Filed under: Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates | Tags: Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero, Murray Chass, Neal Huntington, Scott Boras, Tom Gordon, Ugly Turtlenecks, VORP
The Phillies have resigned J.C. Romero in a 3-year, 12 million dollar deal. After being traded from Boston to the Phils, he had been lights out with a 1.24 ERA in 35 innings, and gave the Phils some much-needed bullpen help down the stretch. It’s pretty obvious with this and the Lidge deal, they’re trying to stock their bullpen with good arms so they won’t have to rely on Antonio Alfonseco anymore.
Still, there are some risks in this. Romero is 31 years old, and Romero hasn’t been nearly as effective as he had been in 2007 since 2002. The signing of Romero is logical, and by no means a bad move, though undoubtedly not without its risks. Lidge is also getting older, but seriously – it’s Brad Lidge. He has been proven to be effective and is much less of a question mark for the Phils. Odds are, he’s not going to have another 2006. Also, there’s the question of Tom Gordon – whether he or Romero will become the set-up man, whether they’ll share the role, or whether he will be traded this offseaon. Might he even retire? It will be interesting to see how things turn out.
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In other news: Yet another idiotic article brought to you by the NY Times, this one by Murray Chass, another stickler for hustle and grit and one whose hatred for “stat-mongers” and all things statistical is widely known. You might recall a remark a couple of years back about his hatred of statistical “new-age nonsense,” like VORP. (See bottom of the page, the last section of the article.) Perhaps the reason he’s so suspicious of the Pirates’ new front office is because Neal Huntington is quickly acquiring a reputation as one of the most statistically-based GMs in the game?
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If you’re wondering why I always seem to grab articles from the Times, it’s because that’s just usually the first thing I read in the morning. I see something stupid there, and I have to write about how idiotic it is.
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I stopped reading this article at the first sentence.
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Can someone explain to me the reason Scott Boras always wears those ridiculously ugly turtlenecks?
–Red
The Baseball Exchange 