Assorted Items

2:15 on a Friday afternoon. The work week is slowing down but the sports world still has a few things of note going on so I'll just jot down some thoughts here:

1. Response to Hart's last blog about the Yanks: Although I dropped a comment in there yesterday, I've since thought about it and changed my mind, in light of the fact that another starter (four out of six) has been put on the DL. I'm going on record saying that I think the Yanks should trade something out of their minor league system for a pitcher. Not Chacon, necessarily, but something. With Wright and Wang out for the year and Pavano and Brown at least two weeks away, the Yanks are left with Unit, Mussina and minor league scrubs. Over the next 16 days they'll face the Red Sox three more times (big win last night, more on that below), seven against the Angels and three each against the Twins and Rangers. This stretch will pretty much define the Yankees' chances for the post-season. If they come out of it 10-6 or 11-5, they'll probably be ok to think about October. If they do less than that, they're probably done for, given that the Twins and Rangers are our most direct competition for the Wild Card.

So, the Yanks need pitchers and they should go out and get them. At $208M, you may as well go balls-out to win this year, especially if you're still in it after this brutal two week stretch. This goes against my general philosophy of stockpiling young talent and development from within but in this case the Yanks are in dire need of pitching help since all of them are going down with injuries.

2. Raffy: In keeping with the Hart theme, I'm revisiting a topic he posted on two weeks ago. I think Raffy belongs in the Hall of Fame. I just read an article on ESPN.com by Skip Bayless that says that Raffy belongs in the "Hall of Very Good" but not in Cooperstown. In that article he basically says that longevity is a strike against Raffy because, despite the great stats, he was never one of his era's top five or 10 players.

I'd agree with that -- Raffy was never Griffey or Bonds or Brett. What I don't agree with is the concept that longevity should work against you. If someone plays for 19 seasons (and counting) like Raffy has and consistently averages 33 homers and 106 rbi, after a while you're going to get to some pretty nice totals. It takes talent to stick around the game for nearly two decades and it takes even more talent to be so consistent that at the end of your career you can be in the prestigious 3000 hit/500 homer club with guys like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. I think Raffy's a Hall of Famer. I don't really care that he was never a bigger star than some other guys. I really think he belongs and his stats are more than enough for me.

3. Last night's Yankee game: It was a pretty good game to watch on TV. I like how tight Joe played it in the late innings with Womack pinch-running for Posada and Sierra pinch-hitting for Melky Cabrera. What I liked even more was seeing ARod step in against Schilling and hit a big homerun in a key spot. Schilling is probably ARod's biggest enemy in the game and it was nice seeing Alex come up big. The garbage talk about not being a true Yankee and all the ARod hating going on out there aside, it was just great for baseball to have the game's top money pitcher go against its most famous hitter in the 9th inning. That's good stuff for all baseball fans (at least I think so).

4. Kwame Brown trade: I don't understand this move by the Wizards at all. Sure the kid hasn't worked out the way you thought he would and sure he probably has an attitude problem. In my opinion, you suspended him for the playoffs last year and that should've been the end of it. I can't figure out why you trade a tall, strong and athletic big man who is not even 22 years old yet for a useless role player (Chucky Atkins) and a small forward that has probably maxed out in talent (Caron Butler).

I also don't understand why you signed him to a preliminary offer sheet, sending the message that you wanted to either keep him or drive up the price in free agency and then pawn him off for two players that might equal his salary but don't equal his worth. Phil Jackson now has the high school kid, the former high school kid and Turiaf with which to re-create his Wennington, Longley, Buddha et al. bundle of fouls against opposing big men. The worst part about it is that Ernie Grunfeld, the Wizards' GM, is an otherwise savvy executive who had a nice track record until this point. I think this move was really lousy.

5. Pat Riley coming back? I've been hearing rumors that Riley may want back into the coaching fraternity. He probably figures that with Shaq and Wade together, this is his last best chance to end his personal championship drought that began in 1989 when the Lakers couldn't cap off the 3-peat against Detroit. For the sake of what's decent, I hope Riles stays put in the luxury box upstairs. Not only would he be displacing a loyal lieutenant in Stan Van Gundy but he would be sending a crappy message that he was more than willing to step aside when the outlook was bleak a few seasons ago but now wants to be a front-runner when the sky is a lot sunnier.

In a related story, I'm hearing that Shaq was unhappy about being underused in Game 7 against the Pistons. That's his way of saying that he's not actively pushing for a coaching change but that he wouldn't be against Riles pushing Van Gundy out. Not cool. You can't bash Kobe for pushing Phil out of LA in 2004 and not catch heat for doing the same thing. I'll even give Shaq a pass for undermining Del Harris and Kurt Rambis since those stiffs never belonged at the head of the Laker ship in the first place. But pushing Van Gundy out after a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals? That's weak. If this goes down, can it really be considred a coincidence that Shaq, who is negotiating a contract extension, would use the leverage he has to get some say in his next coach? Nope. And for that reason, I am calling him out on it and reaffirming my position as the world's least-famous but most vehement Shaq-hater.