Still no Bill Simmons whiny ass article about the Patriots. It's funny, you get a next day column when something good happens to his teams, but when something bad happens, he reverts to his usual schedule (Colts winning Super Bowl, etc.) of one column a week.
1. FireJay has a good post up here which contains this article. I have a personal problem with the article because it says the Marlins are ruining baseball because they don't spend any money and use the revenue sharing for nothing baseball related. This whole "ruining baseball" argument is ruining my day right now. The Yankees are ruining the competitive balance of baseball by signing away all of the great players no other team tries to afford, that is argument some people make. These people therefore champion a salary cap in baseball. This guy uses diversion tactics to say the Florida Marlins are ruining the financial structure of baseball, which is completely different from the competitive balance. I don't give two shits about revenue sharing and what teams are doing with the money, my problem lies in the fact the Yankees are turning every team into a small market team. I don't want a salary cap but I also would like for others to pay attention to the problem and not get off topic on the Marlins choice in spending their revenue sharing money. Regardless of whether I agree with his argument or not, he makes some poor points.
Get over it. The free market is the best way to go.
I don't know how to "beyond agree" with something, but I do with this.
Football has parity, but it’s almost ridiculous how quickly teams change. There’s no team identity from year to year, and very few trades (which are exciting for the fans).
So the reason to not have a salary cap is that the teams in football change so quickly because of free agent signings and teams changing the roster around? In other words, the free market system is the problem?
There is a team identity every single year in football because young players can stay with the team that drafted them, so good teams keep their good players because they have the same payroll restrictions as other teams. Indianapolis has the same ability to sign Reggie Wayne as the New York Giants because the New York Giants don't have $50 million dollars the Colts don't have access to. The pro football system actually allows there to be a larger team identity for a longer period of time because a team can afford to keep its own players. It may sound like I want a salary cap but I really do not. It is very tempting though.
Trades are exciting, so are bench clearing fights, but I am not going to condone more fighting. This is stupid.
Basketball has an interesting mix of continuity and parity, but figuring out a deal in basketball is more a question of math than a negotiation of teams with needs. The maximum salary slots also create a sub-class of overvalued stars that just get shipped from team to team as the league waits for their bloated contract to expire (think Al Harrington).
I agree with the overvalued star part in the NBA but EVERY SPORT has to deal with bloated contracts that teams have to wait to expire, in fact basketball actually has this correct because to trade these contracts you have to take on a bloated contract in return. There is no salary dumping allowed without getting a larger salary in return. Actually, the NBA system does suck, but in theory it would work well.
No, the system baseball has is, for the most part, the best way to go.
Absolutely, bloated contracts like Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano, Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle, Barry Zito, and Andruw Jones never happen right? You get negative points for this sentence.
Teams have a chance of winning every year - just look at the small market teams that have found postseason success over the past five years
Actually in every sport teams have a chance to win every year. The Celtics went from bad to champions, the Rays went from bad to champions, and the Dolphins went from winning one game to winning their division. It happens in every sport. This is not necessarily exclusive to baseball.
Using a revenue-sharing system to penalize the Yankees for their huge payroll is not a terrible system - provided, of course, that the smaller market teams actually use the money for good use.
Mr. "I love a free market" wants to regulate how teams spend their revenue sharing money or at least make sure they use it for certain purposes.
The Marlins were a good team last year, going 84-77 in a division where 92 wins meant first place. Imagine if the Marlins decided to actually use the revenue-sharing money to sign Manny Ramirez for two years at $25 million. Throw in a little money for a starting pitcher, and this team could compete with the New York Mets immediately.
Simple as that! The Marlins payroll was $23 million last year, if they just double their payroll on two players they will compete with the Mets!
I would love to know where this magical impact starting pitcher is supposed to come from and how Manny is going to be convinced to take $12.5 million per year when he opted out of a contract that paid him much more than that. Therein lies the fucking problem. If the Marlins bid on a starting pitcher and the Yankees wanted that pitcher, they would blow the Marlins bid out of the water. The second the Red Sox, Dodgers, or Yankees heard Manny could be had for $12.5 million per year, they would up it to $15 million per year or give him an extra year and then the Marlins have lost Manny as well. That is the problem. The Marlins can't just decide to sign Manny, because even with the wonderful revenue sharing, they can't pay what the Yankees can pay in the long run.
I don't hate the Yankees at all and I don't want a salary cap. This magical little paragraph he just wrote about how the Marlins could improve their team, I don't think it could actually happen. The prices of these players get so jacked up by the free market, the Marlins can not be players in the free agent market, except at a lower level. Ask the Nationals how bidding on Mark Teixeira worked out for them. They were used to up the bidding until a larger market team gave him exactly what he wanted.
Even if they didn’t go as far as Manny, shouldn’t the Marlins be in on players like Pat Burrell and Ty Wiggington? They need a left fielder and a corner infielder, obviously.
What the fuck are these two players going to do for the Marlins? They certainly are not the key to winning the NL East. In fact, the Marlins are a horrible example to use because they are not a real team. They are the farm club for the other farm clubs to the Yankees. They draw 5,000 fans a game and have no interest in putting a competitive team on the field.
I am more concerned with the mid-market teams and their ability to compete with free agents. The simple fact is the Milwaukee Brewers can not go out and sign a team changing free agent if the Yankees or any other team wants this player. This is the worst possible thing for continuity on a team and for the fans.
On a personal note, I never really got excited the Braves traded for Tex, J.D. Drew or Gary Sheffield because I knew when they were free agents there is no way we could keep those players. That is what I am worried about, not the revenue sharing structure. It is hard to enjoy a player on a team knowing there is no way he will be on the team in the next year. Whose fault is that? Not the Yankees but also not the Braves because they can't bust their payroll to keep their self imposed payroll on one guy.
While this has worked for the Marlins, the fact that they are hoarding their revenue-sharing money, costs veteran players real money, narrows the field for prospective free agents, and adds to the perception of baseball as being a league of haves and have-nots.
No, no, no. The people who are narrowing the field for free agents are the free agents and the player's agents themselves. Once they put themselves in a certain salary range, it cuts out part of the league. When A.J. Burnett, Sabathia, and Tex go on the free agent market and the Yankees outbid large market teams (Red Sox, Braves, Dodgers, Angels) for these players, it feels like a problem to me. Last year the Yankees were the only team who could bid on A Rod anywhere near the salary range he required. The Marlins have no interest in competing, I am worried about those teams that do have an interest in competing. I don't know the solution but I don't think the Marlins are the problem.
2. Terrell Davis wants to remind everyone he is still alive.
These same guys who are taking cheap shots at T.O. and Roy Williams now are going to be wanting interviews from them a year from now and talking on air about what great players they are.
"The first guy that's got to go is T.O..." T.D. said. "T.O. I'm sorry you are a cancer. You got to go."
First off, this is not news. Second off, T.O. is not going to fire himself, so that message should have been delivered to Jerry Jones. You can't just cut great receivers either. Pain in the ass as he may be, you can't just cut him.
Can we stop talking about the Cowboys now please?
3. Last week I wrote this sentence:
Again, it is only one offseason, and really the Yankees have to sign free agents because they have no players in their farm system that can help right now and they don't have the players in the system to trade for players, but this scares me a little bit. What happens when Hanley Ramirez becomes a free agent?
Apparently the Red Sox did not want to wait that long.
Unfortunately for them, the trade offer was rebuffed.
The Marlins were said to be most interested in a centerfielder, and it's believed Boston's promising young centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and talented pitching prospect Clay Buchholz were among those mentioned in a potential package for Ramirez,
I wonder what would have gotten the deal done? That seems like a good start to a package and I wonder what else the Marlins wanted. This is why I don't even count the Marlins as a MLB team because they just sell off parts of their team to other teams.
The Marlins are not ruining baseball if you like the free market system, they are actually just speeding the process up and allowing the top players to play for the large market teams originally.
The Red Sox actually use their farm system to acquire players, so this does not disturb me quite as much, because any team could offer the prospects to get Ramirez.
4. I wonder if the dementia was inherited by his son, Dean?
Dean did fire Marty Schottenheimer and keep Philip Rivers over Drew Brees. Ok, that may be an arguable point since they both are good QB's but imagine the Chargers with Brees. Don't you think they would be just a little better than 8-8?
5. I am little shocked Mangini got fired and I agree with Alex Marvez, I think Favre's presence had something to do with it.
Here's where the debate gets interesting. Why did the Jets nosedive and is Mangini, like coaches often are under such circumstances, being made a scapegoat for the failures of others?
Probably because it is very hard to fire the players. I said it in my NFL preview this year and I will say it again, I was never 100% sold on the Jets defense, I felt like Gholston was a wasted draft pick and Kris Jenkins is a T.O. type locker room guy, but he just pouts and does not go to the press.
Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer unsuccessfully tried to curb Favre from throwing an NFL-high 22 interceptions by stressing discipline and patience.
I think Mangini should not have gotten fired and been allowed a do-over on this one. Favre is never going to curb his tendency to throw interceptions. It's not happening.
As reported exclusively Sunday by FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer, Mangini's tendency to emphasize minutiae with players during weekly game preparation didn't fly with a headstrong quarterback notorious for having shaky study habits.
As "great" as Brett Favre is, I really hope the Jets did not fire a coach, even though some people didn't like him seemed to put together a decent team, to appease a 39 year old quarterback.
After the Dolphins loss, Favre said he didn't have a timetable and a decision wouldn't be made for at least a week.
By then, the Jets will be well into their head coaching search. That means Favre will be under more pressure than he ever faced in Green Bay toward making a quick judgment about his NFL future.
This is not going to end well at all. Peter King will surely write a story defending Brett Favre at some point, but there is no way he makes a decision on if he is coming back by February, and even then he will change his mind.
Whoever gets the Jets job will want to know whether Favre plans to play, his commitment to participating in an off-season program and if his problematic right shoulder requires surgery.
As this head coach should have the right to do, but this still is not going to end well.
6. Rod Marinelli was going to get fired but why the hell did they promote two people in the organization?
If anyone out there is a Detroit Lions fan, it is not going to get any better any time soon.
7. I think moving the Pro Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl is a bad decision.
Barring a schedule change, next season's Pro Bowl will take place Jan. 31, 2010, with the Super Bowl that year on Feb. 7. The league's plan is for players on the AFC and NFC championship squads not to take part in the Pro Bowl.
So when about 20 players don't play in the game because of injuries/they don't want to play, the best players of the best teams are not allowed to play, and the team's players who just lose in the NFC/AFC Championship opt out because they are still upset over losing...what is going to be left to watch? It's bad enough as it is now, but now you take the Pro Bowl away from Hawaii and fewer players may attend and players don't want to play in the game anyway so they will back out making even more players voted in non-attendance. Just cancel the game.
College football/basketball don't require the 1st/2nd team All American players to play a game, just have the teams named and don't require a game if it is going to get half assed.
8. Bill Simmons actually has a decent column up. Nothing egregious but also nothing that has to do with the NFL. I have a feeling it is NBA time in his world now. I just hope he starts following college basketball again, because he has no clue about that. Like zero.
9. The Jets are doing everything in their power to get Bill Cowher as head coach.
I think Cowher is a great coach but I also know that he coached in a great organization there in Pittsburgh, which obviously helped him be successful. They have had a great defensive scheme for a few years, made good draft choices and great ownership. The New York Jets situation is not like that and I wonder if he could duplicate his success in Pittsburgh in another city. I guess the same question was asked when Bill Parcells left the Giants and it worked out...
10. I think I am going to try and post J.S. and my NFL preview results here in a day or so. Our ability to predict the team's records was not very impressive. Here is just a hint, he thought the Raiders would go 11-5 and I said the Jaguars would go 13-3. I can't wait to make fun of myself.
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