Mik

Since when are you a Tigers fan, Banky? I thought you were a fan of the Bay Area teams?

I gotta go with Pat's. Cheese wiz, without onions. I like Pat's much, much better than Ginos. The cheesesteak place they have at Citizen's Bank Park is pretty good too, although the name escapes me at the moment. (Tony Romo's?)

4 pages of a thread about someone dying and Downhome hasn't given a soliloquy yet? Wow.

Wow. Funny you mentioned that. I noticed that Cartman's mom sounded not quite right last night.

? He's world ranked. Or at the very least used to be.

Can you name one team that DOESN'T have any holes? No, such a team doesn't exist. You're correct about the bench, not disputing that fact for a second. For some reason, Jack McKeon loves Lenny Harris and I'll never quite figure out why. They did convince Easley to stay, which was a positive. But they need help on the bench. Corner outfield... well if you believe the Miami papers, the reason Encarnacion was the worst player in the National League last year was because he had a terrible shoulder injury he wasn't telling anyone about. Not sure I do believe it, but he was passable in the 03 WS campaign. Maybe the shoulder thing is true and he can contribute. I disagree about 1B. Conine hurt himself playing raquetball recently, but he'll be ready for Feb and I think he's a good 1B. He plays great defense and can hit a bit out of the 6 or 7 spot. I totally disagree about the rotation. They might not have a great 5, but in my estimation they have the best 1 through 4 in the NL, maybe the ML. The reasons I'm excited: LoDuca for a full year, and a 1 year older Miguel Cabrera to tear up NL pitching again. We'll see what happens.

I think this is the year the Braves string will end. Sure, I probably would have said the same thing last offseason, if asked... but miracles can't happen twice in a row, can they? I'm more worried about the Phillies getting their head on straight.

I'm pretty sure Jose Capellan will be the Braves #4 next year. We'll get to see that 100 mph heater in action. And Al, the Marlins lack a bench NOW... they are looking for bench and bullpen help the rest of the offseason. I have faith in Beinfest to get someone, be it Delucci or someone else.

Well... it's Mota's job to lose, but some people think that's exactly what he will do. I hope not, because I can't stomach having Alfonseca as the closer again. Hopefully Guillermo will snap out of the funk he was in at the end of last season and return to his Dodger form... or there will be problems at the end of the games. The Marlins are looking damn good for next year.

HA! Well, the Demon is not around to kick his ass anymore, so perhaps all can be forgotten. Although, I have a hard time trusting any very large pitcher who would lock himself in a room to save himself from a beatdown. That... and he sucks.

That's a good point, Al. I didn't check the DIPS on Leiter. The way I look at it though, he's offering a lot more than just his pitching. He can mentor the young staff, most importantly Willis, as they are both lefties. As I mentioned, he is going to be the #4, #5 if a miracle occurs and they keep Pavano, or even if they get another FA. Price wasn't insane... I'm happy with the signing, to be honest.

This is kinda like the repeat they aired last night at 9:30 (I have my DVR set to record all episodes that air at any time) Cartman got thrown off the bucking bull and thought he was a Chinese prostitute. He then won the competition so Kyle and Stan could get Terrance and Philip dolls for $5000. It also featured a mass cow suicide. It was a really old episode, but I somehow managed to never see it before. Maybe the Tuesday episodes are picked for a reason? It's probably just a big coincidence, but it's interesting that both episodes will revolve around Cartman hitting his head and funny things happening as a result.

You guys are hating on Leiter a bit too much, especially Al, which I'm surprised at. At 38, he was 8th in the NL in ERA last year. He's only going to be the 4 and he can offer more guidance to the Marlins young staff. For the majority of last season, the oldest pitcher on the staff was Brad Penny. Super extra bonus: Starting next season, the Marlins will have one of the best color announcers in baseball.

That Cubs thing was an isolated incident. Miguel is a nice, humble kid whose head is on pretty straight for having that much talent at 21. I don't think he's Griffey level, and hopefully never will be.

Baseball cards. My Miguel Cabrera collection is worth around $3000. Miguel Cabrera Collection

All indications are that the Marlins will sign Al Leiter to a 1 year deal tomorrow. They have waited this long so they wouldn't have to give up a draft pick.

The New York Yankees, who make enough money to know better, want the rest of Jason Giambi's contract voided because he admitted to using what can fairly be called a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals. Now before that laughing fit begins, listen for a moment here. The Yankees want the money, and the years, but mostly the money, so they can lavish it on tomorrow's flavor of the month, who may or may not have a steroid or two in his own closet. And that's fine. That's baseball, and they're the Yankees, and they shouldn't depart from character just because there's a new hot spot in the Pax Seligiana. But fair is fair. If they want Giambi's money back, they should also be asking for Gary Sheffield's money back, and the Giants Barry Bonds', and the A's Giambi's pre-Yankee money as well as Jose Canseco's, and the A's and Cardinals Mark McGwire's, and the Padres Ken Caminiti's money, wherever that is. And on and on and on. Because if you're going to turn a serious health and safety issue into a full-bore witch hunt, you have to do it right and burn everyone at the stake. And because fair is fair, the Yankees should return all the money they took in while benefiting from Giambi and Sheffield, and the A's, and the Padres, and the Cardinals, and the Giants, and on and on. Especially the Giants. Never mind the money. They have to return an entire ballpark. You see, while it is certainly fair game to decry Bonds' feeble explanation for allowing his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, free run of the machinery, and to ask for (but never get) asterisks for all these tainted records, what is not fair is for baseball to act like the despoiled virgin here, for Commissioner Bud to look all stricken and outraged as though someone had emptied a dump truck full of manure into his pool. That's not just not fair, it's a bright and gleaming hypocrisy of the first magnitude. You see, the players made their money out of Home Run Derby, but so did the owners. In fact, those homers largely fueled what Bud likes to call "baseball's renaissance," and only a certified nitwit (or a willful liar, take your pick) believes that the owners didn't know that it was Bill Nye The Science Guy marathons in every clubhouse in both leagues. They knew. You know they knew. And, you'll be utterly unsurprised to discover, they liked it fine. They raised ticket prices and concessions prices and parking prices and shmata prices, all so that they could max out all the credit cards of all the people who came to see the homers. Baseball cashed out on the clear and the cream and HGH and THG and all the other items in the Judas Priest Roadie Starter Kit. Cashed out good. Well, fine. Only it costs to remount the moral high horse, and if it's going to be open season on the players' money, it must therefore be open season on the owners' money, too. Only fans don't get to see these rebates, either. You liked the home runs, too, even when you suspected something was haywire. You laughed at Canseco when he said half the players in baseball were on the inventory for the same reason you laugh at Dave Chappelle when he recites the Periodic Table. Because both guys are naturally funny, no matter what they are saying. But Canseco, the big goofy galoot, may have been telling the truth, despite the big red nose and huge floppy shoes he took to wearing as his own career deteriorated. Point is, you were warned, and you didn't care. Especially you Giant fans. Drug rumors have surrounded Bonds since 1998, and 16,000,000 of you walked into the new ballpark in five years just to watch him be him. You knew, and mostly you were fine with it, because you kept coming. Fact is, we're all culpable, because we knew what was behind the curtain or had a real good guess. And no feigning innocence out there, either. There's more than one BALCO, remember. It's just the BALCO we know about is the only one we've found. So everyone has to give back the money -- even the media, which helped the show by playing the lovely magician's assistant, Rita. Either that, or we can call it a wash and move on, acknowledging that we were all in on it and failed by going along with the gag because, well, it was just so damned fun to watch. This is just so that nobody has a mind to play the outraged victim here. We all bought in, and now that the investment has gone south, we don't get to pretend we were hoodwinked and ask for our admission price back. Because the real lesson here is that eventually, all the chickens come home to roost, even if all you thought you were buying was the eggs. And it's a lesson we should all have to learn together, in the same classroom, from the same teacher. Just as long as the teacher isn't Victor Conte.

Looks much sweeter than Season 1. I think Comedy Central now fully realizes how much of a hit they have.

So, what do all of you Kentucky fans have to say about UNC now? I guess you have something to be proud of... afterall, you did lead for 0:00 of the game. Go HEELS!

I know some of you guys don't like Bonds, but you're all a LITTLE too happy for one of the biggest black marks in the history of baseball.

With Hudson and Leiter, I think its one or the other. I think a more pressing concern is the bench and bullpen. After Benitez, the Marlins' pen was truly awful. They need to add bench depth as well. Right now, they don't have a single good hitter outside of their starting lineup. You're very right. The Marlins are trying to add David Delucci for bench help and are looking at adding Dustin Hermanson from the Giants in the bullpen. Keep in mind, also, that they will be getting two key bullpen arms back this year from injury. Tim Spooneybarger and Chad Fox. Not quite sure how they will perform, but it's better than some of what they got.

Well, by all means, kick me in the nuts. Giambi, yes. But I'm assuming you mean Bonds also. I still think Bonds is innocent.

Isn't it obvious that Locke is going to be evil? He doesn't want to return to his life and that little prick that keeps taunting him. This is the life he always dreamed about!

To go along with the Leiter signing, according to Insider the Marlins and Angels are the two frontrunners for Tim Hudson. Didn't say who the Marlins would have to give up, but as long as it's not Stokes or Hermida... I'm all for it. Josh Beckett Tim Hudson AJ Burnett Dontrelle Willis Al Leiter I think that's a winning rotation if I ever saw one. (Assuming health)

Are those what it will really be, or what you think?