masterson on top of Hagadone. Still looking like a nice deal for Red Sox, as Masterson’s problems vs. left-handers limit his value quite a bit and Hagadone is still a ways off. Remains to be seen what else is involved or if Boston will target a new long man.

2:35 PM: Matthew Pouliot throws out the name of Nick Hagadone; Clay Buchholz and Daniel Bard reportedly not involved. If this is true, sounds hard for Boston to screw it up.

2:02 PM: Still waiting on confirmation and price of Victor. Also increasingly terrified of how much time the Yankees have to counter-punch here.

1:57 PM: Sounds like Red Sox finally about to pull trigger on Victor Martinez. After all the Adrian Gonzalez and Halladay talks, this is a bit anticlimactic, I’m sad to say. Dare I dream this isn’t all?

Yes, I dare. I’m an idiot.

1:30 PM: It comes to my attention that Orlando Cabrera’s glove isn’t even good anymore. Starting to seem that Beane didn’t get something for nothing; he got something for less than nothing.

1:19 PM: Los Angeles Dodgers traded P Claudio Vargas to Milwaukee Brewers for C Vinny Rottino. Nothing but a depth move here; Vargas has been through Milwaukee once before and they know he’s not a great bet to give much. Rottino’s 29 and has seen his bat decline since 2006 and 2007.

1:14 PM: “According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, the Twins have acquired Orlando Cabrera from the A’s for 21-year-old shorstop Tyler Ladendorf.” Unless Ladendorf stays at shortstop, don’t see him making the bigs; Cot’s Contracts informs me that the A’s agreed not to offer arbitration if Cabrera is a Type A free agent, so draft picks wouldn’t be an issue; looks like trying to get something instead of nothing, plus save a million bucks or so.

1:01 PM: Rumblings of SS Orlando Cabrera being traded from Oakland A’s to Minnesota Twins. Nice glove, but with his bat (and at his age), I’m just glad the Red Sox are apparently staying out of this.

11:40 AM: Seattle Mariners traded SP Jarrod Washburn to Detroit Tigers for SPs Lucas French and Mauricio Robles.

First reaction: “CRAP! The Yankees didn’t get Washburn!” I was fairly confident he’d be eaten alive in a hitter-friendly ballpark in New York, and believe his low-strikeout, flyball tendencies were in one of the best ballparks for a pitcher of such abilities.

Even so, this is a bit disappointing for Seattle; French might be able to serve as a back-end starter right now, but Robles’ high strikeouts in the low minors are accompanied by some iffy control. With a pretty solid 23-year-old as well as a higher-upside young guy, Seattle didn’t walk away empty-handed, but I again expected there was more of a market for this pitcher and one could have found a bit better of a prospect package.

Now it’s time to hope the Yankees “address” their “problems” with Bronson Arroyo.

Yesterday, Pittsburgh Pirates traded RP John Grabow and SP Tom Gorzelanny to Chicago Cubs for Ps Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio and 2B Josh Harrison.

I don’t have much to say here; Grabow’s 30 and has major walk problems, while Gorzelanny’s low strikeouts would need to be accompanied by vastly superior control for him to have any sort of upside. The latter pitcher went completely off the rails in 2008, but like Ian Snell, has looked good at AAA and could improve. Still, Hart and Ascanio are less of question marks – they could probably help from the bullpen right now – and Harrison, while old for his league, was a college draft pick just last year and could have a nice bat if he can stick at second base. Solid pickup by the Pirates for a free agent to be and a guy about to get more expensive.

bust a move

July 24, 2009 at 8:37 pm | In Baseball | Leave a Comment
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Because trades are starting to come steadily, I’m abandoning my “Sunday roundup” format for the next week. There’s no real reason I can’t give some succinct transaction reviews during the week, particularly since the trade deadline falls on a Friday and I’ll likely have waning enthusiasm two days later for most of the news.

Pujols is no longer alone: The Cardinals, realizing that their offense is basically Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick, wisely pursued the best outfielder presumed to be on the trade market in Oakland’s Matt Holliday. Holliday’s numbers have slipped noticably since leaving Colorado, but he’ll still bring more to the plate than St. Louis’ alternatives. The question, however, is whether it was worth it – Holliday will be a free agent after the season, and the prospect cost looks rather steep for a few months of a non-elite player.3B Brett Wallace seems overhyped for someone with only a small stint of dominant hitting at AA and not much of a defensive reputation, but he’s not yet 23 and showed a lot of offensive potential in his college career at Arizona State. Starter Clay Mortensen looks like pitching depth at best, but again, youth mitigates things; at 24, further improvement, while not guaranteed, is far from impossible. The rawest talent the A’s received was in 21-year-old outfielder Shane Peterson, who looks like the sort of player the A’s might have drafted with their second compensation pick had they lost Holliday in free agency.

With that, and Wallace’s upside, taken into consideration, it’s a solid haul for Oakland; while Wallace could very conceivably make the Cardinals look back in regret, it’s hard to fault them for giving up the two replaceable minor leaguers with the NL Central title looking very attainable.  Just how great a cost such a victory would come at is a matter of one’s faith in Wallace turning into an impact player.

Red Sox get better for free: Julio Lugo should not have been designated for assignment, but he was; by this week, he had to be considered a sunk cost for the Red Sox, and managing to turn him into anything before he cleared waivers would be a nice move. Theo Epstein did a little better than “anything,” acquiring from the Cardinals 1B/OF Chris Duncan. While Duncan’s defense and health are huge liabilities, he is only 28 and brings a little pop and the ability to take a walk. Perhaps most importantly, he also gave Boston – dealing with an injured Jeff Bailey and underachieving Chris Carter and Paul McAnulty – the organizational depth to finally cut ties with the utterly futile use of a roster spot that is Mark Kotsay.

Kotsay might not have been replaced on the major league roster, however, had the Sox not also acquired 1B Adam LaRoche from the Pirates. LaRoche is a platoon player who should only start against right-handed pitchers, but he allows Kevin Youkilis to shift to third and spell the quickly-aged Mike Lowell. More importantly, he has eliminated Boston’s most glaring weakness (in specifically Kotsay and in general lack of someone to play over Lowell) at a minimal cost: the club is taking on just $3 million in payroll, and gave Pittsburgh nothing more than organizational filler in Argenis Diaz (a no-hit shortstop who was cluttering the 40-man roster) and Hunter Strickland (who, while young, neither strikes guys out nor keeps the ball in the park). While Boston could make themselves the divisional favorite by adding an impact player before next Friday, they have added the only thing they absolutely needed in LaRoche.

Indians save some money: Okay, that was harsh. Rafael Betancourt’s 2010 option for over $5 million wasn’t going to be picked up by a team that has quit pretending to care about spending money on players, and draft compensation for a Type B free agent would hinge upon them actually offering arbitration to Betancourt, which is hardly a given. Considering that, sending Betancourt to the Rockies for Connor Graham isn’t the worst thing Cleveland could have done; Graham has some chance of being a useful major leaguer in his future. That’s about all I can say, though; while he can certainly strike guys out, he’s had control problems in A-ball, and his main asset – home run prevention – looks like more luck than ground ball tendencies. The one thing that could turn things around would be a move to the bullpen, but we’ll have to see how the Indians handle their new prospect.

Padres raise eyebrows: While many comments online are highly critical of San Diego GM Kevin Towers, I liked the move that sent reliever Cla Meredith to Baltimore. Meredith, 26, is a useful middle reliever, but he’s headed to arbitration this winter and the Padres are trying to cut payroll. Their bounty, 31-year-old infielder Oscar Salazar, looks like a late bloomer; he made some noise with a big 2008 at AAA and then continued to be a surprise in the bigs. While he may be nothing more than a backup corner infielder, he has less service time than Meredith and thus is a cheaper option for a team on a budget. The most intriguing part, however, is that his arrival in San Diego could be seen as a precursor to the club finally trading 1B Adrian Gonzalez – reported to be unlikely – or 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Uninteresting player dealt to uninteresting team in uninteresting trade: That’s the best way to describe the snoozefest of a trade that sent 2B Felipe Lopez to Milwaukee, and I’ll understand if readers zone out for the rest of this post. Lopez seems, to me, like he’s been a Brewer before, but he has not; I assume that my mind just saw “middling infielder who isn’t great at anything but isn’t awful, either” and thought of Milwaukee. The Brewers sent Arizona a pair of similarly unremarkable prospects; Roque Mercedes looks like your run-of-the-mill minor-league reliever, while Cole Gillespie’s walk abilities and doubles power don’t make the 25-year-old look like a great bet in left field.

you can talk to god and listen to the casual reply

February 17, 2009 at 12:01 am | In Baseball, Rooting Hierarchies | 3 Comments
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Considering that David likened promoting the Dodgers to planning a vacation in Zimbabwe, this entry out of the NL West cannot be well-received by at least a quarter of regular visitors. If it wasn’t already clear that sanity and logic have given way to heavily emotional rankings… welcome to the jungle.

17. Colorado Rockies (33.65% schedule-weighted support)
Last Ranking: 16
Added: RPs Huston Street, Alan Embree, and Randy Flores; SPs Jason Marquis, Matt Belisle, Josh Fogg, and Greg Smith; OF Carlos Gonzalez and Matt Murton; C Sal Fasano
Lost: LF Matt Holliday; RPs Brian Fuentes, Luis Vizcaino, and Matt Herges; CF Willy Taveras; SP Livan Hernandez
Strengths: Despite the departure of LF Matt Holliday, the Rockies retain a few nice homegrown hitters. At age 25, C Chris Iannetta finally got significant playing time on the big club, and did not disappoint. 3B Garrett Atkins had a down year, but at 29, should be able to rebound towards his 2007 performance. RF Brad Hawpe, despite defensive deficiencies, is a fairly consistent above-average hitter.

The rotation is solid but not staggering; groundball artist Aaron Cook and 25-year-old Ubaldo Jimenez anchor a group of underrated starters, though neither is much of an ace. The acquisition of Jason Marquis is curious, as someone who has historically struggled with the long ball could be a liability at Coors, but odds are he’ll turn into a pretty solid #5.

The bullpen may be one of the NL’s best; after losing closer Brian Fuentes, the team filled the hole nicely by acquiring Street, who has struggled at times in the past few seasons but has ended up with nice totals and, while he’s been around for four full seasons already, is only 25. The setup corps in front of him includes Manny Corpas, Taylor Buchholz, Jason Grilli, and lefty free agent Alan Embree, and the team has enough relief talent and starting depth to fill out the rest of the bullpen quite nicely.
Weaknesses: While there are a few standouts, the lineup is pretty weak overall; the run totals will be inflated by the hitters’ paradise that is Coors Field, but there’s really not much special here. 1B Todd Helton is 35 and coming off of a career-low .388 slugging percentage; while the frightening lack of pop could be written off as a result of the back problems he struggled through, he’s not a great bet to rebound. 2B Clint Barmes and SS Troy Tulowitzki look to have serious problems getting on base, and there’s little infield help on the bench.

While Tulowitzki, Barmes, and Helton recoup some of their value with strong defense, the same cannot be said for the team’s outfielders: Hawpe and CF Ryan Spilborghs are among the weaker gloves at their respective positions, while apparent LF favorites Seth Smith and Ian Stewart are big question marks – Smith has limited major league data, while Stewart hasn’t played the outfield in his professional career.

There are reports that Jeff Francis’ season may end before it begins if he continues to experience shoulder soreness. While we could know for sure as early as this week, the looming prospect of surgery does shake my faith in the rotation, as Matt Belisle and Gregs Smith and Reynolds make for better depth than they would full-time starters.
My Stake: Despite some iffy decisions seemingly every winter, the Rockies continue to come out as an above-average team in terms of front office intellect. The problem is that too many of their moves are of the “solid, nice, but not helping them blow away the competition” variety; it’s really not that different from the Blue Jays’ or Marlins’ willingness to settle for mediocrity, but the NL West offers far more opportunities for sorta-good teams than the AL East does.

While Street is a fine replacement for Fuentes, there was really little reason to give up Matt Holliday for such a reasonable package of prospects; it looks like as well as being okay with being just, well, okay, the Rockies have decided that saving money is more important than returning to where they were in 2007. On top of this potential double standard, the team’s establishment of a clubhouse religion continues to make me exceedingly uncomfortable, and with only a slightly-above-average front office, there’s just nothing to push them higher than this spot right now.
‘09 Predictions: Francis’ health status is a big question mark, but because the team has enough #6 starters to cover the loss, I don’t see it mattering more than a win or so. Still, since I had been vacillating in the 78-81 win range based on the deep pitching versus the middling lineup and iffy defense, the news forces me to take something in the lower half of that range. Because good relief can help teams overachieve their actual talent by winning more close games, I’ll say 79 wins here, with potential to reach 80 if Francis is okay or the rest of the staff makes it through the year without problems.

‘08 rooting hierarchy iv: there’s winners, and there’s losers, but they ain’t no big deal

March 27, 2008 at 10:36 pm | In Baseball, Rooting Hierarchies | 2 Comments
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18. St. Louis Cardinals 41.38% unweighted; 47.91% weighted (60/30/42.86).
Last year: #10. 78-84, 3rd in NL Central.
In 2008: It’s not hard to remember the Cardinals as perennial contenders who were widely respected through the baseball world. Yet they have fallen fast, and new GM John Mozeliak has given no indication that he knows how to turn the organization around; until they show signs of life, St. Louis is not redeemed in my eyes by past success under a different GM. Strokes of bad luck – injuries to Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter, the team’s two best players – do not excuse giving a so-so pitcher like Russ Springer twice his market value, nor do they negate signing Joel Pineiro or giving a job to incapable-of-hitting Cesar Izturis. Still, the Cardinals have done a few things right – namely, giving incentive-filled contracts to starters Matt Clement (recovering from shoulder surgery) and Kyle Lohse (recovering from thinking he could get a four-year deal), and getting D’Angelo Jimenez to hopefully oust Brendan Ryan from the team’s utility infielder role – and therefore had a better winter than some teams.
Prediction: 71-91, 5th in NL Central

17. Toronto Blue Jays 44.83% unweighted; 46.81% weighted (50/44.44/43.75).
Last year: #18. 83-79, 3rd in AL East.
In 2008: I’m not sure if there’s a team about whom I care less than the Blue Jays. J.P. Ricciardi is supposedly a sabermetrics-friendly GM, but he is nowhere near the other “stat guys” running teams. The Jays alienated many sabermetricians, to be sure, by signing the legendarily overrated David Eckstein (ironically, the contract actually wasn’t that out of line with Eck’s abilities), and Ricciardi has been known to make moves that Billy Beane would never consider. Yet as is a better habit of his, he signed several low-profile players – not stars, nor huge assets, but solid contributors – to deals far below the market would have expected. This is similar to the club as a whole: plenty of small things to like, despite a few high-profile negatives; ultimately, it’s a hallmark of a bland, boring team that inspires neither love nor antipathy.
Prediction: 82-80; 4th in AL East

16. New York Mets 48.28% unweighted; 41.05% weighted (25/54.55/50).
Last year: #13. 88-74, 2nd in NL East.
In 2008: The Mets are a frustratingly inconsistent club. This offseason, they overpaid Luis Castillo – speedsters in their mid-thirties are seldom a wise investment – and traded 23-year-old Lastings Milledge for a bad catcher and an older outfielder. But they also saw, where Milwaukee did not, the value of reliever Matt Wise (and negative value of Guillermo Mota); they found a bargain in reserve infielder Marlon Anderson; and for whatever reason, were the team to benefit from Bill Smith’s willingness to take the third-best package for Johan Santana. It’s not a staggering display of front office talent, but I’ve historically had a soft spot for the franchise, and whether by luck or by design, they pulled off one of the best trades of the year.
Prediction: 89-73; 1st in NL East, lose NLDS

15. Detroit Tigers 51.72% unweighted; 58.5% weighted (75/44.44/50).
Last year: #8. 88-74, 2nd in AL Central.
In 2008: It’s hard to attack the Tigers on their front office merits, particularly in the wake of their mind-boggling bargain extension of Miguel Cabrera. Yet while they’ve become an offensive juggernaut without spending on the wrong hitters, they reside in the same division as the Indians. Academic respect doesn’t always translate to active support, and unless my native ballclub does something to squander my fandom, the Tigers’ rival status vastly outweighs their competence.
Prediction: 91-71; 1st in AL Central, lose ALDS

14. Chicago Cubs 55.17% unweighted; 63.89% weighted (80/40/57.14).
Last year: #24. 85-77, 1st in NL Central, lost NLDS.
In 2008: For a contending team with rather apparent weak spots, the Cubs were surprisingly quiet this winter. Of course, learning from some of the teams reviewed to this point, standing pat is sometimes a valid strategy. But what Chicago’s winter lacked in bulk, it made up for in quality. The biggest free agent splash was Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, whose signing may have had the biggest rooting hierarchy impact of any single transaction. While it hurt to see the Padres miss out on such a promising import, the Cubs have earned my respect and interest by that move alone. It doesn’t hurt that their other major moves over the winter included dumping the contract of Jacque Jones, bringing back Kerry Wood, and getting Jon Lieber to fill out the rotation at a reasonable cost. Like the Orioles, the Cubs have a track record of great concern, but with so many teams showing more recent incompetence, I’m willing to give some leniency until they overpay another player like Jason Marquis.
Prediction: 92-70; 1st in NL Central; lose World Series

13. Colorado Rockies 58.62% unweighted; 56.92% weighted (50/63.64/57.14).
Last year: #23. 90-73, 2nd in NL West, lost World Series.
In 2008: In case David happens to read this entry: I’m well aware that the Rockies have really turned things around and have some incredible homegrown talent. On top of that, they’ve been prudently aggressive in getting players into long-term deals. Yet their taste in free agents is often mind-boggling – this winter’s signings include Mark Redman, Kip Wells, Yorvit Torrealba, and Luis Vizcaino – and on a more subjective level, Clint Hurdle is one of the most annoying managers I’ve seen.
Prediction: 82-80; 4th in NL West

things to do in denver when you’re dead

October 10, 2007 at 10:59 pm | In Baseball | 2 Comments
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It’s hard to believe that one round of the playoffs is already done, and it’s League Championship Series time already. In large part, I’m sure, this is because I wasn’t particularly emotionally invested in 75% of the Divisional Series – Sox/Angels was pretty nice, rooting-differential wise, but I just could not take the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as a serious threat to Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling. Indians/Yankees, of course, was the biggest emotional rollercoaster since the 2004 ALCS.

But now, I must celebrate one simple fact: one of my top two teams is going to the World Series. Once that starts, I will probably go into full-on one-minded baseball-crazed lunatic-hermit over-hyphenating mode. But first, a discussion of the remaining road to the Fall Classic:

Colorado (90-73) at Arizona (90-72): Right away, let me note how delightful it is to get two LCS featuring pairs of teams with almost identical records. No matter what happens, we won’t see another 83-win champion overcome three teams with an average of 93 wins. It’s unrealistic to expect the best team to win the World Series every year, but we can absolutely hope that such a title has some sort of legitimacy beyond “this team won 11 games in October.” Of course, that’s not to say that each of the NL clubs has an equal claim to the proverbial throne; Colorado outscored its opponents by 102 runs, while Arizona was outscored by 20 runs.

We can debate how timely hitting and pitching, good management, and odd run distributions would alter a team’s record, and I imagine that the Diamondbacks could conceivably have won a handful of games meritoriously. But no matter how we analyze it, there’s no way they won 90 games without an obscene amount of luck. And this year, anything less than 89 wins would have missed the postseason. When a club like Colorado sees young talent and unexpected veteran contributions all come together and has a great year, there is admittedly an element of luck in play. Their playoff berth defies pre-season stat-geek logic, expectation, and even explanation. Yet in the end, it is nonetheless a legitimately great season. Being outscored, on the other hand, says that one’s team has not played well. If Arizona won only as many one-run games as the next-best team in that category, the Diamondbacks would have missed the playoffs. Plain and simple, they got ridiculously lucky and still only made the postseason by a two-win margin.

Ironically, the Diamondbacks are one of the smartest franchises in the game, and I had looked forward to them winning in 2008. But as a thinking sports fan, I can’t just like a team because it’s “good.” I demand some sort of meritocratic system. Whether a club is originally assembled with shrewd analysis or by looking at chicken bones, I ultimately cannot root for it to achieve the ultimate success when it would only get there by dumb luck. All that said, I would not mind Arizona overachieving its way into the World Series – or at least getting the NLCS to the game six for which I have a ticket. (Thank you, people of Phoenix, for not appreciating baseball enough to sell out the cheapest tickets for the National League Championship Series.)

Cleveland (96-66) at Boston (96-66):…oh dear. By the second half of the season, Cleveland had re-taken a spot at the top of my rooting hierarchy. But the Tribe shared that honor with Red Sox… and now I’ve got to make a choice. I should note that I truly love both of these teams, and this is like being asked to root for either my wife or my child to make it out of a burning building alive. It’s painful, it’s difficult, and ultimately, my joy that someone I love will survive is greatly tempered by the knowledge that someone else I love will not.

I don’t know which team is my wife and which is my child, but in the narrow-margin-of-rooting model I have explained, I see no choice but to root for the Indians. They achieved as many wins (albeit not as astonishing a run differential) as Boston while spending $80 million less, they have the same sort of great and just-plain-likable players, and in many ways, they embody, in this series, what drew me to the Red Sox. They are the underdog – the team that must overachieve to compensate for inferior resources; the team that must scratch and claw its way to the World Series against a frightening juggernaut of a baseball team. They will not receive the media adulation of their opponent, and will endure road games at one of baseball’s most storied, iconic ballparks.

Even if we say all other things are equal, the Indians knocked the Yankees out of the postseason. To me, that alone is justification to say, “Theo, Papi, Lowell… I love you guys, but the Tribe deserves this one.” But if Boston’s stronger offense and closer win out, so be it. I will not let even a pulling-out-all-the-stops seven game series turn me against the Red Sox once the series is over. Whoever wins the ALCS remains one of my favorite teams and gets 100% support against the NL champion.

One thing about the Red Sox: why do they have a victory song called “Dirty Water?” As far as I know, they didn’t have a local river catch fire.

2007 rooting hierarchy ii: because i’m bad, i’m bad, i’m really really bad

March 27, 2007 at 11:55 am | In Baseball, Rooting Hierarchies | Leave a Comment
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Today’s installment: clubs who are disliked but not outright hated. These teams are generally incompetent but either media-adored, or in contention thanks to a short-sighted plan or luck.

27. Houston Astros The franchise is heavily reliant on a handful of core players, and GM Tim Purpura made his big splash in the form of LF Carlos Lee, whose signing is projected as this winter’s most damaging contract. Instead, he should have put that money into a solid starter like John Thomson and signed a cheaper and/or better outfielder (such as J.D. Drew).
26. Cincinnati Reds “Wayne Krivsky” is something of a code phrase for a person who is obsessed with relief pitching. Last season, GM Krivsky dealt talented young hitters Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to Washington for some insignificant bullpen arms. That alone doesn’t damn him, but this winter’s moves (including adding reliever Dave Weathers) were next to insignificant, and certainly aren’t the sort of things Krivsky has to do to right the ship. Hurting the team even more is just how little negative publicity the near-giveaway of Kearns received.
25. Baltimore Orioles Incompetent and a lengthy track record of it. While they’re too irrelevant to really hate, my mind is boggled by the caliber of players on whom they choose to spend their money. This winter, it was a bizarre and expensive bullpen upgrade that left them scraping together the likes of Steve Trachsel, Jay Payton, and Aubrey Huff to (supposely) fill other voids.
24. Chicago Cubs Well, at least they got rid of manager Dusty Baker. That aside, the team spent its winter on an ill-advised free-agent splurge. The additions should help the team contend, but that doesn’t justify the money they gave to Alfonso Soriano after a career year in 2006, much less the pricey signings of SPs Jason Marquis and Ted Lilly, who are (to put this gently) not very good.
23. Colorado Rockies The most notable thing here, from a non-baseball standpoint, is the team’s “let’s be overtly Christian!” philosophy. I’m not ardently anti-Christian, but religion should be a private decision, not a workplace consideration. That aside, the team recently reminded me why I used to dislike them – Byung-Hyun Kim is being screwed out of a roster spot by the likes of Josh Fogg. GM Dan O’Dowd just makes too many huge mistakes, and the religious stuff bumps them down a few extra spots.
22. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim You know, it’s hard for me to put the Angels this low on the list. The team has offed the Yankees in multiple postseasons this decade (2005 and my predicted stunner in 2002), and for that I must express my gratitude. But, a solid farm system aside, they’re very questionable judges of talent, with Garret Anderson, Gary Matthews, and Shea Hillenbrand among their below-average lineup. It’s not that the Angels are total idiots – it’s that with the money they have, they could be so much better if GM Bill Stoneman was complemented by better evaluators of major-league hitters.

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