Thoughts on What We Learned This Year

Now that the Yankees have won the World Series, let's take a look back at what we've learned looking back at the entire year.

1.) Money is a huge advantage in the game right now. In a year where dozens of teams expressed concern over the economy, the Yankees spent, spent, spent. They acquired the best starting pitcher, the best hitter, and the 2nd best starting pitcher in last year's free agent market (although A.J. Burnett isn't exactly a stellar pitcher. He's good, but he was closer to the rest of the pack of free agent hurlers then he was to CC Sabathia).

2.) Logic and reason have very little place in predicting how the baseball season plays out. Logic said the Rockies were the best team entering the NL playoffs. Huston Street turns into Luis Ayala, and all of a sudden the Rockies lose to the Phillies. Logic said the Cubs were virtually the same team as last year, and then everyone except Derrek Lee essentially forgot how to hit. The Mets fix the one reason they fell short the year before, by adding not one, but two closers, and then end up with almost the entire payroll on the disabled list. The Tampa Bay Rays change almost nothing from the year before, where they were clearly the most talented team in the league, but their pitching is surprisingly inconsistent all year and they fail to get back to the playoffs.

3.) Jeffrey Loria's an idiot. Joe Girardi is a terriffic manager, and Loria should be kicking himself for firing him. All of his teams overachieve. This Yankees team did not have the best starting pitchers, it didn't have the best bullpen (Rivera's only one guy), and their offensive dominance was clearly a result of the field they played on. He got the Yankees to play loose (Nick Swisher might be team MVP there, and A.J. Burnett also helped in that department). Hell he even got A-Rod playing like Alex Rodriguez in the postseason.

4.) Cliff Lee might be the best pitcher in baseball. Or at least top 5.

5.) Mark Teixeira is an incredible player. Bobby Cox didn't like him. Mike Scioscia didn't like him. Thought he was more a stat machine than an impact player. Good thing the Steinbrenners didn't listen.

6.) The Phillies aren't built to beat AL teams. They wouldn't win any of AL divisions. They don't play NL ball, evident from everything from their inability to steal beyond two guys, their lack of depth, their poor bullpen, their starting pitchers not having great raw stuff (Cliff Lee being the exception, and Hamels is ordinary with out the curve), and their necessity to play on raw emotion. They play AL ball in a league which they can easily beat up on weaker clubs. But in the end, they don't match up well with the great NL teams. The should have lost to the Rockies, and they would have lost to the Cardinals, they luckily got to face a Dodgers team that wasn't that good, and when they ran out of luck against the Yankees, well we all saw what happened.

7.) The Pirates have no idea how to win. They just don't know what they're doing. They've successfully gathered many of the best prospects from 2006, ones that haven't exactly made a big splash in the bigs thus far.

8.) Mets fans are destined to suffer.

9.) Say what you want about Jeter's fielding, but he doesn't let that carry over to his hitting.

Thoughts on being a lazy blogger

Between vacation and a lull in interesting baseball news, I haven't blogged in basically two weeks. So this might be a rather long blog.


First up is the 5 spot in the Phillies rotation. Signing Pedro was a dumb move for the Phillies. At best, the difference between him and Jamie Moyer is a wash. And all they did was anger a clubhouse leader, cause a controversy where there didn't need to be one, and insert a pitcher who can potentially maybe have a sub-5 ERA. It's not as if they added Doug Davis, or Aaron Haraang.

Now considering the luck of the Phillies, and the lack of luck by the Mets, Pedro regains his form and proves to be a middle of the rotation starter the Mets so desperately needed. I mean, they added an above average outfielder to replace there, well, nearly identical outfielder, and he turns into Jason Bay. They got J.C. Romero for basically nothing. They got Cliff Lee without giving up one of their 4 best young guys.

And as far as Moyer's reaction is concerned, I'm quite divided on it. On one hand, he should of just shut up and not been a distraction, like he said he didn't want to be. On the other hand, he has something along the lines of 25 years of MLB service time, and has sort of earned the right to say what he wants. I'm completely split-brained on this, and can't make up my mind. Personally, if I was in his situation I would of pitched a fit, but that's me.


Moving on to the Rick Porcello vs. Kevin Youkilis fight. First of all, I'm dumbfounded as to whether Porcello hit him on purpose or accident. The extensive conversation between Jim Leyland and Terry Francona after the fight would indicate that it was most likely on accident. On the other hand, the way the ball was thrown, it looked as if he was trying to nail him. However, he already threw a pitch high and tight clearly intending to hit Youkilis.

Regardless of intent, everything to that point went down as it should've. They hit the Tigers key hitters, they should be throwing back at the Sox.

But Youkilis is a fool for charging the mound. Are you kidding me? Take your lumps like everyone else. And then throwing your helmet? Maybe Porcello looked scared as he moved away from you, but throwing a helmet is just as cowardly, and those things are hard, and can actually hurt a player (crack a kneecap?). Odds are Porcello just didn't want to fight, at risk of suspension. Because the way he threw Youkilis to the ground, (and the fact that he's 6'5") indicates that he knew he could take Youkilis. And if he was throwing at him intentionally, kudos for already proving to be a good teammate at age 19.


Alex Rios got traded about a week ago. Simple salary dump. I don't know this for sure, but J.P. Ricciardi may be an idiot. He failed to get max value for Roy Halladay, he gave a big contract to Vernon Wells, who's since tanked, and Rios, who's done mostly the same. He also gave a big contract to B.J. Ryan, who basically has spent the last 2 years injured, as well as A.J. Burnett, who proved to be just above average, and also spent decent time on the DL. Ricciardi seems to have an eye for young talent (the young starting rotation, Travis Snider, Aaron Hill, etc.), especially young pitching, but lacks an eye for players who can stay healthy.


The Yankees officially transformed themselves into the version of themselves that lost to the D-backs in the World Series a few years back. Only Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Pettite, and Rivera, etc are all around five years older. This team seems built to win in the regular season, but not for the postseason. Seriously, they have the third worst collection of talent in their own division, and yet they have the best record in baseball. Their catcher sucks behind the dish, Cano's average, and they got very little in the outfield. And their rotation is ok, and the bullpen is average too. Seriously, when teams like the Yankees win it drives me crazy. The Dodgers should win, they are as deep as anyone in the lineup, can play defense, and also have four solid starters. The Yankees are mostly average, and win anyways. Proves to show that I don't understand everything about the game I guess.