The WBC

The World Baseball Classic is riveting. I watched that Netherlands v DR game last night and could not believe it. The mighty Dominican Republic falling to the pot-smoking, chocolate-eating, tulip-growing, windmill spinning Dutch. Twice! I know that if they played 100 times, DR would probably win 75 to 80 percent of the time but that's what makes it so fascinating. It's like March Madness. Kinda. They could be this year's George Mason.
Has anybody been watching the Cubans? It looks like there's probably half a dozen big league- ready players on that team. Steinbrenner would give that kid pitcher, Chapman, at least Burnett money. They're just a good all around team. They'll be tough to beat. I haven't been able to see any of the Asian teams yet so I'm not picking a winner yet but look out here comes Austrailia and the Dutch. The two new powers of baseball.

Manny is a Dodger...Really!

The drama is over. I say this with a slight hesitation but all signs point to Manny being a Dodger. At least for now. We're more or less back to where we started in November but it is now done. (In principal.) I hope for everyone's sake that all parties swallow their ego's and move on. I hope Boras doesn't pull a JD Drew and opt out next year but for now it is what it is.
Heck, I might even go out and buy tickets to a few games now. I got to tell you, without him I would be hard pressed to pay $15 to park, $23 for upper level (x4) and dogs, sodas and snacks (roughly $45) more than once or twice. Even if the pitching collapses, I would still go and see him. McCourt's not an idiot...even if I may have said so earlier. I'm sure I'm not alone in my thinking for the number of times I will go to see the Dodgers. Tickets for single games go on sale Saturday. Coincidence?

Frank McCourt and Ned Colleti need to wake up

What did they think would happen?
A couple of things. Number 1-Scott Boras got Manny to get out of Boston because he promised him that he could make more than the two years and $40MM he would make if he behaved himself. Number 2-Yes, the Dodgers offered $45MM for two years but not really. The way it was structured with so much deferred, it not really $45MM over two years...the Dodgers would be getting a free loan from Manny, no interest included.
Realistically, what needs to happen is that both sides need set their ego's aside and get to where they both know they are going to be...2 years and $45MM. Listening to McCourt this weekend it was like the nerd with the toys who didn't get his way so was going to collect his stuff and going home.
Get over it.
This is business and do you really think that Boras would have Manny take less than he would have got if he stayed in Boston. He's got an ego too. McCourt has the money to buy two homes in Malibu (why? I don't know...don't care either) so it's hard to justify the fact that he needs to defer money. Boras already did you a favor by deferring Andruw Jones' money. (Coletti made a bad decision, that's not Manny's fault.) I believe this will get done when cooler heads surface but everybody needs to step back and get over what's gone on so far and understand that they need each other. Get Manny in to spring training. Not so much for him but for the rest of team.

A-Rod. My two cents

Like a lot of people, I was surprised...but not shocked. I guess we've become somewhat jaded about the use of steroids in baseball. I'm a bit torn. On the one hand, I liked seeing home runs. On the other, as a father of a son, I don't want my son to feel pressure to perform if he's talented enough to play at a high level and feel it's OK or it's needed to compete.
That said, I'm tired and I don't care anymore, really. I'm going to look at the Steroid Era for what it is. I'll put an asterisk by it in my mind and just assume that if someone played at that time, there's a good chance he was juiced. Maybe he was. Maybe not. But I, like a lot of folks, are just going to think there was a good chance he was and leave it at that. Come on, Brady Anderson, Eric Gagne. Not to mention the big names we already know. I hope going forward we don't hear much more about it but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Come on, guys! What are we doing here

I've been holding back a bit lately. How much can I rant on the same thing. Bowa, Torre and all the players on the Dodgers say they want Manny back while diplomatically saying that they'll be fine without him. Come on. Yes, in the West we have a decent shot at making the playoffs without him but if you want to do some damage, you need him. If just making the playoffs is satisfying enough, stand pat. I know all the talk about not negotiating against themselves and all but let's face it. They need to get it done. Boras also needs to take a reality pill and realize that this isn't two years ago. both sides need each other. The Dodgers need to realize that when it costs over $100 to take a family of 4 to a game in average seats, Joe Sixpack is only going to go to one or two games with Adam Dunn or Bobby Abreu. With Manny, he may double or triple that. LA loves the Dodgers, no matter who owns them. We're frustrated with them because we've won one more title than the Padres and Giants in the last twenty years. Christ, the Donnie Moore Angels have won a title and are perinial contenders every year for nearly the past decade. It's been painful. Everybody knows about how bad the front office has been. We can rattle off the names, Offerman, Pedro, Delino, Dreifort, Brown, Schmidt, Jones, Pierre, Piazza, Sheffield and on and on. The have a chance to do something right. It won't right all the wrongs of the past 15 to 20 years but it will point the ship in the right direction. Manny's got to give a little too but the Dodgers need to make this happen. The bottum line is that he made the them relevant. He made people stop and watch. Heck, I bought a full price shirt for my son and from the looks of Dodger stadium in October, so did a lot of other folks.

Joe Torre 's Book....

Look, Torre's book hasn't even been released and every blogger and media outlet has some sort of scathing opinion of what he thinks of A-Rod. I haven't read it and I'm positive that 99% of the blowhards shouting down to Torre, Cashman, Steinbrenner and A-Fraud and his insecurites have not read it either.
The thing is that it looks like gossip. Nobody likes everybody they work with. Usually, at some point everyone know's who doesn't like them and we just learn to live with it. The big difference between this and us is that when you make $25MM a year, the people who talk to you about it are in the media. Deal with it. People have a pathetic need for drama. When you're dating pop stars and underwear models and having a cat-fight in the locker room it 's going to get out there. They have to fill up the air time. There's nothing really going on in baseball right now so they have to write about something.
There's a very good chance that when we all read it we'll go, "that's it? That's what all the hub-ub was about?" But I'm positive that won't be put out there. I know that I won't waste anytime on it because I won't care. And neither will anyone else.

Opening Day

No, it's not opening day yet. Just for me. I've moved over my blog to Blogger...I'd only put a few posts up so no one should have a cow. The Dodgers, and pretty much all other teams, start Spring Training in 17 days and there's still no visible sign that Manny Ramirez will be a Dodger. It looks like the two sides are playing chicken and each is waiting for the other to blink. For the sake of the season, I hope they both swallow a little crow and get this over with.