Random Thoughts

Traffic goes down faster than a boat taking 2,000 adults to fat camp on an island on Thursdays when I do my random thoughts. I am kidding, I just wanted to make a lame joke. There have been a lot of trades, signings, and almost signings in the past 24 hours so of course I have to give opinion that no one cares about. Let's turn it into The Big Lead without the fancy pictures for a day.

-Brian McNamee, who apparently is a Hall of Fame voter AND a baseball expert, does not think Roger Clemens will make it into the Hall.

"He's done. He's not going to the Hall of Fame," McNamee said in a video interview with Web site sportsimproper.com. "There's no chance. Too much damage. Too much trust was broken. Between the people that gave him his career, the people that wrote about his career, and the people that supported his career."

I am at the point where I believe neither McNamee or Clemens. Is that possible? I wish it was. I believe they are both lying but I can't figure out about what. I will bet $10,000 Roger Clemens makes the Hall of Fame. I don't really think the Hall voters care about trust or who supported his career, and I think the only way he is left out is if someone is trying to make an example of him...I don't think it will happen though. I wish all parties involved would just quit talking, the more either one talks, the less I believe that person.

-I am going to start a new column every week and it will be called "Rick Reilly Gets Paid Millions for Writing Things Like This...Once A Week," with excerpts from his weekly column without my comments.

Rick Reilly gets paid millions for writing things like this...once a week.

These four golfers not only fought off an armed robber, they chased him down in a golf cart and held him for police. And all without resorting to a single Big Bertha!

Question No. 1: Why was the man wearing underpants on his head? A: Perhaps he planned to take the money and launder it.

Question No. 2: Was the color of the underpants originally brown or were they …A: "No," answers Flick. "They were not stained from the day before."

Library custodian Bob Brewer, 58, spun the cart around in hot pursuit, with his friend, real-estate agent Reed Madsen, 57, sprinting behind. Next on the Golf Channel: America's Most Unforgettable Cart Chases!

As for those three, they get out of their cart now with a certain bounce, according to Itow. "We say stuff to each other like, 'Go ahead, punk. Make my putt."

Cha-Ching! (The sound of every person who works hard in America weeping violently.)

-I am almost cried when I read this because it was so pathetic...and then I wondered if Scott Boras would have Tex take the offer.

The Washington Nationals made their best New York Yankees impersonation on Wednesday.

According to MLB.com, the team made an eight-year, $160 million offer to free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira.

I did not find it sad that the Nationals tried to offer Teixeira a contract, I found it sad they actually think they have a shot at him. The Yankees and Red Sox sign contracts like that in their sleep and they sure as hell are not going to be shown up by some crappy fifth place NL East team. They will be damned if some half ass National League team is going to overbid for a player, if anyone is overbidding for mediocre players it is them.

(Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman then write out competing 5 year $200 million contracts for Tex and then Cashman calls Chad Cordero 3 years $100 million just to get back at the Nationals.)

My second thought was me wondering how much different was this from Alex Rodriguez going to Texas? At least Texas had some good players at the time, like Tex and Michael Young, the Nationals have Ryan Zimmerman and.........other people. Are they not concerned at all with pitching? John Patterson is their #1 pitcher. Maybe that money would be better spent on pitching...especially since they have Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young at first already.

My third thought was me wondering if this was the largest offer, and the Angels offered 6 years $100 million, which offer would Scott Boras have Tex take? I think he would take the Nationals offer then try to get traded to the Yankees in three years.

-The Charlotte Bobcats are continuing to tank in the hopes of running another franchise out of Charlotte. My question at this point is whether the UNC Tar Heels could beat the Bobcats. I am going to go with a "yes" on that.

In this entire article there is not one single quote from a Charlotte Bobcat scout, coach, general manager, or anyone involved with the organization that speaks positively about the trade. If anyone wonders what is wrong, that is your answer. There is one Larry Brown quote:

"When you try to get better, you're going to lose some assets," Charlotte coach Larry Brown told The Associated Press. "We're losing a pretty darn good player and the way Phoenix is trying to make their team, they just added an unbelievable piece.

No fucking way. When you are trying to get better, you are going to gain some assets. Gain, not lose dumbass. At what point after the Knicks disaster and the fact none of his players ever like him is he going to begin losing credibility as a good head coach?

"[Richardson] averaged 20 a game for us this year without a true post game. When you put him with Shaq, who can pass the ball and commands double teams, and Stoudemire as well, and you got a guy like Steve Nash, they got a pretty formidable weapon."

I am sorry, then why did you just trade this "formidable weapon" for two role players and a third string point guard?

Wait, here is another dumbass quote from "General Manager" Rod Huggins...or as I like to call him Chief Dumbass of the Organization.

"We needed to become bigger," Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins told The Associated Press.

Again, incorrect. You need to get BETTER, not bigger. You could have a team full of really tall guys who can't play (which you do with Okafor, Sean "Doughboy" May, and now Boris "I am French so that should tell you all you need to know about my toughness and willingness to work hard, because frankly I would rather grow a wispy mustache and smoke a cigarette outside a cafe" Diaw. I do like Tony Parker and think he is tough, please let me play into a French stereotype to mock Diaw, just this once) and it won't matter if you can't win basketball games. Simple as that.

Also, couldn't you have at least dumped some salary or gotten a contract or two that was expiring? This trade was a pretty much even salary swap for the next two years so I don't know how the Bobcats expect to get better when they have acquired expensive players with less talent than they originally had. What a clueless organization.

It makes me long for the days when Charlotte had a wonderful franchise with a strong fan base and George Shinn did not try to fuck anything with a pulse.

As for Diaw, Kerr said: "Boris' contract just didn't fit into our salary structure. I feel much better paying Jason Richardson to play 35-40 minutes a night as a starter than to pay Boris to come off the bench and play a limited role."

It fit into the Bobcats salary structure though. More useless, expensive guys who can sit on the bench and underperform. What a clueless organization.

-Do you think Omar Minaya realizes J.J. Putz is not of Latin/Hispanic origin?

New York shipped reliever Aaron Heilman, outfielder Endy Chavez, lefty Jason Vargas and three minor leaguers to the Mariners for Putz, center fielder Jeremy Reed and reliever Sean Green in the first trade by new Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik.

I am going to throw up if Jeremy Reed ends up being a great player for the Mets. I saw him play a few times when he was in the White Sox organization and I thought he would be pretty good. I was wrong...but maybe he was just waiting to be in the NL East to piss me off.

Let's sum up the activity in the NL East so far this offseason:

Mets- they have gotten two incredibly good pieces to their bullpen. Intelligently have not traded their best players from last year in a panic move and have the best pitcher in the NL.

Nationals- have offered a larger contract to Tex than the Braves and Mets would offer (????) and now have three above average outfielders by trading for Josh Willingham. Apparently want to be taken seriously.

Phillies- Zzzzzzzz...still sleeping off the World Series hangover.

Marlins- still trying to get Hanley Ramirez to demand a trade.

Braves- have shored up their starting rotation by trading for a .500 pitcher and want an injury prone inconsistent pitcher to be their #1 starter, so they are offering him double the money he deserves...they are also trying to let John Smoltz sign with another team as a free agent, just as a big "fuck you" to the fan base. (I would let Smoltz pitch until his arm falls off, why would anyone bet against him at this point?)

Needless to say, I think the Mets look like the obvious favorite this year in the NL East. Not that they are completely set behind Santana and Maine, but those two pitchers are better than any other combination in the division.

-Speaking of A.J. Burnett, this is really getting out of hand. He is a great pitcher when healthy, well congratulations, but being injured all the time is a major problem. I don't see this ending well for which ever team ends up with him.

Would the Braves guarantee the fifth year to secure Burnett? Probably. Would the Yankees raise their offer to $91 million to approximate Carlos Zambrano's deal with the Cubs? Perhaps.

Look, if there is no pitching available and a team needs pitching, then they are shit out of luck, there is no need to go out there and overpay for someone who is just going to not be very good for the entire length of the contract. Hell, Burnett may never be good at any part of the contract. I have a headache.

-Alex Marvez lists his most overpaid and most underpaid in the NFL. If you are looking for new information you won't find any here. You will find some really questionable opinions on the overpaid list though, where you will find Vernon Gholston (a rookie this year by the way, who is transitioning into the 3-4 defense) and Michael Huff (he plays for the Raiders for God's sake, how he is expected to play well for them?).

Under the underpaid list, you don't find too many surprises either. Though Marvez cheats incredibly well and 50% of the list includes the players who are still playing out their rookie contract, which means they are going to get a huge raise and could end up on the overpaid list next year. What a waste of time, there was no point to this list if you are going to list players who have not hit free agency yet.

-CC Sabathia (shocker!) is going to the Yankees. Huge contract for a huge man. He can opt out though after three years, and yet again a team bid against itself it seems.

The Yankees' first offer to Sabathia was for six years, $140 million. They added the seventh year to further distance themselves from the Brewers and other clubs interested in Sabathia.

The Brewers made the only other known offer to Sabathia — five years, $100 million with deferrals. But the Giants, Angels and Red Sox all showed varying degrees of interest in signing the pitcher.

From what we know the Yankees had the longest contract offer with six years and then they felt the need to tack on another year and $21 million. Do contracts like this ever end well?

Was there any other destination for Sabathia though? Next thing you will tell me Mark Teixeira will sign with the Red Sox. That's predictable as well.

Yep. Bill Simmons' and Scott Boras' one sided feud has to end now so Boras can feed more of his players to the Red Sox. Peace must be met.

-I guess with the Mets trade for J.J. Putz, there is this one little hangup.

J.J. Putz does not want to be a setup man, according to his agent, Craig Landis, but his change in roles could lead to him becoming a free agent one year earlier.

This doesn't change my mind about the trade, though I can't wait to see how this plays out. Can Putz be a setup man for one year?

Putz is signed for $5.5 million next season. The Mets will assume his $9.1 million club option for 2010, and that option could increase to a maximum of $9.6 million if Putz meets all of his appearance-based incentives.

Two years as a setup man and then the Mets will probably not pick up his option. I think it will end up being ok but you would think someone would ask him whether he is willing to be a set up man before the trade is made.

Anything really interesting or anything good by Simmons will go up immediately.