We’re getting close to Round 2. Here are the 7’s vs. 10’s in the ‘38 Pitchers Bracket Challenge’ (with bracketlogist Kirk Minihane offering the commentary):

Cy Young Region
7. Catfish Hunter vs. 10. Tommy John

It’s sort of become fashionable to knock Catfish as an all-timer over the past couple of years. And while he pitched for championship teams and really only had a couple of great seasons there is no doubt that he belongs on this list. Okay, I’ll buy that five 20-win seasons with the A’s and Yankees in the 1970s isn’t staggering. Bert Blyleven would have won 25 games a year with those teams. But Hunter was still a top pitcher, leading the league in WHIP twice as well as ERA in his 1974 Cy Young season. And how about 30 complete games in 1975? No pitcher has reached 25 complete games since (Tim Wakefield has 32 CG’s in his career). I count three seasons from Hunter that I would term “great” — 1972 (21 wins, 2.96 ERA), 1974 (25-12, 2.49 ERA, .986 WHIP) and 1975 (23-14, 2.58 ERA). Not enough to be among the top 25 pitchers of the last 50 years, but easily fits in the top 64. Tommy John is a medical marvel and did win 288 games, but I’m not sure he was ever one of the top five pitchers in baseball. He did win 20 games three times, but did so for some terrific Dodgers and Yankees teams in the late 70s-early 80s (the three teams that he won 20 games for (1977 Dodgers and 1979 and 1980 Yankees) averaged 97 wins a year). But he did stick around forever, pitching until he was 46. At his peak Hunter was a better pitcher, and by a fairly decent spread. Does 64 extra wins (over 11 seasons) give John an argument?

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Walter Johnson Bracket
7. Don Drysdale vs. 10. Orel Hershiser

I know people don’t want to hear this, but Drysdale was largely a product of where he pitched. At home in his career? 114-74 with a 2.53 ERA in 261 starts. On the road? 95-92 with a 3.41 ERA in 257 starts (this is all in a pitcher’s era, remember). It’s the Jim Rice argument. Can anyone who was average for HALF of his career really be viewed as an all-time great? This matchup is a tough one to call. Hershiser pitched in the same ballpark as Drysdale for the majority of his career. His splits are also significant (3.17 ERA at home in 256 games, 3.81 ERA in 254 road games), but not as glaring as Drysdale. Both have a Cy Young Award. Career records are pretty much a push (Hershiser 204-160, Drysdale 209-166). Of course Hershiser broke Drysdale’s shutout innings streak. Both guys were superb in the playoffs (2.95 ERA for Drysdale, 2.59 ERA for Hershiser). Pretty close to a coin flip, but here’s why I’d vote for Hershiser: His two best seasons (1985, 19-3 with a 2.03 ERA and 1988, 23-8 with a 2.26 ERA) are better than any season in Drysdale’s career. Throw in a slight postseason edge and you’ve got an upset.

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Lefty Grove Bracket
7. Johan Santana vs. 10. Dwight Gooden

And the battle to be the second-best pitcher in Mets history is pretty much down to these two, right? Santana is in the middle of his prime, and I fully expect another two or three Cy Young Awards before his career is done. In career adjusted ERA+, only Pedro Martinez, Lefty Grove and Walter Johnson are ahead of Santana. He’s also top 10 all time in Ks per nine innings (9.3, fifth) and winning percentage (.681, eighth). He is easily the strongest of the seven seeds and is, in reality, a lot closer to a four or five. Today Gooden is remembered as potential wasted, but if you look past that and just focus on his numbers he had a nice career. In the Non-Pedro department I would count Gooden’s 1985 season as the best in my lifetime (24-4, 1.53 ERA, 16 complete games, eight shutouts and 268 Ks). That was as a 20-year-old, and followed a 1984 season that may be the best ever produced by a rookie pitcher (17-9, 2.60 ERA and 276 Ks in 218.0 innings). If you had asked me to guess after those two seasons how many career wins Gooden would finish with I would have gone with about 330 or so. Well, he didn’t get to 200 (he ended up with 194). But he won 19 games in 1990, 18 in 1988 and 17 in 1986. He was a victim of his own early greatness (and the drugs, of course). Probably he was one of the top 10-15 pitchers in the majors from 1986-1991, but that wasn’t nearly enough for Mets fans. I’m not sure there is a comparison that fits today. Tom Brady was Super Bowl MVP (not really, but he won it) in his first year as a starter and led the league in TDs in his second. If he has five or six seasons with 17 TDs and 12 picks you’d be pretty close.

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• Luis Tiant
• Ron Guidry

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But don’t act like idiots. One of the perks of playing for the Red Sox, or the Yankees for that matter, is home field advantage. Home field advantage is ALL about the fans and the environment.

Don’t act like idiots, don’t throw stuff on the field, don’t be stupid. Be a Sox fan, have class, act like you’ve been there before, act like winners.

DON’T reach over the fence on a ball down the line when it’s hit by a RED SOX player!!!

Don’t reach over the fence to catch a ball in the air when it’s hit by a YANKEE player!!!

Keep enforcing that thing you’ve always had, make Fenway a nightmare for visiting players. Boston fans have some of the smartest sign making fans around, get them out there. Remind players who spurned you, that you won’t forget, but don’t be idiots about it. Remind the Yankees why this is a horrible place to be a visiting player, and at the same time remind your home town team why they can’t be beat here.

Boo the ever living hell out of the opponents, make it a hellish weekend, but do it with intelligence, class, dignity and style, it’s funner that way.

If you can rag the crap out of a player without an F bomb or using ‘your mother’, you’ve got something, otherwise you’re carbon copies of the gang that sits behind the dugout in Yankee Stadium because that appears to be all they ever had for ammo…

We’re back with more from our Pitchers Bracket Challenge, voting on the best pitchers of the post World War II Era. Comments are once again brought to you by Bracketologist Kirk Minihane:

Cy Young Region

6. Jim Kaat vs. 11. Vida Blue

Kaat won at least 10 games in 15 straight seasons (1962-76) and won 20 three times, including a league-best 25 in 1966. 283 wins and 16 Gold Gloves, but Kaat seems largely forgotten today. Maybe it’s because he stuck around too long at the end of his career (he was a long reliever for his last five years). Blue, of course, is best known for his remarkable 1972 season (24 wins, 1.82 ERA, 301 Ks) that landed him both the CY Young and MVP. The truth is that he had a pretty solid career, finishing in the top 10 in ERA six times and strikeouts seven times. His win totals from 1973-1980? 20, 17, 22, 18, 14, 18, 14 and 14. If you look at the prime of their careers Blue was a slightly better pitcher than Kaat. I guess the question is how much value do you place on the eight or nine average seasons Kaat tacked on.

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Lefty Grove Region

6. Mike Mussina vs. 11. Mel Stottlemyre

Teacher vs. pupil. To me, Mussina is a Hall of Famer. Forget 300 wins as a standard, in the five-man rotation era 250 wins is the new 300. Mussina finished up with 270, and his career .638 won/loss mark is 38th all time. He never won the CY Young, but finished in the top five six times. (And just to show you how caught up Cy Young voters can get when it comes to wins, look at 2002. Clemens won it, he finished 20-3. Mussina finished fifth, his record was 17-11. ERA? Clemens 3.51, Mussina 3.15. Innings pitched? Clemens 220.1, Mussina 228.0. Walks? Clemens 72, Mussina 42. Complete games? Clemens zero, Mussina four. Shutouts? Clemens zero, Mussina three. First Place Cy Young votes? Clemens 21, Mussina zero. Shameful.)  And how about 11 top tens in ERA for the Moose? Final Four sleeper. Stottlemyre pitched on some terrible Yankees teams in his short (11 year) career. A shame, because he was a terrific pitcher, retiring after the 1974 season with a 2.97 career ERA. Three 20-win seasons, twice led the league in complete games. Nine really good seasons isn’t enough to get past Mussina, however.

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Walter Johnson Region

6. Curt Schilling vs. 11. Roy Halladay

I’m not sure how to handle this one, so I’ll just present this in defense of Schilling:
Here are the pitchers in Major League history with at least 200 wins, 3,100 strikeouts and a winning percentage of .590
Randy Johnson
Walter Johnson
Greg Maddux
Roger Clemens
Tom Seaver
Bob Gibson
Pedro Martinez
Curt Schilling

The other seven guys are slam-dunk first-ballot Hall of Famers, right (not taking in the Misremember Factor)? Throw in the postseason stuff (11-2, 2.23 ERA) and it’s impossible to doubt Schilling’s credentials as an all-timer. If we do this again in 10 years I wouldn’t be surprised if Halladay was a top-six seed. Four top five Cy Young finishes (with a win in 2003) and two 20-win seasons (and a 19-win season). And his .668 career winning percentage (13th all-time) is even more impressive when you consider that he has never pitched for a playoff team. Halladay did not really begin his career until he was 25, so he’s not going to finish with monster numbers, but he could get to 220 wins or so (he’s 32 years old and has 133 career wins). Tough first rounder for Schilling but he should move on.

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Christy Mathewson Region

6. Jack Morris vs. 11. Dave Stieb

There is a case for an upset here. Morris had the benefit of pitching for some great teams, which makes it a lot easier to gain a reputation as a “winner”. Stieb was stuck with some lousy Toronto teams for the first four or five years of his career (though they improved greatly in the mid 1980s) and had some seasons that were ignored simply because his won-loss record wasn’t eye-catching. Take 1983. Morris wins 20 games with a 3.34 ERA and finishes third in the Cy Young voting. Stieb wins  17 games (and loses 12) with a 3.04 ERA and doesn’t receive a single Cy Young vote. Career seasons with an ERA 3.25 or under? Morris one, Stieb seven. Morris was more durable (finished with 254 wins in 18 seasons vs. 176 in 16 seasons for Stieb) and is the author of the best big-game performance of the last half-century. But I think Stieb was a better pitcher.

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He is and always will be one of the all time greats. In my 10 years in Phildelphia and 13 years elsewhere Harry was the only member of the media any team I’ve ever been around, accepted as a true member of the team.

For the 10 years I was in Philadelphia Harry was the only member of the media ever allowed to ride on the players bus. He was in the truest sense of the meaning, one of us. He was as close, if not closer, to some members of the team than other teammates.

In addition to the professional accolades he was one of my all time favorite people. I had the privilege and honor of sharing some great and personal memories with Harry throughout my time in Philadelphia.

If you were to put a Mount Rushmore of Philadelphia sports up, Harry would have to be one of the four faces on that mountain.

Personally speaking I can honestly say that hearing Harry’s voice as the ‘call’ on some of my professional accomplishments is an all time memory and incredible honor I’ll be forever grateful for.

Harry you will be greatly missed as someone who never “swung and missed! Struck him right on outta there”

God Bless and Rest in Peace

That would be the name of my fantasy team by the way….

Was slotted first, ten team league, snake draft…

Avg/R/HR/RBI/SB for offense, W/S/K/ERA/WHIP for pitchers

1) (1)Hanley Ramirez SS This scoring system, this player? Other than Reyes scores across the board at this position as well or better than anyone else

2 (20)Brian McCann C Another guy that gives a positional edge over 90+% of the league

3 (21)Jon Papelbon RP What’s not to like?

4 (40)Felix Hernandez SP I think this is the year it all comes together. Polished 4 pitch guy

5 (41)Kevin Youkilis 1B The homers were no fluke. 41st pick nets me a 4 category guy…

6 (60)Matt Kemp OF Didn’t know a ton about him until the research started, then surprised he was still there…

7 (61)Brad Lidge RP Lidge/Papelbon? Oh my…

8 (80)Ichiro OF With the offense already in place is going to help tons in 3 categories….

9 (81)Chris Carpenter SP I believe he’s fixed (and if he is he’s a 1st or 2nd rounder), 1st outing backs that up…

10 (100) Chipper Jones 3B I think one of the steals of the draft. Too many people think he’s past being good, I’m not one of them

11 (101)Andre Either OF Hate having 2 guys in the same lineup, but both have potential to boost multiple categories

12 (120)Joba Chamberlain P Going to put up good to great K/ERA/WHIP and possibly wins as well

13 (121)Jermaine Dye OF Needed a huge assist in the HR department and hoping he helps me there

14 (140)Heath Bell RP another closer, could be a sick bullpen

15 (141)Chris Young SP Wins will suffer, but great ball park, will give me WHIP, ERA and some K’s

16 (160)Erik Bedard SP Could be a HUGE steal if he’s healthy

17 (161)Clayton Kershaw SP Took a flier. Stuff is unquestionable

18 (180)Howie Kendrick 2B needed best multi-category guy I could find at 2B, almost went with Aviles but used personal experience to make this pick…

19 (181)Shin-Soo Choo OF could be another huge steal if he gets off on a good note and stays consistent

20 (200)Todd Helton 1B Personal memory killed me here. In addition to being the last hitter I ever faced, I just can’t see him not being an awesome offensive player (so awesome I moved him for Adam Lind 30 minutes after the draft)

21 (201) JJ Putz RP nice filler for the pen and the occasional save along with great WHIP seemed appealing (until I moved him after the draft for Grant Balfour)

Players I wanted and missed by a pick Greinke, Oswalt, Capps, Bonifacio, . Players I had on list but didn’t take at the end, Werth, Burrell, Verlander, Hoffman.

I receive daily quotes from athletes all around the sports world through a pro-athlete website service. Some of them are very good. The best ones are usually the most simple. Today’s was a particularly good one.

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.~ Arnold Palmer

Off of that someone at 38 Studios sent me one from a book on Teddy Roosevelt that I thought was not only spot on, but pretty powerful.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Things that I absolutely guarantee for the 2009 Red Sox.

Terry Francona will manage the personnel to their maximum effectiveness, regardless of what any second-guessing couch potatoes want to think or know. Tito knows more than you about his players, and always will.

The best managers in the game aren’t the men who “X” and “O” better than everyone, they’re the men who manage their people the best. Tito is as good as anyone I’ve ever been around at that. While he may suck at Cribbage, he can manage people. He may be a bit off-kilter since this is his first season as a ML manager without me on his team, but I’ll cut him some slack…..

First the divisional prediction. Cop-out time. I will make the same claim I made last season. The winner of the AL East will be between NY, Boston and Tampa. Whichever team has the fewest DL days of the opening day starting rotation’s five guys and closer will win the East.

One exception to the above rule is this. I think of the three teams that are legitimate contenders (I would add Toronto as a factor but even having Butter on the bench as a General is not enough to overcome the big 3 in my opinion), only the Red Sox could manage a big injury to the staff and not get buried. Not that they will, but I think they could.

The East has been a war of attrition for years and this year people are going to take Tampa for real as a player in this fight. The same folks who last year spent the whole season saying “this month is it,” “they can’t keep it up,” “they’re ready to go down” about Tampa are the same folks this spring saying “they’ll come back to the pack” or “they’ll come down to earth.”

Problem is those comments were made with no logic behind them. Tampa won this division last year with not one player having anything close to a career year. They did it with their ace on the DL for part of the season. They did it with no 40 HR guy, no batting title contender. They did it because Joe Maddon can manage his people, and he got his younger players to understand that winning games is far cooler than being a star. You can have both. Now add to the mix Gabe Kapler, someone who will have a profound impact on superstar young players, a healthy Scott Kazmir, a more seasoned James Shields, Matt Garza and others and I don’t see them ‘fading.’ I think it’s going to be a challenge for sure, but they’ll hold their own in my opinion.

The Yankees? Well in addition to opening what many will come to realize is the most kick-ass new stadium on the planet, they spent about $14.5 trillion in the off season to add more studs and horses. That the formula refused to work in the last eight years didn’t stop them from continuing it. The difference now is they are mixing in some young homegrown studs at the ML level who are impact guys.

Joba Chamberlain has all the makings of being a true top of the rotation guy, or the next Mariano. His numbers and stuff don’t lie, he’s the real deal and I love the makeup I’ve seen so far.

CC, well, he’s CC. That means a guy who will scream for the ball every five days if not every four, want to be on the mound in the 9th and be pissed at less than perfection. What’s not to love? That’s an ace, that’s what you HAVE to have at the top of your rotation.

Now add Tex to the mix and once again it’s a lineup to worry about. If I am not mistaken the new ballpark dimensions mirror the old, which means LHH are going to continue enjoying hitting there. Missing A-Rod will not help them early, no matter what you think, but starting the season without that media BS in the clubhouse every day should be some sort of bonus.

The bigger piece coming into play for them now is the top end of their prospect list. Austin Jackson appears to be a five-tool guy everyone is excited about and supposedly isn’t that far off. People got complacent or just totally missed the fact that having Bernie Williams out there for a decade was an insane luxury. That CF area is enormous ground to cover and having someone out there that brings some pop at the plate will be a huge lift for them. Melancon, Brackman and McAllister are all potential big upside arms. Melancon is being mentioned as Mariano’s heir apparent and that’s not a bad thing for either guy. Meaning one guy is still far from done, but this kid supposedly has the tools and makeup to be the next one. I still think Chamberlain ends up in that spot. Brackman is the wild card. At 6′10″ and 270 pounds you are talking massive potential with massive consistency issues. Moving that much mass, under control, consistently, is incredibly hard to do and teach. If they do, and he progresses, you are talking about a right-handed Randy Johnson if he can pan out. That’s ace, top-of-the-rotation stuff that comes along every 20 years. Anytime you hear ‘middle of the rotation’ mentioned in a prospects accolades it means three things.

1) We may never hear his name again
2) He could be an ace
3) Not one of his pitches wows you.

The reason that never bothers me is they continue to do this to kids in their late teens and early twenties, before velocity gain and physical growth has stopped. Many kids getting these labels are in growth spurts and are trying to adjust to new bodies, both in height and weight, as well as learning how to get guys out as the McAllister kid is.

Jesus Montero is listed as a catcher, but with his offensive ability and his size, he’ll switch positions.

One thing to watch out for in the next two years: if Boston doesn’t get that catcher of the future, and Minnesota doesn’t re-sign Joe Mauer, he’s going to go off the charts after the 2010 season as a free agent when the Sox and Yankees will be at the front of the line.

So New York needs to stay healthy, get 30 or so from Burnett and Sabathia, 25-30 from Chamberlain and Wang becomes as good as any #3 in baseball, right alongside Dice or Lester. The Yankee defense, if it’s not solid, could prove to be a huge issue for them this year as far as Wang is concerned. He’s won consistently with a below average defense and he won’t suddenly start striking guys out. I expect his numbers to remain the same, or maybe improve outside W/L. He is a guy that could have across-the-board improvement in all categories but W/L if he doesn’t get consistent defense.

If they get that many starts from their rotation they are going to be very very good.

Boston, and yes there may be some bias here but it’s because I know them and I understand how they are approaching things, is the favorite for one reason. They won the wild card last year, were within nine outs of a World Series, and never had their ace. Josh had a tough year last year. He was far more hurt in the playoffs than anyone knew. You put him out there healthy, which he is, with Jon Lester, Dice, Wake, Penny/Smoltz/Masterson, and you can’t help but feel good.

The top three pitchers have a legitimate shot at finishing in the top 10 in Cy Young voting. It would not surprise me if two things happened I don’t think anyone is expecting this year:

1) Jon Lester is better than he was last year.
2) Dice is as good, if not better, than he was last year.

The Lester progression to me is natural. Given his makeup, his stuff, and the Farrell factor if he stays healthy there is no reason his numbers won’t continue to improve over the next few years. Add in the life experience (which cannot be underestimated imo) and you have a perennial Cy candidate.

Dice is just smart. He ‘grew’ last year and progressed and the W/L total, while surprising given the IP, was not a fluke. There are pitchers with marginal stuff who can throw out the occasional W/L % like he did last year, and then there are pitchers with good stuff who know how to make pitches in big spots. Dice is the latter. He knows how to execute when he’s in a bind and that means he gives up far fewer runs than you might expect. If he can improve his command and mindset early in counts, he can move into lofty company.

After those three you figure the combination of Wake, Smoltz, Penny, Masterson, Buchholz needs to make 72 starts. Can they do that and win 45 of them? Absolutely.

If Justin masters getting ahead and beating LHH he’s looking at a long and prosperous career as a starter in the big leagues. When your feature pitch is a sinker with more tail than sink, left-handed hitters can be a huge issue (reason being the ‘tail’ sees the ball move more to the barrel of a LHH’s bat than happens with sink, when the ball has dominating downward movement; Kevin Brown and Brandon Webb have massive sink). Few guys can do that and master the inside part of the plate to LHH. The key for Justin is that it’s something identified already and being addressed. Believe it or not, identifying the problem has been the most missed step in the process in the past. Even so, identifying it is one thing, but properly addressing how to ‘fix it’ never seems to get put in the mix.

You do that, imo, with command of the inner half of the plate to LHH through a cutter/FB mix. Greg Maddux was a master at this. He threw a sinker and a cutter to BOTH sides. If you know what side of the plate I am throwing to that can be an advantage. But if I can throw two pitches to that side of the plate — one that moves TOWARDS you and the other moving AWAY from you — it’s almost to my advantage that you ‘guess’ right as long as I am throwing the ‘other’ pitch. Add his pitching IQ and knowledge of hitters to the mix and you get 350 some odd wins and 100% of the HOF ballot. Justin will need to, again imo, be a guy that learns hitters more than some guys. He’ll need to learn LHH’s tendencies and create an ebb and flow that keeps LHH guessing and uncomfortable. If he can do that he’s going to win and win a lot.

Brad Penny remains the potentially biggest bargain of the year. I’ve known Brad since early in his Florida days and he’s a fantastic kid. Unfortunately, and fortunately, for him he’s got a high-maintenance body. Speaking as someone with experience in that department he’s got to keep on top of that and it appears he knows that and is doing that exact thing. If he’s healthy and pitches like he can, with Tek, Farrell and this bullpen, he could be a 15-20 game winner. That’s a lot of ifs, but certainly not out of the question. If he is in fact healthy then he immediately becomes the best #4 or 5 in the game and the Sox could win 110.

Smoltz, damn. Another “if” but I’ve heard nothing to think he won’t be healthy. If that is the case then things get even brighter. I bet you any amount of money, if you asked every manager in the game what rotation they would NOT want in a best of 5, or 7, it would be a healthy Sox rotation. Two of the best big-game pitchers in baseball (Smoltz and Josh), along with Dice and Lester? I’ll match that group with anyone all time in October.

That’s another huge if. October is a loooong way off. As a fan though you have to feel good knowing that the training staff, led by Paul Lessard, along with Tito and John, will manage their guys and the innings in the best possible manner to see that this staff arrives in October as healthy as possible.

I don’t even need to go into depth on the bullpen. Another “if,” but if they are healthy they present the one thing every opponent dreads. The ’seven-inning game’. In the late 80’s and early 90’s it was the Reds. Mid 90’s it was the Yankees with Rivera and Wetteland. A few years ago you had the Angels with Rodriguez and Percival.

Managers manage different, offenses play different. You know on nights when everyone’s available that not having a lead after seven pretty much means you lose. It’s not a “fait accompli” but you know going in….

This bullpen not only has that potential with Saito, Paps, Okie, but you have multiple arms able to fill both spots. Not just any arms either, but power arms. This is where I see the Sox having a huge edge given the coaching. You won’t have a “pitch Scott Proctor until his arm falls off” scenario here. They will be able to mix and match on almost every night and not burn any one guy out. That’s just huge, even more so in the East.

The offense? Let’s put it this way. Manny’s gone and there’s only one Manny. At the plate there is no comparable player in the game when he wants to play. Having said that, this offense is going to score runs and wear out pitchers. One of the keys will be Jacoby and his progression. On base he changes everything about the game for the hitter, pitcher and defense. Not many players can say that.

The Yankees have two players you could legitimately see as top 10 MVP candidates. The Rays? Not sure they have one beyond Pena right now. Longoria certainly could be that guy, Upton as well, but if you were betting and using track record there is nothing in the numbers that says Petey, Youk and David couldn’t be as well. If David is healthy, which it appears he is, he’s going to see his protection come back. No matter how the lineup shakes out Papi is the ‘don’t let him beat you’ guy, but he’s also surrounded by four guys who can beat you just as well: Petey, Youk, Bay and Drew. Don’t discount a healthy Mike Lowell either. The lineup is just so damn deep that other teams are going to have a hard time winning a series in which they don’t run out a No. 1 or 2.

The Red Sox lineup, like the Yankees, just crushes mediocre pitching. Not only that but the series in which you start your 4 or 5 in game 1, or 1 and 2, can get away from you fast because there are many games that these lineups are in your pen in the 3rd inning. I’ve watched many managers in the past five years lose all three games of a series in the first five innings of game 1 by mismanaging the bullpen.

What people miss is not the immediate effects, which often times are obvious, but the lingering ones. You use your pen for six innings in game 1, three in game 2 and three or four in game 3, and that’s 12 of your 27 innings being thrown by your pen. You arrive at the ‘by availability’ day when you have at most two or three guys available and the starter craps the bed again. That first game of the previous series can take you out of games for a week if a manager mismanages the bullpen.

No one wants to be considered ’strong’ in middle relief. It’s a calling card for teams that suck because middle relief is something you want to use 1-2 times a week tops. It’s the spot many teams park their 11th or 12th arm, or the young developing kid. Teams with payrolls like NY and Boston manage to park very talented, somewhat expensive veterans or young, up-and-coming studs in that roll. Their staff never misses a beat and combined with these offenses they end up turning three or four games a year every other team loses into wins.

One of the mandates of the Epstein era was revamping and recreating a truly deep minor league system. Is there any question as of today as to whether that’s happened or not? You’ve got a stable of arms that are primed and close to ready to make a difference in the big leagues and they are catching up on the position player pool as well.

I never thought having stacked prospects in the position player area was a major concern simply because having tons of arms means you have the ultimate bargaining chip in any trade.

Take a poll of GMs around the game and I would bet you’d see the ratio 2-1 or higher as to ‘untouchable pitching prospects’ vs. position prospects.

How many teams could create a package of talent that would garner a front-line catcher with one or two minor league pitchers and maybe a position player? Not many.

So there you have it. Another long winded post and another opinion…..

My call is the Sox win 105 games this year, the Division as well. No post season predictions yet.

Oh and I also think the Cy will go to a member of this staff: Beckett, Lester or Paps.

Off to the No. 5 seeds vs. the No. 12 seeds. Bracketologist Kirk Minihane will be subbing in for me again with the commentary. But first, here are the winners from the 4’s vs. 13’s:

Fergie Jenkins (82 percent) over Frank Viola (18 percent)

Gaylord Perry (94 percent) over Milt Pappas (6 percent)

Tom Glavine (97 percent) over Larry Jackson (3 percent)

Juan Marichal (91 percent) over Mike Cuellar (9 percent)’

Now, the next round:

Cy Young Region

5. Early Wynn vs. 12. Roy Oswalt

300 wins, five 20-win seasons and a Cy Young winner in 1959, Wynn also finished in the AL top 10 in complete games 14 times. So why only a five seed? His career ERA was 3.54, not significantly better than the average league ERA for his career (3.77). Compare that with Oswalt, who owns a 3.13 ERA against an average league ERA of 4.36. Tough to pick a guy with just eight seasons  over a 300-game winner, but there is an argument to be made for Oswalt. Five top-five Cy Young finishes, a .688 winning percentage and a pair of 20-win seasons. In career Adjusted ERA+ Oswalt ranks 16th. Wynn? Tied for 422nd.

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Walter Johnson Region

5. Robin Roberts vs. 12. Don Newcombe

Roberts won 20 games in this third season in the majors (1950). He would win 20 in each of the next five seasons, including 28 in 1952. Never won 20 again after 1955, he was actually little more than an average pitcher over the last half of his career. Still finished with 286 wins, though. Newcombe only pitched 10 seasons (missed two of his prime years to the military, also spent time in the Negro Leagues), but won 20 games in three of them. His 1956 season was his best, as he won 27 games and picked up the MVP and Cy Young Award. Newcombe was breaking down in his early 30s, so even if we give him credit for those missed seasons I doubt he would have matched Roberts’ career totals.

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Lefty Grove Region

5. Bert Blyleven vs. 12. Jimmy Key

Blyleven should be a Hall of Famer. Just bad luck, pitched for some terrible teams. Put it this way: There are are eight pitchers that rank among the top 20 in wins, strikeouts and shutouts since 1900. Seven (Don Sutton, Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Fergie Jenkins and Walter Johnson) are in the Hall of Fame. The eighth is Blyleven. Ten seasons with an ERA of 3.00 or less. Would’ve won 320+ games if he had pitched for good teams his whole career. Final Four sleeper. Key was a really consistent pitcher. Save for 1995 (he missed most of the season with an injury) he won between 12-17 games in each season from 1985 to 1997. Two second-place Cy Young finishes and a 3.15 ERA in 14 postseason appearances.

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Christy Mathewson Region

5. Phil Niekro vs. 12. Andy Pettitte

Niekro is remembered for the knuckleball, of course, but he was a terrific pitcher for some lousy Atlanta teams. Take 1978. Niekro throws 334.3 innings (22 complete games) with a 2.88 ERA. His record? 19-18 (the team won 69 games that season). He was also stuck in a hitters’ park for the great majority of his career (career home ERA was 3.50, road 3.20). He still managed to post 13 seasons with at least 15 wins. I’m not sure we’d be talking about Pettitte if he had pitched in Kansas City for his entire career. Still, he’s been a 15-18 game winner almost every season (two 20-win years). Not sure what to make of his best season. 17-9 with a 2.39 ERA for the Astros in 2005 (league ERA was 4.23). Was HGH a factor? That’s where this stuff gets tricky.

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Pardon the interruption, there was some retirement issues to tend to. But we’re back with the ‘Greatest Pitchers of the Modern Era Bracket’, bringing you the No. 4’s vs. the No. 13’s. To get you up to speed, here are the results from the No. 3’s vs. the No. 14’s:

Nolan Ryan (96 percent) over Dean Chance (4 percent)

Pedro Martinez (92 percent) over Bob Welch (8 percent)

Whitey Ford (67 percent) over David Wells (33 percent)

Sandy Koufax (97 percent) over Rick Reuschel (3 percent)

Here are the winners from the No. 1’s vs. the No. 16’s, and the No. 2’s vs. the No. 15’s.

Now comes the next round (with guest commentator, resident bracketologist, Kirk Minihane supplying the particulars for each match-up):

Cy Young Region

4. Fergie Jenkins vs. 13. Frank Viola

Jenkins won 20 games seven times in his career, including six straight seasons (1967-1972). Pretty impressive, even more so when you realize he spent the majority of his career pitching in hitters’ parks (12 of his 19 seasons in Wrigley or Fenway). Five top three Cy Young finishes. Viola won a Cy Young in 1988 after a 24-7 season with the Twins and was a real solid pitcher for a nine-year stretch (won at least 13 games in each season from 1984-92, including five seasons with at least 16 wins). A nice career, but he just wasn’t in Jenkins’ class.

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Walter Johnson Region

4. Gaylord Perry vs. 13. Milt Pappas

The first pitcher to win a Cy Young in both leagues, Perry used that spitter to win 314 games. For an idea of how the game has changed, look at the number of complete games Perry had each season from 1969-1976: 26, 23, 14, 29, 29, 28, 25, 21. Johan Santana has nine in his career. Milt Pappas is best known as the guy traded to the Reds for Frank Robinson but he had a decent career, winning 209 games. Problem is that he never won 20 and his best career Cy Young finish was ninth in 1972. Big edge to Perry here.

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Lefty Grove Region

4. Tom Glavine vs. 13 Larry Jackson

Over 300 wins and six top three finishes in Cy Young voting (two wins) for Glavine. He also led the league in wins five times. And he was a horse, placing first or second in the NL in starts eight times. Jackson chalked up a bunch of 16-18 win seasons in the 1960s, and even had a 24-win season in 1964. He just didn’t pitch long enough 12 seasons as a starter to have any chance against Glavine.

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Christy Mathewson Region

4. Juan Marichal vs. 13. Mike Cuellar

I guess I can see how Marichal never won a Cy Young Award, but how is it possible that he never received a first-place VOTE? Six 20-win seasons, five top-three finishes in ERA, even led the league in WHIP twice. How about his 1968 season? Thirty-eight starts, 30 complete games, 26 wins and a 2.43 ERA (granted it was the Year of the Pitcher, but still). Cuellar was a very good pitcher for a decade or so and won 20 games four times with those great Baltimore teams of the 1970s. Not a Marichal, but probably the best pitcher out of the four 13 seeds here.

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“Turn out the lights, the parties over”

I used to wait with bated breath for Don Meredith to start singing that on “Monday Night Football.” Normally, it was sweet music if the Steelers were playing.

If I could get him to sing it again, I would. This party has officially ended. After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world’s best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.

To say I’ve been blessed would be like calling Refrigerator Perry “a bit overweight.” The things I was allowed to experience, the people I was able to call friends, teammates, mentors, coaches and opponents, the travel, all of it, are far more than anything I ever thought possible in my lifetime.

Four World Series, three World Championships. That there are men with plaques in Cooperstown who never experienced one — and I was able to be on three teams over seven years that won it all — is another “beyond my wildest dreams” set of memories I’ll take with me.

The game always gave me far more than I ever gave it. All of those things, every single one of those memories is enveloped with fan sights and sounds for me. Without the fans, they would still be great memories, but none would be enduring and unforgettable because they infused the energy, rage, passion and “feel” of all of those times. The game was here long before I was, and will be here long after I’m gone. The only thing I hope I did was never put in question my love for the game, or my passion to be counted on when it mattered most. I did everything I could to win every time I was handed the ball.

I am and always will be more grateful than any of you could ever possibly know.

I want to offer two special thank you’s.

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for granting me the ability to step between the lines for 23 years and compete against the best players in the world.

To my wife Shonda and my 4 children, Gehrig, Gabriella, Grant and Garrison for sacrificing their lives and allowing baseball to be mine while I played. Without their unquestioned support I would not have been able to do what I did, or enjoy the life, and I am hopefully going to live long enough to repay them as much as a  Father and Husband can.

Thank you and God Bless
Curt Schilling