Red Sox, Yanks ignoring way to glory

By Mike Round Sports Central Columnist

The Florida Marlins finished the regular season 10 games back of the Atlanta Braves, with a surprisingly good 91-71 record. Given their 16-22 start to the season under Jeff Torborg, it was quite an accomplishment for the new manager, Jack McKeon, if a 72-year-old man can be called new, to drag a young team into contention.

Whatever your feelings about the wildcard system, and I sympathize with the antis on many of their reservations, it does give meaning to the last two months of the season and allows teams like the Marlins, who were out of divisional contention by the end of May, to refocus their efforts and not just give up and trade away veterans.

The biggest knock-on effect of the Marlins championship may be that in the future teams on the cusp of contention may look at what GM Larry Beinfest did in July and take a more gung-ho approach to the trading deadline and not just shut up shop. Jeffrey Loria gave Beinfest the green light and brought in utility man and '97 hero Jeff Conine and top AL closer Ugueth Urbina.

Neither moves were headline-makers, but both added exactly what was needed -- ballpen stability and veteran smarts. Even more important than the additions was the fact that the team didn't trade away any vital components already in place -- in particular, third baseman Mike Lowell.

I'm on record as a diehard Yankee fan, but I have no problem at all tipping my hat to the Marlins as deserved champions. They played old-fashioned ball -- solid defense, magnificent pitching under extreme duress, and put the Yankees under pressure by running, a dying art in the game. The Yankees didn't -- or couldn't -- play defense, their offense relied too heavily on the homerun and big-name players like Alfonso Soriano, Aaron Boone, and Jason Giambi who went missing.

The Yankee response to a third consecutive year without a World Series victory was entirely predictable. George Steinbrenner threatened everyone on the coaching and management staff with dismissal, backed off, then went out and spent millions on veteran free agents with baggage.

Kevin Brown comes complete with regular spells on the DL, a dubious attitude, and a birth certificate that says he's nearly 40. Gary Sheffield is a regular season hitting machine that collapses in the postseason. He had 30 at-bats in the postseason for the Braves over two years and managed three hits. The bullpen additions -- Tom Gordon and Paul Quantrill -- are aging, but dependable firefighters.

George Steinbrenner seems to have forgotten how the modern Yankees restored the luster to a tainted franchise in the initial Joe Torre years. The core of the team -- Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte - were home-grown and nurtured by then-GM Bob Watson, who refused to give in to Steinbrenner's requests to trade away prospects for veterans.

In recent years, Steinbrenner has bullied Cashman into raping the farm system in return for such luminaries as Aaron Boone, Chuck Knoblauch, Jeff Weaver, and Armando Benitez. If the franchise is going to keep its stability, management needs to resist the quick-fix temptation and let the likes of Brandon Claussen, Nick Johnson, Mike Lowell, and Ted Lilly mature into genuine major league players.

The biggest question mark in New York is the starting rotation. Steinbrenner has essentially demoted GM Brian Cashman to his baggage carrier this offseason and taken sole charge of proceedings. So far, the results have been both good and bad. Steinbrenners' casual attitude to the Andy Pettitte contract situation saw him leave town for the comfortable confines of his local team, the Houston Astros.

Replacing Pettitte, a much-prized left hander, with Brown is a negative on the balance sheet, though Roger Clemens for Javier Vazquez is an excellent long-term upgrade. With Jeff Weaver kicked out of town, Roger Clemens retired and David Wells a free agent, Joe Torre will be counting on Jose Contreras becoming a bona fide starter and Jon Lieber's reconstructed arm holding up. Whilst Contreras had a good end to the season, he has hardly looked invincible and Lieber is a huge question mark.

With the Red Sox adding Curt Schilling to the rotation and bringing Keith Foulke in as closer, there is renewed optimism in Beantown that the Sox have finally bridged the gap to The Evil Empire. Maybe, but many wise judges feel that the good work Theo Epstein did immediately after the World Series has been totally undone by the fruitless pursuit of A-Rod.

Alex Rodriguez is the best player in the game -- period. Any team would take him in a heartbeat, but not at the $25 million a year asking price. The Manny Ramirez-for-A-Rod deal shouldn't even have tempted Epstein, especially as the Rangers are insisting that not only do the Sox take on all A-Rod's salary, but contribute a fair whack towards Manny's, too.

Sure, Rodriguez is an upgrade on Nomar Garciaparra, though it's not a quantum leap. Nomar could have been had for $17 million a year or less; A-Rod comes at around $30 million a year, plus once the Manny tax is factored in and there's no way that this represents value.

I doubt whether Epstein would have even contemplated flirting with Rodriguez had Nomar had even a mediocre postseason. Truth be told, Nomar was horrible in October, having 49 at-bats and knocking in just 1 RBI. There are those, especially in New England, who feel Nomar is on the downside of his career.

So Epstein is left with a distinctly unhappy and insulted franchise player in the last year of his contract. If the A-Rod-for-Manny trade can not be resurrected, the Boston clubhouse could return to its old warring ways and Boston could find itself without a premier shortstop in 2005.

The Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is without doubt sports' best and the intensity has been raised a notch in the last year. Both GM's seem intent on out-spending each other all winter in a bid to win the hyperbole war. Neither seem interested in applying the same formula used by the Angels and Marlins to win championships, namely hitting the ball regularly and especially in the clutch, stealing bases, and playing solid defense.

The Yankees and Red Sox are pinning their hopes on veteran, big-name signings that come with veteran, big-time salaries. Only time will tell if that's a winning formula, though recent history suggests not.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.