Precious Roy

Not a necessity, but it does make close knit teams play greater than the sum of their parts, and it can make a big difference in a close pennant race or series.

Let me just say that team chemisty may not be quantifiable but it exists, and the statement, "I don't believe in clutch hitting," makes me laugh excessively. Not a trade, but the Yankees are looking at Crime Dog. Good pickup IMO, with Giambi and all. Clark will still start most games but I can definitely see McGriff picking up a couple clutch pinch hits down the stretch.

Let's be real here, last year was the first season where he showed a significant decline. In 2002 he still hit .300 w/ 40 hrs, the slight drop in overall performance can be attributed to the change in ballpark/team/city. 2003 is where the decline really starts, dropping down to .250. Sure, he still got a lot of walks and hit 40 homers, but I watched the guy, he wasn't the same guy who had hit .340, it was basically all or nothing with him last year. That was chalked up to his balky knee and a problem with his eyesight. This year the knee is healthy and the eyesight problem was fixed, but now he's dropped all that steroid weight and he's got the parasite issue. Basically I chalk the root of his problems up to steroids, but I think much of it is mental at this point as well, and who the hell knows with the damn parasites, but if he can't recover from them there's obviously something wrong with his body.

I said I believe, as in that's my theory. Only Giambi really knows, but it does seem reasonable that going cold turkey off of steroids after presumably being a regular user could leave his body and immune system weakened.

Why is FSN promoting the competition!??!

Angle, Reigns, Chavo, Noble Give Chavo and Noble Angle-flavoured tights and push them as an actual tag team, let Luthor mess around in the midcard/US picture. They could concievably have all four titles and putting Chavo in the mix gives him some direction and fuels the Angle-Eddie feud a bit, plus it would be great to see Noble finally get an actual push. You can also elevate a team like Kidman and London in the process, put them in an extended feud w/ Chavo/Noble that has them feuding with Angle as well by default, maybe have them teaming w/ Eddie and Cena along the way for 6 or 8 mans. Booker is too big to be second fiddle in a stable, he'd be more like the unofficial associate of the group due to his association w/ Angle the GM, tagging with Angle or Reigns on occasion, and Angle would also by chummy w/ Heyman and whoever he's managing.

One of the New York papers used to have a weekly wrestling column, I think it was The Daily News though it may have been Newsday. Can anyone confirm or deny it's (continued) existence?

Damn right! Mattingly should be in!

I agree that he should sit out. It's not worth risking his longterm health and they need to find out exactly what the problem is before putting him back on the field. We don't need another Hank Gathers/Reggie Lewis situation with him dropping dead on the field. That said, I believe his steroid use has played a large part in his declining health and inablilty to recover from the effects of the parasites.

Saying: "how many mediocre starters would be hall of fame closers?" had ZERO basis in this argument. They weren't, so you don't know. You can only base it on who played the position and how they did, and to say "closers couldn't be starters thus shouldn't be in the HOF" is pretty ignorant IMO. It's an important, high pressure position that very few truely excell at and they deserve recognition for their accomplishments. From current closers Mariano is an obvious lock, as well as Gagne and Hoffman IMO. And Gossage should be in too.

Bummer. I remember him coaching the KJ/Chambers/Majerle/Hornacek suns when I was younger, had no idea he was sick

They should try and get one of the guys in Denver, lord knows they don't need 4 running backs.

You're still missing my point though. Nobody thought Giambi would fall off so quickly and the Yankees certainly wouldn't have given him all that money if they'd suspected he had peaked. Did one person say it was a bad move because he was 30 when they signed him? Everyone thought the Yankees were getting the Giambi who was the AL MVP. Truely great players keep producing and an MVP caliber player like him should keep producing at an all-star level well into his 30's Of course the average player will start declining around 32, 33, 34, but in baseball you don't expect an immediate drop off from great players, especially not a guy who plays an easy position defensively, and when it happens it's dispointing. Giambi is a guy who's dropped .100 points in average in 3 seasons, well over .100 points in slugging and over .50 points in OBP. He doesn't get a pass because of his age, I'm pretty sure Yankee Nation expected him to be productive for the length of his contract, and because of the money involved he is untradeable.

In football or basketball, sure, but not in baseball.

It's this thing called aging. Not everyone is Barry Bonds and gets better with age. Most deteriorate, just as Jason's doing. It's only natural. Yeah, but he's only 33, he shouldn't be on the downside yet, and the dropoff shouldn't be so immediate. Great hitters hit until they're 36, 37, 38. I thought Giambi was a great hitter, he showed a combination of power and average in Oakland that put him in Manny, Bonds, Vlad territory, but right now he looks more like he's an average-good hitter who had a few great seasons, and right now he isn't even hitting good (when he plays), he's hitting like Matt Stairs or Pete Incavelia. What makes it even worse is that he signed for so much money. I still think he can be the hitter he was, but something is seriously wrong with him either mentally, physically or probably both, which is pretty frustrating to see as a fan.

I was thinking he'd have a big year too, with Boston/Chambers to open things up a bit more. I was thinking like 1600-1800 yards big. Glad I haven't drafted in my fantasy football leagues yet

At the moment nobody, but I'm not too happy with Giambi's performance the last two years. This guy once hit .340 in Oakland and now he's hitting .240, something is seriously wrong with him.

Is Alex Cintron one of the most disapointing players in baseball or what? I drafted him and Sexson on a fantasy team. Had to drop .240 Cintron a month in and then Sexson goes down with the season ending injury...... Not to mention Brandon Webb. What the hell happened to him? I don't know if it's the Sophomore slump, hitters figuring him out, or both...but he's not the same pitcher that looked like a future all-star last season

The worst was when ESPN interupted ATH to show that Toronto kid in the 8th, and he IMMEDIATELY gives up a single

I wonder what y'all look like

I think he's telling the legit, I just think it's funny that he still claims he was clean but also says he helped Jones shoot up

My thought was that the trade of Juwan would open up space for Gooden, but I guess they want to give Howard the bulk of the minutes at the 4 so he can learn on the job. As for West, David Aldredge thinks that Gooden has the scarlet letter because "the logo" is an unquestionable genius and traded him, but I agree with Mindless Agression that he was only picked because he was the best available, PLUS West was always big on Mike Miller and would have done anything within reason to get him, word is he was trying to trade for him in LA.....

Good trade for Cleveland, Gooden has gotten a bad rap because of last season. He'll play well with Snow, LeBron and Big Z

Teams have inquired about Moyer and the Mariners have turned them down. He's still under contract for next year. If I'm the M's I have no problem moving Moyer for prospects. He's 41 years old and still has decent value, it's not like they'll really be contending next season either, they might as well plan for 06-07 now. They're better off moving his contract for a prospect or two. Maybe the real reason they won't move him is that nobody will give them a legit prospect?