iamshack

QUOTE (fathom @ May 2, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) Absolutely, I could have sworn he said he knew it was time to move on during ST, but no one made a big deal out of it. He'll probably go play for Arizona or the Angels next season. As much as we all love PK, it might be for the best. Time for a complete overhaul of the clubhouse. He's making it a LOT bigger deal with his play thus far this season... Leave it to a baseball player to have a career year in a contract year...

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 2, 2010 -> 04:29 PM) And of that list I see two bench players, a bunch of guys who are going to play better, one bad contract reliever, and a guy who will be in Charlotte by the end of the week. I'm counting on those two bench players playing like the bench players they are. The crippling the payroll part: go look at their contracts and see what we're paying them for the next 2-3 years. Bench players with minimal upsides getting paid like starters hurts flexibility a lot more than paying a legitimate superstar market value. If the difference between being able to afford Gonzalez and not being able to afford Gonzalez is the amount we're paying Pierre in 2011 or Teahen in 2011 or 2012, and if those players are playing at a level where we could replace or nearly replace them at the league minimum, then we're in a bad spot. I guarantee you Pierre will play better.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 2, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) Agree with this too, that Jones may be over his head (although he really really looks good) and Paulie will certainly come down. But I'm factoring in Alexei, Beckham, and AJ playing better too, which IMO they will. It's mainly Teahen and Pierre that makes us suck, and swapping out our worst offensive player in Pierre for an elite offensive LH dynamo kind of changes the picture around a bit, plus it hopefully creates a chain of events that has Teahen taking the pressure off and performing well out of the 9 hole. Yeah, that's true, although Ozzie said today that for us to win, we're going to have to have Pierre performing well in the leadoff spot. He doesn't seem to willing to take him out of the lineup. With our luck, we'd get AGon, and Ozzie would platoon him and Paulie and platoon Jones and Quentin in right...

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 2, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) I agree, however what I guess I'm trying to say is that Howard would have been the one left to the last bidder, and that last bidder wouldn't have had to fork over $25M per. The Phillies overpaid, and really, I don't think Howard's deal is the main thing to consider. I think ARod's deal is going to set the market for Pujols, and then Pujols will set the market for everyone else. Howard should have been the 4th hottest girl at the party, not a market setter. Well, unfortunately, the only way AGon hits the open market is if the team that trades for him isn't ponying-up the dough. Otherwise, that team is going to have to use the $25m annually as a baseline from which to work.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 2, 2010 -> 03:02 PM) I see the idea here, but Adrian isn't just some guy who is one of 25 players on the team. He is basically *the* team, the sole true offensive superstar who the entire lineup is built around. Signing Adrian means we need to find bargains elsewhere on offense, which shouldn't be a huge issue, especially given what straight-up DH's are going for these days. We can fill out a team around a star like that as long as we don't keep picking up more Linebrinks and Teahens and Pierres, and instead look to fill those holes with bargain vets or young pre-arb players. BTW, just think about what Gonzalez does for this offense. He single-handedly changes everything because he essentially takes Pierre out and puts him on the bench where he belongs. R Rios CF R Beckham 2B L Gonzalez 1B R Konerko DH R Jones RF R Quentin LF L Pierzynski C R Ramirez SS L Teahen 3B Look at that lineup and, once AJ and Beckham get back to normal, suddenly the black hole of suck all but disappears. I dunno man, Paulie and Andruw are performing well-above what can be expected of them right now...I mean Paulie is basically doing what we would expect from Adrian and our offense is still brutal right now. Once those two come down to earth a bit, adding a guy like Adrian wouldn't be a whole lot different than what we have going now, IMO. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have him, but one guy an offense does not make. We have two 1.1 OPS players right now, and we still can't score.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 2, 2010 -> 03:52 PM) Howard's contract shouldn't scare off anyone. That was a bad, bad deal for the Phillies who paid a price that nobody else could have afforded. I mean, the Yankees have Tex. The Angels have Kendry. The Dodgers can't buy anyone given the ownership situation. The Cubs are going to be paying off bad deals for the next several years. Who is left? The Red Sox? Why in the hell would they bid against themselves? They may spend a lot of money, but they're not stupid, because in an AGon-Howard-Prince-Pujols FA market, guess who ranks No. 4? Unfortunately, it's going to be the starting point of negotiations in the contract for the other three players you listed.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 2, 2010 -> 03:47 PM) 1B isn't easy to fill with a monster like Gonzalez, no position is. That's like saying that since SS is a harder position to fill with offensive talent, a player like Elvis Andrus is more important than someone like Prince Fielder. This logic is so faulty it's insane, yet people constantly repeat it over and over regarding Gonzalez. Agree that crippling the payroll is a bad thing, but let's spend our money on good players first and then see what happens. There was nothing wrong with the Rios claim because he has legitimate, 5-tool, All-Star type ability. There was nothing wrong with picking up Peavy for table scraps because, although he is struggling, he has been one of the best SP in baseball during his career, and he is young. Wasting money however on Mark Teahen and Juan Pierre - guaranteeing them money for no f***ing reason when they haven't proven s*** - is extremely hurtful. Imagine if we'd taken that extra cash and, if nothing else, added it an extension offer for Danks or Q, who actually have proven themselves here. But the point is, giving out a fat deal to Gonzalez presents a much smaller risk IMO, because the quality of player is so far superior it is not even funny. If Gonzalez were extended by us at a huge cost, then as long as we didn't give him a big NTC that kept him away from the big money teams, we'd still be able to dump his contract is we had to. OTOH, nobody is going to want that garbage Pierre and Teahen. Young talent makes people here stupid. It's one thing to make a s***ty trade and give up a young player for very little in return, and it's yet another to overrate the s*** out of everybody and start pulling back names when a franchise piece like Adrian Gonzalez is on the table. Everyone we have can go. I'll bet everything in this world that nobody in our entire system at any level, nor anybody who will be in our system for the next 5 years, will ever become as productive an offensive force as Adrian Gonzalez is right now. And as far as the pitching goes, lol. Yeah, right. Since when did we develop pitching? I don't think it's the players people are worried about, as much as the money required to keep the guy here long-term. The young players only become an issue inasmuch as you must rely on them more if you do ink Gonzo to a huge contract because you then have 3 players eating 50% of your payroll. Creating a competitive team with the remaining 22 roster spots requires a few young productive players, of which we may not have many left after what it will cost in personnel to acquire Gonzo.

QUOTE (Soxy @ May 2, 2010 -> 03:44 PM) So, I have decided that at all future weddings I am giving donations in honor of the couple. I just can't justify the spendgasm that is modern weddings. Especially when you are IN the wedding party. Awful!

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 2, 2010 -> 02:33 PM) To the Sox' credit, they hit pretty well on this road trip. They scored a total of 28 runs in 6 games. That's almost 5 runs a game, which I will definitely take. The pitching staff was just bad, but you kind of expect that facing two good offenses. I've seen this comment about facing two good offenses a few times now, and I just want to point out, the Rangers are not a good offense right now. They are barely ahead of us in most statistical categories and we faced them without Kinsler and Cruz. Some of those lineups they penciled in were as bad, if not worse than ours right now.

It will be interesting to see if the Howard contract scares away some potential suitors, at least potential suitors who have the intention of signing AGon for the long term, as it becomes evident the market may support a $25m+ annual salary for him. While I'd love to have a player of his caliber, many of you have pointed out (in my view very accurately) that the production above what a league average 1b provides simply isn't worth taking on that kind of contract.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 2, 2010 -> 02:28 PM) I didn't expect us to win this game. Hughes has really found it after moving to the pen last year. Plus, with Buehrle's struggles against the Yankees, it didn't make the odds any better. Time to kick some ass against KC when we get back home. Yeah, that's really the way you have to look at it. The baseball season is a marathon, especially if your team is underperforming, and especially especially if your team is not hitting. But this is only one game, and should be treated as such, no matter how humiliating it has been.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 2, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) The Twins are going to realize they are playing outside pretty soon. They can't play worth a damn outside. I know you're being sarcastic here, but if you've paid close attention, a lot of people here pointed out that the Twins have been slowly making over their roster for this new stadium over the course of the past 2 years or so.

The good thing is that this counts the same as a 3-2 loss. And there is a good hockey game on NBC. That being said, it's time to start addressing some of the weaknesses and issues of the ballclub. Something has to be done with Gordon, whether it was what Sqwert was advocating in moving him down in the lineup, or sending him down to Charlotte for a spell. As far as I'm concerned, our 3-4-5 needs to be Andruw/Pauly/Rios. Q looks like he is starting to get a clue up there so hopefully he will start hitting for some kind of average soon. AJ is going to go through these spells, you just have to live with him. Teahan and Alexei are definitely a concern, as is Pierre. Going to have to try and do something to shake them up a bit. The SP has been extremely underwhelming outside of Danks and Freddy. But Floyd is a slow starter and hasn't been as bad as his numbers might seem to reflect. Peavy and Buehrle are both a mess right now. Hopefully Coop can get them straightened out. Bottom line though, we are still not far enough into the season to start making any long-term decisions, so we're just going to have to keep running them out there and hoping for some more W's until enough results have shaken themselves out to where we can start making some moves, whether for this season or going forward.

Ahh, this one turning into a laugher really quickly...and I was excited for this diversion today while at work...

Ugh...Mark!

QUOTE (jeffro2525 @ May 2, 2010 -> 01:33 PM) Never tagged him...but the ball continually beats Pierre to the bag. I'm sorry, but the tagging of the runner is part of what makes retiring a player on a non-force out a non-force out. I really wish they would require the actual tag.

Did he actually tag him there?

Iasogna is a little b****.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 2, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) It's a long season, but he wouldn't be the first Sox player to have a strong first year and then fall on their face (Caruso, Fields, and even Quentin). It's more of a rule of thumb instead of a freak happening so far. He's completely lost all confidence. I wouldn't even be opposed to sending him down for a bit.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ May 2, 2010 -> 12:31 PM) It says he's 1-1 on gameday? He hit a ball up the middle-ish towards second that had a lot of topspin on it. Cano got his glove on it but couldn't hold it. Official scorer ruled it a hit, apparently.

I just found it funny that he did almost ground out to second...

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ May 2, 2010 -> 12:03 PM) Do they block out games on TBS? Mediacom just switched a bunch of channels last week so I'm trying to find TBS. No, you should be able to watch TBS. I'm watching it here in Vegas.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ May 2, 2010 -> 08:17 AM) Joe Mauer missed last nights game with a bruised heel. he'll miss todays game too. there is panic in Twins Territory I heard he was contemplating retirement with designs on entering Last Comic Standing...he wants a Vegas show...

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 29, 2010 -> 09:58 PM) Well they're certainly not THIS good. They're playing peak baseball right now. Clicking on all cylinders to the highest degree. They will come down some no matter what. But over the long haul, this is a legitimate WS contender. They've got basically every ingredient that you look for in a contending team. Starting pitching? Check. Balanced lineup with a combination of power and speed? Check. Bullpen? Check. And Howell hasn't even thrown a pitch for them yet. Overall team depth? Check. Who the f*** is John Jaso? And depth to me also means having guys in the minors you can call upon if needed. That's a check. The only things they lack is a real baseball stadium and real fans. The attendance totals for a team of this caliber is sickening. Yeah, just wait til they bring up Desmond Jennings...ugh

I'll take Super Saver.