Forget You Ever Heard It

It's been a fun off-season. I've been remiss in not updating this blog, basically at all, so let's catch up.

1. The owners did in fact throw common sense to the wind. The new TV and labor peace somehow combined to make Gil Meche appear to be an $11 million a year pitcher.

Back in November, I wrote: "What's Barry Zito going to get -- $16 million a year? $17 million?" I was low by a million there. $18 million a year . . . for seven years.Here are some more numbers to bear in mind re Barry Zito:

Zito's career mark is 102-63, 39 games over .500. Not bad. But . . . 30 of those 39 games over .500 happened in his first three years in baseball. Since 2002, he's 55-46. OK, maybe Oakland isn't as good since then.

Zito gives you innings -- he's pitched more than 200 innings every year since 2000 -- just not a lot at once. ZERO complete games since 2003. But OK, he averages 6+ innings per start.

His other numbers are pretty solid. And that, overall, describes Barry Zito the last 4 years. Pretty solid.

"Pretty solid" gets you $18 million per? Amazing what the Giants are willing to pay to have Barry Bonds not be the biggest story on the team, at least for a while.

2. Pete Rose admits he bet on baseball, a lot, but that isn't apparently what he was supposed to do. For years, everyone's problem with Rose was that he wouldn't admit he bet on baseball. So now he has.

But wait. It's not enough. The way he admitted it, I guess, is the problem. Apparently Pete did not arrange to have himself nailed to a cross before making his admission.

The Rose-haters need to face it: He's never going to feel as bad about what he did as think he should. But when you're given what you claimed you wanted and still you turn your nose up at it, well, you look stupid.

3. Surprise! A-Rod wasn't traded!

I started to get sick hearing every goon on ESPN, FoxSports.com, Michael Kay (who really should've known better) and every other so-called expert call for/demand/predict a trade of A-Rod. But A-Rod, Scott Boras, Joe Torre, Brian Cashman, and every fan who was paying attention knew that A-Rod was no way leaving. This is going to come as a shock to many, but A-ROD ACTUALLY LIKES IT IN NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honest. The talking heads and sportswriters said it so often, starting around August of last season, that they had to keep pumping it, so that they didn't look bad. Chris Russo went so far as to describe the Yankees' off-season as "not a success" because they didn't trade A-Rod. But A-Rod, while he reads all the papers (too much, really) . . . overall is having a great time here and sometimes, and I know this is difficult to accept, sometimes athletes actually mean what they say. A-Rod wants to excel and win, in New York. Honest.

Dissed by reality but undaunted, the "experts" have dumped the trade talk (mostly, as you'll see below) and have taken up a new pet theory: A-Rod will opt out of the last three years of his contract. Ohhhhhhhhhh, ok! In this, they are technically correct . . . A-Rod WILL opt out . . . so that he can sign an extension with the Yankees. You read it here first.

One last bit of idiocy along these lines. Some sportswriter reported via his source (a blogger, no less!) that the Yankees were close to a deal with Anaheim for A-Rod, with New York getting Jared Weaver, Molina, and another young player. This is the same Anaheim GM who regards all his young players as the next Walter Johnson or Babe Ruth; he never trades any young player or prospect. That a "sportswriter" would actually repeat this rumor in print . . . is unprofessional, even by the already-low standards of sports journalism.

4. The Roger Clemens circus. At one point, Mike Greenberg described the annual Clemens retirement/unretirement thing as "a cottage industry." A good line, but now I'm just sick of it. A couple months ago Clemens was quoted as saying there was only a 20% chance that he was coming back. What does that mean? How did Roger arrive at the figure of 20%? I understand that the Yankees have the inside track, since Clemens buddy Andy Pettitte has returned to the Bronx, but as a fan . . . much as I root for the laundry, I honestly don't want Clemens back. To Me, he epitomizes just about everything that is wrong with the modern athlete. Since "retiring" after 2003, has Clemens pitched for ANY reason other than money? It certainly doesn't feel like it. And if Clemens does end up with Yankees, there goes the "I really wanted to play in the same organization as my son" argument.

Let whoever wants Clemens have him.

There's so much more to write about, but it will have to wait.