YASNY

Oopa

You new guys better do a good job, that's all I have to say about it. Joking ... I'm sure you will and congrats.

Eh, consider the source. This guy probably had a case of brain frostbite last winter. As bad as Loaiza has been lately, Contreras will probably pitch better than ELo.

Willie needs to look at things this way. Ozzie is not going to sign Harris's next contract for him. If Willie wants to be paid, he'll suck it up and play some damn baseball. Same with Crede and all these other confidence lacking jokers.

Here's what I liked out of that link: Way to go BMac!

The numerous members of the Yankee contingent at the All Star game were all over Loaiza, telling him how much they wanted him in NY. Even Stottlemeyer told him that. In fact, I think that was the reason Torre selected Loaiza over Buehrle. They wanted to recruit him. Well, they got him and I hope they choke on it.

Offensively, speed and good baserunning puts pressure on the other team and can force the other team to rush and make mistakes. Defensively, speed helps for obvious reasons. However, I think that stolen bases are an overrated part of the game, but I'd rather see a steal attempt or a hit and run than a sacrifice bunt. I hate giving up outs.

Who are these guys called "the Cubs" and why are we talking about them?

The goal needs to be the division. If the wild card works out for us, so be it.

I don't see the Twins doing much struggling. They took 2 out of 3 from Boston. We can't count on the strength of their schedule. We just have to win. Take care of our own business and quit scoreboard watching.

I've had to give this trade some serious thought before I formed an opinion. The Yankees were looking for a veteran pitcher that can eat some innings for them, and that's probably what they got. The Sox point of view is completely different. First, they knew they would lose Loaiza after the season because they were not going to pay him what he would be asking. Especially considering that they thought he was being lazy or holding back his best stuff. They know they'll have Contreras next year and think they can help him achieve his potential. If they can't do it with JC starting, they could make him a closer. In fact, I heard tried to get him for that role before they dump Koch. This is a gamble by the Sox, but one that could turn out one of a few ways and it be a good one. All in all, I can see why the Sox made this deal and I'll have to give it my official thumbs up.

If Davis can get to the point that he can be a solid everyday catcher that can occasionally be productive with the bat, and Garcia performs as expected for us, that could turn out to be a helluva good trade.

Let's look at this Williams vs. Hendry thing. Hendry got Nomar for Gonzalez and prospects. That's pretty damn impressive. Williams got Garcia, Everett and Contreras for Olivo, Loiaza and prospects. Add to that fact that he acquired Loaiza prior to '03 for nothing. On the whole, I'd have to give the nod to Williams.

Oh yeah. I feel sorry for him too. Multi-millionaire married to Mia Hamm. He's got it ROUGH.

A team will put a player on waivers, and if that player passes through without getting claimed by another team, that player can then be traded. If a player is claimed, the team that put him on waivers can withdraw him. Then he wouldn't be eligble to be traded. Or ... that team can negotiate a trade with the claiming team because they always have the option of withdraw the player. Occasionally, you get a team putting a player on waivers hoping to dump his contract, which would happen if the player is claimed. I hope this helps. Probably confused the hell out of you.

On the surface, I'm not real enthralled with this trade. I guess wait and see what happens is the only approach to take.

So despite hearing it "from the horse's mouth" you are going to believe an offhand comment by a reporter in a column? One that gives no factual basis to back his remark up?

I stated that he's not our number 3 starter NOW. Loaiza's number's are relatively close to Garland, but since Garcia's trade he'd be considered our number 3 ... He was number 1 or 2 when the season started. Regardless .... I compared Garland's numbers to NUMBER THREE starters and he's right up the in the pack. Westbrook is the only one who has noticably better numbers than Garland. The point I'm making here is that EVEN as a number 3 Garland would be considered comparable to the CURRENT number 3 starters of the all the AL contenders. I don't care how old Mussina and Lowe are ... they are CURRENT number 3 starters. The numbers speak for themselves ... even the average numbers. Garland is pitching well enough to be a number 3 starter on a contending team.

Try calling a black man "boy" sometime.

Hind sight is 20/20.

It was the chicken!

Imagine that! rolleyeyes.gif

Here are the stats of various pitchers in thew AL: Mussina... 9-6 5.20 Lowe....... 9-9 5.56 Silva....... 9-7 4.52 Zito........ 6-7 4.74 Dickey(TX) 5-7 6.04 Lackey...... 9-9 4.52 Westbrook.. 7-5 3.62 Average 8-7 4.88 Garland 7-7 4.59 These guys listed are what I percieve to be the #3 starter for each of the contending teams in the AL. In some cases another pitcher could have been selected, but it was a judgement call and I tried to pick the best or what would be a consensus (ex Zito over Redman). As you can see, Garland's stats are consistant with these guys. Some a little better, some a little worse. The only thing that is not consistant here is Garland is not our number 3 starter now ... He's our #4. You say he's so damn inconsistant and should be dumped at the first opportunity. Quality pitching is hard to find in baseball. I'd keep Garland around for a long time with those types of numbers. And the odds are, that eventually he will get better.

Glavine, Leiter, Trachsel, Benson, Zambrano. That's a helluva rotation. That's why they did it.

Fortunately, the Mets got Benson so we won't see how this would have turned out.