Baseball

The Twins cleared up a logjam in the Outfield by moving Carlos “Go Go” Gomez to Milwaukee for Shortstop J.J. Hardy.

I think it’s a great deal for the Twins. They have too many Outfielders with Denard Span, Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, and DH Jason Kubel. As for the Twins they got some pop at Shortstop, which they haven’t had in years.

While literally millions of New Yorkers (including myself) were busy celebrating the 27th New York Yankee World Championship up and down downtown New York's Canyon of Heroes, the rest of Major League Baseball began offseason business as usual.

The National League Champion Phillies moved quickly in picking up the 2010 club-option on their lefty ace Cliff Lee.

Lee, who went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts for Philadelphia during the latter half of 2009, will be owed $9 million in the final year of his contract.

Ever since 2004, Alex Rodriguez had to listen to the criticism, hatred and talk of under-performing in the biggest games.

The, "You're a bum, A-Rod, you strike out in the biggest spots," or the "you're never going to be as good as Jeter is," o ther "we won't win a championship with you because you suck."

On and on. 2004. 2005. 2006. 2007. Failed Octobers with the Yankees.

In 2008, the Yankees didn't even make the playoffs, though A-Rod signed a new 10-year, $275 million dollar deal the winter before the season.

The New York Mets have reportedly said that they will not pick up the $8.1 million option for JJ Putz next season.

They have instead opted to buy his contract out for $1 million, making him a free agent.

It was just one season ago that Putz was considered a top closer in the American League. He was also the centerpiece of the trade that netted the Seattle Mariners CF Franklin Gutierrez, 1B Mike Carp, OF Endy Chavez, P Garrett Olson, and INF Ronny Cedeno (later used in a trade for SS Jack Wilson, and SP Ian Snell), among others.

Tim Lincecum got busted for marijuana possession. Big deal. At least he didn’t hurt anyone. Kill anyone. Cheat the game.

On top of that, the San Francisco Giants ace and Renton, Wash., native wasn’t even under the influence when he was caught.

He just committed a slight faux pas. Had his pipe sitting out during a routine traffic stop. Whoops. We’ve all been there. Not necessarily with marijuana. But other stuff.

Maybe your porn collection was discovered.

Maybe you told a fib to get out of going to the opera, then got found out.

Now that everyone is starting to calm down over the initial reports of dealing fan-favorite Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy, it's time to evaluate the trade from several angles.

This trade from a Twins perspective is good. While Gomez is one of the best defensive outfielders in the league, he yielded playing time in center field to Denard Span and when Delmon Young started hitting late in the season, Gomez saw seldom playing time.

Well it has been another ho hum season for Canada’s team, the Toronto Blue Jays. This marks the 15th straight year the Blue Jays have missed the playoffs. The last time they made the postseason was 1993, when yours truly was sitting in diapers and sucking his thumb.

The Blue Jays have had good players come through the franchise in this time and have had some solid ballclubs in that time, but they have just not been able to get over the hump and make that step into October baseball.

The last Yankee ticker-tape parade I went to was in 1996. I was 16 years old and cannot recall a single thing about that day. Not a moment.

I have clearer memories of stuff that happened when I was five than what occurred on that afternoon in October.

Go figure.

Instead of braving the elements for an event I'd ultimately forget about, I opted to watch this year's parade telecast on NY1.

Rich Hofman has an article in today's Philadelphia Daily News saying that the Phillies should acquire Roy Halladay . Hofman also points out the obvious that the Yankees won the World Series because they had the better pitching, which is nothing but the truth. He also says that retooling the bullpen, and adding to the bench are other priorities.