I apologize for my lack of posting here at the blog, but that whole work thing was keeping me occupied over the past month and when I got home I didnt feel much like posting, and usually just went to bed. But enough about my problems, onto more pressing matters.
Matt Holliday just got traded a few days ago, and from where I sit it seems to be a fair trade for both sides. The Cardinals got a quality bat in Holliday, who is sure to be much improved now that hes moving out of the unfriendly hitters park that is Oakland and into a more neutral park. The A's got the 2nd best prospect from the Cardinals system, another player with very high upside, and some other guy. Not a bad haul for someone who is struggling like Holliday is...or was.
I'm not really sure why, but there are some writers out there who have it in for Billy Beane. I guess its because he came off as kind of cocky in "Moneyball", but thats not his fault. I mean, its not like he wrote the book or anything. I have a feeling Tracy Ringolsby is one of those people. For some reason he thinks The A's just got taken to school by the Cardinals, which I dont think is anywhere close to the truth, but lets examine this further, shall we?
St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak played the waiting game — and won.
The Cardinals were after Matt Holliday last winter.
The Rockies asking price was steep.
Oakland outbid the Cardinals.
Eight months later, the A's had to salvage what they could, and sent Holliday to St. Louis.
It's a win-win for Mozeliak
You know an article is getting off to a bad start when the writer starts doing his best Plaschke impression. I dont understand why writers do this, it doesnt add anything, its just annoying, and I think its kind of lazy. Look at how easy it is.
I wake up in the morning.
I go brush my teeth and shave.
I drive into work.
My boss was a douche.
God how I hate him.
What I'm doing right now is adding no substance and it is annoying.
I miss my Moms basement...it was nice.
Okay, I'll stop now. But yes, I hate when writers do that. So all you writers reading take note: Unless you want to be ridiculed by poor grammar and run on sentences, dont write like Bill Plaschke.
He avoided the temptation last winter, when the Rockies were looking at a return on Holliday of big-league outfielder Ryan Ludwick, second baseman/outfielder Skip Schumaker, and right-handed pitcher Mitchell Boggs, who spent time in the Cardinals rotation earlier this season.
A 30 year old coming off a year there is no way he will ever replicate, a 2nd baseman with a career 100 OPS+(who they have playing LF now for some reason that year), and a 24 year old (at the time) with a career 1.828 WHIP is asking too much? Okay, fine. Do carry on.
Without Holliday, the Cardinals still found themselves in first place in the NL Central, leading by a game on Friday morning.
Then they got Holliday from Oakland. As well as bringing a legitimate bat to compliment Albert Pujols, Holliday also provides an emotional lift to his new teammates because the organization stepped up and added the right-handed slugger. The cost? Three prospects, none of which showed promise of having an impact in St. Louis.
That last sentence is what caught my eye when I was skimming over the article. I had heard of Brett Wallace before, but I figured I would find out a little more about him, which is something Mr. Ringolsby did not do. After a quick search of Google This was the first thing to pop up. Yeah, his ETA to the majors is 2010. Not to mention he is ranked 42nd best prospect IN THE WHOLE LEAGUE. Why is Mr. Rigolsby making him sound like a scrub?
(quick break to watch Entourage)
Okay, where was I?
The uncertainty about the free agent market this offseason, however, created the possibility that agent Scott Boras could call Beane's bluff and accept arbitration from Oakland, like he did once for Kevin Millwood in Atlanta
Maybe I'm not remembering this right, but I could've sworn it was Maddux that accepted arbitration from Atlanta. Maybe Millwood did, too.
A key reason that the Rockies are where they are is they dealt Holliday. That's not a knock on Holliday, but rather a statement of what Huston Street has meant to the Rockies. The question Rockies fans are left to ponder is where they would have been without Street
Yes, the guy that pitches for 1 inning is more valuble than the corner outfielder who OPS's 1.000 at coors field. Makes sense to me.
I think my favorite part to the article is reading the comments. Some choice ones:
From Gleek: Beane and the A's are a bunch of losers. It's too bad that used to be a good team before Beane and his cheap ball sabermetrics crapola got a hold of it.
Beane has been GM since 1998. They have had some success between now and then. Probably the biggest mistake Beane made is giving Michael Lewis so much access to how they ran things. That took away his competitive advantedge, because after the book came out, everyone knew what he was doing. He pretty much had his whole strategy published.
Anyone who honestly believes Beane shouldn't have traded Holliday, or that he received less than he traded is a m.o.r.o.n.Beane absolutely had to trade Holliday, because he certainly wasn't going to resign in the off-season. Holliday is likely going to be Type-A, but ultimately that didn't matter because the package Beane received was significantly better than one extra first round pick in the draft.Both Wallace and Mortensen have relatively high ceilings...in fact, Wallace was the best position prospect in the Cards system. Eric Chavez now has an heir apparent in Oakland.And it's not as if the A's traded 2007 Holliday. Holliday has been grossly under-performing in Oakland this season, so i would imagine his value was substantially lower than it was 1-2 years prior.And the argument comparing Carlos Gonzalez to Brett Wallace is silly, really. Gonzalez isn't half the prospect Wallace is. Huston Street is the only player of value from that deal.I'm no fan of the A's, but Ringolsby doesn't have a clue. Beane did just fine.
I think this commenters thoughts are about in line with what the majority of people thought of the deals Beane made. I dont know if I agree with Wallace being Chavezs heir to 3rd base, but I agree with the rest of what he said.
From Gleek again: Let's see the A's got rid of a proven MLB talent for noobs. Beane once again shows that he is a cheapskate and doesnt want to win.
Noobs? Is Billy Beane playing online computer games? I dont think this dude realizes that Beane does not set the payroll (I know he has a part ownership, but its a relatively small share).
Slapshot2003: Hey riingolsby, Beansie did the best he could with what was being offered out there. I'm sure it's a better deal than you could've gotten.And BTW: Tracy is a girls name!!!!
Apparently slapshot either is a middle school kid or he just isnt very bright. I mean......come on, dude. Thats your best insult? He might as well have gone the whole 9 yards and thrown in "Tracy is a girls name, so that means you have cooties!!!!!!"
I think this one is my favorite one
What_Eva_34 7/26/2009 12:36:01 AM
THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE IS AN ID.I.OT. THEY GAVE UP THEY'RE BEST HITTING PROSPECT, AND HE WROTE THEY GOT HOLLIDAY FOR NEXT TO NOTHING. STICK TO WRITING, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SKILLS. WHAT MAY BE GOOD TODAY, MAY TURN OUT TO BE A DISASTER TWO SEASONS FROM NOW.
............ I'm going to take this sentence by sentence.
THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE IS AN ID.I.OT.
okay, first off, he left a period out. Second, why is he spelling out Idiot like it stands for something?
THEY GAVE UP THEY'RE BEST HITTING PROSPECT, AND HE WROTE THEY GOT HOLLIDAY FOR NEXT TO NOTHING.
so they gave up "they are" best hitting prospect?
STICK TO WRITING, BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS SKILLS.
Perhaps Tracy doesnt, but at least he can write coherently.
WHAT MAY BE GOOD TODAY, MAY TURN OUT TO BE A DISASTER TWO SEASONS FROM NOW.
I just cant believe that this person sat down at his computer, typed the comment, looked at it and thought "yeah, that awesome. This comment brings a lot to the table."
YAWN. Well its about 1230 around here and I have to be up in 5 hours so I'm going to stop here. I was going to do another article, but I'm too tired right now. I'm a bitch like that.
Showing posts with label Matt Holliday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matt Holliday. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
22 comments Ten Things I Think I Think Peter King Has Not Thought Of: Contradicting TMQ Edition
I think everyone knows the drill of the "Ten Things..." by now, so I don't really need to explain it. I am busy at work which means I won't be searching for articles today and will just use some good ones I already have.
1. Bill Simmons wrote an article yesterday and it wasn't so bad. That is completely relative of course. In my opinion a "not bad" article by Simmons is a horrible article by someone else. Commenter Ivn actually broke it down much better than I could have in a much shorter time span, so rather than pretend I am bringing up my own points on this article that was really not horrible as a whole, I will give Ivn all the credit and just put some of what he wrote here...then of course I will comment and give us the self referential and pop culture count.
- he kind of defends Rondo's foul on Miller last night (although to be fair he does say later on Rondo should be suspended)
I don't know about suspended but I think if you are going to say he needed to be suspended then it should also have been called a flagrant foul. I don't see how it can't be a flagrant foul at that point and the player still get suspended. That's just my position on things like this. I think a player should be suspended only if the foul was called a flagrant.
- the Pantheon of Faces: "the Brad Miller 'I just got whacked in the face, my lip is swelling, my mouth tastes like blood, I'm seeing stars, and now I have to make two humongous free throws' Face as well as the Brad Miller 'I just missed the first free throw, now I really have to play up how much this hurts and act like I might keel over' Face"
Oh yes, a new Pantheon of Faces entry! How awesome, I hope this makes it to Bill's wikipedia page. I think Bill's goal is to be the first person to have a wikipedia page that links to another wikipedia page because it is so large.
- the most bizarre theory I've ever heard: "You know what else? A reader (can't remember his name) pointed out something to me that I passed along in a podcast and now I will mention here: Kidd is the only guy who can defend LeBron and Kobe. Why? They respect him too much. They don't want to kick his butt. It doesn't make them feel good. They settle for jumpers instead of just destroying him off the dribble in a goofy display of guilt and respect."
I will let Ivn sum this one up.
(what the fuck?)
(This is the most half assed theory I have heard in a while come from Bill. I don't even know if LeBron and Kobe can be defended by Jason Kidd, but even if they can, I would have to doubt this is the reason.)
- Pantheon of Faces-ish, part II: "He let down LeBron so many times that LeBron developed an actual 'Drew Gooden disappointed me yet again and I might have to kill him soon' frown."
After a while, all of these faces just turn into a cliche and don't really mean anything. There are only so many "Faces" that can be created until the Manning Face looks like the Drew Gooden Frown and it turns out many of the "Faces" are just the same face with a different name...which they are anyway.
- a new corollary/theory: "Just one. I call it the Andre Iguodala Corollary -- namely, if you just sucked for the last two minutes of Game 1, bricked two free throws and missed another shot, you are not allowed to prance around like a superstar if you happen to make an absolutely atrocious stutter-step fallaway for the lead -- a shot that you never should have taken in a million years. I will allow you to chest-bump a teammate or two, but that's it," which includes...
I don't know, that seems like kind of a long drawn-out corollary to me. I am not saying it won't catch on with Bill's Simmonsites/SimmonsClones, I never underestimate them, but this is going to be a hard one to self reference back on.
Thanks for the quick summary Ivn, you saved me a lot of writing in vain.
Pop culture count: 8 (Yes, I did not divide by 50)
Self referential count: 7 (Again, I am as saddened as you all are)
2. Gregg Easterbrook made a comment in his TMQ on Tuesday that he is suspicious of players who played on the same team at the same position in college because often one makes another look better than he is. In the comments, we had been naming players this would/would not pertain to. I want to prove Gregg wrong. So today's physical challenge is to think of players who played together, at the same position, in college and played in the NFL and either both sucked, one sucked and the other didn't, or neither sucked.
The rules are that they have to play the same position in college and have played actually together on the field for a year or so. They also have to play a position where the play of one at the position could reflect positively or negatively on the other at the same position, so basically no comparing quarterbacks, kickers, punters, and I would even say it is hard to compare DE and DT (like Ryan Sims and Julius Peppers) or LT and a Guard. I want to see if Gregg has reason to think there could be a trend here or is full of shit.
So far we have:
Kamerion Wimberly (if he was a LB in college) and Ernie Sims: one average and one great OR
Wimberly (if he was a DE in college) and Bunkley (though he is a DT): both suck
Manny Lawson and Mario Williams: one sucks and one is great
AJ Hawk and Bobby Carpenter: one is average and one sucks
Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmanzedah: both are great
Marcus Stroud (though he was a DT), Charles Grant, Richard Seymour: all are great
Michael Haynes and Jimmy Kennedy: both suck
John Henderson and Albert Haynesworth: both are great
Philip Buchanon, Mike Rumph and Ed Reed: average, sucks, great
Vince Wilfork, Jerome McDougle, William Joseph: great, sucks, average
Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss: both are great
Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams and Brandon Jacobs: great and average (injuries), great
Dwayne Bowe and Buster Davis: great and average
Jevon Kearse and Reggie McGrew: average and sucks
Felix Jones and Darren McFadden: too early to tell
D.J. Williams and Jonathan Vilma: (though both are injured, both are pretty good)
Play along if you care to and give some more names that match the semi-rules I gave and we can see if Gregg is right. I am looking to do a final tally here soon so we can find out if Gregg is making things up or not.
3. A-Rod is re-fucked in regards to having any credibility in the world of baseball.
Rodriguez put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years. Former high school teammates told Roberts that A-Rod was using steroids back then and his coach knew it -- an allegation the coach, Rich Hoffman, denied.
That could very well be puberty kicking in, though I don't recall gaining 25 pounds of muscle when I hit puberty. What's funny is that even his high school teammates are selling him out. Normally guys would be bragging they played ball with A-Rod in high school and trying to help him out and not rat him out, but his high school teammates are throwing him under the bus. You would think they would kiss up to him, even though they don't see him anymore, so the high school team doesn't get a semi-black eye for their accomplishments, but they don't. Does anyone like this guy?
• A-Rod "pitch tipped" when he played for the Rangers by letting opponents at the plate know which pitch was coming in lopsided games. A-Rod expected players he helped would reciprocate when he was having an off night and needed to get his batting average up.
This pisses me off as much as the steroids allegations do. It's one thing to try and help your team by cheating, its still cheating, but you are trying to help yourself and your team, but to give away pitch type to the opposing team in blowouts is some shady bullshit. A-Rod is actually hurting his own teammates in this situation, which is the lowest of lows in my book.
There could be a guy on the mound, even in a blowout, looking to pitch a couple of innings in the hopes he could get in the game in a key situation and A-Rod is screwing him over from ever getting that chance. No wonder Texas pitching was so bad, A-Rod helped the other team out.
• A-Rod was hated at Hooters, where he tipped the minimum 15 percent.
Ok, that is just funny to me. I don't know if it is the fact he was hated at Hooters or the fact he only tipped 15% when he made $250 million or the mental image of Hooters waitresses telling Selena Roberts they hate A-Rod, but this amuses me.
4. If this surprises anyone, you don't watch MLB and are not familiar with Scott Boras or the Yankees.
"I think a little bit as a human being you can't help but to think that if the Yankees are interested I would definitely consider it. I wouldn't be looking around if I were under contract for the four years, but I think I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be interested, especially with the Yankees being such a storied franchise. So yeah, you take a look around; you never know what's going to happen. This is a beautiful place."
If I am not wrong, Hideki Matsui is a free agent after this year and Johnny Damon's contract runs out as well. We all know what that means. Matt Holliday, barring a massive offer from an expected team is going to be a New York Yankee next year. It's happening, let's just go ahead and accept it.
I don't think there should be a salary cap in baseball, but as I have said before, I think it is disturbing when anytime a good, young player becomes a free agent, you know exactly what team he is going to end up playing for. If anyone thinks Hanley Ramirez is not going to be a Red Sox or a Yankee at some point in the near future, you are probably wrong. I just wish teams could keep players that are homegrown (and yes, I realize Ramirez and Holliday are not home grown by the team they currently play for), not to mention it just depresses me to know top players will have to take a hometown discount when they become free agents to stay with their current team. The Yankees will always outbid everyone for a free agent, it is just going to happen.
5. As always, Bill Plaschke writes the book on how to do reactionary journalism. This was written after the one loss the Lakers suffered against the Jazz.
Just as we marveled at how they can soar, we must now acknowledge how they can stink.
This was after they lost 1 game. 1 game in Utah, by two points...after they had blown a 13 point lead. Things aren't that bad.
Wonder what the folks in Cleveland were thinking when they watched this mess. So far this spring, the NBA-leading Cavaliers have struck me as anything but, um, lazy.
The Cavs were probably too worried about the Pistons to worry about the Lakers at this point in the playoffs. Even if they did watch the Lakers game it was because the Cavs had the luxury of playing the Pistons, a team that absolutely laid down against the Cavs the entire series.
See what happens? The Jazz now have the energy to push this series further than necessary. The Lakers now have the doubts that will make this series tougher than expected.
The Lakers won the next two games by 11 points and 14 points.
All of these little things add up to a longer road to Cleveland, and a wearier team once they arrive.
The Celtics played in several 7 game series last year and it did not stop them from beating the Lakers nor winning the NBA Championship. Bad point by Bill.
Most likely, by June, this game will be remembered as a hiccup.
Yet, Bill still feels the need to write an entire article about it...and he is writing in a panic.
After Ariza's three-pointer in the middle of the third quarter, I made an announcement to anyone who would listen."It's over!" I declared.
Bill Plaschke is a sage...or he is that dumbass that screams shit like this as the other fans cringe that he just called the game as being over way too early.
The Jazz lost eight games here this season. They apparently lost fans in the process, with empty green seats visible throughout the arena Thursday.
The Jazz went 31-8 at home this year. That is not exactly horrible, the Jazz have one of the best point guards in the NBA, which is the Lakers weakest point...oh, and the final result is the Jazz only won one game, after the Lakers collapsed, and only won the game by 2 points. Really, this article did not need to be written.
6. Lenny Dykstra is not only an accused steroid user but now he is completely full of shit.
I don't know how many of you read this article already but it is worth reading in my opinion, even if it is long. To hear Dykstra talk, you just get the feeling that he is incredibly full of shit, and you also wonder how come his "investors" don't see this as well. He is a pathetic human being. I never liked him as a Phillie and Met and I definitely don't like him at all now.
Other sites have said it when speaking about this article, but if Mike Fish ever shows up at your door and wants to speak with you, don't answer and go missing. He will make you look bad.
7. Rick Reilly gets paid millions of dollars to write articles like this.
OK, listen up! The reason I've gathered every single member of every American sports posse, cru and entourage here is to say one thing:
He spelled crew as "cru." I have never seen this before. This article is an example of the situation in an article where the first part of it is the best part and it only gets worse from there.
We're going to say the Pledge of the Posse. Repeat after me:
I don't see how the head of ESPN.com can look at himself in the mirror after reading a Reilly article and think, "my God, this is journalism at it's finest...I am constantly entertained by his writing. Look at me, I am beaming with pride."
I collect all cell-phone cams!
I always drive!
I don't take nights off!
I carry the gun!
I pack the bags!
These are the rules Rick Reilly has written. Try not to be too impressed at his journalistic ability.
Now get out there and loiter!
If they did loiter, that would be more work than Rick Reilly put into this article. If he is going to entertain, at least entertain. This is not even entertaining or funny.
8. Gregg Doyel writes an interesting article that I enjoyed. I enjoy too many of his articles for my own comfort. This one is about Graham Harrell and I actually believe it is worth reading because it compares Harrell to the other players taken and it does make you wonder.
You don't understand, but then, you wouldn't. All-American quarterback Graham Harrell of Texas Tech wasn't picked during the NFL Draft over the weekend, not early or late or ever, and you don't get it. But that's you.
Me, I get it. Because that's me.
Doyel, as you can see from clicking the link, goes on to list ways that Harrell is superior to those quarterbacks that were drafted, and drafted very high, in the draft. I wonder why Harrell did not get drafted? Is it because scouts think he is a system QB? He was pretty highly recruited out of high school, though they did run a similar offense to Texas Tech, if I remember correctly. I think he would be worth a late round pick.
My questions are this:
If Graham Harrell is not good enough to play in the NFL, how did he put up such great numbers at Texas Tech, and why is Michael Crabtree immune from the "system" enigma by NFL scouts?
If Graham Harrell is good enough to play in the NFL, is he ever going to get a fair shot since he wasn't drafted? There are going to be at least 3 quarterbacks in front of him he will have to beat out. That is tough.
If he can't play quarterback in the NFL, goodness, that league must be full of incredible football players.
Or stupid general managers.
I am not a Graham Harrell advocate but I am a little surprised no team took a chance on him in the draft. You all may disagree but I think this is a great article by Gregg Doyel, especially if you are like me and think Josh Freeman and Mark Sanchez (who Doyel talks about a little bit) are not quite as good as others think they are. I think Harrell has been hurt by previous Texas Tech QB's failures in the NFL.
9. Woody Paige writes about the Broncos choosing Knowshon Moreno, and he does it using his special writing talents, calling it a "no-no." That's a pun!
If Moreno is as big a bust as Steve Sewell, who also was a running back selected by the Broncos in the first round, and if Ayers, chosen No. 18 as a defensive end/outside linebacker, is as mediocre as Jarvis Moss, a defensive end (now outside linebacker), then McDaniels might be a head coach in Denver as long as his predecessor's predecessor — two seasons.
I still don't get why they chose a running back in the first round when the Broncos had so many needs on the defensive side of the ball. I really like Moreno but I don't really like him for the Broncos.
We do know that the Broncos are up to seven — or is it 70? — running backs.
The Broncos also signed three free agent running backs this offseason. I just don't know how he can convince the Denver fan base, who has seen many 1,000 yard rushers over the past several seasons from converted fullbacks and pretty much anyone pulled off the bench, that a good running back is really hard to find. The best running back in franchise history was a 6th round pick and they have a really good offensive line who is going to open up holes, no matter who runs the ball. They don't need to take a running back 12th in the NFL draft.
Hoodie & The Bluefish surprised everyone
This is a team that needs to go back from Orange Slush to Orange Crush
I don't know at what age Woody Paige is going to stop writing shit like this, but I hope it is very, very soon.
And if this team needed Moreno so much, it could have traded down in the first round, gotten another draft choice for today and still have ended up with the Georgia Peach.
Every time an ex-New England Patriot coordinator fails, it makes Bill Belichick look that much smarter.
When McDaniels emerged from the Broncos' draft think tank to answer questions about his first two picks, he sort of gave away what his plans were for the rest of the evening. He made reference to the second round and used the word "they" even though the Broncos had only one choice. They wound up with three choices. The Broncos traded away one of their two No. 1 picks in 2010 to acquire another second-rounder and used it on cornerback Alphonso Smith.
I know it is a bit of a cliche at this point in regards to McDaniels, but are we sure he is not too young for this? I kind of am starting to feel like he is a little bit young and not quite experienced enough. The Broncos could go 13-3 this upcoming year and it would not surprise me, but they could also go 4-12 and I would not be surprised either. They should have focused on defense the entire draft in my opinion.
10. I don't like NASCAR, and have never even watched a race, but David Poole was from my hometown and was pretty well known in this area. He was your typical Southern guy, that type that actually really tends to annoy me, but he really, really knew how to cover NASCAR. He died of a heart attack yesterday and I would not mention this if it were not for Joe Posnanski's wonderful tribute to him. I really like Posnanski and this tribute is one of the main reasons why.
1. Bill Simmons wrote an article yesterday and it wasn't so bad. That is completely relative of course. In my opinion a "not bad" article by Simmons is a horrible article by someone else. Commenter Ivn actually broke it down much better than I could have in a much shorter time span, so rather than pretend I am bringing up my own points on this article that was really not horrible as a whole, I will give Ivn all the credit and just put some of what he wrote here...then of course I will comment and give us the self referential and pop culture count.
- he kind of defends Rondo's foul on Miller last night (although to be fair he does say later on Rondo should be suspended)
I don't know about suspended but I think if you are going to say he needed to be suspended then it should also have been called a flagrant foul. I don't see how it can't be a flagrant foul at that point and the player still get suspended. That's just my position on things like this. I think a player should be suspended only if the foul was called a flagrant.
- the Pantheon of Faces: "the Brad Miller 'I just got whacked in the face, my lip is swelling, my mouth tastes like blood, I'm seeing stars, and now I have to make two humongous free throws' Face as well as the Brad Miller 'I just missed the first free throw, now I really have to play up how much this hurts and act like I might keel over' Face"
Oh yes, a new Pantheon of Faces entry! How awesome, I hope this makes it to Bill's wikipedia page. I think Bill's goal is to be the first person to have a wikipedia page that links to another wikipedia page because it is so large.
- the most bizarre theory I've ever heard: "You know what else? A reader (can't remember his name) pointed out something to me that I passed along in a podcast and now I will mention here: Kidd is the only guy who can defend LeBron and Kobe. Why? They respect him too much. They don't want to kick his butt. It doesn't make them feel good. They settle for jumpers instead of just destroying him off the dribble in a goofy display of guilt and respect."
I will let Ivn sum this one up.
(what the fuck?)
(This is the most half assed theory I have heard in a while come from Bill. I don't even know if LeBron and Kobe can be defended by Jason Kidd, but even if they can, I would have to doubt this is the reason.)
- Pantheon of Faces-ish, part II: "He let down LeBron so many times that LeBron developed an actual 'Drew Gooden disappointed me yet again and I might have to kill him soon' frown."
After a while, all of these faces just turn into a cliche and don't really mean anything. There are only so many "Faces" that can be created until the Manning Face looks like the Drew Gooden Frown and it turns out many of the "Faces" are just the same face with a different name...which they are anyway.
- a new corollary/theory: "Just one. I call it the Andre Iguodala Corollary -- namely, if you just sucked for the last two minutes of Game 1, bricked two free throws and missed another shot, you are not allowed to prance around like a superstar if you happen to make an absolutely atrocious stutter-step fallaway for the lead -- a shot that you never should have taken in a million years. I will allow you to chest-bump a teammate or two, but that's it," which includes...
I don't know, that seems like kind of a long drawn-out corollary to me. I am not saying it won't catch on with Bill's Simmonsites/SimmonsClones, I never underestimate them, but this is going to be a hard one to self reference back on.
Thanks for the quick summary Ivn, you saved me a lot of writing in vain.
Pop culture count: 8 (Yes, I did not divide by 50)
Self referential count: 7 (Again, I am as saddened as you all are)
2. Gregg Easterbrook made a comment in his TMQ on Tuesday that he is suspicious of players who played on the same team at the same position in college because often one makes another look better than he is. In the comments, we had been naming players this would/would not pertain to. I want to prove Gregg wrong. So today's physical challenge is to think of players who played together, at the same position, in college and played in the NFL and either both sucked, one sucked and the other didn't, or neither sucked.
The rules are that they have to play the same position in college and have played actually together on the field for a year or so. They also have to play a position where the play of one at the position could reflect positively or negatively on the other at the same position, so basically no comparing quarterbacks, kickers, punters, and I would even say it is hard to compare DE and DT (like Ryan Sims and Julius Peppers) or LT and a Guard. I want to see if Gregg has reason to think there could be a trend here or is full of shit.
So far we have:
Kamerion Wimberly (if he was a LB in college) and Ernie Sims: one average and one great OR
Wimberly (if he was a DE in college) and Bunkley (though he is a DT): both suck
Manny Lawson and Mario Williams: one sucks and one is great
AJ Hawk and Bobby Carpenter: one is average and one sucks
Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmanzedah: both are great
Marcus Stroud (though he was a DT), Charles Grant, Richard Seymour: all are great
Michael Haynes and Jimmy Kennedy: both suck
John Henderson and Albert Haynesworth: both are great
Philip Buchanon, Mike Rumph and Ed Reed: average, sucks, great
Vince Wilfork, Jerome McDougle, William Joseph: great, sucks, average
Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss: both are great
Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams and Brandon Jacobs: great and average (injuries), great
Dwayne Bowe and Buster Davis: great and average
Jevon Kearse and Reggie McGrew: average and sucks
Felix Jones and Darren McFadden: too early to tell
D.J. Williams and Jonathan Vilma: (though both are injured, both are pretty good)
Play along if you care to and give some more names that match the semi-rules I gave and we can see if Gregg is right. I am looking to do a final tally here soon so we can find out if Gregg is making things up or not.
3. A-Rod is re-fucked in regards to having any credibility in the world of baseball.
Rodriguez put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years. Former high school teammates told Roberts that A-Rod was using steroids back then and his coach knew it -- an allegation the coach, Rich Hoffman, denied.
That could very well be puberty kicking in, though I don't recall gaining 25 pounds of muscle when I hit puberty. What's funny is that even his high school teammates are selling him out. Normally guys would be bragging they played ball with A-Rod in high school and trying to help him out and not rat him out, but his high school teammates are throwing him under the bus. You would think they would kiss up to him, even though they don't see him anymore, so the high school team doesn't get a semi-black eye for their accomplishments, but they don't. Does anyone like this guy?
• A-Rod "pitch tipped" when he played for the Rangers by letting opponents at the plate know which pitch was coming in lopsided games. A-Rod expected players he helped would reciprocate when he was having an off night and needed to get his batting average up.
This pisses me off as much as the steroids allegations do. It's one thing to try and help your team by cheating, its still cheating, but you are trying to help yourself and your team, but to give away pitch type to the opposing team in blowouts is some shady bullshit. A-Rod is actually hurting his own teammates in this situation, which is the lowest of lows in my book.
There could be a guy on the mound, even in a blowout, looking to pitch a couple of innings in the hopes he could get in the game in a key situation and A-Rod is screwing him over from ever getting that chance. No wonder Texas pitching was so bad, A-Rod helped the other team out.
• A-Rod was hated at Hooters, where he tipped the minimum 15 percent.
Ok, that is just funny to me. I don't know if it is the fact he was hated at Hooters or the fact he only tipped 15% when he made $250 million or the mental image of Hooters waitresses telling Selena Roberts they hate A-Rod, but this amuses me.
4. If this surprises anyone, you don't watch MLB and are not familiar with Scott Boras or the Yankees.
"I think a little bit as a human being you can't help but to think that if the Yankees are interested I would definitely consider it. I wouldn't be looking around if I were under contract for the four years, but I think I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be interested, especially with the Yankees being such a storied franchise. So yeah, you take a look around; you never know what's going to happen. This is a beautiful place."
If I am not wrong, Hideki Matsui is a free agent after this year and Johnny Damon's contract runs out as well. We all know what that means. Matt Holliday, barring a massive offer from an expected team is going to be a New York Yankee next year. It's happening, let's just go ahead and accept it.
I don't think there should be a salary cap in baseball, but as I have said before, I think it is disturbing when anytime a good, young player becomes a free agent, you know exactly what team he is going to end up playing for. If anyone thinks Hanley Ramirez is not going to be a Red Sox or a Yankee at some point in the near future, you are probably wrong. I just wish teams could keep players that are homegrown (and yes, I realize Ramirez and Holliday are not home grown by the team they currently play for), not to mention it just depresses me to know top players will have to take a hometown discount when they become free agents to stay with their current team. The Yankees will always outbid everyone for a free agent, it is just going to happen.
5. As always, Bill Plaschke writes the book on how to do reactionary journalism. This was written after the one loss the Lakers suffered against the Jazz.
Just as we marveled at how they can soar, we must now acknowledge how they can stink.
This was after they lost 1 game. 1 game in Utah, by two points...after they had blown a 13 point lead. Things aren't that bad.
Wonder what the folks in Cleveland were thinking when they watched this mess. So far this spring, the NBA-leading Cavaliers have struck me as anything but, um, lazy.
The Cavs were probably too worried about the Pistons to worry about the Lakers at this point in the playoffs. Even if they did watch the Lakers game it was because the Cavs had the luxury of playing the Pistons, a team that absolutely laid down against the Cavs the entire series.
See what happens? The Jazz now have the energy to push this series further than necessary. The Lakers now have the doubts that will make this series tougher than expected.
The Lakers won the next two games by 11 points and 14 points.
All of these little things add up to a longer road to Cleveland, and a wearier team once they arrive.
The Celtics played in several 7 game series last year and it did not stop them from beating the Lakers nor winning the NBA Championship. Bad point by Bill.
Most likely, by June, this game will be remembered as a hiccup.
Yet, Bill still feels the need to write an entire article about it...and he is writing in a panic.
After Ariza's three-pointer in the middle of the third quarter, I made an announcement to anyone who would listen."It's over!" I declared.
Bill Plaschke is a sage...or he is that dumbass that screams shit like this as the other fans cringe that he just called the game as being over way too early.
The Jazz lost eight games here this season. They apparently lost fans in the process, with empty green seats visible throughout the arena Thursday.
The Jazz went 31-8 at home this year. That is not exactly horrible, the Jazz have one of the best point guards in the NBA, which is the Lakers weakest point...oh, and the final result is the Jazz only won one game, after the Lakers collapsed, and only won the game by 2 points. Really, this article did not need to be written.
6. Lenny Dykstra is not only an accused steroid user but now he is completely full of shit.
I don't know how many of you read this article already but it is worth reading in my opinion, even if it is long. To hear Dykstra talk, you just get the feeling that he is incredibly full of shit, and you also wonder how come his "investors" don't see this as well. He is a pathetic human being. I never liked him as a Phillie and Met and I definitely don't like him at all now.
Other sites have said it when speaking about this article, but if Mike Fish ever shows up at your door and wants to speak with you, don't answer and go missing. He will make you look bad.
7. Rick Reilly gets paid millions of dollars to write articles like this.
OK, listen up! The reason I've gathered every single member of every American sports posse, cru and entourage here is to say one thing:
He spelled crew as "cru." I have never seen this before. This article is an example of the situation in an article where the first part of it is the best part and it only gets worse from there.
We're going to say the Pledge of the Posse. Repeat after me:
I don't see how the head of ESPN.com can look at himself in the mirror after reading a Reilly article and think, "my God, this is journalism at it's finest...I am constantly entertained by his writing. Look at me, I am beaming with pride."
I collect all cell-phone cams!
I always drive!
I don't take nights off!
I carry the gun!
I pack the bags!
These are the rules Rick Reilly has written. Try not to be too impressed at his journalistic ability.
Now get out there and loiter!
If they did loiter, that would be more work than Rick Reilly put into this article. If he is going to entertain, at least entertain. This is not even entertaining or funny.
8. Gregg Doyel writes an interesting article that I enjoyed. I enjoy too many of his articles for my own comfort. This one is about Graham Harrell and I actually believe it is worth reading because it compares Harrell to the other players taken and it does make you wonder.
You don't understand, but then, you wouldn't. All-American quarterback Graham Harrell of Texas Tech wasn't picked during the NFL Draft over the weekend, not early or late or ever, and you don't get it. But that's you.
Me, I get it. Because that's me.
Doyel, as you can see from clicking the link, goes on to list ways that Harrell is superior to those quarterbacks that were drafted, and drafted very high, in the draft. I wonder why Harrell did not get drafted? Is it because scouts think he is a system QB? He was pretty highly recruited out of high school, though they did run a similar offense to Texas Tech, if I remember correctly. I think he would be worth a late round pick.
My questions are this:
If Graham Harrell is not good enough to play in the NFL, how did he put up such great numbers at Texas Tech, and why is Michael Crabtree immune from the "system" enigma by NFL scouts?
If Graham Harrell is good enough to play in the NFL, is he ever going to get a fair shot since he wasn't drafted? There are going to be at least 3 quarterbacks in front of him he will have to beat out. That is tough.
If he can't play quarterback in the NFL, goodness, that league must be full of incredible football players.
Or stupid general managers.
I am not a Graham Harrell advocate but I am a little surprised no team took a chance on him in the draft. You all may disagree but I think this is a great article by Gregg Doyel, especially if you are like me and think Josh Freeman and Mark Sanchez (who Doyel talks about a little bit) are not quite as good as others think they are. I think Harrell has been hurt by previous Texas Tech QB's failures in the NFL.
9. Woody Paige writes about the Broncos choosing Knowshon Moreno, and he does it using his special writing talents, calling it a "no-no." That's a pun!
If Moreno is as big a bust as Steve Sewell, who also was a running back selected by the Broncos in the first round, and if Ayers, chosen No. 18 as a defensive end/outside linebacker, is as mediocre as Jarvis Moss, a defensive end (now outside linebacker), then McDaniels might be a head coach in Denver as long as his predecessor's predecessor — two seasons.
I still don't get why they chose a running back in the first round when the Broncos had so many needs on the defensive side of the ball. I really like Moreno but I don't really like him for the Broncos.
We do know that the Broncos are up to seven — or is it 70? — running backs.
The Broncos also signed three free agent running backs this offseason. I just don't know how he can convince the Denver fan base, who has seen many 1,000 yard rushers over the past several seasons from converted fullbacks and pretty much anyone pulled off the bench, that a good running back is really hard to find. The best running back in franchise history was a 6th round pick and they have a really good offensive line who is going to open up holes, no matter who runs the ball. They don't need to take a running back 12th in the NFL draft.
Hoodie & The Bluefish surprised everyone
This is a team that needs to go back from Orange Slush to Orange Crush
I don't know at what age Woody Paige is going to stop writing shit like this, but I hope it is very, very soon.
And if this team needed Moreno so much, it could have traded down in the first round, gotten another draft choice for today and still have ended up with the Georgia Peach.
Every time an ex-New England Patriot coordinator fails, it makes Bill Belichick look that much smarter.
When McDaniels emerged from the Broncos' draft think tank to answer questions about his first two picks, he sort of gave away what his plans were for the rest of the evening. He made reference to the second round and used the word "they" even though the Broncos had only one choice. They wound up with three choices. The Broncos traded away one of their two No. 1 picks in 2010 to acquire another second-rounder and used it on cornerback Alphonso Smith.
I know it is a bit of a cliche at this point in regards to McDaniels, but are we sure he is not too young for this? I kind of am starting to feel like he is a little bit young and not quite experienced enough. The Broncos could go 13-3 this upcoming year and it would not surprise me, but they could also go 4-12 and I would not be surprised either. They should have focused on defense the entire draft in my opinion.
10. I don't like NASCAR, and have never even watched a race, but David Poole was from my hometown and was pretty well known in this area. He was your typical Southern guy, that type that actually really tends to annoy me, but he really, really knew how to cover NASCAR. He died of a heart attack yesterday and I would not mention this if it were not for Joe Posnanski's wonderful tribute to him. I really like Posnanski and this tribute is one of the main reasons why.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
2 comments Woody Paiges Makes Bad Puns
I have never really liked the way the NFL did overtime and expressed this displeasure in a post here. Gene W of ESPN hated the way homefield advantage was decided for the World Series and I repeatedly attempted to point out games in the NFL were decided by a coin flip, which is stupid and much worse than using the All Star Game to decide who had homefield advantage in the World Series. Gregg Doyel helped pick up this fight for me today, though it is not a great article. Doyel and I are on the same side on this issue. That scares me.
Woody Paige actually has a great argument he could make in wondering why the Rockies are selling off half of their team. I hate it when teams sell away good players to save money, so I am naturally on his side on this one. He of course butchers it with bad puns and silly logic.
He calls the Holliday trade the "Sleaziana Purchase" despite the fact neither party actually purchased anything and it was not a real sleazy trade, just not a great one from the Rockies point of view.
Then, I read the article's headline: "O'Dowd applauds Holliday deal." Dealin' Dan O'Dowd apparently had just torn his rotator cuff while patting himself on the back
Even if it was a shitty deal is any GM in the world going to say, "man that was a shitty trade we just made, I am surprised I still have a job?" I think not. It's like when a NFL coach drafts a player no one knew that team was interested in and the team acts as if that is the player they had wanted all along.
"Sure, we were hoping all the defensive tackles would be taken at that point, we actually wanted to draft a punter in the first round and he just fell in our lap."
for the trade involving Matt Holliday and three fellows several hundred thousand of you (and I) had never heard of.
Woody Paige has never heard of Huston Street? If this is serious, then this is worse than Donovan McNabb not knowing there was OT in football. How can you cover sports and not know who popular players are, even if they are not popular players for the team you cover? Woody Paige has even talked about how Brian Fuentes was going to not get re-signed and the Rockies need a closer AND mentioned the Oakland A's as a possible trade partner for the Rockies with Holliday. Apparently Woody just picked a random team he thought the Rockies should trade with and did not check out the roster to see who the Rockies could use in return.
I digress. If you haven't heard of Huston Street, you should have heard of Carlos Gonzalez and Greg Smith simply because they were a part of that huge Dan Haren deal last year. You have to pay attention to sports if you are going to cover them. It's part of the job requirement...I would hope.
Too bad Dealin' Dan wasn't the general manager of the Red Sox in 1920 — "O'Dowd applauds Ruth deal"; or general manager of France in 1803 — "O'Dowd likes sale of 828,800 square miles to U.S."
France does not have a General Manager. They are a country.
In the Rockies' home opener April 10 against the world champions, the starting lineup could be:
Pitcher Greg Smith, catcher Chris Iannetta, first baseman Todd Helton, second baseman Clint Barmes, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, third baseman Ian Stewart, left fielder Seth Smith, center fielder Ryan Spilborghs, right fielder Brad Hawpe. I have no idea, and neither do the Rockies, who will bat leadoff, or third, or fourth, or whatever.
I have a good feeling Jeff Francis will be starting the home opener, unless the Rockies pick up a better pitcher, and even then it will not be Greg Smith starting. Most teams in November have no idea who is going to bat at what spot in the lineup and who is going to play at any position in the field. I think November is a bit early to ask a GM or manager to set their lineup card. My favorite team would currently have a two man rotation if the season started today. Don't get your panties in a wad Woody.
Woody has expressed enthusiasm for Seth Smith in the past here. Check out this link where Woody says the Rockies should trade Matt Holliday because the Rockies season is over and they should also package Garrett Atkins or Brad Hawpe with him. Oh yeah, that's right Woody Paige has completely contradicting himself and is guilty of hypocrisy. Hang him.
Not only is Woody trying to tear the front office of the Rockies a new asshole, he is tearing them a new asshole for doing exactly what he wanted them to do. Is there no one at the Denver Post who remembers these things so the writer can be informed when he is contradicting himself? Like an editor person or a stalker of some type? I think that is really why these old time writers don't like the Internet, because all of the articles they have ever posted are out there to read and they can't write both sides of the story anymore. Writers hate it when they have to take a position and stick to it...except Woody. He is perfectly willing to write an article saying trade Matt Holliday and then 4 months later write an article saying it would be a mistake to trade Holliday.
Pause to consider Willy Taveras, who is among the next bunch the Rockies will shout to: "Don't let the door hit your rear on the way out."
Willy Taveras leaving the team would be a good thing. He is not good.
I didn't care much for The Say-K Kid, but he had a reasonable complaint. Taveras didn't start 12 of the team's final 19 games. His contract called for bonuses of $50,000 for 500, 550 and 600 at-bats. He ended up with 538. Hurdle (or someone in the front office) cost Taveras and saved the Rockies $50,000.
Why would any team willing allow Willy Taveras to get more at bats so he gets paid more money to get out? If Taveras was an OBP machine, then he would have a legitimate gripe.
Pause to consider that they have since jettisoned Kip Wells ($3.1 million), Mark Redman ($1 mil), Matt Herges ($2 mil), Adam Melhuse ($750,000), Scott Podsednik ($750,000), Glendon Rusch ($850,000) and Livan Hernandez (a small portion of $5 million). And closer Brian Fuentes ($5 million) filed for free agency.
Let's look at the Rockies real problem. The only ones on this list who should be brought back are Brian Fuentes and no one else.
The Rockies are thinking about bringing back Rusch and Podsednik, and, on Thursday, O'Dowd said they could offer Fuentes arbitration (as if he would ever consent).
Why do they want Rusch and Podsednik back? Maybe they are going to be cheap I guess.
Woody's point is the Rockies are trying to save money and he thinks this is the wrong way to go. He wants to trade Holliday or any other player for an expensive player in return, which makes neither logical nor baseball sense.
Of the nine potential opening-day starters, only Helton ($16.6 mil) and Hawpe ($5.5 mil) will be earning more than $1 million.
Todd Helton. Everyone's favorite ex-football player first baseman. Maybe the reason the Rockies don't want to resign/sign any players for massive amounts of money is because it has never really worked out for them in the past. Whether it was Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle, or Todd Helton, the Rockies have ended up paying a lot for a little production. Yes, I know Helton is still a decent ball player but he is still getting paid almost $17 million to be decent. I can't blame the Rockies for being a little gun shy on handing out $100 million dollar contracts.
So, it's quite possible the Rockies will have saved and made more than $50 million in the past year, plus Taveras' $50,000 at-bat bonus.
How cute. "Plus Taveras' $50,000 at-bat bonus." That is nothing compared to $50 million dollars! Baseball teams like to make money, that is why they are in the business they are in after all, not just to entertain, but to also make money.
Pause to consider why, then, do the Rockies say they won't enter the free-agent bidding and why they can't afford to sign a star starting pitcher?
Because as you spent the last 500 words saying, the Rockies are trying to save money and don't have a very good team at this point. It would be absolutely pointless to break the bank to sign a pitcher when the team is not good enough to win. Now if the Rockies plan on signing a couple more free agents to improve the team, it may be worth it to sign an expensive pitcher.
How does Woody even ask this question after writing the past paragraphs? Signing CC Sabathia or Ben Sheets would be like taking a shit on a paper plate, then putting a cherry on top. Plus, it is not a video game, you can't just put them on your team, you would have to convince them they could succeed in Colorado. Good luck with that.
The Rockies should spend a few bucks to buy an "Applause" sign. That's the only way Coloradans will put both hands together next season.
He gets paid to write like this. He's the Sesame Street of journalism. I am going to write a whole article on what I think my favorite baseball team should do and then four months later write an article contradicting everything I said prior, except not mentioning it. Then maybe I would get hired at a major paper.
Woody Paige actually has a great argument he could make in wondering why the Rockies are selling off half of their team. I hate it when teams sell away good players to save money, so I am naturally on his side on this one. He of course butchers it with bad puns and silly logic.
He calls the Holliday trade the "Sleaziana Purchase" despite the fact neither party actually purchased anything and it was not a real sleazy trade, just not a great one from the Rockies point of view.
Then, I read the article's headline: "O'Dowd applauds Holliday deal." Dealin' Dan O'Dowd apparently had just torn his rotator cuff while patting himself on the back
Even if it was a shitty deal is any GM in the world going to say, "man that was a shitty trade we just made, I am surprised I still have a job?" I think not. It's like when a NFL coach drafts a player no one knew that team was interested in and the team acts as if that is the player they had wanted all along.
"Sure, we were hoping all the defensive tackles would be taken at that point, we actually wanted to draft a punter in the first round and he just fell in our lap."
for the trade involving Matt Holliday and three fellows several hundred thousand of you (and I) had never heard of.
Woody Paige has never heard of Huston Street? If this is serious, then this is worse than Donovan McNabb not knowing there was OT in football. How can you cover sports and not know who popular players are, even if they are not popular players for the team you cover? Woody Paige has even talked about how Brian Fuentes was going to not get re-signed and the Rockies need a closer AND mentioned the Oakland A's as a possible trade partner for the Rockies with Holliday. Apparently Woody just picked a random team he thought the Rockies should trade with and did not check out the roster to see who the Rockies could use in return.
I digress. If you haven't heard of Huston Street, you should have heard of Carlos Gonzalez and Greg Smith simply because they were a part of that huge Dan Haren deal last year. You have to pay attention to sports if you are going to cover them. It's part of the job requirement...I would hope.
Too bad Dealin' Dan wasn't the general manager of the Red Sox in 1920 — "O'Dowd applauds Ruth deal"; or general manager of France in 1803 — "O'Dowd likes sale of 828,800 square miles to U.S."
France does not have a General Manager. They are a country.
In the Rockies' home opener April 10 against the world champions, the starting lineup could be:
Pitcher Greg Smith, catcher Chris Iannetta, first baseman Todd Helton, second baseman Clint Barmes, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, third baseman Ian Stewart, left fielder Seth Smith, center fielder Ryan Spilborghs, right fielder Brad Hawpe. I have no idea, and neither do the Rockies, who will bat leadoff, or third, or fourth, or whatever.
I have a good feeling Jeff Francis will be starting the home opener, unless the Rockies pick up a better pitcher, and even then it will not be Greg Smith starting. Most teams in November have no idea who is going to bat at what spot in the lineup and who is going to play at any position in the field. I think November is a bit early to ask a GM or manager to set their lineup card. My favorite team would currently have a two man rotation if the season started today. Don't get your panties in a wad Woody.
Woody has expressed enthusiasm for Seth Smith in the past here. Check out this link where Woody says the Rockies should trade Matt Holliday because the Rockies season is over and they should also package Garrett Atkins or Brad Hawpe with him. Oh yeah, that's right Woody Paige has completely contradicting himself and is guilty of hypocrisy. Hang him.
Not only is Woody trying to tear the front office of the Rockies a new asshole, he is tearing them a new asshole for doing exactly what he wanted them to do. Is there no one at the Denver Post who remembers these things so the writer can be informed when he is contradicting himself? Like an editor person or a stalker of some type? I think that is really why these old time writers don't like the Internet, because all of the articles they have ever posted are out there to read and they can't write both sides of the story anymore. Writers hate it when they have to take a position and stick to it...except Woody. He is perfectly willing to write an article saying trade Matt Holliday and then 4 months later write an article saying it would be a mistake to trade Holliday.
Pause to consider Willy Taveras, who is among the next bunch the Rockies will shout to: "Don't let the door hit your rear on the way out."
Willy Taveras leaving the team would be a good thing. He is not good.
I didn't care much for The Say-K Kid, but he had a reasonable complaint. Taveras didn't start 12 of the team's final 19 games. His contract called for bonuses of $50,000 for 500, 550 and 600 at-bats. He ended up with 538. Hurdle (or someone in the front office) cost Taveras and saved the Rockies $50,000.
Why would any team willing allow Willy Taveras to get more at bats so he gets paid more money to get out? If Taveras was an OBP machine, then he would have a legitimate gripe.
Pause to consider that they have since jettisoned Kip Wells ($3.1 million), Mark Redman ($1 mil), Matt Herges ($2 mil), Adam Melhuse ($750,000), Scott Podsednik ($750,000), Glendon Rusch ($850,000) and Livan Hernandez (a small portion of $5 million). And closer Brian Fuentes ($5 million) filed for free agency.
Let's look at the Rockies real problem. The only ones on this list who should be brought back are Brian Fuentes and no one else.
The Rockies are thinking about bringing back Rusch and Podsednik, and, on Thursday, O'Dowd said they could offer Fuentes arbitration (as if he would ever consent).
Why do they want Rusch and Podsednik back? Maybe they are going to be cheap I guess.
Woody's point is the Rockies are trying to save money and he thinks this is the wrong way to go. He wants to trade Holliday or any other player for an expensive player in return, which makes neither logical nor baseball sense.
Of the nine potential opening-day starters, only Helton ($16.6 mil) and Hawpe ($5.5 mil) will be earning more than $1 million.
Todd Helton. Everyone's favorite ex-football player first baseman. Maybe the reason the Rockies don't want to resign/sign any players for massive amounts of money is because it has never really worked out for them in the past. Whether it was Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle, or Todd Helton, the Rockies have ended up paying a lot for a little production. Yes, I know Helton is still a decent ball player but he is still getting paid almost $17 million to be decent. I can't blame the Rockies for being a little gun shy on handing out $100 million dollar contracts.
So, it's quite possible the Rockies will have saved and made more than $50 million in the past year, plus Taveras' $50,000 at-bat bonus.
How cute. "Plus Taveras' $50,000 at-bat bonus." That is nothing compared to $50 million dollars! Baseball teams like to make money, that is why they are in the business they are in after all, not just to entertain, but to also make money.
Pause to consider why, then, do the Rockies say they won't enter the free-agent bidding and why they can't afford to sign a star starting pitcher?
Because as you spent the last 500 words saying, the Rockies are trying to save money and don't have a very good team at this point. It would be absolutely pointless to break the bank to sign a pitcher when the team is not good enough to win. Now if the Rockies plan on signing a couple more free agents to improve the team, it may be worth it to sign an expensive pitcher.
How does Woody even ask this question after writing the past paragraphs? Signing CC Sabathia or Ben Sheets would be like taking a shit on a paper plate, then putting a cherry on top. Plus, it is not a video game, you can't just put them on your team, you would have to convince them they could succeed in Colorado. Good luck with that.
The Rockies should spend a few bucks to buy an "Applause" sign. That's the only way Coloradans will put both hands together next season.
He gets paid to write like this. He's the Sesame Street of journalism. I am going to write a whole article on what I think my favorite baseball team should do and then four months later write an article contradicting everything I said prior, except not mentioning it. Then maybe I would get hired at a major paper.
Monday, November 10, 2008
4 comments Are You Kidding Me?
Please read my Woody Paige post below. I have been wrong all week. One more time I guess.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694100
I am going to be excited to see what the A's gave up. Probably not a veteran pitcher. This doesn't make sense to me.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694100
I am going to be excited to see what the A's gave up. Probably not a veteran pitcher. This doesn't make sense to me.
2 comments 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.
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.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
7 comments Why List 1 Reason When You Can List 10?
William Gum (real name? sounds like an 19th century dentist) thinks the Rockies should trade Matt Holliday. I kind of, sort of agree, simply because I believe my favorite team should trade their first baseman and both teams suck. There should only be one reason for this, to get prospects because that team is not going to be able to resign the player and would rather have prospects as opposed to draft picks. That's the one and only reason. But Dr. Gum needs to write an entire column so he lists 10 reasons. He basically takes this one reason and splits it into 10. This is the equivalent of the Beatles having a three minute guitar solo at the end of "She Loves You." It's pointless but you gotta fill some time and space.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8333078/Ten-good-reasons-for-the-Rox-to-deal-Holliday
Also, please don't call them the Rox, that is stupid and irritates me.
It's time for the Colorado Rockies to part ways with Matt Holliday.
I agree.
Yes, it's difficult to say goodbye to a .330 hitter who hits 35+ home runs a year, has an attractive OPS that averages around 130, and who will even steal you a dozen or so bases.
It is tough because very few other hitters do that. Remembering the positive aspects of Holliday is not a reason to get rid of him. I still agree though.
The Rockies are a middle-market club that has suffered the slings and arrows of past high priced free agents signings that never panned out. They've felt that sting with players like Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle and several others.
Every team has had a free agent or two not pan out. Ironically, mostly the larger market teams have had this problem, but because they can afford to. Because two free agents did not work out is not a reason to trade Holliday. Who are the "several others" he speaks of here? I feel like Dr. Gum always takes things a step or two further than he should in listing things.
1. Financial Discipline
The Rockies now understand, as a middle market team, that they cannot afford to eat the back ends of big contracts after a player's skills have diminished like the Yankees, Red Sox and Giants can.
Ah yes, few teams can manage to eat the back ends of contracts like the Yankees, Red Sox and...the Giants? I would like to think he feels the need to list everything in threes. He has three kids, three homes and three wives, (Big Love reference) and not that he really thinks the Giants are a team that can afford to eat the back end of contracts. They are not exactly kicking ass this year, so maybe they should fall under the category of "Teams that need a better front office."
The Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox can afford to eat bigger contracts. No other team can, so this is not a reason to trade Holliday.
2. Holliday's Agent
Yes, it is Scott Boras. I don't like it when people say after the Andruw Jones and A Rod fiascos people have "found out" Boras. It's not true. What has happened, and the players who sign with Boras don't think logically about this, is that they are narrowing their options by signing with Boras and not necessarily doing what is best for them. When players sign with Boras, whether it is before free agency or in the draft, this tells MLB teams one thing:
That player wants to be paid like he is tops at his position. How many teams can afford to this? Maybe three or four teams can afford to do this on a consistent basis with Boras clients. So by signing with Boras, this player has pretty much guaranteed he will play in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Boston. If that is what he wants, then great, otherwise you will never truly be a free agent on a free market. Yes, before I quit my job and moved into the attic I used to do a little economisting.
3. Financial Cost
Didn't we cover this already?
The Rockies will look for something around $14M a year range on any kind of long-term deal, which is not unreasonable, but it is only one factor that plays into the mix.
Uh, Andruw Jones got 17 million and Mark Teixiera wants 23 million dollars. I think Holliday will want a little higher than 14 million per year. That is what J.D. Drew gets paid. This reason still falls under "he is too expensive for us."
4. Length of Contract
The smart money says sign Holliday for four years and look again when he turns 32.
I read this sentence seven times and still don't get it. The smart money says sign Holliday for 12 years for 4 million per year, but just like him signing a four year deal, that won't happen.
Boras will undoubtedly look for 6-10 years and will probably find it.
Ok, I am still with you but this still falls under "too expensive for us." Do you have any other reasons?
5. Team Building
This is a great reason! I remember when the entire Rockies team went on a team building retreat to a Wyoming cattle ranch and had cow milking relay races. Holliday refused to run the milk to the container that measured which team filled it up the fastest. I knew from that day, Holliday was not a team player.
Holliday is an OK fielder and his fielding percentage has risen from the 97% range to the 99% range, but left field is not a key position that is difficult to fill.
True. Left field is not a hard position to fill, you can pretty much have anyone play it. Jeremy Giambi played LF for a few games. I think the Rockies are not worried about left field as much as they are what you said earlier:
a .330 hitter who hits 35+ home runs a year, has an attractive OPS that averages around 130, and who will even steal you a dozen or so bases.
I am sure Dan O'Dowd is crunching the numbers on his fielding range right now on the computer to help him make this decision.
Not a good reason to trade Holliday. You are de-convincing me. See what breaking down one good reason into little tiny little sorry ass reasons does?
6. The Bench
Ok, now you are stealing from Woody Paige. There is no one on the Rockies bench who can replace Matt Holliday.
On the current club's bench they have Ryan Spilborghs who's hitting .300 overall and over .400 as a pinch hitter.
Replace the All Star with a career pinch hitter, good idea.
They have so many talented infielders that they can move somebody like Jeff Baker, who can hit consistently and with power to the outfield if necessary.
An even better idea! Move someone who has never played the fucking position there. But what will his fielding range be? 96%?
Jeff Baker can hit consistently and with power to the outfield if necessary? Why "if necessary," is he like Superman in that he does not want to show off his wonderful home run hitting powers to the masses?
(Clint Hurdle) "Baker get up there and get us a base hit. The bases are loaded and it is the bottom of the ninth and we are down two."
(Jeff Baker) "Yes sir, will do."
(Baker takes two straight fastballs and then pops out to the catcher)
(Hurdle) "Why did you not hit one of those fastballs out of here, he only threw them 54 miles per hour?"
(Baker) "Sir, you know I only hit to the outfield with power if it is necessary. We only needed two runs and a home run would have given us four runs."
(Hurdle) "Good thinking. Dr. Gum would be proud of you. We just traded Jeff Francis, now go pitch!"
(Baker) "I have never pitched before!"
(Hurdle) "I figure you have so much talent, we can move you anywhere, just like Dr. Gum says."
The Rockies also have additional outfield speed on the bench with Scott Podsednik.
If Scott Podsednik is an option, you have no options. I say don't trade Holliday.
7. The Farm
In addition to their bench strength, the Rockies have a lot of good bats waiting for a chance down in their AAA farm club.
If they were good, they would not be in AAA right now while the Rockies suck.
Seth Smith is a heady hitter with a good eye who stays focused and fouls off a lot of pitches.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=8144
That guy? He is also hitting .244 and has an OBP .320. Also, he is only two years younger than Holliday, that's it.
Cory Sullivan has a million dollar major league contract but there's just no room for him at the Rockies Inn.
No room at the inn? Just like Jesus? Call him up immediately but don't bring him gold or frankensense (spelling?), he already makes millions.
Dexter Fowler is an enormous talent still under development in Class AA Tulsa.
Perfect! No one will play left field for the next two years and we will wait for him to maybe make it to the Majors.
I now don't think they should trade Holliday.
9. Clutch Hitting
There is no such thing. Fortunately Dr. Gum does not even talk about clutch hitting but being patient as a hitter.
The Kid Rocks are free swingers that have yet to grasp that once you have a pitcher on the ropes that you make him sweat and work him hard.
You should be shot for saying "Kid Rocks."
10. The Rockies' current record
Holliday may have second thoughts about re-signing on the cheap if he feels the 2007 Rockies were the exception and not the norm.
I would say anytime you make the World Series it is the exception and not the norm.
Dan O'Dowd is never too hesitant to make a trade that will improve his club. O'Dowd will be willing to move Holliday if he finds the right deal —
That is what makes O'Dowd so great. Most GM's would never make a trade that improves their club.
This is a stupid comment because any trade that improves a club would be made. I bet you $100 the Yankees would trade A Rod if it improved their club. Longoria, Kazmir, and Upton for A Rod and Melky Cabrera? I also realize I just turned into Bill Simmons.
It may well be in the Rockies' best interests to trade Matt Holliday now instead of rolling the dice and trying to overcome the hurdles needed to re-sign him.
If this were Jerry Maguire and I were Renee Zellwegger, I would say, "You had me at hello but lost me in the other bullshit you were saying."
Thanks to Dr. Gum I think the Rockies should resign Holliday, if for no other reason than to piss him and Woody Paige off.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8333078/Ten-good-reasons-for-the-Rox-to-deal-Holliday
Also, please don't call them the Rox, that is stupid and irritates me.
It's time for the Colorado Rockies to part ways with Matt Holliday.
I agree.
Yes, it's difficult to say goodbye to a .330 hitter who hits 35+ home runs a year, has an attractive OPS that averages around 130, and who will even steal you a dozen or so bases.
It is tough because very few other hitters do that. Remembering the positive aspects of Holliday is not a reason to get rid of him. I still agree though.
The Rockies are a middle-market club that has suffered the slings and arrows of past high priced free agents signings that never panned out. They've felt that sting with players like Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle and several others.
Every team has had a free agent or two not pan out. Ironically, mostly the larger market teams have had this problem, but because they can afford to. Because two free agents did not work out is not a reason to trade Holliday. Who are the "several others" he speaks of here? I feel like Dr. Gum always takes things a step or two further than he should in listing things.
1. Financial Discipline
The Rockies now understand, as a middle market team, that they cannot afford to eat the back ends of big contracts after a player's skills have diminished like the Yankees, Red Sox and Giants can.
Ah yes, few teams can manage to eat the back ends of contracts like the Yankees, Red Sox and...the Giants? I would like to think he feels the need to list everything in threes. He has three kids, three homes and three wives, (Big Love reference) and not that he really thinks the Giants are a team that can afford to eat the back end of contracts. They are not exactly kicking ass this year, so maybe they should fall under the category of "Teams that need a better front office."
The Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox can afford to eat bigger contracts. No other team can, so this is not a reason to trade Holliday.
2. Holliday's Agent
Yes, it is Scott Boras. I don't like it when people say after the Andruw Jones and A Rod fiascos people have "found out" Boras. It's not true. What has happened, and the players who sign with Boras don't think logically about this, is that they are narrowing their options by signing with Boras and not necessarily doing what is best for them. When players sign with Boras, whether it is before free agency or in the draft, this tells MLB teams one thing:
That player wants to be paid like he is tops at his position. How many teams can afford to this? Maybe three or four teams can afford to do this on a consistent basis with Boras clients. So by signing with Boras, this player has pretty much guaranteed he will play in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Boston. If that is what he wants, then great, otherwise you will never truly be a free agent on a free market. Yes, before I quit my job and moved into the attic I used to do a little economisting.
3. Financial Cost
Didn't we cover this already?
The Rockies will look for something around $14M a year range on any kind of long-term deal, which is not unreasonable, but it is only one factor that plays into the mix.
Uh, Andruw Jones got 17 million and Mark Teixiera wants 23 million dollars. I think Holliday will want a little higher than 14 million per year. That is what J.D. Drew gets paid. This reason still falls under "he is too expensive for us."
4. Length of Contract
The smart money says sign Holliday for four years and look again when he turns 32.
I read this sentence seven times and still don't get it. The smart money says sign Holliday for 12 years for 4 million per year, but just like him signing a four year deal, that won't happen.
Boras will undoubtedly look for 6-10 years and will probably find it.
Ok, I am still with you but this still falls under "too expensive for us." Do you have any other reasons?
5. Team Building
This is a great reason! I remember when the entire Rockies team went on a team building retreat to a Wyoming cattle ranch and had cow milking relay races. Holliday refused to run the milk to the container that measured which team filled it up the fastest. I knew from that day, Holliday was not a team player.
Holliday is an OK fielder and his fielding percentage has risen from the 97% range to the 99% range, but left field is not a key position that is difficult to fill.
True. Left field is not a hard position to fill, you can pretty much have anyone play it. Jeremy Giambi played LF for a few games. I think the Rockies are not worried about left field as much as they are what you said earlier:
a .330 hitter who hits 35+ home runs a year, has an attractive OPS that averages around 130, and who will even steal you a dozen or so bases.
I am sure Dan O'Dowd is crunching the numbers on his fielding range right now on the computer to help him make this decision.
Not a good reason to trade Holliday. You are de-convincing me. See what breaking down one good reason into little tiny little sorry ass reasons does?
6. The Bench
Ok, now you are stealing from Woody Paige. There is no one on the Rockies bench who can replace Matt Holliday.
On the current club's bench they have Ryan Spilborghs who's hitting .300 overall and over .400 as a pinch hitter.
Replace the All Star with a career pinch hitter, good idea.
They have so many talented infielders that they can move somebody like Jeff Baker, who can hit consistently and with power to the outfield if necessary.
An even better idea! Move someone who has never played the fucking position there. But what will his fielding range be? 96%?
Jeff Baker can hit consistently and with power to the outfield if necessary? Why "if necessary," is he like Superman in that he does not want to show off his wonderful home run hitting powers to the masses?
(Clint Hurdle) "Baker get up there and get us a base hit. The bases are loaded and it is the bottom of the ninth and we are down two."
(Jeff Baker) "Yes sir, will do."
(Baker takes two straight fastballs and then pops out to the catcher)
(Hurdle) "Why did you not hit one of those fastballs out of here, he only threw them 54 miles per hour?"
(Baker) "Sir, you know I only hit to the outfield with power if it is necessary. We only needed two runs and a home run would have given us four runs."
(Hurdle) "Good thinking. Dr. Gum would be proud of you. We just traded Jeff Francis, now go pitch!"
(Baker) "I have never pitched before!"
(Hurdle) "I figure you have so much talent, we can move you anywhere, just like Dr. Gum says."
The Rockies also have additional outfield speed on the bench with Scott Podsednik.
If Scott Podsednik is an option, you have no options. I say don't trade Holliday.
7. The Farm
In addition to their bench strength, the Rockies have a lot of good bats waiting for a chance down in their AAA farm club.
If they were good, they would not be in AAA right now while the Rockies suck.
Seth Smith is a heady hitter with a good eye who stays focused and fouls off a lot of pitches.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=8144
That guy? He is also hitting .244 and has an OBP .320. Also, he is only two years younger than Holliday, that's it.
Cory Sullivan has a million dollar major league contract but there's just no room for him at the Rockies Inn.
No room at the inn? Just like Jesus? Call him up immediately but don't bring him gold or frankensense (spelling?), he already makes millions.
Dexter Fowler is an enormous talent still under development in Class AA Tulsa.
Perfect! No one will play left field for the next two years and we will wait for him to maybe make it to the Majors.
I now don't think they should trade Holliday.
9. Clutch Hitting
There is no such thing. Fortunately Dr. Gum does not even talk about clutch hitting but being patient as a hitter.
The Kid Rocks are free swingers that have yet to grasp that once you have a pitcher on the ropes that you make him sweat and work him hard.
You should be shot for saying "Kid Rocks."
10. The Rockies' current record
Holliday may have second thoughts about re-signing on the cheap if he feels the 2007 Rockies were the exception and not the norm.
I would say anytime you make the World Series it is the exception and not the norm.
Dan O'Dowd is never too hesitant to make a trade that will improve his club. O'Dowd will be willing to move Holliday if he finds the right deal —
That is what makes O'Dowd so great. Most GM's would never make a trade that improves their club.
This is a stupid comment because any trade that improves a club would be made. I bet you $100 the Yankees would trade A Rod if it improved their club. Longoria, Kazmir, and Upton for A Rod and Melky Cabrera? I also realize I just turned into Bill Simmons.
It may well be in the Rockies' best interests to trade Matt Holliday now instead of rolling the dice and trying to overcome the hurdles needed to re-sign him.
If this were Jerry Maguire and I were Renee Zellwegger, I would say, "You had me at hello but lost me in the other bullshit you were saying."
Thanks to Dr. Gum I think the Rockies should resign Holliday, if for no other reason than to piss him and Woody Paige off.
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