Stupid Yankees. I hate them. I hate them so. It's not just because they are the evil brother of the Red Sox... in fact, if that were the only thing, I would probably just want them to lose. As it is, they embody one of the most serious problems in baseball: financial disparity.
Their start-of-2003 payroll was 2x higher than 18 other teams in baseball, and 3x higher than eight other teams. In fact, Tampa Bay (with the lowest payroll (just under $20M) in the league) could afford fewer than four players if they had the average salary of Yankees players ($5.3M).
And now, in their attempt to buy another World Series title, they have acquired Aaron Boone (an All-Star) even though they didn't really need another infielder. The only thing more disturbing than that is they dealt their current 3rd baseman (Robin Ventura, .251, 9 HR, 42 RBI) to the Dodgers... hardly the offensive savior(s) the Dodgers really need.
My lone hope is that the pitchers for which the Red Sox dealt are going to come through and help drive those Yankee Satans into the ground, sending them and their astronomical payroll packing.
Posted by pcg at July 31, 2003 3:12 PMVentura may surprise you. Yeah, he's having a down year, but last year he had 93 RBI, and a few years before that he had 120. He's definitely already seen the best of his baseball years, but he's got a couple solid seasons left. He's also a two-time all-star and 6-time Gold Glove winner. The Dodgers probably won't make the playoffs this year, but if you have Ventura at the start of next season, you've got someone solid at the corner.
Posted by: jonathan on August 1, 2003 9:28 AMJonathan, you forget: LA is where hitters go to die. But aside from my general rancor for LA offense, RBIs are not necessarily a good indication of production, I don't think. RBIs require that teammates be *on-base*, a status rarely known to the Dodgers (.297 OBP, only .002 ahead of our favorite losers, the Tigers). He's averaging 21 home runs over the past thirteen years, which is happy... but it's not much more than Beltre's 17 HR average. Yeah, Beltre is hitting .222 this year to Ventura's .251, but they are matched in HR. The biggest bonus is Ventura's glove, but his 23 errors last year was more than all but Beltre's first full year.
I can appreciate the Dodgers getting tired of waiting for Beltre to break out, but I don't think Ventura was the right person to get to replace him, not even for this year. Aaron Boone would have been a MUCH better replacement and would have provided much more of the offense the Dodgers needed. But I suppose they don't have bottomless pockets so they couldn't send cash to Cincy. Hey, don't the Pirates have a third baseman on the block?! :-P
Posted by: pcg on August 2, 2003 9:15 PMheh, the Cubs already nabbed him.
Mostly, I agree with your assessments. I have no idea what's happened to Beltre. Is the Ravine a huge park? Does it have Comerica-esque dimensions that make hitting there a nightmare?
Since you don't like RBIs (and in the Dodgers' case, maybe that's a bad stat to use) then look at SLG. Ventura's SLG for the last few years: .458, .419, .439, .529. It's not going to get him into the hof, but it's not too shabby. And, he gets well over the OBP Mendoza line (.300).
hey -- did you see that inside-the-parker yesterday against ATL? Pretty sweet, especially since the Braves had an argument that he should have been out. hee-hee, I love it when things go against the Braves.
Posted by: jonathan on August 4, 2003 6:30 AM