=== October 12, 2010 ===
One of the things I've never articulated well: [watching Cliff Lee] is what sports is about. Cliff Lee gives baseball societal value.
I'd rather watch ten starts of Cliff Lee or Randy Johnson -- win or lose -- than five years of baseball played by guys who don't care about who wins the game.
Who cares about watching one more humdrum 5-3 game between 90-loss franchises? I watch sports to see heroism.
Lee gives me heroism. He gives us virtuosity. He gives us poetry. He makes kiddie-fans out of us again. He locks me into baseball. What's it worth?
When the Mariners traded Randy Johnson, what did they trade away? Nothing less than the chance for Seattle to watch 10 years' worth of the most exhilarating sports ever seen by Americans.
...................
What is a playoff series worth, to a franchise that has never before won one?
To the Mariners: not nearly as much as I'd like. To the Rangers: they now enter that circle of teams that commands the respect of a Contendah.
.
=== 2010 ALCS ===
The Rangers' fans now get to experience what Mariners fans did, one time, in 1995.
I dunno. What was 1995 worth to the M's? Those 50 games of baseball led to the building of Safeco Field.
Without those 50 games in 1995, the Mariners very definitely would not be playing in Seattle right now. So how are you going to calculate the $/WAR to a person living in Seattle? In a very real sense, the $/WAR of 1995 was infinite for the Seattle fan.
The Mariners could literally have traded 25 Hall of Famers for those fifty games, and won the trade. That's what we're talking about, Cinnamon Wattage and Re-Branding.
...............
The Rangers probably won't get an infinite return on the legitimacy that they purchased in 2010. But it sure is hard to put a base-out value on "a sincere pennant fight".
.
=== See You Opening Day, Dept. ===
By the way, have I ever mentioned that Cy Young aces are B-I-G in my Stars & Scrubs paradigm? (The first recorded use of the phrase, that I know of, was in 1995 on the Mariners STATS AOL board.)
Lincecum, Halladay, Lee, and the rest of 'em are underlining Stars & Scrubs in a way that 10,000 words' worth of shtick never could. Like Chuck Knox said: big games are won by great players.
...............
I don't know whether to be despondent that the Mariners didn't find the money for Cliff Lee, or just thankful that they have Roger Clemens.
I guess I'll settle for Clemens. If this Pineda kid can really throw 96 with Moyer control, we'll be able to forget about Lee.
Two games out of five, anyway.
Cheerio,
Dr D
Maybe the great TV deal they got a couple months later was partly due to Lee as well?
The playoffs are all about aces, especially with the days off in between games these days..Are you going to be tuning in for Lincecum-Halladay? :-)
Is it just me, or is this postseason particularly about great pitchers? Is this the year of the Cy ace, or am I just forgetting other years?
You've got four terrifying Big Threes going at each other .... considering that Cliff Lee is himself a Big Three.
Good stuff, Doc.
Another thing the saber-types gloss over is the ability to make the deal. Z had the opportunity to acquire Lee without a bidding war (he was stepping in to help the Phillies out). He instantly saw that there was no downside.
Most likely outcome: get him without a bidding war; trade him with a bidding war. That's how Gillies becomes Smoak. Can't saber that. That's being a smart operator in the real world.
Then Ryan, or whomever it was: making the flying leap with Smoak-plus (and it's looking more like plus-plus-plus) to intercept Lee at the goal line when NYY had already started their touchdown dance.
Reconfigure the ALCS with Lee as a Yankee and try to get interested.
Most likely outcome: get him without a bidding war; trade him with a bidding war.
... did that occur to me.
Man, I'd be looking for stealth trade opportunities. .. usually when somebody decides to trade an AGone, they make a big point of shopping him around for several months, but if the Phillies -suddenly- get a chance to land a Halladay, you might have opportunity fire...
I wonder what the GM's themselves would say about this kind of opportunity fire. Is the idea common knowledge?
Would be to acquire a 21-year-old RH hitter, then send him to High Desert figuring he'll put up shiny stats, then hope that he keeps it up with big numbers in his home country in winter ball, then try to flip him to someone else by marketing him as an elite power-hitting prospect.
Just saying . . .
Johermyn Chavez VWL: 6 G, 24 AB, 9 H, 3 dbl, 1 HR, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 SB, .375/.444/.625
We'll see what happens, but it wouldn't surprise me if Z uses Chavez as a trade chip.
Ohh, can you imagine just how perfect it would be if Cliff knocks the Yankees out in a game 7? Not only did we shaft the Yankees and take the top prospect from a division rival, we've basically single handedly knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs!
... and 8 postseason wipeouts?
Lee is, as it stands at the moment, the greatest postseason pitcher in baseball history?
Ya EA, how sweet 'tis that the Yankees had Lee within inches of their slavering jaws...
How classic would that be? The road to the World Series passing through Jack Z's cell phone.
You may remember me making this exact point in July. I believed that the Yankees needed to throw in the additional prospect (whatever it took) to get Lee. Otherwise they were basically starting any postseason series against his team 0-2. I really think they blew it in July and will end up regretting it. Probably already do!
"Hi, I'm Troy MacLure. You may remember me from such baseball instructional videos as 'Belly itching, the rash epidemic' and 'Counting Outs: Easy As 1-2-3' co-hosted by Milton Bradley..." (fill in your own spoof ending here...sorry, every time I hear "you may remember me..." I just immediately start doing that. :) )