On Salaries in Baseball

The following was a satirical essay I wrote last year.

$28 million. With that kind of money, you could buy 605 Chevrolet Corvettes, almost two mansions the size of John W. Henry’s Brookline monstrosity, 14 million bottles of Coca-Cola from over-expensive Boston vending machines, or one year of Alex Rodriguez. Boston slugger Manny Ramirez made $21 million last year, Giants ace Barry Zito is making $18 million a year, future hall-of-famer Roger Clemens made $19 million for half a season (that’s $11,995 a pitch) and Twins pitcher Johan Santana is supposedly looking for a contract in the area of $25 million a year. Why, you ask, are baseball contracts so inflated? Simply because the players are that much better than everyone else.
In fact, they are sadly underpaid. “I guess I’ll have to get a second job.” Said future hall-of-famer Greg Maddux when told that his rivals Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson would make more than him. These poor men, who dedicate their lives to giving us joy, can only afford one island apiece. We live our lives through them, those dreams of playing childhood games into our late 30’s and (with the help of steroids) 40’s. In baseball the fans praise those who fail 70% of the time and harass those who fail 75% of the time. With such a small margin between failure and success, wouldn’t you need a fleet of private jets to take you to Hawaii on a whim?
For those who complain about unfair wages, I ask you this. Can a police officer throw a 95-mile-an-hour fastball? Can a history teacher hit a ball 400 feet? I don’t think so. In this country we base our salaries on the important things, fielding ground balls, rather than such frivolous wastes of time as saving lives and molding young minds.
Sadly, it wasn’t always this way. In the 1960’s, star Red Sox hurler Bill “Spaceman” Lee complained, “We weren’t playing for money. They gave us Mickey Mouse watches that ran backwards.” Even the highest payed stars of that era made little more than $100,000 a year. You couldn’t even afford a mansion on that salary. How can a player work on becoming as good as they can be, while worrying about paying the mortgage on their second home every month? That’s just insane. Even today some players don’t earn the salaries they deserve. Not just anyone can avoid making an error in the field for 162 straight days. So why does Kevin Youkilis only make $380,000 a year? That’s practically the poverty line.
If you are one of those people who say professional athletes make too much money, don’t forget that baseball is the national pastime of the United States of America. Therefore, it stands to reason that if you don’t agree with me, you are probably a communist and thus should be hastily deported.

Chasing the Rays

It seems so strange, that the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees would both be at the mercy of a team that was just formed in 1998, and has never finished above last place in the division. Maybe taking the “Devil” out of the name was all they needed down at the Trop. As I write this, the Red Sox and Rays are in the 10th inning, with the Sox looking to move within 1/2 game of first place with a win. Last night took Red Sox fans on an emotional roller coaster, from Jason Bay’s go-ahead home run in the 8th inning, to Jonathan Papelbon’s first blown save since June in the 9th, and finally to Jacoby Ellsbury being stranded on third to end the ballgame. Hopefully tonight, we’ll see some more positive results. In other news, the Angels clinched the AL West today, as they defeated the Yankees. Those Yankees now are all but dead, now being over 10 games back of first place. The Blue Jays have been putting up a fight lately, but it’s simply too little to late for them.

Now, the Rays. They have been struggling lately, as can be evidenced by their recent series against the Jays and the way they’ve been playing against the Red Sox. If we replayed last night’s game 100 times from the 9th on, they would probably lose that game 95-99 times. They simply got lucky that Paps was having a rare off-night. Now, I don’t  believe that the Rays have the experience (I mean, come on, their oldest starter is 26) to maintain the level of play they were having in July and August. My gut feeling is that the Red Sox will win the division, with the Rays still easily picking up the wildcard berth over the struggling Twins. The Red Sox should defeat the White Sox easily, who are without a doubt the worst playoff team from the American League in my projection. Now, the Rays versus the Angels would be a good series, but you have to think that the Angels would likely get the better of it. However, any one of those three teams (Boston, Tampa, and LA) are good enough to make the World Series, and even win it. Just think of the top three starters on each team; Beckett, Matsuzaka, and Lester for Boston, Lackey, Santana, and Weaver for LA, and Kazmir, Shields, and Sonnanstine for Tampa Bay. Every one of those pitchers gives the team a chance to win every time they toe the rubber. If it comes down to offense, LA probably has the strongest, although they have been slipping lately. The Red Sox, with their two MVP candidates, are also very good offensively, and that’s without even considering Ortiz, Bay, or Ellsbury. The Rays seem to be the weakest of the three teams in this regard, especially while Longoria, Crawford, and Upton are all sidelined.

Prospect to Watch: One guy I’ve always been a fan of, based purely on his upside, is George Kottaras. He was a highly touted prospect in the Padres organization before he came to Boston in the 2006 trade that sent David Wells to San Diego. He made an immediate impact, helping the Portland Sea Dogs win the 2006 Eastern League Championship. In 2008, despite limited playing time, he managed to hit over 20 home runs for Triple-A Pawtucket. However, his average sat around .250, something he’s going to have to improve if he wants to take Varitek’s place as the backstop for the Red Sox. He was called up to the Majors a few days ago, and it will be interesting to see what he can accomplish in the remainder of the season.

Lugo’s Injury: Blessing in Disguise?

If you could name one player on the Red Sox who wasn’t pulling his weight on the team, in any sense, that player would very likely be Julio Lugo. He couldn’t be traded because of his lackluster performance and large contract. Now that he is going to be on the disabled list for at least the next month, Jed Lowrie has a chance to shine in the major leagues. Now if he fails, we’re stuck with a month or more of Alex Cora playing shortstop, which could be even worse than Lugo. However, if he succeeds the Red Sox could have a viable option for a starter next year, despite Lugo. In the offseason, it’s likely that some team will be desperate for a shortstop, and Lugo might be more dealable. However, this is by no means a sure bet. Even if Lowrie has success, Lugo could still block his way. At the very least, we would have a solid replacement for Cora. This is his chance to prove that his .260 average in Pawtucket was not indicative of his skills, rather. that the amount of success he had in his cup of coffee earlier in the year is what we can expect from him in the future

Kevin Youkilis was one hit shy of the cycle in consecutive games this past week. An all-star if I ever saw one.

Kevin Youkilis

Mid-Season Report Card

Well, we’re just past the half-way point on this insane season. So far we’ve had a variety of surprises, including the new-look team from Tampa Bay sitting atop the AL East and the powerhouse Tigers sitting under .500. The Yankees have been terrible, more so than even I thought, and the entire NL West could finish the year under .500. So far, the Red Sox have performed admirably in this upside-down pennant race, despite losing star slugger David Ortiz and having Manny Ramirez battling a hamstring injury. Sure, we’re 4 games back of the Rays, but at least we’re not mired in an offense-less quandary like our pals in New York.

The Offense
The offense has performed very well in the first half of the season, considering Ortiz’s absence and Manny’s injury. Much of this can be attributed to J.D. Drew finally earning that paycheck of his, but you cannot forget the contributions of Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, and Dustin Pedroia. Heck, of those four guys, three are all-stars for the first time this year. Lowell missed making the team (at least so far. We don’t know who will take Big Papi’s spot on the team, but it probably won’t be a Red Sox player, considering there are seven on the team already.), but there is no doubt he deserves to be there.

One man who did make the team has also been one of the worst players on the Red Sox offensively. Jason Varitek, our captain, has been horrendous at the plate thus far, hitting just above .200. While he has been slightly better batting from the right side, V-Tek isn’t about to give up his switch-hitting ways. How he made it onto the all-star team is beyond me. Apparently his peers have more respect for his talents than the fans do. Don’t get me wrong. Varitek is the heart and soul of the Red Sox. He makes every pitcher he works with that much better. But he just can’t hit like he used to. I hope he proves me wrong in the second half, but I wouldn’t count on it. With his contract expiring at the end of this season, the Red Sox need to think long and hard about whether or not to keep him around. I remember what happened in 2006 when Varitek went on the DL. Our entire pitching staff imploded. And it’s not like we have any replacements ready within the organization. Sorry, George Kottaras, I had high hopes for you, but apparently Red Sox management sees it fit to play you second string in Pawtucket to Dusty Brown. Hooray for crappy journeymen!

Speaking of crappy journeymen, there is one player on the Red Sox offense that irks me more than the captain. His name: Julio Lugo. The man can’t hit, he can’t run, and he can’t play defense. He’s the worst defensive shortstop the Red Sox have seen in quite some time, and his batting average is hovering right around Varitek’s. How can the offense be expected to produce when the bottom third is Coco Crisp, Jason Varitek, and Julio Lugo? And, as Julio has absolutely no trade value, it appears we are stuck with him for the foreseeable future. Which is a shame, because I, for one, would be very open to the return of Orlando Cabrera to Fenway Park.

So for highs and lows, but mostly highs, the Red Sox offense gets a B+ for their first half performance.

The Rotation
A wise man once said that pitching wins championships and the Red Sox have used the formula in the past. In 2004 we had Pedro and Schilling. In 2007 we had Beckett (and did we have Beckett), Schilling, and Matsuzaka. This year out pitching has the potential to be better than ever. Despite losing Curt Schilling to a preseason injury, we still have Beckett, who hasn’t been his 2007 self, but has been getting better as of late, a new and improved Daisuke Matsuzaka, who, when he isn’t walking people, is one of the best pitchers in the league this year, and Jon Lester, who very well could be considered the most consistently good pitcher on the team this year. Tim Wakefield has been better than ever, and Justin Masterson, despite his recent move to the bullpen, helped the Red Sox through a time when a lot of pitchers went down with injuries. Clay Buchholz has been dominating Pawtucket, and now that he’s back in the bigs he should continue that trend. Bartolo Colon showed a lot of promise before going on the DL. All-in-all the starting pitching remains this team’s biggest strength.

For the first half, the rotation gets an A

The Bullpen
Now, herein lies the problem. This bullpen has blown more games for the Red Sox than any in recent memory (ignoring the Gagne era). Looking at it, you see a lot of talented names. Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Mike Timlin, and Craig Hansen. None of those guys would strike you as being bad players. David Aardsma and Javier Lopez, maybe, but they have been among the more consistent players in the ‘pen. Ah, there’s the problem. Consistency. Last night, Okajima came in and worked out of a jam in a game the Red Sox won by a single point. Last year that result would have been a given. This year every time the starter leaves the game, it becomes a nail-biter, regardless of a four-five run cushion. It’s crazy. Delcarmen and Hansen, we know you’re better than this. It’s time to step up guys.

Mike Timlin, on the other hand, is not better than he is playing. He is a washed-up old man who can’t pitch anymore. Yet, the Red Sox keep resigning him, despite the fact that he hasn’t looked like himself in years. That was the one surprise during last year’s free agency period, the resigning of Timlin. What was the point? He should have just faded into the sunset. But, no, now we have to deal with his 7.something ERA. Good job, Theo. You had no problem letting Trot, and Pedro, and Millar, etc. go, but you can’t handle losing Mike Timlin?

One guy I’ve been really proud of this year in the bullpen is David Aardsma. I think he is often overlooked as I guy we can count on for a solid inning. He wasn’t even a lock the make the team out of Spring Training.

Papelbon is Papelbon and Papelbon is a machine. Nuff Ced

Bullpen gets a C

In other news Congratulations Worcester native Keith Landers, of St. Peter-Marian high school, for being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles. I would have drafted him higher.

Japan Trip Leaves On Thursday!

Daisuke Matsuzaka fields a ground ball at Spring Training

Rising Sun The season is just about underway, and I couldn’t be more excited. The team has three more exhibition games (all of which will be televised) today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, after which they will board a plane to Japan. Once in Japan they will play two exhibition games against NPBL teams (the Yomiuri Giants and one other, maybe the Hanshin Tigers) before starting the regular season against the Oakland Athletics, live from the TokyoDome. My one problem with these games is that they will be on TV at 5:00 AM. Guess I’ll be getting up early next week . At any rate, while Beckett will not make the trip to Japan due to back spasms, Daisuke Matsuzaka (without whom the trip would have been pointless) will make a start in either the first or second game. Matsuzaka’s wife gave birth to their second child and first boy yesterday. Congratulations to them.

Dougie’s Not Goin’ Deep Tonight Doug Mirabelli, Tim Wakefield’s personal catcher and good friend for parts of the last eight seasons was released the other day. He had been struggling mightily in Spring Training, and with George Kottaras and Kevin Cash performing so well, there was simply no room for him on the roster. Wakefield was stunned when he heard the news, and immediately confronted Terry Francona. The Red Sox will miss Dougie, who was always a major presence in the clubhouse. What they will not miss is his .200 batting average. Actually, I think the beginning of his decline in production can be accurately pinpointed as when Nomar was traded to the Cubs and Dougie could no longer steal his lunch. If you’re not getting these references, check this out. So goodbye Dougie, you will be missed. Just not very much.

Pauvre Dougie. The look on his face says it all.