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Friday, January 17, 2003 3:38:39 PM
Soxfan, we need to be friends. Bud says so...
Selig says cool it
By Tom Singer / MLB.com
Bartolo Colon finally handed in his visa from Canada, there was an outbreak of Matsui Mania, the All-Star Game was given an edge, Hall of Famers were showcased, and a flurry of signings spurred by exchange of arbitration figures ...
Yes, quite a week around the old hot stove.
And in at least one instance, Commissioner Bud Selig apparently tried to turn down the heat.
According to Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, the commissioner has, figuratively, sent those sniping rivals, Larry Lucchino and George Steinbrenner, to their rooms without supper.
The last couple of weeks, Selig heard Boston president Lucchino diss the Yankees as baseball's "evil empire," and Steinbrenner fire back his "chameleon" assessment of Lucchino.
Lupica:
"At this point, Commissioner Bud Selig calls them both, first Lucchino and then Steinbrenner, and tells them the following: Knock it off.
"The phone calls from Selig are no secret in either the Red Sox offices or the Yankee offices, or around baseball. But there you are. Last week, Selig told them both that he didn't want his owners 'banging away at each other, so no more.'"
Perhaps the commissioner wished to head off another round of Boston venting elicited by the Yankees' perceived intervention in the destination of Colon, the right-handed ace the Expos could not afford.
Colon, sought by the Red Sox, instead went to the Chicago White Sox primarily in exchange for Orlando Hernandez, whom the Bronx Bombers had first dealt to the Pale Hose.
As others did, Lupica interpreted that transaction as another Yankees volley in the public spat: "[Steinbrenner] has continued his obsession with the Red Sox this way: By having the Yankees broker the three-way deal that sent Bartolo Colon to the White Sox and keeping the 20-game winner from going to the Red Sox."
If those maneuvers made the Red Sox unhappy, how do you think defending champion Minnesota, Cleveland and the rest of the AL Central feel?
As USA Today's Mel Antonen reasons, the Colon deal brought about a significant power shift in the division:
"The .500 White Sox finished 13½ games behind the Twins last season, but now the Twins' biggest advantage, starting pitching, isn't a certainty.
"Chicago's first four -- Colon, All-Star lefty Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Danny Wright -- won a combined 65 games last season. The Twins have Brad Radke, Eric Milton, Joe Mays, Rick Reed and Kyle Lohse, but if the pitching is even, the Twins have taken a step back.
"That's because the White Sox have an incredible lineup, one that is better than the Twins'."
Seeing their former ace rejoin the division certainly did not delight the Indians, reports Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer:
"'I am not at all happy about this,' Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. 'How could I be? One of the elite starters in baseball has gone to one of our divisional rivals. I did know that this was a possibility.'"
Montreal GM Omar Minaya, of course, had to part with the 20-game winner to get his payroll closer to his $40 million target. He isn't there yet despite, as CBSsportsline.com's Scott Miller points out, having hoped to do all his slashing with one stroke:
"Most in the industry figured that Minaya would force whichever team won the Colon sweepstakes to take [Fernando] Tatis as part of a package deal and, voila, he'd be done cutting payroll.
"Either [he] couldn't find a reasonable enough companion fare for Tatis to accompany Colon, or he simply couldn't convince the White Sox or anybody else that Tatis is something more than a drastically overpaid [$6 million in 2003] disgruntled guy to have in the clubhouse."
At about the time Colon was on his way to Chicago, MLB club owners were on their way to Scottsdale, Ariz., for their annual meeting, which quickly became eventful.
The laundry list of administrative changes was highlighted by their approval of Selig's proposal (a brainchild of Philadelphia's Bill Giles) that home-field advantage in the World Series go to the winning league in the All-Star Game.
The 30-to-0 vote dramatized how strongly owners feel about the move to lend All-Star Games more impact.
But as The New York Times' Murray Chass wrote, this may have opened up another can of worms between MLB management and players, a number of whom don't appear enthused about the idea of Fall Classic advantage being determined my Midsummer Classic results:
"Selig went forward with the vote even though union officials had apprised him of the negative reaction of the many players whom they had talked to.
"'This is an issue we have debated for eight or nine months,' Selig said. 'This is the fans' game. This is something we're talking about in marketing our sport. The executive council voted on this some time ago. The clubs aren't going to meet again until May, so this was the time.'
"Players generally feel that home-field advantage is too important to be decided by a game that doesn't count in the standings."
Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
© 2002 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved
Selig says cool it
By Tom Singer / MLB.com
Bartolo Colon finally handed in his visa from Canada, there was an outbreak of Matsui Mania, the All-Star Game was given an edge, Hall of Famers were showcased, and a flurry of signings spurred by exchange of arbitration figures ...
Yes, quite a week around the old hot stove.
And in at least one instance, Commissioner Bud Selig apparently tried to turn down the heat.
According to Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News, the commissioner has, figuratively, sent those sniping rivals, Larry Lucchino and George Steinbrenner, to their rooms without supper.
The last couple of weeks, Selig heard Boston president Lucchino diss the Yankees as baseball's "evil empire," and Steinbrenner fire back his "chameleon" assessment of Lucchino.
Lupica:
"At this point, Commissioner Bud Selig calls them both, first Lucchino and then Steinbrenner, and tells them the following: Knock it off.
"The phone calls from Selig are no secret in either the Red Sox offices or the Yankee offices, or around baseball. But there you are. Last week, Selig told them both that he didn't want his owners 'banging away at each other, so no more.'"
Perhaps the commissioner wished to head off another round of Boston venting elicited by the Yankees' perceived intervention in the destination of Colon, the right-handed ace the Expos could not afford.
Colon, sought by the Red Sox, instead went to the Chicago White Sox primarily in exchange for Orlando Hernandez, whom the Bronx Bombers had first dealt to the Pale Hose.
As others did, Lupica interpreted that transaction as another Yankees volley in the public spat: "[Steinbrenner] has continued his obsession with the Red Sox this way: By having the Yankees broker the three-way deal that sent Bartolo Colon to the White Sox and keeping the 20-game winner from going to the Red Sox."
If those maneuvers made the Red Sox unhappy, how do you think defending champion Minnesota, Cleveland and the rest of the AL Central feel?
As USA Today's Mel Antonen reasons, the Colon deal brought about a significant power shift in the division:
"The .500 White Sox finished 13½ games behind the Twins last season, but now the Twins' biggest advantage, starting pitching, isn't a certainty.
"Chicago's first four -- Colon, All-Star lefty Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Danny Wright -- won a combined 65 games last season. The Twins have Brad Radke, Eric Milton, Joe Mays, Rick Reed and Kyle Lohse, but if the pitching is even, the Twins have taken a step back.
"That's because the White Sox have an incredible lineup, one that is better than the Twins'."
Seeing their former ace rejoin the division certainly did not delight the Indians, reports Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer:
"'I am not at all happy about this,' Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. 'How could I be? One of the elite starters in baseball has gone to one of our divisional rivals. I did know that this was a possibility.'"
Montreal GM Omar Minaya, of course, had to part with the 20-game winner to get his payroll closer to his $40 million target. He isn't there yet despite, as CBSsportsline.com's Scott Miller points out, having hoped to do all his slashing with one stroke:
"Most in the industry figured that Minaya would force whichever team won the Colon sweepstakes to take [Fernando] Tatis as part of a package deal and, voila, he'd be done cutting payroll.
"Either [he] couldn't find a reasonable enough companion fare for Tatis to accompany Colon, or he simply couldn't convince the White Sox or anybody else that Tatis is something more than a drastically overpaid [$6 million in 2003] disgruntled guy to have in the clubhouse."
At about the time Colon was on his way to Chicago, MLB club owners were on their way to Scottsdale, Ariz., for their annual meeting, which quickly became eventful.
The laundry list of administrative changes was highlighted by their approval of Selig's proposal (a brainchild of Philadelphia's Bill Giles) that home-field advantage in the World Series go to the winning league in the All-Star Game.
The 30-to-0 vote dramatized how strongly owners feel about the move to lend All-Star Games more impact.
But as The New York Times' Murray Chass wrote, this may have opened up another can of worms between MLB management and players, a number of whom don't appear enthused about the idea of Fall Classic advantage being determined my Midsummer Classic results:
"Selig went forward with the vote even though union officials had apprised him of the negative reaction of the many players whom they had talked to.
"'This is an issue we have debated for eight or nine months,' Selig said. 'This is the fans' game. This is something we're talking about in marketing our sport. The executive council voted on this some time ago. The clubs aren't going to meet again until May, so this was the time.'
"Players generally feel that home-field advantage is too important to be decided by a game that doesn't count in the standings."
Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
© 2002 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved
For those who understand no explanation is needed, ...For those who don't none will.
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