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goonys evil twin

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Everything posted by goonys evil twin

  1. They won't. Fans fall in love with "their players." I understand fan sentiment in Baltimore is running 9:1 against trading Tejada for "just Prior." I'm not sure fan sentiment matters to that team. Since the late 90's when they had the highest payroll in the league, that franchise has fallen apart while the owner keeps raking in the big bucks. They've been cutting payroll for years. Then 2 years ago they invested in some older bats and got nothing out of it. They've been a consistently bad sub .500 team year after year. MLB guaranteed Angelos money if his revenue falls after the Nationals moved into the area. There is no hope whatsoever for any success in 2006, they will probably suck in 2007 as well. They'll be lucky to contend in 2008. I don't see this franchise making decisions based on how their fans feel about "their players", especially since they don't really have much of a tie to any of these players. Tejada has been there for 2 years and the team has stunk the whole time. Baltimore wouldn't suffer if they trade Tejada for prospects.
  2. Baltimore sucks, they aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Tejada asked to be traded. Whether or not Tejada is on their team, they are destined for 4th place in the AL East. No established veteran would change that. If I was Baltimore I'd love to get Prior. But considering that franchise's situation, and near term hopes for the future, I wouldn't think Prior is going to settle down there for the longterm without an insanely large contract. Knowing that Miggy wants out, I'd be very open to a deal that nets me 2-3 really good prospects and a couple more decent ones, and sheds payroll. Remember, Angelos swindled MLB into guaranteeing him money if his revenue slips due to the Nationals coming to DC. He doesn't have to worry about marketing this team with known stars. Financially it makes more sense to trade Tejada for prospects. Baseball wise Prior would be preferred, but if the ultimate goal is real succes, and not just fighting for 3rd place, the multiple prospects is the way to go.
  3. I'd go with Pujols, and then Utley as the really cheap guy. And then Santana with Blanton as the super cheap pitcher. That's 4 cornerstones that add up to about $25m. In the Cabrera/Wright debate, I'd take Wright. Cabrera's going to get more money sooner without being a heck of a lot better. And I'm a little afraid of young guys who achieve great success really early in their careers, and then have rumors of laziness. But I wouldn't be upset if I was stuck with Miggy.
  4. Disgruntled players who don't like how management treats them is different from the whole idea of team chemistry as is often talked about when making trades or signing "clubhouse guys". Chemistry is a hocus pocus description of a team after they've had success. You don't look at a team and say "wow, they have good chemistry, they are going to be good." You win or lose based on production of individual players and that has nothing to do with chemistry. Regardless, I'm not worried about how Prior will respond to these rumors as it pertains to his performance. I am worried how it will affect future contract negotiations. And it absolutely disgusts me that this team prides itself on being a place where players want to come play, but that management only seems to be concerned with the very old or very mediocre player and his desires, as opposed to the young studs like Prior.
  5. There has to be at least as much concern that Bedard is nothing but a former prospect. He's 27 and hasn't done much of anything in the majors. It says a lot that baseballreference.com lists Dave Williams as the most similar pitcher. Another guy who he was very similar to at the same age was the extremely mediocre Chris Hammond. This is clearly the case of his left handedness greatly increasing his value, which will always hurt the acquiring team. Put his results on a RHP and he's nothing special, at all. He's a chip, but nothing more. He does nothing to solidify an already shaky rotation that will turn into shambles with Prior gone.
  6. I think he's way too overinflated. The guy has had worse injury concerns than Prior, is older, and has a much less impressive track record. People are talking about him like he's some hot shot 23 year old prospect without blemishes on his resume.
  7. That is 4 highly questionable arms in that rotation. Hardly what I would call a top tier staff. And I'm not sure Rusch isn't slotted ahead of Williams right now. He'd certainly be starting with Wood on the sideline to start the season.
  8. How are the Cubs going to be any good with a pitching staff of Zambrano, Lowe, Maddux, Rusch and Williams? I don't think people realize that Lowe, 32 years old now and turning 33 in 2006 has been around for a long time and isn't all that special. He's had one really good year as a starter, and ever since has been nothing more than a decent innings eater. You're talking about turning Prior and Wood and Tejada and Lowe?
  9. How funny would that be. After noticing the success of the Sosa videotape the Cubs decided to put hidden cameras throughout all of their facilities. Prior, Wood, Zambrano, Walker and Patterson are all sitting around one day shooting the breeze when the subject of their own team comes up. Prior lets off some steam ragging on the results of many of Hendry's moves and wondering when they are going to get rid of Baker and finally find an offense that can help the team. Knowing that he's about to go full force into operation catch the ball Hendry decides to send a message to Prior by threatening to trade all of his co-conspirators at one time or another. But Prior only grows more exasperated as he sees more Neifi, Glendon and Jones type deals. Finally Jim realizes he can't have this sort of dissent among the troops, then goes all out looking for a way to deal Prior. Perhaps a more realistic depiction of these events would be Gary Hughes planting the devices and then taking the information to Jim and explaining to him that he's got to get these new age nancy boys off his team if he wants to win. And if he doesn't make those deals, then he's just not tough enough to run this team. Playing the role of Gary Hughes in the movie will be Dick Cheney.
  10. If it's #1, then the responsible thing to do would be to spend the next 3 years trying to win with him, and hopefully change his mind before he gets the chance. If, by chance, 2.5 years from now the situation hasn't changed, then you put him up for auction to the highest bidding contender and get the most you possibly can for him. Don't except less now just because some people are hung up on the linedrive.
  11. oh jeez, dealbreaker. this deal is dead, now. please let it be dead. At the rate Hendry's been going, it'll end up being Prior+Hill+Zambrano for Tejada+Bedard. They wouldn't get Bedard, he's just too valuable of a trading chip.
  12. Then move on and look elsewhere for help. Current Cubs + Tejada - Prior does not = champion. So there's no point in making the deal.
  13. Is it possible that this hiring, along with the rumored Prior trade is an indication that the Cubs are moving away from their longstanding philosophy of acquiring and developing pitching, pitching and more pitching, and focusing more on hitters? Hopefully they don't take it to the extreme as much as they did in the other direction.
  14. He's 25 years old. He's still learning to be better and better. You can't expect him to be perfect now. And unlike guys like Peavy or Willis, he doesn't have the benefit of cavernous ballparks to hold his mistakes. Just so I understand: is your comment on the cavernous ballparks a way of explaining why he nibbles at times? Every pitcher nibbles at times. Part of the reason he might nibble could be because often times he's pitching in a park that is quite easy to hit homeruns in, whether that's Wrigley with the wind blowing out or any of the other NL Central parks. That's not to excuse nibbling, it's to understand it. Odds are he'll get better and better at putting guys away and won't have to nibble as much.
  15. Oh my lord. A lot of great healthy pitchers have some very rough outings every year. The unbelieve Roger Clemens had multiple bad games. THe incomparable Pedro Martinez had several multi hit, multi walk, multi run bad games. Johan Santana had quite a few 4, 5, 6 run allowed games. Miguel Tejada has down times as well. He sucked in August, September and October last year. But none of that matters.
  16. He's 25 years old. He's still learning to be better and better. You can't expect him to be perfect now. And unlike guys like Peavy or Willis, he doesn't have the benefit of cavernous ballparks to hold his mistakes.
  17. So a superstar pitcher can't walk people or get hit hard, ever? Yeah, we're talking rationally here.
  18. He's not nearly as dominating, nor does he has near the upside. Florida wouldn't make the trade only because Willis is the face of the franchise and they are trading veterans for prospects.
  19. Then why do you keep harping on the team's lack of success and the assumption that this fact somehow justifies a Prior deal. He's 24 years old. If you judge a 24 year old pitcher on what he has not yet accomplished as a baseball player, you're not doing a good job of analyzing the game. He's 25 years old as of September. Sorry. If you judge a just turned 25 year old pitcher on what he has not yet accomplished as a baseball player you're not doing a good job of analyzing the game.
  20. Then why do you keep harping on the team's lack of success and the assumption that this fact somehow justifies a Prior deal. He's 24 years old. If you judge a 24 year old pitcher on what he has not yet accomplished as a baseball player, you're not doing a good job of analyzing the game.
  21. Did I miss something? Have they been good the last couple of years? And Prior has been injured or very mediocre during this time period. What is is that we are so desperatly holding onto? a .500 team? To say he's been very mediocre would indicate you don't know anything about baseball. And you can stop with the "did I miss anything" BS any day now. I said the only reason they have been any good. I never said they were really good. 88 and 89 wins is kind of good. It's not special. But the only reason they've had any success at all, and yes, they have had some success, is the Zambrano and Prior situations.
  22. Just being under contract doesn't mean anything. Tejada is past his prime and on his way down. Bedard is the oldest pitcher in this debate and no more accomplished than Hill and Williams.
  23. The problem with touting his upside is that he is the oldest pitcher in this entire discussion. If Bedard has upside from where he is right now, what about Prior. Rich Hill's older than Prior and people on this board still think he'll be the next Barry Zito even though he'll be 26 by the time the season starts. :roll: People don't think he's the next Barry Zito, they compare his stuff to Barry Zito. There's a very big difference.
  24. The sad thing is the Cardinals are the team that can justify one of these bums on their team. Their lineup is already better, their team is already better, they've had much more success and don't have as much money to spend on the roster.
  25. The problem with touting his upside is that he is the oldest pitcher in this entire discussion. If Bedard has upside from where he is right now, what about Prior.
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