Afternoon Baseball

The Yanks not only lose a good nickname, but they lose the best setup man Mariano Rivera ever had. Benjamin Kabak, the excellent baseball writer who apparently is about a month older than me (I'm such a failure, haha) and frequent Baseball Musings commenter, among other listings on his resume, talks about losing Flash, and how the Phillies really are taking a chance on an aging, strikeout-diminishing playoff nonperformer.

His departure can't be called unexpected; while he's said that Rivera is the only man he'd ever set up for, it was always said with the impression he hadn't given up on closing. The Yanks, for all their defeats this offseason, have this hole as well-covered as can be expected with the Farnsworth signing -- assuming the Rangers don't steal him. Add in the availability of Crosby in center should nothing else develop, the re-signings of Matsui and Stutze, the hopefully healthy Pavano, Wang and (ugh) Wright, and the departure of Kevin Brown, the Yanks' offseason has not been a total loss. In fact, it's been a reflection of the fact that in many areas, there's no need to panic.
Certainly this is better than a spending spree of foolishness or a bunch of firings, even if all that does get the blood flowing.