I really bounce around on topics on this blog. In six months I will probably be talking about oh God I don't even know, the Oscars or something.
1. There are a decent number of Yankee fans who are in a PANIC!!!! about the Red Sox signing Lackey. There's no doubt their rotation is terrific and I would have loved to have Lackey because you can't ever have enough pitching and he's got a big-game mentality that fits in with East coast baseball. That said, the lineup is still a weak point for them, especially away from Fenway. I don't write them off because that rotation really is insanely good, but we're really good too. It'll be a battle for the AL East, and how does that change anything from the way it's been the past decade or so?
2. Are we gonna hear about how THE RED SOX ARE RUINING BASEBALL BY BUYING ALL THESE PLAYERS? No? Just about how their entire pitching lineup is "Aces Wild," ESPN? Oh cool. When the Red Sox didn't make the playoffs in 2006, their way of dealing with it was to go out and spend a crapton of money on Dice-K and JD Drew. They won a World Series the next year by completely spanking an actual small market team. Now, they're gonna spend a lot of money on Scutaro, Lackey, and I guess Cameron too. And honestly, there's nothing wrong with that, though I obviously hope they don't win the World Series next year. I just wish people would stop friggin' treating it like it's the worst thing ever when the Yankees do it.
3. These Mariners might be serious, huh? With the Angels losing Lackey and Figgins, they don't have a lot of what they needed to dominate int he past, bringing the AL West into question. Their bullpen is rather questionable. Fuentes is not K-Rod. I'm not saying they won't still be great and in particular infuriatingly AMAZING against the Yankees cuz that's what the Angels do, but yeah. People like to hype the Texas Rangers and the guys they have on their farm every year, but they never seem to come through. The Mariners will have King Felix and Cliff Lee at the top of their rotation (even if the rest of their rotation is a cast of thousands including guys named "Fister" and "Snell" and that cute lefty who wears glasses on the mound and has a really long name that barely fits on his jersey [OMG he's Australian!!! Memories of Graeme Lloyd]), and a siiiiick defense. They have Ichiro and Figgins to lead off. Sure, they lack offense, but that just means they have issues like every other team. They are one big bat away from being absolutely terrifying in a short series.
4. Not sure I understand this Cliff Lee/Roy Halladay trade. So, the Phillies will trade Cliff Lee to the Mariners for prospects, and then the Phillies will flip these prospects to the Blue Jays for Halladay? Uh, does "prospects" include, like, Ichiro? Cuz I can't tell why the Blue Jays will want to do that. Whatever, Roy Halladay will freaking love the NL. It's gonna be like a vacation for him. The only really scary lineup he'd have to face, he'll be playing for. My mom predicted he will be 23-4 with at least eight complete-game shutouts and one no-hitter and I don't think she's wrong. And he's out of the AL East so we don't have to face him 47 times a year!!!!
5. Bye Matsui and Wang. I will miss you guys. :( Matsui is awesome and a class act all the way but I have to believe that if the Angels got him for as little (yes, I know little is a relative term) as $6.5M, Cashman wasn't really planning on bringing him back anyway... especially if he's now gonna go play in the field in Anaheim. Good luck with that, Angels. Wang, I'm sorry I missed most of your glory years while I was at college. Heh, Wang is a funny word. /immature
6. As far as players on the market, I would not mind Nick Johnson coming home. He does two things I really love in a baseball player: he takes walks and he wears high socks. He's really fragile, though.
7. Andy Pettitte is an incredibly attractive man. Thank you, MLBN, for tonight when you showed lots of clips of him when he was on the Astros (and called him the #5 starter of the decade!!! YAY ANDY.) and had sort of a beard/mustache thing going on and it looked really good on him. I also maintain that That Never Happens if we'd kept him for the 2004 season - we got up 3-0 in that series with totally inferior pitching - and it was terrible to basically let him walk away like that.
8. Here is an interesting list that I will comment on later.
