Baseball’s Savior

Eric Mirlis, who writes for TheMirl.com, recently talked about how the Mets newly acquired closer, Billy Wagner, comes out of the pen to the same music as Mariano Rivera.  While you can fault Wagner’s taste in his music, he is the new guy in town and should defer to Rivera, the future Hall of Famer.

Which means we have to come up with a new song for Wagner.  My idea would be that he comes out to “I Love Trash” by Oscar the Grouch of Sesame Street since that’s what he’ll feel like after the Yankees lineup shells him in interleague play.

Since there hasn’t been a lot of news about the Yankees recently, we can talk about how the Red Sox are trying to play catch up.  They traded one of the top infield prospects in all of baseball, Andy Marte, to get a guy who’s named after a kid’s breakfast cereal.  Regardless, Crisp was good as Damon last year if you compare their WARPs so it’s not all bad.

The Red Sox also got back their wonderboy.  Theo Epstein’s back to try to right the sinking ship.  The man who hit the lottery in 2004 will see if lightening really can strike in the same place twice, because the odds of that happening are close to the chances of the Red Sox winning it all again anytime soon.

Looks like the Yankees and Aaron Small split things right down the middle.  The case won’t go to arbitration, and Small will make $1.2 million.  He’ll probably start out in the pen, but if last year is any indicator, he’ll get his share of starts as well as pitchers go down with injuries.

Small was a surprise last year, coming out of nowhere to go 10-0 on the season.  While he sported an unimpressive 37/24 strikeout to walk ratio, he had a 3.25 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP.  He’ll eat up some innings when the Yankees need him to without a steep decline in talent.  Good signing in my opinion.

Nothing too newsworthy here in Yankee land.  The two Yankees who are going to arbitration have filed their claims with Shawn Chacon asking for $4.1 million and Aaron Small asking for $1.45 million.  The Yanks have countered with $3.1 million and $1.025 respectively.  I have a feeling the Yanks are going to lose both of these cases.

Alex Rodriguez has finally made up his mind, and he’ll be playing for the US team in the World Baseball Classic.  The only other thing going is on is the whole New Yankee Stadium debate.  I thought this might be a slam dunk and George looks to be getting some help here.

Before Johnny Damon, Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera dust off the old black and white pinstripes to begin spring training, they will spend the month of March wearing different uniforms and competing against one another in ballparks from Anaheim to San Juan.

The inaugural World Baseball Classic will take place March 3rd through March 20th 2006, and the New York Yankees are among the leading teams supporting and participating in the 16-team tournament. Currently the Yanks are sending 13 players to compete, representing 7 different countries.

Al Leiter, Derek Jeter and newly acquired outfielder Johnny Damon will play for the United States, while Mariano Rivera, Jhonny Cordoba and Ramiro Mendoza will represent Panama. Bernie Williams and Omar Santos will play for Puerto Rico and Francisco Butto and Miquel Cairo will take the field for Venezuela. Rounding out the Yankee participants are Chien Ying-Mang playing for Chinese Taipei, Ron Villone representing Italy, and Robinson Cano competing for the Dominican Republic.

Yankees fans everywhere will be keeping an eye on the action at the World Baseball Classic, as they anxiously wait for the 2006 MLB season to begin. And the best way to get ready for the upcoming season is by scoring great seats to see the Bronx Bombers in-person at beautiful Yankee Stadium. Simply visit Online Seats, a licensed online ticket broker to purchase premium tickets to the New York Yankee games of your choice.

And if your feeling truly adventurous, why not make plans to see your favorite Yankee players duke it out against one another live at the World Baseball Classic? You can catch all of the great international action in sunny, beautiful locales such as Phoenix, Arizona and Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Whether you want to see your favorite Yankee players playing together in pursuit of another World Series, or against one another in international play, great game seats are only a click away!

Now that Super Bowl XL is over, what’s a sports fan to do? Not to worry, you don’t need to start following indoor lacrosse or bicycle racing. There is still basketball and hockey, and it won’t be long before baseball starts up again. And if your team didn’t make it to the big game at Ford Field in Detroit, then consider yourself lucky. You now have a couple extra grand in your pocket that you didn’t spend on Super Bowl tickets.

So that should leave a few bucks for you to buy NBA tickets, college basketball tickets, NHL tickets or MLB tickets. Can you imagine being there when Kobe Bryant went crazy for 81 points? And have you seen the exciting young Sidney Crosby do a great Mario Lemieux impression for the Pittsburgh Penguins? And baseball has its own version of the Super Bowl 19 times each year when the New York Yankees take on the Boston Red Sox. There are plenty of reasons to get some sports tickets.

And tickets make the perfect gift for any occasion – St. Patrick’s Day, Flag Day, Arbor Day, heck any day is a good reason to give yourself some great hockey tickets, basketball tickets or baseball tickets. You’ll thank yourself later.

City Listings :

Next to the White Sox, the Yankees have the fewest number of people going to arbitration with two. Shawn Chacon was impressive once he came over from the Rockies and at 28, I’m hoping they ink him to a longer term deal.

Aaron Small was the oddity of last season. After a less then stellar career to date, he went 10-0 with a solid ERA (3.20) for the Yankees last year. He gave us a much needed good start here and there when we needed it and when some of our other arms were down (which was most of the season). Of course he lost the only playoff game he got into.

Former Yankee reliever Paul Lindbald passed away on Friday. My condolences to the friends and family of Mr. Lindbald.

First off, nothing against Sutter being in the Hall of Fame. He pioneered a pitch and he was the first true one inning closer. However, how he gets in over the best reliever ever, Goose Gossage, is beyond me.

Gossage had better seasons, more seasons where he was effective and he pitched more innings. A ton more innings. To sum that sentence up, Goose Gossage is better then Bruce Sutter.

And I’m not the only one. Check out these other opinions.

Tom Verducci
Tigerblog
Hardball Times

There’s probably a ton more but after you read through a few, they get repititve. Fortunately, Gossage made some gains so I like his chances in 2008.

This is a pretty safe move. With Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano question marks heading into the season and both Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson getting up there in age, we need arms. Leiter was horrible in Florida last year and he was not quite as bad when he came to the Yankees. He has to work on his control though. 98 walks in 142 innings isn’t going to cut it. Leiter just turned 40 so this might be his last chance to do something. The good news is, you only have to look back to 2004 to see a decent season so hopefully he has another solid season left in the tank.

Now Alex Rodriguez is saying he won’t play in the World Baseball Classic. The dude has to make up his mind. What’s even more interesting is the International Baseball Federation is threatening to pull its sanctioning of the event because the good ole US of A isn’t allowing Cuba to attend. I’m actually looking forward to the event, with Cuba, so I’m hoping all parties settle their differences.

ESPN.com posted projected lineups for the 2006 season and the Yankees, as expected, looks pretty strong. You’d think that they’d be able to find a little more punch in the ninth spot, but Robinson Cano will do for now.