A-Rod puts his tail between his legs

“Please, Steinbrenners.  Really, I always wanted to stay a Yankee.  I want to finish my career here.   Really.  I know I shouldn’t have walked away from that guaranteed $81 million.  I know I shouldn’t have drawn all that attention to myself as the Red Sox were finishing their four game sweep in the World Series.  That was just so wrong of me.  And attempting to hold all of baseball as an economic hostage?  That was just a bit of ego-stroking is all.  I’m sorry it cost you the subsidies from the Rangers.  But, really, I want to stay in the Bronx.  I’ll lead you guys to the World Series some day.  No, really, I will.  I’ll be willing to shave off the $20+ million owed to you by the Rangers in exchange for a ten-year contract extension.  That was totally my bad.  But I want to stay in pinstripes.  Please. Otherwise, if you don’t show any interest in me, then I’m kinda sorta screwed…”

If A-Rod stays in the Bronx, at least it avoids a lethal Vlad Guerrero-Alex Rodriguez combo in Anaheim.  That’s a relief…

Two week catch-up

So I took two weeks off to trek around South America and make good use of the down time which is baseball’s off-season. In between visiting ancient ruins and forming an addiction to Inca Kola, I’ve been keeping tabs on some baseball developments, which there has been some surprising ones indeed:

• Joe Torre traded Yankee pinstripes for Dodger Blue, and in the process the Dodger organization pushed Grady Little out the door to land Mr. Torre. Not sure how many pundits or experts saw this chain of events occurring, but there are two aspects about it that makes sense. The first is the Dodgers’ storied legacy, as Torre trades one legendary franchise for another. The second is that as Don Mattingly was passed over to replace Torre as Yankee manager, he’s gone west with Torre to continue to be groomed to become a manager in the same organization where his son, Preston Mattingly, is struggling in the minors. Considering that Preston put up a .548 OPS as a 19-year old at A-level last year, here’s hoping that Don’s presence will help him find the Gary Matthews Jr. route to the majors, rather than the Pete Rose Jr. one.

A couple of doubts about Torre joining the Dodgers, however. The situation at Chavez Ravine is much different than the situation that Torre inherited in 1996. That season, he took the reins of a Yankees team that had just reached the playoffs for the first time in 14 years and were poised to become one of the greatest teams in recent history. This time around he inherits a team that’s sharply divided in a poisonous clubhouse. The division is due to experience, with the Dodgers’ younger prospects encroaching on veterans’ playing time, with the veterans not too happy about it. Considering this attitude, the team probably couldn’t have done much better then the 82 wins Little guided them to. (In a perfect world, Little deserved to be rewarded for his work with this miserable club, rather than be given the boot.)

Oh yeah, and Torre has a career .471 winning percentage in the National League. He has his work cut out for him with the Dodgers. Torre’s signing isn’t going to be the quick-fix the Dodgers are looking for- it’ll be a couple of years before they form a new identity under him. They’ll be a second-division club until then.

• Jose Guillen’s a juicer. Or was a juicer, according to reports. Although unfortunate- considering that Guillen obviously has had such raw talent and an envied skill set for the past decade that he didn’t need to resort to foreign substances to be able to compete at a higher level- it’s not terribly surprising. Given his history with injuries, along with his ability to bounce back from dismal injury-riddled seasons with offensively impressive “bounce back” seasons, I suppose this revelation shouldn’t be a big surprise. The question is whether it will affect Guillen’s chances in the free-agent market, and if it does affect him negatively, perhaps he’d be willing to return to the Mariners for a two-year discounted contract?

• Alex Rodriguez is being championed by the captains of industry. According to the New York Times, hedge fund managers, stock-market tycoons, and other big money big shots are “rooting” for A-Rod to land an astronomical payday. Never mind the fact that he just walked away from the hometown team without, dare I need to point out, leading them to the a World Series victory? But when does success necessarily mean big money to the top 100 traders in the world, who’s lowest salary is $50 million a year? This same story mentions Merrill Lynch chief executive E. Stanley O’Neal, who received a cash payout of $159 million in a year that saw Merrill Lynch write off $8.4 billion. But this a sports blog, so what the hell do I know about the world of business and finance?

• My man-crush Ryan Braun won the NL Rookie of the Year award, barely beating out Troy Tulowitzki by two votes. Tulowtzki was the favored choice, but voters couldn’t over look Braun’s 34 home runs and 286 total bases in just 451 at-bats, leading to a .634 slugging average. By comparison, when Albert Pujols won the ROY back in 2001, he had a .610 slugging average- and just three more home runs in nearly 140 at-bats. Braun will be a beast for years to come- and when he learns to handle a strike zone, watch out.

Dustin Pedroia won the ROY for the American League, riding on a wave of impressed east coast-based voters and pure spunk to translate his .317 average with eight home runs and seven stolen bases into precious metal. Pedroia beat out Delmon Young, who hit .288 with 13 home runs and 93 RBIs, numbers that would’ve won the awards in other seasons. (Hello Bobby Crosby? Angel Berroa?) Instead- and probably because they can fit him in their pocket- Pedroia has the honor of being the league’s best rookie. How do we know that Dustin isn’t just the second coming of Tim Naehring?

• Adrian Beltre won his first Gold Glove. Very nice, and definitely deserving.

• The debate can be ended. C.C. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young. The final balloting wasn’t even close. Sabathia picked up 19 of the 28 first-place votes, beating Josh Beckett by 33 votes. Congratulations to the big man….