Their manager having thrown away a chance to take the season’s opening series last night, the Yankees are forced to play a rubber game against the A’s tonight in Oakland. Taking the hill for the A’s will be Dan Haren, whose similarities to last night’s Oakland starter, ace Rich Harden, extend further than the five common letters in their last names. Here’s an updated version of the tale-of-the-tape that I ran last year:

While Harden is universally recognized as a potential Cy Young candidate, Haren is poised for a breakout season of his own. Haren’s 2005 was already better than either of Mark Mulder’s last two seasons. Mulder, you’ll recall, was the Big Three ace whom the A’s sent to St. Louis for Haren, reliever Kiko Calero, and now-20-year-old catching-cum-first base prospect Daric Barton. It’s Harden and Haren whom I expect to lead the A’s to an easy AL West crown this year. Certainly you have to like the chances of any team that lists Barry Zito as its third-best starter.

Opposing Haren tonight will be the Yankees’ 2005 rookie sensation Chien-Ming Wang. Wang, now 26, remains an extreme, and extremely effective, ground ball pitcher. Last year Wang ranked third in the majors in groundball-to-flyball ratio among pitchers with more than 100 innings, trailing only Brandon Webb and ex-Yankee Jake Westbrook, but ranking ahead of the aptly named Derek Lowe. The problem with all of that is that Wang has to work in front of the Yankees’ extremely porous infield defense. Thus far, in just two games, we’ve seen Alex Rodriguez make some outstanding plays at third base and the three men to his left compensate by booting, whiffing and otherwise failing to catch up with balls hit or thrown in their direction. My confidence in Joe Torre has already been spoiled, but if the Yankee skipper knows what’s good for his team, he’ll compensate by DHing Giambi in Wang’s starts and giving the more agile Andy Phillips those starts at first base. Though I’m a proponent of playing Giambi in the field because of the boost it gives his bat, the offensive upgrade achieved by benching Bernie in favor of Phillips should compensate for any lost production from Giambi, who should be able to produce from the DH spot if he’s only required to do so once every five days.

Failing that, there’s always the hope that Wang will improve his strikeout rate this year. In his rookie season, Wang struck out just 3.64 men per nine innings, a severe drop from his career minor league rate of 7.06 K/9. In 74 1/3 career triple-A innings between 2004 and 2005, Wang struck out 6.78 men per nine and in 15 1/3 innings this spring he struck out 5.87 men per nine innings. Given that history, it seems fair to expect Wang to increase his strikeout rate to something in the mid-fives this year. As dominating as Chien-Ming can be in terms of keeping his opponents from getting the ball in the air, he’ll need to help himself more often this year if he expects to improve on his freshman campaign.

Finally, while we’re on the topic of pitchers who made their pinstriped debuts in 2005, Will Carroll’s latest Under The Knife column contains some unsurprising speculation about Carl Pavano’s that is nonetheless startling to see in print. Quothe Carroll:

Carl Pavano is headed to [back expert] Dr. [Robert] Watkins for a check of his problematic back. There have been whispers from some in Yankee camp that Pavano will likely need surgery, almost certainly season-ending and perhaps career-ending. . . . Pavano’s contract is insured for backs.

Pavano is owed $30.9 million for the remaining three years of his contract (2006-2008) and the buyout on his 2009 option, though I’m not sure exactly how much of that is recoupable via the insurance should Pavano never throw another major league pitch.

In the top of the first inning last night, Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter reached base and then Gary Sheffield took a characteristically healthy cut at the first pitch he saw and fouled it back. He was right on the pitch and just missed it–Rich Harden eventually struck him out on a 3-2 splitter. Alex Rodriguez was next and he put a great swing on a 2-1 fastball that he just missed, fouling it straight back. Rodriguez whiffed as well and so did Jason Giambi to end the inning. That was just the start of a frustrating evening for the Bombers out in Oakland, but I missed the rest of the game.

I’m gearing up for a two-day visit to St. Louis tomorrow and Friday to promote my book on Curt Flood. I’ll be at Left Bank books on Thursday night and on various local radio and TV shows during my stay. Cliff will hold things down–as he’s been doing for weeks now–and continue to provide crack analysis on the Bombers. Alexbelth.com will hopefully launch tomorrow–with many kinks to be ironed out over the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you are interested in Curt Flood, here is an excerpt from the book, plus an interview with me that appears today on Viva El Birdos.

Take it ease, and go Yankees.

The Yankees left ten men on base last night, six of them in scoring position, but what cost them an otherwise thrilling game was the same old bullpen mismanagement that has long plagued Joe Torre’s stay in the Bronx.

Give the A’s credit. They can pitch. Rich Harden wasn’t dominating, but as he showed in the first by striking out Sheffield, Rodriguez and Giambi to strand Damon and Jeter at second and third, even on an off night he has the stuff to get the job done when he needs to. Of course, he got a big assist in the third when Rodriguez cracked a two-out hit to right with Sheffield on second, then proceeded to run into an out between first and second to end the inning. That stopped the Yankees at one run in that inning. Harden continued to struggle in the fourth, but got three straight outs with men on second and third, though another run came home in the process. When the Yankees finally got another RBI hit in the sixth (Posada’s first safety of the season, but second RBI of the game) followed by yet another single, A’s manager Ken Macha took it as a sign that Harden was cooked. Justin Duchscherer came on and struck out Cano to end the inning.

Duchscherer can pitch too, as he proved again the next inning by retiring Sheffield and Rodriguez to again strand Damon at second. In the eighth, the Yankees had Hideki Matsui at second with two outs and lesser pitcher Joe Kennedy on the mound, but their worst batter was up and Bernie flied out to end the inning. In the ninth it was ace closer Huston Street who would strand Damon at second, this time walking Sheffield, but retiring Jeter and Rodriguez around him.

As for the Yankees, Mike Mussina exceeded expectations by holding the A’s to three runs through seven full while striking out six, a very solid outing for Moose despite homers by Swisher and Chavez. The key is that, since he only allowed two walks and three other hits, the two dingers were solo shots. With Mussina out of the game after 102 pitches (63 percent strikes), Torre expertly managed his pen in the eighth, bringing in Myers to face the lefties Kotsay (strikeout) and Chavez (walk) and then calling on ace set-up man Farnsworth to get the right-handed Frank Thomas despite the temptation of lefty Dan Johnson hitting behind him.

Unfortunately, that’s where Torre’s wisdom ran out. It took Farnsworth all of ten pitches to retire Thomas and Johnson, yet for some reason Torre decided not to use him in the ninth inning of a game that remained tied. That was mistake number one. Mistake number two was who Torre brought in instead.

We’ve seen this before, most famously in Game 4 of the 2003 World Series. On the road in a tie game, when the time comes to use Rivera, Torre thinks to himself, “I have no idea how long this is going to go. I’m not going to burn Mo here. I’m going to save him to get those last three outs once we get a lead. In the meantime, I’ll use my long man because he can pitch all night while we wait for the offense to score.” Usually that long man only gets an inning or two of work in because, with no room for error in a game that will end the second the home team scores, that’s exactly what happens. The home team scores off the sixth best man in the pen and the game ends without Rivera throwing a pitch. We saw it with Jeff Weaver in the 2003 Series and we saw it again last night.

Torre should have left Farnsworth in for the ninth and used Rivera for the tenth and eleventh before resorting to his lesser relievers. Rivera last pitched on Saturday and threw just 12 pitches in that game against the Diamondbacks. Farnsworth last threw on Friday, using just 20 pitches against the D-Backs. What’s more, the Yankees have an off day on Thursday. To make matters worse, the A’s had already blown their best set-up man (Duchscherer) and were an inning deep on their closer. The Yanks end-gamers had every opportunity to outlast their Oakland counterparts. There’s simply no excuse, especially in a game that could have clinched a series win from the league’s top team.

Instead, Torre turned to Scott Proctor, literally the last man in the pen both by virtue of his making the 25-man roster at the tail end of spring training and his recent absence from the team to attend to his newborn daughter in the wake of her cardiac surgery for a congenital heart defect. Proctor’s daughter, Emmy, is expected to make a full recovery, but it doesn’t take the most sympathetic soul around to imagine that Proctor’s focus may not yet be as sharp as it might be after he’s had a few more days to lose himself in his daily routine with the team (he rejoined the Yankees after the pre-game introductions on Monday night).

Not that Proctor’s mental state should have come into play. Nor should have Proctor himself. But he did. Twelve pitches later, only eight of them thrown with purpose, the Yankees, or more accurately, Joe Torre had blown a winnable game.

My headlines have been boring as beans recently. Sorry about that. Then again, there’s something to be said for truth in advertising.

After last night’s 15-2 massacre (I particularly liked the Daily News’s WBC-inspired headline “No Mercy”), the A’s look for a little get back with their ace Rich Harden on the mound against the mysterious Mike Mussina. Mussina has suffered a glaring decline the last two years, in part due to elbow problems that one can’t expect will go away as he begins his age-37 season, no matter how good he may have felt at the end of spring training.

Harden, meanwhile, is a 24-year-old stud with a devastating repertoire, a textbook delivery, and a very bright future. Funny, then that the last time either pitcher faced tonight’s opponent they did it against one another in Oakland in a game that saw Harden leave due to injury and Mussina pitch a gem.

Harden left that game, a 9-4 Yankee victory marred only by an ugly outing from Mike Stanton in relief, after an inning and a third with a strained oblique muscle, an injury which appears to be all the rage these days. He didn’t pitch again for more than a month.

Mike Mussina made two starts against the A’s last year. Those two starts came on consecutive turns in early May and turned out to not only be Mussina’s best back-to-back starts of the year, but part of the salvation of the Yankees’ season.

With his team 11-19 entering a Saturday afternoon game against the A’s at the Stadium, Mussina took the mound and hurled a beautiful four-hit shutout that kicked off a ten-game winning streak. Game five of that streak was Mussina’s second start against the A’s described above in which Moose went seven allowing two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out nine. His season line against the A’s was thus: 16 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 BB, 12 K.

That catch is that the A’s lineups that Mussina faced in those two games contained just four of the hitters he will face tonight (Kotsay, Kendall, Chavez and, in the first of the two only, Ellis) while the rest of the order was filled out by men such as Scott Hatteberg, Keith Ginter, Marco Scutaro, Eric Byrnes, Bobby Kielty and an ineffective Erubiel Durazo (0 for 7 in those games and .237/.305/.368 on the year on his way to Tommy John surgery). Tonight those players will be replaced by Dan Johnson, Bobby Crosby, Milton Bradley, Nick Swisher and Frank Thomas. Add in a healthy Harden and Moose and the Yanks have their work cut out for them tonight.

The below are my largely unedited notes taken during last night’s season opener . . .

I’m oddly grumpy about tonight’s game. I guess the late start and fear of rain has soured my mood some. Perhaps watching last night’s disappointment has also contributed to my grouchiness. Still, it looks sunny in Oakland and we’ve got Randy Johnson facing Barry Zito. I can’t not get geared up for this, no matter how much I’ve come to despise the sound of Michael Kay’s voice.

Joe Torre announced what he expects to be his everyday lineup on Sunday and he’s written it onto today’s line-up card:

L – Johnny Damon (CF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
R – Gary Sheffield (RF)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
L – Hideki Matsui (LF)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
S – Bernie Williams (DH)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)

The A’s, meanwhile, line it up a bit differently than I had expected. Here’s their opening day nine:

R – Mark Ellis (R)
L – Mark Kotsay (CF)
R – Bobby Crosby (SS)
L – Eric Chavez (3B)
R – Frank Thomas (DH)
S – Milton Bradley (RF)
R – Jay Payton (LF)
R – Jason Kendall (R)
S – Nick Swisher (1B)

With the lefty Randy Johnson on the mound, lefty Dan Johnson hits the bench, righty Jay Payton takes over in left, and Nick Swisher moves to first.

This is the Yankees’ only trip to Oakland this season. Weird. They’ve only opened a season in Oakland once before and have opened on the west coast just five times prior to this, the other four being split evenly between Anaheim and Seattle, four of the previous five west coast openers coming in consecutive seasons from 1997 to 2000.

Top 1

Damon steps up to hearty boos from the fans of his former team.

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It appears to be raining throughout the country. In addition to the rain outside my window, last night the 2006 season kicked off with a game between the second and third best teams in baseball that was ruined by a nearly three-hour rain delay. Tonight, with bad weather already looming over the Bay Area, we may see a repeat of last night’s mess except with the first and fourth best teams in the game as the participants.

For those who might misinterpret that last statement as the homerism of an admitted die-hard Yankee fan, it is the host Oakland A’s whom I believe are the best team in baseball, with the hometown Yankees coming up fourth (for what it’s worth, I expect the Red Sox to do battle for fifth place with whomever emerges from the National League scrum).

The A’s won just 88 games last year, but, as I predicted at the outset, 2005 was merely a trial run for the team that will take the field tonight. Among the Athletics who enjoyed their first full major league season last year were closer and AL Rookie of the Year Huston Street, starting pitchers Dan Haren and Joe Blanton, outfielder Nick Swisher, and first baseman Dan Johnson. Meanwhile, young stars Bobby Crosby and Rich Harden battled injuries in what would have otherwise been just their second full seasons in the bigs. All of these players can be expected to improve this year, be it due to increased health, experience, or a combination of the two.

To this emerging core, the A’s have added the explosive bat of Frank Thomas and the explosive personality of Milton Bradley. There’s no guarantee that either will stay healthy long enough to make 300 plate appearances, let alone twice that many, but for as long as they are in the line-up, they will represent a tremendous improvement over the departed Scott Hatteberg and Erubiel Durazo and demoted Bobby Keilty (temporarily in triple-A to give the A’s an extra pitcher to cope with the impending rain) and Jay Payton.

Payton’s removal from the lineup gives the A’s a righty power bat on the bench that similarly upgrades the team’s support staff, which last year involved way too much Eric Byrnes (which is to say, any). The Bradley trade, meanwhile, also netted Antonio Perez, a high-on-base utility man who pushes futility man Marco Scutaro—who spent a large chunk of the past two seasons starting in place of injured middle infielders Crosby (in 2005) and Ellis (in 2004)—yet another notch down the depth chart.

Elsewhere the A’s have added a pair of former Yankee hurlers. Erstwhile swing man Esteban Loaiza, who put up handsome numbers in the pitchers paradise of RFK last year with the Nationals, joins Oakland as a fifth starter, taking over for Kirk Saarloos and his 2.99 K/9. Meanwhile, my one-time pet cause, Admiral Brad Halsey, will slide into the bullpen as a long-relief lefty behind the similarly repurposed and regally named Joe Kennedy. The Paperboy, who just turned 25 years old in February, can also deliver more effective spot starts than Saarloos and could very well work his way into the A’s rotation to stay should Loaiza regain his Yankee form. Either way, these two ex-Yanks again push a player who got way too much exposure last year, in this case Saarloos, further down the depth chart.

Some of these improvements will likely be offset by the regression that can be expected from set-up man Justin Duchscherer, who appeared to make the leap in his second full season at age 27, and second baseman Mark Ellis, who returned from a year lost to labrum surgery to be more productive than in either of his previous two major league seasons. But then those two are young enough (the older Ellis will be 29 on 6/6/6) that their improvements could very well be real. Meanwhile, Barry Zito and Eric Chavez are not only still in green and gold, but both are younger than both Duchscherer and Ellis.

On top of all of that, this is a ballclub that fell five games shy of their Pythagorean record in 2005, the fulfillment of which would have tied them with the Indians just two games behind the Angels, Yanks and Red Sox in the overall American League standings.

As for the Yankees, they actually exceeded their Pythagorean record by five games last year, but that’s become an annual event for the Bombers. In fact, nine of Joe Torre’s ten Yankee clubs have exceeded their Pythagorean record, the one exception coming in 1997. Call it the Mariano Rivera effect. With Rivera slamming the door, the Yankees are able to win more close games that would be expected given their overall run differential, which in recent years has been further skewed by some extremely problematic starting pitching. It’s the latter that explains why the A’s didn’t experience a similar effect given their excellent end game in 2005. Unlike the Yankees, the A’s also managed to lose small due to strong starting pitching that was often victimized by an offense that scored fewer than four runs per game for the first two months of the season. (see pages 132 to 137 of Mind Game for my analysis of these effects on the Yankees’ Pythagorean records).

Unlike the A’s, the Yankees can expect regression (Sheffield and Mussina due to age and nagging injuries, Rodriguez and Chacon because of abnormal 2005 production, Sturtze and Small because the clock has struck midnight, and possibly even Jeter, who’s thirtieth birthday is receding in the rearview) that will, at minimum, offset whatever improvements they might enjoy elsewhere (a full season of the rejuvenated Giambi, full-seasons of more experienced Cano and Wang, possible rebounds to previous levels of production by Johnson and Matsui, and perhaps even a bit of bounce from Wright, courtesy of that Mussina curve, Proctor, given a new more suitable role, and Bernie, who couldn’t be much worse than last year).

Will all else evening out, the Yankees’ offseason moves aren’t sexy enough to inspire much enthusiasm, but despite their drab appearance, they all represent improvements, even if those improvements are largely because of the atrociousness of the players being replaced. I’ve prattled on enough about my expectations for the Yankees this year elsewhere, but allow me to jump the gun on my usual roster breakdown just a tad and give you some specifics:

Who’s Replacing Whom?

Johnny Damon replaces Tony Womack and Tino Martinez
Kelly Stinnett replaces John Flaherty
Miguel Cairo replaces Matt Lawton and Rey Sanchez
Andy Phillips inherits Ruben Sierra’s at-bats
Shawn Chacon takes over Kevin Brown’s starts
Chein-Ming Wang takes over Al Leiter’s starts
Kyle Farnsworth replaces Tom Gordon
Mike Myers replaces Mike Stanton, Buddy Groom, Wayne Franklin and Alan Embree
Ron Villone replaces Paul Quantrill and Felix Rodriguez

Using VORP (Value (Runs) Over RePlacement), the eight departed players in the first six lines above combined to cost the Yankees 25.6 runs last year, this despite a positive 10.4 VORP from Martinez. The six players taking over their playing time combined to be 92.3 runs above replacement, and there’s a decent chance that Wang and, given enough playing time, Phillips could improve enough to compensate for Chacon’s regression. That’s nearly a twelve-run improvement right there.

While Damon et al. are all essentially guaranteed to be more productive for the Yankees in 2006 than the players they are replacing, Kyle Farnsworth is more likely to break even with the departed Flash Gordon. The advantage there being that Farnsworth is eight and a half years younger than Gordon, has nearly 1400 fewer major league innings on his right arm, and a cleaner (though not perfect) injury history to boot. For identical money, the Yankees made a significant upgrade, though that improvement may not necessarily show up on the balance sheet given that Gordon’s 2005 is already on the books.

The laundry list of miscast and past-due LOOGies that follows Mike Myers’ name should be reason enough to appreciate his signing. And while Ron Villone isn’t exactly good, he should at least be able to pass through airport metal detectors on road trips, something Quantrill and Felix Rodriguez were unable to do last year given the giant forks sticking out of their backs.

This of course doesn’t even begin to take into account the fact that the Yankees finally have a crop of replacement players worth using in Columbus this year, but I’ve beaten that horse to death already, so I’ll take this opportunity to shut the hell up and present the rosters for tonight’s game.

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Nothing to do but wait around all day until the Yanks open their season in Oakland tonight. Happy Opening Day to you all–this is the fourth Opening Day here at Bronx Banter, the second in a row with Cliff. Looking forward to another entertaining season with you guys.

On a personal note, my Curt Flood book recently hit the shelves and it will be officially released on April 12th. I’m in the process of putting the final touches on a new site (Alexbelth.com) which should be up and running later this week. In the meantime, “Stepping Up” was mentioned in the L.A. Times and the Boston Globe yesterday, The Black Athlete Sports Network, and The New York Sun this morning.

Allen Barra penned the piece for the Sun (Disclosure: Barra is a friend):

Flood, one of the most important players in the game’s history in terms of moral leadership, has remained until now a man without a biography. Alex Belth’s stirring and hugely readable “Stepping Up” (Persea Books, 240 pages, $22.95) plugs a significant gap in the history of baseball’s turbulent 1960s and early ’70s.

Flood, the man who told Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, “After 12 years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold,” was the true torchbearer of Jackie Robinson’s legacy, and Mr. Belth gives him his due. “His life,” Mr. Belth writes, “took a course that never in his wildest dreams he could have imagined as a scrawny kid making trick catches on the ballfields of Oakland. He took a simple stand against baseball,based on simple principles of truth and justice – principles he held on to when it would have been so much easier to let them go.”

It was Flood, Mr. Belth writes, who “made the world stand up and take notice of baseball’s exploitative structure.” But like Robinson before him, he paid the price in terms of stress. He fell into deep depressions during and after the lawsuit, and his heavy drinking and smoking left his body weakened and susceptible to throat cancer. He died in 1997 at age 60.

In “Juiced,” Jose Canseco talks about his willingness to lead players across the picket line in the 1994 strike – does anyone know how we can send him a copy of this book?

I’ve got a new piece up at SI.Com celebrating Flood, and yo, I’m going to be at Left Bank Books in St. Louis this coming Thursday. I know it’s a hike, but just thought I’d throw it out there in case you know anybody in the vicinity.

In the meantime, Cliff “the Night Owl” Corcoran will be holding the fort down here, as the Yanks kick off the 2006 season on the West Coast.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

I have to hand it to the MLB schedule makers, tonight’s season opener between the World Champion Chicago White Sox and the up-and-coming Cleveland Indians (on ESPN2 at 8:00 EST) is the perfect way to kick off the 2006 season. I was one of five Toasters to pick the A’s to go all the way this year, but after Oakland, I believe the Indians and White Sox are the next two best teams in baseball. As a result, I expect the AL Central to be this year’s most exciting race. So what better way to start the season than with the World Champs and the team that’s poised to make them sweat all season long.

Last year, the Indians rebounded from a 9-14 (.391) start to play .604 baseball over the season’s final 139 games. They also went 22-36 (.379) in one-run games, including five one-run loses in their final seven games which handed the White Sox the division and the Red Sox the wild card in the season’s final week. In games decided my more than one run, the 2005 Indians played .683 ball. These signs all point toward a better record in 2006 for a team that missed the playoffs by two games last year.

The story of the White Sox 2005 season, meanwhile, is the exact opposite. After a scorching 24-7 (.774) start, the White Sox played .572 ball the rest of the way and posted a .648 winning percentage in one-run games, including two of their three wins against the Indians in the season’s final series. Due largely to their disparate one-run records, the Indians’ Pythagorean record was five games better than the White Sox’s last year, despite that fact that the Sox won the division by six games.

Despite winning their first Championship in 88 years, the White Sox hardly rested on their laurels this offseason, trading for Jim Thome and Javier Vazquez, both of whom stand to be major improvements over the departed Carl Everett and Orlando Hernandez, and giving rookie Brian Anderson the center field job. Elsewhere, however, there is considerable fear of regression. Will Jermaine Dye slug .512 this year? Will Scott Podsednik revert to his .244/.313/.364 line from 2004? Can Jose Contreras sustain the improvements he made last year? Will the rest of the rotation survive the loss of Aaron Rowand’s defense in center? Most of all, what will come of the White Sox’s bullpen, which in 2005 got career years out of Cliff Politte and Dustin Hermanson (the latter of whom will start the season on the DL with a bad back) and saw youngsters Neal Cotts and Bobby Jenks appear to make the leap? The fifth and sixth men in the pen for the Sox entering the season are Matt Thornton, a would-be LOOGY who gave Mike Hargrove fits in Seattle last year by walking 6.63 men per nine innings (does that make him a LOWGY?), and 21-year-old Boone Logan, who has spent all but four games of his three-year professional career in rookie ball with the White Sox’s Pioneer League team in Great Falls.

The Indians, meanwhile, are a team on the rise. Though their off-season changes are largely uninspiring (getting Ben Broussard a legitimate lefty-killer for a platoon partner in Eduardo Perez and replacing no-hit back-up catcher Josh Bard with the power and patience of Kelly Shoppach stand as their biggest upgrades), their triple-A team at Buffalo is stocked with prospects who could greatly improve an already excellent ball club by taking over at the major league level mid-season, among them Andy Marte (3B), Ryan Garko (1B), Brad Snyder (RF), Franklyn Gutierrez (CF/LF), starting pitchers Fausto Carmona and Jeremy Sowers, and reliever Andrew Brown. Given that tremendous potential for in-season improvement via on-hand talent and the correction that’s bound to occur in the one-run records of both teams, I believe the Indians are the team to beat in the central this year.

For more on these teams be sure to check out the outstanding Let’s Go Tribe and the two excellent Sox blogs South Side Sox and Exile in Wrigleyville (and of course my Indians chapter in Baseball Prospectus 2006).

As I type this, we’re about a half hour from the first pitch of the 2006 season. Lefties Mark Buehrle and C.C. Sabathia are likely taking their warm-up pitches in the U.S. Cellular Field bullpens. You can find the opening day rosters of both teams below the fold.

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Murray Kempton was a famous New York newspaperman for more than fifty years. I’ve tried to read his stuff on occasion and there is something about his language that I can’t get past–I’ve always had a difficult time appreciating and understanding his work. At the same time, I’ve also felt that I should get him, that I’m missing something.

Oh, well. I did love him as a New York character, however–he was legendary for riding his bicycle all around town. In 1994, I was working as a waiter at a modest neighbhorhood restaurant on the Upper West Side and had the pleasure to serve Mr. Kempton lunch one afternoon. He had clamps around his ankles so that his pants would not get caught on the chain of his bike. We chatted some and he was every bit the gentleman.

Anyhow, I bring Kempton up because I ran across an article he wrote for “Sport” magazine back in 1962 about the Mets called “Back at the Polo Grounds.” Since we were talking about New York fans a couple of days ago, I thought you guys might enjoy this:

The New York of the Giants, Dodgers, and Yankes was an annual re-evocation of the War between the States. The Yankees were the North, if you could concieve a North grinding along with wealth and weight and without the excuse of Lincoln. The Giants and Dodgers were the Confederacy, often undermanned and underequipped and running then because it could not hit. You went to Yankee Stadium if you were the kind of man who enjoyed yelling for Grant at Richmond; you went to the National League parks to see Pickett’s cahrge…

The old Dodger fans werer the kind of people who picket. The old Giant fans would be embarrassed to do anything so conspicuous, but they were the kind of people who refuse to cross picket lines. Yankee fans are the kind of people who think they own the company the picket line is thrown around. It is impossible for anyone who does not live in New York to know what it truly is to hate the Yankees. As writer Leonard Koppett has said: ‘The residents of other cities who hate the Yankees really only hate New York.’…But, if you live in New York and you’re not a Yankee fan, you hate them the way you hate Consolidated Edison or your friendly bank.

Kempton’s essay can be in found in the fine collection, “Baseball: A Literary Anthology.”

“Anybody who thinks you can go through the season normally and your body can just respond normally, after what we go through, is unreasonable,” said Eric Chavez, the third baseman for the Oakland Athletics. “I’m not saying taking away greenies isn’t a good thing, but guys are definitely going to look for something as a replacement.”

…”Guys will always find something,” [Al] Leiter said. “Even if they have to go to the local truck stop to get some No-Doz, they’ll find something to get them through.”

Over the past couple of months there have been a bunch of stories about how the new ban on greenies will impact baseball this year. I can’t recall any of them being more concise or thorough than Jack Curry’s piece this morning in the Times. I think this is one of the most interesting stories of the coming season and Curry does a fine job of spelling out the a-b-c’s of the matter. Check it out.

Does New York have some of the greatest fans in the world, or is this a city of fair weather bandwagon-riding chumps? From my experience, I’d have to say a little bit of both. (Hey, we’re the city that has everything after all, right?) For a town that often crows about what tough, loyal fans we have, it’s amazing how many native New Yorkers are quick to dump on the local teams in favor of, well, whatever team is currently winning. So weather it was the Bulls and then the Lakers or the Red Sox, there is always a visible portion of the New York population that gravitates to the National team of the moment. However, there are true-blue die-hards here just like there are in Philly and Boston and wherever else you want to mention. (There are Yankee fans who actually rooted for the team prior to 1995–many of whom frequent this blog–and will continue pulling for them when the team isn’t winning division titles year after year.) Witness this article today in The New York Times about the Knick fans that have stuck it out through one of the organization’s most dreadful seasons to date. These cats pay top dollar for their season tickets, but it will take more than losing and general mishegoss to keep them away.

According to the New York Times and MLB.com, the twenty-fifth man on the Yankees opening day roster will be . . . Wil Nieves!

You know, Joe Torre has been hinting for a while that Nieves might make the roster, in part because he’s out of options, but the idea was so absurd I didn’t give it much credence. Then again, ever since the Kevins were optioned down to Columbus, the Yankees have been without a preferable option. A twelfth pitcher is unnecessary, particularly in April, when the schedule is littered with off-days. The thing the Yankees need most on their bench is a big bat, but there are none of those left on the bubble in camp. Second to that, they could use a reserve outfielder who can hit, but those options departed with Reese and Thompson. Popular waiver wire targets Carlos Pena and Erubiel Durazo are both first basemen (though even that’s a stretch for Durazo), and both were so bad this spring that the Yankees would be better off having either find his stroke in Columbus than having him warm the bench in the Bronx.

So, Wil Nieves. Whatever. I’d say they’re going to have to get rid of him when the inevitable roster crunch arrives, but no such crunch is on the horizon. Scott Proctor will likely get bounced to the minors when Aaron Small comes off the DL and I’m not about to hold my breath for Carl Pavano’s return. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Octavio Dotel activated before Pavano, whose endless injuries are creeping closer and closer to his mangina. Dotel could force Nieves off the roster, though by then Jaret Wright could be ready to hit the DL himself. I suppose the upside of having Nieves on the roster is that he could wrestle the back-up catcher job from Kelly Stinnett, making the Yankees’ catching corps seven and a half years younger, but not necessarily any better.

At any rate, here are your 2006 New York Yankees:

1B – Jason Giambi (L)
2B – Robinson Cano (L)
SS – Derek Jeter (R)
3B – Alex Rodriguez (R)
C – Jorge Posada (S)
RF – Gary Sheffield (R)
CF – Johnny Damon (L)
LF – Hideki Matsui (L)
DH – Bernie Williams (S)

Bench:

R – Andy Phillips (IF)
R – Miguel Cairo (IF)
L – Bubba Crosby (OF)
R – Kelly Stinnett (C)
R – Wil Nieves (C)

Rotation:

L – Randy Johnson
R – Mike Mussina
R – Chien-Ming Wang
R – Shawn Chacon
R – Jaret Wright

Bullpen:

R – Mariano Rivera
R – Kyle Farnsworth
R – Tanyon Sturtze
L – Mike Myers
L – Ron Villone
R – Scott Proctor

DL: R – Carl Pavano, R – Octavio Dotel, R – Aaron Small

Now that the roster is set, my spring training game wraps are kind of meaningless, but since the Yankees wrapped up their Grapefruit League schedule yesterday afternoon, I might as well wrap it up.

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Behind their last B-squad line-up of the spring, the Yankees beat the Tigers on the road 4-2

Lineup:

Johnny Damon CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Bernie Williams RF
Jorge Posada DH
Andy Phillips 1B
Russ Johnson 3B
Bubba Crosby LF
Felix Escalona SS
Keith McDonald C

Subs: Damian Rolls 3B, Wil Nieves C, Rudy Guillen RF, Mitch Jones LF

Pitchers: Jeffrey Karstens, Scott Erickson, Ron Villone, Kyle Farnsworth, Matt Childers

Big Hits: Doubles by Russ Johnson (1 for 2 with two walks) and Felix Escalona (1 for 4). Andy Phillips was 2 for 3 with a walk, scoring twice.

Who Pitched Well?: Jeffrey Karstens retired the last ten batters he faced, allowing just two runs on a walk and two hits in five innings, striking out two. Ron Villone retired the only two batters he faced to finish the seventh inning for Scott Erickson. Kyle Farnsworth pitched around a Delmon Young double for a scoreless eighth. Matt Childers kept his scorless spring intact despite a hit and a walk in the ninth.

Oopsies: A fielding error by Felix Escalona

Ouchies: Johnny Damon said, “I’m as close to 100 percent healthy as I can be.” (AP). Jorge Posada (1 for 2, 2 walks) will catch tomorrow’s game and will indeed be behind the plate for Randy Johnson in the season opener despite catching just seven of the Big Unit’s innings to Stinnett’s 22 1/3, largely due to illness and injury.

How’d Randy Do Anyway?: Pitching against single-A Phillies with Torre and Guidry in attendance: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 K. If nothing else, I’m sure it was good for Johnson to pitch in relative obscurity while all the flack over his situation with his baby’s momma dies down.

Roster News: Scott Proctor has officially made the opening day roster, filling Aaron Small’s swing man spot at the back of the bullpen. His spring line: 6 G, 2 GS, 17 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 HR, 7 BB, 14 K, 1.06 ERA, 1-1. With Proctor on the 25-man roster, there is just one spot left which could go to either a seventh reliever or a fifth bench player. That is unless Jaret Wright is put on the 15-day DL since he won’t need to start until April 15, in which case the Yanks will have room for both a bench player and another reliever.

Catcher Keith McDonald, meanwhile, was reassigned to minor league camp after going 0 for 3 in yesterday’s game.

The Yankees were limited to four singles and a walk, losing to the Phillies 3-0 at home.

Lineup:

Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Gary Sheffield RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Hideki Matsui LF
Jason Giambi 1B
Jorge Posada DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Kelly Stinnett C

Subs: Andy Phillips 1B, Miguel Cairo 2B, Felix Escalona SS, Russ Johnson 3B, Omir Santos C, Bernie Williams RF, Bubba Crosby CF, Luis A. Garcia LF

Pitchers: Scott Proctor, Carl Pavano, Mariano Rivera, Tanyon Sturtze, Mike Myers

Big Hits: none

Who Pitched Well?: Scott Proctor made his second strong start of the spring, allowing just one run on a Sal “Thurman” Fassano homer in five innings while allowing just two other hits, both singles, and a walk against five strikeouts. Mike Myers and Mariano Rivera both pitched perfect innings.

Ouchies: The biggest news is Carl Pavano’s return to game action. Pavano, who last pitched with the major league club on June 27 of last year and hasn’t pitched in a game of any kind since an A-ball rehab start on August 3, allowed one run on a Shane Victorino solo homer in one inning of work, throwing 11 of 14 pitches for strikes and surviving a dive into first to retire Bobby Abreu on a slow grounder up the line. Jorge Posada also returned to action, going 0 for 3 as the Yankees’ DH. He’s expected to catch Thursday’s Grapefruit League finale. Chien-Ming Wang threw 61 pitches in the bullpen and will take his scheduled turn in Phoenix on Friday. Octavio Dotel threw his first batting practice of the spring. Scott Erickson (remember him?) is expected to pitch in today’s game.

Roster Crunch Time: Randy Johnson will start for the minor league campers today, giving Jeff Karstens the major league start. Jaret Wright will start the minor league game tomorrow with Wang and Chacon pitching the two games against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Though only Johnson and Mussina have been officially announced, barring a disaster start from Wang or Chacon and a dominating performance by Wright (and likely not even then), Wang will start the finale of the A’s series with Chacon going in the first game of the Angels series a week from Friday. Wright would then be in line to take the fifth starter’s turn on April 15 in Minnesota.

The battle for the last spot in the bullpen, however, has heated up with Ramiro Mendoza (1.93 spring ERA) feeling heat from Proctor (1.06 ERA with the third most innings in camp), Matt Smith (1.69), Matt Childers (0 runs in one start and three relief appearances) and, sadly, Scott Erickson, who will return to action today with a 2.61 spring ERA. I’m still rooting for Mendoza or Smith, preferring to see Proctor find a spot in the Clippers rotation and Erickson find himself in another uniform. Childers is just 27 and is better utilized as roster insurance in Columbus than as a pitcher expected to produce as a member of the opening day roster.

While we’re at it, the final spot on the bench seems to be down to Wil Neives (.269/.321/.423 this spring) and Felix Escalona (.263/.333/.421), unless Joe Torre has been seduced by Luis A. Garcia’s eleven at-bats, which started with a pair of homers and have since featured three singles in nine trips with just one strikeout and no walks. Nieves is out of options, but just might slip through waivers. Escalona would be my choice, though with the Kevins gone and Russ Johnson not hitting, there’s really very little added value to be had with any of these guys. All the more reason to offer Carlos Pena, who could be useful as a lefty bat off the bench later in the season, a minor league deal.

Late last week, Buster Olney wrote what we’re likely to see at the Yankee-Sox cirucs this year:

There are so many new players — new relievers, in particular — on the two teams, and they will tend to be overaggressive in reacting to somebody’s getting hit by a pitch in this rivalry. It will be as if Kyle Farnsworth and Julian Tavarez and the others joined a fraternity fight, they know all their new house brothers are watching and they feel a need to demonstrate their toughness. There’s almost no doubt that they will have incidents this year, and you almost can assume that Farnsworth or Tavarez or [Taynon] Sturtze will be in the middle of something.

Farnsworth and Sturtze come across like bouncers jacked-up on Red Bull, and Tavarez has the looks of an old-timey bad guy. All that is missing is a mustache for him to twirl as he ties the girl to the train tracks. Even our old pal Beth, a Red Sox fan so devoted that she is generally willing to make apologies for the most boorish BoSox behavior, is having a hard time finding a place in her heart for Mr. Tavarez, who was involved in an incident yesterday with Joey Gathwright of the Tampa Bay Rays.

For all of the hysteria and hype that accompanies the New York-Boston rivalry, both teams have entertained us with a riveting and dramatic brand of baseball for the past four years. Sure, there have been ugly moments, but let’s hope things don’t get uglier just because they can. Sox and Yankee fans tend to bring out the worst in each other, but lets hope that the two teams continue to bring out the best in each other and remind us how thrilling the rivalry and the game can be.

On the road and without the DH, the Yankees brought along some familiar faces from weeks past, but couldn’t outlast the Braves, losing 5-4

Lineup:

Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Hideki Matsui LF
Gary Sheffield RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Wil Nieves C
Shawn Chacon P

Subs: Miguel Cairo SS-1B, Felix Escalona 2B, Ramiro Pena SS, Russ Johnson 3B, Keith McDonald C (see below), Luis A. Garcia RF, Bubba Crosby CF, Melky Cabrera LF, Damian Rolls PH

Pitchers: Shawn Chacon, Kris Wilson, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Villone

Big Hits: A two-run bomb by Alex Rodriguez (2 for 3) and doubles by Rodriguez and Giambi (3 for 4). Gary Sheffield was also 3 for 4.

Who Pitched Well?: No one was particularly impressive though Kyle Farnsworth struck out two in a scoreless inning despite giving up a walk and a hit.

Who Didn’t?: Chacon ran out of gas in the sixth, leaving the game after 5 1/3 after allowing five runs on three walks and six hits, two of them home runs (a solo shot by Brian Jordan in the fifth and three-run, broken-bat tater by Adam LaRoche in the sixth). That said, Chacon struck out seven and has now struck out 21 in 22 spring innings, though he has also walked 13.

Ouchies: Jaret Wright threw 50 pitches in the bullpen and will pitch in a minor league game Thursday. Aaron Small threw from the rubber for the first time since straining his hamstring. Jorge Posada worked out with the team again and could start at DH today or tomorrow and return to catching before the week is out. Chien-Ming Wang’s knee is slightly swollen, but doesn’t appear to be an issue.

Bullpen Cuts: Colter Bean was optioned to Columbus and Mark Corey and Dusty Bergman were reassigned to minor league camp. Bean didn’t get a good look this spring due to his rehab from an offseason ACL injury. The left-handed Bergman got lit up in five spring innings. Corey pitched well, but is a 31-year-old journeyman with a terrible track record.

So Who’s Keith McDonald?: Although I missed it at the time, the Yankees obtained veteran minor league catcher Keith McDonald from the Rangers over the weekend for a player to be named later. This is an encouraging sign as it suggests that they will not add third-string catcher Wil Nieves to the opening day roster simply because he is out of options. The 28-year-old Nieves is preferable to McDonald, who is 33, has played in just eight major league games and, despite playing exclusively in the Pacific Coast League, hasn’t hit a lick this decade. But should Nieves land elsewhere, McDonald at least gives the Yankees a capable receiver at triple-A. It’s not like Nieves was going to hit anyway.

Back at home, the Yankees won an ugly 9-8 game against the Tigers.

Lineup:

Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Gary Sheffield RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Hideki Matsui DH
Jason Giambi 1B
Bernie Williams LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kelly Stinnett C

Subs: Luis A. Garcia 1B, Miguel Cairo SS, Russ Johnson 3B, Omir Santos C, Bubba Crosby RF, Kevin Thompson CF, Kevin Reese LF, Wil Nieves DH

Pitchers: Chien-Ming Wang, Mark Corey, Tanyon Sturtze, Jose Veras, Dusty Bergman, Ramiro Mendoza, Mike Myers

Big Hits: A two-run dinger by Bubba Crosby (1 for 2) in the eighth was the game winner, Sheffield (2 for 3), Bernie (1 for 4) and Cano (2 for 4) doubled, while Jeter (2 for 3) and Damon (2 for 4) also had multi-hit days.

Who Pitched Well?: Mendoza and Myers finished things off with perfect eighth and ninth innings respectively. Before leaving the game after being hit by a comebacker, Wang allowed two runs on three hits in 2 1/3 innings, but also struck out three against no walks and three of his other four outs came on the ground.

Oopsies: A Jason Giambi throw.

Ouchies: Wang left the game in the third when he was hit in the right knee by a hard one-hopper off the bat of Curtis Granderson. X-rays were negative and Wang returned from the hospital without a limp. Carl Pavano threw 30 pitches in the bullpen and is expected to pitch an inning in relief on Tuesday. Johnny Damon, who has played center in the last two games, reports that he no longer has any pain in his throwing shoulder. Jorge Posada worked out with the team yesterday and will have the spints removed from his nose and his vision checked by an ophthalmologist today. Posada experienced some swelling in his left eye after being hit by Kelly Stinnett’s throw on Wednesday, but says his vision has been fine since Thursday.

The Cruelest Cuts of All: Abandon hope all ye who enter here, Kevin Thompson (.383/.420/.532 this spring) and Kevin Reese (.280/.308/.360) were optioned to Columbus, handing the back-up outfielder spot to Bubba Crosby (.161/.188/.387). To put it another way, 28-year-old Kevin Reese, who hit .276/.359/.450 in a full season at Columbus last year and 26-year-old Kevin Thompson, who hit .329/.432/.565 in a half-season at Trenton last year, were demoted in favor of 29-year-old Bubba Crosby who has hit .221/.253/.301 in 163 career major league at-bats. Here’s hoping this situation rectifies itself should one of the Kevins have a strong start with the Clippers. Less troublingly, Ben Davis was reassigned to minor league camp. More cuts, which could very well clarify the bullpen situation, are expected today.

Despite Mike Mussina’s decision to take his turn with the minor league campers, the Yankees had no problem handling the Devil Rays, dancing all over them to the tune of 10-1.

Lineup:

Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Jason Giambi 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Gary Sheffield DH
Hideki Matsui LF
Bernie Williams RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Wil Nieves C

Subs: Miguel Cairo 1B, Andy Cannizaro 2B, Felix Escalona SS, Russ Johnson 3B, Omir Santos C, Kevin Reese RF, Bubba Crosby CF, Kevin Thompson LF, Luis A. Garcia DH

Pitchers: Matt Childers, Colter Bean, Matt Smith, Ramiro Mendoza, Matt Corey, Frank Brooks

Big Hits: A no-doubt-about-it homer by Alex Rodriguez (1 for 4), a triple by Derek Jeter (1 for 3), and doubles by Giambi (1 for 3), Sheffiled (1 for 3), Reese (1 for 2) and Thompson (1 for 1) (Sheffield’s hitting off the top of the left centerfield wall). Amazingly, the Yankees collected 13 hits by thirteen different hitters.

Who Pitched Well?: Matt Smith threw two perfect innings, Matt Childers, a swing man in the minors, pitched three scorless innings striking out two, though he did walk one and allow four hits. Childers’ brother Jason pitched in the game for the Devil Rays.

How’d Moose Do?: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 92 pitches, 61 percent strikes

Ouchies: Johnny Damon played the field for the first time since the beginning of the WBC, Jaret Wright threw 21 pitches from halfway up a bullpen mound and 13 more from the rubber. Aaron Small also threw from halfway up a bullpen mound, while Scott Erickson had a regular bullpen session. Carl Pavano was supposed to throw a bullpen but the weather, which was in the high 50s and low 60s, was deemed to cold for him. Jorge Posada has rejoined the team today and will participate in workouts before today’s game.

Randy Johnson turned in his second consecutive strong showing yesterday, but the Yankees’ road lineup of bench players couldn’t muster enough offense to make it count resulting in a 3-1 Twins win.

Lineup:

Bubba Crosby CF
Miguel Cairo SS
Bernie Williams DH
Andy Phillips 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Kelly Stinnett C
Luis A. Garcia RF
Russ Johnson 3B
Kevin Reese LF

Subs: Ramiro Pena SS, Omir Santos C, Kevin Thompson RF, Tim Battle PR

Pitchers: Randy Johnson, Jose Veras, Dusty Bergman

Big Hits: Just a double by Andy Phillips (1 for 3)

Who Pitched Well: As I said, Johnson: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 HR (Terry Tiffee), 0 BB, 6 K

Notes: Because both of his final two spring starts were to come against the Devil Rays, Mike Mussina will instead take his turn with the minor league campers today against the minor league D-Rays. In his place, Matt Childers will make the major league start.

***

After the game, the Red Sox claimed ex-Dodger Hee Seop Choi–whose availability has been an inevitability ever since the Dodgers signed Nomar Garciaparra to play first base, if not since the firing of Paul DePodesta–off waivers. Choi is a twenty-seven-year-old lefty-hitting first baseman with a severe platoon split who has yet to live up to his potential. Three years ago, the Twins released another twenty-seven-year-old lefty-hitting first baseman with a severe platoon split who had never lived up to his potential. That player signed with the Red Sox and proceeded to be one of the ten most productive players in the game over the following three years. His name is David Ortiz. Here’s a comparison of the two players’ careers prior to signing with Boston:

David Ortiz: .266/.348/.461, .524 OWP, 1693 PA
Hee Seop Choi: .240/.349/.437, .531 OWP, 1086 PA

Indeed, the age-27 player Choi is most similar to according to PECOTA is none other than Big Papi himself.

Ortiz’s numbers since signing with the Red Sox: .297/.383/.600, .709 OWP, 1891 PA

When Ortiz was available in the winter of 2003, George Steinbrenner instructed Brian Cashman to sign him, but Cashman refused because of the presence of both Jason Giambi, who had just hit .314/.435/.598 in the first year of a seven-year, $120 million contract, and Nick Johnson, a home-grown prospect who was nearly three years Ortiz’s junior (incidentally, Johnson, who was the key player sent to the Expos in the Javy Vazquez deal, is also 27 this offseason and has a better career line than Choi or Ortiz at the same age: .265/.383/.437, .587 OWP, 1767 PA).

This year, the Yankees still have Giambi (coming off a .271/.440/.535 comeback season), but their back-up is Andy Phillips, who not only lacks any sort of meaningful major league track record (just 49 career PA), but is nearly two years older than Choi. I’ve long been rooting for the Yankees to give Phillips a shot because of his minor league numbers, but even I couldn’t argue against limiting him to a utility/righty pinch-hitter role, or even dumping him altogether in favor of the younger, more established Choi, whose lefty swing could have been a perfect fit for Yankee Stadium. A Choi/Phillips DH platoon, meanwhile, could have pushed the Yankee offense into 1000-run territory this year. Instead, Choi’s presence in Boston will allow the Red Sox to kick the 38-year-old J.T. Snow to the curb and, if necessary, move Kevin Youkilis to third base should Mike Lowell fail to rebound from his dreadful 2005.

But don’t blame Brian Cashman, or anyone else in the Yankee front office for that matter. Because of the waiver order–which begins with the worst team in the same league as the waiving team (determined by the previous year’s standings through the thirtieth day of a new season), proceeds to the best team in that league, then begins the other league again going worst-to-first–the Red Sox were able to claim Choi before the Yankees got their shot. In a vicious twist, it was the tie-breaker that awarded the Yankees the 2004 AL East title–which proved to be worth little more than bragging rights as the second-place Red Sox claimed the Wild Card, neither team had home field advantage in the playoffs, and both were eliminated in the ALDS–that cost them Choi. This is very different than what happened with Ortiz. Ortiz was released before the Twins had to offer him a contract for 2003, making him a free agent during the winter of 2002-2003. Choi, on the other hand, had already re-upped with the Dodgers by signing a one-year $725,000 deal, thus he had to be waived lest the Dodgers be forced to eat that entire contract. Instead, the Red Sox will assume his full salary and likely paid a waiver price for the privilege. They’ll almost certainly get their money’s worth, though it’s staggering to think that 26 other clubs passed on Choi before the Red Sox put in their claim.

Sorry about the delay on today’s post, I was out of commission yesterday as I was in Philadelphia promoting Baseball Prospectus 2006. Before we get to the Yankees 8-1 drubbing of the visiting Astros, I should mention that I’ll again be on the road promoting BP06 this Sunday at 1:00 when I, along with Allen Barra and the largest collection of BP authors ever assembled in one place, will take part in a baseball roundtable at the Yogi Berra Museum in Montclair.

Right then. On with it . . .

Lineup:

Johnny Damon DH
Derek Jeter SS
Gary Sheffield RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Hideki Matsui LF
Bernie Williams CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Wil Nieves C

Subs: Andy Phillips 1B, Miguel Cario 2B, Felix Escalona SS, Russ Johnson 3B, Luis A. Garcia RF, Bubba Crosby CF, Kevin Reese LF, Kevin Thompson DH

Pitchers: Scott Proctor, Colter Bean, Mariano Rivera, Mike Myers, Tanyon Sturtze, Kyle Farnsworth

Big Hits: Homers by the previously hitless Alex Rodriguez (two-run job, 2 for 3), Matsui (solo shot, 2 for 3), and Garcia (3-run jack, 1 for 1). Garcia is 2 for 2 with two homers, five RBIs, and three runs scored this spring. Gary Sheffield (2 for 3) not only doubled (his first extra-base hit of the spring), but doubled his spring hit total.

Who Pitched Well: Proctor, making a strong argument for his conversion back to starting, struck out four in four scoreless innings allowing just two hits and a walk, all of which came in the fourth inning. Colter Bean, in his first game action of the spring, Mariano Rivera, pitching in back-to-back games for the first time this spring, and Kyle Farnsworth (now that’s a Big Three I could learn to love) each pitched a perfect inning striking out one, none and two respectively. Mike Myers pitched around a walk in one hitless inning.

Ouchies: As I said, Colter Bean saw his first game action of the spring after rehabbing from off-season ACL surgery. Jaret Wright played catch for ten minutes before yesterday’s game. Peter Abraham reports that his back looked loose. He could return to game action as early as Tuesday. Jorge Posada was released from the hospital yesterday morning and did not attend yesterday’s game, but should return to action next week as well.