trade deadline move, biggest so far...

[Tadpole]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1849988

didnt surprise me, didnt think nomar would be in a sox uniform much longer. watch out for the cubs in NL central :D

[Ouchyfish]

hahaha that was funny. A banged up shortstop that hasn't had a great year in 5 years changing that team around..haha

Cardinals > Everything else MLB has to offer.

[Tadpole]

hahaha that was funny. A banged up shortstop that hasn't had a great year in 5 years changing that team around..haha

Cardinals > Everything else MLB has to offer.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?statsId=5706&context=batting

those stats dont look too shabby to me, yes he was hurt for awhile in 2001, but the other stats are pretty nice. had 200 hits in 1997, and each other year, with the exception of 2001, are pretty damn close to having 200 hits...

[Ouchyfish]

Too injury prone lately. I won't say he isn't great, just not capable of making a big enough impact on the cubs.

[Tadpole]

I won't say he isn't great, just not capable of making a big enough impact on the cubs.

why not?

[Ouchyfish]

Because he wasnt doing shit for the red sox in their struggle with the yankees..

It's going to take more than even A-Rod to beat the cards this year and he is definately no a-rod.

Maybe Sosa can loan him some corked bats and a helping of steroids.

[Tadpole]

do you really think the cards have the starting pitching to go far? cubs starting rotation, when healthy (which they should be come play-offs, and i know you will say something about their injuries) looks something like this: prior, wood, zambrano, and clement. that is quite a potent starting rotation. i do think the cards have the best defensive team, and one of the top 3 hitting ball clubs in the league. i think championships are built around solid starting pitching. yes they have woody williams and matt morris, but they are struggling this year. both of their ERA's are well above four runs a game...

[Ouchyfish]

I've seen teams do more with less. From what i have seen the only major obstacles they could have is an Autumn in San Fran.

Their offensive output is high enough to allow the ERA the starters carry, as the season has shown.

The only thing that will keep them from the series will be slipups in san fran championship game or injuries to key fielders beforehand.

[Tadpole]

Their offensive output is high enough to allow the ERA the starters carry, as the season has shown.

what happens when they face a very good pitching staff (like the cubs) with a hitting line up?

[Ouchyfish]

Let me drag on that crack pipe some. Zam is all the cubs have.. the records look like crap after him. Maddux? Make me laugh..love his wonderful ERA too..

Come back down to the reality of 10.5 games out of first place. =p

[Tadpole]

so you are saying wood and prior are nothing? sure they are injured, but they will be back, and WELL rested up for the play-offs.

[Tadpole]

oh

Maddux? Make me laugh..love his wonderful ERA too..

his ERA is currently better than Woody Williams 4.12 ERA and Matt Morris 4.80 ERA (maddux's is 3.91).

i dont kno about you, but i think he is one of the best number 4-5 pitchers in the league.

[Ouchyfish]

Sure..and their record reflects that.

[Tadpole]

the cards will win more games during the regular season, due to their batting...but once they get into the play-offs and face a challenging opponent, their hitters will get shut down with good pitching, like they have the past several years.

[Ouchyfish]

On a serious level, sorry about the razzing, sleepy here, =), I think the cubs have a decent at best rotation. maddux is way past his prime. The new strike zone has crippled him and it shows. Zam is good, very good and Wood just isn't consistant enough. the whole pitch counting business ends up costing games.

Other than Sosa, I do not see any consistancy in their lineup, but then again I haven't paid that close attention to it.

If the Cards slip up and the cubs go, its cool but for the love of pete, to HELL with Clemens and his god damn Astros. =p

[Lyion]

the cards will win more games during the regular season, due to their batting...but once they get into the play-offs and face a challenging opponent, their hitters will get shut down with good pitching, like they have the past several years.

Um, no. It doesn't work that way.

Anyways, I'm glad Randy wasn't dealt to New York. For some reason that really bothered me, but I guess no more than NY buying Arod.

[Ouchyfish]

Anyways, I'm glad Randy wasn't dealt to New York. For some reason that really bothered me, but I guess no more than NY buying Arod.

Yeah no shit. At what point, not to stray too far from the point of the thread here, does major league baseball decide what's fair?

I had heard the A-Rod to Boston deal was nixed because of MLB. (I think?) Yet it was ok for him to go to the Yankees?

While I have your attention, let me ask you this: Should baseball team fans be forced to suffer because their owner doesn't give a shit anymore? I'm not sure how it works but don't you think owners/GMs shouldn't be allowed to just piss their team away and go with the Wal-Mart payroll philosophy?

I see this happen so often and while I'm thankful my favorite team doesn't do that (well, hasn't since right after Auggie died) I love the sport and feel for other fans of it.

Anyways, sorry for the digression..=)

[Arlos]

A-Rod to Boston was nixed by the player's union, because of some changes in his contract that would've reduced his per-year income too much for them. They're all about inflating salaries, not holding them down, so they refused to sign off on it. Boston wouldn't eat A-Rod's contract as-is, so that's why it didn't happen. The Yankees, on the other hand, have for all intents and purposes, no budgetary restraints, so they just ate it whole, so player's union had no quibbles.

-Arlos

[Ouchyfish]

Ah, ok, it was the union, not MLB.

My bad.

[Mop]

I think Boston got the best end of the deal, but all for not I don't think they will amount to anything this fall.

The baseball players unioun is on eof the biggest reasons the sport has gone down hill. Between that and the human rain delay pitchers that give us wonderful 5 hour games.

[Ouchyfish]

St. Louis 6, San Francisco 1 at SBC Park

Winning Pitcher - Woody Williams (8-6)
Losing Pitcher - Jason Schmidt (13-4)

STL Runs: 6, Hits: 13, Errors: 0
SF Runs: 1, Hits: 5, Errors: 0

HR: STL: S. Rolen (25).
St. Louis Record: (67-37)

-------

So much for good pitching shutting them down. 8)

I will hand it to you, though, Nomar helped today. You were right there. =)

[Rzail]

Not getting Randy Johnson, I think, will not amount to being that much of a difference. As long as the Yanks get a healthy Mussina and Brown back, they will be good to go. The scary part about the Yanks offense is that...there is not ONE Yankee who is having an average/better than average year at the plate.

[Xaiveir]

Actually the main reason why MLB has gone down hill, and lost a major fan base is not because of MLB players union. The main reason is the lack of a salary cap keeping small market clubs (the majority, we have all seen the cinderella story teams) out of playoff contention, even with the new expanded playoff format.

Seeing the same teams year after year vying for the world series makes watching the regular season dull and boring in the casual baseball fans eyes. Whats the point of watching a VERY long 162 game season knowing that if your team is in the american league, you will have to go up against steinbrener and the yankees in October EVERY year to get to the world series.

You slap a cap on baseball and the popularity of the sport will increase, keeping the casual baseball players attention. Generally speaking, the casual fan likes a team more for acouple of players on a team, than the team itself. If you are constantly getting new people in a uniform, and losing your favorite players its obviously going to affect you watching the game. Wich brings me to my next point.

Free agency is also a LARGE part of decline of baseball, along with expansion, player salaries, and the lack of the TRUE way of playing baseball. Ill elaborate on these if anyone wants me too.

Those reasons, all are above the players union as the downfall. The players union is hardly to blame.


Xaiveir Tanthalas
Forest Stalker of the Nameless

[Xaiveir]

New York didnt land A-Rod because they ate his contract. In fact Texas aggred to pay roughly 40 million of his salary AFTER the trade, and they still owed him 27 million. Now in pin stripes the yankees will only owe him 112 million over 7 years, wich is a far cry from the original 252 million plus incentives over 10 years. So doing the math real quick, the yankees get him for 16 million a year roughly instead of the 25.2 million that Texas was going to pay him.

On top of that with the departure of Alphonso Soriono's contract, and the release of Boone, The Yankees only increased their salary by roughly 4 million. This paragraph is just alittle additional information. Boston's Salary would have increased dramatically hence why they needed to restructure fully.

You are correct in saying, that the players union was to "blame" for nixing the A-Rod to Boston deal. The amount that they wanted to restructure was rediculous.


Xaiveir Tanthalas
Forest Stalker of the Nameless