USSoccer

Dude, Erstad isn't bad because I say he's bad, he's bad because he isn't very good at baseball. If he hits .280 I'll be stunned, because he's done that twice in the last 6 seasons. If he OPS's .750 I'll be more stunned, because he's also only had an OPS above .700 twice in the last 6 seasons, and one of those 2 was a .702 OPS. I don't think I need to explain why the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards are meaningless crap. Again, do you have anything at all other than your dismissive tone to suggest Erstad isn't terrible? I'm still waiting. Cue somebody completely missing the point and saying that anybody in the Major Leagues must be good at baseball because they're in the Major Leagues. Huh?

http://supak.com/simpsons/images/wallpaper/Republican-Party-Headquarters-800.jpg Carlyle Group HQ.

Feb 7th is a fixture date, so getting the release of all 8 shouldn't be an issue. I'm going to assume you meant isn't a fixture date. I've read that it was an international fixture date. Am I mistaken?

Dude, Erstad isn't bad because I say he's bad, he's bad because he isn't very good at baseball. If he hits .280 I'll be stunned, because he's done that twice in the last 6 seasons. If he OPS's .750 I'll be more stunned, because he's also only had an OPS above .700 twice in the last 6 seasons, and one of those 2 was a .702 OPS. I don't think I need to explain why the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards are meaningless crap. Again, do you have anything at all other than your dismissive tone to suggest Erstad isn't terrible? I'm still waiting.

I'm too lazy to look it up right now, but I thought Borghetti already tranferred out of Bolton. IIRC, he's in Saudi Arabia. According to his Wikipedia page, he's playing for Cruz Azul, which is my mistake, as I didn't realize he'd left Bolton.

HIs 2004 was an abberrational year. He's not good at baseball. No team with any sort of minor league system should ever sign a player like Erstad to sit on the bench. He's a waste of money and a roster spot for any team. That said, thanks are in order to Kenny Williams for taking a player I was afraid Hendry would target. i would have to say that anyone that makes it to the majors is "good at baseball". he has a career .756 ops and played very good defense before he was injured. williams signings & trades have done pretty well in the recent past (including podsenik whom you most likely put in the same catagory as erstad) and perhaps he knows a little more about baseball than we do. I love the whole "he knows more about baseball than we do" argument. It's probably the weakest argument ever used around here and elsewhere. Erstad is a 32 year old who hasn't had above a .750 OPS in 6 seasons. He hasn't been good at baseball since 2000. Just because he has a "hard nosed" reputation and a name people have heard of doesn't mean that he's any good anymore. i guess you know more about baseball than kenny williams and billy beane. http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070112&content_id=1778276&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak Again: Debunking an argument by attempting to belittle the posters knowledge of baseball when compared to GM's or people who "played the game" isn't an effective method of arguing your point. He's an injury prone, ineffective, overpaid baseball player who has gotten by for the past few years on the reputation of tenacity and toughness more than the quality of his play. He's not a good baseball player, and unless he signed for an incredibly low amount of money, will be vastly overpaid for what he brings to the table. Can you offer any supporting evidence to contradict my argument, other than the fact that I'm not a major league GM?

No Dempsey or Onyewu on the roster for Mexico. Twellman is the only new addition. Dempsey and Gooch could be 2 of the 8 players Bradley requested to be released from club duty. If you look at that espn.com article, none of the foriegn based players are on it-just the MLS guys. My money says the 8 are Cherundolo, Bocanegra, Beasley, Howard, Dempsey, Hahnneman, Convey and Cory Gibbs. http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_281643.html Feb 7th is a fixture date, so getting the release of all 8 shouldn't be an issue.

I am somewhat suprised MLS didn't make a run at Jared Borgetti, perhaps to play for Chivas USA as a counterweight to Beckham. Borghetti hardly plays for Bolton.

How much of that is residual wariness left over from Baker's tenure?

It's cool with me homeboy. Mad props to JC! Where's JC?

This move being good or bad is going to almost entirely depend on Floyd's heath, and Piniella's roster management.

HIs 2004 was an abberrational year. He's not good at baseball. No team with any sort of minor league system should ever sign a player like Erstad to sit on the bench. He's a waste of money and a roster spot for any team. That said, thanks are in order to Kenny Williams for taking a player I was afraid Hendry would target. i would have to say that anyone that makes it to the majors is "good at baseball". he has a career .756 ops and played very good defense before he was injured. williams signings & trades have done pretty well in the recent past (including podsenik whom you most likely put in the same catagory as erstad) and perhaps he knows a little more about baseball than we do. I love the whole "he knows more about baseball than we do" argument. It's probably the weakest argument ever used around here and elsewhere. Erstad is a 32 year old who hasn't had above a .750 OPS in 6 seasons. He hasn't been good at baseball since 2000. Just because he has a "hard nosed" reputation and a name people have heard of doesn't mean that he's any good anymore.

HIs 2004 was an abberrational year. He's not good at baseball. No team with any sort of minor league system should ever sign a player like Erstad to sit on the bench. He's a waste of money and a roster spot for any team. That said, thanks are in order to Kenny Williams for taking a player I was afraid Hendry would target.

That would be an impressive move.

Which tells you why no one should be a fan of Steve Stone, Major League GM.

4 way tie for that award. Can't forget Joe "Best 3B in Chicago" Crede. He looks dirty. He must play hard. Not like that other 3B in Chicago. He barely jogs when he hits his home runs.

Charles Tillman. Alex Brown seems like a talker too. I doubt you'll hear AB say anything remotely controversial or colorful.

MLB would have to void the deal. You simply can't give a team that kind of leg up on it's competition.

Yeah. Although I didn't pay close attention. They talked about how stupid some people are (somebody apparantly sent an email about Grossman growing up a Colts fan and subconsciously wanting Indy to win). Grossman quote: "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard", B&B reply: "You'll see a lot worse". How was going out on the town this season? RG, "I was mostly under the radar since I'm not 6'10", but people would come up to me and say they have my back and still support him. It was nice to hear, but kind of strange since we were 12-2 or something." Talk about how weird the week will be. Not much else. Same old Rex really. He sounds confident, but a little annoyed. Can you blame him for being annoyed? The way this town has been you'd think we were 9-7 fighting for a wild card berth. I can't say I wouldn't be more egdy with the media. I'm also digging his "No, thank you" response to questions about the whole pressure/controversy thing at his recent press conferences.

Did anyone listen to the Rex interview?

Well, I don't get the score down here so someone fill me in. I'm sure its boring stuff the coaches told him to say. If you're really interested, you can always listen online.... 670thescore.com The stream doesn't work at my office. For those that listen, could someone do a running summary?

How would Ken Rosenthal have more insight than, say Bruce as far as the Cubs' plans for Murton and CF?

They'll probably set records in tenacity. Did I mention Erstad played football? He was a punter at Nebraska.

A roster with Pods AND Erstad, plus managed by Guillen? They're going to lead the league in grit and hustle.