cobaincola

The onetime Oakland A's first baseman and 2000 American League Most Valuable Player testified that in 2003, when he hit 41 home runs for the Yankees, he had used several different steroids obtained from Greg Anderson, weight trainer for San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds. [More in URL] 624946[/snapback] What a surprise he got them from Anderson, LOL Barroids is next....damn cheats Sheffield, Montgomery, Giambi all indicted by the Feds in the trial have all confessed to using steriods....so much for the whole 'government conspiracy' The Feds have said that they have memos and tapes implicating Bonds with roids and it's only a matter of time before he falls too.

I'll agree with Stairway, but not Watchtower. Whether it is for better or worse in your opinion, SLTP was easily the most influential song since at least the 70s. That song ended more careers (hair metal bands) and opened the door for more bands (grunge) than any song since the Beatles. That makes it influential, but not "great". Nirvana is easily the most overrated band (as far as the actual quality of their music) in rock history. 624416[/snapback] Spoken like a true wannabe music snob, have you heard some of the guitar solos on some bootleg recordings? Or even the Scentless Apprentice solo that you might mistake as a clumsily put together improv mess except for the fact that Cobain played it like is on the album everywhere they toured. Plus judging the quality of their music as over-rated is ridiculously stupid...that's like saying the Ramones are over-rated because they were all power chords... Nirvana is fundamentally punk music so I can't understand how you can call them over-rated without calling the entire genre of punk over-rated... Then you have a band like Van Halen with all the talent in the world that pour out songs like "Pound Cake"

Dellucci is a nice guy to have, but not for anything more than 1.5 million and with many teams eyeing him, I doubt we get him that low.

6 years????? Plus hitting isn't what the Angels are lacking...they're trying to follow the Sox/Yank blueprint to winning

It's been reported Seattle offered Wright 3 years and $15 million. 624539[/snapback] From where? If that's true it's promising...No problem here with the FO giving him 6 a year for 3 years...that would leave us with 7 million or so roughly to upgrade the pen, fill the last starter spot and finalize the bench... Even if the offense doesn't get a major-shakeup I think we still have a team capable of 86 - 87 wins if Encarnacion can come around, Miggy continues to progress, and A-Gon does more of the same. 624567[/snapback] I have a problem with him getting 3/$18 from us. I'd rather go after Russ Ortiz for that money, at least he's had more than one good year with a high ERA. Ortiz is exactly what we need, a reliable middle of the rotation starter who can pitch well with moderate run support. He's not expected to be an ace, which is important for us, and him. 624604[/snapback] No qualms there, I probably prefer Ortiz but I would think Ortiz would command more but again it's just good news to know that the Marlins are looking and hopefully whoever Beinfest gets comes at a bargain. I don't see Wright degenerating toward his raw stuff after spending a season with Mazzone...

It's been reported Seattle offered Wright 3 years and $15 million. 624539[/snapback] From where? If that's true it's promising...No problem here with the FO giving him 6 a year for 3 years...that would leave us with 7 million or so roughly to upgrade the pen, fill the last starter spot and finalize the bench... Even if the offense doesn't get a major-shakeup I think we still have a team capable of 86 - 87 wins if Encarnacion can come around, Miggy continues to progress, and A-Gon does more of the same.

Man... Do you think this influences Pedro's decision? She is a fine piece of ass, but for all she's got going for her in looks she must have been balanced out with less than an average IQ...a monkey's IQ at that....

If we don' t get Dunn I will post a thread about every HR he hits, and a thread about every blister and every loss Josh gets. I should have done this about Vlad this year since I think we balked at getting him too. 623695[/snapback] I don't think anyone objected to signing Vlad...

I didn't like Wright heading into this season...I don't know if anyone other than a Braves fan or someone on the organization did either...but according to him he was his healthiest last season in 3 years or so, he was the prize of the Indians rotation as a rookie, I tend to think now that he's probably turned the corner and I'd welcome him here probably more so than most of the options out there. I'd still take whoever is cheapest in the list: Clement, Wright, Perez, Morris, Ortiz, Leiber

If anyone can convince me how this trade helps the Marlins, I'll mail that person a buck. I'd be pissed if we traded Castillo for any player. The guy took a discount to stay a Marlin. Out of loyalty, I wouldn't even trade him for Pujols. 624308[/snapback] Luis is the man The only reason this doesn't help us is that we still have Encarnacion...with the money tied into those two for RF we'd probably be lacking big elsewhere...doesn't make much sense

May I ask what a good player is?? Carlos batted .305 with 31 homers and 99 rbi's last year. If you're going to use the park for an argument you should check out his splits, he batted .307 with 14 homers and 54 rbi's on the road. 624214[/snapback] those are mediocre numbers. 624216[/snapback] ....LOL.... Carlos Lee is a good fit because he's an undervalued 5-tool player, not on the level of Beltran but he has good D, can steal 15, hit 30, bat .300... Callling those mediocre numbers is just more moronic than even suggesting he was a mediocre player to begin with. When you look like a fool, it's often a good idea to not continue saying foolish things...

I like the Matt Morris idea. The guy needs one year to prove he is healthy. Sounds like Pudge/Benitez. 623545[/snapback] I like it...it's worked so far. I doubt the Cards will offer more than 4 or 5 million, if we up it another million or two or so I think it could be a steal. Beinfest would rather overpay for one season's worth of play than give out thick contracts for several years...it makes some sense as the short contracts are meant as buffers until our minor league talent is ready to play at the Major League level.

Swifty you're entitled to your opinion but the idea of Sosa in a Marlins uniform makes me want to puke. Drew I could see although he's not been the heathiest guy and this team's problem is that it can't afford to back up it's regular guys with any kind of meaningful, step in and tear the cover off the ball depth. The rest of them just aren't affordable right now. I don't see why you're so down on Mota. He had a helluva year out west and by the time he got here he was worn out. Just check out his innings pitched. He had four blown saves in 2004, all with the Fish which tells me something. Compare his innings pitched to Benitez and I think the truth is self-evident. I'm very supportive of giving him the ball for 75+ innings a year. I certainly won't feel cheated going to the Pro knowing he's our closer. As for Redman I can't imagine the Pirates traded for him to turn around and move him for the next wunderkind in AA ball. It "ain't" going to happen. Hudson (and the others mentioned), he's a one year year stopgap at best with his free agency looming you can say adios to him for 2005. What does that get you? You're premise that losing Pavs and Mando frees up a chunk of dough is valid but investing it all in one player, which is what would happen to get any of the players you mentioned, to me doesn't make sense. This team needs depth more than it needs one superstar. When I think about this team I have to believe (not that I like it) that Encarnacion is virtually untradeable unless you package him with a Hermida, something I'm prepared to do. You disagree and that's why the hot stove league is so much fun. To me no one in our minor league organization is untouchable. No one. To me Aubrey Huff would be the prototypical complement to this team and I'm sure there's others who would so as well. My frequent mention of his name is as much about him as his type of player at his stage in his career. Quality, affordable, with terrific skills and still some upside. To me guys like him are worth alot more to the Fish than a Sosa or Ordonez or Pedro. But that's just one man's opinion. 623526[/snapback] Finally, Sosa in teal makes me feel better than Aguila in black and teal. If the price for Sosa is Encarnacion, Aguila and a AA pitcher, and the Cubs pay 1/3 or half of his deal, I'm fine with it. He's a big name, he'd put fans in the seats, and he'd be the perfect protection for Cabrera and the 4 hole hitter, letting Lowell move down where he's more comfortable. And because we always talk about marketing here too, the amount of Sosa jersies/t-shirts we'd sell (not to mention nationally televised games) would offset the money we'd take on. I've said it many times, despite his production decline in the past season, Sammy is unquestionably in the top 4 of most marketeable players in the MLB, and what we need more than anything at this very important year is exposure. Exposure brings more money to the franchise, something we need badly with AJ and Beckett coming ever closer to free-agency. Sorry to sound so gloomy, but we're watching the professional sport equivalent of a sinking ship. 623538[/snapback] I'm in favor of the Sosa deal, because although he's on his 'decline' he is still a 40 homer threat and would immensely help the middle of the order. I don't see the money working though. Doesn't the final year of Sosa's contract kick in if he is traded? That would be 2 years at what? 35 million? I think the Cubs would need to eat half of that to make it work and then eat Encarnacion's contract. Essentially they'd be left with paying Juan 12.5 million or so to play next season.

Swifty you're entitled to your opinion but the idea of Sosa in a Marlins uniform makes me want to puke. Drew I could see although he's not been the heathiest guy and this team's problem is that it can't afford to back up it's regular guys with any kind of meaningful, step in and tear the cover off the ball depth. The rest of them just aren't affordable right now. I don't see why you're so down on Mota. He had a helluva year out west and by the time he got here he was worn out. Just check out his innings pitched. He had four blown saves in 2004, all with the Fish which tells me something. Compare his innings pitched to Benitez and I think the truth is self-evident. I'm very supportive of giving him the ball for 75+ innings a year. I certainly won't feel cheated going to the Pro knowing he's our closer. As for Redman I can't imagine the Pirates traded for him to turn around and move him for the next wunderkind in AA ball. It "ain't" going to happen. Hudson (and the others mentioned), he's a one year year stopgap at best with his free agency looming you can say adios to him for 2005. What does that get you? You're premise that losing Pavs and Mando frees up a chunk of dough is valid but investing it all in one player, which is what would happen to get any of the players you mentioned, to me doesn't make sense. This team needs depth more than it needs one superstar. When I think about this team I have to believe (not that I like it) that Encarnacion is virtually untradeable unless you package him with a Hermida, something I'm prepared to do. You disagree and that's why the hot stove league is so much fun. To me no one in our minor league organization is untouchable. No one. To me Aubrey Huff would be the prototypical complement to this team and I'm sure there's others who would so as well. My frequent mention of his name is as much about him as his type of player at his stage in his career. Quality, affordable, with terrific skills and still some upside. To me guys like him are worth alot more to the Fish than a Sosa or Ordonez or Pedro. But that's just one man's opinion. 623526[/snapback] Is Huff really that moveable? I just got the impression TB is just dangling it's players just to see if they can get a really good offer from a desperate team. I doubt Huff is the first in line to go and with his contract would probably demand some top notch prospects plus we'd still be overpaying because we'd have to watch him play the OF or 1B and still have to pay Enc or Conine to come off the bench. I agree that Drew isn't all that health-wise and he is a gamble. Unfortunately though we've maximized all we can with the small-market approach. We have great defense, we got too great top of the order guys in Pierre and Castillo for cheap, and we have our young guys with their ridiculously undervalued contracts contributing big time. Looking at our farm system, we don't have anyone that step up this coming season to give us that power bat. Power is the most expensive commodity out there and it's probably over-valued but that's what this team needs the most. There isn't one 'power hitter' out there that could immensely help this team and fall in the < 8 million a season range. You can collect some potentially valuable hitters for bargain prices like Dellucci but you'd have to be very optimistic to think that he could do immensely better than Encarnacion in right. With Pavano gone and Benitez gone. That's about 12 - 13 million freed up because the FO was going to offer that much to both to resign. I'm sure the Fish could get some pitcher in the group of: Wright, Clement, Perez, Morris, Ortiz, Lieber, Leiter That could fall in the 6 million a season range. Perhaps if we wait long enough we could get a steal? You can add` a good bullpen arms like Cormier and potential steal like Reed or Nelson, and perhaps Valdez or Lima for 1.5 or less. That's a lot of freed money, but unfortunately it's not all that much to work with. Not to beat a dead horse, but the only we can get a bone fide power hitter and a quality replacement for Pavs is to deal LoDuca more than likely to the Sox if they agree to take on 2/3 of Enc's contract in a package. There just isn't the money, the question of whether or not Loria is 'holding out' is irrevelant...it's not going to be there. I think Mota will do fine, and if Beinfest isn't going to bring the bullpen help we need he's more attractive because he can log more innings than most closers or is more accustomed to doing so.

Not surprised at all, I thought he'd get a 3 or 4 year deal... It'll help the Giants, if the pieces from last year still work but I think it'd be appropriate if Barry finally implodes and the Giants who finally decided to be aggressive in the FA market won't be any better off than last season.

Hudson for Castillo????? Why in the world would Beane do that? The JP and JE deal makes us better, but Nevin is often injured so if he and Payton have too big of contracts, that gets a big no.

Beckett for Dunn doesn't seem like a bad deal to me... 622854[/snapback] I would do it. 622858[/snapback] I wouldn't do it until we either resign Pavano, or replace him with someone else. 622860[/snapback] I'm a bit surprised about the value of Becektt's stock, I'd definitely do it if we had the farm system to step in for him. The addition of Dunn, makes this offense one of the better ones in the league but then our pitching becomes a weakness, without a deeper rotation it's one of those 'pick your poison' situations.

Um...I'd say the Angels are comfortable at closer with Frankie Rodriguez people. and Armando is done in New York...so to even mention either of those teams is stupid. and even if Detroit overpaid...by how much did they overpay? 1 million? 2 million? is Mando worth only 1 million more per year or the same as Percivial? Think. 622330[/snapback] The Astro's thought the same thing about Dotel when they let Wagner go. I know that wasn't so bad for them considering they have Beltran and Lidge, but I am just saying you never know how a set-up man will take the job of being a closer. 622351[/snapback] want to know the difference? Francisco Rodriguez closed games for the Angels for a couple of stretches this year...they got an idea of what he will do when the man. Dotel hadnt done that before. And the Astros much like the Marlins are notoriously cheap, except with the Astros they have a condition....they will spend money on players named Biggio and Bagwell and they will spend money on people from East Texas. I know a lot of you give this organization immunity for 2003. So now we can be complacent for a few years now. If you want to follow the Hands On Your Ass philosophy and be a member of this joyous club then go for it. Me...I expect a winning organization. We are cheap and I'll say it again..Miami fans make every excuse in the book. Show up for games, especially in the thick of a pennant race. I swear the only area that can compete for worse fans is Oakland. I have never seen two franchises that put a good product on the field and still cant draw s***. And the same excuse is used in both places. I call bulls***. I could understand if this franchise was the Rockies or Diamondbacks...two organizations that have zero clue as to what they are doing. We arent. Move this team to Vegas or someplace that will actually appreaciate a winning franchise. 622389[/snapback] ? Does a higher post total bring about bitterness? The Marlins are far from a winning franchise if you want to compare their winning percentage throughout their existence they are one of the worst in the league. Yes they have direction now, but how long have they had it? The Marlins future looks bright, the attendance rose alot this season and with a new stadium on the way and with competitive teams year in and year out this team will continue to draw. Miami probably doesn't have that great of fans, but whatever neither did Atlanta or New York but with time they are now drawing well.

Pavano really hurt alot of the loyal fans. its not our fault not many people come to the games. hopefully the new stadium will bring more people out. this made me judge his character, along with Burnett. But alot of the nice guys are back and im grateful for that. i was actually a big fan of the a-hole. If he feels like that, then theres the door because i wouldnt want him playing as a Marlin with that attitude. 622229[/snapback] Exactly. All he got in his brief stint in Florida was a WS ring, and a chance to turn his career around so now he can rake in the big money. And he goes and says this...what a short memory this guy has. Can't wait till he goes to Boston, doesn't win a WS there and sees how horrible he's treated just like Manny, Pedro, and all their stars have been since the moment they arrived there....including Garciaparra. I root for the team, but of course you can't avoiding having favorites: JP, Miggy, Luis, Lowell, D-Train that are humble guys that are grateful to be in the position they are in.

MLB: Ichiro 620396[/snapback] You gotta be joking. You're not overrated if you've got the stats to back it up. 620398[/snapback] he doesn't. people treat him like he's one of the best in baseball. He's decent, but nothing more than that. 620399[/snapback] :blink: are u crazy?a career .339 hitter who just broke the single season record for hits is overrated?not to mention hes one of the fastest guys in the game. 622003[/snapback] His singles record this season took attention from Bonds and hence he is over-rated. In the eyes of a Bonds fan anyone who steals the spotlight from Barry for only a brief period is scum and subsequently over-rated.

Good Riddance jackazz... This organization has given him a chance to reach the level you're at and has given him a WS ring...and if all his focus is on a poor turnout this season then he is truly as Alyssa Milano would say a small man

Wish I would have seen it, every piece of media recognition Luis gets is well-deserved

MLB: Ichiro 620396[/snapback] You gotta be joking. You're not overrated if you've got the stats to back it up. 620398[/snapback] he doesn't. people treat him like he's one of the best in baseball. He's decent, but nothing more than that. 620399[/snapback] Best leadoff hitter in the game by far, 372 average this past season, he's won a GG for every year he's been in MLB, 2 time batting champion, Rookie of the Year and MVP...all in 4 seasons oh and just add in that he's been the SB champ, and never placed outside of top 5 in SB He's only 'decent'

Ichiro Koskie Delgado Sexson Boone Ibanez That could compete with just about anyone

A Boston Dirt Dogs source indicates that free-agent pitcher Carl Pavano "is definitely signing with Philadelphia." The only issue apparently holding it up was that Carl's mom is a big Yankees fan. The source indicates that "Boston wasn't even in the mix at all -- Pavano wants to play in Philly, but he's considering the Yankees as well." The Phillies have already offered Pavano a three-year contract. An MLB source on this report: "I can't see Philadelphia being anyone's clear cut choice especially knowing the people that work there, and what the atmosphere is like, even when butt kissing free agents." from: Boston.com 621565[/snapback] That seems like a very crappy source