MLB Quick Pitches: Joe Torre Shelves Contract Talks

What I’m Reading

• Where will Joe Torre be in 2011? Well, I can’t say for sure. Now, apparently, we won’t get an answer for a while.

• One fast outfield: The Bronx Bombers more or less already have a parking spot reserved for Carl Crawford at Yankee Stadium. It’s also looking like Phil Hughes has won the final rotation spot over Joba Chamberlain in the “Battle of Emotionless Forgettable Yankee Prospects that Have Yet to Live Up to Their Potential.” It’s a moral victory.

• If Jonathan Papelbon is expecting his payday to be right around the corner, he’d better think again. Joe Nathan might have just ruined it all for the future of bloated closer contracts. But for a case of a Twin actually helping out a Red Sox free agent-to be, Joe Mauer may have just singlehandedly paid for V-Mart’s children’s college tuitions.

• The ever-so-versatile Brandon Inge is looking like he’ll be ready to go come Opening Day. Good—the Tigers need him.

What I Think About It

Torre

Oh, Joe. Regardless of what Don Zimmer says (scroll down), if I had to venture a guess, I’d be more inclined to believe that this is Torre’s last year.

Besides, I’m 98 percent certain that Zimmer has been senile since the early stages of last decade.

It’s just all setting up perfectly for this to be his last year as manager of the Dodgers.

He’ll be 70 in July, well after normal people (are supposed to) retire. Perfect time to hang up the clipboard and spend the next 20 years hanging around the house, visiting the Grand Canyon twice a year, and yelling at kids to get off his lawn.

This season is the best chance for LA to make a run at a title, too. Manny Ramirez might be taking off after the season, and even if he stays, he’ll be 39 in May of next year, and there’s no telling how effective he’ll be after securing what is likely to be the last contract of his career this offseason.

Can’t blame Joe for not wanting to be a distraction to his team, especially right before the season commences.

He and Bobby Cox (also retiring ) should just ride off gracefully into the sunset on a pair of white steeds after this season and then star in the eventual remake of The Bucket List.

That would be satisfying for me.

Crawford

Jon Heyman of SI summed it up best: What the Yankees love, they usually get—and they’re enamored with Carl Crawford.

By the time New York gets its hands on Crawford (and yes, I’m writing as if it is a lock, not just a possibility), they will have two-thirds of a roving corps of gap-eliminating All-Stars patrolling the outfield greens. By the time Nick Swisher’s deal is up at the end of next year, assuming they don’t move him before then, there’s likely to be another speedster-in-waiting ready to pounce on the right field position.

Once that happens, goodbye extra-base hits.

Of course, this is all speculation, but let’s be serious. As much as Carl Crawford says he loves the Rays, if the Yankees are throwing trash bags full of cash at him, he can’t turn down the opportunity to be a part of a group like that. It’ll only increase his range, mobility, and longevity, all while stretching out his pockets as the money piles up.

Have I been impressed with Phil Hughes? No, not really. Am I ready to give up on him as quickly as I am on Joba? Definitely not.

It’s no secret that Hughes certainly hasn’t panned out as a quality starter as quickly as we expected him to when he was first coming up. His numbers haven’t been awful, but they’re nowhere near respectable either.

Same scenario for Joba too, but he’s mastered the art of not controlling his pitches and is being banished to the bullpen in favor of Phil this spring.

I never really saw the kind of drive I was looking for in Chamberlain. Hughes hasn’t showed much of it either, but for some reason I’m giving him another chance.

Either way, this has to be the make or break year for both of them, as their early struggles will no longer be tolerated, and there will come a time when the Yankees have to move on to whoever is next in line.

Better get your act together, boys.

Papelbon

Check this out.

Over the last four seasons:

Jonathan Papelbon: 1.74 ERA, 151 saves, 10.6 Ks per 9 IP; opposing hitters have a line of .190/.243/.284/.527 against

Joe Nathan: 1.73 ERA, 159 saves, 10.9 Ks per 9 IP; .180/.241/.285/.526

Bone-chilling to see how eerily similar the two have been.

If the two were both free agents following 2010 (Papelbon is), would you give either a huge deal?

A case could be made for Papelbon, but following Nathan’s recent season-ending injury, a case to not overpay for saves is growing stronger and stronger.

Teams are starting to realize that with extreme exceptions (Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman), closers do not last. There’s always another guy waiting in the pen to step up when his time is called and the incumbent’s elbow is hanging on by a thread and/or ligament. In other words, there’s always going to be a Daniel Bard somewhere in the organization.

Nathan didn’t negate any super-sized deal that Papelbon is going to be receiving, but he certainly reduced the likelihood of Pap getting what he wants. Plus he at least threw caution to teams’ eyes when they’re going to be looking at potential closers over the next 10 years until the game shifts or preventative treatment and regimens improve.

On the other hand, Joe Mauer did Victor Martinez a huge favor by signing that deal.

Martinez obviously won’t get anywhere the figure that Mauer did, but Joe set a precedent to be followed when teams are going to be assessing the value of their catchers, starting with the Red Sox.

Inge

Brandon Inge has had an interesting career, to say the least. It hasn’t been anywhere near outstanding, but he’s the type of player that every team should be interested in acquiring.

He steps up and plays wherever he is needed, whether that is all three OF positions, third base, or even catcher as recently as 2008. He’s a guy you never hear a word from; he just goes out there and does his job.

After a hot start to open the 2009 campaign, he was rewarded with his first All-Star selection.

He cooled considerably in the second half (and that’s putting it nicely—he hit .186 after the break), so he’ll be looking to have a strong rebound coming into this year for a rejuvenated team.

Something feels fresh about the Tigers right now, and while it isn’t the soon-to-be 33-year-old Inge, he’ll be a key piece of a Detroit team that is looking to compete in what is shaping up to be a very interesting AL Central race in 2010.

PD

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