RynoRules

I remember that game. The timekeeping "mistake" was pretty blatant, but what a finish. That was also the year MSU was actually good from beginning to end and beat Florida in the Citrus Bowl if I remember correctly. That incident was blown out of proportion. What is forgotten is that MSU should actually still have had a timeout, because the referees were tardy calling a 12 men on the field penalty on UM during that final drive. I love that rational. Blown calls that favor Mich. establish a "pattern", but blown calls that go against Mich. are "blown out of proportion". There's a logical inconsistency there. A blown call is a blown call.

I didn't see the game...how did Mr. Hart do? Ahem...this is the ND thread. :wink: Hey, let me enjoy this week, ok? You guys have been dancing all over us for a few years now, gloating all the way (and rightfully so, particularly last year). I want my 15 minutes! :wink: :D

*Cue the drum roll!!* I like Jacque in the sense that he appears to give his all. I just wish he would try and have the ability of say, Abreu. That said, we knew what we getting here, and like some other folks said, he's a decent complimentary player if surrounded by studs and hitting 7th.

Over his last 10 starts, Hill has the following line: 6-2, 2.23 ERA, 64.2 IP, 44 H, 16 ER, 6 HR, 17 BB, 61 K I can pretty much guarantee Bullinger, Foster, and Gonzalez never had a run like that. They all had their moments, but none of them really "showed great signs." Harkey was a disappointment. Understatment of the year. And don't forget Lance Dickson. I was there for his only ML start.

Those of you with the guts to eat road kill crow, I salute you. In the spirit of the season, I shall eat crow re early season prediction that Neifi and Dusty's veteran fetish wouldn't play a significant role in this season. Wishful thinking I guess.

Hail to the Victors! Couldn't be prouder of The Big Blue. Finally back for real.

Agreed.

Forgeting the race card for a second (unfounded, IMO, for the reasons stated by Tim earlier and the fact that Dusty has consistently defended ARam but did not defend Sammy's behavior at the end of his tenure, and by the fact that he had some major man-love for guys like David Bell in SF), I must say that Bynum's fielding last night was as bad as I have seen a MLBer play in 26 years of watching baseball.

Go Fish! How can you not love these guys? I still think Howard is the MVP, but I love the fact that the Marlins are right there.

Me too. Go with Moore, EPatt, Ronny, and Lee in the IF; Murt, Pie, and Restovich/Coats/Jackson in the OF, and lets see what happens. I'd trade Lee, too. No reason to keep him if you rebuild. I guess I would keep Lee and Z (like the Fish did with Willis and Cabrera) b/c you have to have something you can build around that you know to be top level. You would still have Barrett, Prior, Jones, Izturis, Demp., Howry, Eyre, etc. to deal away. Not the most valuable guys ever, but I think you can get something for them.

Me too. Go with Moore, EPatt, Ronny, and Lee in the IF; Murt, Pie, and Restovich/Coats/Jackson in the OF, and lets see what happens.

Nice to meet you Scott. I guess my 3 yr old will have a new 3rd baseman to root for as he grows up... :wink: I still think ARam will be back.

I'd give him 4/$60 with an option year at $14m. Agreed, assuming its a team option. I get the feeling (a gut feeling, admittedly) that Aramis' relative lack of conditioning will eventually catch up with him.

C'mon Jim! Wake up!

Someone else mentioned Durham a month or so ago and I laughed until I checked out his stats. It's very impressive! My biggest beef with Sullivan's plan isn't the Durham acquisition. The rotation he suggests is terrible. Also, replacing Ramirez with Lowell is a big mistake, IMO (not to mention that Lowell likely has no interest in being a stopgap). Lastly, I'm not interested in Sheffield unless his price tag is much smaller than I expect it to be. Agreed on all counts. I like Sheff's production, but I can't imagine that he will take anything less than a two year contract for a minimum of 10 million per. And teh only way I'd be comfortable with slotting Lowell in for ARam is if we replace Pierre with Andruw Jones. Under that hyopthetical scenario, the lineup would like this: Durham Murton Lee A Jones Barrett Lowell J. Jones Izturis Not the lineup that I'd prefer (I'd rather keep ARam and get Andruw), but not too shabby either.

Someone else mentioned Durham a month or so ago and I laughed until I checked out his stats. It's very impressive! The only thing that bothers me about Ray is that he will be 35 next year and therefore its more likely than not that this year's production won't be sustained. That said, if he were willing to take a two year deal for 10 mill, I'd have to think long and hard about it.

Actually, since it's now Sept. 1, the 25-man roster no longer exists. Rosters have expanded. Since the minor league season is still going on I wouldn't expect anybody to be called up yet; I think it's more likely that some of the injured players will be activated from the DL. Well, then we have a spot open on our 40 man roster. Since the 15-day DL is included on the 40 man roster, we either have to activate someone on the 60-day DL (Wade Miller perhaps) or just add someone to the 40 man roster. Now that I think about it, the Cubs will definitely activate Wade Miller. No reason not to. I think that's likely, but they don't actually HAVE to do anything. 40 is the maximum sie of the roster, but there's no rule that is must be that size. They could leave a spot open for somebody to be protected from the Rule 5 draft in the offseason. Yeah, but that would be the smart thing to do.

Even the Rays wouldn't do this one. I would though.

I am betting on Boston. You put him in that lineup and its a modern day Murderers Row: Ortiz-Manny-ARam Now thats what I call Lethal Latinos.

My initial reaction to this was not positive, but then I saw these 06' stats: Durham: .295 .363 .523 So now I think we should get Durham, keep ARam, and get either Sheff or Andruw Jones.

ESPN reported that he cleaned out his locker tonight and has been told that he is going somewhere.

I like it. Can you imagine all of the "Aramis doesn't hustle" crowd dealing with Andruw? Talk about exploding heads... I know. The thing is that Jones is so fluid that it looks like he isn't hustling when he is, IMO. Did you see his catch last night? I did indeed. I would be incredibly happy with Jones in CF at Wrigley. It was an idea that I brought up a month or so ago with my dad and he flipped. His first argument was, exactly, "that guy has no hustle at all! He doesn't even try unless he hits one of the park!" Some people... If you get Andruw and keep ARam (and assumin we do nothing else to improve the everyday team, which is unlikely, IMO), you have a lineup that potentially looks something like this: Murt Izturis Lee A. Jones ARam Barrett J. Jones Cedeno Not great, but not horrendous, especially in our League. If you then bolster the starting staff with Schmidt and another, B-level starter, that's not a bad team, and likely good enough to at least win the WC. make no mistake about it, that's bad. any lineup with cedeno and izturis in it is bad. jones would make it slightly better, but izturis batting second is asking for disaster. ship cedeno off with marshall and howry for freel and then it gets better. how about jacques jones + cash for brady clark and a prospect? clark freel lee aram a. jones barrett murton izturis much better. Let me be more clear - I agree its not a perfect scenario, far from it. I especialy agree that any lineup with Cedeno and Izturis in it is not good. I was just trying to put together a realistic scenario based on my diminished expectations. I'd much rather have Freel at 2B as you suggested.

I like it. Can you imagine all of the "Aramis doesn't hustle" crowd dealing with Andruw? Talk about exploding heads... I know. The thing is that Jones is so fluid that it looks like he isn't hustling when he is, IMO. Did you see his catch last night? I did indeed. I would be incredibly happy with Jones in CF at Wrigley. It was an idea that I brought up a month or so ago with my dad and he flipped. His first argument was, exactly, "that guy has no hustle at all! He doesn't even try unless he hits one of the park!" Some people... If you get Andruw and keep ARam (and assumin we do nothing else to improve the everyday team, which is unlikely, IMO), you have a lineup that potentially looks something like this: Murt Izturis Lee A. Jones ARam Barrett J. Jones Cedeno Not great, but not horrendous, especially in our League. If you then bolster the starting staff with Schmidt and another, B-level starter, that's not a bad team, and likely good enough to at least win the WC.

How is his contract written, does he have a clause that says if dumped he will recieve xxxx amount of money more than his initial fee? Kind of like corporate CEO contracts are written I'd be shocked if he receives severance for non-renewal in light of how much he earned over the life of the deal. Its possible, but unlikely, IMO.

Wow. Good for Kaplan. Can't believe he put himself out there like that.