EVIL~! alkeiper

The Rockies' top prospect is a center fielder, Dexter Fowler. He hit .335 in Tulsa as a 22 year old, and he should not be far from an MLB contributor. Add Carlos Gonzalez in left, and the Rockies aren't far from a good outfield.

Taveras was actually better on the road. Don't let the Coors effect throw you on this type, Taveras isn't exactly aiming for the outfield fences.

Taveras' career OBP is 40 points higher than Patterson's. Whereas Patterson hacks and is generally a BAD hitter, Taveras works within his limits and contributes at his best.

Definately. Get Barry Zito to eat innings, and then all the Giants need to do is get an offense together.

I don't see how those stories are any more interesting really. I have a decent idea what all those players will do, and that is to continue being good/great players. The interesting story with the Yankees is how they fare against Boston and Tampa Bay in the A.L. East pennant race. The one guy on the Yankees who truly interests me is Dan Giese.

Absolutely. You've got three catching prospects competing for a spot. Chris Davis and his potential. Josh Hamilton. Elvis Andrus on the way up, can he succeed with his relative lack of power? Will Nolan Ryan's approach work on the minor league pitchers? Ian Kinsler is a nice player. There's a lot of interesting things going on there. I'm in the minority though. I'm the type of person who just can't get interested in a Manny Ramirez saga.

Sure it's bad, because no one seems to care when the Yankees and Sox are not involved. And that imbalance is a very bad thing for the game. I doubt I would feel better. One, the best players are mercenaries that I didn't see come through the farm system (which is the great fun of being a fan of this Phillies club). Two, they have not addressed the core problems that have plagued the team the last few years. Namely, the lack of team defense, the lack of flexibility and the lack of farm system depth. And third, you can't get a damn worthwhile ticket to Yankee Stadium unless you're connected to someone. I don't know where this comes from. I enjoy discussing the merits of all 30 teams, and the Yankees seem to be the subject of choice at the moments. If anyone wants to talk about the relative merits of the Brewers, Dodgers or Rangers, I'd love to.

Shooter, let me clarify one or two positions. One, I think the financial success of baseball is historically unrelated to the health of the Yankees. The current national media environment places a lot of attention on the Yankees and Red Sox, which is unfortunate. The Yankees and Red Sox have garnered a disproportionate number of fans, but that does not increase interest in other teams as a whole. The Yankees are not ruining baseball. The perception that New York teams attempt to buy pennants dates back to 1922, and probably further than that. People overestimate the impact of free agents. Acquiring free agents has several problems. A. The trickle of players becoming free agents has become so small that you need to hope an impact player is available precisely when a spot opens for him. Often, you are settling for the best of a lesser bunch of players on the market. This becomes a bigger problem when you've determined that you MUST fill a spot with a proven player to make a championship run this year. B. A player only becomes a free agent after 6-7 years. Unless he reached the majors at a young age, this means he usually becomes a free agent around the age of 30-31. Players begin their decline stage around age 30. Thus, you are paying big money for a player's downward spiral. C. In order to sign the best free agents, you must commit several years. This means that you must either play subpar players later on, or buy them out for exhorbitant sums of money. In the case of the Yankees, this means that their DH is a butcher in left field with a 108 OPS+, their catcher may not be able to physically catch, and they are paying $19 million to one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league (and whose bat can not carry him elsewhere). I'll be honest, when I look at the Yankees right now I'm not even sure I see division favorites.

Not every rule needs to be codified. Posters should know that there are certain common sense restrictions when it comes to posting, particularly when it crosses legal boundaries. 99%. When someone posts something like that, it puts the forums at risk. I don't think cracking down on these type of things would be a serious over stepping of moderation bounds. An unmoderated forum is not an invitation to perform illegal activities.

We don't. If I knew for certain, I'd ban him.

That's true, but I tend to hear more news stories about the former than the latter.

Because it's illegal and sentenced pretty harshly in this country. I honestly can't think of anything else I've seen on this board that would land a person in as much legal hot water.

I bet the question is years rather than money.

Ok Bob, they also outdrew any individual series in the 1980s.

For the record, I don't wish to be antagonistic towards you or some of the other Yankee fans on this board. There are certain fans that just inspire it.

Glad you asked. Ratings are way down. Betcha it's because the Yankees haven't won the WS. That's what everyone and their mother supposedly want to see, right? Fun fact: The highest rated World Series in history was Phillies/Royals in 1980. And to counter the cockiness, if Yankee fans want to see world series winners in Yankee Stadium, the date is May 22-24.

So popularity equals success. Got it. Glad you asked. Ratings are way down.

Damon really can't throw well enough to cover center.

I'd run Damon/Swisher/Nady out there. Matsui DH, Cabrera off the bench.

Someone needs to find Ron Santo's call of Brant Brown's fielding error in 1998. Similar, but better.

I still remember the year Bobby Abreu not hustled his way to 40 stolen bases. You're a Phillies fan. How can you not remember Abreu getting killed for being lazy in the field? That was the only thing I had, but like I said I was being facetious. His defense became iffy, but too many people focused on the negatives instead of the positives. The man was a HELL of an offensive force.

I still remember the year Bobby Abreu not hustled his way to 40 stolen bases.

It's not. The '70s Athletics didn't get along, nor did the Bronx Zoo Yankees. The '86 Mets had a bit of factioning. The '80 Phillies didn't get along.

Please explain how Abreu stained the clubhouse. This I gotta hear. It wasn't chemistry that doomed the Yankees. It was that their ace starter got hurt, their All-Star catcher got hurt, and they have perhaps the worst team defense in baseball.

Team Chemistry is another term for winning, near as I can tell.