Makes you realize just how piss poor the Red Sox and Yankees pitching was this year. At least Mazzone didn't go to the Bronx to turn that pitching staff around. The Yanks will still probably sign Burnett, though. I think he'll be as much of a bust as Pavano.
Not any real great options for us in the offseason for starters. I'd maybe look at Jarrod Washburn. Millwood is available, but I think this year was flukey, and besides, the Indians are committed to resigning him. I think that Papelbon will be incredible for us, though, and Schill should win us 15 games next year. Excellent short-term options to fix our bullpen, though. I'm not giving up on Foulke, yet, though.
If we have Ortiz and Manny and we keep Tek fresh throughout the season, we should be just fine.
Peter Gammons' column on the 15th was a pretty interesting indictment of the Sox and Yankees. Both teams are getting old and the league has gotten better. The Sox have to rely on their farm system to build with a few role players added on to their superstars. Signing 32 year old guys to 4-5 year deals in order to win today is foolish. They overspent on Renteria and Clement was worth $6.5 million this year in terms of production but not the $9.5 they have him for the next 2. The fans have this mentality that they have to win NOW!!! and it simply cannot work this way. Will the fans let them take the team apart in 2006 so that they can win 90 plus games from 2007 and beyond with the young pitching that they have?
The Yankees built a team that went 4/5 in World Series play starting back in 1996 that did it with home grown starts and roll players. In 2001 they almost won against a better team. Since that time they have bought player after player and depleted their farm system til there is nothing left. This is where they have become bad for baseball in that they run up the price of free agents instead of developing young guys that they can build a team around.