Spiff

Martian Chronicles is the only one of those I've read. I thought it was aesome, and I was reminded of it again this week with Bush talking about a manned expedition to Mars.

Which Bradbury books have you read? I've read a few and I liked them all. He has a real unique style. Right now I'm reading Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King.

MJ circa 1996 and four YMCA white guys gets you to the eastern conference finals. And furthermore, Krause said he wanted to blow up the team and prove he could get a ring without MJ. He didn't even come close. So there you have it.

An attitude like that makes him a prime candidate.

Well we haven't done anything to improve our offense, in fact it's gotten worse (just like our pitching). So I still fail to see the improvement.

Yeah we'll tear into them, just like last year when we roared out of the gate with 3 hits against Runelvys. I fail to understand the logic here, the Royals sign one of our relievers, we sign a worse one from another team. Therefore, this is good for us? Awesome. Maybe this year we'll finish FOUR whole games ahead of them.

Exactly, they act like they were the two best teams in the AL or something. Really, they couldn't say enough about the A-Rod for Manny trade, but where was the analysis of the Juan Uribe trade? What about the A's trading for Michael Barrett, the Indians signing Jose Jimenez? Let's go ESPN, there are other teams making moves.

You'll be fine. When I was younger, I got so many of those welts (insert joke here). I must have gotten three in the span of a year at one point. Yeah it hurts like a b**** but you didn't black out or anything. You'll live. One time a soccer ball flew into my eye from three feet away, and I fell down and banged my head on the floor. My eye was bleeding but I didn't even get a concussion then, which should give you an idea how hard you have to get hit to get one.

Spiderman, the most overrated movie ever.

What did I say, I said two starters, the second baseman, and possibly the centerfielder. Alright let's break it down. Colon: 15-13, 3.87 ERA 1.20 WHIP, decent. Better major league stats than any of them (obviously). Especially decent considering like you said he only pitches when he's in the mood. Wright: 1-7, 6.15 ERA 1.59 WHIP last year. Bad bad bad. Bad starting, bad relieving, bad all year. Ginter: only 3 IP last year in the majors, 13.50 ERA, 3-5 14 saves 3.03 ERA in Charlotte last year, solid 52K's to only 22 BB is extremely good. 4.47 ERA in 2002 in Chicago in 54 IP, not good. Cotts: 1-1, 8.10 ERA 2.40 WHIP last year in Chicago, we all know the story. 9-7, 2.16 ERA in Birmingham, extremely good but again there's a big difference between AA and the majors. Diaz: 5-7, 3.97 ERA in Charlotte last year, not spectacular. All possible starters, nothing that really excites me, except Cotts if he gets his control down but that is a big if. Now, second base. Alomar: .253-3-17 in 253 AB's. OBP of .330. Not great. Leadoff hitters should have better OBP's but his defense was great. 1 year for 1 million is a steal for Arizona even if they bat him ninth. Harris: .204-0-5 in 137 AB's. OBP of .259. Not great, not even good. 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts is really good. .380-6-13 in 100 AB's in Charlotte. Very good, but hasn't translated as of yet. Centerfield. Everett: .301-10-41, OBP of .377 (third best on team, behind Thomas and Ordonez, 46 points ahead of Carlos). So his batting average was 10 points higher than Lee, and his OBP was 46 points higher, yet people are gushing about Carlos's career year and some are even agreeing with his salary jump to 8 million. The Expos got Carl for 2 years $7.5 million. Why not re-sign him, put him in left, and trade Carlos for pitching, as their defense is comparable. Rowand: .287-6-24 in 157 AB's. OBP of .327 is prett good. I am actually a Rowand fan, so this one I have the least problem with. Borchard: .184-1-5 in 49 AB's. OBP of .246. Terrible. .253-13-53, 27 BB and 103 SO in Charlotte. Average was still bad, he still strikes out way too much. There's no way I'd depend on him. What is the bottom line? The pitching is a real crapshoot. None of them have had enough innings, save Wright, to show what they can really do. It could be a good thing, it could be a bad thing. So far what they've done is not great but that means nothing really when you compare other pitchers to their first cups of coffee. My problem lies with the fact that this team (a supposed contender) is relying on them to be the difference between winning and losing. If they succeed, it is a win-win for the team. Cheap, quality (as it turns out) players helping the club win. If they fail, well they can say they tried it, the Kids had to Play some time, and whoops another season down the drain. Edit: I should add that this is just how I feel about this team as of now. Obviously, like I said before there is time for deals to be made. My point is more about breaking in prospects and calling it building a contender.

She's my cherry pie Put a smile on your face Ten miles wide I never paid much attention to them but that was a quality song

That's exactly what he said.

I don't want them to depend on kids. Depend, as in, two starters, the starting second baseman, and possibly the starting centerfielder. Not if they are serious about winning. It seems like they're trying to rebuild while saying they want to contend, and falling somewhere inbetween every year which accomplishes nothing. I think they're afraid to completely rebuild, because rebuilding = losing for a few years, and this team gets no attention at all if it's not winning. At the same time, signing established good players costs money. If they can convince people that they are trying to win, while letting good players walk and replacing them with cheaper, unproven kids (albeit some of them with high upside), then I think they are right where they want to be.

I think DBAH0 took your above response as a question, instead of an anecdote.

Yes well last off-season the Marlins at least signed somebody, Pudge, and traded for a centerfielder, Pierre. They also traded for Mark Redman, which set them up with a rotation of Burnett, Beckett, Penny, Redman, and Pavano. They went into the season with veterans at every starting position. It's not as though they just sat back and expected magic, they went out and got stuff done.

The sad thing is the Sox can win the division, but seemingly refuse to try. This is a team that won 86 games last year against a slightly weaker AL Central than this coming year. Now, subtract Gordon, Sullivan, Colon, Daubach, Graffy, Everett and Alomar and add Juan Uribe and Cliff Politte. Guh. Thankfully it is only January, which means opening day is still about three months away because right now this team is scary. A rotation of Buehrle, Loaiza, Garland and...kids? Willie Harris at second base, are you kidding me? Not to mention the bullpen, beyond Marte and Wunsch, is anyone's guess. Maybe management is figuring since the team has underachieved with veterans for three years, if they play a bunch of kids it will overachieve.

True but if they sign someone big I would think it would have to be a pitcher, as I don't imagine many hitters wanting to play in such a big park.

The problem with the Tigers is that they have nothing in the minors, no help on the way. And Fisk was nicknamed Pudge as a kid, so yeah he had the nickname in Boston.

The AL east is going to be so dominant. Hell the Devil Rays will even be competitive. And look at that AL Central, doesn't it make you proud that it will probably be the worst division in baseball again.

Someone's bitter.

If people warn you it makes your rate limit go down. So if your warning is 100% and you try to sign on you can't.

If it's mellow it has to be Pharrell, who tragically has not hit puberty yet.

Not unless they want to fork over 4-5 mill per season. And I don't see that happening.