EVIL~! alkeiper

Paul Byrd's quite an underrated pitcher, but he's a finesse guy and an injury risk. The sad thing is that just about every starting pitcher will be overpaid this offseason. The one sleeper I see out there is Jamey Wright. Any ability he has is completely masked by having played most of his career in Coors Field. Plus he battled injuries in 2003-04. Put him in a normal park with good infield defense, and he could become a good starter.

The advantages are that you get people to choose your store over the competition, and you can group your larger number of associates earlier in the day, making it easier to schedule.

I think Vazquez is a better pitcher than Benson. He's got a better K rate and will be vastly improved if he moves to a tougher park for home run hitters.

Assuming it occurs, that BJ Ryan signing might be the height of insanity, at least that I have seen in quite some time. $9.5 Million a year for a closer?! Meanwhile, smart guys like Doug Melvin will keep turning Dan Kolbs and Derrick Turnbows into closers for the league minimum.

It's because pitchers being more injury prone is an absolute fact.

If Mota repeats last year's performance, I wouldn't sweat it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> He suffered from Shoulder Inflammation last season. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Mota also missed time with elbow inflammation. If you're concerned about blisters and muscle strains, you should be triplely concerned about a pitcher flirting with injuries on his pitching arm.

Yes. It was Mike Piazza, and it was a spring training game. Mota didn't exactly turn and run, but he threw his glove at Piazza and backpeddled.

If Mota repeats last year's performance, I wouldn't sweat it.

The Beckett trade is apparently finalized, with some new names attached... Boston gets: Mike Lowell Josh Beckett Guillermo Mota Florida gets: Jesus Delgado Hanley Ramirez Anibal Sanchez Harvey Garcia

I proposed a Pavano for Overbay trade and Keiper wrote it off because Milwaukee "wants prospects" or something! HA! Fuck Matt Clement, y'all Milwaukeeans want PAVANO! You NEED him! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It's a funny thing really. Clement went 13-6, easily his best Win/Loss record of his career. His strikeout rate fell but he also allowed fewer home runs. I think Clement's a worthy pitcher for this deal, and he'll probably drop a few points off his ERA next season. After all, it probably didn't help that he was a groundball pitcher with Renteria and Bellhorn up the middle.

What's he done that's been so bad? He gave a contract to Delgado. Heaven forbid he actually tries to make a run for the World Series for the Marlins. He had to trade him away too because of the shitty location. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Both times Loria has owned a franchise, his entire purpose has been to beg his city for a publicly funded stadium. When he doesn't get it, he throws a hissy fit, threatens relocation, and drives his franchise into the ground. In Montreal, he failed to even negotiate a basic television agreement. He pawned off the Expos to MLB, and when he moved he took everything with him, right down to the club's computers and scouting reports, leaving a shell of a franchise behind. The Loria hate stems from the entire Montreal business. Montreal is a perfectly suitable place for a team. They have a rich history of baseball going back decades. Jackie Robinson played there for a year, the first black player in organized ball in half a century. Loria took over and in less than five years destroyed baseball in Montreal. He was allowed to see the team to no one, and MLB continued to make the Expos the joke of a franchise they remain today. Miami has offered a large chunk of money to help build a stadium, but apparently that's not enough for Loria, who wants a retractable roof. As far as I'm concerned, not one cent of public money should fund these ballparks. Loria and owners of his ilk need to stop being greedy and kick in the rest of the funding. It will NOT bankrupt his establishment. The only reason Loria seeks relocation is that some municipality will offer him a free stadium, which means more profits. More power to him. But in the meantime, he has decimated baseball in Montreal and Miami. That's simply criminal.

I would think Philli is paying most of the contract and Thome will be DHing. Konerko could still come back. I don't understand this trade for Chicago. Getting rid of a GG caliber OF that can hit you around 20 homers a year for a guy that could be done. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> With prospects Brian Anderson and Chris Young in the wings, the ChiSox had a glut of outfielders. I like this trade for the most part. The only thing that bothers me is the idea that we had a hole at center field in the first place. Jason Michaels is perfectly competant. Still, this move makes Endy Chavez expendable, which is alright in my book. There really isn't much left the Phils need to do to field a complete team next season.

Twice actually. The 2002 title came under the Disney umbrella.

Does anyone think I should bother?

Shouldn't that be the other way around?

I'm building the best Marlins' team possible, not the team they'll make.

The Marlins are acquiring significant prospects, but good lord this could be an awful team in 2006. Let's see... C- Josh Willingham (better than Lo Duca) 1B- Mike Jacobs 2B- Luis Castillo SS- Josh Wilson 3B- Joe Dillon LF- Miguel Cabrera CF- Juan Pierre RF- Jeremy Hermida SP- Dontrelle Willis SP- Scott Olsen SP- Jason Vargas SP- Ron Villone SP- Josh Johnson With all the AA pitchers, I could easily see a 100 loss season.

Two things. First off, do any of you notice the Mets would trade a latino AWAY in this trade? Yusemeiro Petit is from Venezuela. Second, these latinos and Mets jokes have gotten very old, are no longer funny, and add nothing to the discussion. Enough of it.

I highly doubt Arte Moreno would move the Angels out of a lucrative market simply because of semantics and technicalities.

There's no way MLB could place a team in Northern Virginia now that Washington has a team. The ideal place seems to be Portland, Oregon. Of course, Montreal would be a nice location as well.

Sounds silly, but look at his playing record. The Mets won 100 games twice with Dykstra in center field. They traded him in '89, and went in the tank after the next year. In Philly Dykstra was constantly injured, but in the one year he played 161 games, the team won the pennant. Dykstra was an amazing player, but he couldn't stay healthy.

They won because by some miracle of god, Lenny Dykstra played a full season.

What an unbelieveable piece of crap Jeffrey Loria is. He bitches about how he doesn't have the money needed to close the gap and fund the stadium, then he finds $60 Million to give Carlos Delgado. The man killed baseball in Montreal, and has now effectively killed baseball in Miami. How many times can an owner fail before the commissioner finally pulls the plug on that piece of shit and gives the Marlins a real owner?

Fregosi managed the 1979 California Angels to an AL West championship and won a National League pennant with the 1993 Phillies. In his latest stint, he posted two above .500 seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. What kind of drop-off do you think Jojima will have? Let's be honest, there hasn't been a single Japanese import (that I know of) to even approach the greatness they achieve in their home country. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Besides Ichiro? I'm not quite adept at translating statistics. I can tell you that Johjima hit .338 this season with a .655 slugging percentage. He's hit 30 home runs three of the last four years. It'll take a significant drop-off for him to produce less than the other free agent catchers.

There are issues with Blalock, but the bigger issue to me is the Phillies' lack of production at the position, combined with their complete lack of virtually anything resembling an infield prospect. The only major concern is that would load the lineup with four lefty sluggers (Howard/Thome, Utley, Blalock, Abreu). That's awfully lefty heavy, and a team with good lefty starters could exploit that weakness.