Big Schill returning to Beantown?

It looks more and more likely that the Old Blowhard Himself will return for one last season with the Red Sox next year. I have to say, "Good for him."

Schilling and Sox close to 1-year deal.

I'm not the world's biggest Curt Schilling fan, but I admire his grit, experience, and swagger. I'd like to see him finish his career in Boston, in a town that embraced him and his family heartily after he inked a deal over Thanksgiving dinner in 2003 to leave Arizona and come clear across the country to pitch for the Sox.

Schilling obviously played a huge role in the Sox winning their first World Series title in generations, and he also has done significant good work for ALS, a.k.a. "Lou Gehrig's Disease," through his charitable organization.

I also can't imagine Schilling uprooting his family of his wife and four kids to go play for one year elsewhere. It just sounds like there are too many solid reasons for him to stay, and for the Sox to keep him, for one more year.

***

A while back, the one or two of you who even know of this blog's existence may recall that I wrote a quiz column that featured Schilling as an answer. Here is the original post:

Quiz.

In the post, I argued that Schilling basically doesn't belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In spite of his 2001, 2004, and 2007 postseason performances, and a smattering of great to pretty good years, I still feel that way. However, I think the majority of baseball writers who have a vote will, in about 2014, elect Schilling to the Hall of Fame, precisely on the strength of his playoff heroics--2001 World Series co-MVP, the Game 6 "bloody sock" game in 2004 against the Yankees, and the strong work he showed in this year's postseason.

Schilling's career is much like that of Jack Morris. Their W-L record and career ERAs match up pretty well, and both men won big in dominating pitching performances in the World Series. Both men won a World Series MVP. Both men threw 21 wins in a season at least once. But Morris is no closer to Cooperstown now than when he was 5 years after he retired in 1994. In 2007, Morris received only 37% of the votes in Hall of Fame balloting, and was roughly only halfway to the necessary 409 votes for enshrinement.

Schilling though, unlike Morris, pitched a good chunk of his career in the steroids era, his lifetime ERA (3.46) is respectable enough, and he has what once was considered a "lock" for the Hall of Fame: over 3,000 career strikeouts. Add those tallies to his postseason glories, and Schilling one day will be in Cooperstown.

Given his propensity for talking about himself, it will be only the second most egocentric Hall of Fame election speech after Roger Clemens goes in, sometime around the same year as Schilling.

Mike Lowell: much sought after World Series MVP

I have to admit that I didn't follow Mike Lowell's Red Sox career all that closely. A beautiful baby girl entered our lives, and my wife probably wouldn't be cool with me spending hours of free time watching the Sox-Devil Rays or Sox-Twins heart-stopping series.

Still, he clearly put up some impressive stats over the last two years with the BoSox, and in doing so, he has helped himself to a nice fat contract with whomever wins the "Mike Lowell Derby" this postseason:

Mike Lowell's stats.

I would be a fool for posting a link to his stats and not acknowledging my previous post about A-Rod, wherein I posted links to articles decrying the use of stats and A-Rod's lack of character. Stats are not everything, and Lowell has more than just stats. He has a rock solid clubhouse reputation, a World Series MVP, the publicly endorsed encouragement of current teammates, and an entire New England region behind him.

The Globe's Kevin Paul Dupont on Friday chimed in about Lowell's chances of re-signing with the Red Sox, and his comments are interesting for the comparison he makes to the Sox's approach toward former Red Sox players and icons Pedro Martinez (still loved around these parts) and Johnny Damon (he'll be chased out of town if he ever comes back without a security detail).

Should the Sox keep Lowell?

Interestingly, and smartly, Dupont's observation differs from so much of the commentary of last week in Boston. Many people said it was up to Lowell whether he returns. Dupont begs to differ.

"Lowell's re-signing ultimately will come down to how many years the Sox are comfortable extending him as he enters what are considered baseball's AARP years...The dilemma here, though, is similar to what the Sox faced when the likes of Johnny Damon and Pedro Martinez reached free agency in their later years. Damon and Martinez were both allowed to walk, and thus far, the Sox have seen the better of the return in turning them free."

The problem is, if the Sox let Lowell walk, their third baseman options become:

1. A bidding war for dollars and years for A-Rod, with many teams, including the Yankees, in the hunt.

2. Moving first baseman Kevin Youkilis to third. All I have to say about that is the fact that Youk has turned in a .995 fielding percentage in 2006 and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage at first in 2007. Or, in other words: 1,586 straight games (excluding the '07 postseason) of not committing one single error.

3. Miguel Cabrera of the Florida Marlins. This article covers the pros and cons of going after this commodity: Cabrera's suitors.


Lowell clearly has earned his way towards a new, fat multi-year contract. Does he join Petty and the Chief Idiot as the ones that thankfully got away after the Sox got their best out of them? Or does he buck that trend? Does he end up in pinstripes? Do the Sox and Marlins resume their non-sexual swapping congress (Cliff Floyd in '02, Beckett and Lowell in '05)?

Lots of questions, soon to be answered.

A-Rod: The View from Boston

Kevin Cullen, who I first came to appreciate for his insightful coverage of the Northern Ireland violence and peace process over the last 15 years, chimes in with this analysis of how classless Alex Rodriguez is.

Winning with Class.

Some take-aways:

1. "Winning with class is more important than winning at all costs." A-Rod and his agent, Scott Boras, apparently were absent from class the day that lesson was taught.

2. "Statistically, A-Rod is the best baseball player in the world...But statistics don't win big games. Character does. And Mike Lowell has more character, if less money, than A-Rod ever will."

The stats argument also was highlighted in The New York Times' "Bats" blog last Thursday, under the attention-grabbing title of:

The Most Amazing Stat You'll Ever See.

One comment that should be highlighted: "The point is, you can spin stats against A-Rod, or you can spin stats that make him look better. The only question that matters is what someone is willing to believe."

***

You've got to think that A-Rod has provided the Sox with ample evidence that while his stats are great, he has no class. So, how is that for tying in two different articles?!

The Onion article on A-Rod's odious October exploit

Always an accurate barometer of world events, The Onion comes through once again, with a sarcastic take on Alex Rodriguez showing up the World Series (which the Red Sox were about 6 outs away from sweeping) by having his agent, the equally odious Scott Boras, announce that A-Rod was opting out of the final 3 years of his contract with the Yankees to become a free agent.

A-Rod's bad timing.

***

This article is sarcastic, but there is a lot of truth to it, too. It highlights some of the excruciating b.s. the Red Sox would have to deal with if he signed with the club, because it truly is all about A-Rod.

***

The Boston clubhouse is routinely and roundly described as a positive, team-centered group. Gone, for now, are the bad old days of the "25 players, 25 cabs" teams of the 1940s and even the 1980s. A-Rod has allegedly put a spot of poison into the proverbial team-centered clubhouse drinks of the Mariners, Rangers, and now the Yankees.

***

I refer to Curt Schilling, who, in talking about Roger Clemens signing with the Yankees instead of the Red Sox this past May, "We don't need him. It would've been nice to have him, but we don't need him."

Joe Torre bound for Los Angeles

Ending a 12-year managerial tenure with the Evil Empire, Joe Torre inked a 3-year, $13M deal yesterday to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers. This comes two weeks after he left the Bronx. He succeeds Grady Little as manager, with many observers questioning the mechanics of how Little was fired, if Torre was offered the job before Little "resigned," and when did L.A. go after Torre after their first choice, new New York manager Joe Girardi took a pass on the Dodgers.

L.A., which is allegedly losing traction in regional popularity to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, had to make a big move. This is big. It sure beats returning to the broadcast booth, where Torre has been before and where he was recently offered a chance to add his voice to Fox's World Series coverage.

There are also two speculative arguments going on around the game about Torre going to L.A. Here they are, briefly:

1. If Torre's Dodgers underperform during his tenure, will it cast a pall over his many accomplishments while with the Yankees? Some argue that, should Torre's team stumble early, late (like this past season), and/or often, it should cause people to re-evaluate the success he had in New York, with the supposition that anyone could have achieved such great results (3 World Series titles in 4 years, appearances in the Fall Classic in '96, '98-'01, and '03) if given the lineup of superstars and their mega-contracts that came calling to the Bronx, especially after 1998.

I don't agree with this argument. Given the rabid New York press and all of the super-egos who have trod through that clubhouse over the years, I would argue that few managers could have kept an even keel and managed teams to impressive overall results year after year. Torre did that, every year.

2. With Torre in L.A., and with the club needing a big name to compete against the Angels for attention, this provides an opening for Alex Rodriguez. CNNSI's Jon Heyman covers this debate pretty well, so here it is:

Where Will A-Rod go?

Frankly, I'm tired of all of the A-Rod talk. I admire his stats and his skills. I'm glad he'll one day break Barry B*nds' all-time home run record. But I have become increasingly skeptical and unimpressed with who A-Rod is as a person. There was the trash-talking of his former best friend, Derek Jeter, in 2001. There are the adultery scandals. The inconsistent statements he's made about New York. The melodrama in the club house and the attention-craving little girl he oftentimes appears to be.

My message is simple: A-Rod can go anywhere he wants, so long as it is not Boston. I may even cheer for him, as long as he's not wearing Yankee pinstripes.

Boston: Home of the World Champions

The local liberal rag, The Boston Globe, is home to many notable sports writers such as the often supreme Gordon Edes and the atrocious Dan Shaughnessy (a.k.a. "the Curly-Haired Boyfriend"--that is a post for another time). But the recent work of metro columnist Adrian Walker, not known for his sports writing, stuck out from all of the Red Sox hoopla and celebration of the last week.

He describes what it is like, now, to live in Beantown.

I think Walker makes some smart commentary about the mental and attitude changes that have crept across this small, historic American city over the last half-decade. Especially sound observations include the dichotomy of a city so steeped in history that it appears around every corner, but its baseball citizens now not caring a lick about the dastardly heartaches of the past.

The 2004 World Series win helped all of us Sox fans finally, once and for all, toss off the insufferable cloak of perpetual moaning.

True, some fans still relish the "woe-is-us" attitude and perhaps pine for a simpler, maybe less savory time when the Sox truly were underdogs. I argue that the "underdog" label died with the Sox's postseason results in 1999, when they were frankly outmatched by the Yankees, who got assistance from some abysmal umpiring calls. There will always be some people who, to quote a saying, "complain that the 'Golden Age' was too yellow."

Regardless of the city's mindset shift, it is a great time to be a Bostonian.

The old New York Yankees

The 2008 New York Yankees certainly will be one of the hottest topics of discussion from now through, well, all of 2008. As a Red Sox fan, I have loved seeing how the Bronx Bombers have struggled this past season, then worried as they put on a dazzling second-half charge against the Red Sox's once nearly-insurmountable division lead, and now I relish seeing the team and its owners self-destruct and embarrass themselves on a nearly constant, daily basis.

As someone who also loves the history of the game, I have to admit to a certain twinge of nostalgia for the New York Yankees of old. And when I say "old," I mean the late 1990s dynasty. Not that I ever did or ever would have rooted for them, because as a Sox fan you simply cannot do that.

But I did stand in amazement at some of their accomplishments, and at the guys who oftentimes came up the biggest for the team: Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius, Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams. But not Aaron Boone. That one in 2003 hurt too much. It definitely was a changing of the guard when O'Neill retired after the 2001 World Series to become a broadcaster, and Brosius retired in 2001 to go back to his native Oregon.

And Bernie Williams. I remember being so disappointed when he opted, obviously, to return to the Yankees after the '98 season, taking a 7-year, $85M deal over whatever the Sox were salivating to give him. Of all the Yankees players of that era, Williams was the only one I liked. He was the only one that Sox fans probably could be given a pass to like. He always seemed to have clutch hits, but he also seemed to never fully live up to his potential.

This year, Bernie Williams was not on the Yankees' roster, ending a 15-year tenure with the club. That felt strange. Instead, the Yankees basically had to roll Johnny Damon and his $52M, 4-year deal out to center field on a wheelchair and put in Melky Cabrera when Damon couldn't do the job.

One more link to the Yankees' last dynasty was gone.

And this postseason saw the Yankees dismiss with another link to their most recent glory days:
manager Joe Torre left the club, rejecting a one-year, incentives-laden deal, which he deemed "insulting." He took the club to 12 consecutive postseasons, winning the World Series in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000, narrowly losing it in 2001 (the subject of ESPN's Buster Olney's fantastic book, "The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty"), and getting outplayed in 2003. Another Yankee era gets closer to its end.

The only everyday players on the club from their recent dynasty are Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and closer Mariano Rivera. Interestingly, the last three guys are all free agents this year. Catcher Posada will likely return, as there is such a small market for catchers. He'll probably get a 2- or 3-year deal for about $14M a year, because there are few alternatives.

Yes, Mo is old, but he is still a tough closer. Plus, keeping Rivera for another year allows the Yankees to develop a late-innings strategy for 2008 and beyond, figuring out whether to keep high-heat throwing Joba Chamberlain in late-innings relief and edge him to succeed Rivera, or put Chamberlain in the starting rotation, which they really don't need to do.

Pettitte has said he'll either play only for the Yankees or retire. Simply put, the Yankees need him. He's a lefty pitcher in a rotation that desperately needs a southpaw with his experience.

I well remember this intimidating gaze from under Pettitte's low bill from the postseasons of 1998 through 2000. It was a staple image for whatever network was broadcasting the playoffs, a hallmark of the Yankees' dominance and swagger of that time.

As for Jeter, he'll be collecting $20M each year from 2008 through 2010. Jeter, one of the most, if not the most, overrated shortstops of all time, inked a whopping 10-year, $189M deal just two months after his former best friend, Alex Rodriguez, signed a 10-year, $252M deal with the Texas Rangers. Jeter isn't going anywhere, ever. He'll be a Yankee for life, and he'll be the last link to the times when October lights shined brightest in Yankee Stadium...

...which, in line with O'Neill, Brosius, Williams, Martinez, Clemens, Torre, A-Rod, and others, will soon bid adieu to what once was--a team that simply dominated and held court over the Majors for almost 6 straight years.

2008 marks the last season in the old/re-outfitted Yankee Stadium.

It's been such a long time...

To the one or two readers on the entire planet who even know about this blog, let alone read it:

We're back on the air, kind of. Work caught up with us. The zaniness of the postseason distracted us, diverting our attention to TV screens and Web sites for updates and preventing us from properly cataloguing the goings-on right here on this site.

Then, our beloved Boston Red Sox won the World Series! Click on the link in the last sentence for a great article by ESPN's Gene Wojcie-something about Red Sox Nation and the team's 180-degree attitude/perspective change since 2004.

ESPN has devoted an entire cottage industry, of course, to chronicling the Sox's charge through the 2007 postseason. You can find oodles of tidbits, trivia, boasts, highlights, projections, and stats here.

There is a whole lot that I could say about the Boston Red Sox right now, but in the interest of time and to prevent repetition that you've undoubtedly heard everywhere else, I'll leave you with just a few thoughts:

1. 2007 feels much different than 2004. While the '07 team was much better overall, the '04 squad obviously had to battle the franchise's ugly history, region-wide World Series draught-induced psychosis, and a Yankees lineup that in games 1-3 simply beat them seven ways to Sunday. I was thrilled and fortunate to see the Sox win a World Series once in my lifetime, and now that they've done it twice, it seems all the more enjoyable.

2. What a performance by Jon Lester in Game 4 of the World Series. He was battling cancer one year ago at this time. One year later, he was on the hill hurling shutout ball for more than 5 innings in Game 4 of the World Series.

3. Re-sign Mike Lowell! How could the Sox let the World Series MVP leave? I imagine the Yankees are going to go after Lowell, who came up through the minor leagues with the team, very hard: possibly upping in years, and definitely in dollars, whatever the Sox offer him. I think Lowell, who turns 34 in 3 months, will look for a 4-, 5-, or perhaps a 5-year with an option for a 6th year deal, to finish out his career.

4. Time for more updates and links to other great columns covering all the goings-on in the postseason.

Another Onion article: Tom Glavine

Last month, I reported on all of the misplaced hoopla and airheads loudly proclaiming that New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine would be the last pitcher to ever win 300 games in a career.

Here is the original post:

Tom Glavine at 300.

Well, The Onion ran a fantastic short piece just after Glavine notched #300. Read below for a good quick laugh:

Glavine's warning.

The Onion article on "What might have been?"

I found this article about two months ago, and I loved it. Today, I'm finally posting it, considering the disappointing news about my favorite player, Griffey.

What might have been.

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of another superstar ballplayer in recent memory who has suffered through so many injuries across so many seasons. Sure, guys like Jimmie Foxx had their share of injuries, but those were of the career-ending kind in their prime. Griffey, you have labored through 'em all.

Mend well, Junior!