Today's list: Things I Don't Understand. Gee, I wonder if I'll hit the 300 character minimum.
- Why does Major League baseball allow itself it to be pimped out by the Japanese? I sent out a bunch of letters the other day, to a veritable plethora of schools in Japan, presenting myself as a top-notch counselor. I simply asked them to put in a bid, without knowing what any other school had bid, for the privilege of speaking with me, and then the highest bidder could negotiate, on top of that, how much they wanted to pay me to actually do some work for them (though I've never been to Japan but it's probably not too different). Not one school has called me back. Dang.
- What is the New York Yankees' philosophy of starting pitching? If you follow Andy Pettitte's career, the philosophy appears to be, "Go away and don't call us until you're past your prime and injured." Hmmm... I know the Yankees are not done yet filling out their rotation but Randy Johnson is already a Yankee, and the Al Leiter era has already come and gone. Who will it be? Russ Ortiz? Aaron Sele? You know the Yankees have their eye on Jamie Moyer, just as soon as his age and his velocity finally meet.
- Why did the Royals give Gil Meche $55,000,000 to pitch for them for the next 5 years? Is this an example of Kansas City being short-sighted and "going for it all this year"? Wouldn't it be slightly more prudent to invest $55,000,000 in getting Meche to promise not to pitch for your team? Or is it saddest of all that Gil Meche will probably, legitimately, be the Royals' ace in 2007?
- Why do people keep using the expression, "They caught lightning in a bottle"? This is desirable? What are you planning to do with any lightning you catch in a bottle--wouldn't it be dangerous to do anything but just leave it in the bottle doing nothing? Dangerous to handle, and not really potentially very helpful anyway.
OK, I'm off to Florida (to stalk Sharon) and Philadelphia (to stalk Jimmy Rollins) for a couple weeks, but I'll "see" you all at the end of 2006 with my next highly intellectual post.
Happy Holidays!