The Highlight of the Week

The highlight of the week is, of course, that pitchers and catchers began reporting to their respective Spring Training facilities. This is not only the highlight of my week, but the highlight of every man that calls himself a man, and every true American. The sound of the ball hitting the catcher's mitt is like my own, personal Groundhog's Day- only 6 weeks until the season starts! Soon position players will report and the sound of the ball hitting the mitt will receive it's complement- the sound of the ball hitting the bat. Six weeks until it all coms together- the ball hitting the glove and the bat will be accompanied by the cheers of the crowds, the yells of the vendors and the smell of hotdogs and peanuts filling the air. This is baseball. This is America. This is the greatest sport in the greatest country. I live for this. 

Santana a Yankee?! Are you SERIOUS?!

Wow! Opened espn.com this morning, and I was pleasantly pleased to see that the Yankees are in discussions with the Twins of Minnesota regarding two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana (pronounced: Yo-hann). This would be a fantastic addition given the loss of Andy Pettitte earlier this month. Let's see here... According to my friends at espn.com, Santana is 1st in the AL in whip, 2nd in SO, 6th in IP and 7th in era. He's been in the top-ten in balloting for the Cy Young Award every year since 2003, and was in the AL MVP hunt twice ('04 & '06). His career era of 3.22 is nothing to balk at, either. Not to mention he's a LEFTY!

Sure, that is all fine and dandy, but at what cost to the Yankees will Santana wear the famed pinstripes? He's owed $13.25 mil next year from the twins, which is drop in the bucket compared to the Yankees' overall payroll. Who will we have to trade to pick up the prized Santana? Is this a classic Yankees' move to deal young-blood to bring in the proven veteran? Now Santana (15-13, 3.33) is only 29, a far cry from the likes of Pettitte (15-9, 4.05), 35, Rivera ( 30 saves, 3.15), 37, Mussina (11-10, 5.15), 38, or Clemens (6-6, 4.18), 45, but is it worth it to give up someone like Chamberlain, 22, who is a prime candidate to replace Rivera as closer? What about Phil Hughes (5-3, 4.46), 21, the top pitching prospect in baseball last season? 

Obviously a deal with the Twins will require top prospects. I only hope the Yankees are thinking about the future when they make this deal. I'd love to see Yo-hann in Yankees' Pinstripes as much as anyone, but I don't want to see the team mortgage the future for him. 

the Yankees basically said "F-you" to a future Hall of Fame manager

I can't get over this. Sure, Joe Torre hadn't made it past the first round of the playoffs the past four seasons. However, the man took the Yankees to the World Series SIX times in his 12 years as manager and won it all on four of those trips. He won the AL East, arguably the most competitive division in baseball, 10 times during his tenure, nine of those were consecutive. He led perhaps the greatest team in the history of baseball, the '98 Yankees, to a staggering 114 wins. He is a lock at Cooperstown because of how he managed the Yankees. 

I fully concur that the only way the season ought to end is with the Commissioner's Trophy being awarded to the Yankees. However, Torre can only do so much. He can't get out there and pitch underhand to Rodriguez (.267), Jeter (.176) or the rest of the team (.228) in the postseason. 

Because of the loss of Torre, the Yankees now stand to lose Mariano Rivera , Jorge Posada., Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and Bobby Abreu. All of these guys have said that their decision to stay in New York depends on how the front office took care of Torre. Gee, thanks, George, Brian, Hank and Hal. Nice job with that. I sure you hope you know what the hell you're doing. 

Congratulations to Brian and the Dodgers. You not only get Torre to manage, but apparently Donny Baseball is also a part of the package. 

My blog's new title

they made it possible for someone like me to have a public platform to express my views. I changed the name of my blog because I feel like this better fits my personality. My life is filled with observations when all I can think is 'what the hell were they thinking when they did THAT?!' We'll see how it goes. 

Welcome, everyone, to the life & times of Scott Wall. This may or may not prove to be the most significant body of work of the 21st century. Lives will be changed.