Ahh, Seattle. Just as beautiful as when I left it. You never realize how awesome Mt. Rainier is until you’re surrounded by the foothills known as the Appalachians. Its good to be back, even if for just a short time. Taking a few days away from the news leads to a ridiculous amount of email backup, though, and I’m still playing catchup. Apparently, while I was gone:
1. Ichiro signed a 4 year, $44 million contract. While it is simply impossible for us to measure Ichiro’s financial value to the club, and thus to evaluate whether this is a smart decision from a business perspective, I don’t believe anyone really thinks that Ichiro is worthy of $11 million per year for what he does on the baseball field. The fact that the contract is supposedly backloaded scares me. We could be looking at a giant albatross in 2006 and 2007.
2. The A-Rod deal fell through. What a debacle. Alex isn’t happy. Nomar isn’t happy. Manny isn’t happy. Kevin Millar isn’t happy, and I can’t imagine that he’s feeling too great about ripping his still-teammates publically about now. We’re certainly not proponents of clubhouse chemistry being a leading component of wins, but I can’t imagine this does anything but hurt the Red Sox. Good luck, Mr. Francona.
3. The M’s expressed interest in Rich Aurilia after losing out on Jose Valentin. Unfortunately, most people see this as a good thing. Valentin is a better player than Aurilia. Aurilia has posted an OBP north of .340 once in his career, and his 2001 season just screams fluke. He’s not a bad player, but he’s not a significant improvement on Carlos Guillen, and throwing a lot of money at him is foolish.
So, I think I’m back in the flow now. Sonics game tonight, feed tommorrow, and time with family all next week. I love the holidays.