RIP Rockies
"Rocktober" (wannabe trademark of the Colorado Rockies, who will pursue you with a vengeance if you use it as, let's say, the name of a Rock Festival or something) has come to an end, and the off-season is upon us. As a result, here are some bonus notes for tonight (my earlier notes can be found below).
1.) This series was a sweep, but at least Games 2 & 4 were exciting. I thought that the Rockies were going to make the comeback tonight, but Jonathon Papelbon shut them down. At least the last inning contained a near homerun from Jamey Carrol, who may have been auditioning for the role of the 2007 Mark Lemke, and a Series-ending strikeout. What I'm saying is, we got a good game for the finale.
2.) How about Jon Lester? Guess he won't be a big-game question mark the next time around. Aaron Cook was also very good in his first start since August 10. Somewhat perplexing, though, is the way that Hideki Okajima and Brian Fuentes essentially fell apart in Colorado.
3.) This is non-World Series related, but I'm sure you all heard during the game about A-Rod's decision to opt out of his deal with the Yankees. Frankly, this doesn't surprise me, simply because the decision to opt out was driven by one thing: money. I could be pejorative and say that it was all about "greed," but I guess I don't really begrudge a guy earning as much as he can. I was amused, however, to see that agent Scott Boras was attempting to justify the decision by saying that there was too much uncertainty over whether Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettite would be back next year. Ummm . . . Scott? They're all old. They won't be around for long. A-Rod would have likely been in New York for another 8-10 years. I can understand worrying about the way the organization is being run, but there's no way that this decision was driven by whether three guys who will probably all be retired or significantly diminished in the next 3 years or so were going to stick with the team for next year. As I said before, this was all about money.
4.) The Twins have a 15 day exclusive negotiating window on Torii Hunter and Carlos Silva starting tomorrow (which by my count will extend to November 13), and I fully expect that both of them will be free agents by the time that window expires. It's looking less and less likely that Hunter will return to the Twins, and unless Silva signs for significantly below what he's likely to get on the market, he won't be back either. Still, if there's any hope of Hunter remaining a Twin next year, I think he'll need to be signed before the 13th -- once other teams get to make offers, I think it'll be over.
5.) One last thing on the Yankees -- with Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez now gone (at least, barring a change of heart from the Yankees about negotiating with A-Rod now that he's opted out), could this be the start of an exodus? I don't think Andy Pettite will be back (I'm assuming he'll retire), but Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada will probably come back to monstrously large contracts. If they all leave, however, what will that mean for the Yankees? And are we headed back to the 1980's era, when free agents generally didn't want to go to New York? As much as I despise the current incarnation of the Yankees, I have to admit that they're an interesting team to talk about.
And now . . . let the off-season begin. I can't wait until Spring Training 2008!
1.) This series was a sweep, but at least Games 2 & 4 were exciting. I thought that the Rockies were going to make the comeback tonight, but Jonathon Papelbon shut them down. At least the last inning contained a near homerun from Jamey Carrol, who may have been auditioning for the role of the 2007 Mark Lemke, and a Series-ending strikeout. What I'm saying is, we got a good game for the finale.
2.) How about Jon Lester? Guess he won't be a big-game question mark the next time around. Aaron Cook was also very good in his first start since August 10. Somewhat perplexing, though, is the way that Hideki Okajima and Brian Fuentes essentially fell apart in Colorado.
3.) This is non-World Series related, but I'm sure you all heard during the game about A-Rod's decision to opt out of his deal with the Yankees. Frankly, this doesn't surprise me, simply because the decision to opt out was driven by one thing: money. I could be pejorative and say that it was all about "greed," but I guess I don't really begrudge a guy earning as much as he can. I was amused, however, to see that agent Scott Boras was attempting to justify the decision by saying that there was too much uncertainty over whether Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettite would be back next year. Ummm . . . Scott? They're all old. They won't be around for long. A-Rod would have likely been in New York for another 8-10 years. I can understand worrying about the way the organization is being run, but there's no way that this decision was driven by whether three guys who will probably all be retired or significantly diminished in the next 3 years or so were going to stick with the team for next year. As I said before, this was all about money.
4.) The Twins have a 15 day exclusive negotiating window on Torii Hunter and Carlos Silva starting tomorrow (which by my count will extend to November 13), and I fully expect that both of them will be free agents by the time that window expires. It's looking less and less likely that Hunter will return to the Twins, and unless Silva signs for significantly below what he's likely to get on the market, he won't be back either. Still, if there's any hope of Hunter remaining a Twin next year, I think he'll need to be signed before the 13th -- once other teams get to make offers, I think it'll be over.
5.) One last thing on the Yankees -- with Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez now gone (at least, barring a change of heart from the Yankees about negotiating with A-Rod now that he's opted out), could this be the start of an exodus? I don't think Andy Pettite will be back (I'm assuming he'll retire), but Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada will probably come back to monstrously large contracts. If they all leave, however, what will that mean for the Yankees? And are we headed back to the 1980's era, when free agents generally didn't want to go to New York? As much as I despise the current incarnation of the Yankees, I have to admit that they're an interesting team to talk about.
And now . . . let the off-season begin. I can't wait until Spring Training 2008!
Labels: Nightly Notes
posted by JST @ Sunday, October 28, 2007
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