FanHouse MikeMussina

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First Mike Mussina walked away. That was Nov. 21 -- almost four months ago -- and you had to love him going out on top, washing away the biggest knock on his borderline Hall of Fame career in his final season by winning 20 games. A few weeks later The Professor, Greg Maddux, hung 'em up too, officially the greatest pitcher of his generation now that Roger Clemens has been exposed as a cheat.

It took Curt Schilling a little while longer -- maybe he just wanted the stage all to himself -- but he too has now exited, taking his unrivaled October guts with him. Pedro Martinez, the most dominant pitcher any baseball fan under the age of 35 has ever seen, is sitting on a couch somewhere without a job, too proud to accept a paycut after all he has accomplished.

NEW YORK -- Joe Torre's name is on the book, but it's a fair estimate not even one-fourth of the words are actually his. He says he's read it six times, perusing line for line, scanning chapters for quotes or anecdotes that have caused so much fuss. It is clear the New York Yankees, Torre's former employer, aren't pleased with the book -- Torre's book -- and there is a decent chance their relationship is forever stained.

And yet, here is Torre, calmly navigating another hot-stove controversy the way he did for 12 always memorable, sometimes controversial seasons as manager of the Yankees. Taking refuge from a snowstorm building steam outside, Torre brushes a few icy flakes from his shoulder and tells me he "wouldn't change a thing."

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

While there is still time left in the Hot Stove season, and there are a few high quality players left on the market -- Ben Sheets, anyone? -- the Yankees have been the team who has made the biggest splash in all of baseball thus far. That splash was seemingly a reaction to missing the playoffs for the first time since the strike-shortened 1994.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

Salary Cap. There's not a more controversial phrase in baseball economics. The prospect of one hung over the strike of 1994 and 1995 before the owners and players managed to settle without implementing a true cap. Since then, baseball has instituted a luxury tax that acts as a sort of soft cap, but it's set high enough that it only really affects the Yankees annually, and they regard it in the same manner that a rhinoceros regards a mosquito.

For the most part, a salary cap hasn't been part of the conversation in baseball for several years. The Yankees ridiculous spending spree this winter, however, has changed things. In the days and weeks since their signings of CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and Astros owner Drayton McLane have once again begun to call for a salary cap. They're the only two owners to have spoken directly on this issue, but it's hard to think they're alone.

A salary cap in baseball is not a simple thing. In most sports, there's only one line in labor negotiations: the line between the players and the owners. In baseball, there's actually a three-way divide between the players, the "big-market" owners (for lack of a better term), and the "small-market" owners. The MLBPA isn't the only thing that stands in the way of a cap. Some of the owners (think John Henry, the Steinbrenners, naturally, the Wilpons, Frank McCourt, Arte Moreno) would likely be opposed to one as well. After the jump, we'll look at all the obstacles and problems with implementing a cap.

A few days ago, Mike Mussina told the Yankees about his plans to retire instead of coming back to play next year, and I want to make a couple of things clear about my point of view in relation to this before you scroll to the bottom of this and leave me comments.

Yes, Mike Mussina is my least favorite player in baseball, making him my least favorite person in non-wrestling professional sports. Yes, this is because he used to be the best player in Baltimore and left to pitch for the Yankees. Yes, Mussina is one of the best pitchers of his era, and yes, my prejudices are based on jealousy, loyalty to a team I am not a part of, and irrational expectations for humanity. No, I do not have a real job. Yes, you should leave me a long, asinine comment about this whether you read this or not.

In case you were wondering about Mussina's user name, it was established in G1 Dugout continuity that Mussina would've had a normal, punny name had he stuck around in Baltimore. Also, Farnsworth would've been black?

Today's Dugout is after the jump.

The Moose has vamoosed. Mike Mussina told the Yankees today that he will retire rather than return for the 2009 season. It's not a shocker, the pitcher had been openly contemplating hanging up the spikes since the season ended, but it will impact the way the Yankees handle their offseason moves.

Mussina is the rare athlete who walks away while still having a lot to offer the game. He had his first 20 win season in 2008, rebounding from a miserable 2007 by altering his pitching style to one based on beguiling hitters instead of blowing them away. He's the first pitcher since Sandy Koufax to walk away from baseball after winning 20 games.

And, while he may not have Koufax's credentials, he may be joining the lefty in Cooperstown someday. He finishes his career with a 270-153 record and a 3.68 ERA. Mussina is 19th all-time in strikeouts and 13th in strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's also one of only 21 pitchers in history that is more than 100 games over .500. 16 of the others are in the Hall and the other four -- Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine -- are certainly deserving of enshrinement. He fell short of 300 wins, though, and falls behind those four and some other contemporaries in the baseball firmament.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

There's only one word that fits as a tagline for the 2008 New York Yankees: Failure. Failure to make the playoffs for the first time since 1993, failure to inject youth into an aging lineup and rotation, and failure to make anything meaningful out of the highest payroll in all of baseball. Harsh, perhaps, for a team that won 89 games in one of the toughest divisions in recent memory, but the Yankees don't get graded on a curve.

There were some individual successes. Mike Mussina won 20 games for the first time in his career. Mariano Rivera padded a legacy that will land him in Cooperstown exactly five years after he stops entering to "Enter Sandman," and Alex Rodriguez, despite more tabloid headlines and awful statistics in the clutch, had a year that would be a career best for many players.

But the disappointments were more pronounced. Neither Phil Hughes nor Ian Kennedy made Brian Cashman look smart for refusing to trade them for Johan Santana. Melky Cabrera regressed so far that he ended up in Triple-A, and Robinson Cano looked more like a future plumber than a future star. That's created huge holes in center and the rotation, and called into question how well the Yankees are developing a wave of players that can carry them when the remaining stalwarts fade into the sunset.

There hasn't been much news from Mike Mussina since the end of the season, and until there is, Brian Cashman is taking the silence as an indication that he's done. Cashman spoke to reporters yesterday:

"[Mussina's] not made a decision either way that I'm aware of. He may have made one, though. Moving forward he's not part of our rotation because he's a free agent. We don't have him signed. ... I'm not counting on him right now. I don't know if he's even interested in playing any more."

That said, things might change soon. Arm Tellum, Mussina's agent, is headed to Mussina's hometown in Pennsylvania to pick his client's brain. From the New York Post:

"I am going to see him at the end of the week," Mussina's agent said yesterday. "Nothing has been decided."

While Mussina strongly hinted to Yankee staff members and friends he was going to retire, he hasn't officially done that. And while that is the way to bet, several Yankee officials believe the 40-year-old righty will file for free agency following the World Series to keep his options open.

After all that Mike Mussina has accomplished -- he's been to the All-Star game five times, won six Gold Gloves, ranks 19th all-time in strikeouts and 33rd all-time in wins -- one measley win in an absolutely meaningless regular season game shouldn't really matter. But it does.

By pitching six shutout innings agains the Red Sox yesterday afternoon, Mussina won 20 games in a season for the first time in his 18-year career. At 39, he became the oldest player in major league history to accomplish the feat. Although he hasn't officially made up his mind if he wants to try breaking his own record by doing it again at 40, he certainly sounded like a guy ready to hang them up. From the New York Times:

"I've been envious of every guy who's retired since I've been playing - you've done what you wanted to do, and I still have to grind it out, that kind of thing," Mussina said, enjoying a soda in the manager's office between games of a doubleheader. "You get to go home and relax, and you've played the game as long as you've chosen to play it. I've felt good for every one of them."

The final week of the 2008 season has been one long requiem for all things Yankee. On Sunday, Yankee Stadium closed it doors after 85 years. Two days later, the second longest string of postseason appearances was officially snapped. The eulogies have been written, but the game presses on.

Five days from now, the Yankees will finish their final game of the season at Fenway Park and they hurtle headlong into an offseason of transition the likes of which hasn't been seen in the Bronx in more than a decade. Moving across the street might be one of the smaller changes.

It's clear that the Yankees have fallen a step behind their hated rivals to the north. But they've also fallen behind the Rays and the Blue Jays and Orioles are improving rapidly. A massive payroll just isn't good enough on its own anymore.

That's a lesson the Red Sox learned back in 2006. Boston wilted down the stretch under the weight of injuries to Jason Varitek, Manny Ramirez and Coco Crisp and a woeful pitching staff and ended up winning a disappointing 86 games. That Red Sox team let Mark Loretta, Alex Gonzalez and Trot Nixon walk and replaced them with a prospect named Dustin Pedroia and free agents Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew.

This Yankees team never really got going because of significant injuries to Jorge Posada and Chien-Ming Wang and a patchwork pitching staff. It will probably wind up with a win total in the high 80s. It will let Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi walk this winter, and possibly Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina as well.

So what now? Given all the similarities, can the Yankees get back to the playoffs and beyond in 2009 as the Red Sox did last year?