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Jon Heyman says all he has to do is play 75 games in 2009 to guarantee the entire 30 mil http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jon_heyman/03/06/milton.bradley/index.html Not much of a clause....

Well yeah, their production is evenly spread out, but none of it is really that great. It seems like they have a bunch of complimentary type players, at least that's the way they performed last year. They don' really have a meat of the order.

I don't really see how they're the best in the NL. I'd put them 4th right now. Their lineup looks good enough, but I don't see "stacked" unless all of their young guys take a huge step forward. It's basically Manny and a bunch of .750-.800 OPS guys. Not much power at all outside of Manny. The rotation looks questionable.... at best. They look like about an 85 win team to me, maybe less. They won 84 last year and I don't even know if they're improved. They lost their best pitcher of 2007 (Lowe) and also Saito. They'll get a full season out of Manny and Furcal, but not the 1.232 OPS Manny and not the 1.012 Furcal.

So what teams realistically have a chance (moneywise) at TO?

good for the dodgers for not giving in and falling for boras' garbage

ugh harold reynolds. just stop. "stats are ridiculous" he says. then barry larkin says a .215 average is okay if it's "a quality .215". good breakdown of the idiocy here http://and-that-happened.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-mlb-network-is-failure.html

Hmm...I don't know how that's possible if you're a real Bulls fan. VDN needs to go. I'm pretty sure he's on a 2 year deal and not a 3 like someone said a few posts ago. i'm a real bulls fan. i just realize that every embarrassing loss is another nail in vdn's coffin. wins do no good at this point.

I would call hitting around .290, never striking out, committing 2 or 3 errors a year, and getting a lot of SB's at the top of the order right about average. There's no doubt he's overpaid but he's not one of the top 45 overpaid. He's not only top 45, but he's very high in that top 45.

oakland is having a great offseason

Oh man we better not end up paying Miles and Crosby the total salary DeRosa would have made this season

that's what i was going to say. phillips is a tool, but the "i've lost all respect for him" stuff was kind of dumb.

manny not only changes his own clubhouse, he changed everyone's. what an unbelievable player.

Did anyone else see Matt Vasgersian drop the f-bomb just now? They were doing an intro type thing and he said Fernando Vina instead of Fernando Valenzuela then said "Did I say Fernando Vina? What the f*** is that?" Then the screen went black for about 5 seconds and they did it over again.

havlat is unbelievable. what a player

it's sad that i get more satisfaction out of seeing this team embarrassed by crappy teams than i do seeing them win

so you're saying he should be a quitter? Not a quitter but a realist. He could take one more year off and test the waters of the private sector, continue to work out and then come into 2010 with a fresh approach Mark Prior is 28 years old. He has a whole lifetime to explore other things if baseball doesn't end up working out. It would be stupid to NOT continue trying to come back for as long as possible.

is this 1998? I don't get that reference. Grudz is better now than he was then.

If Grudz is past his prime then why haven't his numbers dropped off?

You're right. All the people I know in Miami who avoid games because of the weather must by lying. Glad that you could prove that. keyword is fans and we've established that the marlins don't have fans and probably never will. a lot of ticket sales come from non-fans, and non-fans aren't going to want to take in a game if it's miserable outside. is the weather keeping the marlins from packing the stadium every night? of course not, but don't say that weather doesn't affect ticket sales.

Wow, that's rookie stuff right there.

Well, for one, the Dolphins play in the Fall/Winter, not in Spring/Summer. Second, the Dolphins have 8 games there, whereas the Marlins have 81 games. Apples and Oranges. The fact that they play at Dolphin Stadium and not an indoor facility is what kills attendance, not lack of interest in the Marlins. Not to mention the Dolphins actually have a fanbase. Inly true fans who care about the team are going to go sit in the miserable weather to watch the team play on any sort of regular basis whatsoever. These fans only account for a portion of ticket sales though. A big protion of ticket sales is people just going for the experience, and sweating your ass off is not an enjoyable experience.

You're right. All the people I know in Miami who avoid games because of the weather must by lying. Glad that you could prove that.

his ego is bigger than rickey henderson's

I was pretty sure it was some kind of early 90's SNL skit the first time I saw one of those commercials

Zambrano sucked for a lot of last season and 2007 was Hill's best year. So what's your point? Zambrano at his worst matches Hill at his best. I guess I can agree with that. Carlos Zambrano had a 4.52 ERA when removing his best month in 2007. Fine. You win. Rich Hill and Zambrano are equal pitchers. Next can we compare Ryan Theriot to Aramis Ramirez as hitters based on batting average? Almost everyone liked Rich Hill. Then he flamed out. I don't see why some people expect undying love and loyalty from all fans for a guy that had one pretty good season. Rich Hill was better in 2007 than Zambrano was in 2007 or 2008 If 2007 Rich Hill would like to come back I would love to see him in the rotation. I will also fill out that rotation with 1976 Mark Fidrych, 2003 Mark Prior and 1981 Fernando Valenzuela. Unfortunately, I want the 2009 versions of none of those pitchers taking the mound for the Cubs every 5th day. So again, I don't see what the point is. People liked Hill when he was good. Now that he can't throw strikes and has no options remaining, time to move on. Sean Marshall seems to have a chance to be a pretty comparable pitcher to the "good" Rich Hill. I would rather take my chances with him instead of having to sweat out every start with Hill and wonder if he is going to be effective. hey einstein, no one is arguing the cubs shouldn't have traded hill. also, learn math. Wow, I am shocked it took you this long to swoop in and defend your boy. I don't think I've ever even conversed with abuck on here, so I don't know what that's supposed to mean.