ANOTHER RED SOX NIGHTMARE: And again, it's all Aaron Boone's fault. If he goes home from the pickup basketball game five minutes earlier, he doesn't get hurt, Alex Rodriguez stays in Texas, and Red Sox Nation has one less reason to feel sorry for itself. But as it is, A-Rod is a Yankee, as New York's two-day pursuit proved more effective than Boston's two-month effort.
Yes, the two best shortstops in baseball are on one team, and neither of them is Nomar... With A-Rod at third to go with Jeter, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui, Williams, and Posada, the Yankees will be expected to set an all-time record for scoring, and could conceivably have seven guys knock in more than 100 runs. But don't print out those World Series tickets just yet- the team still has quite a few questions in the areas of pitching and defense, and you never know what'll happen with injuries. And with the Bombers' salary/luxury tax bill for just this year possibly equaling A-Rod's 10-year contract ($252 million), the best bet for their rivals may just be to hope for Steinbrenner to go bankrupt.
So the Yankees will enter the season looking like an invincible dream team- much like how the Lakers entered the current NBA season, and we all know they've had their share of trouble. If I were Theo Epstein, I'd give some thought to sending a concierge up to Jeter's room in Tampa.