the_nub_aug2009.html
August 2009
Archive
(Posted: 8/29/09)
NY’s Paterson and
Cubs’ Bradley Must Get Off Political DL List
A few days after NY state skipper David
Paterson complained
about racial attitudes in the media (a charge he later sought to
withdraw),
Cubs right fielder Milton Bradley talked about the racism he confronts
daily on
and off the field. That the media in
NY
and Chicago played the stories big suggests there was at least a squib
of truth
in what Paterson and Bradley were saying.
But what each could not acknowledge was
another influential
factor in their respective mistreatment stories: time on the disabled
list. Paterson’s physical disability - his
near-blindness - has been a life-long burden; Bradley’s major league
career,
dating from 2000, has been marred by various injuries and long DL
stints. More significantly, the governor
and the
ballplayer have been hurt by word and deed that placed them on what
could be
called a political DL list. Paterson went on
the
list, where he remains, because of his mishandling of his appointment
of
Hillary Clinton’s replacement in the Senate.
He dragged out the process by which Carolyn Kennedy was bypassed
in
favor of Kirsten Gillibrand. A series of
temper tantrums along with incendiary remarks earned Bradley his place
on the
political DL and a bad-guy reputation.
Although sidelined with an early-season
groin pull, Bradley
has played in more 80 percent of Cubs games.
He’s hitting .262 with only 11 home runs, but his
uncharacteristic durability almost vindicates the three-year, $30
million
contract the Cubs gave him over the winter.
If Paterson
is to get a new contract as NY governor, he’ll have to keep his
frustrations in
check, as must Bradley, and produce at a much higher level in his field
than
the Cubs right fielder is in his.
If we had Bradley’s ear, we would
recommend his saying to
the media how pleased he is with the way Lou Piniella has used him:
“I’ve been able to
stay healthy and I’m grateful." More than just a positive pitch, Paterson has to
switch from whiny-ness to
expressing confidence. As a Mets fan, David might want to paraphrase
manager
Davey Johnson’s prescient statement before the 1986 pennant race: “I intend not only to win next year, but to
dominate.”
-
- -
A week ago, all Mets fans had left was Billy Wagner.
To know the electric, irrepressible,
outspoken reliever was still on the team gave them reason to keep
following the
NY Bisons. The departure of Wagner to
the Red Sox reinforces the growing sense of the Mets’ financial
desperation. The Globe’s Tony Massarotti
uses the Wagner
deal to note indirectly the difference in spending attitudes between
the Sox
and the Mets: “So
why
did
the
Sox
make
this
move?
Because
even
with
5
miles
per
hour
shaved
from
his
fastball,
Wagner
still
throws
harder
than
the
majority
of
lefthanded
relievers
in
the
major
leagues. Because
he gives the Red Sox another potential weapon.
Because the Red Sox are a big-market team that can spend $3.5
million on
a player for six weeks of service and be none the worse for wear.”
Fearless
end-of-August
playoff
projections: AL -
Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Angels. (Caveats:
the
AL
Central
is
always
unpredictable.) NL - Phillies,
Cardinals, Dodgers, Rockies. (Caveats: Braves
and Marlins have outside chance should either
surge while Rocks and Giants stumble.)
- o -
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
The Nub
is off on a road trip,
returning late Labor Day week.
(Posted: 8/27/09)
Reason to be Glad Ben
and Omar Are Staying On?
Proposition: We should be grateful for
the week’s two big
re-appointments, one by the president, the other by the boss of the
Mets. Grateful?
Many progressives deplore Barack Obama’s decision to keep Ben
Bernanke
on as chair of the Fed. And most Mets
fans believe Omar Minaya has earned a pink slip as the bedraggled
team’s GM. So, it won’t be easy, but let’s
see if we can
find a rationale for the prop:
The record book does not make a
positive case for Bernanke:
it shows him going from Princeton to
the Fed’s
Board of Governors in ’02, then moving in ’05 to George Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors, before
finally
taking over as Fed skipper a year later.
If anyone was positioned to puncture the housing bubble early,
it was
he. Similarly, Minaya must have seen the
lack of a safety net for the Mets, if his high-priced “core” players
went down. If he did, he clearly didn’t do
anything
about it.
But there are strong cases to be made
for both
re-appointees: Economist and policy research executive Dean Baker
concedes
that, “serious issues of unnecessary secrecy and failed regulation”
notwithstanding,” Bernanke “moved very
effectively in the last year to prevent the collapse of the
financial system.”
Paul Krugman is even stronger in
his
endorsement: “Bernanke
has done a good job in the crisis — he’s been far more
aggressive and creative than almost anyone else would have been in his
place.”
For
many
of
us,
however,
the
most
compelling
argument
for
each
of
the
decisions
was
the
probable
alternative.
Instead of Bernanke, the new Fed chair could
have been Larry Summers – he, who with Tim Geithner and Hank Paulson,
was a key
behind-the-scenes player in the bank bailout.
The way that game ended has reinforced popular mistrust of
government
evident in the health care reform rhubarb.
If Minaya didn’t return to the Mets,
the team’s fans would
probably have gotten assistant GM John Ricco in his place.
Ricco, mentioned here earlier this month, is
an administrator. The real player-signing
power would belong to Jeff Wilpon, whom the fans have seen in action
long
enough to say: “No thanks. We’ll stay
with Omar.”
Joe Girardi stayed with the bunt to his
regret Tuesday
night. The Yanks had rallied from 10-5
to score four runs against the Rangers in the ninth. With
men
on
first
and
second
and
none
out,
Joe
asked
Nick
Swisher
to
lay
one
down,
advancing
the
runners
to
second
and
third. Swisher fouled one off, then
popped out to third. Channel 9’s camera
showed Joe’s reaction: he stormed up and down the dugout as if
Swisher’s
failure - only the first out - had cost the game. Could
Girardi
be
carrying
a
crystal
ball? Melky Cabrera hit a liner to
shortstop Elvis Andrus, who caught both the fly and pinch-runner Jerry
Hariston
before he could get back to second. Game
over: Texas
10, NY 9. Melky allowed himself a tight
grin. Girardi wasn’t smiling.
If misery loves company, Mets fans can
find kindred spirits
in Chicago. Cubs fans never dreamed their defending
Central Division champions (with a $135.1 million payroll just under
that of
the Mets) would be fading from the playoff race as they have been this
month. Carol Slezak of the Sun-Times
voices
a familiar frustration in this critique of Lou Piniella’s Teddy Bears:
“For the umpteenth time
in recent history, the Cubs have lost their way.
They've spent most of this season making excuses for their poor play. Yes, they've been hit hard by injuries. But
it's always something…. The Cubs have spent a
lot of money…but they've often spent it unwisely,
throwing it at the wrong guys and hoping for a miracle…If the Cubs have
had a
plan, it has been indecipherable to most of us. But then, it's tough to
build a
championship team through free agency, and the Cubs' minor-league
system has
long been…threadbare. How does this
happen, when teams restock their system every year? Are the Cubs
drafting the
wrong guys, or are they failing to develop players properly, or both?
If (new
owner Tom)Ricketts hopes to build a team that can contend on an annual
basis,
he'll have to overhaul the entire scouting and minor-league operations.
That's
no easy task. But it would be money well
spent.”
-
o
-
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/25/09)
The Obama-Jeter Connection Redux
Nub-worthy
news items:
“_______TEAM
LACKING
MOST
OF
TOP
PLAYERS”
The front-page headline in
yesterday’s NY Times could have been about the Mets.
But the team in question was Obama’s.
Both roster-light outfits are losing ground,
the Mets in the standings, Team Obama in the polls.
"OBAMA
HOSTS JETER AT HIS VACATION
RETREAT"
In the
first Nub nearly
two-and-a-half years ago, we suggested that candidate Obama could
benefit from
the similar multi-cultural background he shares with much admired Derek
Jeter. Now it’s an association with
Jeter’s dazzling comeback that could help the struggling president. Remember how Derek was considered to be over
the hill by many after a slow early-season start? Today
he
embodies,
as
Barack
would
like
to,
the
knack
of
champions
to
bounce
back
when
things
are
going
badly.
Team Obama surely wants a photo of the two
together at Martha’s Vineyard to hint
at the
possibility of a game-changing turn-around.
Paul
Krugman on the possibly
decisive moment of Obama’s performance: “It’s hard to avoid the sense that a crucial opportunity is
being
missed, that we’re at what should be a
turning point but are failing to make the turn.”
The Mets
missed their turn long ago. More sobering
than their present plight is
the outlook for 2010. In the words of
the Daily News’ Adam Rubin: “The
(team) will have several holes to fill with limited
dollars…The Mets have no (ready) minor leaguers…leaving them entirely
dependent
on free agents and trades to fill any voids.”
How far has the Mets’ returning GM
Omar Minaya’s stock fallen? Allegedly
given full autonomy over baseball decisions when hired in ’04, he now
says he’d
have manager Jerry Manuel return, too, “if given the choice.”
- -
-
Why such a Colorado Rockies
high? Because the NL wild card-leading
Rocks believe a legitimate ace has emerged in their pitching staff. Twenty-five-year-old Ubaldo Jiminez outdueled
SF’s super-ace Tim Linceum Sunday to win his fifth straight this month He has a1.63 ERA over those starts, and
an
arsenal that includes a 99 mph fastball.
A
performance that pleased Red Sox
Nation and almost everybody in baseball Sunday: The one
turned in by John Smoltz who blanked the Padres for five innings. A fine, fresh start for the Cardinals’
42-year-old future Hall-of-Famer.
- o -
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Post:
8/22/09)
Harvard Prof: Stop
Bean-Balling in Baseball and at Israel
Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz is
known neither as a
baseball fan nor for his progressive politics.
True, he’s a resident of Red Sox Nation.
But he’s more easily identified as a hard-liner on
Israel-Palestine, a
harsh critic of Jimmy Carter, and an accessory to the firing of a
Jewish prof
at DePaul
U., who, like
Carter, differed with Dershowitz
on that deadly Middle-Eastern game.
Dershowitz believes the rash of
bean-balling that has marred
ballgames this season is potentially deadly in its own right. He – like many of us – think the
commissioner, owners and players are ignoring the danger of serious
injury (as
they did to the plague of drugs). If the
practice is allowed to continue, Dershowitz wrote in the Boston Globe
this
week…“Someone
will
be
maimed
or
killed,
despite
the
presence
of
helmets.
The
time
has
come
for
Major
League
Baseball
to
ban
the
bean
ball.
The
only
way
to
do
this
is
for
baseball
to
adopt
a
zero
tolerance
policy
and
to
impose
draconian
sanctions
not
only
on
pitchers
who
throw
at
the
heads
of
batters
but,
more
importantly,
on
the managers who instruct them to do so.”
Sports
Illustrated’s
Tom
Verducci
reinforced
the
message
soon
after
the
Mets’
David
Wright
was
beaned:
“A
vigilante culture
has taken
root in which teams are retaliating even when it was obvious that a
pitcher
wasn't trying to hit a batter…It's time to knock off the punkish stuff
in which
every hit by pitch becomes a challenge to your manhood. One of the most
dangerous eras in baseball history could become even more dangerous.”
Resistance
to
change
that
characterizes
baseball
exists,
we
know,
in
every
field. Many, if not most, Americans
cling to the idea that the private sector must play its long-assumed
major role
in our health care system.
Brooklyn/Queens Congressman Anthony Weiner challenged that
belief in a
much-discussed appearance on MSNBC earlier this week.
He noted that insurance companies serve no
direct delivery-of-services purpose.
Host Joe Scarborough was taken aback:
JS: It
sounds like you’re saying you think there is no need for us to have
private insurance in health care.
AW: I’ve
asked
you
three
times.
What
is
their
value?
What
are
they
bringing
to
the
deal?
JS: Again…
I’m
astounded
by
your
question.
It
sounds
like
you’re
suggesting
that
there’s
no
need
to
have
a
country
that’s
run
on
free
market
principles.
AW: Time
out. Let’s focus on one thing at a time.
This
isn’t a commodity, Joe. Health care
isn’t a commodity.
JS: You’re
saying
that
health
care
is
different
than
everything
else.
Scarborough’s observation is the nub of the matter:
Americans do not
understand, as do people of most advanced nations, that health care is
a right
rather than a profit center. And upholding
– supporting – the rights of its citizens is a basic role of
government. Until people
comprehend that distinction, true reform will clearly not happen.
- -
-
Thoughts re the Mets spending several million less than the
29 other teams on first 10-rounders in the draft: 1)
It
suggests
the
rumors
of
Fred
Wilpon
having
lost
$700
million
in
the
Madoff
scam
were
right
on;
2)
That
Rudy
Terrasas
(Rudy
who?),
not
Omar
Minaya
had
to
take
the
fall
before
the
media,
suggests
that
Omar
either
asked
to
be
spared
any
more
Agita,
or
he
is
indeed
on
the
way
out.
An article by the Globe’s Tony
Massarotti that compares
young talent on the Yankees and Red Sox can be read as an unexpressed
indictment of the Mets:
“Take
a
good
look
at
the
first-place
Yankees
this
weekend.
From
Robinson
Cano
to
Phil
Hughes
to
Joba
Chamberlain
to
Melky
Cabrera,
they
have
the
kind
of
home-grown
talent
that
makes
them
far
more
competitive
with
the
Red
Sox
in
that
area
than
most
anyone
ever
acknowledges…
“‘I
just
can’t
get…concerned
with
that,
because
if
something
special
is
going
to
happen,
you
have
to
have
a
little
bit
of
everything,’’
general
manager
Brian
Cashman
said
when
asked
if
the
Yankees
get
enough
credit
for
their
player
development.
‘I
just
don’t
pay
attention
to
it. I do know
that we have a lot of good young
talent. I don’t think we have the best
farm system in baseball, but I do think we have one of the better
ones’.’’
- o -
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by Dick
Starkey. Comments to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are
subscription requests. Previous Nubs can
be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/20/09)
Can Lefty Health
Reformers Stage a Ninth-Inning Rally?
The
Yankees
and
opponents
of
real
health
care
reform
are
winning
(something
we
discussed
last
time).
But neither the baseball nor the political game is over: If the
Yanks
don’t make it to the Series, they’ll be losers, and a ninth-inning
rally could
give true health reformers a walk-off win.
Yankees history supports the long-shot
thesis that dissident
underdogs can pull out a come-from-behind victory.
In
1976, the Yanks had arranged to take over 32 acres of Macombs Dam Park
as part
of a remodeling of the Stadium. But
local protesters on opening day that year caught the eye of Walter
Cronkite. CBS ran the story of the
would-be land grab, which stopped it…until the Yankees got their way 30
years
later.
How is that history relevant to the
health reform contest
playing out today? Coverage by the media
can add decisive clout to whichever side makes the stronger showing. If the the team pitching for the public
option could mobilize some of its millions of players to march in
support of
that reform, it would be difficult for the mainstream press to ignore.
“In the end,” wrote Skipper Obama in
the mainstream-est of papers, The Times, “this
isn’t about politics. This is about
people’s lives and livelihoods.” He
didn’t say what we all know – that it is mostly about money: the
billions at
stake for scores of HMOs, insurance and drug companies. The
slugging radical Saul Alinsky said the way organized
money can be outscored is through organized people.
Mobilizing the kind of massive rally
whose numbers would
send a compelling message to Congress requires a clutch hitter to come
to the
plate. The Web is awash with urgings for
someone, some group, to get busy. Robert
Reich, for example, called Tuesday for a march on behalf of the public
option,
adding, according to The Politico, that “While he said organizing was
not his
strength, he would be prepared to assist.”
Ralph Nader would surely take part in a
rally along with
Reich, but he doubts it will happen, in part, because young people are
no
longer interested: “This
is
the
third
television
generation,”
he told Truthdig’s Chris
Hedges. “They
have
grown
up
watching
screens.
They
have
not
gone
to
rallies.
Those
are
history
now.
They
hear
their
parents
and
grandparents
talk
about
marches
and
rallies.
They
have
little
toys
and
gizmos
that
they
hold
in
their
hands.
They
have
no
idea
of
any
public
protest
or
activity.
It
is
a
tapestry
of
passivity.”
Nader could well have meant those words as a
challenge…to the old as well
as the young: All of us on the
public-option
team must be willing to line up together in DC, where the nation is
sure to
see.
Back to
the Bronx and Yankee
Stadium’s checkered history: The Village
Voice’s Tom Robbins connects the beginning and end of three decades
this way: “(Among those) leading
the (1976) protest were Gil Gerena-Valentin, who was soon elected city
councilman, and a community and labor activist named José
Rivera, also destined
to become a Bronx political force.
“It
took another 30 years, but in 2006, Macombs Dam was finally plowed
under after
Rivera, then the leader of the Bronx
Democratic party, reached an agreement with Bloomberg and the Yankees
on the
new stadium. In exchange, the team
generously agreed to pay $800,000 annually to Bronx
civic causes.”
- -
-
Baseball’s most glamorous name this week belongs to someone
who has never played in the majors. He’s
San Diego
State pitcher
Stephen Strasburg, signed
for $15.1 million plus incentives by the Washington Nationals. The signing has excited the nation’s capital
and Washington Post’s Tom Boswell:
“Strasburg has put the
Nats
squarely on baseball's map, on the list of can't-miss attractions in
the game
that must be seen. Does he really throw
100 to 102 mph with command? Or is that partly scouts' mythology? Is his 93-mph slider really his best pitch, so
sharp it actually seems to hit something in midair and deflect? And is
Mike
Rizzo, the Nats acting general manager, correct when he says what sets
Strasburg apart is not just his stuff but ‘a fierceness’?”
Baseball
America
calls the Mets one of the amateur-player draft’s biggest “losers” along
with Tampa
Bay, Toronto
and Texas. The magazine identifies the
five
top
“winners”
as
Washington,
KC, Colorado, Baltimore,
Detroit. Here is BA’s take on the Mets’ latest
“nothing-close-to-aggressive” misplay: “While
the
cross-town
Yankees
spend
money
like
nobody's
business
in
the
draft,
the
Mets
toe
the
line.
Sure,
they
paid
top
pick
Steve
Matz
(a
second-rounder)
an
above-slot
bonus,
as
he
got
$895,000,
almost
$400,000
more
than
the
recommended
slot.
That's a Mets rarity…The(y)…failed
to sign their fifth- and sixth-rounders, and only had two players—Matz
and
13th-round pick Zach Dotson, a Georgia prep lefty signed for
$500,000—who
signed for as much as the Yankees gave their 44th-round pick. No large-revenue team uses its money less in
the draft than the Mets.”
- o -
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/18/09)
The Difference
Winning Makes? Ask the Yankees and Obama
Winning changes everything: baseball
fans know that better
than anybody. The opposite is true, too
– in politics as well as baseball. Ask
the fans of Team Obama, worried about a losing streak.
At the season’s start, we remember, the
Yankees were
tarnished by negative stories about the financing of their new
ballpark, how
the land-grab penalized the community, and the park’s inflated ticket
prices. . Then there were the A-Rod
drug-taking
revelations, the frequent early losses and unseemly rash of stadium
home runs.
What thrilled many Obama supporters at
his season’s start
was how he and his team were restoring America’s winning image in
the
world. That perception has taken hits…in
Latin America, Asia and, owing to the faltering health care reform
effort, in
parts of Europe.
Today, the Yanks are leading the majors
in winning
percentage, attendance, and a tangible aura, that of overall dominance. The Stadium is the place to be, or, remotely,
watching Joe Girardi’s juggernaut on YES. The
young
Steinbrenners,
so
patronized
by
the
media
last
winter,
look
for
the
moment
like
(older)
boy
geniuses.
Meanwhile, news that an anti-government
offensive has apparently
balked a key component of Obama’s health care reform pitch - the public
option
- means the president will get watered-down reform, at best. The likelihood of such a compromise when the U.S.
clearly
needs drastic system overhaul astonishes the British. The UK
Independent’s Guy
Adams described how urgent the need is through his report on the
one-week offer
of free medical and dental care in a Los Angeles suburb last week:
"They
came in their
thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted
wristbands
offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a
free
and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some
of
these
Americans
had
walked
miles
simply
to
have
their
blood
pressure
checked,
some
had
slept
in
their
cars
in
the
hope
of
getting
an
eye-test
or
a
mammogram,
others
had
brought
their
children
for
immunizations
that
could
end
up
saving
their
life.
In
the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by
Republicans
as an 'evil and Orwellian' example of everything that is wrong with
free
healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California…
provided a
sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to
reform the
US system."
That the
program was run by a humane outfit called Remote
Area Medical, which often offers services in underdeveloped countries,
is not
lost on the Brits. It only underlines
how bad things are health-wise for many Americans and how badly hurt
Team Obama
will be if real health reform is not achieved.
-
-
-
We mentioned last week Orel Hersheiser’s suggestion that
some players might see their numbers go into free-fall concurrent with
baseball’s latest crackdown on drug use.
The Globe’s Nick Cafardo spotted two-plus examples almost
immediately
without speculating whether having to play drug-free was responsible
for the
declines in performance:
“Chris
Young, CF,
Diamondbacks - There are
a lot of guys in Young’s boat this year - guys who were once good (J.J. Hardy)
but
are
having
inexplicably
bad
seasons.
The
first
rookie
in
major
league
history
with
32
homers
and
27
steals
in
2007,
Young
was
optioned
to
Triple
A
Reno
after
hitting .194 with 7 homers and 28
RBIs in 103 games this year. Arizona has him signed through 2013, with
an $11
million option in 2014. Yikes.”
“Bill
Hall, INF,
Brewers - Designated for
assignment, the versatile Hall has had a terrible season after hitting
35
homers in 2006, but might be a nice piece for a contending team. He can
play
multiple positions, steal a base, and add some pop. Hall, owed $10.5
million by
the Brewers, is still only 29 years old. While Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin was
talking
trade,
teams
may
wait
until
Hall
clears
waivers
rather
than
absorb
the
money.”
Among notable playoff-related
weekend results: the Rays ending a five-game losing streak by taking
two of
three from the Blue Jays. That
bounce-back kept Tampa Bay in the wild card hunt, three games behind
Boston and
(going into of last night’s Minnesota-Texas game) three-and-a-half
behind the
Rangers. The Cardinals sweeping San Diego while
the Cubs
took two of three from the Pirates.
St.Louis thus stretched its lead in the NL Central to five games
over Chicago…pending
the
Cards’
game
with
the
Dodgers
in
LA
last
night.
The Red Sox
will know if they are
slipping into critical condition after their next six games: they face
Ricky
Romero and Roy Halladay in the first two of three games at Toronto beginning
tonight, then three against
the Yankees at Fenway.
-
o
-
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/15/09)
Hope for Team Paterson as We
Forget the
Mets
Earlier this month, a regular reader
suggested a connection
between David Paterson and the Mets:
both needed to “go on a tear”, he said, to avoid falling out of
their
respective races. Since then Paterson has
been running
in place while the Mets have plummeted out of wild-card sight. The governor may not have surged but he’s
held his own; the Mets, on the other field, have looked so bad there’s
now talk
of GM Omar Minaya losing his job before a three-year-contract extension
kicks
in.
We can’t resist re-offering free advice
to the team still in
the game: Paterson can surge by playing “small
ball.” He’s an engaging and effective
conversational
partner going one-on-one with people.
He’s got to do that with members of the media.
We believe getting up close and personal will
stop, or, at least, slow down the print and on-air head-hunting. That plus competent handling of the state’s
challenges should have a positive effect on the polling scorecard. A note on road trips: Governors go nowhere
without an entourage. Paterson would do well to cut the
size of his
travel team to a minimum; too many dugout coaches distract the public’s
focus from
where it belongs.
If the governor were operating on a
Yankees instead of a
Marlins budget, he could commission a national TV spot depicting him as
someone
who has attained political leadership despite disability.
On that score, New Yorkers have much to
admire in their chief executive and should be so reminded through paid
media.
Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo doesn’t have to be reminded that, as AG, he is
in the
catbird seat. He can decline to
participate in pushing out Paterson
in 2010, buoyed by the prospect of four more years of adding to his
public
approval: His “I’ll look into it” works
magic in calming popular fury over the latest hustle or outrage. The gov has no such power.
While Paterson
is comparatively new as NY’s skipper, Minaya has overstayed his time
with the
NYMs. His excuse for placing minimal
emphasis on the Mets’ minor leaguers has been “New Yorkers want big
names.” He should have realized, as
Brian Cashman does, that New Yorkers want it both ways – big ticket
players AND
promising prospects.
Omar’s strategy - fielding a star-studded first
string with
waiver-wire, bargain-basement backups - provided no insurance against
key
injuries. He should be let go. Our guess is that, because of budgetary
considerations, Minaya will be granted a year to reverse the team’s
fortunes. And, given the alternative
suggested by the News’ Adam Rubin - Assistant GM John Ricco, an
administrative
type, taking over for Omar and depending on the player-evaluations of
“deputies” - Minaya remaining would be preferable.
For Mets fans, the most preferable
scenario would be a sale
of the club by Fred Wilpon. His
judgment-challenged
son Jeff has been complicit in - indeed the instigator of - many of the
team’s
bad moves since 2000: the hirings of Art Howe as manager, of Jim
Duquette as
(short-leashed) GM, of Tony Bernazard as vp for player development,
yes, and of
Minaya. In each case, Jeff Wilpon
allowed personal relationships to influence personnel decisions. Given such an error-prone history, it’s clear
that for the Mets to turn things around, a clean house - starting with
the
sweeping out of the Wilpons - is in order. Fans
should
hope
it
happens
in
their
lifetimes.
Updating a stat noted by NY Postman
Kevin Kernan (and
tinkering with his text): “(Going into last
night’s games) the difference between
the Yankees and Mets
(was)…this, the Yankees ha(d) hit 109 more home runs than the Mets this
season.
That's insane.”
It
may
be
equally
insane
to
say
the
Yanks,
Angels,
Phils
and
Dodgers
are
sure
division
winners. But
since that’s the consensus of attentive observers, we can, by
hard-nosed count,
identify 10 teams in the wild-card race, including respective Central
Division
leaders Detroit
and St.Louis. The AL has four – Red Sox, Rangers and
Rays, as
well as the Tigers. The NL: Rockies, Cardinals, Giants, Marlins, Braves and
Cubs.
Do the words of Mike Lowell (quoted by
the Globe’s Nick
Cafardo) constitute a Red Sox white flag vis-à-vis the Yankees? “We
have
to
be
realistic
about
things,
given
where
we
are
right
now.
We’d
love
to
be
in
first
place
and
watch
the
Yankees
battling
for
the
wild
card,
but
that’s
not
what’s
happening…” Answer:
yes…but
the
concession
is
only
good
until
the teams tangle again, beginning next Friday at Fenway.
-
o -
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/13/09)
How Team Goldman and
the Red Sox Got their Edge
In an ideal world there would be an
even playing field -
perfect fairness in baseball, politics, finance…life.
In the real world, we know, everybody’s
looking for an edge. Disclosures over
the past week suggest that, in separate games, the Red Sox and Goldman
Sachs
benefited from unfairness in a way their corporate competitors did not.
We remember in George Mitchell’s ’07
report listing 104
players alleged to have taken performance-enhancement drugs, that he
did not
mention the since-identified Manny Ramirez or David Ortiz.
The Red Sox, for whom Mitchell had worked,
got a pass, while Yankees Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte
were named. Mitchell has denied giving the
Sox favorable
treatment, just as former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - through
his bench
coach – denies arranging a financial edge for Team Goldman during
frequent
pre-bailout confabs with its skipper.
What’s clear at a minimum from the
published work of NY
Timespeople Gretchen Morgenson and Don Van Natta is that Paulson cut
ethical
corners in his generous dealings with Goldman (whose survival depended
on the
rescue of mega-client AIG). Furthermore,
that an air of desperation surrounded the phone calls between the two
former
teammates.
Paulson’s deals cost us taxpayers well
over a hundred
billion dollars, much of which we’re not expected to get back. Yet, even lefty slugger Paul Krugman has
joined a lineup minimizing what Paulson and successor Tim Geithner have
wrought. “Without (the badly handled) bailouts, Krugman says, “things
would
have been much worse.”
Baseball has gone the bailout
minimalists one better. A united front of
the players union, the
commissioner’s office and the Red Sox supports Ortiz’s claim of
ignorance of buying
what were allegedly banned substances over the counter.
“Allegedly” was an operative word at the
Saturday news conference: The validity
of the charges against players on the Mitchell and a separate
government list, as
well as against Ortiz, was questioned. Amid
the
“sludge”
-
Gordon
Edes’
word
(on
Yahoo
Sports)
-
baseball’s
goal
seemed
to
be
to
trivialize
the
game’s
recent
doping
history.
Detroit’s
Jim
Leyland
says
“nobody
cares”
among
the
fans.
ESPN’s
Orel
Hersheiser suggests that fans will
care about some players – those whose performances deteriorate
drastically from
what they were during the steroids era.
Then there are the few players whose
careers take a sudden
upward turn. Toronto’s Marco Scutaro is a prime
current
example. His last four seasons – three
with Oakland,
one
with
the
Blue
Jays,
his
BA’s
were
.247,
.266,
.260,
and
267.
This year, playing regularly at shortstop for
Cito Gaston, Scutaro is batting .296 and, going into yesterday’s game,
led the AL
in hitting on an
0-and-2 count - .423, 11 for 26.
Lob from Left
Field…unloaded
by former NY Timesman Chris Hedges, who refuses to avert his gaze from
the game
Team Obama is playing:
“The
American
empire
has
not
altered
under
Barack
Obama.
It kills as brutally and
indiscriminately in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Pakistan
as it did under George W.
Bush. It steals from the U.S.
treasury
to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It
will
not
give
us
universal
health
care,
abolish
the
Bush
secrecy
laws,
end
torture
or
‘extraordinary
rendition,’
restore
habeas
corpus
or
halt
the
warrantless
wiretapping
and
monitoring
of
citizens.
It
will
not
push
through
significant
environmental
reform,
regulate
Wall
Street
or
end
our
relationship
with
private
contractors
that
provide
mercenary
armies
to
fight
our
imperial
wars
and
produce
useless
and
costly
weapons
systems…If
we have not learned by now that the system is
broken, that
as citizens we do not matter to our political elite, that we live in a
corporate state…we are in serious trouble.” (Truthdig.org)
The
NL’s
wild
card-contending
Giants
have
serious
scheduling
trouble
–
16
games
in
September
against
the
Phillies,
Dodgers,
Rockies
and Cubs. Talk about an edge: the Rockies, vying with SF for the WC lead, open
September
with 13 games against the Mets, Diamondbacks, Reds and Padres.
- o -
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted
8/11/09)
NYC Vote This Fall Could Produce
a Political Ichiro
Just as
Ichiro Suzuki quickly
became the first Asian position player to achieve stardom in
the majors, so
John Liu is seeking to gain political stardom. He's pitching
to become the first Asian
to win city-wide office in New
York.
Ichiro, we know, is
Japanese and
has been playing for nearly a decade with theSeattle Mariners. Liu is Chinese and has
represented Flushing in the Council
for eight years When
Ichiro led the league in batting and won both MVP and
Rookie-of-the-Year awards in 2001,
he triggered an influx of Asian players who would supplement
pitchers like
Hideki Nomo and Hideki Irabu, already established U.S.
performers. Liu could be
making a similar impact in NYC politics.
Liu is one of a strong
four-player
Democratic field in the contest for comptroller.
His opponents are three
fellow Council members - Melinda Katz, David Weprin and
David Yassky. Liu and
Weprin rejected legislation backed by heavy hitters Mike Bloomberg
and
Christine Quinn to extend term limits…and do it in defiance of the
voters’
twice-expressed preference. Katz and Yassky played ball.
For those of us who
believe one's position on anti-democratic power plays to be
decisive, the
choice between the two nay-ers and yea-ers is clear. Liu has an
edge over
Weprin, it says here, because he, more than his fellow Queens
competitor, is pounding away on the baseline issue. “It’s about
upholding the fundamental basis of our law and democracy,” he said when
the
legislation came to a vote. And that has
been his out pitch throughout the campaign.
.
Liu is not
a perfect
candidate. He has an opportunistic
streak displayed when he switched his candidacy to comptroller from the
race
for public advocate. He made that
side-step
move right after Mark Green entered the PA field. His
supporters
called
it
pragmatism. Despite
that hitch in his delivery, Liu serves
as an important model for the Asian community, a Chinese Ichiro,
potentially - in
a political major league.
- -
-
Going into last night’s games,
Ichiro was hitting .363, two points behind Minnesota’s Joe Mauer in the mlb
batting
race. Ichiro led both leagues in hits
with 165, Mauer had 120. The NL batting leader was Florida’s
Hanley
Ramirez, at .348.
“How do you
deal with this bad
stretch of injuries?” Sox manager Terry Francona was asked by Fox’s Joe
Buck during
the game with the Yankees Saturday. By
“not feeling sorry for ourselves,” Tito answered. A
far
cry
from
the
“Oh,
woe
is
us,”
heard
on
at
least
one
team
with
injury
problems.
Nineteen of
30 teams are still
within single digits of division leads, meaning they remain in playoff
consideration. Fans of the two NY teams
are excitement-deprived: the Yanks appear a lock, the Mets locked out,
as far
as post-season play is concerned. The NL
West boasts three (of five ) teams in the hunt – the league-leading
Dodgers and
the two top wild card competitors, the Giants and Rockies. Four of six teams in the NL Central are still
in the scramble for the league’s final four.
- o -
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/8/09)
Bad Calls in Baseball
and Off-Field Contests
The other night, a bad umpiring call at
the Trop almost cost
Tampa Bay a victory over the Red Sox. Everybody - on MLB.com, anyway - agreed that
a runner who reached home safely had passed third base before a ball
went out
of play. The umpires said the tie-breaking
run did not count, the player had to return to third.
(The Rays eventually won, 4-2, on an Evan
Longoria HR in the 13th)
“It’s baseball’s dirty little secret,”
said a neighbor who is
also a fan. “How many really bad calls
there are.” The Henry Gates-James
Crowley confrontation in Cambridge
was clearly a bad call, a simultaneous one: both players overreacting
in a
stressful situation. The good that will
come from that bad episode – a heightened awareness on the part of
police of
reflexive racial profiling, and a new public appreciation of the pressures police feel when facing challenged
citizens who turn hostile – will make things better for everybody. But the tech revolution is reason to believe
police-public interaction will be even better - more restrained - in
the
future.
In baseball, a zone evaluation system
has improved judgment-accuracy
around home plate. Under the system,
umpires’ balls-and-strikes calls are camera-monitored in the 30
major-league
parks. The monitoring is on the way to
eliminating the wide variations in umpiring calls that once existed. And the video-replay policy of
double-checking controversial home run “boundary” calls has been
successful
enough to remain in place. The crew
chief, not a team manager, decides whether replays are needed. Growing tech use will make for fewer and
fewer bad calls and, perhaps eventually, fewer and fewer umpires.
Police work will surely remain a growth
employment
field. But the widening use of miniature
cameras, like those on cell-phones, will help protect the public
against
overzealous police behavior. That
salutary trend began when a witness with a video camera recorded the
beating of
Rodney King by LAPD officers in 1991. Such
equipment has obviously come a long way since then.
-
- -
The pennant races still have a long way to go. But,
as
of
the
start
of
the
second
week
of
the
next-to-last
month
of
the
season,
there
look
to
be
three
sure-things
in
the
eight-team
playoff
picture:
the
Yankees,
Angels
and
Dodgers. The temporary absence of Jason Bay
has probably made the Red Sox seem shakier than they are.
But the playoff-qualifying challenge they
face - fending off the surging Rays while hoping the Rangers fade – is
a big
one. That’s
especially true since the Sox have
eight more games with the Yanks, while the Rays have only three.
When the Braves vetoed in mid-spring
letting Tom Glavine try
a comeback with them, he said he would consider making another attempt
-
perhaps somewhere else - next year. John
Smoltz’s comeback experience with the Sox should prompt Glavine, who
will be 44
next March, to hang it up for good. Here
is how a scout summed up Smoltz’s plight to the Boston Herald’s Sean
McAdam: “He has to
keep that fastball off the middle of the plate, because it’s straight
with no
movement, and he can’t do it. The slider
actually is pretty good, but they’re feasting on that fastball.”
Smoltz’s
future, if he has any with the Sox, would seem to be spotting that
slider often
while pitching out of the bullpen.
-
o
-
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted 8/6/09)
NY’s Governor Can
Learn from the God of Batting
“I’m seeing the ball good,” is
how hot hitters like to
explain why they’re going so well.
That phrase came to mind at a
recent gathering of NY
political friends who were talking about the governor.
“Part of David Paterson’s problem,” someone
said, “is that he can’t make eye-contact.”
The remark – more proposition than statement -
prompted a
quick response. “That’s exactly right,” said a nationally prominent
former
office-holder. “And I don’t know if he
can do anything about it.”
Slumping hitters talk to coaches, look
at tapes, take extra
BP. Paterson is legally blind. Yet he does have partial sight in his right
eye. He has many political problems
beside the physical one. But he has to
do what he can – consult with experts, check the tapes - to communicate
in
something approaching a personal, eye-to-eye way. Why?
It’s almost impossible to establish rapport with members of the
media,
or with voters, if you can’t seem to be focusing, at least briefly, on
each of
them. “I couldn’t tell if I had his
ear,” a staffer was quoted as saying about the governor.
Such a sense of elusiveness is inevitably
reflected in the polls
Paterson
could learn from the
man who was Japan’s
first
baseball
superstar.
Tetsuharu
Kawakami,
a
contemporary
of
Ted
Williams,
was
renowned
for
his
constant
practice
and
intense
focus.
Called the God of Batting, he said he paid
such close attention at the plate he
could “see the pitch stop.” His
disability notwithstanding, Team
NY’s manager must work to
pay
Kawakami-like attention to everyone on the field. Along
with
an
in-charge
message,
he
must
attain
what
performers
describe
as
“just
the
other
side
of
intimacy.”
When we worked briefly with Paterson in the mid-90’s, he
was
concerned about the need for practice, for getting more comfortable at
what was
his plate – the speechmaking podium. He
worried that his visual disability was making him too reticent to speak
publicly. He planned to do something
about that communications problem then.
It would be surprising if, during Andrew Cuomo’s much publicized
“waiting game”, Paterson
isn’t taking his practice hacks now, with eye-contact on a comeback
rally.
-
-
-
Baseball America’s
Jim
Callis
identifies
what
he
considers
the
“most
puzzling”
of
the
July
31
deadline
deals:
“The
Reds' decision to
trade two quality arms (Zack Stewart, Josh Roenicke) to the Blue Jays for Scott Rolen. Cincinnati
isn't in the playoff hunt and Rolen is in the midst of just his second
healthy
and productive season in the last five. He's
an
upgrade
over
Edwin Encarnacion,
who also went to Toronto,
but
Rolen
makes
$11
million
next
year
and
the
Reds
will
miss
Stewart
and
Roenicke.”
Callis cites two other puzzlers - he says the Indians should have
resisted
dealing Cliff Lee to the Phillies and Victor Martinez to the Red Sox: “Lee ($9 million) and
Martinez ($7
million) both had very reasonable club options for 2010, and saving $16
million
isn't going to make the Indians major players for off-season free
agents and
trades. The American League Central lacks anything close to a
powerhouse, so Cleveland could have
contended for a division title next
year with Lee and Martinez.
And
while it was a buyer's market, the Indians sent Lee to
the Phillies and Martinez to the Red
Sox
without getting any of either club's premium young players…Justin
Masterson
(however) could be a No. 3 starter after he transitions back from
relieving for
the Red Sox.”
Stat city: the majors’ top three pitchers,
according to mlb.com, have a
surprise in the number 1 spot. Toronto’s Roy
Halladay is
second on the list, the Giants’ Tim Linecum third – no surprises there. Ahead of those two super aces is Adam
Wainwright
of the Cardinals. Wainwright is 12-7,
with a 2.79 ERA. That he’s rated as tops
is a statistical anomaly as well as a surprise: Halladay is 11-5, 2.75;
Linecum
has the gaudiest stats – 12-3, 2.18, with a majors-leading 191
strikeouts in 22
games.
- o -
(The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/4/09)
Yanquis and Baseball Are
Creating Pariahs
In the aftermath of
baseball’s mad deadline-trade melee, one
thing is clear: the game’s powers-that-be have made pariahs out of
small-market
teams that collect luxury-tax subsidies, then exploit the chance to
unload
big-ticket players. Meanwhile, in the
international political league, the world power is making pariahs out
of many
states that accept its military aid, then play an anti-populist game in
their
bailiwick.
The people who run the Pittsburgh
Pirates were already being
booed for trading away most of their high-salaried players when the
team’s
subsidy figures emerged over the weekend.
A former Bucs’ PR director told the Globe’s Nick Cafardo that,
in
addition to receiving a reported $27 million in subsidies from
big-spending
teams, the Pirates took in another $36 million in shared-TV money. All that before the season started.
The USA
is pouring thousands of troops and hundreds of millions of dollars into
Latin America, an under-reported
region, to stop the
rally toward what the Pentagon has called “radical populism.” The two main home bases for this offensive are
Honduras and Colombia,
where
military
training
and
anti-drug-trafficking
are
official
reasons
for
our
armed
presence. In Honduras, Team Obama’s
acquiescence
in the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya is becoming clearer every day. The State Department has declined to follow
up Barack’s strong words of support for Zelaya with action. A Democracy Now report from the Honduran
capital said Zelaya’s approval of a hike in the minimum wage helped
trigger the
coup. The report suggested that the
United Fruit Company, now called Chiquita, played a major role in the
upheaval. In Colombia,
Team
Obama’s
decision
to
send
U.S.
military personnel to three airfields and two naval bases has
heightened
tensions along the Venezuelan border. A
veteran
Latin American observer sees the move as more than what it’s supposed
to be - a
warning to drug dealers:
“It’s a
signal to the rest of the region that the United States is going to
be using
military means in order to address not just drug trafficking…(but) to
support…counterinsurgency and to carry out (unspecified) operations in
the
region.”
(John Lindsay-Poland on
Democracy Now)
We can’t
expect
that anti-populist signal to be noted by our mainstream media, which
have
chosen their side: Yanqui and business
interests wherever in Latin American they can still be encouraged.
- -
-
The Pirates may be on their way to a 17th
straight losing season, but, depleted roster and all, they are still
trying. The same cannot be said of the
Baltimore Orioles. The O’s have lost 12
of 16 since the All-Star break, managing only a single win in nine
games
against the division-rival Red Sox and Yanks.
Baltimore
did do something constructive before the trade deadline…for the Dodgers. Sending George Sherrill to LA shores up Joe
Torre’s bullpen at a time when relievers tend to get worn down.
Couldn’t say it
better: “If I were
Czar of Baseball you’d come out of spring training with
your team, and that would be your team, other than what you’d produce
from your
farm system. That would stop this nonsense in which the rich get
richer, which
is generally what happens in these matters.”
– Bob Ryan, Boston
Globe
“It was
the sickening desperation of it
all, the feeders feasting on the helpless. Baseball
totally
has
lost
its
vision.”
- Nick Canepa, San Diego
Union-Tribune
A measure of the aridity of the Mets
farm system can be found
in the identity of stopgap pitchers called up from triple-A. Remember Jose Lima (0-4) in 2006?
Jason Vargas (0-1, ERA 12.19 in two games) in
2007? Nelson Figueroa, thrown into the
breach last night, is the latest bad penny.
He has filled the emergency role – in mediocre fashion (3-4) –
throughout 2008 and now.
- o -
The Nub is a team
effort skippered by Dick Starkey.
Comments
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are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
(Posted: 8/1/09)
The Differing Small-Market
Blues in Baseball and Politics
You’re a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Your small-market team has been up against it
– a record-tying number of 16 straight losing seasons.
But this year was going to be different: the
Bucs finished April above .500, and it looked as though ownership’s
promise
that better days were at hand would be realized.
Another small-market team of six U.S.
senators - from Iowa, Maine,
Montana, New
Mexico,
North Dakota and Iowa - are involved in a game of
health care
reform. They’ve promised fans to put
together a bipartisan bill that will insure healthier days ahead for
all
Americans.
Until June, Pirates GM Neal Huntington
rejected the term
“rebuilding” in connection with the team.
But early that month, he traded returning All-Star centerfielder
Nate
McLouth to the Braves and Eric Hinske to the Yankees, then earlier this
week
dealt current All-Star second baseman Freddy Sanchez to the Giants and
former
All-Star Jack Wilson (plus pitcher Ian Snell) to Seattle. And Thursday,
he sent
prize lefty reliever John Grabow and former lefty starter Tom
Gorzelanny to the
Cubs. All those established players (plus
Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett, dealt to the Nats) went in exchange for
prospects or suspects like Lastings Millidge and Joel Hanrahan. The Pirates are now all but certain to set a
new consecutive- losing-season record.
If Pirates fans feel betrayed, imagine
how Americans hopeful
of meaningful health care reform feel: the small-market sextet of three
so-called “centrist” Dems and Repubs have tossed away two key
progressive
proposals: the public option that would provide government-run
competition to
private health insurance programs, and the income surtax on high
earners to
help pay for the reforms.
So we have two disparate
small-market effects: In baseball,
the big-market teams dominate low-budget clubs like the Pirates,
picking off
their high-priced stars and leaving small-market fans frustrated. In
Congressional politics, it’s the small-market veteran players from
mostly rural
states who are in a position to snuff out progressive rallies; they
apparently
will get to decide what kind of health care reform Americans – most
from larger
states with sizeable urban populations – are to receive.
The center-right has seized
on the costs of proposed
substantive changes in our health care system to signal stop. Meanwhile, defense spending rises with little
complaint from both sides of the Congressional playing field. Chalmers Johnson, author of “Sorrows of
Empire,” has some eye-opening stats on our world-wide military
investments:
“According
to
the
2008
official
Pentagon
inventory
of
our
military
bases
around
the
world,
our
empire
consists
of
865
facilities
in
more
than
40
countries
and
overseas
U.S.
territories. We deploy over 190,000 troops in 46 countries and
territories. In
just one such country, Japan,
at
the
end
of
March
2008,
we
still
had
99,295
people
connected
to
U.S.
military
forces living and working there -- 49,364 members of our armed
services, 45,753
dependent family members, and 4,178 civilian employees. Some 13,975 of
these
were crowded into the small island
of Okinawa, the largest
concentration of foreign troops
anywhere in Japan.
“These
massive
concentrations
of
American
military
power
outside
the
United
States are not
needed for our defense. They
are, if anything, a prime contributor to our numerous conflicts with
other
countries. They are also unimaginably expensive. According
to
Anita
Dancs,
an
analyst
for
the
website
Foreign
Policy
in
Focus,
the
United
States spends
approximately
$250 billion each year maintaining its global military presence. The
sole
purpose of this is to give us hegemony -- that is, control or dominance
-- over
as many nations on the planet as possible
- -
-
The Nub has never liked the non-waiver deadline deals that
occur each season and, in general, benefit the wealthier teams while
consigning
the less wealthy to wait another year.
Nevertheless, key trades that have been completed require
acknowledgment. We rate them this way:
Super-clinchers – Cliff Lee (Indians)
to the Phillies,
George Sherrill (Orioles) to the Dodgers
(both teams seemed to be division winners anyway).
Possible clinchers – Jarrod Washburn
(Mariners) to Tigers,
Freddy Sanchez (Pirates) to the Giants,Victor Martinez to Red Sox (SF
is now a valid wild card
threat, Sox have solidified their wild card status, at least).
Anything can happen – Mark
DeRosa
(Indians and Julio Lugo
(Red Sox) to Cardinals; John Grabow (Pirates) to Cubs
(Both teams
now look to have an edge on
Brewers in NL Central).
Staying alive – Orlando Cabrera (A’s) to Twins. (Minnesota
not conceding AL Central)
-
o
-
(The Nub is a team effort skippered by
Dick
Starkey. Comments
to dickstar@aol.com
are welcome, as are subscription requests.
Previous Nubs can be found by scrolling below.)
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