The Moose heads out to pasture

Mike Mussina announced his retirement from baseball today.

Naturally, the hall of fame debate for Mussina began minutes after he announced his retirement.

I thought I would begin by apologizing to Mussina. As a kid growing up in Maryland, Mussina was the best pitcher I got to see on TV on a regular basis. He was fantastic for the O's and unfortunately one night I learned an unspoken baseball rule: Never talk about a perfect game. Never. Never.
It was the 8th inning, Moose hasn't allowed a base runner against the Indians. I decide to inform all my friends at the bowling alley that Mussina was working on a perfect game. Naturally, as everyone gathered around the TV Sandy Alomar Jr singled off Mussina breaking up the perfect game.

Now does Moose deserve a plaque in Cooperstown? Absolutely. He won 270 games. In 15 years 250 is going to be the milestone for pitchers. His career record was 270-153. 117 games over 500. Between 1991 and today the best pitchers of the generation were Randy, Clemens, Glavine, Smoltz, Maddox, Schilling, Pedro and Mussina. That list represents the HOF pitchers from the 90s (with some possible steroid exemptions) and Mussina belongs on that list.

I don't vote, but Mussina would get mine. (for the record so would Lee Smith, Jack Morris, Alan Trammell, among others).

The envelope please......

As the awards are going to start trickle in the next few days. I thought would weigh in on some of the less popular awards for the 2008 season. I will leave the MVP, Cy Young, etc to the "real" sports writers.


- The I have completely checked out award - Andruw Jones Los Angeles Dodgers - 18 million bought the boys in blue a 0.158 AVG and 3 HR. Imagine how much better the Dodgers would have been if they had signed anyone else with the 18 million (seriously - Bonds would have been a better investment).

- The Maybe we should watch them play one game before we induct them into Cooperstown award - tie Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes. The Yankees decided not to trade for Johan because giving up either Kennedy or Hughes was too high of a price tag.

- The worst trade of 08' - this may be a bit of a homer pick - but when the Tigers picked up Edgar Renteria for Jair Jurrjens I was skeptical. When Jurrgens won 13 games and Renteria looked like a 60 year old man playing SS I had John Smoltz flashbacks. If Jurrjens with 200 games and saves 150 I may just cry.

- The 08' Man Crush - there were many good candidates this year. David Price almost stole the show in October, but Tim Lincecum had the windup and the strikeouts to take home the hardware. * Tim Lincecum cannot be here tonight to accept this award. Accepting on his behalf is 1987 Man Crush winner Andre Dawson.

- Top Moment(s) of the year - tie Josh Hamilton and Josh Hamilton. 28 first round home runs in the Derby and receiving an intentional walk with the bases loaded.

Warm up the hot stove

Well the 2008 season has officially been put to rest. I really hope the Chase Utley play in the 8th inning of game 5 is remembered historically. It was one of the better heads up plays I have seen in the playoffs in quite sometime. Congrats to the Phillies - that makes one more team I don't have to hear the belly aching from their fans (its now down to the Tribe, the Cubs, and a few others).

What I plan on doing over the next few weeks is going through each team's offseason needs. What is likely to happen, what is a fantasy, and what do that team's chances look like for next season. I would like to have fans from different teams weigh in on their team's offseason outlook (as the fans have a much better inside grasp of their team that I do), so I will be soliciting friends of mine to voice their opinions. If you would like to analyze your favorite team in the offseason drop me an email or leave a note in the comments section.

And now, as always, we all start counting down the days until pitchers and catchers report.