Jehrico

They're only 4.5 games out. I'm not sure why people think they want to trade their best pitcher. I'm also not sure why we'd be willing to give up much of anything for a guy who has averaged 15 starts per season over the last four years. Beane was burned on the Giambi deal, and he hasn't let another player walk via FA since. If he doesn't think he can afford to resign him in the offseason, he'll be dealt, unless they're looking like strong WS contenders, and not just a borderline playoff team.

I don't think I'd say he doesn't get an offer. He'd definitely be looking at a less attractive offer, but I wouldn't go out and not offer a contract to the guy who just turned in the best performance of any of your starters because you made a big name acquisition at the deadline. If he continues to outpitch the other starters, I'm going to make every effort to bring him back on a reasonable contract. Assuming he keeps up a sub 3.00 ERA this year, I'd be willing to offer as high as maybe 3 years at 33 mil (plus incentives if need be), or 4 years 40 mil with incentives. Those are max numbers. I'd offer incentives that would bring those up to around $15 mil per year if he kept performing at the level he is now. If I were a GM, every player would have incentives in their contract. I have no problem paying more after a player has excelled.

Exhibit 1,324 to support my belief that Dusty does absolutely no homework or studying between games, everything he does is completely on the fly, by the gut, on the field.

I don't think it'll take that much or that long to resign him. He knows he's damaged goods and doesn't have a track record as a starter. He also likes it here. Hendry's pretty good at bringing back guys he wants to bring back, and he only has a track record of overpaying for the Neifi's, Jacques, and Blanco's of the world. Dempster isn't quite in that category. I'm pretty sure they'll come up with something fair and Demp will be back. My guess is he'll get a 3 year extension before the date players can file for free agency. How much that is will depend on how well the second half goes.

Except that they're both having horrible years and would cost too much. We're not looking for long term acquisitions, we're looking to win it all this year. Neither of those guys are performing in a manner to justify thinking they could help us this year more than any inhouse options. If they were having normal seasons, then they'd be worth whatever we'd give up to get them. Nobody that has been against either pitcher has talked about what they would cost in terms of prospects. All I keep reading is how both are struggling this year, when both have been around average pitchers this year who have a recent history of being among the top 20 in baseball. Both Harang and Bedard are better pitchers than Burnett, who most of the board (me included) would love. Again, I know balancing the cost in terms of prospects, Burnett probably makes the most sense, but to not be interested in Bedard or Harang at all is baffling. Not really. There's no reason to expect either of them to do better than, say, Marshall, nor any expectation that they'll be good enough to bounce into a three man rotation in the postseason with Z, Demp, and Lilly pitching better than they can be expected to. We have few decent trading chips in the system. If we give up any of those chips for Bedard or Harang, then we have little left to bargain with, and we take ourselves out of the running for a legit #2 like we're all hoping to get. I don't want to make a move that may make sense in the long term at the expense of making a better move for the short term. I think, given Bedard's and Harang's history, you have every reason to predict that they will pitch better than Marshall for the remainder of the season. Not the way they're pitching this year. Regardless, they still don't improve what our three-man postseason rotation will be. We're not looking like we need help improving our chances of making the postseason, we should be looking for moves to improve our chances of winning the WS. Improving our 4th and 5th rotation slots doesn't accomplish that. First of all, there's only a 3-man rotation in the 1st round. In all other rounds, most teams need a 4th starter. Secondly, all these people are clamoring for Burnett....he's clearly not as good THIS YEAR as Bedard and Harang. If Bedard and Harang aren't good enough, you are basically on the Sabathia or bust bandwagon, I must assume. Harden is out there too. As we get closer to the deadline, I suspect there will be more teams entering sell mode and there will be more options.

Instead of hating Edmonds, now I just hate liking Edmonds.

Dusty, that's who. Jay Bruce had better not put up a couple of consecutive 0-for games

Except that they're both having horrible years and would cost too much. We're not looking for long term acquisitions, we're looking to win it all this year. Neither of those guys are performing in a manner to justify thinking they could help us this year more than any inhouse options. If they were having normal seasons, then they'd be worth whatever we'd give up to get them. Nobody that has been against either pitcher has talked about what they would cost in terms of prospects. All I keep reading is how both are struggling this year, when both have been around average pitchers this year who have a recent history of being among the top 20 in baseball. Both Harang and Bedard are better pitchers than Burnett, who most of the board (me included) would love. Again, I know balancing the cost in terms of prospects, Burnett probably makes the most sense, but to not be interested in Bedard or Harang at all is baffling. Not really. There's no reason to expect either of them to do better than, say, Marshall, nor any expectation that they'll be good enough to bounce into a three man rotation in the postseason with Z, Demp, and Lilly pitching better than they can be expected to. We have few decent trading chips in the system. If we give up any of those chips for Bedard or Harang, then we have little left to bargain with, and we take ourselves out of the running for a legit #2 like we're all hoping to get. I don't want to make a move that may make sense in the long term at the expense of making a better move for the short term. I think, given Bedard's and Harang's history, you have every reason to predict that they will pitch better than Marshall for the remainder of the season. Not the way they're pitching this year. Regardless, they still don't improve what our three-man postseason rotation will be. We're not looking like we need help improving our chances of making the postseason, we should be looking for moves to improve our chances of winning the WS. Improving our 4th and 5th rotation slots doesn't accomplish that.

I like him too, but I wouldn't mind seeing him hobbling around while less than 100% in terms of healing and confidence like Soriano was. At least until after our next series with them.

Except that they're both having horrible years and would cost too much. We're not looking for long term acquisitions, we're looking to win it all this year. Neither of those guys are performing in a manner to justify thinking they could help us this year more than any inhouse options. If they were having normal seasons, then they'd be worth whatever we'd give up to get them. Nobody that has been against either pitcher has talked about what they would cost in terms of prospects. All I keep reading is how both are struggling this year, when both have been around average pitchers this year who have a recent history of being among the top 20 in baseball. Both Harang and Bedard are better pitchers than Burnett, who most of the board (me included) would love. Again, I know balancing the cost in terms of prospects, Burnett probably makes the most sense, but to not be interested in Bedard or Harang at all is baffling. Not really. There's no reason to expect either of them to do better than, say, Marshall, nor any expectation that they'll be good enough to bounce into a three man rotation in the postseason with Z, Demp, and Lilly pitching better than they can be expected to. We have few decent trading chips in the system. If we give up any of those chips for Bedard or Harang, then we have little left to bargain with, and we take ourselves out of the running for a legit #2 like we're all hoping to get. I don't want to make a move that may make sense in the long term at the expense of making a better move for the short term.

You could say something similar about Sox fans and why they don't draw jack, even after winning the series: 'Eighty-five percent of our fans can't afford to come to the park as you can't buy tickets with food stamps. The other fifteen percent are too scared to go to the south side to see a game.'

Their ballpark is quite conducive to scoring runs. That's true, and funny when you look at Soriano. That had alot to do with why I was always so low on Soriano before we got him, he wasn't that great in their stadium when he was there. As a result, I always took his season with the Nats as an aberration. For some reason, he just never could get into a good groove in Texas, and he's been much better since leaving there.

Are they still planning on releasing him? I'm surprised we haven't heard it happen yet.

Except that they're both having horrible years and would cost too much. We're not looking for long term acquisitions, we're looking to win it all this year. Neither of those guys are performing in a manner to justify thinking they could help us this year more than any inhouse options. If they were having normal seasons, then they'd be worth whatever we'd give up to get them.

Got an updated line after his two homers today? He's gotta be OPSing around .950 or so.

Hill ran his mouth a couple of years ago and got himself demoted over it, which tells you that the attitude starts at the top of the organization.

Neither would I. I really don't want them to get Bedard if all of the rumors about him in the press are true, not even if it's cheap.

Guillen wants Carlos to miss two starts, both of which would be against...the White Sox. It's just coincidence, I'm sure (or am I...), but it's pretty ironic... Both starts weren't going to be against the White Sox. The first start was scheduled against the Orioles. My bad. Even more damning though. Ozzie really wanted him to miss that second start, one wasn't good enough...

Way too early to give up on Vitters. I'd include him in a deal for a solid #2 or better. I don't think Bedard could be counted on to be much more than a 4 or 5 this year.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/recap/MLB_20080621_CHW@CHC At the end of the recap: Guillen wants Carlos to miss two starts, both of which would be against...the White Sox. It's just coincidence, I'm sure (or am I...), but it's pretty ironic...

And who sets his own pitch counts?

Waiting for the Edmonds-gay-joke-police to show up and chastise you...

Howry had a horrible April, a pretty darned good May, and is back to the bad Howry. He's not walking guys, so it's not an issue with his control. His mechanics look fine. He's just getting to be easy to hit. Is this just a slump after his slow start, or is it the beginning of the end for him? I'm putting the odds on him lasting the year with the team at 50/50 right now.

It's a slump. He's still hard to hit, he's just not hitting the strike zone right now. Once he starts locating again, he'll be fine. Hopefully that's sooner than later.

Maybe it's just me, but it looks like that since he came out of his slump, he's not driving the ball as much, he's shortening up a little and hitting more singles. During his recent hot streak, he's got 4 extra base hits in 56 plate appearances, or around 7% of his plate appearances. For his career (before today), he's had 598 extra base hits out of 5876 plate appearances, or just over 10%. I would expect a small sample size hot streak to outweigh his career numbers. He's walked a little more than I'd realized this month, and he's hitting alot more singles. His approach doesn't quite seem the same to me, which is what's got me a little concerned. Maybe I'm looking for something that isn't there, and again, I'm not trashing him, but I think it's time to look at making him hit somewhere other than third, he's just not that type of hitter anymore.