EVIL~! alkeiper

Yes. He's the one who brought the revolution to Boston.

An Eastern Conference Championship

Its not an official thread, so fell free to post specific NBA musings elsewhere.

I think this whole thing is way overblown. Grady Little's contract was up, and they decided not to bring him back. They want a more stats oriented manager. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Embrace Theo's Sabermetric Revolution.

You'd think a resident baseball guru would know Lee Mazzilli. Chris Chambliss is always talked around as a capable managing candidate (with minor league experience). I'm surprised he doesn't get more press.

Bah. Every city has a sportswriter who writes acolumn in the offseason, blathering about how the team should trade Ron Belliard for Alex Rodriguez. I try not to listen.

2003 Marlins Win Shares With Miguel Cabrera around they can probably to afford to lose Mike Lowell. Luis Castillo is a tough one, because he'll be super tough to replace in the infield. Same for Ivan Rodriguez. Its doubtful the Marlins will raise their payroll, and most of their young players will get raises in arbitration.

Perhaps one of Canada's posters can refresh us on all the "promises" Loria made to the citizens of Montreal. And there's a difference between a fire sale and free agency.

I thought the baseball thread was getting too jumbled, and overly long, so I'm starting a new thread devoted to the World Series. Comments, Thoughts, Predictions here.

Umm, the games DID start at 8:15, same as every year. That's true. But I think we can agree that the Marlins were not the best team in the NL in '97. The Padres were not the best team in '98 (Yeah they won the division, but two teams won 100 games). The Mets were not the best team in 2000. The Giants and Angels were not the best team in 2002. And the Marlins were not the best team this year. The problem is that no one outside of dilusional Met fans gave the Mets a chance in hell of winning the Series. It was especially a disappointment considering we could've seen a Yankees/Cardinals series that year.

Reason #451 Why OaO threads suck.

Jeff Loria doesn't even open his pocketbook for a decent haircut. Let's see if he tries to sign any of these guys back. The only reason they got Pudge is because no one else wanted to take the risk.

I forgot about Jeff Nelson. He's a free agent as well.

Well, you can twist the headline around and say baseball's ratings are on the increase. Really, the draw is when you have a marketable storyline to sell to the fans. A Red Sox or Cubs title chase has mass appeal, and people can get into it. In 2001, you had the Yankees aiming for 4 straight titles, so that was something the fans could buy into as well. Ultimately, I think wild card teams hurt the integrity of the World Series. What good is the regular season when you don't even have to win the division. I can think of once in the last five years where the two best teams in their respective leagues actually met in the World Series. Besides that, I blame the low ratings on Bud Selig's abysmal reign as commissioner. I have never in my life seen anyone so interesting in killing their own product. Selig and the owners ran around telling everyone how bad baseball was, and they wonder why ratings fell. Baseball is hurting from absolutely poor marketing of its product.

Potential Free Agents http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1644909

I don't think anyone can really verify it without QuisTec or KZone. Its certainly out of the realm of my research. I will point out that the Braves walked more batters in the Series and struck out more batters as well. I meant you might remember the specs of this story from the 96 Series. I wish I had watched it more closely. Generally I don't pay attention to the umpiring unless the Phillies are involved. Generally fans' opinions of umpires are directly proportional to their rooting interests.

To fill in the rest of you who don't follow the baseball threads. Mik started a threat in May/June saying that the Marlins had a shot at the Wild Card, and everyone laughed at him. So now he's a good luck charm.

Personally, Clemens would be a better bet now than Tom Glavine was going into this season. Clemens probably could have pitched 2-3 more seasons effectively. I don't think anyone can really verify it without QuisTec or KZone. Its certainly out of the realm of my research. I will point out that the Braves walked more batters in the Series and struck out more batters as well. Someone mentioned Randy Johnson as a free agent. He signed an extension and he's under contract until 2005. This is a good source for contract info. http://www.bluemanc.demon.co.uk/baseball/m...lbcontracts.htm

I'm not a Yankee fan, but I can tell you that the Yankees have no major players up for free agency except Pettitte, and Clemens (but he's retiring). David Wells has a team option for next year. The Yankees can keep him for $6 Million, or let him go for $1 Mil.

I think NYC sportswriters are thrilled as well. Their offseason baseball just got a heck of alot more interesting.

Of course, you can give me any year in history, and I'll tell you who won and lost, but that's just me. The Yankees didn't choke. They ran into a young pitcher pitching the game of his life. Hitting a baseball is such a difficult skill that the ones who do it 30% of the time are the best in their profession. 30%. Sometimes good hitters don't get hits. Its baseball. No one bats an eye if the Devil Rays take two of three in Yankee Stadium during the regular season. Stuff happens. As for the Marlins, does anyone else find it odd that they've won two World Series, but have NEVER won the division?

Is Luis Castillo a free agent? The Marlins face the free agency of Pedge and Mike Lowell already. Along with Castillo, they were three of the four top performers the Marlins had this year. That's a tough hurdle, especially when the Phillies and Braves will be hot on their tails next season.

If you're going to use that argument, what impact did Matsui have on the Yankees? They've won the division the last five years without him. The Royals, on the other hand, were pegged for 4th place at best, and they hung in the race until September. Are stats everything in baseball? Probably not. But they are the only non-biased, accurate, and fair method to rate performance.

I'd think that they have much better players to keep around than Stewart. The Twins are loaded with corner outfielders.

I brought up Weaver's contract in the WS thread. Weaver is due $6.25 M in 2004, and $9.25 M in 2005. How many teams are willing to take that risk?