SSH2005

Jamal Crawford's bricks alone should earn Curry 3 extra rebounds a game.

Hermanson threw 95 in his earlier days as a starter with the Expos.

Eddy Curry had a good game (19 points, 8 rebounds) but the Knicks still lost to the Celtics.

It's the one Wheaties is using. http://www.wheaties.com/ http://www.wheaties.com/champions/championslist.asp?id=237

Wow, what an awful prediction that was.

A comeback win in OT from a 25 point deficit. Not a bad way to start the season.

Good job, Songaila.

Wow, what a dumb foul.

We already still owe El Duque $4.5 million next season and he won't even be in the rotation because of McCarthy. If we don't trade El Duque, which would be difficult due to his age and contract, he will be our longman and spot starter. Paul Byrd would be a waste of money.

His 2005 numbers. But his bad back and possible need for surgery negates them.

What does that matter? Billy Koch had 44 saves in 2002 and he has sucked ever since. Koch isn't even in baseball right now. No team will want Hermanson if he has a chronically bad back. Especially when he gets by mostly on smoke and mirrors instead of a good strikeout rate. I loved what Hermanson did for us this year but a 33 year old reliever with a bad back and a $3 million salary in 2006 doesn't have much, if any, trade value. You admit yourself that Hermanson may need back surgery but then say we should trade him. You don't see anything wrong with your logic there?

Once again, how do you propose we trade Hermanson when you admit that he may need back surgery and he will be owed $3 million next season? Just curious.

How do you trade a 33 year old reliever who may need back surgery and is owed $3 million for 2006?

Exactly.

He would be a waste of money for us. We need more offense now, not pitching. Other than trading Marte and signing a lefty like Scott Eyre or Mike Myers and possibly trading El Duque, our pitching staff is pretty much set.

There isn't always going to be a defender in the way of those hard hit shots that Hermanson gives up in the future. Those balls will begin to find holes and they started to at the end of the season.

I agree with this post. Hermanson was getting by on quite a few great defensive plays behind him on a lot of hard hit shots. His K/9 was terrible so he was mostly putting a ton of balls into play. I doubt he would repeat his 2005 numbers next year even with a 100% healthy back.

I remember Carlos Lee batting second but never Frank. Did Manuel really do that?

I know he was awful but that doesn't matter too much. Marte is a lefty. They will always have value, especially if they had great seasons in the past. Why do you think guys like Jeff Fassero and Terry Mulholland still have jobs in the MLB? Teams overvalue lefties. That's why Marte will still have trade value.

I'm not defending Marte on the entire season. He was awful. But in Game 3 of the World Series, he pitched fairly well. Bad defense tarnished his outing. Teams will remember how Marte pitched in crunch time in the World Series.

Yes, more consistent hitters for average. Less guys that strikeout a ton and instead, work the count and draw walks.

Huh? He may have been the last resort out of the bullpen but he still pitched fairly well. Marte pitched 1.2 innings in Game 3 and allowed no hits, 2 walks, and struck out 3. Marte should have been the one to end Game 3 but Uribe made a bad error on a routine groundball which extended the inning for Buehrle to get one more out. Can't blame Marte for that.

Hermanson doesn't have much value at all because of his age, bad back, and lack of strikeouts. Marte still has a lot of value though, even with his bad year. He's a lefty and he has had great seasons in the past. Even though his WHIP was terrible this year, he still had a 10.77 K/9. He has great stuff and teams will look past a lot for a quality lefty. He also pitched well in the World Series, his last appearance of the year and what teams will most remember.

I was so confused by him calling Tracy a prospect that I thought he misread my post. I thought he thought that I said we should trade Rowand and Marte for Carlos Quentin.

After we trade Marte, I would like Scott Eyre but I know he will cost a lot so I would settle for Mike Myers. That's about the only pitching addition we need.