All right, so maybe you have been too caught up with the Bears to pay attention to baseball. Still, the major league baseball world has gone on without you and you need to get caught up. Here are some notes about the off-season so you’ll be prepared when pitchers and catchers report to spring training in February:
The worst move so far was definitely when the Kansas City Royalssigned Gil Meche for 5 years and $55 million. While Meche is a solid pitcher who chews up a lot of innings, he only won 11 games last year and is not even close to being good enough to make any impact on an awful KC team. Do not be surprised if KC is looking to shop him in July.
The Boston Red Sox made a lot of noise but did not drastically improve the team. Daisuke Matsuzaka came over from Japan, and while he could put up 20 wins, he could also could succumb to the pressure of pitching in Boston and become the next Hideki Irabu. The Red Sox also wasted a lot of money on very mediocre players. They signed the often-hurt JD Drew for $70 million (although this has yet to be finalized) and light-hitting shortstop Julio Lugo for a whopping $36 million. Finally, Boston is losing arguably the 2006 team’s best asset, closer Jonathan Papelbon, who will try his hand at starting. This means Boston goes into 2007 with either Joel Pineiro or Craig Hansen, both unproven, as the team’s closer.
Cubs fans are also likely to be disappointed this year. Alfonso Soriano is a talented but lazy player. With him in centerfield, every fly ball is going to be an adventure, especially because Wrigley Field is an tough place to play outfield. The Cubs also made headlines by signing Ted Lilly. Last year, Lilly feuded with Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, so Lilly’s interaction with fiery and uncompromising new Cubs manager Lou Piniella will be closely scrutinized by the Chicago media.
The Giants’ signing of Barry Zito was a fine move but is unlikely to make much of an impact in the NL West, especially because the Dodgers drastically upgraded their team by adding pitchers Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf to a rotation that already includes Brad Penny and Derek Lowe.
The Yankees also made some good moves this off-season. Trading old, pricey veterans such as Randy Johnson and Gary Sheffield showed that general manager Brian Cashman is committed to reducing the team’s payroll and building from within. Cashman should also be credited for not trading away Melky Cabrera, who was one of the team’s most clutch hitters last year and a Bronx favorite.
As for the Mark McGwire situation, baseball writers should be ashamed for not voting him into the Hall of Fame. It’s pretty probable he took some kind of performance-enhancing drugs, but the sad and simple truth is that the majority of players in the 1990s were probably on something. To single out McGwire is just wrong because there are already plenty of players in Cooperstown who could be easily accused of juicing. Look at Paul Molitor who hit .305 in 1997 despite being 40 years old. While I am not saying Molitor should not be in the Hall of Fame, I am saying that if players like Molitor were allowed in, Big Mac should be too. And no, I am not a Cardinals fan.
Unfortunately, the steroids scandal will probably once again be the dominant story this year, especially if Barry Bonds gets closer to Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record. That is why I think baseball needs another exciting story to distract attention away from the steroids scandal. Who knows? Maybe Gil Meche will prove me wrong and lead the Royals to a 100 win season after all.