Dan Gould

Interesting counter-spin on the Abreu acquisition from Tom Verducci of SI: And he didn't even mention the tendency of imported stars to struggle in pinstripes.

Olney is a fool who doesn't know squat. I've cross-checked their respective schedules. You can break it down like this: Yanks play the Angels 4 times at home, 3 away. Sox play them three times on the road. Even with the games at the Stadium, that's advantage Sox. Yanks play the White Sox three times in Chicago; we play them three times at home. Advantage Sox. Yanks play the Orioles 6 times at home, 4 away; we play them 6 home, 3 away. Minor advantage Yanks. Games left against Detroit, Minnesota and Seattle: Same number of games, played in the same proportion of home/away. No advantage. Yanks play KC 3 times away, we play Kansas City 3 times away and 3 times at home. Advantage Sox. We play each other 9 times, 5 are at Fenway. Minor advantage Sox. Tampa: Yanks play 3 at home, 4 away. Sox play 2 home, 3 away. Advantage Yanks. Toronto: Yanks play 4 at home, 4 away. Sox play 6 at home, 3 away. With the extra games at home, this is a wash, especially considering that the Yanks play Toronto at home the last three games of the year. If Toronto is still in it, watch out.. Another way to break it down. Yankee Games Left Against Contenders: 20 at home, 14 on the road. 34 total. Red Sox Games Left Against Contenders: 21 at home, 11 on the road. 32 total. Fewer games, fewer on the road, advantage Red Sox. Yankee Games Left Against the Dregs of the AL: 9 at home, 14 on the road. 23 total. Red Sox Games Left Against the Dregs of the AL: 14 at home, 12 on the road. 26 total. More games against weak teams, and significantly more of them at home: Big advantage to the Sox. If anyone can show me why Olney's analysis contradicts this, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, as Ronnie Reagan once said, facts are stupid things. And the overwhelming fact is that the Red Sox have a clear and obvious advantage in the schedule.

While all the pundits seem ready to hand the division to the Yanks, this ought to suggest just how premature that may be: And unlike last year, the ace will spend the last two months in the rotation and the stopper will be where he has been all along.

OK, its now August 1, the traditional date of new BFT signups, so I'm sure all of the missing people are going to jump in now, right? This means you, Jim R.! I "saw" you back on the board just a few minutes ago, I know you're here, and I did pick a couple of gee-tar tracks just for you. So join in the fun, allright? Seriously, non-US snail mail signups have all shipped. US people will ship by the end of the week, when I will also post two zip files to yousendit So there's still time for folks to get in on the fun!

GREAT NEWS!!!! I can't wait to see this! (If I ever do ) I'll see if I can arrange it.

Sean McAdam was reporting the exact same thing, with it all coming down to Clemens feeling he'd look graceless to push for a trade and then return for his post-retirement ten year "personal services" contract. But Stark is right - Clemens deserved to go where he'd have a shot and its just plain wrong that it didn't happen. Meanwhile, they also came very close to landing Oswalt from Houston. They were going to give up Hansen and Crisp and another prospect for Andruw Jones and then flip him to Houston for Oswalt. But the Astros feared that Jones would demand a trade, as is his right as a vet with a multi-year deal. I've also been hearing that Oswalt plans to go to St. Louis as soon as he becomes a free agent (after 2007) so what's the point of spending so much for a young pitcher who doesn't want to stay? Like I said, the way our pitching staff has gotten hurt, this season may have been lost when Clemens went for convenience instead of where his heart wanted to go. Frankly, he deserves to finish 5-9 with an ERA under 2.

Hans is not only watching baseball, but at 4:30 AM? I thought you Yurpeans didn't like baseball? Back to Big Papi: Since July 31, 2005, he leads the majors with 60 home runs and 166 RBI in 161 games. So if he hits one tonite, that equals Maris' mark over 162 games. He's on pace for 58, it would be great if he can exceed that by a hair and break 61, then he'd be the first to break the old mark with no steroid stigma attached.

Interesting. After I instigated the Where its At AOTW, I was contacted by Charles' brother, Gary because that was one of the many albums that Charles did that the family did not have copies of. I've since provided copies of every Kynard album I've been able to find, and now it looks like there is one more. ebay shows that original vinyl recently sold for about $80, so the Japanese CD will be a relative bargain, that's for sure.

I think Paul is pointing out that the album has been discussed previously. Tradition has it that your comments (which are right on the money) belong at the end of the old thread rather than starting a new one. For another example of why people might want to use the search function before starting a new thread, see here.

I was waiting for someone to mention this. IMO, 8 out of 10 marriages fail when one of the spouses is cheating. Soul-searching or not, odds are your former spouse was porking someone before the marriage went south. I've had some married lovers, but noone divorced because of me, I think. Immoral perhaps, but I was in my early to mid twenties, single and had my own apartment. If anything I was being preyed upon by the unfaithful wives. At least I got to fulfill my "older woman" fantasy. So the women tempted you? Sounds right out of Genesis. It's a total cop-out, Dmitry. Sleeping with someone else's spouse, besides being wrong, is a betrayal of the woman's husband. Where is the brotherhood that men seem to be so proud of having? How would you feel about someone who doesn't care about your wife, or worse, trying to get her to leave you, sleeping with her behind your back? Who would you be most angry at? Its not a cop-out at all. Do you presume that Dmitry even knew the husbands???? Why? As for your question, I don't know but I think I might be most angry at THE WOMAN WHO SWORE SHE WOULD BE FAITHFUL TO ME TIL DEATH DO WE PART. That's who I'd be most angry with.

These are not the days that give you a lot of hope. Wells stinking the joint up; Tek hurt. And the guy who is supposed to start tomorrow is the one who comes in for Wells? WTF is going on? About the only thing to be happy about is Wily Mo Pena who I am convinced is a superstar in the making. That ball he crushed over the monster was hit even harder than Vladi's shot the night before. And he can go Vladi one better if he comes through with a double his next time up: he'll hit for the cycle. I'd love to see Pena hitting behind Papi and Manny next season. Did you see Wily Mo's double last night? The bat shattered at the wrist and he's still strong enough to hit it off the wall.

Well forget what I said about Wells.

You're really going to love Thursday then: 1:05, Yanks and Toronto 7:05, Sox and Cleveland

Well my fear all along was that Theo would give up some of the kids to make an impact trade so I'm glad that all the kids are still with us. I'll feel much better if Wells goes something like 7 innings, giving up 6 hits and two runs. Then he'd be the impact pickup, and he doesn't cost a dime.

Anyone?

Should Sheffield be a free agent (the Yankees don't pick up the option) then there's no issue of "renegotiating the length of his deal" - it starts at one year and can go as long as other teams are willing to give. He doesn't have a no-trade so if the Yankees pick up the option in order to keep him from the Sox and still trade him, then he goes where they send him. He may not want to play and he may be a jerk before it happens, but he won't have any control over it. Now, should Sheffield be the DH next year: Melky is nothing more than an inexpensive sub/pinch runner. But can that do anything for his development? For Melky to produce he has to play. Another Yankee burial of a youngster. I'd bet dollars to donuts that if that is the case, he'll be moved next July for someone else. Bernie goes away - permanently. Giambi has to play first essentially all of the time. the bottom line though is that the Abreu trade became an absolute steal when the Phils paid the 1.5 million on the no-trade clause and the Yankees aren't obligated on the 2008 option year. I think its a slam dunk that Abreu is playing like Bernie Williams circa 2005 in that year, but because the Phils were so desperate and he was so desperate to get out, the Yankees won't be paying him.

Interesting report from a NY Newsday columnist: If that means Sheff does nothing to be back in September, big If that means Sheff takes his clutch bat to Fenway in 2007, extra big Even with the age difference, I would always be more afraid of Sheffield at the plate in a clutch situation than Bobby Abreu, in 2006 or 2007 or even 2008. Sheff is the kind of guy to use "disrespect" as a motivational tool so I have to wonder if he'd be especially interested to go to Boston, just to show them. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't give a crap to get booed at the Stadium.

Now that's a move I'd support if Theo can pull it off. We need help in the set-up corps. All I can say is that until 4 pm, I'm going to keep all digits crossed in hopes that this can somehow be pulled off. That is the kind of move that would make Torre, Cashman and old George crap their pants.

What I find remarkable is how the Phillies ultimately accepted crap and even agreed to be the ones to pay Abreau to waive the no-trade clause. When they started offering Abreu a year ago, they wanted a major league starter. No takers. Then they demand top drawer prospects like Hughes. No deal. Now they accept four guys, the top one (that first round pick shortstop) can't even hit in low A ball right now. Did you see my post about Abreu's hitting chart? He simply does not hit the ball in the air to right field. Period. I'm sure that the porch will beckon him like a siren, as the Monster does to righties who come to the Sox, but you actually have to get it there, and its pretty clear that Abreu lost that stroke. Lidle - yes, he is an innings eater and an upgrade over Ponson. But he also has a 4.75 ERA in the NL, which makes sense since he had a 5.75 ERA his last year in the AL. Will he make a real difference if his ERA goes up to 6, as the current numbers suggest would happen to any NL pitcher with his stats? As for Ponson and Chacon, I'd be surprised if both are on the roster after today. They have to move two people out to make room, and one of those two will probably be DFA'd. Here's something to think about: Nixon may be headed to the DL and is a free agent anyway. The Sox considered Abreu and it was pretty obvious that they probably won't make a big effort to keep Trot. How would you like to see old Sheff swinging at the Monster 81 games a year? You better hope that the Yankees pick up his option (and he accepts being a DH next year) because otherwise I think its inevitable that the Sox would make a major push to sign Sheffield. After the events of yesterday, it is obvious to me that today is the single most important day of the season for the Red Sox. What they do before 4 pm; whether Nixon may be out for a while; and whether Wells shows that he is the equivalent of a major impact pitching addition when he goes tonite will say a lot about how the rest of the season goes. I hate the idea of feeling forced to do something just to respond to the Yankees, particularly if that involves moving any of the youngsters. We've been saying IN THEO WE TRUST and I just hope that he makes smart moves and not over-reaction moves.

Many years ago I stumbled across what I thought was an extra cool item: B.B. King The Rarest King (Blues Boy Records). A cool selection of 50s recording, many with such jazzers as all three Newborns and George Coleman, too. And to top it off, its been autographed by the King himself: Best Wishes, B.B. King So ... I'm looking around ebay last night, and spot another copy of this release. And lo and behold, there is the exact same autograph in the exact same place: So the question is, does anyone know this release or know what B.B.'s signature looks like? I have to say it looks more like ink on top of cover, but maybe this is what the manufacturer did, create the cover with B.B.'s sig? Or did B.B. sign all of the copies before they left the distributor? Or did someone not only fake B.B.'s signature, but do it on many copies of the album and not just one?

Yankee fans who figure Abreu will regain his power stroke at the stadium: take a look at this. Its Abreu's hitting chart for this year. Click on "fly outs": The guy doesn't hit the ball in the air to rightfield anymore. It looks like about 60% of his fly outs are to left, and maybe 90% are to left, center or the infield. Hitting so few home runs this year, at a stadium that is much more of a home run park than Yankee Stadium,, I feel much better that he won't morph into Giambi.

Yeah right. And I'm sure that if the White Sox had sell-outs from a fan base happy to pay the highest ticket prices in the league, and therefore had the revenue for payroll, you'd go looking for another team to root for. I call "bullshit".

Actually its the Red Sox on ESPN and it would be very hard to argue that the Sox vs the Angels isn't a primetime worthy game. And if you hate it when the networks show the same teams, try living in south Florida which the networks think is actually named South New York. If there is a choice, they will pick up the Yankee or Met game every time. And in football season, you'd think the Jets were the local team.

did I catch this correctly and there is an electronic distribution in place? Then please let me in on that. I do not expect to have much time for listening let alone commenting, but I'd be happy to give it a shot. Yes, I plan to upload two zip files of high quality MP3 (320 KBS) files to yousendit.com. I'll send the link to the email we've corresponded on if that's OK. Look for it by the end of next week, and thanks. Anyone else?

Looks like the Yankees have finally "solved" their corner outfield problem: Abreu and Lidle heading to the Bronx I'm curious how my Yankee friends feel about this move. Some random observations: Since it appears the Yanks are "only" giving up their number one selection from last year, plus a 27 year old reliever and one more minor prospect, its a much better deal than if they had given in on Hughes or one of their other blue chippers. If Matsui and Sheffield make it back, some important players will be sitting on the bench a lot (Bernie, Melky, Bubba). Doesn't this have to mean that Sheffield is done in New York? You've got Matsui, Damon, Abreu. Where/when does Melky get his chance again? What's the point of keeping him? If Sheffield comes back, where does he play, especially considering that Giam-balco has to get more than a few at-bats as DH? I heard that the Red Sox were in on Abreu, but possibly only to drive up the price for the Yanks. I got a little scared off by some of the scout comments I was reading - that Abreu loafs; that he pads his stats in meaningless situations (don't they already have A-Rod for that? ); that he's really lost something since last year's All-Star break. As a Sox fan I am inclined to think that the Yanks are once again overpaying (in terms of salary) for someone on the wrong side of 30. My only fear is how the short porch may bring his power back. He's also like Giambi in the way that he gets on base. That will definitely help the offense. Lidle - well he's not the worst pitcher on the block, but I can't see him as being all that different from what they have. If this means the Sox end up with Leiber, well at least we know Leiber can perform in this league. Lidle's performance remains to be seen. so what do you guys think about the big Yankee deal?