Nightly Notes

Alright, so it's a bit of a misnomer to call these "Nightly Notes" since they don't exactly happen nightly. Nonetheless, I'm keeping the name -- at least I write them at night, so that sort of counts. Anyway, here's the first real playoff/off-season version of the nightly notes for your edification:

1.) First off, an update on this blog. After producing a disgustingly long, rambling, and virtually incomprehensible "What I'd Do" post, I've decided to ditch that format. There's simply too much stuff that happens over the course of an off-season for me to comfortably talk about in one post. Instead, I'm going to address things as they come up. First up will be a player-by-player look at the 40-man roster, including which players I would drop from the roster right now (but not yet which players I would add to protect from the Rule 5 Draft -- that'll be coming in early November). I think this will be more manageable, and will have the upside of not scaring nearly as many people away from the post.

2.) Now, onto the actually important stuff -- go Rockies! This team is just plain fun to watch, and I am fully on the bandwagon. Winning tonight's game was huge for a lot of reasons for the Rockies: Brandon Webb is by far the most dangerous pitcher in the D-Back's rotation, so beating him is very good news; the Rockies now essentially have home-field advantage, and they're very, very good at Coors Field; the win keeps the ridiculous momentum going. I could go on, but there's really no need to -- it's pretty obvious that grabbing a Game 1 win, on the road, against the best pitcher your opponent will throw at you in the series is a positive. I can't wait for Game 2 tomorrow night!

3.) The ALCS gets underway tomorrow with a Josh Beckett - C.C. Sabathia tilt. I think that the Red Sox should be favored in this series, but I also think that it's very possible that Sabathia and Fausto Carmona could outpitch Beckett and Curt Schilling in the first two games -- and if that happens obviously the Indians would be in good shape. I'm picking Boston in six games in this series, but would not be in the least surprised if the Tribe pulled off the (minor) upset.

4.) What's with all the long-time GM's leaving their posts? Terry Ryan, Walt Jocketty (St. Louis), and now John Schuerholz (Atlanta) are all moving on -- and that's a whole lot of fire power that's departed the GM ranks in the past couple of weeks.

5.) My money in the Yankees managerial sweepstakes is on Don Mattingly. I don't see George Steinbrenner backtracking on his statement that Joe Torre had to lead the Bombers to the ALCS in order to retain his job, and of the names mentioned as possible replacements (Mattlingly, Joe Girardi, and Tony LaRussa being the most frequently mentioned), I think Mattingly makes the most sense. Steinbrenner has been grooming him for the job for several years, he's on the bench right now, and the fans would probably be thrilled with the choice. Anything can happen with the Yankees, but I think this makes a lot of sense and will probably be the way things go.

6.) Finally, a non-baseball note -- Florida State lost to Wake Forest tonight to continue the bizarre streak of ranked teams losing games. If this is any indication of what's to come, we'll be in for a third straight wild weekend. I can't wait!