BrandoFan

As long as co-eds squeel YAY-son everytime they see you, it's all good.

Do you want it to be, babe bro?

Where would the Cubs be with Kelton over Alou in LF. Give it to Moises. Where would the Cubs be with Machado instead of Damien Miller? Giver it to Damien. Where would they be with Ojeda at SS in A-Gone's place? Give it to A-Gone. See, they're all "indispensable", all Most Valuable little rascals.

Potay-to, potah-to. Besides, 'Yason' is actually how that famous argonaut's name is pronounced in my language. Respect. You clearly haven't read Moneyball because if you have, you'd know that 'Billy Beane getting jobbed' is contradiction in terms. Otherwise, what kind of a genius extrordinaire would he be?

Meheard Kelly is a bit of a prankster. I like him.

Yas, you wanna field this one? How many starts did he get with Oakland? See that's the difference: we start him for 3-4 years before realizing he mucho sucka...whereas A's quickly see him for the bum he is and cut him loose. Duh. . Melhuse laid an egg, didn't he? If it was me, I would have deposited that ball 450 feet to dead straightaway cf, lol Let's face it, sooner or later Oakland's small market-dness was going to catch up with them.

. How do you know? Have you EVER even seen him walk down Mishima Boulevard let alone hit a 95mph fastball? Seriously, Hideki's slugging fell from 600 to 450 in transition, a huge dropoff. For all you know Kazuo willl be a Japanese Royce Clayton- bad hitter, not much of a base-stealer, handy but with a weak arm, little range, making about 4.5 mill a year....And at least back in 2001, Sox payroll was 7-10 Mill HIGHER than it's likely going to be this year, thus making Clayton at least somewhat affordable. The fact that we overpaid Jose should only make the Sox MORE stingy, not less. This idiotic logic of "well if we paid Jose 5 million, we should have enough money for anyone we want" is, well, idiotic.

Everything depends if we can move Kock, Konerko or both. If we can't I suggest forgetting about getting Lil' Matsu right about....now. Another thing is whether he is overhyped or not. Matsui Dawg didn't have nearly as much power, but he was very clutch all year long, including playoffs and figures to get better. His defense in LF is gold-glove caliber. Smart baserunner, even if only evrage speed. Is Kazuo Gold Glove-type fielder he's been billed? Is he a legitmate speedster like Ichiro? Can he post 775-800 OPS? Sox can't afford 5+ Mill if he falls short of any of the 3.

Mariners GM must have done something terrible in the previous life. Spitting in JFK's cereal probably didn't help.

But he was such an integral part, a spiritual leader without whom the Super Squad Nine don't make playoffs! He should've been top 3 in voting on that alone.

Does anyone know if Gracia had any arm troubles, or is his newly found mediocrity work ethic/attitude-related? For my money, he was the second best pitcher in AL in 2001, and that was like his 2nd full year in the majors. Electric stuff- fastball with excellent movement topping out at 94-96; excellent breaking ball and idea how to pitch.... If he is healthy, after his 2002-2003 seasons, can we pry him away from Ms at under 3-4 Mill? At that price, I'll take 3.70 ERA in a second.

That's because they have competent talent-evaluators, coaching staff and GM who don't need 2+ years to figure something like this out. Good teams cut their losses FAST.

Dadgum right he did! Justice prevailed in both AL AND NL. I am impressed.

There is nothing even remotely complicated about this: -Those who picked A-Rod were RIGHT because his offense-defense-speed value was HIGHER (albeit marginally since Delgado, Manny, Wells, Nixon and Boone were pretty damn good as well) than ANY other player in AL. -Those who who didn't were WRONG, and when they mention names like Stewart and Posada and Tejada, it becomes even more apparent why they're wrong. Doing it any other way brings unacceptable amount of BIAS and AMATEURISM into the equation. I am all for intangebles like clutch-ness and giving SOME extra points for being on a winning team....but, seriously, Carlos Beltran over A-Rod? Whaa? And no, we shouldn't RENAME the award (Julie Sweica!) just because some people are either too dumb or too contrarian to agree on what it SHOULD stand for. It should be the ONLY pure award where merit is EVERYTHING and all that other stuff is secondary. Thankfully, in baseball intristic value is easier to figure out than in basketball...and yet here were are, with completely polarized opinions.

Shuemacher is very talented, but he is no Senna. Or Prost for that matter. He is to them what Jagr is to Lemeiux and Gretzky.

Is the new site going to be full of information and stuff? I envision baseball-reference.com but with a palpable White Sox feel. And it MUST be cool as all getout. Very important.

Shannon Stewart over A-Rod? Are you f***ing crazy?! What's next? Eric Byrnes and Todd Walker? If anything A-Rod was MORE valuable to his team than Ortiz was to Boston. If A-Rod was playing for Boston (moving Nomar to 3B) in Ortiz's place, Boston not only would've run away with the Wild Card, but probably could have overtaken the Yankess. Agreed. Back then, Sammy was actually a good baserunner and defensive RF.

What was he then, a finesse guy? . Ever try to hit a 92-95 fastball coming from a 6'11 pitcher? What if that pitcher also could get you out on an good slider and curve....It takes less to "dominate" overswinging batters these days. Just ask Barry Zito or Mike Mussina. ....by far the most important pitching requirement . Tho he was probably alreasy injured, Rauch hardly threw a fastball under 92 when I saw him March-April-May 2001. Yes, he might have only reached 95 one or twice a game if that, but he was consistently in 92-94 range....and his command was HORRID, 2-0/3-1 on every batter. The opposite of what you described basically, lol. Dominant is ERA under 2.75 All I am asking in 2004 is ERA in 4.25-4.50 range But that's the thing, OTHER teams scouts were raving about him. I just hope he has his old slider and curve back, and throws a serviceable change. If he does that, even a 90-91 mph fastball will be more than enough.

Value to team = subjective, hard-to-prove BS Value = Toronto having a couple more wins (and fans) if A-Rod played for them. What is Posada doing in the 3rd place anyway? Boone is a better defensive player, better baserunner and better hitter while playing in Safeco. What a joke. I have no problem with a 975 OPS player from a winning team winning the award over a 1000 OPS player from a losing tea. None. But the Andre Dawson arguement? Nonsense. I also don't care about past history of the award- writers like most people are SHEEP, and the award itself is all about popularity. Yawn. Finally, the guy is right- salary SHOULD be factored into value, no getting around the fact that A-Rod 25 Mill eally hurt the Rangers. However, as far as actual awards go, performance should by far be the biggest determining criterion.

Marty Booker's 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty anyone? Noone seems to be talking about it, but played as big a role at giving Rams a chance to comeback as anything Bears did in 4th Q.

-- That reminds me of one of the ESPN radio dude Tommy Williams saying that a .250 hitter from a 1st place team was more deserving of MVP than Andre Dawson in '87 because, get this, "Cubs would've finished last with or without Andre Dawson". At the time I time I thought it was one of the dumbest statements I have EVER heard. I still do. Why should A-Rod be penalized for Rangers GM's inability to put together a pitching staff? "Team record" should ONLY come into play when all other factors are EQUAL. MVP = most valuable player to a HYPOTHETICAL team, NOT to an actual team . And if you switch Delgado, Boone and A-Rod around, A-Rod's team would be marginally better off. Bonds deserves NL MVP even if his Ginats lost 130 games. He is the BEST player anf that's what MVP should stand for.

So Phillies will pay 13 Mill a year to Colon. He will post a 3.50 ERA, winning 16 games. And they still will lose the division by 7-10 games games of the Braves.

A-Rod, Delgado and Boone were 1-2-3 best AL players in 2003 anf the voting justly reflected that.

Bulls***! At the very LEAST he was 92-93 pre-injury, and when I saw him pitch in early 2001, probably already injured, he reached on 94-95 on quite a few pitches. It's not crazy to suggest he was 92-95 at his best in 2000. There is a difference between a low-90s pitcher who reaches mid-90s only when needed (Rauch pre-injury) and a true mid-90's pitcher (Prior, Zambrano). Both types, however, are POWER pitchers because of their PLUS-fastball....not that I gave one s*** about semantics, call him a former-semi-power pitcher if you wish. (And btw many scouting reports from 3 years ago DO state '92-94' in them.) Again, if Rauch was "only" topping out at 93-94 back in 2000, considering WHERE he releases the ball compared to an average-height (say 6'1'') pitcher, to the hitter it looked FASTER....get it? I also remembering stating somewhere that he needs his secondary pitches to succeed in the absense of an explosive heater. So this whole arguement is moot. What isn't moot is where he wil ever regain the range of motion, and by extension, his old velocity and break. So will he?

When was the last time a power-pitcher, which he was before injury both in terms of velocity and movement, totally regained the old range of motion and was able to do so without pain after a torn labrum? I am NOT worried that his fastball is no longer hitting 94-95. With his height, a 91-93 heater IS 94-95 to the hitter because of his height and arms. Plenty of pitchers made a living with low-90's fastballs, inluding Hudson, Mulder, E-Lo and now Pedro. I AM however worried about: -Rauch being afraid of getting injured again, especially after the 2003 flare-up and as such being too self-conscious and not trying his best. -His curve and slider losing their velocity and break. Without a dominant fastball, he'll have rely on them for survival.