Starting Fresh

Without intending to do so, I committed the sin that befalls so many blogs: I stopped posting. Unfortunately, this cost me my only reader but I trust that I can win her back with a return to regular posting. (Right, Amy?) And, since we are only one week away from Super Tuesday and two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, it is the perfect time to get The Foul Pole back up and running. To that end...

Baseball: First, congratulations to the 2007 World Series Champion Red Sox. Much has been made of this and I don't need to comment further other than to say that, in a world that is sometimes trying, it is an utter and total delight to watch the team that you love win the World Series. And, yes, it was as sweet as 2004, if only a different kind of sweetness.

Second, I will add a few words regarding Johan Santana despite so much ink already being dedicated to that subject (the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Santana will be on the move within the next ten days). There have been a number of rumors that the Red Sox were the front runners for Santana; then the Yankees; now the Mets. Do I want the Sox to land Santana? Yes. But not as much as I want the Yankees not to land Santana. (The Sox have a major advantage in starting pitching to start the season--Tom Verducci has a nice article on this edge--but adding Santana to the mix would level out the balance such that it would not be difficult to argue that the Spanks are the better team.) The package of players the Sox have offered is impressive and costly. There are two packages: one centered on Jacoby Ellsbury (along with Justin Masterson, Jed Lowrie, and according to some sources, Ryan Kalish) and one with Jon Lester (including Coco Crisp, Masterson, Lowrie, and Kalish). With either deal, the price of acquiring Santana is quite high. The Twins would reap major benefits in developing talent with the added benefit of cost control. In turn, the Sox would have the most dominant left handed pitcher in the game and a rotation that would--assuming average health--dominate the AL East for the next three to four years (potentially much longer).

Despite the degree to which the Sox would benefit from acquiring Santana, I would be quite happy to see Santana go to the Mets. Why? Because I love the young talent in the Sox system and would like to see many of the players mentioned above in Sox laundry someday. Ellsbury demonstrated his significant potential during September and October of 2007. Lester's maturity--on and off the field--along with his talent speaks to why pitching coach John Ferrell thinks he will turn into a consistent 15-17 game winner. Masterson, Lowrie, and Kalish had extremely impressive seasons in the minors. In terms of on-field production, these are not good enough reasons not to make the trade with the Twins should they want it and that is why good ol' cold, hard logic convinces me that the Sox should pull the trigger. However, my heart isn't so cold and I want to cheer for these guys in the years to come. I want to give a friend of mine a Red Sox "Ellsbury" jersey even if its only because she thinks he hunky. I want to skip out of work early the day the Sox call up Masterson to start the front half of a day-night doubeheader. I want an excuse to visit my friend in Portland when Kalish gets promoted to the Sea Dogs. These aren't good baseball-operation reasons, but, as a fan, you can't help but hope that certain deals don't happen.

Third: Despite the fact that the Sox are arguably better going into 2008 than 2007, look for the Detroit Tigers to be the dominant "expert's pre-season World Series pick". They added pitching and offense (though not defense) and look to be pretty darn good soup to nuts. The AL Central is going to be stacked this year given the improvements by Chicago and Cleveland's ascendence last year.

Fourth: He That Shall Not Be Named got his during the off-season. He was unconvincing on 60 Minutes. He was unconvincing on his taped phone conversation. He tells an unconvincing story as to why Brian McNamee would lie. He is as unsavory as ever and has become our generation's Pete Rose (a great talent that ruined his legacy and will never recover). The only person walking away from this story that looks good is Dan Duquette...and that says something about this story.

Politics: I'll write more as we progress towards Super Tuesday but the Democratic Party needs to have a long debate over whether Clintonian politics is worth while. There seem to be very profound reasons to both admire and revile the Clinton Way. Matt Bai had an outstanding article in the New York Times Magazine back in December that detailed the nature of Clintonian politics and its uncertain legacy. However, the debate over whether the Party is really prepared to accept this unique (and somewhat successful) form of politics speaks to the nature of Party itself. It may be that Democrats don't want the more congenial politics that Barack Obama regularly references in his speeches. It may be that Democrats like winning in a way that only (Bill) Clinton was able to do with any consistency (at least since Lyndon Johnson). Yet, the costs are notable too. The Clinton years were marred by scandal and the failure to achieve all that could be achieved. Unfortunately, this legacy follows Hillary and to ignore it--or hope that it will not happen--does the Democratic Party no favors.

More soon...