Dan Gould

Obviously my bad, I was thrown off by your listing of Baltimore after NY and Anaheim.

He didn't go to Baltimore, he returned to Oakland for one final, sad season at age 41. And his strikeout total means that he spent five seasons, out of 20, never even putting the ball in play. He was an asshole from jump.

He slugged only .408 that season, with 18 homers and 58 RBI. I'd say Grinch, Decinces and a young Wally Joyner had more to do with that team nearly reaching the World Series. As for "idiot managing" I have no clue what you're talking about. Sometimes the most obvious moves just don't work out. Who could predict that Gary Lucas would plunk Rich Gedman? He hadn't hit anyone in over 250 innings covering four seasons. And Donnie Moore?

Seconded! Enjoy a tasty Pepsi beverage!

Don't think he's too obtrusive and if he is, how much is the miking/mixing? Two microphones (at least) on the drum set, and mixed way up, too. As far as I am concerned, Roy can play however he damn well feels. Was that Downtown Julie Brown doing the interview? What a waste, asking questions like she would any flash-in-the-pan pop star, without a clue in her fucking head who she is talking to.

Yeah, so? What's your point? Why don't we just cut to the chase: Piss off.

It was just as trendy when he was six years old in 1954.

Perhaps but did they have statistics like the ones quoted, which are just over the past year or two? Seems to me the decline was anticipated, but is far more quantifiable, now. The end kills me: First you had the internet destroy any respect for proper attribution of sources, or what consitutes plagiarism and why it might be wrong. Now you have the ultimate destruction of writing skills. I fear for the future, and yes, get the fuck off my lawn.

So, just because the band broke up, Jim shouldn't be concerned with how this board reflects on them anymore? HIs closing the thread had nothing to do with political correctness.

Must be a lefty thing.

I solve that problem by limiting my adult gifts to people I know, love, and have a good idea of what they'd enjoy. But then again, if not for unwanted gifts between adults, where would we get our stash of items for re-gifting?

Has anyone linked the Rays to Manny? He has to know he has no chance for anything like a big guaranteed contract, but how could you go wrong with a few million with incentives that bring it up to $5-10 million? The Rays always seem to need a DH, and Manny back in the East could be a monster again, at least for another season. He always hits against the Yankees, and back at Fenway ... If I were certain that the Sox will win the division, I'd be less worried about the Rays improving by getting Manny - give them a chance to challenge the Yanks for the wild card. But since nothing is guaranteed, I should probably prefer that the Rays not sign him.

Didn't realize the Brewers had the minor league system to get this trade done ... glad to have him out of the league, if only to make it easier to sweep KC. Or else it won't be possible to curse the schedule-makers when you see that the Sox get him back-to-back series but the Yanks miss him. Problem is, now the Cubs will have to deal with him. Good move for the Brewers. Two years to free agency, when he'll be 29. Will be real interesting to see if those "he can't handle NY" stories will actually prevent the Yankees from breaking the bank. Or if the Sox go all-in (Dice-K will be gone and they traded their top starter prospect to get A-Gon), will the Yanks follow suit. Joe Poznanski had a great blog post this week about the whole "Grienke can't hack high-pressure situations".

How about "hypocrisy"? If spell-check were predictive instead of just underlining the problem word, maybe I wouldn't be so embarrassed. :blush2:

I'm not trying to imply evil motives just pointing out the hypocracy (damn that's a hard word to spell) of a man who talks so much about family but keeps returning to baseball. He's had as hard a time retiring as Clemens has. And its delicious to see that Cashman is in no position to play hardball on his salary and that Pettitte can demand some outrageous amount. As for the Red Sox bullpen, their advantage exists so long as the Yankees don't revert to form and throw three years and twenty million at Rafael Soriano.

Here's the Wheeler stat that stands out: Apparently being raised in New England helped land him. I'd probably have been perfectly satisfied if Wheeler had been the main addition to the bullpen, he's been effective enough to figure that he'd give Francona someone to rely on to get to Bard or when Bard needs a blow. But Wheeler being secondary to Jenks makes me really pleased. When you get down to it the Red Sox have four good to outstanding arms in the bullpen: Wheeler, Bard, Jenks and Papelbon. Jenks could replace Paps if he has to, but that's a strong pen anyway you slice it, and Bard and Jenks have had success against lefties in the past which makes the lack of a situational lefty less acute of a problem. Everyone is saying Jenks would pitch the seventh but I have to wonder if the best option isn't to keep Jenks on a closer-like program of almost always starting an inning and usually going only one. Then use Bard as the guy to get it to him, or if he struggles, he's the guy who pitches the highest leverage at-bats. As its been argued, use your best pitcher at the most important times - and Bard was clearly the best reliever they had last year. One thing is for sure - they can tell Dice-K "hey, just pitch the first five in 120 pitches or less. Then its Wheeler, Bard, Jenks and Paps for the win." Seriously though - you have to have a pretty good bullpen if Wheeler pitches the sixth inning.

Found some more info on why Jenks could be as big a move as Gonzalez and Crawford: Injury and fitness are always a concern with this guy (I've attached Ozzie Guillen's way of signaling for Jenks below - he didn't do it by pointing to his right arm) but it really seems his problems were all about bad luck, not fading stuff. If his peripherals return to a more normal range, there's no reason why he shouldn't be the dominant reliever he has been in the past. Which makes Papelbon having a salary-drive season all the more important. If he can just regain his mojo, the Sox bullpen could be the Nasty Boys, part Deux. More here.

Interesting info about Bobby Jenks, newly signed by the Red Sox to a two-year, 12 million dollar deal: My perception had been that Jenks was an expensive reclamation project, predicated on a hope that a change in scenery might help. Sounds like his stuff was much better than his ERA suggested. When you get right down to it, a healthy/effective Jenks, with Bard and best-case scenario, a bounce-back season from Papelbon would give the Sox three closers for the seventh-ninth innings. And if Papelbon bites the big one again, they can send him away and still have two pretty good arms at the end of the game.

Not to mention a Junior Mance and a Kenny Burrell from the same year, and recently a Hampton Hawes of similar vintage got posted but I don't think anyone noted it here.

Which will amuse me, Paul. The Yanks played hardball, now Cashman is begging him to come back, I bet. I wouldn't be surprised if Pettitte would have had no thought about returning if they had gone to the Series, let alone won it. Better to go out on a strong season, after an injury, with a pennant or world series win. Pettitte should still consider going out on a personal high note rather than tempt fate again. He might lose it or he might get hurt again and struggle to return. But I think like his buddy Roger, he's motivated by money, or can be motivated by it. I mean, how many times can we hear that he wants to spend time with his kids only to have him come back again and again and again before you realize that the whole family man thing doesn't mean a damn when it comes down to the money plus the drive to compete?

And while it seems like a long-shot, apparently Prior has built up some shoulder strength. After his last surgery he was supposed to be struggling to throw much harder than Jamie Moyer, but apparently at AAA last year he was touching 90 or so, and he had pretty good results.

Sad news. It seems like it was just a couple of summers ago that I learned that he was still competing in old-timer games.

If you don't understand any of the facts, why post? Lee did NOT go to the highest bidder. Both the Yankees and Rangers offered more money and more years. One thing that you ought to get though is that great pitching won't be enough to beat the Phillies in the coming few years. Great pitching + great offense will more than likely kick the shit out of Great Pitching + mediocre offense.

I'm the opposite. I hardly ever buy anything during the year anymore, but always buy something for myself this time of year, usually a CD or two added to a December Amazon order. This year it was two Venus label CDRs from Amazon. This time I also ordered something as a "backup" to a Christmas request - a two disc compilation of singles put out on Cobra Records. I requested it from my wife's side of the family, gave them the link to several cheap, sealed copies on Amazon Marketplace, but experience shows that despite the fact that they ask for requests, and I keep them limited to easy-to-order-online items, they never actually manage to find anything I ask for. So, when I did my shopping a couple of weeks ago, I ordered it for myself. If, surprise of surprises, it somehow turns out to be under the tree, it will go to my brother who has a birthday in January. If it doesn't, its my gift to myself and I'll finally have something I've had my eye on for about three years.

They need to move Blanton to make Lee's contract more affordable. I think he signed for something like 4/16 million or 3/12 or something. He has some value and a contract they no longer want or need.