Yapping So Much While Accomplishing So Little

• Admitting mistakes is not a sign of weakness:

With the way Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi is treating a two week hot streak as a validation

of his handling of the organization, one would think he not only had two World Series titles in his trophy case, but that he was somehow treated unfairly on the road to those two titles. Now that the Blue Jays have secured a record above .500 for the season and Ricciardi's job has likely been spared (again), he's seen fit to start defending his record not in a matter-of-fact way, but by blustering and crowing about all the good things he's accomplished during his mediocre seven year run as the team's architect.
In an article on Canda.com----Link----Ricciardi isn't shy in crediting himself for the relatively few big league players his drafts have delivered; that the team hadn't "had to go the route [like] the Minnesotas or the Tampas, lose those 100, 90 [games]; eight, nine years of losing in a row" (as if that's some great accomplishment); and deflects the

blame for the team's relentless status as an also-ran by citing "circumstances" (whatever that means).
If the team had spent eight or nine years losing 100, 90 games, then Ricciardi would absolutely have reason to say that things are improving and the future is promising; but they haven't. This is the third year in a row in which they were expected to finally jump into contention and the third year in a row that they were an average team with an average record before a late-season hot streak made them appear as if they were on the rise. I'd say that it's a safe bet that the same thing's going to happen next year; the one question I keep asking is how long before the Blue Jays ownership wises up to this fact.
Perhaps Ricciardi's obvious and insistent attempts to depict himself as an alpha-male are preventing him from looking at the team and his mistakes objectively and saying that he screwed up, but it's no sign of strength to continually flap one's mouth without reason and expect those that know better to buy it. After seven years and repeated embarrassments and mistakes on and off the field, Ricciardi's still displaying an arrogance that is beyond comprehension; a record of 86-76 is not an accomplishment for someone who claims to have all the answers, it's a failure; what's worse, it's a failure that he repeats over and over again without anyone willing to pull the plug. And next year, with the Red Sox being as good as they are; the Yankees going to spend tons of money to fill their holes and the Rays still young and supremely talented, the Blue Jays aren't going to be in any better position than they're in now unless they make some drastic changes in the front office, but that's not going to happen because a bad start and solid finish only gives the illusion of success and it's an illusion that is going to happen again and again until the organization wakes up and sees it for what it is, much to their detriment.

• Marlins 8-Astros 1:

The Astros have a legitimate gripe with the way the hurricane-induced cancellations were handled essentially taking two home games away from them and sending them to Milwaukee

to face the Cubs in a stadium loaded with Cubs fans, but that can't account for them continuing to lose after they went to Florida to play the Marlins. Anger is one thing, but once the game starts, the players aren't in the batter's box or on the mound thinking about how they were wronged. Their hot streak that launched them back into contention had to end sooner or later and it just happened to end at a time in which they had a convenient scapegoat. The three losses to the blazing hot Marlins aren't accountable to anything that happened over the weekend.
Speaking of the Marlins, is Fredi Gonzalez going to steal the Manager of the Year award from other deserving candidates like Tony La Russa, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre as he leads the Marlins on this eight game win streak and onto the outskirts of contention? I don't see the Manager of the Year award as one in which the voters are doing too much deep thought, so La Russa's peformance in keeping the Cardinals in contention as

long as he did; Piniella's underappreciated work with the Cubs (every Lou Piniella team from the start of his managerial career has played the game the right way, advancing runners and performing the fundamentals----it's no accident); and Torre's calm leadership of the Dodgers, might be forgotten as the Marlins end over .500 with a bargain basement payroll. With each passing day, the job Gonzalez has done with the Marlins, along with the growing pains Joe Girardi is having with the Yankees and their $210 million payroll, diminishes Girardi's 2006 season all the more and lends credence to the Marlins claims about the organization being more responsible for their success than any manager could be. (I'd give the Manager of the Year to Piniella.)

Overuse Of Lidge May Cost The Phillies

• Marlins 10-Phillies 8:

I know what Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was doing when he used Brad Lidge to pitch

the ninth inning last night trailing by two runs to the Marlins, but in the long run with seventeen games left and four games of ultra-importance to the Phillies playoff chances against the reeling Brewers this weekend, wouldn't it have been better to be more prudent with Lidge's workload and give him a night off in what was likely a hopeless cause?
The case to be made for using Lidge is easy. The Marlins bullpen has not been good lately and they're using a patchwork closing corps; the Phillies had Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell scheduled to bat in the bottom of the ninth and with that, they're two swings from tying the game; and Lidge isn't going to beg out of a game unless he's in agony and physically unable to perform, but what were the odds of another comeback in the bottom of the ninth trailing by two?
I also understand that J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin have been ruthlessly overworked this

season, so it was better to use the durable Lidge, but the strategy could have been manipulated better to perhaps double switch and get another inning out of Ryan Madson rather than to use Lidge when they didn't need to. He only threw seventeen pitches, but we're talking about cumulative use as the season moves along and, as brilliant as Lidge has been, the last thing the Phillies are going to need as the season winds down is to have Lidge reach back for that little bit extra and find he has nothing left to give. Even with that, the division race between the Mets and Phillies may end up as meaningless because...

• Reds 5-Brewers 4; the Brewers are collapsing:

If this season is proving anything, how great or bad a manager is at his job, a manager's importance is only realized when the season comes down to a game or two and it's talent and

performance that dictates the end result. Jim Leyland and Bobby Cox are both having forgettable seasons and Joe Maddon, whose quirky style was met with quizzical looks as his team was winning 61 and 66 games in his first two seasons, is now being feted as "innovative" and "progressive" in his treatment of his Rays now that they're heading towards the playoffs. That being said, there are two examples of how a manager's demeanor can permeate his clubhouse and result in those extra three or four wins at the end of a season that can mean the difference between playing in the playoffs or watching the playoffs on TV.
Joe Torre's calmness and resume throughout any firestorm has allowed the Dodgers to maintain their cool throughout any adversity, injury, controversy and whatever else has happened; Ned Yost's Brewers are stumbling again with talent that other teams look at, shake their heads and wonder what's going on in Milwaukee.
Even though Yost isn't really to blame for the Brewers two losses to the Reds because of any strategic gaffes, there's something about the Brewers that makes them fold whenever they're pushed. A mental toughness is lacking and no amount of power in their lineup or aces in their rotation are going to be able to account for that and keep them in contention. A team with playoff aspirations like the Brewers cannot be losing two straight games to a Reds team (that isn't as bad as they've been portrayed) but is still going with a lot of young players and is playing out the season.
I like Doug Melvin as a GM, but he signed a guy in Jeff Suppan for a lot of money when

Suppan is at his best as a back of the rotation starter who comes up big in post-season games; Suppan was awful last night. Melvin also could have fired Yost earlier in the season and replaced him with the veteran baseball man Ted Simmons; the Brewers bad start would have shielded Melving from any criticism for the move and as the Mets are proving now, sometimes just making the change in the manager's office gets everything in line. (Speaking of which, I don't care what politically correct comments he makes to the contrary, Carlos Delgado must've despised Willie Randolph.)
The four games this weekend against the Phillies are going to determine whether or not the Brewers make the playoffs and it has to be noted that C.C. Sabathia isn't scheduled to pitch in any of them. After Ben Sheets pitches the opener on Thursday, the Brewers are sending Manny Parra, Dave Bush and Suppan to pitch to that Phillies lineup; it might get ugly on and off the field for the Brewers this weekend with a lot of questions about why, since they so aggressively acquired Sabathia to go for everything now, they didn't take a long hard look at their manager and make a cold-blooded and calculating decision to bring in someone who was able to navigate the ship through the storm. They're going to be sorry if and when they sink. They're well on the way.

• Blue Jays 3-White Sox 1; Blue Jays 8-White Sox 2:

I have zero intention of buying into this Blue Jays hot streak as a portent of a leap into contention next season. If you look at their finishes in 2006 and 2007, they had similar hot

streaks (not 10-straight wins hot, but hot enough) and ended with respectable records to put forth the illusion that they're finally "turning the corner" under GM J.P. Ricciardi and I ain't buying it.
Each time, the hot streak has conveniently happened as the team had no chance of making the playoffs; each time they've looked like a team on the rise and able to overcome the infighting and injuries that happen to them every single year, but they again fall to the mediocre team they've been since Ricciardi took over. Add in that they're going to lose A.J. Burnett to free agency (that may not be all that bad a thing because I'm very wary of

injury-prone pitchers who have their career year at age 31 just as they're primed to make a big haul of cash on the open market); that every year there's some embarrassing, alibi-laden controversy (or two; or three; or five) between Ricciardi and a player (from his team and others) a reporter or whoever else, that makes them look like their operating a circus instead of a baseball team; and that they're in a division with the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays and you'll see the exact same thing happen a year from now as is happening now. It's like Groundhog Day except the ownership never seems to catch on, much to their detriment.

• A message from my Sith alter-ego:

I sense a mocking tone in the power of Darth Escribus, Lord of the Sith as on the front

page of the blogsite an ad for the new Star Wars game is popping up. Such an attitude is a horrible mistake. When my apprentice Darth Moneke arrives, she will...take care of you...

Another Girardi Strategic Gaffe Dooms The Yankees For The Game And The Season

• Rays 7-Yankees 5:

If the Yankees even want to have any chance at all of making an unlikely run at a playoff

spot over the final three weeks, they have to win every game they possibly can; and in a game against the team in their division that leads them by ten games before the first pitch's even been thrown, it amounts to a two game swing in the standings; for the Yankees, last night's game against the Rays was, in essence, a playoff game. You wouldn't have known that by the way Yankees manager Joe Girardi managed as if it were a game in mid-May.
Darrell Rasner was a godsend to the Yankees injury-tattered starting rotation when he was recalled as a desperation stopgap in early May. A pitcher who could only be referred to as a journeyman/Triple A filler did an excellent job in five of his first six starts in May and early June. Such a string of performances for a pitcher of Rasner's severely limited talent wasn't

going to last and it didn't as he fell into the pattern of battling his way through five innings or so and keeping the games within reason for the Yankees offense to try and slug their way through. Last night, it couldn't have been expected that Rasner was suddenly going to revert into what he was in early May.
It was clear by the second inning that after Eric Hinske and Dioner Navarro singled and Rasner wild pitched Hinske to third that the game was one or two pitches away from blowing up completely. It was at that point that Girardi should have gotten someone up in the bullpen. He didn't.
Gabe Gross ripped a double to right scoring Hinske and sending Navarro to third. Still no action in the bullpen.
Jason Bartlett hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Navarro; Akinori Iwamura singled to center to score Gross; 3-0 Rays. Still no action in the bullpen.
B.J. Upton singled to center and only then did pitching coach Dave Eiland visit the mound and Alfredo Aceves began warming up in the bullpen about three batters too late. Carlos Pena then walked to load the bases (the Yankees were lucky Pena didn't hit one out of the park) and Girardi finally yanked Rasner. Alceves, with the bases loaded, allowed a seeing-eye grounder by Willy Aybar into right field to score two more runs

and give Rays All Star Scott Kazmir a 5-0 lead. Even with the Yankees comeback in the ninth inning to make the score a respectable 7-5, the game was out of reach in the second inning and there was no reason for it on several levels.
The swing between an eleven game deficit in the standings and a nine game deficit is mountainous. The Rays are still a young team that isn't sure whether or not to believe that their sudden leap into contention is real even with all of their success this season; a series of losses to a team like the Yankees----especially having them come into Tropicana Field and sweep them three straight----when the Rays have been so dominant at home this season may have planted a seed into the minds of the young players that a collapse was possible. After the anecdotal evidence of what happened with the Phillies and Rockies in 2007, how much would it realistically have taken for the Rays to start doubting themselves? What would they be thinking if the Yankees came in and beat them so convincingly? Despite all of the struggles the Yankees have had this season, their aura is still there. The veteran warhorses like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte aren't going to go down without a fight and the Yankees' mere presence still within unlikely, but doable, striking distance may have sent the Rays into a tailspin.
While the Rays are traveling to Toronto to play the blazing hot Blue Jays this weekend, the Yankees are heading home to play the atrocious Mariners. What would be going through the minds of the Rays if they lost to the Blue Jays on Friday (it would've been their fourth loss in a row) as the Yankees were battering the Mariners? Would the Rays start getting nervous? Playing tight? Making mental and physical mistakes? Would things snowball and spin out of control as they did with the Mets last season? Let's say the Yankees sweep the Mariners and the Rays lose

three out of four to the Blue Jays putting the Yankees within 6 1/2 games of first place as the Rays head to Boston and then New York; what would be going through the heads of the fragile, young Rays if it started to appear possible that the Yankees were going to catch them? We won't know because Rasner was allowed to pitch to three batters too many and let the game get out of hand with a crooked number 5 up on the board in the second inning. You could almost feel the reeling Rays relax as they built that 5-0 lead and it was because of Joe Girardi staying too long with his starting pitcher; a starting pitcher that should have been on the shortest of leashes given the circumstances and importance of this game.
The argument that it was too early to go to the bullpen is an empty alibi as well. It's September; the Yankees are carrying fifteen pitchers including Alceves, who pitched very well; and Dan Giese who would have been better options than leaving Rasner in to get shelled and put the game out of reach. In fact, one of the long relievers should have been stretched and ready to start loosening up be before the game even started given how shaky Rasner's been since June.
There's no excuse for this kind of gaffe in what amounted to a playoff game for the Yankees. They had to win this game if they wanted to still be on life support as they headed back home to play the Mariners, but they're not because of their manager. This entire season has been more of a learning experience than anyone anticipated for Girardi, and in what was his first unofficial playoff game----a must win----he failed miserably because he didn't act and it cost the Yankees any chance of climbing back into the race which was, for a day at least, a realistic possibility. The game might have blown up no matter what Girardi did with Rasner, but if he'd pulled him when he should have, at least he wouldn't have been the one to light the match.

• Blue Jays 9-Twins 0:

This Blue Jays hot streak in which they've won five in a row to put them seven games over .500 is the worst thing that could be happening to the organization because, if they end at 86-76 or thereabouts, the Blue Jays front office may again look past everything that's happened from April until September and allow GM J.P. Ricciardi to continue in his job when

he should be fired.
How many more years is Ricciardi, whose bluster was one of the reasons he got the job in the first place, going to get to have his team in realistic contention? 2008 will be the sixth time in seven years that the Blue Jays have been "sort of" okay, "sort of" competitive, but not really in any position to make a genuine playoff run. Under Ricciardi, they've never won more than 87 games; never ended any closer than eight games within a playoff spot, but again, they're having a late hot streak to make their record look respectable on paper and possibly save Ricciardi's job.
If Ricciardi's failures were only in the standings and he had some basis for the decisions he'd made that haven't worked (getting Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus for example), it'd be one thing; but just about every season in which he's been the Blue Jays GM has been pockmarked with some off-field controversy from players fighting with the manager; to Ricciardi lying to the press and blaming the press for it; to the contract-related release of Frank Thomas; to the embarrassing episode in which Ricciardi criticized Adam Dunn on his radio show...*

*Just one question: why does the GM of the team have a call-in radio show anyway?!?

....among many other things. And the team has never been in contention by season's end. Amid all the complaints that it's hard for the Blue Jays to contend in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox, it's conveniently missed that the formerly woebegone Rays have surpassed all three teams a year after losing 96 games. And where are the Blue Jays? They're in fourth place; not in contention, but not ending so terribly that a GM change would be fait accompli.
Whether or not the Blue Jays notoriously patient (to their own detriment) ownership realizes it, they're never going to take the next step under Ricciardi. They need to bring in a

Brian Cashman-type GM who's not going to have a radio show; who's not going to openly spar with the press over petty matters trying to exert his machismo over them; and who's not going to preside over a team whose record never reflects the season they actually had. Former Angels GM and now Senior Advisor Bill Stoneman, who pitched two no-hitters in Canada for the Montreal Expos and ran the team before moving to the Angels, is someone I would want to speak to if I were advising the Blue Jays, but since this hot streak may save Ricciardi's job, finding a suitable replacement won't be necessary and history shows that this team's going to be in this same position a year from now and they can repeat the process all over again.

The Triumphant(!) Return Of Carl Pavano And Other Stories

• Yankees 5-Orioles 3:
  

It wasn't a David Cone/seven no-hit innings in a comeback from aneurysm surgery kind of performance for Carl Pavano, but all things being equal, it wasn't all that bad. Pavano's stuff wasn't great;

his control wasn't great; and he was lucky, but after four years of embarrassment on and off the field, a win is a win is a win. Before anyone gets all enthusiastic about a possible useful month from

Pavano, it has to be remembered that he acquitted himself well in his two starts in April of 2007 before going on the disabled list with Tommy John surgery, so it's a start-by-start thing with him and the Yankees should put him out on the mound as long as he says he's able and use him for whatever they can get out of him over the last month.
The thing that sticks out for me in this whole episode was revealed in the recap of the game in the New York Times----Story. Here's the relevant clip:

When the Yankees were courting Pavano in 2004 — taking him to “Mamma Mia!” on Broadway, with General Manager Brian Cashman dancing in the aisles — they never could have expected what would happen to their $39.95 million, and medical expenses.

They took him to see Mamma Mia!? And they used this as a selling point? And Brian

Cashman, the general manager of the New York Yankees, was dancing in the aisles? Say what you want about Pavano on the field, but off the field he's a guy's guy; he chases girls, drives fast cars and lives his life; I find it hard to believe he had any interest whatsoever in Mamma Mia! other than scouring the cast for potential dates. In fact, if the idea were suggested to me to go see the show as part of the free agent courting process, there's a pretty good chance I would've gone to see the show and afterwards dragged Cashman into an alley, beaten him up and taken his wallet.

• Angels 7-Twins 5; the importance of long relievers as game stabilizers:

The most unsung parts of any winning team are the long relievers who rarely receive attention unless they do something bad; don't make much money; don't accrue gaudy stats

and are unappreciated by the general public. Smart baseball people know how important it is to have a pitcher who's able to enter a game in the middle innings and calm things down because the only time these types of pitchers get into a game is when the starting pitcher is knocked out early. One of the ignored pieces of the Los Angeles Angels bullpen is veteran lefty Darren Oliver.
Oliver was a successful starter early in his career and has fashioned a new job for himself as a long man out of the bullpen. He was an important part of the 2006 Mets and is now imperative to the Angels because when one of their starters gets knocked around, it's Oliver who's called upon. Many times, the game is in danger of getting out of hand when the long man enters; usually his team ends up losing no matter how well or poorly he does; but it's when he comes into a game with his team behind and stabilizes things, giving his team a chance to come back, that his value is realized.
In last night's game against the Twins, the Angels built a 6-1 lead for starter Jon Garland before the Twins started pecking away and got to within 6-4 in the fifth inning with runners on second and third and one out; Garland was yanked in favor of Oliver. Oliver proceeded to get Justin Morneau to ground out to first, scoring one run to make it 6-5; Jason Kubel grounded to second to end the inning. Oliver pitched the sixth and seventh innings, allowing only an infield single before giving way to the glamorous (and better-paid) parts of the Angels

bullpen, set-up man Scot Shields and closer Francisco Rodriguez. Shields gets the eighth inning "hold"; Rodriguez gets the save; and Oliver gets the appreciation from his teammates for stopping the Twins rally and getting them to the money men.
Oliver's an understated type who doesn't want any publicity; and he's come close to retiring several times; first when he was cut by the Mets on the last day of spring training 2006, only to see the team change their minds and bring him back; and then before the Angels called with a job offer that was partially accepted because he wanted to be closer to his family if he was going to continue to play. There are many games that are getting out-of-hand when a pitcher like Oliver enters and no one notices if the team doesn't come back; but there are also many games like last night's win, which might not have happened if the Angels didn't have a guy like Oliver who can handle the pressure, throws strikes and does his job without complaint.

• Blue Jays 11-Red Sox 0; Vernon Wells pads his stats with a team not really in, but not completely out of contention:
  

I've called Vernon Wells a player making $100 million rather than a $100 million player because he's essentially done nothing since signing that big contract to forgo free agency and stay with the Blue Jays. The argument that injuries have curtailed his production doesn't account for his woeful 2007 season----Wells Stats----but now he's starting to heat up after missing a big chunk of this season. Yesterday, Wells homered twice and his numbers are looking pretty good; if he has a solid final month and stays healthy, he'll be close to 20 homers and 85 RBI, but injuries or not, is that a season worthy of a player with Wells's contract?
A player who is worth the money that Wells is making is not putting up these numbers once his team is out of contention. Where would the Cardinals be if Albert Pujols hadn't put off elbow surgery to play through the pain? There were many voices, credible and not, saying

that since the Cardinals looked to be so terrible in the spring that Pujols should just have the surgery immediately rather than trying to drag a rickety and unusable cart like the rest of the Cardinals roster on his back.
A guy like Wells with his superior talent should have been putting these numbers up early in the season when the Blue Jays were desperate for power, their front office was making decisions that were based on money rather than wins (releasing Frank Thomas), and they weren't scoring enough runs to support the solid work of their pitching staff. Wells has gotten hot now that the Blue Jays----67-62, two games behind the Yankees and not in any realistic contention barring an almost impossible Rockies-like hot streak----are playing out the string and trying to put up a respectable record to again save GM J.P. Ricciardi's job.
The reality of the situation would be obvious to people paying attention to the circumstances in which a player puts up his numbers, but given the way the Blue Jays ownership has been taken in by the bluster of Riccardi along with his embarrassing missteps, there's every possibility they're going to take Wells's hot streak as a portent for the future; if they do that, there's no reason to believe that they're going to take proper steps to fix their franchise, which ends every season with 80-some wins leading them to think that they're going to contend the next year, only to repeat the process again and again.

• Giants 4-Padres 3; the Padres should trade Jake Peavy:

A few weeks ago, I wondered whether a devoid franchise like the Padres should try to

recover as quickly as possible by trading their two most marketable quantities in Adrian Gonzalez and Jake Peavy; now I know they should trade Jake Peavy. The Padres (48-81), heading toward 100 losses and with an owner in the midst of a divorce and possibly cutting the team payroll down to $40 million, have no hope of contending in the near future. Peavy, with his brutally violent motion is a pitcher who's destined to get hurt, but he has a reasonable contract through 2012----contract----and many teams have the prospects and motivation to take a chance on Peavy.
I don't have any faith at all in the Padres front office; nor do I think they'd be able to extract an adequate haul for a former Cy Young Award winner with or without his terrible mechanics (these ain't the brilliantly smart and savvy Marlins we're talking about here), but if they're slashing salary, they'll be better-served to re-stock the organization as best they can and they can do that by putting Peavy out on the market to see who bites, because someone definitely will.

Yankees Demote Kennedy And Other Stories

• Yankees send Ian Kennedy back to the minors:

The New York Times is reporting that the Yankees have shipped Ian Kennedy back to Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with the instructions to throw his breaking pitches regardless

of the score and game situation----Article. Kennedy also backtracked on his laissez-faire comments about his heinous big league performances after the negative reaction in the clubhouse and media. Kennedy will learn about dealing with the media because that was a case in which he said something stupid, which isn't unexpected in a 23-year-old who's experiencing on-field adversity for the first time; but the important question is: will he learn how to pitch effectively in the big leagues?
After all the hype accompanying the three young Yankee pitchers----Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain----it was at best unrealistic and at worst baseball malpractice to think that they were going to walk all over big league hitters the way they dominated in the minors. Now Kennedy has been the one to take the most brutal beating and is paying the price on and off the field. He's been told that he's going to be back in September, which may or may not be true; but unless the Yankees fall completely out of contention, Kennedy's return doesn't mean he's going to be participating in any meaningful games unless there's an emergency.
This season is a write-off for Kennedy and Hughes and shouldn't be seen as an indictment

of their futures as big leaguers; they could still become useful if not the reincarnation of the 1990s Braves or other great rotations. Chamberlain has shown the promise to be a future Cy Young Award winner. The Yankees problem now is that, among many other things, they didn't expect the injury to Chien-Ming Wang to rob them of his 19 wins; they didn't expect to have to deal with a Rays team that matured so quickly, rode a hot start to prominence, and also overcame their seven game losing streak going into the All Star break to recover beautifully. Instead of only having to worry about the Red Sox in the AL East, they're scrambling for a Wild Card berth that looks increasingly like it's not going to be available. The Yankees may be discovering, as the Braves did when their string of playoff appearances ended, that it's not as easy as it looked all those years; that barrelling down the road while making drastic changes isn't always a smooth and easy process and things don't always mystically end with the Yankees in the playoffs.
Everything ends. The dynasty from the late-90s ended; the George Steinbrenner-era is ending; the Joe Torre-era ended; and the automatic ticket into the playoffs may be on life-support now. They're still in position to make another run, but they're running out of time and with the way their direct contenders are playing, the Yankees may have run out of tricks and the last post-season at Yankee Stadium and intentions of a historic finale may not exist at all.

• White Sox 6-Red Sox 5:

The Red Sox haven't been playing all that great either and despite all the numbers that are being quoted as to how Jason Bay's stats can reasonably replicate Manny Ramirez's so that

Manny's departure won't be such a big loss; and that Bay will be a better outfielder; and that Bay will run out ground balls; the Red Sox are going to feel the loss of Manny Ramirez as the season winds down. I completely understand the decision to get rid of him at all costs, but it's not going to be a simple matter of inserting a different piece into Manny's slot and ending up with another championship.
With the way the Yankees are scrounging for starting pitching, even if the Red Sox don't catch the Rays, they have enough pitching in the rotation and bullpen; and should score enough runs to hold off the Yankees and whichever of the two teams----the Twins or White Sox----fades out in the end in the AL Central. If things hold as they are and the Red Sox have to play the Angels, that's when they're going to truly feel the effects of not having a happy or unhappy Manny in their lineup.

• Padres 16-Rockies 7:

It's one thing to extol Livan Hernandez's value as an innings-eater who'll stay out on the

mound for 145 pitches or more, but there's no possible way to defend yesterday's performance in his first start as a member of the Rockies. The Padres can't hit and they gave Hernandez a brutal beating with nine runs (including two homers) in 2 2/3 innings. The Rockies got Hernandez for nothing and were desperate for starting pitching; and I've been trumpeting Hernandez as a pitcher who could provide something to someone; but if yesterday's an example of what he has to offer, then there's no point in putting him out there.

• Scott Rolen to the disabled list:

Who (other than J.P. Ricciardi) didn't see this coming? A couple of weeks ago, I compared

Scott Rolen and Troy Glaus based on their contracts and production----Blog 7/31/2008. Is it still possible that the work of Ricciardi in the past seven years is being lost on the Blue Jays ownership and that he's going to be back? He should've been fired three months ago so the new GM could get a head start on next season, but he's still there.

Ivan Rodriguez For Kyle Farnsworth; The Manny Rumors

• Brian Cashman pulls another deal out of nowhere in getting Ivan Rodriguez:

This reminds me of the David Justice trade that Yankees GM Brian Cashman pulled off with

the Indians in 2000 in which it just struck like lightning from a clear blue sky. In acquiring Ivan Rodriguez from the Tigers for Kyle Farnsworth, Cashman fills the empty lineup spot that had been Jose Molina and dumps Kyle Farnsworth before he reverts back into what he really is. Getting Rodriguez is a far cry from the laughable offers that Cashman received for Farnsworth over the past year. Most teams wanted the Yankees to just give Farnsworth to them and pay his salary; but Cashman replenished the pitcher's value to a certain point and made an advantageous deal for both sides.
Even with the way he's pitched since replacing Joba Chamberlain as the eighth inning man, Farnsworth has always been a pitcher who is going to give up the big homer in a big game; it's not a matter of if, but of when; to get rid of him now when the Yankees have viable replacements for him----Damaso Marte pitches well enough to righties that he can be used as

a set-up man; Jose Veras deserves a chance; and Chamberlain could conceivably be moved back into the role for the playoffs----and to get a veteran catcher was a smart move and they didn't even have to dip into the system to get it done.
Rodriguez's power has "mysteriously" deserted him in recent years (although I don't think, given all the factors of his vastly diminished size and power and the timing of the decline, that it's all that much of a mystery), but he's still hitting .295; has extensive post-season success and experience; is a well-liked leader in the clubhouse; plays good defense and calls a good game for his pitchers. He's a free agent at the end of the year and I wouldn't discount the possibility of the Yankees bringing him back to split time with Jorge Posada at catcher and first base; no one knows what Posada's situation is going to be when he gets back and having a backup who can provide both offense and defense isn't a bad idea.
The Tigers and Braves are two of Farnsworth's former employers who liked him enough to want to bring him back and I don't think that this is a short-term idea for the Tigers either; my

guess is that they'll try and keep Farnsworth. Their bullpen is in tatters; Todd Jones is unreliable; Joel Zumaya is always one false step from another DL stint and is a prime candidate for a fast flameout. Farnsworth will at least add another body----biceps and all----out there to get a few outs. They've been using Brandon Inge behind the plate and must feel confident enough to put him back there regularly in order to get his, Gary Sheffield's and Marcus Thames's bats into the lineup every day. The Tigers are only one hot streak away from jumping into first place in the AL Central, so this made sense on all levels for both teams.

• Manny Ramirez headed for Florida?

I don't believe that these deals are done until they're done, but the Red Sox seem determined to get Manny Ramirez out of town and it's no shock that the Marlins have jumped

into the fray; given their history of going for it and winning when they think they have a shot, no playoff team should want to see the Marlins in October. If I were the Red Sox though, I would be very reticent to slot Jason Bay into Manny's spot in left field as would occur if the proposed three-team deal with the Pirates and Marlins comes through. Bay looks to me like the type of player who would be swallowed up by the Boston pressure; he does fine when he's with a team like the Pirates who have no chance of contending, but the spotlight in Boston combined with replacing Manny Ramirez? It's a big risk. The other names----Jeremy Hermida and Josh Willingham----would be better options in a straight-up deal and I'd take Willingham over the others. Other teams may jump in before the deadline hits, so these stories are very premature and Manny may end up just staying in Boston for the rest of the season.

• And still another reason why J.P. Ricciardi should be fired:

No one who's been watching Scott Rolen over the past few years can possibly be surprised by this from the Associated Press:

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Scott Rolen plans to skip some games and cut

back on his batting practice while undergoing an "extensive" rehab program for his surgically repaired left shoulder. "I've been having some shoulder trouble, some problems with it," Rolen said. "Not strength, not flexibility, not surgery. Nothing like that. Mechanically it's not functioning right. The therapist looked at it, the doctor looked at it. I talked to [manager Cito Gaston and general manager J.P. Ricciardi] and we're going to try to get some extra days off. I'll keep playing, keep going out there and doing what I can do, back off in the cage a little bit."

Rolen's an admirable guy; he's stubborn, proud and plays hard whenever he can get out on the field; but that's the problem----he's never able to get out on the field and his production is at a point where he shouldn't even be a starter anymore whether he's hurt or not. In looking at the numbers of the guy the Blue Jays traded to the Cardinals to get him, Troy Glaus, and there's no comparison on the field:

Rolen: Games-82; At Bats-295; Runs-36; Hits-75; Doubles-21; Triples-2; Home Runs: 6; RBI-31; Walks-35; Strikeouts-52; Average-.254; OBP-.349; Slugging-.400; OPS+-101.

Glaus: Games-107; At Bats-384; Runs-51; Hits-105; Doubles-27; Triples-1; Home Runs-18; RBI-71; Walks-60; Strikeouts-72; Batting Average-.273; OBP-.374; Slugging-.490; OPS+-127.

I understand that Rolen's been hurt, but that's part of the reason that the Blue Jays should've steered clear of him. The move was a huge mistake before even getting to the contract status of the players. Rolen has two more years on his deal at $11.8 million per year; Glaus has an $11.25 million player option for next year that was exercised as part of the trade

from Toronto to St. Louis. This is yet a third example of the Blue Jays and J.P. Ricciardi putting an absurd contract option out of the hands of upper management and into the hands of the player. (The other two were Frank Thomas and A.J. Burnett.)
If Glaus had stayed in Toronto and had the year he's having for the Cardinals, he would've declined the option and gone into free agency, but given what they've gotten from Rolen, I'm sure the Blue Jays would take that deal right now. Worst case scenario, they could've kept Glaus and saved the money they'll be paying Rolen over the next two years; and Rolen's going to be 34; does anyone think that he's going to have a career renaissance at this point? That he's going to be healthy? And I think we're all beginning to realize that the "rest and rehab" program for injured players rarely, if ever, works. Jorge Posada is the latest example of a player who took that route and wound up wasting three months trying to play with an injury that needed surgery and delayed his return time because he tried to avoid what needed to be done. Rolen's career is on the decline due to injury, but the Blue Jays are going

to be paying him for two more years at big money because they made a bad judgment call and took on another bad contract, which is turning into a hallmark of Ricciardi's tenure as GM.
Because of these contracts, they're going to lose Burnett after the season, but can't trade him because of the contract. They cut Frank Thomas because of the contract. And they're stuck with Rolen because of the contract. I'm still waiting for an answer as to how Ricciardi's still there, but no one's responding because they can't come up with one---even one that's total crud.

Add The Mets To The List Of Teams That Need A Starting Pitcher

• Marlins 7-Mets 3; John Maine leaves the game in the fifth inning with shoulder pain/stiffness:

A week ago, the Mets starting rotation was relatively solid in comparison to the rest of the

league even with the ambiguity of Pedro Martinez; now the may have to go into the market for a stopgap to give them some innings. John Maine left last night's game against the Marlins with pain/stiffness in the back of his shoulder and returned to New York for an examination and if he's out for any significant amount of time, the Mets have a problem.
The initial belief from pitching coach Dan Warthen is that it's not something serious that will cause Maine to miss more than one start, but that's hardly any comfort to the Mets who don't have any idea when they're getting Martinez back and what they're going to get out of him when he does return. So they, like most other teams, are going to scrounge around the non-contenders and teams willing to deal to try and find a starter. The Blue Jays have pulled A.J. Burnett off the market (more on this later), as the Reds have with Bronson Arroyo; that leaves the likes of Jarrod

Washburn; Paul Byrd; Vicente Padilla; Miguel Batista; and Tim Redding. There are teams like the Astros that should be making pitchers available to re-stock the franchise, but instead are acquiring spare parts that they don't need in Randy Wolf.
I wouldn't get too excited or give up much of anything for most of the pitchers mentioned; taking their salaries should be sufficient to

acquire them in lieu of viable prospects, but guys like Padilla, who's signed through next year with a 2010 option, wouldn't come cheap; and Redding is the type of impending free agent pitcher that the Nationals Bizarro GM Jim Bowden would ask for six top prospects after prematurely unloading the cheap, productive and versatile reliever Jon Rauch to the Diamondbacks for one. Byrd's been terrible this year, but he wouldn't cost

much in terms of players and the change might wake him up for the rest of the season; worst case scenario, he'd eat some innings. Perhaps the Twins would want to get something for Livan Hernandez as they promote Francisco Liriano; Hernandez would be a perfect fit for the Mets.
The only hope the Mets have in this case is that Maine will only miss a start or two and they can patch something together with Triple A veterans Brian Stokes or Ruddy Lugo; they could also promote top prospect Jon Niese from Double A for a couple of starts to see if they catch lightning. Unless they're getting one of the veteran pitchers available for little or nothing, patching the problem with what they have is the best solution for now.

• Another reason the Blue Jays should fire J.P. Ricciardi:

Now the Blue Jays are justifying keeping A.J. Burnett by implying that they're going to try to crawl back into contention and win right now after a brief hot streak has pushed them over .500. It's nonsense.
Take a look back at the Blue Jays track record under GM J.P. Ricciardi. Every year they've

either been out of contention completely by this point, or were hovering around exactly where they are now; not in a genuine playoff race, but not bad enough to warrant a thorough housecleaning of veterans; and look where they end up. They wind up with a record of slightly above .500 or a bit better and everyone thinks that they're improving; that they're ready to take the next step and join the Yankees and Red Sox at the top of the AL East and possibly vault past one to make the playoffs; but they don't. They're a hamster on a treadmill and it's enough already. They've had this latest hot streak to push them over .500 and into

"contention" against the fading Orioles and the Mariners. In August they play: the Rangers, Athletics, Indians, Tigers, Red Sox, Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Yankees. Does anyone really believe that they're going to be able to keep up this "hot" streak?
Regarding Burnett, the main reason that they're not trading him is that they're not going to get much of anything for him because of that stupid contract that Ricciardi doled out in which the pitcher can either opt out at the end of this year or can activate two more years at $12 million per. If a deal could be worked out where Burnett would agree to activate the contract immediately upon being traded, then maybe the Blue Jays would get something of value for him, but why should he given the state of pitching around the big leagues? He's got 12 wins now and could wind up with 17-19 by season's end if he pitches well; he'd get a long-term deal from someone after the season if he does opt out.
The Burnett contract is eerily similar to the one that Frank Thomas received which----despite the disingenuous claims by Ricciardi----truly precipitated his release earlier this year. Thomas's contract was going to activate for next year after he reached 376 plate

appearances and the Blue Jays used Thomas's slow start (for which he's been notorious throughout his career) and chafing at being benched as the reasons he was released. The truth is that they dumped him because they didn't want to pay him for next year and having contracts dictate how a team is run and what player decisions are made in this way is inept management.
It's one thing to dump a player because of his contract and the team situation; it's another to dump him in April as the Blue Jays did with Thomas. It's the same situation with Burnett. They're not keeping him because they think they're going to leap into contention; they're keeping him because Ricciardi is hoping against hope that the Blue Jays will win their 87-88 games and again save his job as he hides behind the "improvement" that isn't really there. You really can't blame the guy for trying this strategy because it's worked in saving his neck before; you'd think that ownership would eventually catch on and make a change, but Ricciardi, with all of his controversies, embarrassing public dustups with players and bottom-line mediocrity, is still there, so he might again survive like the reptile he's proven himself to be.

The Marlins Have The Goods To Hang Around In The Playoff Race

• Marlins 5-Dodgers 4:
  

Each day the Marlins remain in contention with a $21 million payroll, they stick a finger in

the eye of every team that pays absurd amounts of money for no results. To put that into context, the Mariners just released Richie Sexson and are paying him $6 million to simply leave the premises. (I know the argument could be made that they were paying him for for nothing for the past year and a half as well.) The Dodgers are only paying $3 million less than that for Andruw Jones this year; the Yankees have paid Carl Pavano twice that for a level of production that they could likely receive from an pitcher from the Frontier League if that pitcher were capable of throwing strikes and being lucky. The Marlins success at finding young talent and discarded players is making a bigger and bolder statement than Moneyball ever could. If there's a team that should have their blueprint followed, it's the Marlins.
Now with that minuscule payroll the Marlins find themselves with the exact same record as the New York Mets ($136 million); 1 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies ($98 million); 5 games ahead of the reeling Atlanta Braves ($102 million); and 13 1/2 games ahead of the Washington Nationals ($54 million)----and that's just in their own division. They're rewriting the handbook on how to run a team effectively despite all the ridicule they receive after dumping players whenever their salaries or demands reach a certain point.
After all the credit that Joe Girardi received for his team's 78-84 finish with similar payroll

constraints in 2006, Fredi Gonzalez is producing even better results in 2008. While other teams are scrambling and giving up chunks of their future for rentals (the Brewers and C.C. Sabathia); or pitchers who are notoriously frequent residents of the disabled list (the Cubs and Rich Harden), the Marlins added a potential ace starting pitcher by simply waiting until he was healthy enough to pitch in Josh Johnson.
Last night was Johnson's first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year and while his pitching line isn't impressive on the surface----5 innings; 6 hits; 3 runs----he also struck out six; walked none; was clocked consistently in the mid-90s with his fastball and low-90s with his slider and looked primed for a big second half. Even with their reticence to add veteran players that are going to be costly and their repeated willingness to trade any player to whom they're going to have to dole out a large salary, the Marlins stay respectable and more.
It's becoming clear that it's more than a case of scouts mining other organizations for their

top prospects (Hanley Ramirez, Andrew Miller); picking up unappreciated or unknown talent for nothing (Dan Uggla, Cody Ross, Justin Miller); drafting well (Johnson, Scott Olsen, Jeremy Hermida); changing players' positions to get some use from them (Josh Willingham); or signing veterans from whom they've gotten unexpected production on and off the field (Mark Hendrickson, Jorge Cantu, Luis Gonzalez). This is a case of an organization that trusts their scouts and makes bold, decisive decisions based on what's best for the organization rather than what looks good in the newspapers or to the "experts".
The Marlins appear to have a simple philosophy of giving young players a chance to play without the pressure that has ruined many young players in more intense venues. There's not

the specter of a trip to the minors hanging over their heads if they struggle for a week; there's not the questioning of a player's ability if he goes into a slump. Part of that is due to the lack of interest in the team in Florida (except when they're in the World Series); part of it is due to the way the team is run from owner Jeffrey Loria on down.
The Marlins have been called "lucky", or have been seen to benefit from a watered down National League; but it may be time to stop trying to justify their success with caveats and see it for what it is: they're an organization that knows what they're doing and are consistently competitive no matter what. They might not make the playoffs, but that they're even in this position in July when they were expected to (again) lose close to 100 games is indicative of an organization that's got something figured out and isn't just haphazardly dumping salaries just for the sake of it; there are at least twenty other organizations that would be better off right now if they had the Marlins front office rather than their own. It's not a team's resources that defines their success, it's what they do with those resources and there's not a better organization at maximizing than the Florida Marlins whether their fans appreciate them or not.

• Mets 7-Giants 3:
  

I relentlessly ripped Fernando Tatis earlier this season, but the Mets have caught some unexpected lightning in the oft-released and unwanted Tatis. I still don't like the way he hits much of the time (he's too much of a hacker for my taste), but the Mets have gotten a few wins based on Tatis's contribution and that justifies his presence even if he provides nothing for the rest of the season.

• The Blue Jays ever-expanding injury ward:

It's hard to fault the Blue Jays for the injuries to their two young emerging star pitchers in Dustin McGowan (torn rotator cuff); and Shaun Marcum (sore

shoulder). McGowan has a rotator cuff tear----they're saying at least four weeks out at the minimum, which is very difficult to believe; considering their position in the standings, even if he's ready to pitch by late-August, early-September, maybe they'd better shut him down for the year.
I've unloaded on Blue Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg in the past----Correlation Between Coach And Injuries-6/10/06----but in looking at the gamelogs of the Blue Jays young pitchers, they're not unduly stressful. I'm trying to imagine what kind of tearing up and down would be delivered to the management of a

team in New York for example if they had two potential star pitchers who both came down with arm injuries within a month of each other.
In their current position, if the Blue Jays intend to replace GM J.P. Ricciardi, they'd better do it now and not allow him to make the decision as to what veterans to trade and what to ask for in return. They're likely to move A.J. Burnett, but I would seriously consider moving the likes of B.J. Ryan and David Eckstein, as well as Scott Rolen (although I don't know who'd take him), and trusting an under-fire Ricciardi to make those decisions is a potential disaster.