Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Derek Lowe would be sensational in Boston, placed right there next to Nomar Garciaparra and Manny Ramirez and, possibly, free agent closer Keith Foulke. And if the Red Sox and Alex Rodriguez are able to turn what appears to be mutual interest into action over the winter, even if it costs a Garciaparra or a Ramirez, well, the Red Sox will be even more of a threat to George Steinbrenner's sanity than they were last summer.
"Victory is second only to breathing," King George huffed in one of a series of whacked-out statements issued this fall.
And now you can imagine how things are going down at the Yankees' organizational meetings in Tampa, Fla., this week knowing that the guys who play Aaron Burr to the Yankees' Alexander Hamilton stuck it to them by striking for Schilling (even though the deal isn't yet signed off on).
Lowly subordinate: "Uh, excuse the interruption, but Mr. Steinbrenner? We've just learned that Boston has a deal in place to acquire Schilling for three rolls of toilet paper and a flyswatter."
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| Curt Schilling, talking to reporters outside his home Monday, would give Boston a second ace.(AP) |
All this and Steinbrenner's beloved Ohio State Buckeyes were manhandled by Derek Jeter's Michigan Wolverines on Saturday. The Yankees are going to have to hire extra window-washers to scrub the saliva spray off of the glass and furniture in King George's office.
Yes, the Red Sox are intent on closing that five-out gap between themselves and the World Series by whatever means necessary. General manager Theo Epstein continues to establish himself as a man of action.
And the Yankees, who sent Arizona packing when the Diamondbacks demanded second baseman Alfonso Soriano and first baseman Nick Johnson for Schilling, undoubtedly are incensed that the Diamondbacks would dare deal the ace pitcher to their hated rivals for ... Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon and some other prospects whose names nobody can remember?
Meanwhile, as for a team that actually has won a World Series within the past few seasons ... just because the Diamondbacks are intent on dealing one of their aces, cutting payroll and reorganizing their roster doesn't mean that they are turning into the Milwaukee Brewers.
Trading Schilling has become more of an urgent matter in recent days, sources close to Arizona owner Jerry Colangelo say. He is determined to shrink the payroll from $94 million last year to $80 million in 2004 -- and all the way down to $55 million in '05 -- and that determination is part of why, after the dickering with the Yanks for Soriano and Johnson, the order came down to get a deal done, yesterday.
Basically, after a few weeks of negotiating, Colangelo finally told his people enough. Arizona wants to add offense, such as the Brewers' Richie Sexson. It is going to cost $7 million or $8 million to do that for '04, which is doable just as soon as the Diamondbacks delete Schilling's $12 million from their computer ledger.
What makes this different than your basic, stripped-down-model Salary Dump is the way Arizona's farm system produced last summer. The emergence of Brandon Webb, who challenged for NL rookie of the year, gives the Diamondbacks someone who maybe can't replace a Schilling, but someone who can team with Randy Johnson to still provide a top-notch one-two punch at the top of the rotation.
And don't forget the emergence of middle reliever Oscar Villareal, who appeared in 86 games and remains a candidate -- in pencil, not in pen -- to join the Arizona rotation someday. And there are youngsters John Patterson, Chris Capuano, Andrew Good and Edgar Gonzalez, who each started games for the D-Backs in '03.
"It can't be overestimated how big it was," Arizona GM Joe Garagiola Jr. said this week, speaking of Webb's emergence. "Our plan, going back four years to after the '98 season, was to bring in veteran players to try and put a very competitive team on the field -- while recognizing that the only way we could structure the contracts was to defer a lot of money. Which is what we did.
"But we knew the time would come about in '03 or '04 when the deferred payments would come due and we'd have to rely on the scouting and player development system. Because everything would have to (depend) on an infusion of zero-to-three (years' of service time) players.
"Now it's '03 and, sure enough, here we are."
The future is never guaranteed and, perhaps in the end, the Webbs, Capuanos, Pattersons and position players such as shortstop Alex Cintron, catcher Robby Hammock and infielder Matt Kata will not form the nucleus of another World Series team for the Diamondbacks.
But maybe they will. And what makes this situation different than, say, that in Milwaukee, where the Brewers are adding to the misery of 11 consecutive losing seasons by chopping their payroll to $30 million -- a decision that resulted in a Civil War inside the Brewers' organization that led to the resignation of president Ulice Payne -- is that the Diamondbacks are reorganizing, not rebuilding. And they appear to have real prospects.
"It was absolutely essential, in terms of our ability to remain competitive, that these young players emerge from our system as we began to feel the weight of the deferred payments that went on the books in '99, 2000 and '01," Garagiola said. "So far, so good. And I tell you, there is nothing more uplifting to your overall scouting and player development system than to have your players coming up and maturing in the big leagues.
"For the guys out there driving around seeing three games a day in the Pioneer League or somewhere, then to go somewhere that night and see one of our games on a satellite dish and to see some of these players doing what they were doing ..."
Well, to borrow from a certain credit card commercial, it's priceless. Literally.
Because if it allows a club the luxury of dealing a Schilling, adding a bopper such as Sexson for the middle of the lineup and continue to remain competitive, well, that's the purpose of a development system. To produce good, young players who blossom while the old, expensive (and, sometimes, tired) ones are pruned away.
Figuring on a plan without Schilling next season, the Arizona rotation likely will start with a healthy Johnson, followed by Webb, Elmer Dessens, possibly another veteran starter Arizona will target (and don't underestimate the notion that they may re-sign Miguel Batista). Then, in the No. 5 slot, probably a Capuano, Patterson, Gonzalez or, possibly even Casey Fossum, the lefty they are set to acquire from Boston.
The Diamondbacks still have plenty of work to do this winter -- as does just about everybody else. Boston has no plans to slow down -- keep watching the A-Rod situation very closely -- and the Yankees, well, we know recent history there. Once one of the Big Two in the AL East makes a move, the other usually attempts to match.
The only certainty in this whole mix as we kick off the winter shopping spree is that Steinbrenner's Yankees will move quickly and will move big. Expect them to wrap up free-agent lefty Andy Pettitte, or perhaps slugging outfielder Gary Sheffield, if hands get shaken on the Schilling deal.
Pettitte remains expected to return to the Bronx. Sheffield is deciding between the Yankees and Atlanta, and with Schilling on deck to Boston, I'm awfully nervous if I'm the Braves right now. It is the Yankees' style to over-react in a grandiose way in these situations, and the Braves' well does not run nearly as deep as the Yankees'.
Translation: There well could be a loud cha-ching! sound in Sheffield's house any day now.
"It is so hard, the challenges are so complex and so difficult, to operate your own club," Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz said Tuesday when asked about Sheffield. "If I worry about running another team, they'd have to put me in a padded room.
"I think we've done a pretty good job operating on our own. Different sets of circumstances exist in New York than in Boston or in Atlanta. I just worry about what is going on here."
That's all well and good in theory, but once the dominoes begin tumbling, there are wide-ranging effects -- welcome to some clubs, not-so-welcome to others. What everybody in the industry is waiting for now is to see in which directions the tremors of this proposed Arizona-Boston deal travel. Because the effects will be felt all over -- some more severely than others.
Frost on Peachtree Street -- and beyond
Most think that the cold winds and overnight rain that caused temperatures to dip significantly in Atlanta earlier this week were the work of a lone plotter, Mother Nature. But the conspiracy theorists out there are certain that the frigid climate was brought about in part by last week's shakeup in the Braves' front office in which longtime president Stan Kasten stepped down.
The Braves named two new executives to oversee sales, marketing and business operations after six seasons of declining attendance. And Terry McGuirk, who replaced Kasten as president, said last week that the payroll will be reduced.
All in all, it adds up to a seemingly ominous atmosphere for the Braves, whose payroll is not expected to top $80 million next season. But Schuerolz doesn't necessarily agree that the bean counters are encroaching more and more on the organization.
"The outside world has been trying to characterize it that way for the past four or five years, ever since Ted Turner sold," Schuerholz said. "That's been the view of what's happened to the organization from the outside world. But that's not what's happened.
"What's happened to our organization, like many others in basketball, football and hockey, is that we've been affected by the economy. It's not about the bean counters, it's about how many beans you have. The economy has not been good in our country, and the economy has not been good in our city. We'll adjust.
"You know, we've got the longest streak of divisional titles in professional sports (12 in a row). Do you know what the second-longest streak is in professional sports history? The number of times the so-called experts have predicted our demise."
Yes, but how the Braves -- and, particularly, Schuerholz -- adjust to Life After Kasten will be an interesting study. Many around the Braves' organization are sure that Kasten left because he will not enjoy operating in what more and more is becoming a corporate Braves world.
What is indisputable is this: As Braves president, Kasten hired Schuerholz after the 1990 season, and the wildly successful Atlanta GM never has had to answer to another boss.
On that level, particularly, Schuerholz said he will miss Kasten.
"It will be different, for sure," Schuerholz said. "Stan was a delight for me to work with. He was smart, he was energetic, and he has a passion and an enjoyment for sports beyond any measure.
"He has an instinct for the pressures and aggravation of being a GM and the difficulties we have, and that was always very comforting to me."
Spahn and Sain and a moment of silence
There are many great stories surrounding Warren Spahn, the legendary Hall of Famer who died this week at 82, but for memorable moments, his inclusion in the most memorable baseball jingle this side of Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance is difficult to top.
It was in 1948, as Spahn was en route to becoming the majors' winningest left-hander of all time, that the Boston Post published the poem that would follow Spahn and fellow ace Johnny Sain around for the rest of his days:
First we'll use Spahn, then we'll use Sain
Then an off
day followed by rain
Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain
And followed, we
hope, by two days of rain.
Spahn compiled 363 victories during his 21 seasons, a career that was interrupted by service in World War II. A total of 356 of those victories came while he was pitching for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, and they erected a statue of him last August outside of Turner Field in Atlanta.
"He was a real big fan of our organization and what we've accomplished," Schuerholz said. "We all loved Warren, and we will miss him dearly.
"Here's a guy who, as he grew older and his health began to fail, never lost his intellect or his sense of humor. He was sharp as a tack from the first day I saw him 20 years ago to the last time I saw him in August."
Cooperstown bound?
Don't let the opportunity to help shape the final ballot for the 2004 Ford C. Frick Award pass you by. Our friends at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., are preparing to formulate the final ballot for the annual induction of a broadcaster, and fans are welcome to vote on three candidates to appear on the ballot through Monday, Dec. 1, at baseballhalloffame.org.
For the first time, fans are being granted the opportunity to be included in the process. The top three vote-getters among broadcasters in the fan poll will be incorporated into the 10-name final ballot to be released on Dec. 11.
From there, the Frick electorate -- including all living award winners and six historians appointed by the Hall of Fame -- will vote to determine the final award winner to be inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the Hall next summer. To be considered, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major-league broadcasting service with a ball club, network or a combination of the two.
Bios of more than 150 candidates appear at the site. Fans are allowed to vote once daily. Those voting will be asked to base selections on the following criteria: Longevity, continuity with a club, honors (including national assignments such as the World Series and All-Star Games) and popularity with fans.
Paper ballots will be cast by the electorate in January and the final results will be announced in February.
Short Hops
- Mel Stottlemyre returning as Yankees pitching coach -- he was considering retirement -- is expected to sway Andy Pettitte's decision further toward New York. As if the Yankees would ever let him get away.
- While it still seems difficult to believe Atlanta will allow free agent Greg Maddux to win his 300th game elsewhere, Schuerholz figures stranger things have happened: "Listen, this is modern-day professional sports," he said. "It's not hard to envision anything happening with anybody. This is life in the professional sports arena now. You do the best you can, and hopefully it works out."
- Anaheim and Baltimore continue to woo Montreal outfielder Vladimir Guerrero.
- If Arizona doesn't wind up obtaining Sexson in a back-end deal after the Schilling-to-Boston trade, the lanky first baseman might wind up in the NL West opposite the Diamondbacks. Los Angeles and San Francisco remain interested.
- New Comiskey Park -- and yes, we steadfastly continue to refuse to use these new corporate names whenever possible regarding the ballparks -- is undergoing a facelift. Construction is under way to remove the last eight rows of seats all around the upper deck, which most fans disliked as being far too steep, anyway. A new roof will be erected over part of the upper deck, and seating will be reduced to around 42,000 from just over 48,000.
- The New York Mets haven't given up on signing free-agent closer Keith Foulke despite his visit to Boston and his attending a Celtics game with Red Sox GM Theo Epstein this week.
- The Cardinals, who want to improve their relief corps, will put Evan Rust, acquired from Tampa Bay in last week's Tino Martinez deal, into the bullpen mix this spring. Rust, 25, set a Devil Rays minor-league saves record in 2002 but has yet to pitch more than 36 professional innings above the Double-A level.
- Cooperating with the city of Chicago to attempt to do their part to ease rush hour traffic, the Cubs will play their Friday afternoon games at 1:20 p.m., rather than at 2:20, next summer.
- So far so good in Toronto, where savvy GM J.P. Ricciardi has essentially replaced Kelvim Escobar, who signed with Anaheim on Monday, and Cory Lidle with Ted Lilly and Pat Hentgen.
- Don't be surprised if former St. Louis leadoff man and second baseman Fernando Vina signs with the New York Mets.
- Nice move this week by Anaheim, who quietly reinstated suspended television broadcaster Rex Hudler. The Wonder Dog, who was arrested and charged with marijuana possession in a highly embarrassing episode in Kansas City last summer, took responsibility for his actions and apologized, and here's hoping one of the game's good guys continues to contribute to baseball while staying on the straight and narrow.
