Frozen Ropes #2 - MLB Update
June 21, 2008 – 12:06 pm
Typically, the first pitch of “Frozen Ropes” is always in reference to the Yankees, but the biggest baseball news this past week is actually regarding the Red Sox. Boston starting pitcher Curt Schilling experienced a set back in his rehab this week, and it now looks like the Beantown hero will be forced to retire.
Curt gives us the following via his blog 38pitches.com.
“Coming back from this surgery at 31 would be an enormous challenge, at 41 more so,” Schilling wrote on his blog, 38pitches.com on Friday. “BUT, if that is an option at least I’ll be able to make that decision with all the cards on the table, and it will end on terms I choose. I won’t come back throwing 85 with so-so crap. If there is not an option to come back and be good, I won’t.”
Curt potentially going away forever isn’t going to hurt the Red Sox one bit as, even without his right arm, the Sox are winning the AL East and with J.D. Drew on fire (it’s nice hitting in front of Manny!) are considered by many to be the best team in baseball. So the question isn’t, what do the Red Sox do? The question becomes, what does Curt Schilling do? No question, he’ll probably stay in the Boston area where he can mix in with the crazed local media via his blog, talk shows and the like. Curt’s hero status is unquestioned in Boston, and the fawning of the fans and media feeds his ego so I can’t envision him leaving town. I would expect him to get into TV analysis, or perhaps even politics. One thing is for sure, as baseballs resident windbag, you can bet that Schilling will be heard from in one way or another.
On to the Yankees, who have been playing better ball since A-Rod came back and Giambi grew the porn stache. The biggest news out of the Bronx last week was the injury to Chien-Ming Wang, and Hank’s subsequent response. Hank seemed to be validated when Red Sox pitcher Bartolo Colon went down with an injury a day later. Every pitcher in baseball could get hurt on the bases and I’d still disagree with Hank. Pitchers are professional athletes. They should be able to run and hit without getting hurt. The excuse that pitchers don’t practice these things is nonsense. AL teams know that their pitchers will need to hit before every season. Maybe they should start practicing remedial things like running the bases and hitting.
Anyway, while we’re on the subject of overweight pitchers, the Yanks picked up chronic bum Sidney Ponson this week. Why? Why? Why? Why? There’s not a better option out there? Ponson is awful! If he sticks around for a while, the Yanks would be wise to keep him away from the club owned steakhouse that will be a part of the new Yankee Stadium. One thing concerns me about the new park that is going up, which will be ripe with luxury boxes, catering services and all the amenities that cater to the corporate (i.e fairweather) fan. What happens to the average fan? The fans who come up with all the witty chants, serenade the players from the bleachers and basically make up the soul of the Stadium. Are we going to be exed out? There will certainly be less of us in attendence with the capacity of the new park going down. While the new Stadium will certainly be grand, I get the feeling that no matter how hard the designers try to capture the essense of the House That Ruth Build, the House That George Built will be lacking in soul.
At least we get the All Star game right? Was Watching brings us a sneak peak at what the tickets for the Mid Summer Classic will look like. At the same time, they wonder if Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano is going to turn into Carlos Baerga the sequel. I’d love to argue this point, but if Robbie’s plate discipline doesn’t improve this is very possible, if not likely. I’ve also noticed that Cano’s bat seems slow this year. He seems to be late on everything. Have pitchers figured him out?
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