Baseball thread No. VII

The Sox will make a move. Theo's a smart guy.

It's a shame the bullpen relies so much on Papelbon. Otherwise, he'd be the perfect solution for the rotation woes.

 

Sox are going to have to. I don't see any other answer. As my SE put it, "what in the hell is a Kyle Schneider?"

eek.

Needs to be mentioned: Beckett has GOT to get his shit together if that team is going to be playing meaningful games in September.

 

Is a Kyle Schneider anything like Kyle Snyder?

 

The Yankees have come out of the All-Star break playing well just as the Red Sox are scuffling, cutting the lead down to a half game.

So what is the sports talk in New York? A-Rod sucks. Not exactly those words. But there was a whole column about Alex Rodriguez being a head case. And there are people saying the Yankees "have to move him" becuase he can't handle the shit he takes in New York. Because really, the best thing for the Yankees is to get rid of the 2005 AL MVP, a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer with a nearly untradeable contract. :

Maybe Rodriguez really can't take the heat, but the attitude just amazes me. Reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine from Long Island when one of my co-workers moved to New York.

"Yeah, he's a New Yorker now," I said, laughing.

"Oh no. He's no New Yorker"

As if I had slandered all "true New Yorkers" by giving a new transplant to the city such a revered title.

New York is truly the center of the universe in its own collective mind.

 

Well if New York doesn't want him I've got no problem with him sucking at shorstop at Wrigley.

Of course Dusty would still find an excuse to give Neifi Fucking Perez two starts a week at short.

 

Amazing that Sidney (the fat fucking piece of shit) Ponson is starting for the Yankees tonight but asshole Yankees fans want A-Rod out of town because he made 3 errors that had no effect a game they won.

 

- Ponson is pitching because he's been better than Chacon, and he's 2nd up in the Aaron Small impersonation auditions, as they realize (for the 2nd year in a row), that a real SP will be impossible to get. They'll take their shot at Abreu, try to get Leiber or Gordon added, & eat as much money as they have to to avoid giving up top prospects. They won't be able to get Soriano, but they might be able to get Guillen, though I'd guess one of them + Armas or Hernandez goes to St. Louis in a trade Jocketty ends up regretting, allowing Bowden to continue his impersonation of a competant GM.

- Yankee fans are booing Arod out of town because they can, I can't think of another reason.

- The predictable counter-talk about how the Reds deal wasn't so bad, or was even good, is just an attempt to be contrary. Whether Kearns & Lopez are flawed enough so that they won't end up being as good as they seem (I don't think that's true), the trade has to be evaluated in terms of current value, which is far higher than what he brought in. This is the same tortured logic that people use to try to mitigate the damage from Omar's disastrous Colon trade, because Phillips ended up being nothing special. What matters is that at the time, he was the #1 prospect in all of baseball, and Minaya got robbed.

- As clear as it is that the Mets are the best team in the NL, if the Astros win the WC, how confident are you in a 5 game series going against Oswalt, Clemens, Petitte & Bucholz with Pedro, Glavine, Trachsel & Duque? The Mets need a pitcher who doesn't exist, let's see if Omar can get creative & get a guy no one is thinking of ala David Justice. I'd love the circular irony of a Pelfrey/Milledge for Cliff Lee, but maybe a Westbrook type is realistic.

- What's a killer is that all the so-called sellers are chasing the Reds, who no one believes in - rightly so.

- I'd take an even money bet that at least one of St. Louis, Detroit or Chicago does not make the playoffs.

 

I bet you're right about the Cubs.

 

I'm tempted to take that bet. If the Cardinals and the Sox add pitching, I'll definitely want to take it.

 

I should clarify:

In both '97 & '01 I think the losses were kind of fluky. Alomar hit a really good pitch - I have no idea how he got it out. In the D-Backs 9th , they didn't hit a ball hard all inning. I'm a Yankee fan & a huge fan of Rivera, who is by all accounts (I don't have the access you guys do) also a great guy, pretty impressive considering he's as big a deal in NY (with Jeter) as there has been in a while. Just thought it was worth noting.

 

Can anyone who watched the Yankee game tell me if Hargrove was stalling to get to the rain with a lead in the 9th? Bad call or not, that was my first thought & it was supported by the subsequent conference on the mound with no one warming up.

Also, It seems Sir Sidney may have some Aaron not-so Small in him after all, did he look good?

 

In case anyone remains unconvinced about the massive gap between the American and National leagues this season:

The Minnesota Twins, in thrid-place in the AL Central and not likely to leave unless the White Sox continue to implode, are now 52-40. Or, roughly the same as the St. Louis Cardinals.

Of all NL teams, only the Mets have a better record than the Twins.

That is all.