nymr83

="iramets"]Disadvantages to trading Bannister: 1) the guy seemed to be dedicated, even to the extent of incurring an injury he could have ameliorated by placing his own interests beforethose of the team. You want guys with his special brand of dedication. plenty of guys are dedicated, particularly those who know they're headed back to AAA if they aren't. 2) the guy did a decent job for you last spring. Forgetting that he might be owed anything for this performance, he pitched pretty well under difficult conditions, at a time you badly needed stability in your rotation. You want guys who can cope with pressure, and he seemed unusually capable of handling pressure. he got very lucky very often, and even when he pitched well he ran his pitch count up so high that he couldnt go deep into a game, he pitched in April and May with low expectations and you're calling that pressure? give me a break. 3) You still have an unsettled rotation. You might just need a # 5 starter, and Bannister comes cheap. Vargas and Williams are cheap too and have the same if not more upside. Of course, behaving decently is nice, too, but no one expects human decency from any corporation. This move just seems unnecessarily and gratuitously cold-hearted, and for a very dubious advantage. human decency? you're an idiot, its not like they got the guy blacklisted from baseball, he'll still be earning more money than any of us next year, get over it.

Farmer Ted's not knowing who Harden is lowers my opinion of Ted, not Harden... nonetheless i think Milledge, Heilman, and Humber is just a bit too much. ]Heilman is wasted in NY, where he's used neither a closer nor a starter, and is just one of a number of good setup men currently in the pen; i would not hesitate to move Heilman as part of a package for a good starter, but along with Milledge and Humber its too much.

Edgy DC wrote: Well, we also currently have Damian Easley, Ruben Gotay, Chris Basak, and Chase Lambin. Nothing ideal there, and yeah, we should and will bring in more young and old options in spring training (including Edgardo Alfonzo, maybe), but we are talking about backing up our number eight hitter. I'm frankly more worried about backup plans for Green and Alou than the depth behind Valentin. Milledge, Chavez, and Johnson are all here.

he was definetaly hard-working and i respected that, but in my opinion that talent (and especially the control) just wasn't there.

that is a pretty good idea, i'll even get to piss people off (one of my favorite activities) rooting for hte road team!

well, James and moneyball are two seperate things. i don't think beane would really want to pay so much for Drew or Lugo.

]Which is actually a problem of Interleague. No one in NY cares about Mets vs Royals or Yankees vs Rockies because Met fans never heard of ANYONE on the Royals and Yankee fans never heard of ANYONE on the Rockies, so Interleague is out i agree that interleague has gotten old fast, but thats not much of huge problem, and theres "interleague" in football too.

glad it wasn't us. thank you Epstein.

Frayed Knot wrote: If you're going to cite those cities where turnstile counts are lagging how about comparing them to how the bottom feeders were drawing from your so-called golder era - y'know, the one where you claim that every fan knew every thing about every player. indeed. i can't prove it, but i'd guess that baseball fans can name the rest of the league's lineups better than football fans can.

I said less than an hour ago that I'd trade Bannister for anything useful, this qualifies. we won't regret this deal.

]I'm sorry, did I miss the part where the economy actually boomed within the last ten years? not to the extent that baseball revenue has boomed, and most other entertainment industries have likely not seen the same jump either. ]I never said MLB baseball would die out completely, I mean the NHL, MLS and WNBA are still in operation and all, I'm just saying that people are wrong in thinking A) it will ever retake the top spot and that it's current standing is secure and there will be a time where it will no longer be in the top ten in terms of sports. I agree that it is unlikely to surpass the NFL in the next few decades, but that is hardly a deathknell or a problem for hte sport at all. no longer in the top 10? you're a moron. i have a "bet" for you... pay me $1,000 every january 1st that baseball is in the top 10, if it ever falls out of the top 10 i'll pay you back everything you've given me to date and then start paying you $1,000 a year.

]Quote: revenues at least TRIPLED during Selig's tenure Because black and retro unis/caps appeal to hip-hop wannabes who wouldn't know the first thing about the team who's logos they are wearing. and you expext that in our material culture there won't be some new fad that the teams will all pick up on to boost revenue every few years? Because there are just more consumers out there with disposable income. please show me that every other business into which Americans can drop their disposable income has shown the same increase, otherwise this argument has no basis Because it its too entrenched in "the fabric of Americana" that people just don't know any better, or feel that baseball is "safer" to push on their kids than the other sports. if its "entrenched" then it definetaly is not dying, which is it? Because despite not being profitable there IS a sucker born every minute, and those at FOX, XM, the server host of MLB.com, and ESPN are the current "suckers" if there really are "suckers" now then i'm sure there will be more later. ect... Bec edited to avoid the RLF.

in Steve's mind the lack of attendance in a 95 degree building, with 99% humidity, in the sun, with a nearly gauranteed shower every afternoon in Miami means that attendance sucks league-wide.

Edgy DC wrote: ="Nymr83"]the right-handed guy in a strict platoon gets 60% of the at bats I may be misreading, but, in my experience, the righthander gets 30% i was misreading, i thought he was batting against the righties. they have Phillips who can play 2B/SS and Encarnacion at 3B, is there another guy locked in at SS that I'm not thinking of or can they move Phillips there and play Loretta at 2B against righties?

theres no smoke and mirrors, the numbers are up and you simply don't like it. take away the biggest 7 teams, as you would have us do, in the NBA and they wouldnt look too hot either, do it in the NHL and they'd look like a ghosttown. and if its just about the big markets how have revenues at least TRIPLED during Selig's tenure? I don't know why you want to see baseball die but its NOT GOING TO HAPPEN

smg58 wrote: Maddux goes to the Padres for one year and $10M. Drew to the Red Sox finally official at 5 years and $70M. This from ESPN.com: Why would the Reds offer Mark Loretta two years and $6 million when they already have a talented second baseman in Brandon Phillips? The Reds think Loretta can log enough at-bats as the right-handed first base complement to Scott Hatteberg to make the deal worthwhile. Does anybody see the logic in that? the right-handed guy in a strict platoon gets 60% of the at bats, throw in some starts at 2B (while Phillips plays SS or sits) and 6 million doesnt look all that bad in this market. i wish the Mets had signed Loretta for $6 million instead of the crazy deal they are suppesedly giving to Lugo.

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I'm with the tall libertarian. who is the libertarian?

not if the state thought that the victim of a crime was being pressured into shutting up or shutting up because of the unfortunate "logic" that plagues many victims of domestic violence "he loves me, he'll stop this time" but of course i don't know what happened here, i'm just saying why in general these cases might proceed without her cooperation.

Steve, you don't have ANYTHING credible to back you up on your anti-baseball crusade. The attendance is up, the revenue is up. who cares if the networks haven't profitted on MLB (and i'm not conceding that, i'm just saying its a moot point right now), they keep signing the deals and BASEBALL is profiting from them.

as usual, I care more about years than dollar signs.. I'd rather give Zito $16m per year for 4 years than give him $14m per year over 6 years. I have less objection to including "reasonably obtainable options" (ie options that are sure to kick in if he's healthy) than i do to a deal that is 6 years no matter what as injury is my major concern, i doubt this guy will simply fall off the face of the earth (Chan Ho Park style) unless he gets hurt.

as usual, I care more about years than dollar signs.. I'd rather give Zito $16m per year for 4 years than give him $14m per year over 6 years. I have less objection to including "reasonably obtainable options" (ie options that are sure to kick in if he's healthy) than i do to a deal that is 6 years no matter what as injury is my major concern, i doubt this guy will simply fall off the face of the earth (Chan Ho Park style) unless he gets hurt.

By virtue of its being scripted, professional wrestling cannot really be considered a "sport." I'd rather not argue about what else is or is not a sport right now, other than to say that I think, at a bare minimum, you need to have two (or more) sides (or individuals) who are both (or all) making a legitimate attempt to win by whatever rules the sport prescribes. any game/entertainment in which the winner is pre-ordained is not a "sport." Before some idiot says otherwise, I'll add that I am in no way disparaging the real wrestlng that goes on at the high school level (and presumably elsewhere that i am not aware of.)

]Plus, the whole baseball v football argument is a lot like the ones cat & dog owners have which each other about which species is smarter. In both cases, each side loads up on examples which are unique strengths of that particular sport/critter all of which shows nothing more profound than the discovery that dogs are much better at being dogs than cats are and vice versa. Dogs are way better than cats.

metirish wrote: We can expect a team in Baghdad by 2012.... they'll refuse to play their 18 division games against The Mets because theres a jew on the team...

Elster88 wrote: ="Nymr83"]Elster88 wrote: I got a ring tone of Gary calling a Piazza homer against the Braves. Not sure what game it is. i have a bottle-opener that calls one against what i think is the Giants every time you use it (or press the button) Benny's? no, its a piazza homerun, i'll find the thing and post what it says word for word when i can, maybe someone can figure out the game.