A quick question for whomever designed this Sports Illustrated cover

Looking for a pic of Steinbrenner for another post, I stumbled across this Sports Illustrated cover from 2003.

And the premise is clear for the 2003 Baseball preview... pitching wins and George Steinbrenner has paid to make sure he has the best staff.

Pettite, Mussina and Clemens all belong. (David Wells who was also on the team just released his book and I guess was persona non grata.)

And you have Contreras and Weaver... who would turn out to be busts in New York only to lead other teams to the World Series title soon after their Yankee stay ended.

That's all fine and good.
Quick question: WHERE THE HELL IS MARIANO RIVERA?

Remember him? The Hall of Famer in the bullpen? The lynchpin of championships?

Seriously, at no point during the photo shoot did Andy Pettite look around and say "Jeff, Jose... nice to see you. Um where the hell is Mo?"

It struck me as odd.

The Red Sox need to offer Mariano Rivera a three year contract

Wait a second! The Yankees are playing hardball with Mariano Rivera?

Um… wow.
That is the most staggeringly stupid thing I have ever heard in free agent history.
YES, stupider than the Cubs offering Milton Bradley a long term deal.
YES, stupider than the Rangers making Chan Ho Park one of the top paid pitchers in baseball.

If there is ever a lynch pin to the success of the Yankees since 1996, it has been the dazzling career of Mariano Rivera.

There are some people who think Rivera is overrated and there are some people who poo poo the importance of relievers. “They throw less than 100 innings a year. How much value do they have?”

People who say that about Mariano Rivera are idiots.
That’s not my opinion. I can PROVE they are idiots in a court of law.

Yes, many relievers are overrated. I have argued that Trevor Hoffman, while a terrific pitcher who has had a nice career, is overrated. He has compiled a lot of saves but also has come up short in an alarming number of big games.

The fact that there could be a statistical system that would put Armando Benitez in any form of elite reliever category is almost as mind boggling as that piece of crap Crash winning the Oscar for Best Picture.

But Rivera is different. Year in and year out he is automatic. Year in and year out he snuffs out rallies. Year in and year out he shortens close games to 8 innings.

AND he gives the Yankee line up the confidence knowing that if they just beat up the other team’s middle relief and hand the lead to Rivera, they’ll have a win.

Plus the starting pitchers know that they don’t have to go 9, and their win loss record will look good by the end of the year.

And in the unrelenting pressure cooker that is New York, Yankee fans haven’t REALLY had to worry about the 9th inning for nearly 15 years.

Seriously, right now what reliever would you rather have as your regular closer now?
Brian Wilson? Neftali Feliz? Brad Lidge? Jonathan Papelbon?

Put the stats away for a second (even though Rivera’s 2010 numbers are, as usual, awesome.)

Who puts the opposition on their heels more?
Who makes the other team think “If we don’t at least tie the game in the 8th, we’re DEAD” more than Rivera?

And let’s get down to brass tacks here.
Which Yankee star will be the hardest to replace?

You can find another solid shortstop.
You can find another slugger… you can find another starting pitcher.

But where else is there an immovable object on the mound for the ninth?
Who is going to fill in for him?

Whoever it is, he won’t be as good as Rivera.
And when he proves he isn’t as good as Rivera, EVERYONE in New York will remind him.

Think New York doesn’t eat young players up alive? Talk to Joba Chamberlain. He was supposed to be Joba’s heir apparent in 2007. Now it is 2010 and he’s already a mess and Rivera is still at the top of his game.

And the Yankees want to play hard ball?



I say let them.
But why can’t other teams make a run at him?

Seriously, why should other teams play some B.S. honor code about not bidding on Yankee superstars? It’s not like the Yankees ever say “Hey, we can’t bid on that player! He would never be identified as a Yankee. Let’s not even call his agent.”

NO! They try to gobble up the big players… as is their right.
But guess what? OTHER teams can make a bid on Rivera.

If the Yankees are only offering him a 1 year contract, another team should offer him 2.

And I think the Red Sox should offer him 3 years.

First of all it will give the Red Sox a bullpen going into 2011 of Bard, Papelbon and Rivera.

Are you kidding me? Games would be over in the 6th!

Secondly it will give the Red Sox some flexibility when Papelbon’s free agency comes about after the 2011 season.

And yeah, I think in three years Rivera will still be an elite reliever. Has he shown ANY signs of slowing down?

But most importantly not only will it improve the Red Sox, but it will put the Yankees in unfamiliar territory.

Can you imagine the Yankees moving ahead with a shaky closer? Or even a pretty good closer?

Yankee fans haven’t experienced having a subpar closer since before the 1994 strike… you know the era when they couldn’t make the post season.

Giardi already has suspect bullpen handling skills… let’s see how he does without the no brainer in the ninth!

Decimating the Yankees bullpen while the Rays are dismantling their division winner could make the Red Sox the favorite in the A.L. East.

It’s a great chance to give the Red Sox an all time bullpen to go with a rotation headed by Lester and Buchholz and give the Yankees an gut punch?

Isn’t it worth making the call?
Make the offer.

There’s no way it will happen if they DON’T make the offer.

And maybe it will bring other teams into the bidding. Seeing Rivera on another team can only help the Red Sox win the East.

Will it happen?

Probably not… but remember, when the Yankees played hardball with Andy Pettitte after the 2003 World Series, the Red Sox actually made the highest bid before he signed with Houston.

And 2004 ended up to be a good year for the Sox.

Rivera wants to be loyal to the Yankees?
Have him prove it.

Once again, if you are against instant replay... you are wrong

It is to the point where people who are against instant replay sound a lot like people who would insist the world is flat.

They have nothing to back up their claims except tradition and an inability to accept new ideas.

There isn't a logical reason to be against instant replay.
Even one of the people who comment on my blog against instant replay admitted that.

But we saw in the final game between the Padres and Giants how it can be used and again tonight between the Yankees and Twins.

In the Giants game last Sunday... a game that could have been a playoff berth... a game that could decide if there is going to be a three game playoff... Andres Torres hit a double down the line.

Not an opinion. Not a judgement call. He did it. It was fair. Chalk flew in the air when it hit the line.

The umpire called it foul.
The umpire was incorrect. Again, not an opinion. Not "The Human Element." He was wrong. And we saw he was wrong INSTANTLY.

Everyone on the planet Earth who was watching the game saw it was wrong. Bruce Bochy and third base coach Tim Flannery argued the call and the umpire stood his ground... which he was wrong about.

Today with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th of a playoff game, Delmon Young hit a line drive to right field that Greg Golson caught.

Again... not "In my opinion he caught it." He did. It was a catch. It was ruled a trap. The Yankees argued.

Then came the great compromise that all people who are (wrongly) against instant replay offer up. "The umpires can get together and confer what they all saw."

Great! Guess what? They STILL got it wrong. They all huddled up and decided it was a trap... all the while the actual video of the game showed over and over again that he caught the ball.

Which brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Jim Thome.

Now people who are (wrongly) against instant replay will probably throw up the biggest straw man argument right here:

But Sully! In the end it didn't matter! The Giants won the Game! Mariano got the last out! No harm done!

That's great... if you know how the future unfolds.

But why should Andres Torres have to try to get another hit when he just got a double?
Why should Mariano Rivera have to get a 4th out against Jim Thome no less when he already got the third out?

You didn't know the Giants were going to win that game when the umpire blew that call (not an opinion... a fact that was seen by everyone in under a minute.)

You didn't know Jim Thome was going to make an out when Chris Guccione blew that call. (Any relation to Bob? Not sure.)

The people who keep blathering about "The Human Element" need to answer me this:
Why shouldn't players be credited for things that they actually do?

I am not talking about robots. I am talking about players who do something positive... and if you are against instant replay, you are actually saying "Players should be credited for their plays at the pleasure of the umpire."

A rookie named Greg Golson makes a nice catch to end a playoff game. Not an opinion. A fact.

But if you are against instant replay you are saying to him "I don't think you should be credited with that. Sorry."

Andres Torres gets a double off of an All Star pitcher, Mat Latos. But instant replay opponents are saying "Tough luck. We simply choose to have you NOT credited with it. No reason."

Oh and spare me any nonsense of "Jeter doesn't like it... therefore it is bad."

Arguments from authority are logical fallacies.
Tim Flannery is for it. He played the game.

Don Denkinger is for it. He could have used it.

So please... opponents of instant replay... here's my challenge to you:

Make an argument AGAINST instant replay in baseball without stumbling into logical fallacies:

1) An appeal to emotion
2) An appeal to tradition
3) An appeal to authority
4) A personal attack

Tell me why getting calls right is wrong.
And tell me why you are against players being credited for what they do.

The next logical reason to NOT have instant replay will be the first one I have ever heard.

See Luke Scott's face?

This is the face of a man who knows that he just hit a game tying 9th inning homer off of Mariano Rivera.

This is the face of a man who knows that no matter what bar or family barbecue he ever goes to, he will have the COOLEST story.

Game tying shot off a certain Hall of Famer putting up awesome numbers?

If I hit a homer like that, it would be on my business card.
Hell, it would be how I preface a sentence.

"As a man who hit a game tying shot off of Mariano Rivera... I will have these shirts light starch and on hangers."

THE RED SOX ARE STILL IN IT... AND THEY ARE GOING TO WIN IT!

I am writing it down now...
The Red Sox are winning the 2010 World Series.

Lester picked up win #18, the Sox bats woke up, Rivera blew another save and the Rays fell apart to the Angels.

The Sox picked up a game on both. And guess what? The Rays and Yankees are playing each other... so if they win tomorrow they will pick up a game on ONE of them.

They are 7 games back in the loss column with 13 games to play.

EASY!
They've practically clinched a playoff spot already!

It is IN THE BAG!

(I've been out in the sun a lot today.)