Cheech Tremendous

Does this mean that Randy Johnson will remain a Yankee?

Hey, we get it already, you don't like Tool.

Hail to the Chimp

In what could be the start of something very messy, a Federal appeals court ruled today that government investigators are entitled to the names and urine samples of the 100+ players who failed a confidential steroids test during the 2003 season. Since it is inevitable that these names will be leaked to the public, there are huge potential fireworks coming in the future, starting, but not necessarily ending with one Mr. Barry Bonds.

Are you kidding me? If A-Rod opted for free agency next year, he'd probably get a six to eight year deal with an AAV of $20 million+. He would make a lot more money if he got another long-term deal next offseason instead of waiting three years when he might be heading towards an age-related decline.

1) Do you think he'll retire as the greatest SS/3B in history? Unfortunately, no. He would have gone down as the greatest SS in history, but the mid-career position change will ruin that proposition. As for 3B, he doesn't have the defensive reputation or the body of work from that position to warrant status amongst the all-time greats. 2) Will he break Barroid's HR record? Probably not. There are too many factors related to age and injuries that prevent us from extrapolating a trajectory from his known production. He is definitely on in the conversation, though, and if he can continue at a respectable pace for another 8-12 years, he'd have an excellent shot. 3) Will he be regarded as the greatest player in history? No, because being regarded as the greatest player has as much to do with perception as it does with performance. The perception of Alex Rodriguez is that he is an overpaid primadonna who can't perform in the clutch. He can't be the center focus of a team that hopes to compete and his numbers only come in a no pressure environment. His teams get better after he leaves. It won't matter what the final numbers say or what his career trajectory is from this point forward, he's already been labeled as a failure. 4) Will he bat for 60+ HR's in a single season? Not in Yankee Stadium he won't. It's far too hard to hit home runs in that park. If he ends up with another team, it would be easier, but I think his biggest power years are probably already behind him. 5) When will the Yankees mercifully let him go? They won't have to. He'll opt out of his contract next offseason.

The following is a list of the ten most statiscally similar players to Miguel Cabrera through their age 23 season. The list contains six Hall of Famers and a couple others who have excellent shots at getting in. 1. Hank Aaron (959) * 2. Orlando Cepeda (931) * 3. Frank Robinson (925) * 4. Joe Medwick (920) * 5. Mickey Mantle (914) * 6. Andruw Jones (907) 7. Ken Griffey (906) 8. Hal Trosky (905) 9. Vladimir Guerrero (900) 10. Al Kaline (900) * With the current contracts being handed out to mediocre players ($100+ to Soriano and Lee), I have no problem with Cabrera getting $200 million. We are talking about a potentially historic talent. He's already one of the elite players in the game and I have little doubt that he will be the best player in the game by the time he reaches free agency in 2009. The Marlins might want to consider trading him this offseason or next. He's starting to get expensive and will definitely leave in free agency. If they traded him now while he is still under control for several seasons, they could get a king's ransom.

First of all, an update of JD Drew. He's getting a second opinion on the shoulder that is causing all this concern. The issue at hand is that the front office believes there is a chronic problem in that shoulder, and that it may cause him to lose his power over the life of the contract. Boras/Drew believe the issue is being overstated so that the Sox can gain leverage in negotiations and negotiate an out clause (which makes some sense... why would he have opted out of the guaranteed LA deal if his shoulder is in such bad shape?). I'd say that there is a +90% chance that Drew still ends up in Boston because it would be really risky to axe the deal and try to go back into free agency with this negative stigma surrounding him. Nick Cafardo, who broke the story that Baseball Prospectus picked up on, has backed off his stance a little and says the front office only sees this as a "minor issue." If the Drew talks fail and the Sox decide against signing him, I guess the only option would be to re-sign Trot (God help us!) and platoon him with Wily Mo in right. I guess David Murphy would maybe get a look also, but I don't think that he's anymore than a 4th outfielder type.

Doesn't sound like it's a deal-breaker, at least from what I've heard. The Sox are negotiating some sort of contract protection, probably in the form of an out clause if the shoulder affects his ability to play in the future. While it is troubling that Drew has this sort of concern, let us not forget that Beckett failed his physical after the trade to Boston last year. This stuff isn't totally atypical given the condition of many players.

Seibel is a 28-year-old pitcher who has thrown like 3 innings in the majors. Scouts and FO aren't very high on him. He has no future in Boston whatsoever, and will probably be relegated to a AAAA life. Donnelly isn't much, but he's an established bullpen arm. This was an Angels salary dump.

Red Sox try to address their bullpen concerns by signing JC Romero and trading for Brendan Donnelly. I'm guessing the plan is to go with quantity over quality at this point. I guess this is year 5 of the "throw shit at the wall and hope something sticks" bullpen approach.

Do you really want one player making 1/5 of the teams total payroll? Max Kellerman was making a point today of how the Blue Jays are going to be like the Cardinals. Being that they are going to have a core of 5 players who make the most money while the rest of the teams is going to be average. The Cardinals are able to get away with it because they play in the NL Central. Well first off, the Cardinals have made the playoffs six of the last seven years. Second, has anyone researched to prove that this is a bad way to build a roster? I believe that there has been some work showing that the Cardinals way of doing things is the ideal way to construct a roster, at least with regards to financial resources. Players in the lower tier and upper tier are the most likely to realize the value of their contracts, but it's the middle tier that vastly underperform. Overpaying for superstars is better than redistributing that money over several middling talents.

I've mentioned this before, and I am going to say it again. Read Feeding the Monster by Seth Mnookin before you post anything else about Boston's front office because it's obvious that you have no clue as to what's going on. It goes into painstaking detail the entirety of the Damon negotiations, the front office balance of power, the dealings with the media and long-term plan of the team, all of which you think you know about but don't seem to have any clue.

Sorry I pushed your team aside. That wasn't really the point of the post anyways. They can be 2nd or 10th or whatever, they're still high profile.

So the Dodgers are the highest profile team in the world? I was going to say the Yankees, but go ahead and think whatever you want, king.

What are you talking about? They are in the news because they are the front office of the second highest profile baseball team in the world. Signing big name talent like Matsuzaka, Drew and Lugo is news... they aren't manufacturing it. They love whoring themselves out on TV? Really? Is that why Theo stopped attending games? Is that why he comes to the ballpark disguised on the evenings and weekends to get his work done? Is that why they axed a bunch of front office guys who kept talking to the media when they weren't supposed to? The Theo thing was manufactured? What in the world are you talking about? That was the culmination of a nearly three year long power struggle between Lucchino and Epstein. It wasn't a cover-up for Damon. Damon left BECAUSE of the the way the Theo/GM thing went down. Just please stop posting. It's such a pain to wade through all the crap you place in your posts.

Toby Hall isn't worth much more than a minor league contract. Seems like he would keep his mouth shut and take whatever job offer he got.

Doesn't matter who he's consulting with, Billy King will find a way to royally screw up the Iverson trade.

No offense to the guy who started this topic, but the Canadian Destroyer is the stupidest thing I've ever seen in a wrestling ring. Everyone has their own tastes and preference, but I like my wrestling to look realistic, not like gymnastics.

I agree with you, CW. There were other candidates who you could make an argument for the past couple of seasons, but none of them were robbed. Nash was the best choice each of the past two years, and he is emerging as the top choice again. In my lifetime, I've never seen a team's offensive success so dependent on the play of one person. That offense goes because of Nash. Sure, he plays with other good players, but I think part of the reason they look that good is because of what he does from the point guard position. Does anyone have espn insider? Hollinger had an article up yesterday stating that Nash will probably go down as the best post-30 point guard of all time, and that what he is doing now is completely unprecedented. Magic, Oscar, Maravich, KJ and a host of others were all out of the league by their age 32 season, whereas Nash is having a career year. Interesting stuff.

Wait, who is this being addressed to? Viva suggested Beckett becoming a closer and I shot it down. There is a 0% chance that Beckett is closing next year or that he is traded for one. His struggles last year had more to do with flukey HR and BB numbers than anything else. If those persist, there might be a long-term problem, but for all the struggles there was an equal amount of growth in Beckett as a pitcher (his first 200 inning season, no blisters, etc.) last year.

It's not crazy. I've heard all sorts of rumors, from Clemens becoming closer, to Beckett or Wakefield closing, to dealing Crisp or Pena for a Cordero/Lidge type. I'm just not that crazy about giving up talent for a closer. Bob Ryan said the other day that the Red Sox would be the best team in baseball for the first eight innings, but that they wouldn't get anywhere without a lockdown closer. I don't buy that at all. Adam Wainwright and Todd Jones were the closers for the two teams who just went to the World Series. I think having a relief ace in the pen is important (and in the Sox case, an actual decent bullpen would help as well), but the whole notion and importance of the "closer" is totally overblown.

That's so awful. Chris Snelling, even with his injury concerns, is a better player today than Vidro is, and that's before you factor in age and contract. Bill Bavasi might be the worst GM in baseball. When you're getting hosed by Jim Bowden, it's time to pack your bags and find a new line of work.

You're exactly right. Performance incentives can only go by playing time based stats (innings, appearsances, at bats, etc.) and not on any of the counting stats (HR, RBI, runs, etc.).

Is it crazy to suggest that Steve Nash could win another MVP award this season? He's having career highs in FG%, 3PT%, PPG, rebounds and assists. The Suns are clicking and starting to look like one of the best teams in the NBA, and it's basically because of him.