You better watch out…I’ll try not to cry…I’ll probably pout…

Screw it, I’m in no mood to write another song just yet. Johan Santana, according to media reports, is bound for the New York Mets, pending a contract extension. And, barring failure of said contract extension, I’m pretty disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy that the Sox did not offer Ellsbury and Lester for Santana, but I am sad that the Twins decided the Mets’ package was better than one or the other, along with Coco Crisp.

As has been well established throughout recent baseball history: a great pitching staff is far more formidable than a great offense. While Ellsbury, assuming everything works out as projected, will be a solid addition to the Boston lineup, Santana would have been more valuable in the starting rotation. Am I the only one who has some concerns about the rotation as presently constituted? Beckett is great, and we can figure on him to have another strong year, but beyond that there are question marks. Matsusaka will do better; after all, it’s his second year; he’s had time to adjust…we think. In reality Daisuke could struggle with his control just as much as he did this year, and remain a middle-of-the-road, number two starter. Beyond that things are very uncertain, what with the age of Schilling and Wakefield, and the uncertainty of Clay Buchholz and John Lester. I would’ve felt much better with two dominating aces in the rotation, even at the cost of a potential lead-off hitting all star. A guaranteed half-decade of AL East superiority is now in question. One day we may look back on this non-trade and smile, but for now I wish the Twins would’ve seen things differently and taken the Sox’ package over the Mets’.

On a happier note, I now pledge to watch at least one Bruins game per week. It’s easy to forget about the one team in Boston that is not in the process of making history, but the Bruins are a fun team to watch. In a year where we root for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics, expecting them to excel, it is refreshing to have a team to root for which is just trying to hang on to make the playoffs. It took sitting rinkside at the game today to remind me, but hockey can be damn entertaining. Honestly, check out this view, how could you not get excited:

The Orioles have thrown in the towel. News reports today indicate that Erik Bedard is going to be traded from Baltimore to the Seattle Mariners. In return, the Orioles will receive a package of Adam Jones, one of the Mariners’ top prospects; George Sherill, a little known relief pitcher coming off a solid year; Chris Tillman, a 20-year-old second round draft pick who’s played one year of A-ball; and an unnamed fourth player, who, being unnamed, is likely not in the same class as the other prospects.

I believe that this is a poor trade for the Orioles. Bedard, who is 29 years old, is one of the best lefty hurlers in baseball, and has improved his pitching every year he’s been in the league. For a man of his age he has not been in the Majors very long (4 full years), which limits the number of innings he has thrown (658) in contrast with a guy like Johann Santana who, at the same age, has tossed 1308 major league innings. Although the Orioles are in a rebuilding phase, Bedard is not eligible for free agency until after the 2009 season. Until then, he can be had for relatively cheaply. If the Orioles determined closer to 2010 that they were still not in a position to sign Bedard, they could trade him away and recieve significant value, especially if Bedard continues to improve. I just don’t think its worth trading away your team’s one exciting player when he will be relatively young in the years you hope to contend, he isn’t breaking the bank, and he can be a centerpiece around which to build a team. While the O’s are getting some fairly highly regarded prospects, unproven players meet expectations at a very low rate. Is it worth sacrificing the only chance you have at a decent team for a couple of hit or miss prospects? I don’t think so.

It will be interesting to see how this trade affects the dynamic of the American League East this year. The Red Sox and Yankees are still clearly the two teams to beat, and now that the Orioles have taken a huge step backwards they will likely complete the job they started last year and finish in last behind the up-and-coming Rays. While the Rays and Blue Jays have little hope of winning the division, they should face an intense battle for third. The re-signing of Carlos Pena by Tampa Bay was a surprise to me, and represents a newly evident commitment to retain players who perform well. Both the Rays and the Jays have a good chance to finish above .500 this year, as they should be able to beat up on the Orioles, who may win the dubious honor of being the first team mathematically eliminated in 2008.

The Hall of Fame voting was released today, and Jim Rice fell just short of making it in (congratulations to Goose Gossage on his election). Rice received 72.2% of the vote, just 16 votes short of the necessary 75%. Rice, who has been on the ballot since 1995, has one last chance to be elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

As I’ve said before I believe Rice should be in the Hall of Fame, and think he will get enough votes next year to make it. The number of votes Rice receives has steadily increased since 2003, after hovering in the mid 50%’s since 2000. In 2003, Rice received 52.2% of the vote, 20% less than this year. 2007 was the only deviation from this trend (1.3% less than 2006), but was caused in large part by the eligibility of Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn that year. The most distinguished newcomer next year is Rickey Henderson, who should make it easily, but I don’t feel his presence will be enough to derail Rice’s attempt, given that some voters should be swung by the fact that it will be his last chance on the ballot.

60 Minutes

Who else just watched 60 Minutes and found the gangster story much more interesting than the Clemens interview? Had the John Martorano story run a few months earlier Clemens could’ve hired him to take out McNamee. Oh well.

I can’t say I’m surprised but the Clemens interview didn’t sway me in one direction or the other. What Clemens needed to do to help his case was give a satisfactory answer as to why his friend McNamee would lie, yet when asked that question his response was along the lines of “I don’t know”. Given that this was the most important part of the interview I wish that Mike Wallace (like Theo Epstein, Bob Kraft, and myself, a distinguished graduate of Brookline High School, by the way) had spent more time on it. As it is, I am still not 100% convinced that Clemens is guilty, but if I had to bet on it I’d say he was.

tick…tick…tick…tick…

Celtics better than the West?

After the Celtics finished off the Pistons yesterday I pointed out to my friend Colin, a Chicago Bulls fan (he grew up in 90’s and likes the Bulls, Cowboys, and Yankees; needless to say he is not at all “beyond the bandwagon”), that the Celtics could very well break the Bulls’ single season win record. At this point my other friend John suggested that they would have an easy time since the Eastern Conference is weak. While the East may be weaker than the West I disagreed with this notion, since the East has several good, and two very good teams. John countered that Dallas, the Suns, and the Spurs were better than any team in the East, including the Celtics. Given that much is made about whether the Celts are as good as teams in the West I have decided to take this notion on.

First and foremost, the Celtics are 10-0 against Western teams. What’s that you say? They haven’t yet played any of the elite west teams? Fair enough, but lets see what those “elite” teams have done against the same Western competition. The Celtics have played Denver, Golden State, Houston, LA Lakers, Memphis, Sacramento, Seattle, and Utah (the Lakers and Kings twice). The Spurs are a pedestrian 9-5 against those teams, Dallas (who amazingly have played those conference foes only the same number of times as the Celtics) are 8-2, and the Suns are only 7-4. A combined 24-11 is not a bad record, to be sure, but its certainly not 10-0, and shows that the teams the Celtics have beat can win against tough competition. The Celts don’t play any of those teams until Dallas comes to town on January 31, but until then they’ve proven to be as good, if not better, than the good Western conference teams.

Jim Rice to the Hall?

There is a lot of talk swirling that this may be the year Jim Rice finally makes it into the Hall of Fame, given the weak competition for votes. I can’t say I had ever done do much analysis on this, and having been too young to see Rice’s career I had no first hand experience, but I was always skeptical just looking at his career numbers that he belonged in the Hall of Fame. After reading this column on ESPN, however, I am convinced that he does; it is a good read for those of you that have not seen it.

That’s it for now, I hope everyone has had a joyful beginning to 2008, its looking to be a great year for New England sports.

P.S. In case you’re scratching your head at the title of this post, read it to the tune of the Bernie and Phyls jingle. Fine…it still sucks. F*** you.