The Swede

I have question about Olsen since I have been a bit out of the loop this year. Why is his fastball in the mid 80s and occasionally hitting upper 80s? Does he have arm problems or is he driving to gain better control? At this point, I don't think he can be much more than a good 4th starter on a contending team. He has a below average fastball, average to below control, and an average to slightly below changeup. Though his slider is still above average, he gets much fewer swings and misses on it than he used to. I don't understand why his stuff is significantly worse than when he came up.

I actually thought this thread would have something to do with us having a -25 run differential, including some of the worst pitching / fielding statistics in baseball...and still in the race. Seriously, I don't now how long these uneven stats will last, but right now, we're proving all stat geeks wrong. I think one argument that tempers the run differential is that we have a few outliers in there (ones that are more impactful than other teams' outliers). We lost a couple games, especially in the beginning of the year, by 10+ runs, and those games were largely pitched by guys who are in the minors now (i.e. Vanden Hurk). If you remove those, and even the couple blowouts in our favor, and our run differential is closer to 0. We are only slightly over .500, so I'd argue we are not getting that lucky based on this metric.

Why the hell didn't they take him out when it was obvious even to a blind guy that this guy was all over the place and seemed to wanna blow the game? What a f***ing way to lose. Even though he didn't pitch well, he wasn't all that wild. He walked one guy, and its arguable that he walked him intentionally to create a force out at all bases. He did throw some good pitches. Zimmerman's hit and the leadoff double (I think it was Belliard) were very cheap, weakly-hit, and easily could have been outs. Also, the defense failed Julio a bit. I thought the double to left should have been a fly out, but Willingham doesn't have good range. Also, though the ball was hit hard, the line drive that Fick hit to Ramirez should have at least been knocked down and kept in front. Ramirez did not have to move a step, yet he couldn't use his body to keep it in front. That wasn't the first bad play of the game by Ramirez either; he inexecusably tried to flip the ball with his glove to Uggla a few innings before that cost the Marlins an out. Ramirez had a subpar game today; he also struck out looking in the 9th with a guy on third and no out. I wouldn't be too concerned with Julio's performance today. He showed pretty good stuff today and decent command. Hopefully next times he gets the bounces and doesn't leave so many over the plate next time.

To be fair, who cares about the 500th RBI of a marginal player who will never be a starting 3rd baseman again? They shouldn't have mentioned it.

How is the recovery from a torn labrum compared to Tommy John Surgery? I think only anecdoteally speaking it is a much easier recovery and not as damaging to a career, but does anyone have real information on it?

My experience has been that non-math, science classes have been fairly easy with about 60% of the class getting B+ or higher. One 10 page paper, a midterm and final is standard. The reading is pretty heavy, but you don't need to do all of it because the tests are fairly general. Math classes range from average to a huge amount of work. Weekly problem sets can take anywhere from 3 or 4 hours to 15-20 hours. Then a midterm (sometimes 2) and a final. Difficulty can run the gamut with great variation in curves. I have classes where almost everyone gets an A and a couple where no one gets an A.

Take the two best players off of any team and lets see how good they do. Three best ... Jason Williams didn't play either. (Perhaps 3 fo 4 best. Mourning is probably better.)

Phil Jackson is an overrated loser who was lucky to win championships cuz he had some of the greatest players of all-time on his teams. what does that make pat riley? You could argue that for Riley's wins in LA. But I think his ability to make the Knicks and the Heat title contenders with really only marginal talent is more impressive than what Jackson did. Ewing might be the most overrated player ever, partly because he was in NY. He was one of the top 3 centers or so at the time, but the rest of the team really was not that good Then the Knicks got Sprewell and Houston, but Ewing was on the decline and neither Sprewell nor Houston were superstars. So Riley had the Knicks in the thick of things without a lot of talent. The same goes with the Mourning-Hardaway Heat. Finally, the championship last year is probably the most impressive. Yes, he had Wade who was one of the best in the league, but Shaq was declining. Outside of those two, the Heat don't have a league-average starter. Combine that with league that no longer favors Riley's style and Shaq's post-game, and I think you have an impressive feat that Jackson really hasn't come close to matching. With that said, Jackson hasn't had an opportunity to prove his coaching ability the way Riley has because he has always had the best the player in the league. Also, Riley is a terrible gm. But as far as coaching alone, I think Riley is better.

I am not sure why the Sixers thought that the Denver's offer was better than the Heat's of Posey, Walker/Williams, Wright, and a 1st. Smith and Posey are a wash because they have the same expiring contract. Though Posey is more productive now, but Philly doesn't care about that. Miller is better than either Walker or Williams, but not drastically so. Besides Philly doesn't and shouldn't care about that. Miller is old, 30, and will not be productive when/if Philly becomes good, which will be at least 2-3 years. Plus, his contract has 2 years after this year, whereas Williams/Walker's both ends next year. Thus, from a contract standpoint, which is the only way to view this part of the deal for all 3 players are useless to Philly's cause, the Heat's side is better again. Next consider the Heat's 1st rounder for Denver's 1st rounder. With Shaq out for at least a few more weeks, the Heat will almost definitely have a worse record than Denver. I expect the Heat's pick to be in the 18-20 range, whereas Denver's will be in the 22-25 range. Finally, you have Wright compared to Dallas's 1st rounder. Dallas's 1st rounder will be 29 or so, considering that it is safe to say that they will finish with one of the 2 or 3 best records in the league. I know that this draft is supposed to be very deep, but no draft - I don't care how deep it is - will have very good players left at the 29th pick. There is no way that Wright is worse than what Philly can get at the 29th pick, especially when you factor in risk. I don't think Wright is particularly good; he will probably be a league-average starter or a very good 6th man, but either way that is better than a 29th pick in which you are just as likely to get a complete bust. All in all, I think that the Heat's deal is better. Perhaps, Philly didn't want to deal within conference, but again I think that is foolish. The Sixers need at least 2-3 years just to be a .500 team, whereas 2-3 years from the now the Heat will be completely rebuilding. Shaq will be done, and we will not re-sign a declining Iverson. The only chance the Heat had at repeating this year or contending next year was to get Iverson. I think Riley dropped the ball by not getting it done - assuming it was possible. I really hope that including a player like Haslem did not held up the deal. We should have offered anything and everything other than Wade, Shaq, and Mourning. I strongly believe that Riley has to make a move at the deadline.

true...but i kinda like having doleac around...and in reference to another post...why the hell would we trade walker? he might not be anyone's favorite player but i the playoffs he was our 2nd leading scorer and we dont win the finals without him Without Walker we win the championship in 5 games. Don't let the Heat's overall success permeate judgement on individual players. Walker was a tremendous handicap, and we won despite him not because of him. If we could trade him for a reasonable starting point guard, I would be ecstatic. Unfortunately, with one of the worst contracts in basketball, I don't see the Heat being able to get rid of him. If we are to do well again next year, we need to put him back as the 6th man and stop him from taking shots. Shaq needs to take back every shot that he lost to Walker.

Shouldn't the starting pitcher that's leading both leagues in ERA go the All-Star game? Yes, but Josh Johnson does not lead baseball in ERA because he doesn't have enough innings to qualify. I don't think he should even be considered.

I haven't agreed with all the decisions he's made. (see 2004 trade deadline) but there isn't another GM in the league I'd rather have. Dave Dombrowski.

Does anyone have a scouting report on Jose Garcia? What kind of pitches does he throw and how is his velocity? Thanks. http://stubobcats.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl.../020206aab.html -2005-A new addition to the Greensboro roster is right-handed pitcher Jose Garcia. Garcia joins the Grasshoppers from extended spring training in Jupiter, FL. Only 20 years old, this is Garcia's fourth season with the Florida Marlins organization. He was originally signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2001. Since then, he has spent all three seasons in the Dominican Summer League. During his three seasons with the DSL, Garcia was 10-11 with a 1.92 ERA. He allowed 146 hits and 38 earned runs while striking out 213 batters. That's all I could find on him...old stuff....he's only 5'11 and 165 lbs.- always putting up good stats though. Thanks.

Does anyone have a scouting report on Jose Garcia? What kind of pitches does he throw and how is his velocity? Thanks.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-...eball-headlines Sportingnews Dontrelle is the answer By Ken Davidoff Dontrelle is the answer May 8, 2006 The Victor Zambrano news doesn't really strike a blow to the Mets. It simply creates a void, and a silver lining: It underscores what they must do to carry out their impressive beginning. Just as they thought last winter, the Mets will need another frontline starting pitcher to win their first world championship in 20 years. The most sensible maneuver is a deal for Florida's Dontrelle Willis, even if it costs Lastings Milledge. "No chance," one person in the Mets' loop said yesterday before Jose Lima and the bullpen's dregs suffered a 13-3 loss to the not-dead-yet Braves at Shea Stadium. Certainly, there's no reason to panic. However, as Cliff Floyd said when asked if the Mets' starting rotation is good enough to win a World Series: "The way things are going, 31 games in, damn right. But when you start having injuries, it's a tough question. You're asking guys to do a lot. "Hopefully, whoever we call up, whatever they do, they're just going to give us an opportunity to win." Lima kinda sorta did that yesterday, and later this week, Jeremi Gonzalez will likely get his shot, taking Zambrano's rotation turn. So even when Brian Bannister comes back, perhaps this month, you're talking about still keeping either Lima or Gonzalez around. It's not as if Bannister is an established commodity, either - and that goes double for John Maine. Working your way from the bottom, you come to Steve Trachsel, who is ordinary, and Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine, who are not. But they are human, and they will hit slumps, and they will require assistance from their fellow starters. Aaron Heilman? No argument here to keep him in the bullpen. Why mess with a good thing? Mike Pelfrey? General manager Omar Minaya tells friends that the youngster can help the Mets this year, and maybe he can. Given the stakes, though, it would hardly be ideal to lean so heavily on a guy just out of college. Especially when there's Willis. The baseball landscape has changed. Teams on the bubble, mindful of the 2004 and 2005 Astros' late-season runs, are more reluctant to give away veteran talent. And clubs all over, even our Mets and Yankees, don't want to dispose of young, cheap talent. The Athletics will be open-minded about Barry Zito, but there will be strong incentive for contending Oakland to keep the lefthander. Zito, furthermore, would cost talent; then, as an impending free agent, he would have to be signed to an extension for, let's call it, five years and $75 million. What incentive will the Marlins have to retain Willis a month or two from now? You need be only an amateur psychologist to look at Willis' numbers (1-3, 5.15 ERA) and wonder if all of the losing in South Florida is getting to him. We already know the Marlins offered Willis to the Mets for David Wright, and that the Marlins don't mind conducting business within their division. Willis, earning $4.35 million, won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2009 season, and though you can never predict one's New York adjustment, the lefthander's outgoing demeanor bodes well for that issue. Now, the other part of the equation: trading Milledge and other, lesser youngsters. The Mets, largely because of the deal that sent Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay for Zambrano, are gun-shy about repeating that mistake. The greatest sin of the Kazmir trade, though, wasn't shipping out Kazmir. It was dealing him for Zambrano, which - what with this weekend's development - now officially becomes the second-worst trade in Mets history. At the time, nearly everyone thought the Mets received poor value in return for a commodity as strong as Kazmir. But Willis is no Zambrano. Sure, Milledge could be a star. He might not be. Trading him for Willis would bring no shame to anyone. It could be the capper for the aggressive Minaya, who has brought in so much already. "I'm confident, budget-wise, that we have the ability to [take on money]," Minaya said yesterday, and he said the same about his available talent. There's time to get this done. But it should get done.

I would have loved to have been at that game...or seen it. I wanted teh Marlins to draft Carrillo over Volstad. One poor start in the college world series let him slip to us, and I thought we should have grabbed him, but Volstad has looked good so far. Carrillo just appears to have a stronger arm. I have to say though that I am disappointed that Sanchez is only throwing 90-93.

I think Beltran is the worst of the players mentioned, but I don't think he's that overrated anymore. Surely, he was when Peter Gammons was saying he was the best player in the game and the Mets signed him for 100 million. But since, for the most part, commentators, players, coaches, and management all recognize that he is not an elite player. You don't hear people going on and on about him. Derek Jeter, on the other hand, is by far the most overrated. Many people think he is one of the best players in baseball. Not only he is not one of the better players, he's not one of the top two or three shortstops. Last year he was 47th in OPS, and he didn't have an unusual year last year. If f he had hit is career OPS, he would have been 46th in OPS. Couple that with his poor defensive skills and that everyone who either lives in Northeast (except boston) or is a baseball commentator thinks he is a first ballot hall of famer and one of the best players in the game, and you have the most overrated player in possibly all of sports (maybe second to David Beckham). Now he will be a first ballot hall of famer, but he has not right to be with his pedestrian numbers.

From the Miami Herald... MARLINS NOTEBOOK Hermida's return delayed again BY CLARK SPENCER MARTINEZ UPDATE Reliever Carlos Martinez, who is on the disabled list with a strained right elbow, can start playing catch Monday. ''We won't rush him,'' Girardi said. ``He's too young and too valuable.'' Martinez said his elbow doesn't feel sore and that he was relieved when an examination by Dr. James Andrews last week in Alabama didn't turn up anything more serious. But, assuming the injury doesn't worsen, it could be at least a month before the pitcher is ready for game action. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sport...ll/14460699.htm I thought the report on Martinez was that he blew out his elbow. Does anyone have a report on specifically what the injury/damage is?

I'm in agreement with Swift here. I can see scenarios where trading Willis would make sense but when you weigh the ancilliary consequences and the idea that we'd get so little in return, that's where these types of articles begin to infuriate me. The idea is to build another world championship team HERE, and that isn't accomplished by trading a prized and highly desired commodity for another team's cast-offs and/or second-rate players. Rickie Weeks? Excuse me but so far this season this guy can't sniff Dan Uggla's jock, and certainly not for the $1.2 million he's making. Edwin Encarnacion instead of Cabrera at third? Please, you have to be kidding unless you think it's okay to give up 30+ homeruns a season and 100+ rbis. The obvious conclsion of getting another 3Bman is Cabrera would be next to go, because everyone in the world knows Miggy wants to play 3B and he's not going back to the outfield to embarrass himself again just to make room for some kid who isn't half the player he is. Rosenthal and his ilk seem to believe it's okay to put the Marlins needs second and all other teams first. Trading Dontrelle, for example, is about making the Reds or Brewers better, not about making the Fish a more competitive team. Or his line "The Dodgers, Red Sox, Angels and Cubs all boast strong farm systems. Imagine the Mets adding Willis to their impressive young core. Imagine the Braves getting Willis to go with Tim Hudson and John Smoltz...", again it's about everyone else's needs above ours. So yeah, if the right deal, and I mean one that brings a bonafide, already proven player who above all fits "our" needs comes along, and with enough "star power" (name recognition + stats) to justify the deal and deflect the criticism that will be heaped on the franchise and ownership for moving Willis, I can see him being traded, but short of that, it's just not worth it. Not today, not next season, no thanks Ken. Great post. Especially, the last two paragraphs.

I'll still tell anyone that the Cubs and Giants were the two most talented NL teams in the '03 playoffs, but the Marlins were one of the best "teams" in the history of baseball. The Cubs were far more talented than us. And also, you can say the same thing about any player as you say about Dontrelle. Take Beckett, Pavano, Penny, Redman, Rodriguez, Cabrera, Conine, Urbina, Lowell, Castillo, etc. off that team and we don't make it to the playoffs or win the world series. The only player who I think could have been removed and we still would have done well was Looper, though he did get out of a huge jam against the Yankees.

He still has very average stuff and is a 5th starter or relief pitcher on a good team. The Cubs not a great hitting team to begin with were playing without Lee, and Vargas only threw 6 innings. It was a nice start, but let's be fair now.

Does anyone have an updated scouting report on Volstad? How is his velocity? Thanks.

Well, I always thought of the previously untouchable tri-fecta, Willis should have been moved before Beckett... :confused You thought Willis, the Cy Young runner up last year and the one without constant injury problems, should've been moved instead of Beckett. I agree with TSwift. Beckett is a top 5 pitcher in bsaeball with dominant stuff that a franchise gets maybe once every 20 years. Willis had a nice year, but he is not in the same league. I don't Willis to ever approach the year he had last year again. Lowell set this franchise back. I don't think the Marlins wanted to trade Beckett. I think they wanted to keep Beckett, Willis, and Cabrera together and build around, but they needed to get ride of Lowell's $18 MM (?). It's a shame. You never trade a pitcher like Beckett. One day they will look back at our trading Beckett as one of the biggest trading coups of all time. Not because we didn't get back anything in return. We did. But because of what Beckett will become in Boston. Can anybody else think of another pitcher that was EVER traded who had similar youth/potential/low contract? I think maybe Pedro from the Expos to the Red Sox after winning the Cy Young in 1997, but even then Pedro was 26-27. But, that is life. Nobody wanted to get rid of him. We were FORCED to get rid of him, because he was the best player we were willing to trade (Miguel and D-Train were untouchables at the time), and we needed to rid ourselves of Mike "the contract Albatros" Lowell. Hopefully, baseball will thrive in Miami for many years, and we can turn this ship around. If that ever happens, it will be 100% because we were able to shed ourselves of Mike Lowell's contract. Trading Beckett was about survival. Exactly. Great post.

I think the Marlins did a good job considering the situation. However, I still think we are missing that one big piece in terms of pitching: we don't have a big power right arm. Perhaps they thought Allison could be that guy. We had two (Burnett and Beckett) power arms and did not get fair value for either. We got nothing for Burnett and were forced to trade Beckett just to get rid of Lowell. It's lowell that really set this franchise back. Not only did he cost us the playoffs in 2005, but forced us to lose Beckett. I honestly don't believe that the Marlins planned on trading Beckett. If we were able to keep Beckett, I think this team is 1.5 to 2 years away from seriously competing. Beckett, Willis, Olsen, Vargas, and (Johnson, Volstad, Nolasco, etc). Maybe we will be able to do what we did in 1998: have an awful year and then take that power pitcher with the first or second pick in the amateur draft.

Does anyone know what the local tv network for the Mets is? Is it not MSG anymore?