DENVER, CO – You read that dateline right, I’m writing from the Mile High City. I don’t know how sea-level teams come up here for a day to play in this. My head aches, my mouth is dry, I’ve been binging on snacks and weed isn’t even legal here for another month. It’s a nouveau-sophisticated town, where you can get quinoa as a side with your gluten-free, free range chicken sandwich in a compost-ready wrapper but… when the temperatures dropped sixty degrees in less than twenty-four hours; the cold wind blew in from Greeley almost fifty miles away, carrying the reek of its cow-town roots. This is where I’d insert a joke about the local populace thinking it was just the “blank” playing, but all three of the Denver teams are doing pretty good right now. So what does that leave? Maybe the Hot Stove deal that sent homegrown Rockie Dexter Fowler to the Houston Astros?
Fortunately, sitting here on the tarmac while my plane is de-iced for the trip back to Los Angeles, where a “cold snap” coming in will have us in temps in the thirties or lower – Angelinos just might go all Donner Party in overreaction – we’ve got the Hot Stove to keep us warm.
The dismantling of the World Champs has brought Cookie’s long time wish (prediction?) a reality with Jacoby Ellsbury coming to the Yankees, joining Babe Ruth and Johnny Damon in the pinstriped outfield of former Red Sox. If the Yanks were somehow able to get Will Myers, they’d have a pretty good law firm out there. Will the left field porch boost him to 2011 Curtis Granderson power (or 2011 Ellsbury power, for that matter)? If Sox fans were angry about such a perceived betrayal, now Jarrod Saltalamaccia is going to the Marlins. Coming in is perpetual clubhouse poison AJ Pierzinsky…a guy who knows how to play angry, so he should fit right in.
So who’s in the market for Granderson? Why it’s your New York Mets! It’d mean a lot for David Wright and Curtis wouldn’t even have to pack any bags for the move to Flushing…but the Red Sox are also listed as interested, along with Angry Ward’s Seattle Mariners, who have basically found their way into every rumor so far lately. They’re the surprise contender for Robinson Cano, where he just might miss that short porch and suddenly become a more human second baseman. They’re also in the market for David Price, who’d make a good “2” punch to King Felix’s “1.” This basically makes them this year’s Toronto Blue Jays, drunk on the action like Julie Haggarty at the Desert Inn… The Yanks are playing all of this like a more seasoned gambler…though what comes on the river for them is a mystery, dependent on whether or not they have to pay Alex Rodriguez this year. They signed Kelly Johnson to add more bluff to the Cano talks, but there’s still no answer at third and the pitching is getting thin out there quick. At least they finally unburdened themselves of Phil “Five Run” Hughes. Watch him dominate the AL Central.
That’s all for now, the Flight Attendant just asked us to shut off our devices… Feel free to comment below and tune in tomorrow for Cookie, a woman never to be left to her own devices.
