USSoccer

LOL! No way, no how would the Cubs pay Zito 16-17 a year! We are talking the Cubs here... Nor should they. Zito isn't worth that much. Paying him more than $10m per is a stretch. First things first, lock down Z for the next 4 years and make sure RAM doesn't opt out of his contract...Zito will get more the 10 million a year for sure. He'll top out at 14-15 a year... Which means you look elsewhere to bolster your rotation. Zito and Schmidt may be the biggest names on the FA market, but they aren't necessarily the best values. This attitude basically means the Cubs would never land a top 5 free agent. Those guys are always going to have the Yankees, Red Sox, Mutts, Dodgers, and any other big-market team in the mix. If you're not willing to overpay for the top guys, you won't get them. And in Cub world, that means you get Jacque Jones as your RF. Do you believe Zito is the kind of pitcher worthy of a $14-17m/yr contract?

LOL! No way, no how would the Cubs pay Zito 16-17 a year! We are talking the Cubs here... Nor should they. Zito isn't worth that much. Paying him more than $10m per is a stretch. First things first, lock down Z for the next 4 years and make sure RAM doesn't opt out of his contract...Zito will get more the 10 million a year for sure. He'll top out at 14-15 a year... Which means you look elsewhere to bolster your rotation. Zito and Schmidt may be the biggest names on the FA market, but they aren't necessarily the best values.

LOL! No way, no how would the Cubs pay Zito 16-17 a year! We are talking the Cubs here... Nor should they. Zito isn't worth that much. Paying him more than $10m per is a stretch.

That stat line cannot be right. He doesn't have an OBP above .300.

Fire Joe Morgan has a terrific post that absolutely tears Cowherd apart.

Very few sports media people bother to fact check anymore, or construct a logical thought. Way, way too many of them rely on meaningless cliches and hyperbole when speaking/writing. It's something that makes enjoying watching a game really annoying.

It's Tony that doesn't get FSC. I have FSC and GolTV (gotta watch my first love - Roma!) through Dish Network. If Roma doesn't win Serie A this year I'll be stunned. You think so? I'm not so sure. Inter signed everyone under the sun, so they worry me. I know they always find a way to screw it up, but still..... And Milan's starting with what, a 7 point deficit? Did they appeal that or something? I thought it was like a 15 or 18 point penalty. Juve got a 25 point penalty. Is it even mathematically possible for them to get out of Serie B this season?

It's Tony that doesn't get FSC. I have FSC and GolTV (gotta watch my first love - Roma!) through Dish Network. If Roma doesn't win Serie A this year I'll be stunned.

The league set it up that way to prevent what happened to the NASL in the early 80's. You had salaries going out of control, and it bankrupted the league. The current system is okay, because the league is in it's infancy, and still isn't financially stable enough to raise the salary cap high enough to pay top players to play. Like it or not, MLS should act like a minor league system until the interest in the league demands top players stay put. Seth is dead on. Clint Dempsey is a fantastic player to people who know what they're looking at, but he's a wing mid playing for the best fanbase in the league. They won't miss him. The league doesn't market him as it is, even though they probably should start. Either the league is being greedy trying to get as much as they can for him, or they're being stupid in thinking that the league is better in the long run if Dempsey stays. Either way, his development as a player is being [expletive], which in turn hurts the USMNT, which will hurt MLS more than Dempsey going to Charlton in mid season. Look what playing for Reading did for Bobby Convey. Also, I think Peter Nowak might be a favorite for USMNT coach. The way he's continually being pimped for it seems to me to be too indicative of something.

If it came down to having Cedeno at 2B and Lee in LF, or Murton in LF and Soriano at 2B, I'd overpay Soriano and enjoy a high OBP out of one position and SLG% out of another.

Speakign of that Dempsey transfer, he issued a statement saying he would never, ever sign with MLS again. His current contract runs through the end of next season. The USMNT fan in me wishes MLS would have done the best thing for it's long term health and let Deuce go ply his trade in the EPL. The better the 'Nats are, the healthier MLS is.

I'm amazed we got as much as we did. Robinson doesn't sound too bad at all, relative to Neifi's worth. Even if we ate part of 2007's salary I'm okay with it.

I remember his 2 error game in 2005.

What wonderful news to get today! In all seriousness, it's not the Neifi that was hated; it was the usage of said Neifi. Maybe Leyland will use the Neifi in a manner in which it was intended to be used. That said, good riddance and never, ever come back to Wrigley in any capacity, Neifi. I'll be thrilled to never see your craptacular swing designed for double plays, and I'm ecstatic to never again see you insert yourself in a conference at the mound again.

Bynum will be up anyway come 9/1.

We can't replicate it because the Dodgers have a much better pitching staff than we do. I wish it would happen, too, Don. It's just far too unlikely given what we have to work with, and given our recent history.

I'll play along... In order for Cobs to be considered as being in the race by 9/15, they would have to go on a Dodger-like tear where they win 17 out of 18 or so. During Baker's nearly 4 years as manager, the longest win streak Cobs have had is 7, IIRC. We do have a top-5 SP, but after that top-5 SP, we have nothing near the potential for consistency you would require to sustain that kind of run. Not to say that Mateo hasn't been very encouraging, and that Hill has performed better of late, but can you envision our SP pitching well enough over a 3 week stretch to only lose 1 game? I can't, and nor do I think our offense is potent enough to be able to absorb the occasional disaster start by O'Malley, Hill, Mateo, Marmol and Guzman, and that's not even bringing Rusch into this. We couldn't even run off that kind of streak with Wood, Prior, Z, Clement and Maddux as our rotation, AND with a much better offense in 2004. So I don't think it's possible, because even if the stars alligned and we did rip off a 17 of 18 type streak, there's a real chance we'd still be 6-7 games back even after all that, because nearly the entire league is ahead of us. What I think is possible is the team getting to within 5-10 of .500 by the end of the season, which is a shame, since this division was really, really winnable, and we were not able to field the proper team to take advantage of a weak dog of a NL.

Ramirez had a fantastic catch in Game 6 NLCS off a 4-3 bunt attempt in foul territory. Patterson had a diving catch better than Ryan Freel's against St Louis is 2003 in the Bellhorn GW HR game. Either of those are more impressive than Mathews Jr correcting his misplay

But you're wrong. Barrett on a C schedule means he sits once a week. Big deal. That's not going to make or break your offense. The extra production Ramirez brings over either of those 2 more than makes up for the 30-40 starts your backup C gets.

#1, AGonz had game winning hits all throughout the early part of 2003. We won that division by 1 game. If he doesn't come through, 1 time, we may not even go to the playoffs. Furthermore, he had the game winning RBI in Game 6 of the LDS. #2: I'm going to list some things that were as great, or greater factors to us not advancing that AGonz's error: -Zambrano blowing a 4-0 lead in Game 1. -Baker choosing Guthrie/Lowell over Alfonsenca/Harris in Game 1. -Prior throwing 2 uneccesary innings in a game 2 blowout. -In the 5th or 6th inning of Game 5, Ramirez hit a ball barely foul that would have been a long home run in a 0-0 game. Had we scored first in that game, there is a high probability we win Game 5. -Prior not being pulled after 7 innings in Game 6. -Prior not being pulled after the Gonzalez error in Game 6. -Farnsworth being called in to intentionally walk a hitter in thr 8th inning of Game 6. -Baker not pulling Wood during or after the 5th inning in Game 7. -Baker not using Matt Clement in Game 7. -Baker going to Dave Veres in a 7-5 game with 2 on in the 6th inning of Game 7. Our pennant was lost for many different reasons, and to be fair, Gonzalez's error is one of many opportunities we had to put Florida away in 2003. However, Gonzalez's error is not some shining example of why SS defense is critical to winning a championship. StL Louis went to a WS with David Eckstein as their SS, and Anaheim won one with Eckstein as their SS. David Eckstein is a completely crap SS. You can trot Uribe out as an example all you want, but the White Sox's pitching won them their championship. You can bring up Nomar for Cabrera, but the fact that the Red Sox had a ridiculous offense had a ton more to do with their title than Cabrera's glove did.

There's not a single player out there this winter that's better than Ramirez. I'd take a combo of D-Lee/C-Lee/Soriano/Barrett most games of the year over D-Lee/Aramis/Barrett (on a catcher's schedule). Aramis is better in every way than either of those 2 players. Why not just sign one of them and keep Aramis? Regardless, you can't trade Aramis now anyway.

There's not a single player out there this winter that's better than Ramirez.

I think it was explained quite well already -- ARod was the superior player at that position. Pretty simple, actually. If you think the hatred for aRod is bad now, imagine if he had taken Jeter's position. So what? That organization holds a ton of sway over the media in NY. If Jeter was the consumate team player and captain he's purported to be, he'd have publically handed over the SS position because it was what was best for the Yankees, and then you have no controversy.

Sarcasm or not, I'm in the camp of in any sport, defense wins championships. Defense in football, basketball, soccer, etc. means preventing the other team from scoring. In baseball, that's overwhelmingly the task of the pitching staff, not the guys behind them. Defense in baseball doesn't compare to defense in other sports and is a relatively small factor in keeping the other team from crossing home. exactly. defense (as in preventing the other team from scoring) is very important in baseball. but actual fielding makes up a very small % of defense. Defense may not win championships, but it can certainly lose them. (See Gonzalez, Alex) Every time someone points this out I'm going to point out AGonz's .980 OPS and 4HR's in the postseason, without which no one would ever remember the ground ball to SS. Offense and pitching are so much more important that defense it's not even funny.

Yeah, he's such a team player that he moved to 3B when the Yankees signed the best defensive SS in the AL...wait, that never happened. You're right, the Yankees never signed the best defensive SS in the AL... Good catch. My mistake on the method of acquisition.