DivineBovine

Clemens looks like he's going to pull a Palmeiro. :^o Is he going to commit perjury in front of congress? What a hole he's dug himself in with his lame media blitz. Should've kept his mouth shut.

As a fan, I've been worried about this plan to split the two assets ever since it has been mentioned. The worry is the loss of revenue for the owners and therefore less money to invest in the team. Whatever group that buys Wrigley is obviously going to be lining their own pockets without necessarily investing back into the team. Anyways, if this were true and this will really devalue the franchise, then I hope the money grubbing Trib realizes this and decides to sell as part of a package deal.

I'm for it. He will be well worth whatever contract he ends up getting this year. I wish the Cubs had the balls to do something like getting Bonds, but unfortunately they don't.

Obviously American GMs aren't using Albright's methods, otherwise there's no way Fuku could've been had for anything like 4/48. Prolly would've been 6/80, maybe more. You get a discount because of the added risk you take of getting a bust.

QFT. Look at all the others incriminated. What did most of them do? Keep quiet, admit it, or give a stern "This is a lie" quote and be done with it. Clemens is going through way more than he needs to be doing to defend his so-called innocence. Press conferences, televised speeches, and now a stat report? The more he fights it the more guilty he looks. And from what I've heard he's now bringing in other names to the argument. In that report doesn't he make comparisons of his stats to Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling during his alleged use period? He's trying to smear their names in the mud with his own. At least that's what I've heard. Roger Clemens has very quickly become the most annoying POS in baseball over the span of 1-2 years, and it all started with the "is he or isn't he" BS. Now it's this crap. What a tool. that's lame. when people accused of steroids don't call press conferences, present stats, do interviews etc. people assume that means guilt. then roger clemens goes out of his way to defend himself (not that i believe him, but he's doing what i'd do if i was wrongly accused of something) and now people assume that means he's guilty. hell, when the mitchell report first came out and roger didn't make a statement immediately, i heard the sports radio morons say that means clemens is guilty, because if he didn't do any of that stuff he'd come right out and defend himself. so 1 or 2 days pass and clemens issues a denial, and in the weeks that follow he presents his case that he didn't use steroids and puts a lot of effort into it, and now people say he should shut up. he can't win no matter what. I think the bottom line is the underlying evidence. We have a guy who really has little reason to lie saying under oath that he injected him with steroids. And we also have a buddy of his, Petitte, who even fessed up to HGH. Then you see the stats. The media never had this kind of evidence, even against Barry for a long while. He was tied to a bunch of shady characters, but this is even beyond that. The fact is, people are not going to give Clemens the benefit of the doubt unless he produces a good explanation beyond calling press conferences, doing lame ass telephone recordings, and having his agent cite statistics. He'd be better off keeping his mouth shut, like everyone seems to be saying. Either that or produce a better explanation. I hate the whole basis of the steroid witch hunt as much as anyone. I personally think its an utter waste of taxpayer money to pursue investigations which will essentially net nothing for anyone beyond its entertainment value. Still, I have to say I find the Clemens thing amusing. It at least confirms that the media will go after anyone, not just guys that they already hate.

Interesting. Reading that article, the formula pretty much has been accurate about the careers of most major leaguers recently, Kaz Matsui being the exception. It nailed guys like Hideki, Ichiro, Shinjo and Taguchi. Hopefully, this holds true for Fukodome.

Yawn is right. His agent? Defending him? Really? And anyone who tries to defend him should really stay clear about mentioning his numbers. Because the stats + the dates of alleged abuse look nothing but incriminating.

The Pats are my NFL equivalent of the Yanks. I like watching them in the playoffs so I can root against them. So I'm fine with them losing either this week or next. As long as they don't win the Superbowl. 7-0 Jags! That Garrard has got some skills. I'd love to have a QB like him on my team.

That phone call has me starting to wonder if Roger might be telling the truth. What about the call made you think that? It sounded like Clemens wasn't willing to say something like, "You know I didn't do steroids, Brian". It sounded like McNamee was acknowledging that the two were friends and he's sorry to have hurt his buddy. Throughout this whole thing, Clemens just appears shell shocked that his buddy turned him in after all he'd done for him. Sad, maybe, but his friend has a dying son and Clemens glosses over that. My thoughts exactly. To me, the tape just makes him sound guilty. McNamee keeps saying, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!"- which I interpret as- "they are breathing down my neck, we both know you did it." McNamee never said- sorry, I lied. I know you didn't do it. We know you didn't do it. He did empathize with Roger in that he said all the media attention was ridiculous. Sure, a lot of people feel the same way about steroids and the media. Doesn't mean he didn't shoot Roger with roids and HGH like he claims. And what's with Roger? He said once in a soft voice "you need to come out and tell the truth" after McNamee asked what he could do to help. But when McNamee angrily asked "What do you want me to do", that would have been a good time to say loudly "Tell the damn truth, we know I didn't do this" or "Why are you lying?" Roger sounded so calm and cordial for a guy who was talking to someone who apparently spread a viscious lie about him. Not the fiery Roger I remember who once hurled a bat at Piazza. This makes Roger all the more pathetic to me. Fess up like Petitte, or just blow everyone off like Bonds. Don't go on this ridiculous PR campaign if you're guilty. He's turning himself into a Palmeiro.

Sounds like a New York media creation to me. I can't see how the Giants could possibly want to send Lincecum, Lowery or Cain, all twenty something solid pitchers with small salaries to NY for a 13+ million/yr guy, admittedly a solid player, would soon be hitting 12 homers a year playing in that park. Maybe if NY took Zito and put in some cash, I could start to see it.

Okay, now go spend the money on putting a better product on the field. Thankfully, after the Trib disappears, this seems more likely.

If Kerry becomes a 2003 Gagne, and its with another team, I'll be sick to my stomach. They'd better re-sign him just to avoid any possibility of such pain.

I didn't believe in east coast bias until I moved out of the east coast. I believe it now. Rollins was over hyped all year, and should have been third at best.

OMG, let's try not to ever bring his name into a serious discussion about personnel. [-X Although in this case, it was worth it. =D> :lol:

So take a pay cut and then give him an incentive that relies greatly on the other 24 players around him? Nah, I don't think that will happen. and how pissed would the other 24 players be when he gets $100M for his WS share? Hey, just thinking outside of the box. AROD already has more money than God. Maybe he opted out because he didn't want to be a Yankee. We all know that it's going to be very tough for anyone to beat the Yankees financial offer without being creative. And, it's not like he's getting paid 0, its $20M/year for 5 years with a chance to cash in again in 5 years when he's getting ready to break all of the all time records. Remember, 7 years ago, the guy signed a contract that no one thought he would ever opt out of, now he has a chance to make even more than the $252 million (he already turned down a larger contact with the Yanks) And...if the other players on the Cubs won the WS, I'm sure they wouldn't be hurting financially at all. Look at all of the fringe 85 Bears and the endorsements that they got. Guys like freaking Emery Moorehead got rich by being on that team. I'm sure Zambrano and Lee would have no problem making millions off of endorsements and I'm sure they all have clauses that get them at least some sort of a payout if they win the WS. That contract would not be allowed. You are not allowed to put in incentives based on the performance of the team.

Count me as surprised. Arod must have really wanted out, because he must have known he couldn't get that much more money out of another team. It's encouraging that it wasn't all about the money. I thought the Cubs had no chance, and now I have to think they are in the running and may even be frontrunners depending on the status of the sale.

The only way Arod can possibly not be a Yankee next year, is if he badly wants out. If its only about money, no team can possibly afford to pay him as much. Not only do they have more dough to begin with, they have the Texas dough. I think he's a Yankee again this year.

The only way the Cubs could beat a team like Boston would be to get incredibly lucky with everyone hot at the same time. They absolutely kill us in walks, which means that the only way we could possibly compete is if we hit out of our minds. Thanks Jim Hendry.

A lot of crap seems to be coming out of NY lately. Just because the Cubs are going to be sold, they seem to be the hot team for dumb rumors. That money is better spent elsewhere. Sign Woody to close.

Does Lou really know this? If so, why were guys like Theriot when he was struggling and OBPing .327 at the top of the lineup? Soriano leading off with a .337 OBP? (Yeah, Soriano might be a different situation.) Yes, I don't doubt Lou knows this. He has to play the hand he's dealt, and Hendry dealt him a low OBP lineup. Hendry's teams have consistently been at or near the bottom of the league in walks. He has made remarks that he can't get the players to change their free-swinging tendencies. I absolutely agree that there's almost no way to do it. The guys Hendry acquired were free swingers before they were Cubs and are free swingers now. About the leadoff thing, I don't know if Lou not knowing the importance of OBP in the leadoff spot necessarily implies he doesn't know the importance of OBP. I think he does.

Why is it assumed that Lou would even want the Yankee job. All you can really do is fail. Everyone expects you to win. I thought he liked the thought of winning with the Cubs.

Cuban/Schuerholz 08. =P~ Schuerholz is basically retiring folks. He's still sticking with the Bravos organization. I fully realize this. Just the mindless hope of a Cub fan taking over. I'm sorry. Maybe being a GM is like being a boxer, or an athlete, and its tough to retire from. Maybe he would dig the thought of ending a 100 year WS drought. We can dream, can't we?

General managers who succeed in small/medium markets must all wonder what they could do with a big payroll. Nothing in that article tells me that he wouldn't leave that front office position for another GM job. Real Owner + Real GM for 2008. That thought is too good to be true.

Pie? Are you crazy? I would never give up Pie. How about Guzman instead?

I don't understand why Torre should be fired. The team makes the playoffs every damn year, and that's really all you can control. You can blame him for what happens over 162 games, but not over 4. I'd fire Cashman first for overpaying so many players. He could easily get more for less money.