Tom Verducci rings in on the race between the Yankees and Red Sox this year –

It really is this simple: the team that gets the most starts out of its planned five-man rotation will be the better team. That’s right, both teams can spend $350 million combined on players, assign squadrons of number crunchers to analyze the life out of the game, hold staff meetings late into the night to worry about what Triple-A middle reliever might be needed around August, and the battle will be won simply by which team’s top five starters take the ball most often. All that architectural planning and scheming and it all comes down to crossing your fingers when it comes to how well five pitching arms hold up.

I know this to be true because Curt Schilling told me years ago. His theory was that the Red Sox and Yankees are so evenly matched that the team that gets the most starts out of its top five starters will be the better team. It’s amazing how right he has been.

Last year, for instance, the Yankees’ top five starters made 139 starts to Boston’s 121. New York won eight more games and the World Series. Indeed, so freakish was the run of good luck by the Yankees with their starters that they had four starters make at least 31 starts — for the first time in the history of the franchise.

And, for the record, the Yankees’ top five starters making 139 starts last season was the top mark in the league. (I read that in The Bill James Gold Mine 2010.)

One thing not mentioned here – let’s not forget the Tampa Bay Rays. They just may end up having the best starting rotation, from top to bottom, in the A.L. East – and if their top five gets more than New York and Boston, then it’s Tampa who gets the crown.

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Bill Madden today says that the Boston Red Sox starting rotation should give the New York Yankees reason to worry. That’s what I said four days ago.

Then again, yes, everyone said last year that Boston had more pitching than it knew what to do with…so, we’ll just have to wait and see, in the end.

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Red Sox top prospect Ryan Westmoreland has been diagnosed as having a cavernous malformation in his brain that will require an operation this Tuesday.

I’m all for the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox organizations. And, generally, I enjoy seeing Boston fail. But, stuff like this is an entirely different matter.

There’s being a baseball fan, and a Yankees fan, and then there’s being a human being. That latter condition trumps all. And, the human being in me sincerely hopes that everything works out well for Westmoreland and he rebounds from this quickly.

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Via Kevin Kernan -

Remember when Jose Reyes was the shortstop of the future in New York and Derek Jeter supposedly was starting to slip?

Now, things just keep getting worse for Reyes and the Mets while Jeter and the Yankees keep winning championships. No one knows better than Jeter what a difficult task it is to survive and thrive in New York and right now he feels for his sidelined Mets counterpart.

“First and foremost is your health, and it goes beyond anything you do on the field,” Jeter said yesterday at Steinbrenner Field. “You wish him the best. I don’t like to see anybody go through that kind of stuff. It’s just that he’s had such bad luck. You have to assume that his luck is going to change here soon. All you can do is be patient.”

“I’m sure it’s frustrating for him,” Jeter said. “I’m not familiar with the situation that he has now. The only thing you can do is to try and stay positive. It can be very, very difficult to do at a time like this.”

“Jose has had a lot of injuries with his legs because he runs a lot,” Jeter said. “So that’s one of the differences. He’s the type of player who is running a lot, stealing a lot. Ever since the first time he tore his hamstring, I was always getting worried for him when you see him running because that can be tough.

“I’ve never torn a hamstring. I pulled a hamstring, but those can be tough injuries to get over.”

“I just wish him luck,” Jeter said.

I can’t remember the last time Jeter had so much to say about a player on another team. I’m not sure if this is a new trend emerging for Derek or if this is just some calculated way to highlight Reyes’ downfall as some sort of a “finger” back at those who used to claim that Jose Reyes was the best shortstop and player in New York?

In any event, here’s a wild thought for you. Suppose that Reyes’ thyroid problem becomes a Rocco Baldelli type thing and basically ends his days of being able to play shortstop on a full-time basis. If this happens, would the Mets dare make a run at Jeter if Derek becomes a free agent at the end of this season?

Personally, I think that the Mets would lack the funds to be a player in the race for Jeter. But, if they were to fake it, then it could give Jeter a little more leverage when dealing with the Brothers Stein – even though he probably doesn’t need it.

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Bill Conlin thinks the Phillies have best infield of baseball’s modern era.

Better than the 2009 Yankees or Rays? Better than the 1983 Brewers? The 1976 Reds? Heck, even better than the Indians or Tigers in 1986? I’m not so sure…

How about you?

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Via Mike Puma’s Mets Blog -

Goose who? Francisco Rodriguez is just fine with Goose Gossage’s assessment of him.

Gossage referred to K-Rod as a “clown” in a recent interview, citing Rodriguez’s penchant for theatrics on the mound, but Rodriguez shrugged off Gossage’s comment Tuesday.

“I have no idea who he is,” Rodriguez said.

Told about Gossage, a Hall of Fame reliever who had his best years pitching for the Yankees in the 1970s and ’80s, Rodriguez took the high road.

“We all have an opinion,” Rodriguez said. “That’s his opinion and you’ve got to respect it. I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me at all.”

That’s a different stance than Rodriguez took last season, when Brian Bruney made a similar comment. Rodriguez sought out Bruney the following day during batting practice at Yankee Stadium and had to be restrained from the Yankees reliever.

In fairness to Francisco Rodriguez, he was something like 11 years old and living in Venezuela when Gossage pitched in his big league season. But, then again, it was pretty big news when Goose made the Hall of Fame in 2008. In fact, K-Rod and Gossage where in The House That Ruth Built, together, for the 2008 All-Star Game. So, when Francisco says “I have no idea who he is,” he’s probably full of it.

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If there is, I think we’re about to find out. Via the Times with a h/t to BBTF –

Ronan Tynan became a walk-on Yankee star in 2000, when he stepped onto the field with his artificial legs and clarion voice and belted out “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch of important games.

But that stopped on Oct. 16 of last year, when a woman accused Mr. Tynan of making an anti-Semitic remark. Since then, the charmed existence he enjoyed since emigrating from Ireland in 1998 has soured — from famous to infamous, as he puts it.

Now Mr. Tynan is headed to the anti-New York, as far as baseball is concerned. He has sold his apartment on the East Side of Manhattan and bought one in Boston.

“The Yankees never reached out, and they never wanted to hear the real story,” said Mr. Tynan, who wore his diamond-studded 2000 World Series ring during the interview. Asked for comment this week, a Yankees spokeswoman, Alice McGillion, said simply, “We wish him all the best.”

His decision to move to Boston was reported online this week by The Irish Echo in an article that envisioned Mr. Tynan singing for the Red Sox.

Asked if this might ever come to pass, Mr. Tynan would say only that he had had no contact with Red Sox officials. As for the possibility of developing feelings for the Red Sox, he said, “We’ll see how it goes.”

Click here if you feel like tossing your cookies.

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Via the Toronto Star -

Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos just wrapped up a scouting trip to the Dominican Republic, but wouldn’t say whether Cuban first baseman Jose Julio Ruiz was one of the prospects who worked out for Jays’ staff.

Ruiz, 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, hit .330 during a five-year career with Santiago in Cuba’s National Series, and rumours have swirled since January that the Jays had made the shortlist of teams with a chance to sign him. On Feb. 13, his agent predicted Ruiz could sign before most major league training camps opened on the weekend of Feb. 20.

Ruiz’s camp has been silent since then, but Tuesday the blog cubanballplayers.com reported the left-handed batter, who turns 26 next month, held a private workout for the Blue Jays. Ruiz has spent the winter training at the New York Yankees’ complex in the Dominican Republic, according to published reports.

Agents at Prestige Sports Agency, which represents Ruiz, have not replied to emails seeking comment.

Anthopoulos, meanwhile, confirmed that he had completed a trip to the Dominican, but would say only that Marco Paddy, the club’s director of Latin American scouting, oversaw workouts by several unnamed players.

Ruiz has attracted attention from pro scouts for his combination of size, skill and speed. In 2007-2008 he led the National Series with 32 steals. Through 52 games in the 2008-2009 season Ruiz was batting .305 but abruptly defected to the Dominican Republic.

Is this a big deal? Probably not – as the Yankees need a first base prospect like Lady Gaga needs another hit song at this moment. But, it’s a bit of a bummer if the Yankees having been hosting this kid all winter and then he signs with one of their rivals.

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Looks like Dr. Morgan’s days of pouring mercurochrome on sanitary socks are over. Via the Worcester Telegram:

Dr. William J. Morgan, the former Red Sox team physician who gained national fame for repairing pitcher Curt Schilling’s torn right ankle tendon so he could pitch in the 2004 playoffs and World Series, has indefinitely given up his right to practice medicine while state officials investigate him for unspecified allegations.

Dr. Morgan, 57, a hand surgeon and longtime Auburn and Boylston resident, was also head physician for the Worcester Sharks minor league hockey team from 2006 until he resigned last fall around the time he surrendered his medical license. He also left St. Vincent Hospital at Worcester Medical Center.

Dr. Morgan was chief Red Sox doctor from 2001 until 2004 when he was replaced. He was arrested in Worcester for drunken driving in 2003.

Dr. Morgan and his lawyer, W. Scott Liebert of Boston, could not be reached for comment.

Dr. Morgan had most recently practiced with the Fallon Clinic. An employee who answered the phone at Fallon’s Summer Street office said Dr. Morgan is no longer with the clinic.

On Sept. 20, Dr. Morgan entered into a voluntary agreement with the state Board of Registration in Medicine not to practice medicine.

Russell Aims, spokesman for the board, said that under such agreements, no details about complaints or allegations are released until there is a resolution.

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Via the Providence Journal -

The New York Yankees are famously held to the highest standard in baseball, that of “World Series or bust.” The perception is that every season that does not end in a World Series trophy is considered a failure by the Steinbrenner family.

After a decade of consistent winning, Boston’s ownership group — John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino — sat side by side and mulled over an interesting question; with all the recent success, and the outcry that begins when the Sox bow out early in the playoffs, have they, too, reached that point?

Henry paused — then shot that idea down.

“I think that our goal every year is to make the playoffs. If we make the playoffs, we’re going to win at some point in the postseason. We’ve been fortunate to do that twice,” Henry said.

Moments later, he turned to Lucchino. “Do we have a stated goal of number of wins?”

Lucchino had that answer at the ready.

“We always kind of get fixated on 95. That’s a nice round number that we like and we achieved last year, of course,” Lucchino said.

By that standard, they’ve done pretty darn well. Only in 2006, when they won 83 games and missed the playoffs, and 2002, the first year of the Henry-Werner-Lucchino team, did they win fewer than 95 games. Not coincidentally, those were also the only two years the Sox missed the playoffs under this ownership group.

In the last 12 years, the Red Sox have reached the post-season 8 times. However, only one time in the last 12 years have the Red Sox reached the post-season as a result of winning their division.

In total, the Boston Red Sox have been the “wildcard” team in the post-season seven times. The Colorado Rockies have been a wildcard three times – as have the Yankees. No other team in baseball has ever been the wildcard three or more times. In fact, no American League team, outside of New York and Boston, has been the wildcard more than once since the berth was born.

It’s not a reach to say that “the wildcard” has been the Red Sox favorite toy. And, without baseball going to the six-division alignment, the Red Sox’ “goal” would have not been met outside of one year (2007).

Former Red Sox CEO John Harrington was the chairman of the schedule format committee back in 1993 who championed the six-division format. Perhaps John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino should thank Harrington for setting up things in a manner that would make meeting their goals a lot easier?

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Yankees G.M. Brian Cashman’s take on the Baltimore Orioles, via MASNSports.com with a h/t to BBTF –

“[Orioles team president Andy MacPhail] is doing exactly what Andy does best. He is as sharp as they come. Patience is the biggest key. He made such an astute trade with Seattle and now he has a collection of talent. Getting Adam Jones to play with Markakis was remarkable. Now he has one of the bright young outfields.

“Now he’s filling in, taking advantage of the free agent market to protect his young talent and wait for them to pop.

“I remember a few years back when Tampa Bay was perennially losing. Everyone in the industry was following them and saw all their young talent brewing and slowly getting refined. You don’t know, because prospects are suspects until they declare themselves at the Major League level.

“Andy is doing the same thing. Everybody kind of sees the collection of talent. Players with big tools and high ceiling. When you are athletic and have those kinds of tools, when it all comes together, it comes fast.

“The Orioles are a team that has closed the gap, without a doubt. And Andy is showing the patience. I think their fan base will be very, very pleased. All the sudden, before they know it, they’ll have that foundation in place. They just haven’t seen it pop yet at the Major League level.

“They are doing the right things because they have a baseball guy running it. Their owner Peter Angelos hired a tremendous baseball talent in Andy MacPhail. He’s worth his weight in gold.

“The Oriole way is coming back real quick. I went to high school and college in the DC area, so I know how important the Orioles are to that area. It’s a sleeping giant that will emerge again, I promise you.”

The O’s can hit, for sure. If they ever get any pitching…and they do have some prospects in that department…watch out. The A.L. East may just have a fourth beast in the running.

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The Yankees took Phil Hughes with the 23rd overall pick in the 2004 June Amateur Draft, And, the Tampa Rays took Wade Davis with the 75th overall pick in the same draft. How were both of these pitchers handled since then?

At 18, Wade Davis made 18 starts in short-season Rookie Ball in 2004. And, at 19, Davis made 15 starts in Short-Season A-Ball in 2005.

At 18, Phil Hughes made 3 starts in short-season Rookie Ball in 2004. And, at 19, Hughes split his season between Low-A (12 starts) and High-A (4 starts). In doing this, Hughes skipped pitching in Short-Season A-Ball.

At age 20, Davis made 27 starts in Low-A Ball (during 2006). At age 20, Hughes made 5 starts in High-A and 21 starts in Double-A (during 2006).

At age 21, Davis split his 2007 between High-A and Double-A. At age 21, Hughes pitched in High-A, Double-A, Triple-A and the major leagues during 2007.

In 2008, at age 22, Davis pitched two-thirds of his season at Double-A and one-third in Triple-A. In 2008, at age 22, Hughes pitched in Triple-A and in the major leagues.

And, last season, at age 23, Davis made 28 starts in Triple-A and had a handful of starts in the majors – whereas Hughes, at the same age, spend most of last season in the major leagues.

Clearly, the Rays treatment of Wade Davis as been somewhat textbook – moving him up the minor league ladder, step-by-step, and allowing time at each level. And, the Yankees started fast-tracking Phil Hughes once he was 20-years old.

Which was the smarter move? And, which pitcher will go on to have the better major league career? It will be interesting to look at these two…five…ten…fifteen years down the line and then answer those questions.

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A nice tribute to a Yankees fan mom from a surrogate son Red Sox fan.

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Huge hat tip to Ad Rants for the heads-up on these.

Hey, they don’t call them Mass Holes for nuttin’ do they? (Although, I did laugh out loud when I saw the father and daughter exchange in the first clip below.) I wonder what the reaction would be if Yankeeland had something like these spots referencing the Red Sox Nation? John Henry and Larry Lucchino would probably go into a massive spasm…

For what it’s worth, at least they went after the Rays too – albeit with a slightly softer approach.

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The last 29 months for the Yankees crosstown rivals, the New York Mets, has been…well…interesting.

First, there was the monster collapse of 2007. Then, there was the ill-timed firing of Willie Randolph in the middle of the night the following season. And, that was followed by another tragic collapse at the end of the season.

Further, last season, it was reported that the owner of the Mets lost somewhere between $500 and $700 million in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. And, there was the whole mess during the season where Omar Minaya made some crazy claims about reporter Adam Rubin. Oh, and, of course, who can forget that the Mets opened a brand new ballpark in 2009, that came complete with a naming issue, by limping to a 70-92 record with a team payroll of $149,373,987 (which was the second highest in baseball last year).

And, now, the Mets have the breaking and intense dispute over Carlos Beltran’s recent knee operation.

Did I miss anything else in there? Maybe I did? Nonetheless, what I did reference sure seems like enough “stuff” for a period of less than 900 days.

Without a doubt, the Mets have come a loooong way from where they ended 2006. At that point, they were a first place team who just missed going to the World Series. And, I’m sure, after Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, no one would have predicted the slide that the Mets organization was about to take over the next 29 months.

Basically, if you looked up “downhill” in the dictionary, you would see a picture of the Mets organization over the last three baseball seasons.

Just how does that happen? And, how does it happen so quickly?

Could it ever happen, that fast, and that bad, in Yankeeland as well? As much as I like to say “Never!” here…can we? After all, no one saw it coming in Metsville, at least not as bad as its been…I would assume. Again, what a mess. Yikes.

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Are the Red Sox replacing bats with gloves? It’s a theory that has some merit. There’s always more than one way to get to where you want to be…

…much the way that many believe the Yankees are making up for their defensive issues by having pitchers who strike batters out…

The whole thing is interesting. Bats are easy to predict and identify. But, in all sports, you need defense…and pitching sometimes means defense in baseball. Yet, do we really know how to spot pitchers who can thrive and tell the true value of some defenders?

Seems like the Red Sox and Yankees think they can do this…and time will tell us, at the end of this season, who’s better at working their plan…

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Via Evans Clinchy of NESN.com today -

If you want to be a champion, you’d better be prepared to spend like one. That’s the sad truth about baseball today.

Years from now, when baseball historians look back on the 2009 Yankees, they’ll remember them for the exorbitant amount of money they spent and the historic dividends it paid. By investing $423 million last winter in CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, the Bronx Bombers all but assured themselves of World Series glory — not just now, but in the years ahead as well.

The Red Sox went into this offseason knowing that if they want to compete on that level, they have to spend the big bucks too. And while it may not be a cool $423 mil, the Red Sox have spent handsomely on their 2010 championship quest.

The signings of John Lackey, Mike Cameron, Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro add up to just over $120 million in new contracts added in the last month and a half. And while that might not be even in the same universe with the cash the Yankees doled out, it gets the job done just fine in Boston.

The Red Sox were a competitive team in 2009 — they won 95 games and the American League wild card. They weren’t in the market for a complete overhaul this winter — they just needed a few minor tweaks to make their team even better for 2010. It wasn’t about big contracts for huge superstars — the Red Sox just needed deeper pitching, better defense and a complete lineup from one through nine.

You know, everyone is talking about the Yankees and the Red Sox in the A.L. East like it’s a two-team race.

What about the Rays rotation of James Shields, Matt Garza, Jeff Niemann, David Price and Wade Davis? What about Tampa Bay scoring 800 runs last year with Pat Burrell and B.J. Upton not having good years?

If the Rays sign Johnny Damon to be their D.H. this season, and if the Rays can get some decent performances out of their bullpen, they should give the Sox and Yankees a run for their “money” this season – and both Boston and New York, and their fans, should not forget about Tampa Bay.

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Note – two tales from 2007. First, via the Daily News, back on July 16, 2007:

A Kirkland fan who suffered a near-fatal injury when a man fell on him in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium, breaking the schoolteacher’s neck, will fly home in style today.

Paul Robinson and his family will return home in a private plane chartered by the Yankees. Robinson was discharged Sunday from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

“Paul is very appreciative that he’ll fly home in a comfortable plane,” said Robinson’s wife, Kathy.

A Yankees fan who witnessed the accident said the man who fell on Robinson had been acting vulgar during the July 8 game against the Los Angeles Angels.

“The guy who fell on this poor man was drunk out of his mind,” said the fan, who requested anonymity. “He was part of a group of about 12 people that came in the third inning. They drank and smoked cigarettes and talked about hot sex the entire time. It was scary to see. This poor man goes to a game thinking he’s going to have a good time and some guy who is out of control nearly kills him.”

Robinson, 53, was in the top tier at Yankee Stadium with his wife and their 13-year-old son, John, when the mystery fan tumbled out of a seat several rows above them.

The fan landed on Robinson, snapping his head forward so hard it broke the vertebra below Robinson’s skull.

The Yankees have asked fans with information about the incident to call the team.

Next, via the Post, today:

A woman who says her back was broken when a 300-pound drunk dropped on top of her at a Mets game should have been looking up, instead of watching the action on the field, the team suggests in court filings.

In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Mets’ lawyers say Ellen Massey’s “injuries and damages” on opening day in 2007 “were caused in whole or in part or were contributed to by [her] culpable conduct,” and “such alleged damages should be fully or partially diminished by such culpable conduct.”

The filing doesn’t specify what the “culpable conduct” was, but Massey was simply sitting with her two nephews in Shea Stadium’s upper deck watching her beloved Amazin’s take on the hated Philadelphia Phillies when the rotund rooter fell on her from several rows above.

The impact broke one of Massey’s vertebrae, and she needed to have two rods put in her back.

The blame-the-victim defense is one of nine offered up by the Mets as to why they aren’t liable for Massey’s injuries. The team also points the finger at the stadium’s beer vendor and the fan who fell, who filings reveal is a New Jersey man named Timothy Cassidy.

Massey only recently learned the name — she originally sued him as a “John Doe” who “had been acting in a rowdy, boisterous and dangerous manner for a long period of time” before he crashed into her and ran off.

Her suit said stadium personnel and vendors “knew or had reason to know from his behavior that he was already intoxicated,” and it’s because of their negligence that he became “unruly, uncoordinated and fell.”

Cassidy’s lawyer Brian O’Connor insisted his client is not to blame — alleging he was pushed from his seat by another fan named Eric Metzger, who was sitting behind Cassidy and who’d been jawing at him throughout the game.

Metzger allegedly had been giving Cassidy the business for using his BlackBerry during the game.

Metzger “intentionally and with reckless disregard of the safety of others, pushed [Cassidy, causing] him to fall numerous rows and upon [Massey],” O’Connor said in a court filing.

A spokesman for the Mets said, “We’re aware of the litigation and have no further comment.”

So, now we know what happens to you in both Yankeeland and Metsville when a sphincter lands on you. But, we have no idea if anyone in Queens ever had a rubber tallywacker land on their head while attending a game…

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Ryan Kalish is a prospect in the Red Sox organization. Here are his minor league stats, to date:

.
He also had a nice showing in the Arizona Fall League last year. And, John Sickels lists him as the third best prospect, now, in the Red Sox farm system.

So, why do I care about some kid in the Red Sox minor league system? To be candid, it’s because he went to High School about 20 minutes away from my house. And, that’s where Boston drafted him from – in the 9th round of the 2006 draft.

For sure, he’s projecting towards the big leagues. And, he could be in the Red Sox outfield come 2012 – if not sooner.

If this happens, and he plays well, and does positive things against the Yankees, I’m sure we’ll hear – again and again – about how he’s from New Jersey and now sticking it to the Yankees. Then again, it’s not like the Yankees didn’t have a shot at him. New York drafted Dellin Betances, Timothy Norton, Mitchell Hilligoss, George Kontos, Colin Curtis, and Zachary McAllister – after they took Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain and – before the Red Sox selected Ryan Kalish. And, in retrospect, Kalish would have been a better pick than Timothy Norton or Mitchell Hilligoss – and more than likely a better pick than Colin Curtis.

Shame, at the time, Ryan Kalish was playing High School ball just 60 miles, or so, south of Yankee Stadium. This kid could be one that the Bronx Bombers missed – right in their own backyard.

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If you haven’t read Jeff Jacobs and Dom Amore’s Yankees-Red Sox Highlights From A Single-Digit Decade yet, you’re really missing something. Check it out.

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Source.

Hmmm…just another reason to rag on the guy, I suppose.

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Via the CHB today –

Do not buy the bill of goods the Red Sox are selling.

John Henry and Theo Epstein are preparing you for the Big Slide. While they continue to raise ticket prices and drain every dollar out of Fenway, they are telling you to put your expectations on the shelf. No more “championship-driven’’ campaign for your Red Sox. The Sox are building a “bridge’’ for the future. They are giving up on competing with those big, bad Yankees.

What a joke.

In an e-mail to the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin last month Henry explained that the Sox might not be as good this year, writing, “Those realities are a function of available talent and age-related transitioning once again, as we did prior to 2007.’’

Tuesday at the winter meetings in Indianapolis, Epstein hammered at the same theme with “we’re kind of in a bridge period. We still think that if we push some of the right buttons, we can be competitive at the very highest levels for the next two years. But we don’t want to compromise too much of the future for that competitiveness during the bridge period.’’

Translation: Don’t expect us to make any big deals. We don’t want to spend any more money on payroll. We’ve already blown enough on the likes of Matt Clement, Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew, Daisuke Matsuzaka, John Smoltz, and Brad Penny. Let the Yankees spend the money. We’re not going to compete with them anymore.

So keep ponying up the dough for those Fenway tours and wait for our “kids.’’ You’re gonna love Jose Iglesias, Ryan Kalish, Ryan Westmoreland, Casey Kelly, and Lars Anderson, but they are a couple of years away.

Just like Juan Bustabad was always a couple of years away.

I’m not buying. The Sox have the dough to sign Matt Holliday or Jason Bay. Just like they had the money to bag Mark Teixeira last winter. But they keep getting beaten by the Yankees and then they cry about it.

Stop. It’s hideous of the Sox and their fans to complain about the Yankees buying championships. Sure, the Yanks can afford Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett, just like the Sox were able to afford Matsuzaka and Drew. The Sox got Curt Schilling and Victor Martinez the same way the Yankees got Curtis Granderson this week. The Sox are not the Pirates. They are not the Brewers or the A’s. The Sox are Haves, not Have-Nots. Like the Yankees, the Sox are happy to raid the rosters of teams that can’t afford high-priced talent.

Fun stuff, huh?

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Via the Boston Herald –

Fenway Park has lost its grip on first place to Yankee Stadium, according to a new survey.

Readers of SportsBusiness Journal gave top honors to the Bronx Bombers’ $1.5 billion baseball stadium that opened in April. Friendly Fenway finished second, followed by the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field, Philadelphia Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park and the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park.

Fenway, a field of dreams (or nightmares) since 1912, had topped the trade publication’s list since its inception in 2005.

“The Yankees’ new home received plenty of attention and raised the bar for major league ballparks,” said David Bourne, a SportsBusiness Journal editor. “But as earlier surveys show, people really like the classics. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fenway back in the top slot next year after some of the shine of the new Yankee Stadium wears off.”

Sam Kennedy, Red Sox chief operating officer, balked at the results of this year’s survey. “There are lots of great ballparks, but we’re proud of all the changes we’ve made. We continue to try to keep up with the Yankees on and off the field.”

Ah, the Curse of Janet Marie Smith strikes its first blow!

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Via Nick Cafardo –

Red Sox principal owner John Henry is calling for Major League Baseball’s revenue sharing system to be overhauled and replaced with a “competitive balanced payroll tax” in an effort to create competitive balance in baseball.

Henry’s comments via e-mail came after he was asked to respond to agent Scott Boras’ comments to the Globe two weeks ago in which the super agent said teams aren’t spending their revenue sharing money and central funds on player salaries, which is what revenue sharing was intended to do for small market teams. Boras received backlash for his comments from MLB executive vice president Ron Manfred, who said Boras’ figures of teams receiving $80-$90 million from revenue sharing and the central fund “not based in reality” and “fantasy land.”

But Henry is certainly going his own way on this very sensitive subject and is certainly not in lockstep with some of his fellow owners on the revenue sharing plan that was adopted in 1997 and distributes the wealth from large market teams to small market teams.

“Change is needed and that is reflected by the fact that over a billion dollars have been paid to seven chronically uncompetitive teams, five of whom have had baseball’s highest operating profits,” Henry responded in an e-mail. “Who, except these teams, can think this is a good idea?”

Henry added, “While the Red Sox are in the 16th largest media market we’ve found a way to be very competitive even though we are funding other teams. At the end of the day, the small market clubs still cannot begin to compete with the Yankees and have a very hard time competing with the teams that are struggling to pay them so much. Consequently, a system that directly impacts competition has to replace the current system, that hoped to, but ultimately did not cure competitive imbalances.”

About $400 million – 34 percent of each team’s net local revenue – will be distributed to small market teams this year. Most of that percentage comes from the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and other high-revenue teams.

Henry wrote that baseball “needs slotting for amateurs, a worldwide amateur draft and most importantly, an effective competitive balance tax that directly addresses disparity once and for all for baseball.”

The Red Sox principal owner reiterated that baseball’s free market system should continue and that teams should be able to operate as they please, but that those who spend a lot will pay a lot of payroll taxes. “If the Yankees and the Mets spend a billion dollars plus of their investment dollars to build new ballparks, they should be allowed to keep their revenues from that,” Henry wrote. “But if they want to spend $200,000,000 annually on payroll, they should be heavily taxed directly on that – and if they want to spend more than that, they should be even more heavily taxed. So should all clubs who spend heavily on payroll – to the extent necessary – to bring the system into balance.”

Here’s how Henry’s system would work:

“It’s a very simple approach in which payroll tax dollars replace revenue sharing dollars and go directly to the clubs that need revenues in order to meet minimum payrolls that should be imposed on each club receiving revenue. Further, players would have to be protected with a guaranteed minimum percentage of overall revenues. This would be a very simple and effective method in reducing top payrolls and increasing bottom payrolls with no tax on revenues,” Henry wrote.

Henry added that “The World Series should be determined by fully competitive teams on the field – not by how much particular clubs can afford to spend. A better solution is to address competition directly so that clubs can generate revenue more equally as teams become competitive across baseball.”

While Henry, a former part-owner of the Yankees, has no love-loss for his biggest rival, he does believe that the current revenue sharing formula unfairly penalizes the Yankees and other big market teams which generate big revenues.

“Baseball has determined that the best way to deal with the Yankees is to take as much of their revenue as possible. I see that in direct opposition to the ideals this country was built on. Baseball is a business and should be treated as such. Baseball is also a sport that needs competitive balance in order to prosper. Taxing their revenues and other “large markets” in the way it is presently done, is simply confiscation on an order of magnitude never seen in any industry in America,” Henry said.

Betcha ol’ John Henry would like the line for his competitive balance tax to be drawn just above the Red Sox payroll and directly below the Yankees payroll…

Interesting plan – let teams, including the Red Sox, keep their revenue and tax the Yankees on their crazy payroll. And, then, make the teams getting that tax money from the Yankees spend it on the players. Basically, Henry’s looking to try and get the Yankees to foot the bill for players playing against them while keeping the Red Sox revenue from being a hand-out to other teams…if I read this all correctly.

These are the days where I really miss Big Stein. I’m sure he would have a reply to this plan – and then some…

In any event, on a related note, Neil Paine offers some food for thought on why baseball needs a minimum payroll rule.

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Via the Boston Herald –

A coveted piece of Red Sox lore sits deep in Yankee country with an uncertain future as a pair of rival collectors bitterly feud over who will profit from a potential sale of the Olde Town Team’s 1912 World Series trophy.

“You wonder how it got out of the Red Sox’ and Major League Baseball’s hands,” said City Councilor John Tobin, who has held the precious trophy. “But it’s a money issue, and hopefully it gets resolved. It could be a wonderful piece to put on display somewhere in the city.”

The one-of-a-kind silver cup, which has been appraised at roughly $250,000, sits in an undisclosed New Jersey location, far from where Tris Speaker, Smoky Joe Wood and company bested the New York Giants in the Fall Classic during Fenway Park’s inaugural season.

It’s held by real estate broker Robert Fraser, a collector who paid $55,000 for it in a complex and controversial 2007 purchase. The deal involved his estranged business partner, Pete Nash, and it included several rare baseball photos that Fraser still holds.

The duo signed a two-page agreement giving Nash a 40 percent stake in proceeds from a future sale. The conflict hinges on a check for $18,500 that Fraser gave Nash weeks after the transaction.

Fraser claims the payout served to buy out Nash’s stake, citing as proof a memo scrawled on the front of the check that states: “full payment of 1912 WS trophy.” Fraser says the memo voided their previous agreement.

But Nash claims the payment was an “advance” on the proceeds of a future sale and says Fraser allowed him to shop the trophy to potential buyers even after the check was cut. Each has obtained a lawyer and they’re threatening to sue each other over the treasure.

Boston “is where the trophy belongs,” said Nash, a baseball buff who produced the Sox documentary “Royal Rooters” and is part-owner of the Sox-themed Boylston Street bar McGreevy’s. “This is the birthplace of Red Sox Nation.”

The trophy was nearly sold last year by Fraser through Manhattan auction house Guernsey’s – deep in New York Yankee country at Madison Square Garden. But the much-hyped auction took place just after the stock market collapse and the price barely reached $200,000, which was well below Fraser’s ambitious reserve price.

Nash, who’s also known as Prime Minister Pete Nice from 1990s rap group 3rd Bass, said the pair had a deal to sell the trophy to McGreevy’s to keep it in Boston, but Fraser balked, which marked the beginning of their falling out.

The sales receipt for the 2007 purchase of the trophy was signed by Nash, but the deal was paid for with a New Jersey bank check with Fraser’s money. Copies of both documents have been provided to the Herald.

“Peter was acting as our agent – he brokered the deal,” Fraser said. “There’s no dispute about the ownership of the 1912 World Series trophy. Peter’s not entitled to any (proceeds from a sale) . . . He was paid in full.”

Nash countered: “I still have my 40 percent upon the sale. We’re sitting here in limbo, but we’re going to enforce my rights. I’m going to have to make the move to pursue it and force him to sell.”

Meanwhile, the Sox confirmed the organization had planned to host a 2008 auction to sell the cup at Fenway during a Yankees series, but the sale was abruptly halted.

For a lousy quarter-mill, the Stein Brothers should buy the thing, have it ground up into dust, mix it into some water, then feed the solution to a drinking bird, and, once it’s all transferred to the toy, have some fun and take a sledge hammer to it.

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The Red Sox are making a hard push to acquire Roy Halladay within the next 10 days. Meanwhile, the Yankees are kicking the tires on bringing back Nick Johnson (as a possible D.H.).

Sounds like Boston is loading for bear whereas the Yankees are shopping for water pistols at the dollar-store, no?

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Two outs…and two strikes on Erick Aybar. One strike away from a win…nope.
Two outs…and two strikes on Chone Figgins. One strike away from a win…nope.
Two outs…and two strikes on Bobby Abreu. One strike away from a win…nope.

Here comes a walk…then a single…and…

Goodbye win.

Sometimes that third strike is soooo hard to get. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Have a nice off-season, Boston.

Via the AP – Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, left, is removed by manager Terry Francona, right, in the ninth inning of Game 3 of an American League baseball division series against the Los Angeles Angels in Boston, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009.

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Via the Boston Globe with a h/t to BBTF -

The random law of the postseason guides how [Red Sox G.M. Theo] Epstein and the Red Sox operate. In baseball, Epstein believes the consistent winner is better than the powerhouse.

The most dominant team in a generation, the 116-win 2001 Seattle Mariners, did not even reach the World Series. Reaching the playoffs once, no matter how dominant a team is, is like buying a lottery ticket. Reaching the playoffs often – like six times in seven years – is like being the house in blackjack. Eventually, over time, the odds dictate you’ll win.

“That’s why we have clearly defined objectives,’’ Epstein said. “In our mission statement, part of it is we want to operate with a long-term view to put ourselves in a position to win 95 games and get in the playoffs as often as we possibly can. Now we’ve done it six out of seven years. Part of the thinking is that if you make the postseason multiple times, you improve your chances of making the World Series. Theoretically, if you’re in eight times, you’ll win one World Series. Well, we’ve been in five times. This is our sixth time in. The first five times in, we won two World Series. I’m not going to [complain] about that.

“I don’t believe in building a team with the season goal of winning the World Series, and the next year you look up, you’re old all of a sudden, you don’t have any options. ‘Now we’re a 75-win team. Hey, we won the World Series two years ago.’ It doesn’t work that way. We want to try to always operate with the broadest possible lens, so we have a solid foundation so that every year, or just about every year, we’ll be in a position to win 95 games and get in, and then trust our players, trust our manager, trust our coaching staff, trust our advanced scouting, trust our ability to perform under pressure to go win a World Series.’’

…Theoretically, if you’re in eight times, you’ll win one World Series…

Well, since they brought in the Wildcard, and not including 2009, the Yankees (13 times), Braves (11 times), and Red Sox (8 times) have all made the post-season (at least) eight times. And, the Cardinals and Indians have each made it seven times – which is darn close to eight. But, just the Yankees and Red Sox have won more than one ring during this run.

So, does that mean the Red Sox and Yankees were lucky to have won as many rings as they did? Or, does the fact that the Yankees and Red Sox usually have payrolls much higher than teams like the Braves, Cardinals and Indians have something to do with it? After all, you pay peanuts and you get monkeys, right? But, I doubt that Theo Epstein and/or Brian Cashman would ever ‘fess up to the fact that their secret sauce is just having deep pockets…

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…were spotted the other day splitting a pizza with Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa. And, you know what…nobody cared. Oh, my, how times have changed…

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Via mlb.com -

With the Sox’s magic number for clinching the American League Wild Card berth down to three games, there’s a chance they could celebrate at Yankee Stadium this weekend.

The earliest the Red Sox can clinch their sixth postseason berth in the past seven years is Saturday.

A Bronx celebration for the Red Sox, who trail the Yankees by 5 1/2 games in the AL East but lead the Rangers by eight in the Wild Card standings?

“Oh, we will … hopefully,” said slugger David Ortiz. “So [then] we don’t have to get our clubhouse dirty.”

The Sox could be the first team to have a champagne celebration at the new Yankee Stadium. And Ortiz left no doubt that there will be at least some bubbly if that occurs.

“Oh, we have to,” said Ortiz. “Of course. We have to roll like that. That’s how we do it.”

Great…

Can you just imagine the sight of the Red Sox partying on Yankee Stadium turf this weekend? And, of course, you know that there will be at least 7,000 members of RSN attending each of these games – and they’ll be hanging out, trying to get down to the field level, to cheer their “champions” on during the celebration…

It’s one big reason to say “Let’s go Yankees…and let’s go Texas Rangers!” this weekend.

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