MLB 2006

[Dressel Rebel]

Oh man...the Royals are ******* KILLING me.  Take a 3-0 lead in the first only to lose it after 3 batters.  And that's after a pair of 3-run homers yesterday.  It's gonna be another rough year.   

John

Dude, if you're a Royals fan, I'm really sorry, but it's going to be a rough rest of the decade.  They don't bring any good players in and they haven't been bringing up much good young talent.  They're just...flat.

As a Yankees fan, it was nice to see Sheffield hit that 3 run bomb, he's really been struggling since Sunday.  On Saturday, he hit a line drive home run that almost took Chone Figgins' head off at 2nd base, then it wound up over the right/center field wall after being just 6 1/2' off the ground at the edge of the infield dirt.  That was an amazing sight.

[Dressel Rebel]

The Rangers finally pulled the trigger and got an excellent starter.  I'm trying to decide if Millwood is a top tier pitcher or not.  He's a number 2 in most rotations, but an ace in Texas.  Nothing seemed to rattle the guy at the press conference yesterday announcing his 5 years $60 million contract...thanks Scott Boras...dumbass.

Anyway, bought time the Rangers finally nailed down a pitcher.  I guess it makes Texas a little more attractive now for Clemens should they decide that they can swing $20 million for him and all of his perks.

This is the second coming of Chan Ho Park.  Since coming up 10 seasons ago, Millwood really has had 3 good years.  In '99, '02, and '05 where his ERA's were respectively 2.68, 3.24, and 2.86.  The other 7 years his ERA was always a minimum of 4.03 or higher.  He is an excellent 2 or 3 starter.  He is not an ace.  The funny thing is he got paid exactly what Park did, $12 million/year.  Both of them are worth about half that.

His start so far this season in 3 games is 1-2 with a 5.50 ERA.

[Jeff]

As Meatloaf once said, "two out of three ain't bad." 



And, in other news, I was listening to the radio today and they were talking MLB Payroll.  I hadn't heard yet that thanks to all the off-season trades, the Florida Marlins Payroll is less than $15 million. 

That means that at least 12 players in MLB this year will make more than the whole 25-member Marlins team combined.
1. Alex Rodriguez - $25,680,727
2. Derek Jeter - $20,600,000
3. Jason Giambi - $20,428,571
4. Barry Bonds - $20,000,000
5. Jeff Bagwell - $19,369,019
6. Mike Mussina - $19,000,000
7. Manny Ramirez - $18,279,238
8. Todd Helton - $16,600,000
9. Andy Pettitte - $16,428,416
10. Magglio Ordonez - $16,200,000
11. Randy Johnson - $15,661,427
12. Chan Ho Park - $15,333,679


In fact, the top trio of Yankees on the list together make more than 13 teams.  Add in Mussina and you have more money in those four guys than in 17 others have in their entire team.   

[Dressel Rebel]

Here's the complete list of team salaries:


link

[Jeff]

Hard to believe that the Twins are in the middle of the pack there in payroll... of course, all they have to do is trade Torii and BRadke mid-season (~$20 million between them) and then they drop back down the bottom quarter.   

[Dressel Rebel]

I just had to turn the TV off.  As a Yankee fan, I gotta go on the record right here and say that they had better get 2 quality starting pitchers in here right now, or they are going to be in BIG ******* trouble.

[Dressel Rebel]

Sigh.

Randy Johnson is going to give you 18-20 unhittable starts out of 30.

Mike Mussina, IMO, is just an average pitcher at best the past 2 seasons.  He hasn't been good since 2003, coincidentally that's when he stopping striking out hitters.  The past 2 seasons I have not trusted him on the mound.

Who knows what you're going to get with Wang.  I really don't know.

Jaret Wright stinks.  I don't ever want to see him on the mound for the Yankees again.  Put him in the same category as Kevin Brown.

Carl Pavano tore his anterior vaginal wall again.  He did it last year and when he was healthy he stunk anyway.

I do not know if we're going to get heroics from Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon again.

[Darth Broem]

God must really hate the Chicago Cubs.  Lee breaks to bones in his wrist on a freak play last night.  He's out 8-10 weeks.  I don't know.  That curse talk might be correct.  There is no law of averages, bad management, not good enough teams, to explain all that has gone wrong in 98 years

[Dressel Rebel]

God must really hate the Chicago Cubs.  Lee breaks to bones in his wrist on a freak play last night.  He's out 8-10 weeks.  I don't know.  That curse talk might be correct.  There is no law of averages, bad management, not good enough teams, to explain all that has gone wrong in 98 years

That was a really bad break.

No pun intended.

[Dressel Rebel]

Awww, Gary Matthews Jr. got "tagged too hard" by Jose Lopez.  FIGHT!!

[Dressel Rebel]

Holy crap, anyone else here remember Derek Bell?  Decent player back in the day...


And now for another episode of "Where Are They Now?" :





Former Major League Baseball outfielder Derek Bell, shown in this Hillsborough County Sheriff's booking photograph, was arrested and charged Thursday morning April 20, 2006 with felony cocaine possession. A Tampa, Fla., police spokesman says Bell was pulled over for a traffic violation and was found with a crack pipe in the back seat of his car which was still warm. He was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Bell was first drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987 and won the World Series with the team in 1992. He last signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000. He also played for the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Houston Astros.

[Dressel Rebel]

Re: Toronto

I think they have a few surprises in store this year.  Maybe you're right and they won't make it anywhere.

Surprise #1: $55 million well spent

[Rob]

Former Major League Baseball outfielder Derek Bell, shown in this Hillsborough County Sheriff's booking photograph, was arrested and charged Thursday morning April 20, 2006 with felony cocaine possession. A Tampa, Fla., police spokesman says Bell was pulled over for a traffic violation and was found with a crack pipe in the back seat of his car which was still warm. He was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Bell was first drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987 and won the World Series with the team in 1992. He last signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000. He also played for the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Houston Astros.

What is it with former athletes always getting into trouble in my home town?

[Dressel Rebel]

Were those 2 Panthers cheerleaders in your hood too?

[Dressel Rebel]

Sigh.  Gametime in NY, and I'm sitting here pretty bummed about Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui being on the shelf with severe injuries.  Pretty depressed here.  I don't even feel like watching.