EVIL~! alkeiper

That's the ultimate Yankee quandary. How they deal with Jeter is going to be very interesting the next couple seasons. Luckily for them they will have two years of performance before they need to make a decision.

I can't buy Cano over Biggio. The Astrodome in the mid-90s was still the toughest hitters' park in baseball. Biggio was regularly producing OBPs over .400, hitting more extra base hits, stealing more bases, rarely grounding into double plays and winning gold gloves. Joe Morgan was producing quite well, it's just that no one realized it due to the extreme environment. Morgan's OBPs in his first three seasons though are better than Cano's best. That's before we even look at context. And the point about Kent is that it wasn't a Hall of Fame start to a career by any means. His candidacy snuck up on people. The problem is that by then Jeter is likely to be a .280/.350/.390 type of hitter. His slugging percentage barely cleared .400 last season. How enthusiastic will the Yankees be to carry a hitter like that at a premium offensive position, and then proclaim it's "World Series or bust?"

I'm not a Yankees fan, but I'll bitch. Joe Mauer deserved both those MVP awards. I think Mauer is on a Hall of Fame path right now. Mauer right now has a .399 OBP. That doesn't sound superficially impressive, but let's steal the concept of an above poster. If we compare Mauer to other catchers in their first five seasons, Mauer rates third in OBP, fourth in batting average, fifth in OPS+. And he just won a Gold Glove. That's pretty impressive. I used a 400 game standard, catchers from 1901-present.

The Skydome is still the best retractable dome stadium in the majors, IMO.

250 wins was virtually automatic until the 1970s when the John/Blyleven/Kaat group kind of skewed things a bit. Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Carl Hubbell, Jim Palmer all had less than 300 wins, no one questions their credentials. We came off a generation of several 300 game winners, but that was an anomaly. Virtually no one from 1920-60 won 300 games. I think we will have at least two 300 game winners in our midst. I drew up a list of pitching win leaders from 1940-present, up to the age of 28. Of the top ten pitchers in wins, only ONE of them went on to win 300 wins. Hal Newhouser, Don Drysdale, Robin Roberts, Catfish Hunter, Bert Blyleven, Dwight Gooden, Vida Blue, Milt Pappas and Dave McNally all had 135+ wins at the age of 28. The pitchers who win 300 are the ones who pitch into their 40s, and no one can predict that. It's unlikely for any individual pitcher but again, get a group together and a few sneak through.

PHILLIES Chase Utley- One of the five best players in baseball. Some of his skills are greatly undervalued such as his defense, but he has now strung together four consecutive years of 100+ RBIs. That will make HOF voters take notice. Ryan Howard- He now has three top five MVP finishes in a row, and has a shot at 500 home runs. An outside shot of 600 and maybe 700 home runs. He needs to keep it going for several years though. Jimmy Rollins- If he strung together a few years like 2007, certainly. If voters can't recognize how damn great a player Alan Trammell was though, what kind of shot does he have? Cole Hamels- Yeah, we all know the warnings about young pitchers. Still, you get a group of 20 together, and a couple are going to survive through. Hamels is already a Philly postseason legend. Brad Lidge- Ridiculous? Lidge is already 3rd all time in postseason saves. If the Phillies keep going deep and Lidge stays effective, he could build his legend.

Certainly quick to mention that Sandberg was playing in a hitters' park, not as quick to mention that Joe Morgan was playing in hitting hell. Jeff Kent wasn't a particularly great player his first four seasons. Craig Biggio was a CATCHER for three of those four seasons. And Jackie Robinson's first season came when he was 28 years old. And most of those players were better baserunners and better defenders. Even when Cano had his best season he drew little MVP support. Guys without a top 20 MVP finish don't become Hall of Famers. Regarding Jeter. The 2009 Bill James Handbook gives him a 93% chance of 3,000 hits, 3% at 4,000 and no chance at Rose's record. My gut feeling is that while Jeter could certainly hang on with his reputation, he will retire shortly after gathering 3,000 hits. At that point he'll be 38 years old and his bat won't carry him anywhere but short, where he's a defensive liability.

I'll justify it. The wrestling world would be a lot better if we could undo even more retarded WCW booking decisions.

I was about to post about that myself. Dusty marking out for El Dandy is AWESOME.

Winning isn't everything when it comes to owners. Jeff Loria is still the king IMO, with Jerry Reinsdorf* running a close second. *I have no objections to the way the White Sox are currently run, but I will never forgive him for the 1994 work stoppage.

If you don't count the ECW then Matt Hardy has made WWE appearances back to 1994 without holding a World Title, even for a fortnight.

Malwarebytes.org has a tremendous piece of freeware that takes care of this stuff.

It is when you start tying it to playoff round advancement. That's just a ridiculous idea on so many levels.

It's all semantics. That was quite a demeaning contract they offered, and they knew Torre would not seriously consider it.

Yeah, I've been quite disappointed in MLB on XM lately. It sounds too much like normal sports talk radio.

Minor quibble, Tommy John surgery involves the elbow, not the shoulder.

Even if he's associated with it, I really don't see the problem here. I don't see anything written thus far that's out of line. And managers have been associated with books all the time. Some are brutally honest, and quite a few of them are excellent reads. I hate the recent media's obsession with criticizing sports figures who speak out. Creating a corporate atmosphere where everyone toes the party line makes for truly boring sports.

That's an odd player option. How many options are pay cuts over the previous season?

Considering Rollie Fingers swept the awards, I'd agree with that sentiment.

The Royals signed Zach Greinke to a four year deal, terms yet undisclosed. This is a big deal since Greinke is one of the better young pitchers in baseball, and this buys out two years worth of free agency.

I read the Bible quite a bit in my younger days. I don't recall Jesus ever pontificating on the proper merits of sports conduct.

Now this has really gotten out of hand. Firing a coach for winning too big? Please. This really sends the wrong message. A high school game ended 100-0. The proper response for the losing team (and maybe both teams) is "so what, it's just a game. Life goes on." Instead, this makes a game seem much more important than it really is.

I never understood the popularity of "E's and Wizz," but then I never did drugs. I think "Underwear" is the best track of the album.

Reading the article, it's not a Torre autobiography. Is it even a biography on Torre or is he just an interview subject? This is getting blown way out of proportion.

I'd been thinking about doing this and since four of us mentioned Different Class as one of our top ten albums, why not? I'm a big fan. I love the style, the lyrics, just about everything about this band. Jarvis Cocker captures something about jilted love that I really haven't caught from any other musical act.