Cheech Tremendous

Can't we just admit that both of these teams are wretched, and we are all losers for being stuck with them in an LCS?

In other non-consequential Howard Stern news, they discussed K-Fed appearing on Raw the other night.

I'd watch Smackdown every week if they just muted the whole thing and played Badstreet USA on a continuous loop.

Actually, he led the league in total yards each of the past two seasons. In 2005, he amassed the second most yards in a season, ever.

Even if Tiki retires at the end of the season, he will be in the top ten all-time in yards from scrimmage. He's definitely HOF worthy, even if his career got off to a slow start. His 2005 campaign was one of the best ever.

Really odd newsbit: Theo Epstein FINALLY signed the contract that was proposed to him after the 2005 season. He had been working without a contract this entire past season. Deal is believed to be the original offer of 3 years/$4.5 million.

Well, a lot of the postseason IS about luck, but getting beat 4-0 has nothing to do with luck. There is a great chapter in Baseball Between the Numbers that explains the reasons why the A's teams of the early 00's routinely came up short in the playoffs. Not only are these failures well-documented, but Beane understood them and has restructured the teams since then so that they can compete in the regular and postseasons. The A's have a poor lineup, and they got about as far as they could with it. Beane is never going to be able to add a huge bat to the lineup on the FA market, so in reality they will always have to punch and judy their way to scoring runs. This is not true. The A's probably have the best all-around defense in all of the major leagues. They have above average defenders everywhere on the field. This team is consistently good at the little things, but as I stated before (and you mentioned as well), they just don't have the hitting to compete against some of the AL powers. The pitching is also very good (mostly because of the defense, and partly because of the ballpark), but the management of the staff is not. That's one of the reasons why Macha is no longer with the team.

None of those guys can shoot worth a damn. That was the whole point.

Was just reading somewhere that Bud Selig wants to change the formatting of the playoffs. The Wild Card teams would only get one home game in the division series instead of the two that they have now. Second, they want to add as many as three off days into the postseason schedule so that the World Series starts on a Tuesday instead of Saturday (per the new contract with Fox). Both are huge mistakes, at least in my opinion. In other news, the head of Player Evaluation/Development for the Cleveland Indians was hired away as the new pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox. Seems to have a great track record with player evaluation and was highly regarded in Cleveland. Maybe he's the savior that every Sawx fan has been clamoring for.

I'm not surprised that Ken Macha is getting fired. On one hand, the team outperformned its pythagorean record considerably this year, which I usually see as a sign of a good manager. However, he's made a lot of poor decisions for the team and has struggled as an in-game manager. He also has a poor repoire with the players. Just because a team has gotten deep into the playoffs does not mean the manager has done a good job. Look at Grady Little with the Sox in '03. He would have been fired the second that season ended whether they won the World Series or not. Sometimes you just have to make a change if you think the team needs it.

Buster Olney said in his chat today that neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees would get into the bidding for Zito, Matsuzaka or Schmidt? Now I know to take everything Buster says with a grain of salt, but come on. The two biggest spending teams, both with a tremendous need for starting pitching, aren't going after the only reliable arms on the market?

While Pujols' statement does sound dumb, the way he delivered it in context was different than how it reads. He didn't mean to disrespect Glavine's ability, but moreso wanted to call out himself and his teammates (i.e. they had a chance to hit him, but couldn't deliver). It's not like he shit all over the guy. How could you not have respect for the guy? He's never really done anything bad before. Roid rage? That's a ridiculous statement.

Wow Wagner just didn't have his best stuff tonight. Tough break for him and the Mets.

I'm not watching the game, but isn't it below freezing in Detroit right now, with a huge snow storm imminent?

You know, I'm not 100% sure about the A-Rod stuff. I can go back and find the link. The author wasn't positive, but had been told that the language from the agreement prevented the Yanks from trading a subsidized A-Rod. The Yankees should have picked up Mussina's option. He may not be worth $17 million, but now they have to try and replace their best pitcher in a weak free agent market. The only viable alternatives are Zito and Matsuzaka, who are going to cost $70 million+. At least with Mussina, it's short-term money.

On by the way, I caught Dusty Baker on the Dan Patrick Show this morning. I can see why Cubs fans hate this guy so much. He seems like a nice enough person, but way out of touch with what wins ballgames. He said that he likes teams to be built around pitching, speed and defense. Likes teams to have a mix of old and young talent. Mentioned that it was alsog good to have a guy with some power and someone who can get on base to be driven in by the power guy (you think?). And people wonder why the Cubs only won 60-something games.

Don't know if these have been mentioned anywhere: - The Yankees have declined their option on Mike Mussina, and will instead start negotiations on a two-year deal for less money - The money kicked in by Texas for A-Rod's contract does not transfer if he is traded. The new team would be fully responsible for the $25 million

I know who Luke Jackson is. I used to go to his games at Oregon. He's had major injury concerns his first two years, and it's very doubtful that he every makes an impact in the league. I guess there is that upside if he does come back, but I wouldn't be counting on it.

For who? Does this even qualify as news?

He's trying to steall that all important Jeff Hardy demographic.

Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis is fun, even if most of the stories are bullshit.

I caught the tail end of Cena on the Adam Carolla show this morrning. The focus of the interview, again, was Cena's love for the fat chicks. What the hell is wrong with this guy? He also said that he had a six-way in his younger days, but the best of the bunch might have been an 8. He did have a funny bit with Adam regarding the next WWE film. It would be called a "A Dinner with Andre the Giant" and could feature cameos from Koko B Ware, Max Moon, the Repo Man and Ted Dibiase. He closed by plugging his movie again. He said if it opens number 1, he's going to have sex with a 300-pound woman. Wow.

Humans can live for hours without their head. You're thinking of a chicken. What did I say? Awesome

Here is Daisuke Matsuzaka's final pitching line from this season. IP Hits ER HR BB K W L ERA WHIP 186.1 138 44 13 34 200 17 5 2.13 0.92 Word is that bids are expected to be $17 to $28 million, with upwards of $70 million to sign. Folks, this may be your next $100 million man. EDIT: Formatting is screwed, but you get the idea.

Perhaps I am too down on the guy, but I don't see Soriano as an elite player. I wouldn't give him anything close to Beltran money. He just had his best season ever, at the age of 31, in his walk year in a situation where he had 0 pressure. That's not the type of guy you want to invest big, long-term money in. Even with his "amazing year", he only hit .277/.351./.560. He's got nice pop, but is miscast as a leadoff hitter. He had never hit 40 HRs before this year, and was more like a 30 per year guy in that hitter's haven in Texas. He did steal 41 bags, but was caught 17 times! He's not a great basestealer. If you play him in left, that's fine. He showed good range out there this year. But he wants to play 2nd, and he's a horrible defensive second baseman. If you look at his home/road splits and trends over the past five years, he looks like he is in a steep decline. Last year seems more like an outlier than a predictor of future success. I could totally be wrong, but that's just how I see it.