Rowand44

So I have 3 hours until I have to be up for class and I can't sleep, fantastic. I also played 2 hours of football and some volleyball today so I should be at least a bit tired, but nope. This coming after getting a whole 4 hours of sleep last night. The world hates me.

QUOTE(R.J. @ Oct 9, 2006 -> 03:10 AM) If I'm the Yankees... First of all, they're going to try to trade him. They're going to have to given the situation that theyve been presented with. But nobody is stupid enough (except maybe that one guy) to forget that Alex Rodriguez was the MVP of baseball just one year ago and plays like one every year, at least offensively. He's still got years left and he's versatile in that he can play 3rd or short, both quite well. Ok, I hear you squawking that he sucked at 3rd base this year. My god, yes he did. But the level which it was blown out of proportion is pretty considerable. And yes, guys get older and lose some range and who knows if he can even play SS anymore? Well, with his offensive production, he's worth being a mediocre shortstop or a 3rd baseman who makes errors. The numbers don't lie. New York lies to you. So, this is a pretty valuable commodity, even if his name has been dragged through the mud all over New York. The asking price starts with Crede, McCarthy, and a prospect. A good one. Sweeney might not fit them, and Broadway is solid but doesnt wow anybody. It could be either though. Don't kid yourselves into thinking that the Yankees want Freddy Garcia. He had 17 wins? Sure. But I watched him pitch in all 17 of them, so you're not fooling me into thinking he had a good year or that he has many good years ahead of him. Garcia has trade value, but not A-Rod trade value. McCarthy does. We've all soured on McCarthy (a little?), but come on. He's got a nice future. Not as a releiver, we saw, but he's got a hell of a lot of talent. And he's 1000x more valuable to a team than Garcia. Crede is a must. He's the one coming off the breakout year. His name has got the buzz. He's got that sure handed defense at 3rd that A-Rod lacks. The Yanks would love to have him and he wouldn't be a bad replacement for the "mess" that A-Rod has become for them. Fields will not get the deal done folks. He's not a sure thing, at all. Don't want to deal our precious babe Brandon McCarthy? Well, ok. Then we're going to have to get creative. I already said Garcia isn't impressive enough to get the Yankees biting. They already know what Contreras and Vazquez can do and they're not getting back on that boat. But Buehrle... Buehrle would be interesting. They need starting pitching. Everyone does. Buehrle is coming off of his worst year, and yeah he looked worse than Garcia at times during that stretch, but I'm more apt to believe that he'll turn it around before Garcia does. Freddy lost his fastball .... velocity doesnt come back to you too often. Buehrle is a crafty left hander, and crafty left handers run into trouble a lot, but they get through it. I think the Yankees and most teams in baseball would jump at the chance to get Mark Buehrle, down year or not, based on reputation. So Crede, McCarthy or Buehrle, and a prospect. Yankees send Rodriguez and maybe, maybe, some money. I don't think we can do much better for them, and I don't think they'll accept much less. Remember: the Yankees can't upgrade from A-Rod at 3rd base. And unless you've got something special to give them, they can go right out and buy a guy who's similar or better. Crede, McCarthy or Buehrle, and a prospect. That brings you one of the best players in the game. But does it make us a better team? I don't think it does. It doesnt fix our leadoff problem, it doesnt fill that gaping hole in left field, it doesnt strengthen our pitching staff, the life blood of the team, or get Uribe and Anderson's bats going. I could be convinced to sell on Crede for the right player. (A-Rod IS, you betcha.) I'm less happy about the certainty that to get a guy like A-Rod you're going to have to toss in Buehrle (who despite that disgusting second half, is still rock solid most of the time) or McCarthy (who I'd REALLY like to see get his shot.) A deal like that for A-Rod leaves us with a (still) solid top-to-bottom pitching staff, but one less guy who is capable of stepping it up and pitching like an Ace. Is it still worth it? Any deal involving Brandon McCarthy is a no go. His presence is the key to our whole offseason. By the way I didn't sour on Brandon at all. Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Yankees would want Freddy. The Yankees are still going to want a proven starter and Freddy is just that. It's going to take a nice package to get Alex, no doubt but I think it'd be doable with out Brandon. EDIT: Well thought out post though RJ, I just disagree about Freddy, I think he'd interest them.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Oct 9, 2006 -> 12:35 AM) I wish we could see what Wolfe could do against SEC, Big Ten, etc defenses on a weekly basis over his career. Yes, i know they played OSU this year and he had a nice game. I just don't think he has a chance to win the Heisman playing in the MAC, whether that's right or wrong. He has no chance. He'll be in New York but he won't win it.

BTW, I'd like to add that I'm very happy Marty finally let Rivers throw the darn ball. I still think Phillip is going to be one hell of a qb.

Worst LCS ever.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 11:29 PM) As someone who hasn't seen one 'Phin game this year, WTF is wrong with Daunte? Is he not running as much as he used to in Minny? Not accurate? Arm strength isn't a problem, is it? His arm strength is fine actually, his accuracy hasn't been good though, he can't run at all anymore and he thinks he has all day to throw the ball. He also for some reason refuses to throw to Chris Chambers which really bugs me, cause Chris is a playmaker and instead of getting him the ball, he's throwing the ball to the great Wes Welker. Daunte is just frusterating as all hell to watch right now.

I love that Wolfe has a prime time game on espn right now.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 07:06 PM) Then why are you surprised that people want one of the best players in the history of the game in his prime at a position of need who makes Konerko money? Cause I know many, many people hate ARod and are basically afraid of him for some reason. I just had the feeling more people would be opposed to it around here than actually are.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 06:59 PM) I do think the opinions of many would be on the other side of the fence if he was making a quarter of the teams salary as he did in Texas. No doubt. That's a much different situation though, obviously.

Ya, most of us agree on Arod which I'm kind of shocked about. I thought there would be many more people opposed to him on the Sox. I'm glad to see I was wrong.

I'm not exactly sure how Alex Gonzalez is a better hitter than Juan. Juan had 12 more homers, 21 more rbi's and a better ops. I guess if OBP is the only stat that mattesr then Alex is the better hitter, maybe, but on the other hand Juan does have the better career obp. Defensively you can probably argue either way, both are pretty damn good defenders. Juan might make a bit more money than Gonzalez in 07 but it certainly isn't going to a ton more, probably less than a million dollars and considering the huge power difference, it's worth it. You're going to tell me a gold glove calibur, 27 year old shortop with a ton of pop and a reasonable contract has no trade value? Please.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 03:22 PM) Who the hell starts at QB for the Dolphins next week? Culpepper is just a collosal failure. What's Cade Mcnown up to now a days? Honestly though, I'm hoping it's Harrington. I'm already sick of seeing Culpepper sit in the pocket for 5 seconds thinking he has all year to throw and then just get sacked.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 03:15 PM) No. I have no reason to give a s*** about the regular season anymore. We're making the playoffs, and that's when I should seriously start caring about anything. And eventually lose, so you have nothing to worry about. Ya, I'll stop talking trash because it's not too hard to make fun of my team....

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 03:05 PM) After last week...I think almost everyone who watches the NFL thought the exact same thing. Ok.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 02:59 PM) So doing that to the defending NFC Champs last weekend didn't convince you but doing this to a team that missed the playoffs last year did? No. I've been saying since after week 2 that I think the Bears are the team in the NFC to beat. I just thought I'd post my opinion on here.

The Bears are indeed the best team in football.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:32 PM) I am not a Bills fan Yes you are.

Well it's nice to see that the Phins still suck. Well at least Harrington is moving the damn ball.

QUOTE(gosox41 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 08:22 AM) KW does use his minor league system differently in that he uses them as trade bait. But does that mean he goes into a draft not rying to draft what he things the most talented players around are? He doesn't seriously draft someone wiht the idea of trading him a year from now does he? I have a hard time beleiving that. If you can trade a lot of mediocre to good prospects for major league talent, then I'm all for it. But it would be nice to actually draft and develop a great prospect once in awhile. It's easier said then done, but it can be done. There's may come a point in the next year or 2 where an injury will happen or the payroll will be maxed out, and we're going to need someone from the minors to step in and have some immediate success to help the team stay in contention. Bob They seem to draft guys that will move through the system quickly so their value will be high right away. So yes, in a way I'd say they draft people with trading guys in mind.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 11:44 AM) Well, work/family circumstances probably won't let me see it before Halloween weekend, but I'm real good at ignoring people, so I think I'll be okay.... You sure it isn't the other way around?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 09:51 AM) Did you read ARod's quotes this morning. He said he sucked. Miguel Tejada didn't get traded because he refused to play 3rd base. He'd rather be guaranteed a losing team and play SS, instead of trying to win and play 3B. ARod, the best all around player in the game, and a better defensive SS than Jeter, moved to 3B willingly. ARods place in the history of the game when its all said and done would shine even brighter if he was known as a SS, but that didn't matter to him, he wanted to win. They money thing is so laughable. If someone offered anyone on this board $252 guaranteed for 10 years, I don't think most of the people crying about his paycheck would turn it down, and that's hypocritical. Its not ARod's fault he gets a boatload of money. I believe he restructured his contract as much as the union would allow him to even take less to try and win with the Yankees. The guy gets a bad rap. He's a great player, and will thrive if he gets out of NY. He hasn't exactly been awful overall with the Yankees either. If Frank Thomas put up the numbers ARod put up the last 3 years, people here would be demanding statues of him all over the city, they would demand that USCF be called Frank Thomas Field. For ARod, its just very mediocre. Wow, great post Dick. I completely agree.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 02:26 AM) Well, here's the other side of that...all that pitching turned out not to be enough to save Detroit the Central division despite the monster lead they built up earlier in the year. The playoffs are a whole new season though, the Tigers definitely stunk down the stretch but they still won 95 games. My point is, it wasn't realistic for them to continue on that ridiculous pace they were on and because of that, they slowed down considerably. They weren't an 100 win team and well they didn't win 100 games. I completely agree on the A's though, they're a great team, much much much better than the Yankees. This is the true World Series.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 02:11 AM) Well we didn't. Give the Tigers their due. They earned it. I've actually learned to respect this Detroit team a lot because of how little respect they've had all season. They won 95 games with dominant pitching and still nobody gave them a chance in October, hell almost everyone thought they'd be swept. They're a real good team with a legit shot at winning it all(I still think they will).

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:46 AM) My only counterpoint is this: that's a lot of money to risk on that opinion. That's fair. I'll counter that by saying, you're not risking a whole season on him, you know he's going to produce in the regular season. Even if he did struggle in the postseason with the bat, he can still defend and he can still run a bit(career .375 obp in the playoffs, so he still gets on base). He's not a one dimensional player so there is more he could do. And like I said before it's not like he's never played good in the postseason, so he's definitely capable of coming up big in the playoffs.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:41 AM) Who knows how much NY has gotten into his head? Maybe Mariotti talks to him and his brain goes "here we go again". Eh, one guy compared to the whole city is a little bit different. You're right, we don't know how he'd react, but I think he'd be just fine.