Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
December 26, 2003, Washington Post

The Boys of Winter

The holidays came early for some baseball fans. Their favorite teams got new (to them, at least) superstars, wrapped and ready to go for the 2004 season. Take a look at what these teams have given their fans in trades and free-agent signings so far this offseason:

Baltimore Orioles. The O's have been bad for the last six years, finishing in fourth place each time. So the team has been busy this winter. Baltimore has signed shortstop Miguel Tejada, the 2002 American League Most Valuable Player who is coming from the Oakland Athletics, and power-hitting catcher Javy Lopez, formerly an Atlanta Brave. These guys should be a huge improvement over last year's shortstop and catcher, Deivi Cruz and Brook Fordyce. Check out these combined batting numbers from 2003:

And the O's might not be finished: They are trying to sign Montreal Expos right fielder Vladimir Guerrero. He's a hitting machine who would make the Orioles lineup as good as any in the American League. But the O's better get some pitchers if they want to compete with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

Speaking of those teams . . .

New York Yankees. New York nabbed Atlanta slugger Gary Sheffield to fill a hole in right field. He's a good bet to hit 30-plus home runs and drive in 100 or more for the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees lost pitchers Andy Pettitte (Houston Astros) and Roger Clemens (retired), but traded for Javier Vazquez of the Montreal Expos and Kevin Brown of the Los Angeles Dodgers. These new Yankees might not be as famous as Pettitte and Clemens, but they may be better pitchers.

Boston Red Sox. The Sox are always chasing the Yankees. This offseason they've traded for veteran pitcher Curt Schilling of the Arizona Diamondbacks and signed Oakland reliever Keith Foulke to try to catch the Yanks and win their first World Series in 86 years.

But the biggest deals for the Sox were the ones they didn't make (so far, at least). The Sox tried hard to trade slugger Manny Ramirez for this year's American League MVP, Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez. The talk was that the Red Sox would then send shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago for slugger Magglio Ordonez of the White Sox. I love A-Rod, but I am happy that the Sox haven't made these blockbuster trades. Why? Because my 14-year-old daughter, Kerry, loves Nomar. She has Nomar posters plastered all over her room.

So do all these big-time trades and free-agent signings mean that one of these teams -- the Orioles, Yankees or Red Sox -- is a shoo-in for the championship? No, not necessarily. Think back to last December, when everyone was talking about the Yankees, the Red Sox and even the New York Mets. None of them won the World Series. The Florida Marlins surprised nearly everyone with a young team that was not given a chance of winning before the season started. And the year before that, the Anaheim Angels shocked the baseball world with a team of no-names.

Still, all the trades and signings of big-name free agents are fun and exciting. If the 2004 baseball season is as exciting as the offseason, it will be a year to remember.