We are back with Five-Thought Friday with this running through our brains: If the Mets won 100 games in a forest, and no one was paying much attention, would it make a sound?
1. Every year I vow to be patient, to not jump to judgment on decisions, and every year I mess up. I know the season is long and a lot of contracts are even longer than the season. Last year, I was sure that the Blue Jays had signed a spectacular deal by inking B.J. Ryan to a five-year, $48 million deal, and Ryan was right there with Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon and Joe Nathan as the most dominant closers of 2006. But Ryan just needed Tommy John surgery, validation of all of those executives who kept cautioning me that five years was too long for Ryan; that there was just too much violence in his delivery. Again it is a good reminder for everyone – me included – to stop making snap judgments on these free-agent contracts. Right now, the long-term signings by the Cubs of Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis look brilliant. Will they in another year? The Yankees signing of Kei Igawa, instead of Lilly, looks brutal. Will it in another year? My gut says yes, but let’s give it a little more time.
2. In the next few weeks we are sure to hear about the inequities that play out in inter-league scheduling. The Mets, for example, have a brutal inter-league schedule on paper. But often the key to the schedule is timing. On paper, that the Red Sox played the Blue Jays from May 8-10 in Toronto hardly looked significant a few weeks ago. But Toronto is devastated by injuries, the Red Sox are playing superbly and Boston just completed a three-game sweep in which it won by a combined 26-5.
3. Who will have more influence on this season (the whole season, right through October): Roger Clemens for the Yankees from June 1 on or Pedro Martinez for the Mets from Aug. 1 on?
4. Derek Jeter has always been strange in that he hits for moderate power and a high average, yet he strikes out more like a power hitter than an average hitter. He came into this season averaging a strikeout every 5.7 at-bats. But one sign of how terrific his at-bats have been is that he is averaging just a strikeout every 10.2 at-bats this year.
5. Bobby Abreu is following what is now a 12-year trend with the Yankees: the acquisition of an expensive slugger with 1 1-2 years left on his contract whose old organization badly wanted to trade him, who helps the Yankees initially and then the following season shows all the foibles that made his old organization desperate to get rid of him. In 1995, the Yankees obtained Ruben Sierra, who helped them make the playoffs and then was a huge problem in 1996. In 1996, they traded Sierra to Detroit for Cecil Fielder, who helped the Yanks win the World Series before the honeymoon ended the following year in dour reaction to the lack of a contract extension.
In 2000, the Yanks added David Justice, who helped them win a World Series before succumbing to injuries and inadequacy the following year. In 2002, the Yanks acquired Raul Mondesi, who aided a playoff run before in 2003 reminding everyone how he had earned the reputation of Raul Mondesi, bad actor.
Now the Yanks have Abreu, who was so essential in helping the Yanks outdistance the Red Sox last year. But six weeks into this season Abreu’s low-pulse play, his refusal to be aggressive near an outfield wall and his diminished power are all overt, and help explain why the Phillies wanted to rid themselves of their right fielder.