They badly needed an ace, and Sabathia impressed them in many ways.
Contenders like the Rangers and the Los Angeles Dodgers need an ace, but many people in baseball doubt they can add payroll.
Dell and Microsoft have a long history together and they both need an ace in the latest smartphone marathon.
I think it's a little of both; they don't think they need an ace, because they've seen what everyone else's ace seems to do when it goes up against the iPhone: break.
So for the first three months of the season, the Mets would need an interim ace.
Where it mattered, the action was hot and Sousa, knowing he would have to catch Murray on a particularly poor day to have any chance, needed a borderline ace to save in the very first game.
Federer sees through the game with an ace, though he needs a little help from Hawkeye.
In the case of Martinez, who signed up after the 2004 season, they felt they needed a big-name ace to help turn around the image of a team that was going nowhere, particularly with plans afoot to create their own cable television network.
Phillips traded Dotel and Cedeno to the Astros on Dec. 23 for Hampton and Derek Bell, filling his need for an ace starter while adding a run-producing outfielder.
