EVIL~! alkeiper

I'm doing a full run of the awards for my next column, but I figured I'd start a thread here. List your front-runners for the official MLB awards..... AL MVP: Manny Ramirez, Bos NL MVP: Barry Bonds, SF AL Cy Young: Curt Schilling, Bos NL Cy Young: Ben Sheets, Mil AL Rookie of the Year: Bobby Crosby, Oak NL Rookie of the Year: Jason Bay, Pit AL Manager: Buck Showalter, Tex NL Manager: Bobby Cox, Atl

I'm tired of losing teams ditching their players like this. Teams can make drastic turnarounds in a single season, and unless the trade pays immediate dividends, there's no reason to trade a player who's under contract for next season. What could Boston possibly offer Arizona to make them better? Ditto for New York.

Considering ESPN licenses its own line of Sports games, I can't help but think there's a conflict of interest somewhere.

Tomas Perez drives in the winning run. What a great win, as we overcome a faulty home run call, come back from four down in the 8th, and win in the 10th.

Nothing like sending your catcher to steal home. and the Royals haven't scored for 31 and 1/3rds innings. Us stathead types like to bitch about smallball, but surprisingly, studies suggest that stealing home is a good move, provided you have a 1 in 3 chance of pulling it off. Even with your best hitter up to bat? Sweeney's got a .324 OBP. So if your runner has a better than 32.4% chance of making the steal, then the steal gives you a better chance of scoring than just letting Sweeney hit. Since the smallball here directly results in a run scored, it becomes a viable strategy.

I'd agree with this except in the case where a person spends their entire career with one team. Which, thanks to the modern era of free agency, is likely to never happen again. It didn't happen as much as we'd like to remember.

Nothing like sending your catcher to steal home. and the Royals haven't scored for 31 and 1/3rds innings. Us stathead types like to bitch about smallball, but surprisingly, studies suggest that stealing home is a good move, provided you have a 1 in 3 chance of pulling it off.

I feel the opposite. Why deal for a mediocre pitcher (ESPECIALLY guys like Lowe, Zito and Benson) who aren't pitching any better than the current five. You give up guys who will play cheap, and possibly better, for the next six or seven years. Make a panic move, and it can damage the future of the franchise. I'd rather the Phillies give Ryan Madson a shot at the rotation before they make a trade. $45 a game, times 81 home games, equals $3,645. Heck of a player you can get for that money. I can just imagine the press release..... "Yes, we've stopped the practice of allowing our fans to take home foul balls, saving our team nearly $25,000 this season. While this may seem like an assholeish, cheapskate move, I believe our fans will appreciate the difference. The money we saved allowed us to upgrade our infield. Meet Mario Mendoza, Ozzie Guillen, and Ray Ordonez!" As for the Phillies game, its a perfect example of how baseball games are closer than they appeal. If that Furcal home run is called foul, and Thome's foul floats about ten feet to the left, its a 5-3 Phillies lead. And Furcal's up again. Thank goodness no one is on base this time.

Curt Schilling announced he will not pitch in the All-Star game. I propose Radke takes his place.

With nearly 35% of the vote, Sparky Anderson wins the NL Manager's spot. In The Bill James Guide To Baseball Managers, James rates Sparky as the best manager of the 1970s. Anderson is most noted for his bullpen usage, as his 1970s Reds rotations forced him to utilize his bullpen. He relied on defense over offense, and used the intentional bunt often. However, he rarely relied on the sacrifice bunt. Anderson's greatest strength was his ability to see them through slumps, and he stuck with players through bad stretches.

An article on the upcoming 25th Anniversery of Disco Demolition Night..... http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines

You're the only person I've EVER heard say that. My grandmother, who is almost ninety and knows nothing about sports, can give a decent description of the pine tar incident AS, is your grandmother a NYer, or a Yankees fan? The fact that it happened in the Stadium probably made it more memorable to a NYer. If someone was from a random place, and wasn't that old when it happened, it's nothing more than a few second clip shown a few times a year on highlight reels. I am a Phillies fan. I live in Northeast Pennsylvania, and I've only been to New York five times in my life, and not since 1997. I was one year old when the Pine Tar incident occured. And rest assured, I've definately heard of the Pine Tar Incident.

Care to provide any justification, or are you just wasting time by namedropping soccer managers in a discussion about sports on the other side of the Atlantic? I don't drop into Premier League discussions to build up Earl Weaver's managing credentials. Please provide the same consideration.

Paul LoDuca raises some eyebrows, but maybe they needed a catcher. J.D. Drew would have made a nice addition. His breakthrough season has gone completely unnoticed.

Ugh. Morris isn't any better than Millwood, and Polanco is worth more than a middle reliever. Even if Kline is a local product. Worst offer I've heard in quite awhile. I can't blame Billy Beane for trying however. And oddly enough, he's still their least productive hitter. The Yankees are the poster-children for the effectiveness of plate discipline. 10th in the league in batting average, and second in OBP, and runs scored.

It would take a lot to get the Big Unit, and I'm not sure the Yankees have the prospects necessary. The Diamondbacks have Johnson under contract for next year, so they have no reason to trade him unless they're blown away by an offer.

Trust me, you don't want him. I'd like to see Larry Dierker managing the Phillies. He got a bum deal when the Astros fired him. He's done a good job, and he deserves another shot at managing.

Actually, if you scrolled up, you would catch severl posts by Bruiser Chong, bemoaning the Cubs' lack of success against the Brewers. So obviously, people ARE paying attention to the games.

Then find someone else. I just don't see Hernandez as the answer. He's good, but we don't NEED him. And besides, what the hell are we going to trade?

Because they've got Myers, Wolf, Cole, Hamels and Padilla under control. They don't need to start collecting pitchers unless they're truly elite.

No, no, no. First off, then you've got Livan for three years. We don't need that. Second, we don't need Guardado. We're going to pay $3.5 Million to get 30-40 innings from a set-up man? That's nonsense.

Matsui isn't exactly a scrub. I doubt there's be a time where Matsui makes out and you can jump up and down screaming that you know for sure that Frank Thomas wouldn't make the exact same out. Well, one's a righty, and one's a lefty, so there is that whole platoon advantage to think about.

Just another reason for fan voting to be abolished. OPS isn't even that hard to figure out. It's On Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage, how fucking hard is that? Now if you want to get into Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) or Defensive Independent Pitching Stats (DIPS) then you actually have complicated formulas. OPS isn't an exact science, and you can't use it as a sole stat without considering the components. In any case, I think the fans generally do a good job. I don't believe in limiting stats to this season alone, and I'd rather see established stars in the All-Star game. Besides, look at the choices of the players and coaches. They picked Moises Alou over Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn. And forget about giving it to the writers. They didn't put Ryne Sandberg in the Hall. So who SHOULD vote?

The only guy remotely available is Steve Finley. I've always liked Byrd because he does most things well, and has an incredible work ethic. I don't know why he's struggling, but I do know he's better than Doug Glanville. What exactly would you do with $3.5 Million? There's nothing to do except sit on it, because the only players available are mediocre players with bad contracts. In the meantime, you've traded your mediocre pitcher for an outright bad one.

I think they should simply stop putting team logos on hats.