The World Series starts tonight. I don't really have much to say about it...I'm going to watch, of course, but I don't find the matchup particularly inspiring. St. Louis and Detroit both limped through the second half of the season, and I don't think either was really the best team in their respective leagues this year.
That said, I'm going to be rooting for St. Louis, if only because a Cardinal win would make it that much harder for the "great pitching beats great hitting" crowd to explain away this postseason...
The Rangers interviewed Manny Acta yesterday, although as Evan Grant notes, it was just one day after the Mets' devastating Game 7 loss to the Cards, and it would be understandable if Acta weren't quite at his most upbeat.
Particularly since, as Jan Hubbard reports, Acta didn't leave Shea Stadium until 2 a.m. Friday morning, had a 6 a.m. flight from New York to DFW, and sat next to a crying baby the entire flight. Tough conditions for a job interview...
Former catcher John Russell interviewed with the Rangers on Thursday, and said all the right things to the media afterwards, although I still think he's a longshot for the job.
Supposedly, when the Rangers narrow it down to a final two, those two will interview with Tom Hicks, as well. My gut feeling is that the final two will be Acta and Trey Hillman.
Also, if you haven't seen it already, check out the diary entry zywica put up on Jim Callis's latest "Ask BA" column, in which Callis predicts that the Rangers end up with Matsuzaka. I wouldn't go so far as to make a similar prediction, but given the amount of attention the Rangers have devoted to Japan of late, I'd be very surprised if they don't make a strong push in the bidding for him.
He's a huge unknown, and would be an enormous risk...but he also offers more potential reward than probably any other free agent this offseason. Plus, you have marketing opportunities with Matsuzaka that could justify paying a premium for him. I'm really interested in seeing how this plays out...