I suppose as the local Yankees fan I'll step up and give my thoughts. First, I'm a Yankees fan in a Boston fan base area, where everyone hates NY and everything they do, such as signing the biggest free agent during an off season. They whine about it and then forget they did the same thing with Manny......
The Yankees had no competant pitching in the playoffs. Mussina is good, and I've always been a fan back to his Baltimore days, but he's no longer a legit number 1. Orlando was hurting. And Brown.... well, he was just one step beyond horrible beyond my worst dreams.
The Yankees definately got beat. They got in a position to win and had their best boy on the mound, and Mariano couldn't close out game 4. And they got to him. And by the time NY started Brown in 7 I was convinced they were trying to lose.
Frankly I was very suprised at what a pushover SL was, as I wholy expected them to win the Series regardless of what team made it. A few more games would have been nice rather then the sweep. But it's still a good win for Boston and very much deserved.
The fans are still stupid. In the series I had to listen to them explain to me that SL sucked (Before they got swept), because they had a worse record, proven by Boston's homefield in the Series. And then I had to listen to people bitch and whine about how unfair it is that the DH doesn't exist in NL parks, even though it's prob more unfair to NL teams, since they don't have a guy like Ortiz on their team to be used soley as a bat. And since I've had to listen to how they're gonna resign ALL their free agents AND get Pavano, AND Beltran, AND half the other guys on the free agent market. I guess 9 starting pitchers and half a dozen CFs is a cool thing....
That being said I think Boston has done VERY well this off season. IF they manage to resign Pedro and Tek, theyll be doing great. Mantei's a nice improvement to their pen. And if they get Renteria, that's a HUGE pickup.
Meanwhile I have NO idea what NYs doing. Why they didn't use the option to keep Lieber for 8 million for one more year is beyond me. Instead they chose to sign a 3 year, 21 mil deal to Jaret Wright...... He's no better, both are questions marks, the cost per year is similar..... Why not keep Lieber instead, since one year contracts are less ricky on guys you're unsure of. Particularly guys whom get along with your team.
Womack was a great pickup. A good 2nd baseman and gets Jeter back to the 2nd slot in the lineup where he belongs.
Wells....... He's prob. no better then Lowe. He's 41 years old. I like him a lot and wanted NY to try for him, even though with his age and back, he may not be as good as in years past. It's an emotional blow to NY fans more then anything. It should prevent Boston from trying for Pedro AND Pavano, but still, it's annoying.
All said, I'm suprised that more teams aren't going after guys like Clement or Radke, before it looked like he's a lock to be in Minnesota. Pavano and Pedro are big money risks in my mind. Pavanos had 1 good season. And Pedro seems to be aging quicker then he should. Maybe he's not really 33. It's not like the Dominican Republic keeps good records on birthdates and other guys in the league like Contreras are of questionable age.
Boston played well last year. I've got tickets to see em June 26th vs Cleveland. Hopefully Wells will be pitching. I probably won't wear a Yankees fan to not start too many problems. But I figure NY's still up 26 to 6, so I can't cry myself to sleep too much.
