New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte comes onto the field after warming up before beating the Baltimore Orioles for his 200th career victory in New York in this Sept. 19, 2007 file photo. Pettitte declined his US$16 million option to return to the Yankees, still uncertain whether he wants to pitch next season, his agent, Randy Hendricks, said in an e-mail to the Associated Press on Monday, Nov. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, file)
Sigh. It just keeps getting better. A-Rod brazenly opts out before the World Series is even over, Torre gets kicked to the curb and quickly resurfaces as the Dodgers' manager, now Andy "isn't sure" if he wants to play here anymore.
So let's see where we're at:
The outfield consists of a platoon in left field of two guys that get injured a lot and have bad arms. Centerfield is manned by a young guy with a good arm who is good for about 10 homers and often lets catchable balls drop because of miscommunication with the right fielder. The right fielder's power numbers have steadily dropped in the last 3 years and he went into a deep 3-month slump at the beginning of the season.
At first base we have an aging DH who's often injured and two light-hitting, but strong defensive fielders. At second we have a young guy who put up near-batting champion numbers the year before, but whose numbers fell off last year. He also has a tendency to zone out. Our shortstop hits for average with little power and he had a poor post season -- but didn't get ripped for it. At third we have nobody, and we need to replace 150 RBI and 50+ homers.
At DH we have a switch-hitting utility infielder who strikes out a lot and a powerhitting right-handed nearly 30-year-old rookie who also strikes out a lot.
Both of our catchers have filed for free agency. The backup catcher is very good defensively, but has no power. The primary catcher will probably re-sign, but his career year with the bat won't be repeated.
Our starting rotation will consist of a sinkerball pitcher who was great in the regular season but killed us with two losses in the postseason. Then there's an ornery finesse pitcher who doesn't get calls off the plate anymore and three rookies, who could be great or, more likely, a mixed bag over the course of the season.
Our closer has filed for free agency. He is good, but no longer lights out. Our setup man can't be trusted, and has a huge contract that prevents him from being moved. The other setup man filed for free agency and might not be back. We have no middle relief. There are two rookies that will likely be added to the pen who looked bad in their late season and post season appearances.
We have a manager with only one year of experience who was fired from his previous position for beefing with intrusive ownership. Most of the coaching staff has gone to LA with the former manager.
Well, it should be an interesting year.
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