Trade Talk

SPORTING GOODS

Aramis Ramirez has officialy filed for free agency, something that anyone who did 3 seconds of research knew that he was going to do. Of course, that obviously excludes anyone hosting or calling New York sports talk radio over the last several weeks.

Repeatedly, since the A-Rod to the Cubs rumors began, Ramirez was mentioned as a key piece in any New York to Chicago trade. See, the Yankees would get Aramis Ramirez and a top starting pitcher for A-Rod. Some even had the optimism to think the Cubs would include Carlos Zambrano in such a trade. And what was especially great for the Yankees, is that Ramirez put up similar numbers to A-Rod this year. So basically, the Yankees could get a cheaper, younger option at thirdbase, who was "just as good" as A-Rod, as well as a perennial Cy Young candidate. It made perfect sense!

Well, except for the fact that:
1. Ramirez was due to be a free agent, as long as he exercised an opt-out clause that would guarantee him a huge pay day as one of the best hitters on the market.
2. If the trade was SO great for the Yankees, why would the Cubs do it? (OK, look at some of their recent free agent signings, and you may have a case that they would be happy to make a stupid trade)
3. But even if it required giving up their best player, Zambrano?

And I don't want to post hearsay as fact, so I'll also just say that I've heard but could not prove or disprove that if Rodriguez is traded, that the Rangers obligation to pay part of his salary disappears, with the tradee taking responsibility. If that is the case, then A-Rod is pretty much unmoveable.

Poor Yankees. Stuck with a two-time MVP and mortal lock for the Hall of Fame, as he chases Hank Aaron's record. Hold on, let me get my tiny violin...

That's why they play...Part II

Sporting Goods

As Chill pointed out earlier, the "experts" don't seem to know much, and of course they have all picked the Tigers to roll through the Cardinals in the World Series. Now one game closer to being wrong (again - don't forget none of the 19 ESPN experts picked the Tigers to advance out of the ALDS, and only one of 19 picked the Cards to reach the NLCS), we'll see if they start backtracking or if they wait to see what happens in the next 2-3 games.

One thing that struck me heading into the World Series is that I just don't see the Tigers' lineup being much better than the Mets: it may be a bit deeper overall, but their 1-5 of Granderson-Monroe-Polanco-Ordonez-Guillen doesn't match up to Reyes-LoDuca-Beltran-Delgado-Wright. And the Mets problem was that hot Cardinals pitching was able to shut them down.

I'm sure that NL fans are pulling for the Cardinals, hoping that ends the stupid 'AAAA' talk.

Me, I can't stand the Cardinals. I know the media wants me to love Eckstein and Edmonds and LaRussa and Rolen, but I just don't. And I don't care for Preston Wilson or Encarnacion or Molina or any of their crappy pitchers that somehow shut down the Mets. So while watching the "experts" look stupid once again is kind of fun, I'll be pulling for the inevitable victory riot to happen late Saturday night in Detroit.

Another October in New York City

SPORTING GOODS

Just under two years ago, I made my second ever blog post about the atmosphere in NYC on the day of an LCS game 7.

Since neither "the rivalry" nor "the collapse" is involved, there isn't quite the same level of tension in the city as in 2004. But in either case, it's gonna be fun. And I know Mets fans all over the city can barely concentrate or eat today.

Good luck Mets fans, this secondary Mets fan will be pulling hard for you.

Let's go Mets!

Idiots

Whatever

From AP via CNN (I'm guessing the link will change soon):

NEW YORK (AP) -- Police say an aircraft has crashed into a building on Manhattan's Upper East Side at 72nd Street and York Avenue. It is near Rockefeller Center.

Near Rockerfeller Center? Yeah if 25 blocks and 6 Avenues is near.

"A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever!" My man John Keats said that!

SPORTING GOODS

While I am loath to bring attention to anything the horrible David Brooks is paid to write for the New York Times, his piece from last Sunday proves the adage that "A Stopped Clock is Right Twice a Day." (In Brooks' case, I would argue the clock is right more often than him.) That being said, I must give credit to him for the following work, which I will "quote" in its entirety:

No one can describe the agony I feel. No one can describe the forebodings of doom that mount pitch by pitch, inning by inning, as the New York Mets make their way through the National League playoffs.

Early triumphs build mountains of false hopes, but this merely forestalls and cannot avert their eventual extinction. Delgado may slug and Glavine may discover the genius of lost youth, but, as the poet says, doom is the omen in my heart convulsed. For the gods decree, and history confirms, that those without starting pitching do not win championships.

And sooner or later I will sit with the remote trembling in my hands, with hollow cheeks and lifeless eyes, as some other fan’s team celebrates its glory, and there will be children weeping uncontrollably on the floor of the ruined family room around me, and women’s knees will give way, and they will be kneeling and keening amidst the scattered piles of tear-stained popcorn, and men will tear their cheeks and beat themselves with clenched fists under the full impact of the devastation.

The Mets will lose, and I will make the lifeless trudge to the unforgiving fridge in search of liquid anesthesia.

The team has tempted fate this year with a most un-Metslike display of offensive greatness. They have been led by joyful Reyes, strong-limbed Wright, sharp-jawed Valentín and Beltrán the Unperturbed. They have fed our pride with a great torrent of hitters. Except in the Bronx, they have no equals. But as Aristotle says, the more one is possessed of excellence, the more one will be pained at the thought of elimination.

And the failures of the starting rotation have been a long time coming. The mind reels back to the pointless trading of the young phenom Scott Kazmir (Woe!); the passing of the chance to get Barry Zito (Woe!); the injuries to Pedro’s calf and shoulder (Double Woe!); and the final tear to El Duque’s aging muscle (Tremble all before the dying of the light!). And now, as it is said, having done what men can, they will suffer what they must.

If this were a Christian universe, they would be saved by grace. If this were a Jewish universe, they would be comforted by more food. But baseball exists in a Homeric universe, where none can escape the iron shaft of fate. Soon the foaming crowds at Shea will grow silent as the tomb. The dugouts will gape manless and the world’s attention will shift to the Mannings and Madden, to Roethlisberger and Parcells, as winter comes too soon.

What is a fan to do? This season, I have followed the Mets cross-continent, from New York to San Diego. At various ballparks, I have laid pounds of sacrificial chicken tenders across the altar of my expanding waistline. And yet the fan is left powerless, the players’ plaything, like Andromache who can do nothing but watch while her husband Hector battles and seals her fate.

Epictetus says that some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our desires and responses. But our bodies are not up to us. Neither are our possessions, or our reputations or, by extension, our teams. Serenity, he says, consists in embracing the things within our control and discarding the things that are not.

And so perhaps what matters now is one’s comportment in the face of what is to come, the willingness to embrace the full truth of the unchangeable destiny.

We stand at the Hot Gates of Thermopylae, waiting for Pujols or Swisher. We suffer and yet stand firm. We know opposing balls will fly off walls. We know double-play-turning shortstops will leap like rams. But we will greet these blows with an acceptance that is not resignation. We’ll greet them with a clear soul and with a composure that affirms the dignity of life and unites suffering and knowledge. A great soul in agony transcends misery and achieves immortality, especially in the upper decks.

Aeschylus writes: “God, whose law it is that he who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despite, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”

This is how a true Mets fan greets impending loss. And come to think of it, this is not bad preparation for what’s about to befall Republicans, either.

I especially like the last line. Now that the Yankees have been eliminated, I have a feeling that the liquid Mr. Brooks is drinking in not being used for anesthethic purposes.

BONUS: Ten points to the first person other than Chill who knows where the title for this piece comes from.

The Yankees lose! Thhhhhheeee Yankees lose!

SPORTING GOODS

Almost immediately after witnessing the now-annual October collapse of the New York Yankees, I couldn't help but be reminded of Bill Murray's words from Rushmore.

Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it.

Jim Leyland should've posted this in the Tigers club house before game one.

The problem with torture

Manifesto

Now that the U.S. has amended its laws in an attempt to allow it to "aggressively interrogate" "enemy combatants", this story is extremely interesting.

In 1976, anti-Castro Cubans blew up Cubana Airlines Flight 455. Luis Posada, a Cuban exile, formerly a U.S. Army Officer and C.I.A. operative supplying the contras in Nicaragua, was "implicated in the attack, but never convicted." He was recently arrested in the U.S. on immigration charges. Cuba and Venezuela want him extradited to be charged and tried for the bombing. But immigration courts refuse. Why?

An immigration judge has ruled that Mr. Posada may be subject to torture in those two countries. But because no other country has stepped forward, and because he has not been officially deemed a terrorist by the American government, a federal judge recommended last month — coincidentally on Sept. 11 — that Mr. Posada be released.

I think our government's refusal to extradite alleged criminals to countries where they may be tortured is admirable. I'm happy that the many other countries feel the same way. I simply wonder how many suspected terrorists may be released by other countries rather than extradited to the U.S. because of our policy on "aggressive interrogation" and the potential for indefinite detention without trial or even charges.

And that's why they play the games ...

Sporting Goods

Before the baseball playoffs, ESPN ran a column called "ESPN experts: Who's going to win?" Follow the link if you want to have a laugh. And don't think you can go to the ESPN site and just browse for the article. Not surprisingly given the accuracy (or lack thereof) of the predictions, it is impossible to find. Here are my favorites:

• Of the 19 "experts", all but one picked the Padres over the Cardinals. Clearly, not a series in the bag as of this writing, but the number of Padres picks is not indicative of what has actually happened on the field.
  
• 14 picked the Twins to beat the A's, and of those 14, 7 thought the Twins would win the World Series.
  
• All picked the Yankees in the Division Series and 6 had the Yankees winning the World Series.
  

Look, obviously these are some bad predictions. And if brought back to the prognisticators, I'm sure we would hear the tired cliche, "That's why they play the games." Indeed it is. But, like in so many other areas, I want accountability. I'm tired of watching so-called sports "experts" give me their opinion, be horribly, horribly wrong, and be absolutely unaccountable for what they previously said. It is simply obnoxious, especially because of the near certainty in which all of these opinions are given and the back and forth screaming that now passes for reasoned argument on sports shows.

I Want Accountability!

And no, I'm not holding my breath.

Happy birthday, monocle!

WHATEVER

For your birthday, I hope the next month brings you:

- A Ned Lamont victory
- A Democrat-majority in the House of Reps
- A Mets World Series victory
- A Joe Paterno resignation
- A Dartmouth win in football

See, only asking for one Dartmouth win, don't want to be too greedy.

Happy bday.

Looking ahead

SPORTING GOODS

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your 2007 World Series champs....the Texas Rangers!

Buck Showalter was fired as manager of the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, ending
four seasons in which he was never able to get a team with several young
All-Stars above third place in the AL West.

The last two teams that fired Showalter won the World Series. He was fired by the Yankees after 1995, Yankees win in '96; he was fired by the Diamondbacks in 2000, Dbacks win in '01. Smart strategy for the Rangers to wait until they have a nice team that has underachieved a bit, then cash in on the "Fire Buck and Win the World Series" plan.

More Freakonomics

Whatever

The best regular series in the New York Times Magazine is the not regular enough Freakonomics series. The most recent installment looks into why doctors don't wash their hands.

Leon Bender is a 68-year-old urologist in Los Angeles. Last year, during a South Seas cruise with his wife, Bender noticed something interesting: passengers who went ashore weren’t allowed to reboard the ship until they had some Purell squirted on their hands. The crew even dispensed Purell to passengers lined up at the buffet tables. Was it possible, Bender wondered, that a cruise ship was more diligent about killing germs than his own hospital?

This isn't the best article they've ever done, but this type of analysis is, to me, extremely interesting. Enjoy.

More what did they know ...?

Manifesto

As Monocle asks below, why does it seem that only Republicans are asked this question?

A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did indeed brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001 about looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said on Monday evening.

[...]

Ms. Rice said she had no specific recollection of meeting with Mr. Tenet and Mr. Black on July 10, 2001. Members of the commission that investigated the attacks of Sept. 11 and the events leading up to them have said they were never told of a special White House meeting held on that date, and have questioned in recent days whether information about such a meeting may have been intentionally withheld from the panel.

Now I wonder why this account didn't appear in the 9/11 Commission Report. When was that report conducted and ultimately made public? Anyone, anyone? July 22, 2004. Draw your own conclusions. Although Josh Marshall notes that the information seems to have been told directly to Richard Ben Veniste and executive director Philip Zelikow. Veniste was one of the Democratic Commissioners.

This is the end...

SPORTING GOODS

A look around at some of my favorite Sox blogs as they wrap up the season.

Surviving Grady predicts a Dodgers/Twins series culminating in an agonizing Grady Little decision, while declaring his new rooting interest:

ANYBODY BUT THE MF YANKEES!

Fire Brand looks at the bizarro 2006 season:

Of course, for many the real high point was the five game sweep of the dreaded yankees that marked the end of the empire’s run atop the AL East. And what a sweep it was, beginning with Wells’ perfect game, and the feeling of schadenfreude we all felt watching A-Rod commit 7 errors in the first two games, his subsequent benching, the tearful interview on ESPN and then his ultimate trade to the Nationals for a conditional set of draft picks.

Dewey's House asks that some intelligent thought be infused into the "we'd be better off without Manny" camp:

So the Mariners elininated A-Rod, brought in a clubhouse ping-pong table and water bubbler and that’s how they won 116 games? Or do you think it may have had something to do with Bret Boone’s arrival (.331/.372/.578, 141 RBI)? And did you know that the Rookie of the Year and League MVP in 2001 just so happened not to be on the club in 2000? His name is Ichiro Suzuki and I am pretty sure he helped to make up some of A-Rod’s production.

Call of the Green Monster reports on a surprising development in Yankee land:

With the shocking allegations that Roger Clemens-and Andy Pettitte-may have had
a little something extra on their fastballs thanks to performance-enhancing
drugs, a distraught George Steinbrenner immediately surrendered all World Series
titles won while either pitcher was on the roster.

And lastly, Soxaholix looks back to better times.

Pedro

Sporting Goods

After little more than a day away from my Mets, I somehow missed a lot. I had the misfortune of learning all about Pedro's shoulder surgery during an otherwise beautiful wedding celebration in the lovely Ocean State. Needless to say, I wasn't all that surprised. Here's an e-mail I wrote on Friday:

Pedro hasn't been Pedro all year. In fact, the Mets actually played better without him. I think he was becoming a distraction so at least now it is settled. I hope he comes back healthy next year but the fact is that he has other health issues apart from his calves. I mean he still has a partially torn labrum in his shoulder. All the more reason the Mets need to get a number 1 starter from somewhere. Too bad that reports say that they don't want Zito.

I've long thought that Pedro's various leg problems (hip, calves, toe) were also being used to cover for a bum shoulder. I'm not happy to learn that it looks like I was right. Anyway, I have to believe that this means the Mets are going to pay for Zito, and pay big.

I hope that doesn't mean that the Mets trade Lastings Milledge. Although reading the NY press, you get the distinct impression that his days as a Met are numbered. Nothing says foolishness like giving up on a 21 year-old because he is "cocky." This is the exact same reason the Mets traded Scott Kazmir. That's worked out well. Back to Milledge, what would you expect. He's spent his entire life being told he's special. Having to learn modesty and humility isn't exactly the worst thing in the world. I hope they give him a chance. Unless, of course, the Mets can trade him for a 25 year-old Cy Young contender. Mr. Willis would look good in blue and orange.

And finally, despite a miserable September, the Mets finished the season tied for the best record in baseball ... with the Yankees. I'm happy already. The Mets have already exceeded all my expectations this season. I hope it continues.