The Yankees finally came to their senses today and released Mike Myers. Myers numbers overall were not bad however, hired to be a lefty specialist, he had essentially become a righty specialist only able to get out right handed hitters. For some reason though, they decided their best option to replace him was Jim Brower. Brower who is 34 and pitching in the minors. Now Brower has had very good numbers in the minors, His ERA was 1.64 at triple A, however there's a reason you're 34 and in the minors. He had a couple decent years in the majors between 2002 and 2004 he wasn't bad. In 2005 he was ok and in 2006 he was awwwwful. The Orioles let him go; that's not a good sign. Maybe he's had injury issues i don't know, but I'm not elated to know he's going to be on the team.
To make matters worse the Yankees have better options. Edwar Ramirez who pitched a grand total of 3 games with the Yankees in the 20 days he was with the team. He came up and contributed right away, then he had a bad outing in a tough situation versus Anaheim and doesn't pitch again for another 2 weeks. Shockingly that outing with 2 weeks rest he struggled, Rivera also struggles when he doesn't pitch well. Obviously Ramirez is no Mo, but my point is his last stint with the team was not representative of his talent. What is i would like to believe more representative is his stats at triple A. He has a minuscule 0.79 ERA in 21 games pitched with 59 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. I'll repeat that 59 strikeouts in 34 innings, that is ridiculous. Give him an actual chance. NOW!
The other option is Joba Chamberlain. They clearly plan on bringing him up eventually but apparently they don't think he's quite ready. He's a starter who they're trying out in the bullpen for the rest of the year and turns 22 in September. The early returns on that experiment have been nothing short of great. As a reliever he's pitched 4 innings of 1 hit 10 k ball. It's understandable if they don't want to rush him as he is young, and hasn't even pitched back to back games yet, but his time has to be coming soon. Farnsworthless continues to be awful and the Yankees cannot trust him with anything less than a 6 run lead.
If the Yankees want to continue winning games and don't want to burn out Vizcaino the way they burned out Proctor and Tanyon Sturtze, they're going to have to bring these guys up and give them a real chance.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Mr. Desperate Makes Another Desparate Move
Compare these two pf's stats:
Now, player A is clearly better. He scores 5 more points a game, hands out about 3 more assists and grabs an extra 1.5 rebounds a game. If i asked you which player you wanted, you have to take player A. However what if i told you player B is 22, the same age as many college grads and was entering his fourth year in the NBA, while player B is 31 and entering his 13th year in the league. What if i also told you, player A's salary for the upcoming year is $21 million and player B's is $1.7 million. What if i also told you i was giving away another young inexpensive talent with player B to get player A? would you do it?
Of course these players are Garnett and Al Jefferson and the Celtics are about to make another mistake this offseason. Apparently Danny Ainge feels it's time to cash in his chips and make a run for it. He's been stock piling young assets and waiting for the right opportunity to turn them into quality talent. Apparently now is that time for Ainge, most likely since he knows if he waits any longer he'll be shown the door. So feeling the heat he's gone out and traded for Ray Allen and is close to acquiring KG. This move would officially end the youth movement with Jefferson, and possibly Green or Rondo going to Minnesota. It would also instantly turn the Celtics a favorite to win the eastern conference the next 2-3 years.
However when Allen turns 35 before the start of the 2009 season and they're paying him 18 mil in the last year of his contract, they'll also be paying Pierce and KG 20 mil a piece at ages 32 and 33 respectively where does that leave the team? Jefferson, Corey Brewer, West, Green and Rondo will still not have reached their prime and you'll have two over the hill guards and an aging KG. Everyone knows guards don't age well. Here's the list of guys playing over the age of 31 who are guards and play anything but a complimentary role for their teams: Kidd, Nash, Iverson and that's it. All those guys are uniquely talented players, who have defied the odds to stay productive at an age over 31 and there's still only 3 of them.
If I'm a Celtics fan and this trade happens i pray they win a championship in the next 2-3 years because they're going to most likely be one of the worst teams in the league for years to come after that.
Player A: 21 pts 4.5 assists 12.5 reb’s 1.5 blocks 48-50% FG 80% FT
Player B: 16 pts 1.3 assists 11 reb’s 1.5 blocks 50% FG 68% FT
Now, player A is clearly better. He scores 5 more points a game, hands out about 3 more assists and grabs an extra 1.5 rebounds a game. If i asked you which player you wanted, you have to take player A. However what if i told you player B is 22, the same age as many college grads and was entering his fourth year in the NBA, while player B is 31 and entering his 13th year in the league. What if i also told you, player A's salary for the upcoming year is $21 million and player B's is $1.7 million. What if i also told you i was giving away another young inexpensive talent with player B to get player A? would you do it?
Of course these players are Garnett and Al Jefferson and the Celtics are about to make another mistake this offseason. Apparently Danny Ainge feels it's time to cash in his chips and make a run for it. He's been stock piling young assets and waiting for the right opportunity to turn them into quality talent. Apparently now is that time for Ainge, most likely since he knows if he waits any longer he'll be shown the door. So feeling the heat he's gone out and traded for Ray Allen and is close to acquiring KG. This move would officially end the youth movement with Jefferson, and possibly Green or Rondo going to Minnesota. It would also instantly turn the Celtics a favorite to win the eastern conference the next 2-3 years.
However when Allen turns 35 before the start of the 2009 season and they're paying him 18 mil in the last year of his contract, they'll also be paying Pierce and KG 20 mil a piece at ages 32 and 33 respectively where does that leave the team? Jefferson, Corey Brewer, West, Green and Rondo will still not have reached their prime and you'll have two over the hill guards and an aging KG. Everyone knows guards don't age well. Here's the list of guys playing over the age of 31 who are guards and play anything but a complimentary role for their teams: Kidd, Nash, Iverson and that's it. All those guys are uniquely talented players, who have defied the odds to stay productive at an age over 31 and there's still only 3 of them.
If I'm a Celtics fan and this trade happens i pray they win a championship in the next 2-3 years because they're going to most likely be one of the worst teams in the league for years to come after that.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Minor League Baseball and Bowling, Small Town Pleasures
This summer I've rediscovered two of the greatest pleasure of small town America; minor league baseball and bowling. Bowling I rediscovered on a boring night with some friends. We went on a Tuesday evening, had a couple beers, joked around and bowled. We then realized the bowling alley had a deal for unlimited bowling after 9 till close for 13 bucks. So you go bowl 5-6 games and have a good time with your friends. I must caution you, bowling can go very wrong. If you go too often, or if you care too much about how you do, you're in for trouble. However if you make up fake names that show on the screen anytime you get a spare or strike you're on the right track. something like Ice Princess for your buddy Jim or Malibu in honor of our favorite American Gladiator will do fine. You should be competitive with your friends, competition is fun after all, but its an absolute must that you realize it's still bowling, it's not that important. The more you quote the Big Lebowski the better.
Minor league baseball i rediscoved at a New Jersey Jackals game in Montclair, NJ. Most minor league baseball, like the stadium in Montclair, is played is small little stadiums that are beautifully built providing a more than picturesque setting to see a game. In addition to the beautiful stadium is the fact that you can actually afford to go. Tickets are less than 10 bucks a game, so bring friends, family whoever, and buy them a meal since that's less expensive than major league parks too. When i went the other night it was 60's night, which meant in addition to 60's music being played, beer was $2 a bottle. This is something a recent college grad is not going to complain about. Thursday night is a food drive which is nice, but beer is also $1 a bottle on Thursdays, so guess were I'll be?
Another great part about minor league baseball is you don't have to care. It's not the Yankees, no one here is going to the world series, so if they lose the game is it really that big a deal?No, and that's important because when the Jackals lost the other night in extra innings that didn't ruin my time at the park one bit. Now if you want to get behind your minor league team and really root for them, that's great, but i say, go, enjoy the game, hope the home team wins, and if not go home happy anyways.
You also don't have to deal with huge crowds in the parking lots or being put in crappy seats; there generally isn't a bad seat in the house. Heckling is also a underrated part of the minor league experience. You're close to the action, and they can hear you. Now don't be vulgar, there's kids around, and don't be too malicious these guys aren't paid enough. However have some fun, when the ump makes a bad call give him a 'hey blue wadda ya talkin about' or if a batter botches a bunt give him a 'hey buddy, way to get the job done there.'
Lets be honest with ourselves, small town America is kinda boring. However, by rediscovering some of the smaller pleasures available to us we can definitely make it at least a little better.
Minor league baseball i rediscoved at a New Jersey Jackals game in Montclair, NJ. Most minor league baseball, like the stadium in Montclair, is played is small little stadiums that are beautifully built providing a more than picturesque setting to see a game. In addition to the beautiful stadium is the fact that you can actually afford to go. Tickets are less than 10 bucks a game, so bring friends, family whoever, and buy them a meal since that's less expensive than major league parks too. When i went the other night it was 60's night, which meant in addition to 60's music being played, beer was $2 a bottle. This is something a recent college grad is not going to complain about. Thursday night is a food drive which is nice, but beer is also $1 a bottle on Thursdays, so guess were I'll be?
Another great part about minor league baseball is you don't have to care. It's not the Yankees, no one here is going to the world series, so if they lose the game is it really that big a deal?No, and that's important because when the Jackals lost the other night in extra innings that didn't ruin my time at the park one bit. Now if you want to get behind your minor league team and really root for them, that's great, but i say, go, enjoy the game, hope the home team wins, and if not go home happy anyways.
You also don't have to deal with huge crowds in the parking lots or being put in crappy seats; there generally isn't a bad seat in the house. Heckling is also a underrated part of the minor league experience. You're close to the action, and they can hear you. Now don't be vulgar, there's kids around, and don't be too malicious these guys aren't paid enough. However have some fun, when the ump makes a bad call give him a 'hey blue wadda ya talkin about' or if a batter botches a bunt give him a 'hey buddy, way to get the job done there.'
Lets be honest with ourselves, small town America is kinda boring. However, by rediscovering some of the smaller pleasures available to us we can definitely make it at least a little better.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Bashing ESPN is Old News
I often read comments about how ESPN is awful. People bash them for having stupid gimmicks or bad analysts or for trying to create angles that aren't really there. Heck i fall in this trap often, i want ESPN to do a better job and they certainly can. However the constant bashing of ESPN is really really old news. We get it ESPN has flaws, but one thing remains... it's still the world wide leader in sports.
If you want to catch the NBA or NFL draft, where are you looking to? If you want to watch an MLB game when your team isn't playing on a Monday who are you looking to? That's right ESPN and I'm certainly glad it's them rather then other options like Fox. If you're fed up with ESPN feel free to turn to the "Best Damn Sports Show Period." With a title like that it's gotta be good!!!!!!
Is this who's now gimmick something most sports fans should care about? probably not. It's simply an attention getting gimmick, but lets be honest with ourselves, it's July. In July apart from baseball the biggest sporting event is Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The NBA and NFL drafts are over, the NFL hasn't even started training camp. The MLS is in full affect, but soccer is played once maybe twice a week and a good portion of the country unfortunately doesn't care about it. So if you're part of a 24 hours sports and entertainment network you're telling me you don't have time for a debate as inane as Who's Now? Yes they could spend mooooore time talking about the NFL or maybe add some cricket coverage, but otherwise i don't really see the problem in having this debate. thousands of people vote every day so someone must care.
I'd love to have a better option besides ESPN, but lets remember they are not in fact Satan.
If you want to catch the NBA or NFL draft, where are you looking to? If you want to watch an MLB game when your team isn't playing on a Monday who are you looking to? That's right ESPN and I'm certainly glad it's them rather then other options like Fox. If you're fed up with ESPN feel free to turn to the "Best Damn Sports Show Period." With a title like that it's gotta be good!!!!!!
Is this who's now gimmick something most sports fans should care about? probably not. It's simply an attention getting gimmick, but lets be honest with ourselves, it's July. In July apart from baseball the biggest sporting event is Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The NBA and NFL drafts are over, the NFL hasn't even started training camp. The MLS is in full affect, but soccer is played once maybe twice a week and a good portion of the country unfortunately doesn't care about it. So if you're part of a 24 hours sports and entertainment network you're telling me you don't have time for a debate as inane as Who's Now? Yes they could spend mooooore time talking about the NFL or maybe add some cricket coverage, but otherwise i don't really see the problem in having this debate. thousands of people vote every day so someone must care.
I'd love to have a better option besides ESPN, but lets remember they are not in fact Satan.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Why This "Dream Team" Should Be Different
FSN broadcast the USA Blue v White Scrimmage tonight and as an American it made me feel hopeful that this US squad will be different than the recent ones which were unable to win gold medals. Several things plagued these teams most glaringly was their inability at times to beat zone defenses due to their lack of cohension and shooting. There are several reasons this team should be different. Reason number one that this team should be different is Jason Kidd. He is clearly the best American point guard of this generation. Watching him run the break with Lebron would turn anyone into a basketball fan. It's not only fast breaks where he'll help out the team though, he hit Dwight Howard with great passes into the post even against zone defenses; something the US struggled against in the past. Additionally he is a very good defender who will be able to get into passing lanes and disrupt other teams offense.
Reason number two is Kobe. Say what you want about Kobe as a person, but he is the singularly most talented player in the world. He can score from anywhere on the court, he can find teammates on the break, will work off the ball and defend. Try playing the US team man to man and Kobe will kill you. Play zone and he can pour it in from outside. With teammates like this he also will not be hesitate to pass a criticism that plagues him on the Lakers. Perhaps the biggest thing he brings is competitiveness. Kobe is arguably the most competitive player out there, he's the type that would get pissed off losing a game of checkers.
Reason number 3 is the shooters they have available. their options for shooters include Micheal Redd and Mike Miller give the US much better outside shooting options than they've had in the past. Combine these with Hinrich and Battiers outside shooting and zones should not be as big of a puzzle for this team.
The final reason is simply the growth of the team. Many of the players on this team are very young. Carmelo Anothony (23) was already the best player on the bronze medal winning team from the world championships last summer and has gotten better every year; especially shooting which will allow the rest of his game to shine. Lebron James (22) still has work to do on his jump shot, but it's better than it was. Deron Williams (23) is a better shooter than Chris Paul who he replaced. Chris Bosh (23) came into his own this year with the Raptors and Dwight Howard (21) is getting better every day.
Obviously these guys will win games and do relatively well for a regular country, but relatively well is not what the US wants to see. So, while the second half of game was very sloppy, the competitiveness hustle and talent they showed tonight indicate these guys have the makings of a team that can get the US back to the top spot on the medal stand.
Reason number two is Kobe. Say what you want about Kobe as a person, but he is the singularly most talented player in the world. He can score from anywhere on the court, he can find teammates on the break, will work off the ball and defend. Try playing the US team man to man and Kobe will kill you. Play zone and he can pour it in from outside. With teammates like this he also will not be hesitate to pass a criticism that plagues him on the Lakers. Perhaps the biggest thing he brings is competitiveness. Kobe is arguably the most competitive player out there, he's the type that would get pissed off losing a game of checkers.
Reason number 3 is the shooters they have available. their options for shooters include Micheal Redd and Mike Miller give the US much better outside shooting options than they've had in the past. Combine these with Hinrich and Battiers outside shooting and zones should not be as big of a puzzle for this team.
The final reason is simply the growth of the team. Many of the players on this team are very young. Carmelo Anothony (23) was already the best player on the bronze medal winning team from the world championships last summer and has gotten better every year; especially shooting which will allow the rest of his game to shine. Lebron James (22) still has work to do on his jump shot, but it's better than it was. Deron Williams (23) is a better shooter than Chris Paul who he replaced. Chris Bosh (23) came into his own this year with the Raptors and Dwight Howard (21) is getting better every day.
Obviously these guys will win games and do relatively well for a regular country, but relatively well is not what the US wants to see. So, while the second half of game was very sloppy, the competitiveness hustle and talent they showed tonight indicate these guys have the makings of a team that can get the US back to the top spot on the medal stand.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Things I Don't Care About
The last week or so I've found it's been tough finding things in sports that I'm particularly interested in. The NBA draft already happened, free agency has been relatively boring, the NFL doesn't start up until September and unlike the obsessed masses in this country i can't get fired up about training camp. Baseball and my team the Yankees in particular have been getting more interesting recently; the Yankees after all have won 10 of their last 13 games. However it's tough to get realllly fired up about it when they're still 8 back in the division and 7 games back of the wild card with 3 teams ahead of them. The much easier task however is finding things that are being covered and i have absolutely no interest or at least very little interest at best.
One thing I'm not interested in is Yi Jialian. I'm not sold on the fact that he's really that good. He could likely be the Chinese version of Toni Kukoc, which isn't bad, Kukoc was a very useful player for awhile, but he was also by no means a star. So I'm supposed to be interested in a player who MAY be a decent player, and whether or not he goes to Milwaukee. Am i supposed to be shocked his Chinese team won't allow him to go there? The Bucks new all along there would be issues and they took him anyway. So when he goes back to China or gets traded let me know until then i don't care.
Another thing I'm not interested in is the Barry Bonds home run chase. He's going to break the record eventually whether it happens in July or September it will happen. While he did take steroids we can't necessarily prove anything and therefore we can't do anything about it. I've accepted it as reality and now I'm ready to move on. I'm certainly not going to celebrate this accomplishment by this guy. So when it happens let me know, I'll say good for him and move on about my day.
Also don't care about Pacman Jones coming to training camp. He's not playing this year right? As Allen Iverson said 'what are we talking about? we talkin' bout practice. not a game, not a game, practice.' Why exactly am i supposed to care about a player who won't even be playing in preseason games, much less regular season, coming to practice?
One thing I'm not interested in is Yi Jialian. I'm not sold on the fact that he's really that good. He could likely be the Chinese version of Toni Kukoc, which isn't bad, Kukoc was a very useful player for awhile, but he was also by no means a star. So I'm supposed to be interested in a player who MAY be a decent player, and whether or not he goes to Milwaukee. Am i supposed to be shocked his Chinese team won't allow him to go there? The Bucks new all along there would be issues and they took him anyway. So when he goes back to China or gets traded let me know until then i don't care.
Another thing I'm not interested in is the Barry Bonds home run chase. He's going to break the record eventually whether it happens in July or September it will happen. While he did take steroids we can't necessarily prove anything and therefore we can't do anything about it. I've accepted it as reality and now I'm ready to move on. I'm certainly not going to celebrate this accomplishment by this guy. So when it happens let me know, I'll say good for him and move on about my day.
Also don't care about Pacman Jones coming to training camp. He's not playing this year right? As Allen Iverson said 'what are we talking about? we talkin' bout practice. not a game, not a game, practice.' Why exactly am i supposed to care about a player who won't even be playing in preseason games, much less regular season, coming to practice?
Thursday, July 12, 2007
the good the bad and the ugly: NBA contracts
The NBA free agency period has started off and there have been some tremendous contracts, some awful contracts, and some even worse than that. Among those great contracts are that of Gerald Wallace with the Bobcats. He signed for 6 years and $57 million. That's about 10 million a year for a player who scored 18 points and pulled down 7 boards. While 10 million is a lot it's less than Vince Carter, Chancey Billups and Rashard Lewis, who we'll get to later. Additionally Wallace is only 24, I'll repeat only 24, at the end of the contract Wallace will be only 30. Really the only other good deal would be Fabricio Oberto's deal with San Antonio. While players like Jerome James are sitting on the bench making 5 million a year, Oberto will be making a little over 3 million a year, to start for a championship team.
Then comes the bad contracts. These include Jason Kapono for 24 mil over 4 years. It's not an awful contract since he'll only be 30 at the end of the contract, but you're paying 6 mil a year for a guy who can shoot and that's about it. Matt Carrol and Luke Waltons deal also fall in that bad area, as they're going to be paid way too much money well into their thirties.
But worse than the bad contracts are the ugly ones. By far the worst has to be the the Rashard Lewis contract. Now i love the idea of signing him, they had the cap space and he's an improvement over Darko so it could have been a great signing. However, they're going to pay somewhere in the range of 110 mil over 6 years for him. To do this they had to sign and trade, giving Seattle a second round pick and a huge trade exception, just so they could give him more money. This will lock up lewis till he's 33 at big time money, for a player who while good, ain't thaaaat good. Compare that to Gerald Wallace who signed for 57 million and it looks even worse. they're essentially paying more than twice the price for 2 more buckets a game. You would have thought they would have learned about these max contracts with T-mac and Hill, but i guess not.
now there are a lot more bad and ugly contracts i could talk about but I'm going to Vegas tomorrow so i won't take the time. Next post will probably be Tuesday, and if I'm lucky maybe I'll have gotten some inside scoops from the summer league... but most likely not.
Then comes the bad contracts. These include Jason Kapono for 24 mil over 4 years. It's not an awful contract since he'll only be 30 at the end of the contract, but you're paying 6 mil a year for a guy who can shoot and that's about it. Matt Carrol and Luke Waltons deal also fall in that bad area, as they're going to be paid way too much money well into their thirties.
But worse than the bad contracts are the ugly ones. By far the worst has to be the the Rashard Lewis contract. Now i love the idea of signing him, they had the cap space and he's an improvement over Darko so it could have been a great signing. However, they're going to pay somewhere in the range of 110 mil over 6 years for him. To do this they had to sign and trade, giving Seattle a second round pick and a huge trade exception, just so they could give him more money. This will lock up lewis till he's 33 at big time money, for a player who while good, ain't thaaaat good. Compare that to Gerald Wallace who signed for 57 million and it looks even worse. they're essentially paying more than twice the price for 2 more buckets a game. You would have thought they would have learned about these max contracts with T-mac and Hill, but i guess not.
now there are a lot more bad and ugly contracts i could talk about but I'm going to Vegas tomorrow so i won't take the time. Next post will probably be Tuesday, and if I'm lucky maybe I'll have gotten some inside scoops from the summer league... but most likely not.
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