Cheech Tremendous

I was literally gasping for air during that segment. Kruk going on about how good pitchers find a way to win and that ERA and other stats are meaningless. You would think that since Kruk, you know, played baseball he would realize that an offense has to score runs for a pitcher to win. Damn Roger Clemens for his 1.87 ERA last year, he needed to be pitching to win.

In defense of Jeter, Baseball Prospectus (whose defensive metrics leave something to be desired) has him as above average fielder the past two years after 5 or so consecutive as among the worst in the game. That doesn't make him some Gold Glove wonder, but it does indicate that he is bashed a little bit too heavily for his atrocious fielding. I would definitely agree that Dunn is majorly underrated. Everyone puts him down because of the strikeouts but he is a HR and OBP machine and one of the best hitters in the game. I would also nominate Travis Hafner for the underrated list. His numbers aren't much less than what Ortiz puts up, but with about 1/10 as much hype.

Gordon, Chandler and the two first round picks for Garnett would be a trade where everyone wins, in my opinion. The Bulls would be legit contenders in the East. Minnesota would be able to move Garnett somewhere where he wouldn't haunt them every season and rebuild their squad at the same time. As for the question regarding matching contracts, it doesn't apply in this situation because the Bulls are under the cap.

Yeah I heard that on Around the Horn. The reason he is overrated is because of that sort of analysis. Is Jeter a really good player? Yes. Good teammate? Check. Hard working? Absolutely. Is the best player in the league, worth $17 million per year and able place an entire team on his back and bring success in the most important moments due to leadership and intangibles? Not a chance in hell.

I think that Billups got the old "vote for the best player on the best team vote." Chauncey is great and all, but I don't him see him as an MVP at all. Dirk gets hurt by the fact that the Mavs are always good and he's always the centerpiece of their success. It's the same reason coaches for teams that are always good get little support in coach of the year voting. We take Dirk and the Mavs for granted because they always win 50-60 games. Nash is easy to vote for because we can point to something tangible and call it value. He joined the worst team in the league and they became a legit title contender. They turn over 3/5 of their starting five and they don't miss a beat. It's easier to see value there than being a superstar on a middling team (Bryant). Or at least that's my interpretation.

I can't think of any pieces that the Lakers could put together to get KG. Then again, when you are dealing with Kevin McHale I suppose anything is possible. As for the Kings, I'd shit myself if they were able to get him, but I'm not sure they match up that well either. I'd guess Bibby or Miller would be the centerpiece of any deal, but I'd be uncomfortable with that even if it was for KG.

Did anyone hear about this Sports Illustrated article about the ten most overrated and the ten most underrated players, as voted on by current major leaguers. Derek Jeter, Carlos Beltran and A-Rod were the top 3 on overrated. Thoughts?

The most interesting thing about the results is Kobe Bryant's line. It seems that voters either had him first, or near the bottom. Whereas Nash was a top-3 guy for almost everyone, Bryant polarized the voters. I would wager that his attitude and behavior over the years cost him a lot of votes.

I would still argue that the Bulls and T-Wolves match up the best in terms of a deal for Garnett. The Bulls have the cap room to absorb the contract and have the right mix of talent and draft picks to offer for Minnesota's eventual rebuilding. The Bulls really need that one talent that can push them over the top and the addition of Garnett would likely make a contender in the East. As far as Iverson is concerned, I can't really think of anyone that could swing a deal. What do you suppose that Philadelphia will look for in a potential deal?

Isiah will find a way to make it a three-way deal where he gets Randolph and Martin and only gives up a dozen first round draft picks.

The thing about espn.com now is that it seems 90% of their content is Insider Only. Why do they have to charge money for Joe F'n Morgan transcripts and Chad Ford sucking off 17-year-old European basketball players that I've never hear of?

I would think they'd have to make it past the All-Star break, and into the later months. We are a long way from September at this point. Remember, the Orioles got off to a red hot start last year and they ended up being a bad, bad team.

The new issue of GQ has an interview with Robin Williams discussing the way his career faltered in the late 90s and early 00s because of bad movie selection. He said that he got caught up doing family films and not pushing himself as an actor. The whole time I'm reading this I was thinkingg to myself, "Isn't this the guy who's in that ridiculous looking RV movie?"

I would agree that it is preposterous to think that the NBA would endorse the fixing of games. They would just have to much to lose if a story ever broke linking them to that kind of behavior. That being said, I always flash back to Kings-Lakers, Game 6 of the 2002 conference championship. It was one of those times that it seemed that every call was going LA's way, almost as if the refs were trying their hardest to give LA a shot at winning the game. It was very suspicously officiated.

In a nutshell, yes you have to have other good teams. You are talking about the strength of a CONFERENCE, not one or two individual teams. I think you need a handful of teams that can be anybody on a good day to have a strong conference.

Picked up 10,000 Days this morning and am slowly working my way through it. Sounds solid so far though.

Yeah it's in there. I went to Best Buy this morning to pick this up and they didn't have any copies. Thought about Skynyrd, but I have most of their important stuff, so I passed.

I watched the game and made a couple of notes expecting a huge running commentary in here. Surprised to see nothing... especially since it was a really fun game.

John Kruk just said on Sportscenter that the Reds were off to a hot start this year because they were manufacturing runs instead of relying on the homerun. The Reds are third in the majors (second in NL) in home runs this year. Poor fat John Kruk, it's like he's not even trying anymore.

Al, I always respect your opinion, but what real talent did the Sox give up to acquire Mirabelli. It's a nothing deal that solidifies the backup catcher spot for the rest of the year. Bard had no future in Boston, and Meredith is AAA lifer. He's barely even a top 20 prospect in their system. Boston had an open competition for the Wakefield spot during the spring and found no one. Bard is on pace for 77 PB this year and the MLB record is 35! According to Theo Mirabelli was available so they jumped at it. Wasn't like they were bargaining with no leverage.

I, admittedly, checked out on the NBA season by the All-Star break this year and haven't been keeping up on things that the past few months. But I have a hard time believing that the Lakers are a team that can get to the Western Conference finals. The few times I watched them they were brutal, as it was the Kobe and friends show for 48 minutes. I know Phil is a fantastic coach, but has this team honestly improved that much?

Diaw wins the Most Improved Player award: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2429294 Can't say that's surprising.

Yeah, I'm not really sure where he'll end up. Logically, I would think that Houston makes the most sense for all the same reasons that it made sense the past two seasons. He's near home, Kobe's in the system, he doesn't have to go on road trips, etc. Boston would be the sentimental favorite and the best story. I know Roger and his family are fond of the idea of him "going home" before retirement to bring things full circle, but I just don't know if everyone can put the bad blood behind to make something work. New York I think is in third at this point, but between the chance of winning a WS, his respect for Torre and the deep pocket books of Steinbrenner, it would seem that they win out in the end. Knowing that Roger has made his career of off backstabbing and general scumbaggery, it would seem fitting that he ended up there to close his career.

Yeah, I really like ESPNEWS, especially for their baseball coverage. Brian Kinney is a great, knowledgeable interviewer and Joe Sheehan and Rob Neyere are infinitely better than anything you'll see on Baseball Tonight (Gammons excluded). I actually don't mind ESPN Radio for the most part. Both Dan Patrick and Eric Auselius (sp?) do a good show.

Since it's now May 1st and it's being talked about in all the media outlets, anyone have any guesses as to where Roger Clemens ends up?