Baseball Musings 10/31/05

First off, The Red Sox
Can they do anything without drama?

Epstein signs - See? I told you so. 3 years/~$1.5 million. Now we can get down to business ....

Manny Manny Manny - 2 weeks ago, I was the staunches supporter of Manny staying next year. The guy is possibly the best right handed hitter in baseball, and thats hard (no, impossible) to replace. However, after his latest (leaked) demand to be traded or he won't show up for Spring Training, it seems like Manny's tenure with the Sox is over. Much like the Seattle Monorail Fiasco, Manny has taken it one step too far in his on-again/off-again relationship with the Sox. I hate to see him go anywhere else in the AL, but that may be the case. He has 10/5 rights to veto any trade and has already said he wants to go to Los Angeles (of Anaheim) or Cleveland. Cleveland is unlikely with the money involved, but Arturo Moreno likes hispanic superstars and has deep pockets. Maybe the Sox can get Ervin Santana, Casey Kotchman and Darin Erstad (+ PTBN?) for Manny. Even with thats, its hard to replace a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Other MLB News

dePo gets canned - The first Moneyball failure? Thats what some writers want to call it. Instead, I think Dodgers owner Frank McCourt hired dePo as a trendy move towards the "moneyball" movement. However, he then surrounded himself with old school advisors like Tommy LaSorda who likely bristled at dePo's moves (trade Paul LoDuca? But he's a gamer!) If there anything we can learn from Moneyball, its that you can't change a team overnight, but the Dodgers weren't willing to wait, especially with free spending (and successful) Arturo Moreno making the Angels big SoCal winners. dePo will end up somewhere, whether as an assistant to Billy Beane or Epstein, or maybe even in Tampa Bay, but you have to feel bad for the lack of a real chance he had to make the Dodgers respectible again.

Cashman reups - Nothing negates a hatred for your boss like big money.

Roger McDowell becomes Braves pitching coach - Most of my memories of Roger McDowell, besides being an OK relief pitcher (think the late 80s/early 90s version of Mike Timlin), is that he was a nut. Interesting to see how he compares to ever-serious Leo Mazzone, eh?