Punch and Judy Garland

I enjoyed Scoop's columns at SLAM but I think he has not been a good columnist outside of basketball. He's trying to be controversial more than provocative which is a common mistake amongst writers

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Dec 27, 2005 -> 01:29 PM) Gee, the Rangers have never had any problems giving 5-year deals to a Boras pitching client. I know. To think I kinda felt sorry for them for believing in Ho Park. Then they go out and repeat the same contract. No pity this time

I don't think most here believe Bedardis wonderful its just that relative to what they have, he is their best. That's why many think it'd be foolish to trade him. If you deal Bedard you upgrade goign to Prior but you don't fill out more of the 5 spots

I would balk on Bedard if I were the O's. Maybe I'd offer Markakis but I'd want to start building around Bedard, Prior, Penn, and Hill. I'd try to insist on sending back Julio or Lopez or Chen instead (not terribly likely for the latter two)

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Dec 27, 2005 -> 12:24 AM) how have the red sox dealt with pressure thus far? the red sox won't be pressured into doing anything. Just keep slurping your boys as the team crumbles.

If we were to hypothetically add a young OF you would hope it'd be a corner one as we have been on a run of CF's lately but not guys with big sticks

I definitely would not put Harold in but I am a big fan of his.

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Dec 26, 2005 -> 10:15 PM) Friday games are now at 7:35. Just thought I would get the memo out. Sorry if this was already posted. That's not a bad thing I guess. An extra half hour in the bullpen sports bar sounds ok!

5 years 60 million lands Zito and Garland next year. Much better bets than Millwood and Burnett. People thought Burnett's money was crazy but I'd rather have the 28 year old than Millwood if I had to hand out a dummy deal. All that said, Texas should be good this year anyways

Larry Lucchino promised to reallocate the Damon funds. While they need a CF and a SS, there really aren't many high dollar players in the FA market beyond Weaver. Weaver would seem highly unlikely. Now, clearly the Red Sox will be active in the trade market. It will be very interesting to see what they do as they might be apt to taking on salary.

These signings aren't dumb provided that you use them in July to acquire talent. Sometimes ( the Tigers being one) forget to do that

The Red Sox will spend that Damon money whether it makes sense or not so somebody (its hard to imagine it'd be Jef Weaver though) is going to get paid. 5/60 million is silly. THey learned nothing from Chan Ho Park who was an albatross at 5/55. Those years and dollars make sense for almost no one, certianly not a guy on the wrong side of 30 with arm troubles in the past. IF you are going to make that kind of an offer, you give it to a guy like Garland or Buehrle who are pretty much equally proven with no injury bugs and are younger. Garcia, Garland, and Buehrle will be challenges to keep, and certianly not all of them will be kept longterm

If the A's felt like they couldn't fork over the money to sign Mulder, Zito, or Hudson to an extension, they aren't going to sign a slightly lesser pitcher to an extension for as much or more money than the other three would get

I got my first Championship T-shirt, assorted 8X10's of the World Series, the dvd, the Tribune book, and certified autographed cards of Konerko and B-Mac. I hadn't gotten anything outside of the cereal, the program, and another book so this helped me out a lot!

I couldn't even finish it and its only a half a page long

How does Boras have no leverage? If that were true, he wouldn't be Joe's agent anymore. When was the last time we signed/extended a Boras client that wasn't a draft pick or a guy we traded for? Really, I don't know

Markakis=Matt Murton to me. I don't mean that in a terribly good or bad way. I think he was a guy that was going to be drafted as a pitcher by some teams and a hitter by others. The O's went with as an OF and he's been good. Is John Maine still a good prospect for the O's? I get him and Loewen confused.

I agree that signing Furcal and keepign Prior makes a ton more sense

If you want to know why Garland might get 6/66 (actually I think he'll get more like Colon's 4/50) then you answered your own question. Because he CAN get that money and leave your team after 06, you don't want to give up too much. That said, just wait until the musical chairs of player movement have left a few teams with no place to sit. A team like Baltimore or someone else might feel really desperate in February if they didn't please their fans with moves so they might act out of desperation. If I'm Kenny Williams, my next move after trying to force Jose or Jon into signing an extension is to come out and say that you plan to keep all 6 guys for this year. That will bring a little leverage back

yeah no offense but I think that maybe speculating isn't really fair given how early on in the process this is

QUOTE(chimpy2121 @ Dec 22, 2005 -> 08:31 AM) I woke up and heard this on ESPNradio. This is such a sad story. His son, 18, was pronounced dead earlier this morning. Tony went from being on top of the world last week to being absolutely crushed and at the bottom of the world. Needless to say he left the team and went to Florida. This is a terrible occurance. My prayers go out to the Dungy family. Tony Dungy is one of the finest men in sports and you just know his family mirrors his class and dignity. Horribly sad news

I don't know what Steve has left but he gets back to a league where he is more comfortable and he provides them with an upgrade in center where their CF needs to cover ground

They went 12 million over Boston with the Dodgers out of the bidding. Unless the Orioles came in with a 4 year/48, I don't get why they went so much over Bostons 4/40

As a Cardinal fan in the NL I was bracing myself for having to root for a hated Twin in Jones. Looks like I won't have to go that route now

QUOTE(KWs OK for Me @ Dec 20, 2005 -> 05:51 PM) With the ability to earn 3 more in incentives Octavio Dotel (Rotoworld) Yeah I hate one year deals if you are only getting half a season at best because it might take half a season to get all the way back. A 2 year deal would have been better although Dotel probably wanted the one year so he can cash in as a closer in 06-07 offseason