questionmarkgrace

how does the posting system work though. i know about the sealed bids and all that but is there a set time frame or do the seibu lions set the time frame. And is this posting governed by some japanese baseball league or are we free to assume that Seattle or New York have the inside edge due to their japanese connections? I just find it hard to believe that the seibu lions owners wont find someway to milk the yankees for more money. I can't blame them either. ALso I wouldn't be surprised if old George find a way to send a blank check.

my mistake but I knew he dominated the US team just thought it was the in the WBC. Proabably comprable or better than our WBC team though.

Not to digress but its not a myth, will carrol said its in his arsenal but its not. Its a pitch that he has admittedly thrown before but he can't throw it with any consistency. here's an article on it http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-gyro031306&prov=yhoo&type=lgns and the gist of the article Oh, yes," Matsuzaka said. "I'm trying to throw it." Turns out Daisuke Matsuzaka, the pitcher who would come to the United States and cause a revolution with his gyroball, doesn't throw one. He throws a fastball, a sinker, a changeup, a splitter and a filthy slider. He'd like to teach himself how to throw a gyroball, and Matsuzaka said he may trot it out Tuesday when he starts for Japan against Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. "I have done it in a game," Matsuzaka said. "But not too much. Sometimes accidentally."

well he did shut down the us team in the wbc. And that team had some really good players abeit not the Pujols or the Big Papi's but D Lee and others/

cool thanks. I actually went to high school with him and though I was just a casual aquanintance its interesting to see what going on with him. When he and the ND team went to the finals his freshman year I thought he was going to be the real deal. He came back decent enough off of injury in college and was pretty good last year but he sort of derailed this year.

theres a wbc video on there. Cuba vs Japan with him throwing 95 mph.

go with topps or topps chrome. The classic mix of studs duds and rookies. I perfer bowman for myself through because of all the rookies and the autographed hype players. Bowman and topps both traditionally hold their value too.

Is that the best way for him to get innings? I don't know much about instructs except that they have different rules. It seems that he needs consistent innings after some injuries this year and considering his inury history. Build up that arm strength, etc.

IF you guys are bored like me you should check out Diasuke Matsuzaka clips on youtube.com. If you didn't think he was the real deal before you may now. Dude is nasty! Slow-mo delivery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqXf2TmO328 nasty pitches from 4/14/06 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smzIyFHTX6U&mode=related&search= gyroball??? the links should work. there is so many clips of him on there so don't be surprised if an hour goes by.

why isn't grant johnson going? If anyone needs to go its him. He has been terrible since making the jump to high A.

I agree. This situation is similar to the Sosa one. Baker waited to long to move him in the order and along with putting latroy hawkins as closer it doomed us in 04, among otherthings. But like A-Rod he couldn't handle the fans pressure on him. Under those circumstances you'd have to move him in the order, whether his name is Arod, Mantle or Ruth.

the latter half is why they dropped him in the line up. But in that line up it really shouldn't matter who hits where it was disgusting through and through. Their nine guy batted .342 with 78 rbis "He's 1-for-11 in the first three games of the best-of-five series, hasn't driven in a run in 11 playoff games dating to 2004 and is batting .116 (5-for-43) in his last 12 postseason games."

well, he waited more than two weeks after the world series and all of the other candidates were gone. This is from a nov 15th article of 02: "Even if there was only a small chance to hire him, Hendry was content to let his other candidates accept other managerial jobs. The Texas Rangers snapped up Buck Showalter. The Oakland A's promoted Ken Macha. The Seattle Mariners hired Bob Melvin on Friday to replace Lou Piniella. Fredi Gonzalez landed a major-league coaching job with the Atlanta Braves." Secondly he doesn't have to abide by league suggestion of interviewing a minority canididate. The tigers didn't when they hired leyland, nothing happened to them and they are on their way to the championship series. There was an article on that very subject just the other day. I believe it was Sullivan talking about how hendry is moving too slow and by waiting to interview a list of canididates and not doing anything to start the search in august he is wasting time that should be spent worrying about how to make this team a contender. If he chooses Girardi fine, if not fine, but there should be a sense of urgency because there are alot more holes to fill than the managers spot. Also every source agrees that the top three managers mentioned are/were Piniella, girardi, and brenly. so what is stopping him? ALso he hasn't even conducted an interview yet!

he was also terrible against lefties. So he'd fit right in.

I really can't see the yankee code of conduct working here either and if he comes here I hope to god he doesn't enforce it. My guess though is that since he played here he knows that won't fly in a circus envirnonment. The jury is out on him managing veterans but he did manage to keep his star player Cabrera happy despite all of the rookies in the line up.

Well he did have to wait until after the world series... The tigers acted quickly when they picked up leyland on october 4th, 2005 the marlins acted quickly when they got Gonzalez and now the yankees have fired and hired a manager in the same day as well. Hendry knew in August that Baker wasn't coming back and he was to worried about offending baker to lay the ground work his short list of candidates. to me it shows he doesn't have a plan. just my oppinion.

Not that I really wanted sweet lou but real teams act quickly. Hendry is always moving at a snails pace. contrary to what I just wrote in the Arod thread, I bet they keep him for at least another year and see if Piniella can turn him back around.

I think the yankees will end up trading him for less than that. Because his value is at an all time low and his contract is ridiculous. They could go about it 2 ways: eat most of the contract and get some decent players back or give him away to the team willing to take on the most money form his contract. My guess is the former. I don't think that we will end up with him though. I could see the cardinals trading Rolen for arod and installing arod back at short. But with four free agent pitchers of their original staritn five I'm sure they'll have a full plate. I bet they're regretting the dan haren trade right now though.

How many times in a career of 1200 games played do you think that Girardi has seen a pitcher come back from a rain delay with out injury vs with injury. My guess is that this influenced his decision. Also please take into account that Johnson didn't even leave the game unit four innings after the rain delay. And the other starting pitcher Oliver Perez came in and did not get injured in fact he struck out 11. Don't forget Johnson had never pitched as many innings as he did this year so like many young pitchers he encured a slight injury toward the end of the year. Also they were still in the playoff race at this point. Johnson had been playing long toss throughout the rain delay and I'm sure he did/said something to his manager to make him keep him in the game and in the playoff race and all that. If he went showered, iced his arm, and Girardi told him to get up and pitch than I'd be more inclined to agree with you. But the fact that he didn't get injured until four innings later makes me think that the injury is more than likely attributed to pitching more innings than ever before.

Yeah Bochy really didn't have any rookies to play until this year. Adrian Gonzalez, Cla Meridith, and Josh Barfield have seen a good deal of time. Gonzalez was a star in the waiting. In florida he had D Lee/hee sop choi/Delgado (I cant remember when he was traded) and then in Texas he had Texiera. He was a legit power guy though but playing the wrong position for those systems. The padres basically have one of the worst systems in the majors and aside from barfield they have traded to get all their young guys. But anyways he'll play the young guys. WHen stone was in the booth I remember him having all sorts of man love for Bochy. He loved the fact that he stressed fundementals and that he kept getting the Padres to the playoffs despite lackluster talent.

Thats probably the most realistic line up I have seen to date. I do think that something will happen in the way of a starting pitcher a ted lilly or a vincent padilla type guy, but not one of the three that everyone is hoping for (Matsuzaka, Zito, or Schmidt). ALso I too doubt that C. Wilson takes a bench role he'd make a nice addition to any small-mid market team at 1st or in left.

I think that Mark Grace would make a great hitting coach, not manager because he doesn't have the experience yet. He did have the most hits of any player in the decade between 1990 and 2000. Despite my moniker grace isn't even my favorite of that era. Sandberg and Maddux were the ones I admired the most, same thing with Michael Jordan. But I wouldn't want any of those guys coaching. In my oppinion the guys who have the most talent have the most difficult time coaching because the things that they can/could do aren't easily translated into words. Guys like Grace however who had to work harder for their talent to show seem to understand how to relate to the everyday player and help him. Does that make sense? Either way Grace was a hell of a fielder and quite a hitter, who took pitches, walked almost 2 times more than he k'ed and valued obp. TThats why I think he's got a lot of knowledge to share.

Update on AFL players. Apparently Adam Harben, the pitcher that we got for Phil Nevin is going to be playing in the fall league. ALso Grant Johnson second round pick for 2004 will not be playing in the AFL. Not sure why though. Of all the pitchers going he probably needed it the most. He was terrible this year especially for a guy with his talent.

as for stone and trade talk he was all over the Maddux for Izturis thing he claimed it would happen two weeks before it did.

wow. there goes the one solid team in the national league looks liek the real series will be the ALCS.