As all 3 of us know, the Red Sox and the Yankees (who will get as much praise as a Sox fan can give them, by me saluting 99 year-old recently retired Yankees PA announcer Bob Sheppard, who in his first game, introduced 8 Hall-of-Famers, and Dom Dimaggio as his first introduction) are in a competition to acquire Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays.
As half of my avid two readers know (thanks to one not showing up on Thanksgiving, even though he said he would...*jackass*...and we bought you a card.) Alex Gonzalez was recently signed to a short-term deal by the very same team shopping for Halladay. Now in my non-expert, very biased opinion, this is an extension of the trade for Halladay, who I believe the Red Sox will get. (Part of this is bias, the other part is believing, even though they are Canadian, the Jays can't be stupid enough to dig that big a grave for everyone in the division by letting the Yankees have Halladay, along with Sabathia and Burnett)
Anyway, I believe the Gonzalez signing was part of the awaiting acquisition of Halladay. Earlier this season the Red Sox wanted Halladay, but were not willing to give what the Jays wanted. Obviously Buchholz is/will be involved, and others too. The Red Sox could not reach a deal with Gonzalez, and he looked good in his second stint in Boston. Maybe the Sox really didn't want to sign him, or maybe they told him to sign with Toronto, who knows? I truly believe that this was the first step in Halladay's one-way ticket to Fenway Park.
Also, To the Thanksgiving skipping jackass:
As I discussed with Uncle Richard, and you would know if you showed up, I was watching my favorite morning show, Mike and Mike, and they were discussing the NL Cy Young voting. One voter didn't vote for Carpenter at all, and gave Javier Vazquez a third place vote. This, the two Mike's said, was because the voter was making his decision based on metrics, such as WAR and VORP. So I hope your happy, jackass, because one writer in Seattle is listening to you.
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Hmmm. Not much more could be added, Mike. Your response? Let's not get all hung up on the fact that Seattle writers don't vote for the NL Cy Young award. The important part of that statement is the errant voter decided based on WAR and VORP. Or maybe just shared one too many doobies with the repeat winner...
ReplyDeleteHa. Well, that was mean. Sorry I missed Thanksgiving. The car is broken, and I proceeded to pretty much crash after dinner. Then I wokoe up the next morning sick. So a fun holiday all around. Anyway, w/r/t your Halladay stuff, the Gonzalez FA signing as part of the trade is both unrealistic (That Gonzalez could be a piece of a deal for a good player), as well as illegal per the Collective Bargaining Agreement. So that's out.
ReplyDeleteAs to the CY voters, two of them didn't put Carpenter on their ballot, with one of them putting Dan Haren third, and the other having Vazquez 2nd. This is largely because the CY ballot is really stupidly put together, allowing each writer to only list 3 pitchers. Both writers posted lengthy articles explaining why they voted how they did (Before this became a controversial issue), and both stated they had Carpenter fourth. The Vazquez voter was Keith Law, ESPN's director of scouting. Simply put, if he thinks Vazquez is that good, I trust him. Yes, he values WAR and VORP. But his job title is also 'Director of Scouting'. Seems to me to be a good blend of old and new. If this is what they look like, bring on our numerical overlords.