EVIL~! alkeiper

I doubt Valentine would jump countries mid-season. My dream choices (in no particular order) would be Earl Weaver, Larry Dierker, Davey Johnson, Willie Randolph, and Marc Bombard.

Not really. Tim Worrell has four blown saves, and a few of those were as a middle reliever. So the loss of Wagner hasn't hurt. The real problem from a performance standpoint is subpar pitching (especially from Myers and Abbott), and the uselessness of Roberto Hernandez, among others.

But why tank the season during a contract year? Sure you need some good defense, but you can't carry a .363 slugging percentage at a hitters' position just to get some defense on the field.

I'm gonna try doing these for individual series, rather than an entire week. Big time series this week between the A's and Yankees. Possible ALCS matchup? Other interesting series include Atlanta at Houston, and Anaheim at Minnesota.

The Phillies are a amazing 1-6 on their homestand. Despite being division favorites at the beginning of the season, they sit 5.5 games behind the Braves, and just a single game above .500. Tomorrow is an off day. So does Bowa get the long awaited boot? Or does the Philly brass wait until the next homestand just to hear the boobirds in full force?

What is it about the Expos that makes his hitting poor? And if Montreal affects his performance, then why isn't he the kind of moody player the Sox try and avoid? And if everyone hits better at Fenway, why not pick up someone who hit better outside of Fenway? If the problem is lineup protection, why didn't he hit in 2002, with Wilkerson, Vidro, and Vlad Guerrero hitting behind him? Look, outside of last year, Cabrera has never done anything to indicate he's better than a replacement level ballplayer. The best defensive first basemen are usually worth about a half-game in the standings. Its simply not an important defensive position.

Some of these wrestlers turned both ways at various points in their careers, so years would be useful.

From my memory, we've got the McEnroe/Born Wimbledon Final, and the Monica Seles stabbing incident.

Cabrera's career numbers coming into this season were 268/318/415. He's 29 years old, so that's pretty much his established level of play. That doesn't exactly indicate a shortstop a World Series hopeful would like to have. Cabrera has never had an above-average OPS in his career, and that includes his career year last season. How much defense do you need at first base? And Mientkiewicz is much worse at the bat. Millar has a 76 point edge in OPS over their careers, and a 118 point edge this season. They likely could have gotten better players through compensation draft picks. I actually think Little should've stayed, but the media crush made that a near-impossibility. Its not that they traded Nomar. Its that they traded him WITH a prospect for two players I wouldn't have taken off the waiver wire.

Trade Deadline Report My take on all the deadline trades over the weekend. Check it out.

Douglas' weight ballooned, and he slipped into a diabetic coma in the years following the Holyfield fight. He recovered, and made a brief comeback into boxing. His most notable fight was against Louis Monaco on Tuesday Night Fights, when Monaco knocked him the fuck out, only to be DQ'ed for hitting after the bell. Lou Savarese KO'd Douglas in the first round, and he fought twice more before retiring.

Or need production from Juan Encarnacion.

Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.....

Off-hand, I'd say it was a moderate success last time.

From Williams standpoint, this fight would have the best potential payday, and thus is more valuable to him. No one really buys him as a heavyweight title contender yet, but Tyson still has drawing power, fans now believe he can beat Tyson, and there's natural interest towards a re-match.

From Jayson Stark..... Jesus Christ, are these writers on crack? No choice? Teams are BUILT with future stars. These guys are BETTER.

He's currently feuding with the Phillies best players to the point where the fans turn on them, and they get traded to St. Louis despite the protestations of at least one Phillies fan who knows better.

That's the arm abuse in effect. They were overworked before they even reached the majors. Pulsipher pitched 201 innings at the age of 20, in AA.

Arizona's on pace to lose 111 games, and they just lost their two best hitters. This could get ugly in a fun way.

One thing forgotten in this trade is that the Expos got a really good deal here. Brendan Harris for Cabrera would have been good on its own merits, and they got Francis Beltran as well.

That's an invalid argument. Overuse causes arm injuries. Not all arm injuries are caused by overuse. The pitch counts came along because the team made people realize that you can't abuse your young arms. You can't prevent arm injuries, but you can take preventative measures.

The Royals should seek to trade Colt Griffin to the Mets ASAP.

Sheep

From ESPN.com..... From BPro......

Benson has never pitched all that well. Oliver Perez is pitching insanely well, and he's 22 years old! Most 22 year olds are kicking around AA.