Woody Speaks Not Of Sense

Ok, so Jake Delhomme was erratic this weekend, Jeremy Shockey acted like a turd, and the Steelers offensive line was not the best in the world. I defended all of those people in the past 3 months and now I look stupid. I can handle that.

I can't handle the fact Peter King is having an internal war with himself as to whether he loves Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan more. I think he will end up carrying his lover's torch for Matt Ryan before it is all said and done. I was going to do the Peter King MMQB thing today but I am bored with him. Trust me, he was as egregious as ever, his power poll has Indianapolis above many other teams that have better records, and in the comments he acknowledges they have gotten lucky this year. I don't get it. It is just a power poll and is completely subjective but it still annoys me. So he still loves Matty Icccccccccce, Peyton Manning, New Englands defense against the power house Buffalo offense, and is very happy Barack Obama won. That about sums it up.

Let's get Woody!

Ooh, you're a Holliday, such a Holliday . . . it's a funny game, don't believe it's all the same.

When Woody Paige starts off a column quoting Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, then we should just start preparing for the moronity to spew.

Now, the Rockies are forced to trade Matt Holliday — for whatever bits and pieces they can get.

They can actually let him leave as a free agent and then collect the draft picks in return for him. Not the best thing to do but is an option. I think you are also over reacting here, why are the Rockies only going to get bits and pieces for Holliday? I am sure come June/July, some team would gladly part with a few prospects for him.

And they have to trade Garrett Atkins — for odds and ends.

Are the Rockies going to a swap meet to trade Atkins? Odds and ends? If he has no value on the trading market then you probably would not want him on your team.

This confuses me sometimes. A team gives a big contract to a player and then is upset when there is no trade market for that player. If there is no trade market for the player, then the player is probably not that good or makes too much money, and the fact the player is on your roster and you are paying him a lot of money is the team's fault. No reason to be angry, that team is just stupid, so therefore that team should be bitter and angry at themselves.

Because the Skid Rox can't trade the Monfort Brothers — not to be mistaken for The Brothers Gibb (Bee Gees) — for table scraps.

Maybe I don't follow baseball enough but I have never heard of these owners. I was under the impression the GM (last year's genius) Dan O'Dowd was the one who handed out contracts to the players. Granted he probably has a budget, imposed by the owners, but as an outsider I would say it is not just their fault there is no trade market for Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday that pleases the team enough to make a trade.

Holliday wouldn't accept a contract for $25 million a year from The Bee Mms. And they won't offer $25 a year.

This is horrible hyperbole. If Holliday really turned down $25 million then this is clearly all his fault. No player is worth that much money and he should have accepted this. I am also sure the team is offering more than $25/year though.

Charlie Monfort said through a messenger that long-range contract extension talks with Holliday last spring were "too much of a distraction. I think that helped lead to our downfall."

Sure. Every time Jeff Francis took the mound, he thought: "I'm totally distracted by the Holliday thing."

He very well could have been. If you signed a long term contract with a baseball team and they are not keeping around the core players you assumed were going to be on the team with you, then as a player this might concern you. I am sure it was in a lot of player's minds because the media was asking Holliday about it and if the Rockies get rid of Fuentes, Holliday, and Atkins that is a sure sign which way the team is headed.

So, blame the greedy Holliday for the Rockies' 74-88 record. Matt Valuable Player is a convenient target, and Charlie never accepts responsibility for failure.

If Holliday turned down $25 million per year then it is going to be his fault he is not back with the team, not management's. I feel the same way about him as I do Mark Texiera. Tex wants to be paid like he is one of the best players in the league, which he is not. You can ask the Texas Rangers, the Atlanta Braves, and the Anaheim Angels. There is just no way you can pay a player $25 million per year and he not be the biggest impact bat in the lineup. On a playoff caliber team, Tex will never be the biggest impact bat in the lineup but he wants to be paid like it.

I am not saying Holliday is not the best offensive player on a playoff team, I am just saying there is still quite a trade market for him out there, and if the Rockies don't trade him, they still get draft picks and can spend $25 million on two positions and upgrade two roster positions rather than shell out millions to one player. The fans and team may not like this, but the Rockies are like every team except the Dodgers, Mets, Red Sox, Angels, and Yankees in that they can't afford to make massive roster mistakes.

The Rockies record was actually the fault of injuries, the team playing above it's head last year, and a lack of depth in starting pitching. I think this is easier to fix than one would expect.

"I specifically don't want to spend my career collecting paychecks
and having October off. I want to be in a situation where I feel like I can make the postseason every year, not only if the perfect storm comes together," he said.

For someone who wants $25 million per year, this is an outright asshole comment. It is impossible to take the high road and claim you are just trying to win baseball games when you are holding the team hostage with your salary demands.

Why is Woody Paige taking Holliday's side on this? Holliday is claiming he wants to be a part of a consistent winner, yet is making salary demands that only 4-5 teams in the league can meet and stay competitive. Am I the only one who sees how stupid it is when players do this? Baseball players when they become free agents actually narrow their choices down for themselves, so they are never truly free agents. If you make demands only a few teams can meet then you are narrowing down your choices as to who will offer you a contract. By narrowing down the choices of teams who will even offer you a contract, you are narrowing down the chances you will be able to choose a team that will play in the postseason every year.

Matt Holliday is a liar and Woody Paige is a dumbass for letting him lie. If Matt Holliday really wanted to play in the postseason every year, he would sign a reasonable contract with the Phillies, Cubs, or Diamondbacks. Teams that have holes in the outfield that could be filled nicely with Holliday and have good enough pitching to make the postseason every year. Holliday REALLY wants to get paid a shitload of money, but rather than say that, he says he wants to play for a team that will compete. It's bullshit and Woody Paige falls for it.

As reported in this space at midseason, Holliday had said privately to a family friend that he wouldn't stay with the Rockies because the ownership hadn't upgraded the starting rotation in the offseason and wasn't committed to winning regularly.

Those are completely valid reasons to not resign with the Rockies. What is not valid is the fact Matt Holliday hired Scott Boras as his agent. This is a signal that he is all about money. Whether it is true or not, just like the people you hang out with determines what people stereotype you as, the agent you hire indicates whether you are really willing to negotiate a fair contract or not. How are the Rockies going to upgrade the pitching staff Matt Holliday so desperately wants when he is sitting on the payroll at $25 million per year or whatever he wants?

That's why I recommended at the beginning of June that Holliday be traded for a No. 1 pitcher — specifically CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Rich Harden or Tim Lincecum.

This is not fantasy sports or a video game! (Any smart person would give Cliff Lee another year before you trade your best hitter for him.)

Woody Paige has Bill Simmons Syndrome. Why would the Indians trade a pitcher they could not sign in return for an outfielder they could not sign? That makes no sense. Woody Paige has been huffing glue because the reason these trades never happened is because they were a horrible idea. The A's would never trade a starting pitcher for a more expensive position player coming up on his last year of his contract and the Giants would have to certifiably insane to trade Tim Lincecum, who they control for years at a reasonable price, for an expensive OF who is sure to not sign in San Francisco when his contract runs out.

Trading for these pitchers is not the solution, it is impossible and would not occur.

Everybody knows what happened to Sabathia, Lee, Harden and Lincecum. That was foresight, not hindsight.

They were all nobodies until this year, you are exactly right. Nobody had every heard of them.

The other team has to be willing to make the trade and there is no reason the other teams involved in this would take on the Rockies' problem for a year and a half in return for a great pitcher. Why would they give up a top of the line pitcher for a rental again? They wouldn't. And Woody Paige is stupid.

If the Rockies had acquired Sabathia, specifically, they might have used his sensational 11-2 record with the Brewers, who took the wild-card playoff spot. Eleven more victories and the Rockies would have finished with 85. The Dodgers won the division with 84 victories.

My head is going to explode. How the hell does Woody have a job? He has to remember Matt Holliday would not be on the roster after this stupid trade. How the hell would Sabathia have won 11 games without Holliday on the roster? I am going to assume the Rockies would have not won 11 more games without the offense Holliday provides, which is logical, and therefore the Rockies would not have caught the Dodgers and the Rockies would now have lost Holliday and gotten zero in return.

Woody, please pack your things up and leave your office.

The Rockies cannot get Sabathia, Lee, Harden or Lincecum now.

Actually they can get Sabathia now but with the money Holliday wants next year, they can't afford it. The Rockies can get the other three pitchers as well, nothing has changed, except the other teams would still never make this trade.

And they can't acquire a quality veteran starter for Holliday, even though that promise was made.

Why not? Is it because the Rockies have not tried or because Holliday is going to be a free agent and wants a shitload of money? Either way, I think the Rockies could get a veteran starter for Holliday.

(Am I missing something here? Is there something that would prevent them from getting a starter and this whole post is useless? Someone clue me in if I am missing something.)

What came out of the GMs' umbrella-drinks meetings is that the Rockies might trade Holliday for a one-season wonder left fielder from the Cardinals

Cliff Lee is also a one year wonder. He was in the minor leagues two years ago because he sucked.

It's clear the Rockies prefer to go young again and save money.

It is clear this is the preference.

The Skid Rox have alienated their two best, brightest hitters — and probably the rest of the team.

Garrett Atkins posted the worst stats since his first full year in the league last year. When a player's stats take a nose dive, this is not a good reason to give him a raise and commit the team's future to him. Granted, he was injured, but Holliday also posted his lowest statistics in three years last year. I am just saying...

I always thought the Rockies had a pretty good core of players, I don't understand why the options they have are to either resign Atkins and Holliday or completely start over. I thought there was an in between somewhere in there.

The Rockies will end up with another team's prospects to go with their prospects, more suspects to go with their usual suspects — Franklin Morales and Greg Reynolds. And no ace in the discards.

Woody Paige writes like Dr. Seuss. That is not a compliment.

Oddly enough, Sabathia is available as a free agent, but the Rockies won't sign him because they are a "midmarket" team. But Milwaukee, a "midmarket" team, has put in a bid to keep Sabathia.

They are not choosing to sign Sabathia for the same reason they are choosing to not resign Holliday. Milwaukee did put a bid in for Sabathia but they have also talked about trading Prince Fielder, in order to save money. You can't conveniently forget that little tidbit of information and just pretend it does not exist.

Before the holidays, Charlie will have to blame somebody else — The Grinch Who Stole Holliday.

I told you Woody writes like Dr. Seuss. The Rockies are choosing to not spend money to resign players, that is very thrifty of them, but the team could be correct in choosing to allocate the money that could go to Holliday to solving more problems with the team. They can't tie up all of their money in one player and expect to stay competitive. I do think it would be stupid for them to start all the way over. They should know they have to spend some money. I am not defending the Rockies cheapness, I am saying they could use the money leftover from him leaving to fix 2-3 holes on the roster. It's hypocritical Holliday expects them to upgrade their pitching and still sign him to a massive contract. Woody Paige is stupid.