Is it just me or does everyone feel the tension and drama already building for the Pro Bowl?
What a wonderful end to the Super Bowl. No, not that great catch by Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds left. I mean the lack of explanation or even true inquiry on what happened on the last play: Namely where was the replay review on whether Kurt Warner’s arm was moving forward to end the game to determine whether it was truly a fumble or an incompletion. Take an equivalent situation and throw it into the World Series and even now Bud Selig would be portrayed as running a dishonest, incompetent league.
Such is life. The major leagues are held to a higher standard than the Teflon NFL. We keep hearing that the Steelers have a record six Super Bowls, without mentioning that the first four are kind of awash in steroids. Just for the record, this is what Jim Haslett, a former player and head coach, said in 2005: “It (steroid use) started, really, in Pittsburgh. They got an advantage on a lot of football teams. They were so much stronger (in the) ’70s, late ’70s, early ’80s. They’re the ones who kind of started it.”
Steve Courson, an offensive lineman with the championship Steelers, wrote a book, “False Glory,” detailing his first-hand belief that those Pittsburgh teams were fueled by illegal performance enhancers.
Why Haslett and Courson never rose to the same level of whistle-blowing prominence as some less credibility such as Brian McNamee or Kirk Radomski says a lot about just how good the NFL is at sliding away from their syringe-filled legacy.
This is not really where I want to begin the baseball season, but it is often where I find myself. I think baseball should be held to a high standard. I just wonder why our “most popular” sport gets such a cakewalk. But enough with that.
I will get back to baseball and 3 Up by pointing out why I think Tampa and Boston have better benches than the Yankees, and thus why the Yanks should stop thinking about trading Nick Swisher or Xavier Nady. Let’s look at those benches:
1. RAYS – First, let me say how much I admire the Rays for doing so much for so little. This offseason in free agency, they secured a DH (Pat Burrell) for two years at $16 million who actually had a better OPS (.875) last year than Justin Morneau (.873). Tampa is close to finalizing a contract for one year with an option for southpaw reliever Brian Shouse. The contract will guarantee less than $2 million probably. Shouse held lefties to a .192 on-base percentage last year and has allowed three homers to lefty batters in 264 at-bats over the past three years (guess who will be seeing a lot of David Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Robinson Cano?). For a one-year, $1.3 million investment the Rays signed righty reliever Joe Nelson, who held righties to a .189 batting average last year. And for $1 million, Tampa bought Gabe Kapler, who is a lefty masher (.354 vs. southpaws last year with a .622 slugging percentage) with the ability to play across the outfield.
So for about $20 million – less than Mark Teixeira will make on an annual average basis in his contract – the Rays added depth and versatility to an AL championship roster. And this is what the Rays are about; they try to diversify their roster as much as possible to provide as much protection as possible for what will be a $63 million-ish payroll this year.
And look at their bench: The starting outfield is projected as Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Matt Joyce, a lefty-swinger obtained this offseason in a trade from Detroit for Edwin Jackson. Joyce had a .509 slugging percentage against righties. So you can imagine Kapler playing right field against lefties. Gabe Gross, another serviceable lefty bat, also is around to face tough righties such as Josh Beckett or A.J. Burnett. And Tampa still has Fernando Perez, a speedy switch-hitter with an interesting ceiling.
For infield reserves, the Rays have Willy Aybar and Ben Zobrist, Both are switch-hitters. Both have pop. Both can play just about any place, including the outfield in Zobrist’s case
The weakest reserve link is Shawn Riggans, the backup catcher.
Nevertheless, you look at Tampa’s bench and you see a bunch of lefty, righty and switch-hitting options. Great defensive versatility. Speed. You see many players who could step in and help during an injury absence for an extended period. There is probably an argument to be made that this is the best bench in the majors.
2. RED SOX – Boston’s bench is not nearly as good. But they did make a couple of dice rolls this offseason that could be real interesting.
They signed Josh Bard, who will now be the backup catcher to Jason Varitek. Maybe that is all Bard will be; the backup. He hit only .202 last year for San Diego. However, between 2006-07, Bard hit .304 with a .380 on-base percentage and a .450 slugging percentage, which is All-Star level for a catcher.
Boston also took a flyer on Rhode Island native Rocco Baldelli. Due to injuries and sickness, Baldelli has played just 155 games in the past four seasons. But there is some hope that his sickness might be under control and – if so – his talent is abundant. He and Mark Kotsay could provide some real righty-lefty protection across the outfield, at first base and at DH should the Red Sox incur injuries.
And while the Red Sox are badly trying to move Julio Lugo’s ugly contract, while he stays he provides the potential for a quality backup infielder.
3. YANKEES – The Yanks are again top heavy. The translation: If they limit their positional injuries, they should have a lineup that threatens to top 900 runs. However, they begin with the knowledge that Jorge Posada is returning from shoulder surgery and Hideki Matsui from knee issues, and when those two went down last year, they took the Yankee offense with them. Mark Teixeira should help negate some of the problems.
But the Yankee second level is not impressive at present, unless they keep both Nady and Swisher. They still have the same all-field/no-hit backup to Posada in Jose Molina. The backup infielder will either be Cody Ransom or Angel Berroa. And the backup outfielder would be the loser of the already dubious center field battle between Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner. I see some defensive ability with Molina and Berroa, speed with Gardner, a flawed switch hitter in Cabrera and perhaps some righty pop with Ransom. But for a $200 million payroll, this is poor insurance.
But if the Yanks keep Nady in right and Swisher as a super-sub, it gets, at least, a little bit more attractive. Swisher is an above-average defender in left, right and at first. He is a switch-hitter with power and patience. He could play center field in an emergency.
He makes $5.3 million or nearly the entire bench for the Rays, and the Yanks are strongly considering trading away that salary to throw a deck chair off the Titanic that is their payroll. But the problem is that once the Yanks trade Swisher, they would be looking for someone exactly like him once the inevitable injuries strike. Swisher is protection in left, right, first and DH. At full health, Joe Girardi could still find three starts minimum a week for him: In right to rest Nady against a particularly tough righty, in left to allow Johnny Damon to DH once a week to preserve his body, and to DH once a week in place of Matsui. And remember that Nady, Damon and Matsui are all free agents after this season while Swisher’s contract runs through an option year in 2012. Thus, Swisher – if he can rebound from an abysmal 2008 – is also affordable protection for the future.
A Yankee bench of say Swisher, Cabrera, Molina, Berroa and Ransom is not great. But eliminate Swisher and it becomes dreadful.
