Frayed Knot

What the crying commentators [u:f66a6d20f1]should[/u:f66a6d20f1] say, of course, is that if the NFL doesn't want to let these players get away they ought to start offereing contracts with larger guarantees and more control over their future. I'm not going to hold my breath until that happens however. The football media LOVES the fact that the league holds the hammer over the players and that their union docilely accepts it..

David Wells and the Pads agree to one more go 'round. And the Cubs throw major bucks - and a Major League contract - at last year's 5th round draftee Jeff Samardzija (bless you) in order to entice him out of entering the NFL draft. Picked by many to be a 1st round pick as a wide receiver, the Notre Dame RHP will take his 90+ heater to Chicago instead. I always get a kick out of it when this kind of thing happens -- even if only to hear the football commentators (ie. most of the national media) talk about either what a mistake he's making, or about how he's taking the "easy way out" by choosing not to get hit all the time. In their world, no one who can go to the NFL should ever opt not to.

="SteveJRogers"]Opinion: Thanks to Interleague this is no longer possible, even if it means David Ortiz 14 or so times at 1st! Fact: There is probably more stuff available (card sets, postcards, books, ect) about the 1969 Mets than any other Met squad, with that 1962 one coming a close second Your opinion is a fact and your fact an opinion. Therefore, I'm stealing this one. Fact: "In 1978, Rusty Staub became the first player to log 162 games in a single seaason at DH." O: Met fans of the early '80s who lobbied for the NL to institute the DH because we had Rusty on the team annoyed the shit out of me. Either it's a good rule or it's not. It's not good or bad based on whether it'll help your team this particular season. F: Julio Franco is the oldest ML player to hit a HR (you may have heard of this one recently)

When Kramer used his always-unseen connection (Bob Sacamenno) to replace Elaine's sable fur hat that George lost, the cut-rate hat he found was made of nutria fur.

][Mets] tend to 1) owe big money to more players than most teams Well, they also have a higher payroll than most teams so there's more of a chance that they'll owe big money to some player who's fading. But more than the other teams in their gereral payroll level? ... not so sure about that. The Yanx haven't cut Pavono loose; Boston carried Foulke for 3 years following him 1 good season; etc. Stuff like that goes on all the time, fans just tend to internalize it more when it happens on their own team. ]2) show unusually poor judgment on scouting players to owe big money to (Zambrano, Matsui, Ordonez, Leiter, Looper notable among them) * Zambrano was never owed "big" money, pitched regularly (and fairly well for a stretch) in only one season, and then lost his starting job after that stretch of ineffectiveness stopped. Blame the scouting which got him here in the first place but at no point was he holding down a spot he didn't deserve nor was any decision about his pitching made due to money * Ordonez was indeed cut (actually traded for a low-priced nobody while eating virtually all the money which is effectively the same thing) while still owed big bucks (as they did with Cedeno & Bonilla) * I missed the part where they mis-judged Leiter's talent. Were there better pitchers on the staff he was holding back? * Looper was actually cheap by closer standards and was here for a short term with one pretty good season followed by one lousy one, then wasn't retained after that. * Your only real argument is with Matsui who at least had himself a history of playing at a star level coming in meaning it's only logical to give him more rope to prove himself than you would a min-wage rookie with no such track record. And they still wound up cutting him (a la Rey) while owing him money. The only real argument with him concerns the timing and an argument can at least be made that the injuries were a factor in keeping him from reching his potential.

Except that this was content which was specifically in a pay-for-view section of a website. And, even if it wasn't, reprinting things in their entirety may not be kosher even though no one is making any money off it; after all, others can claim that they are losing money because of it. Laws vary depending on juristiction - and I'm certainly not pretending to be an expert here - but, in general, we should try to refrain from simply cut-n-pasting entire articles. Though the odds of this little site doing enough to get legal action brought down upon our heads is very small, using excerpts and links is a better way to go.

metirish wrote: We'll need Endy when Alou or and Green goes down with an injury.....just my opinion but I see Endy becoming the regular right fielder in 07.... At some point they're going to have to have faith that Milledge can be thrown into the deep end of the pool. Endy is a valuable backup (at least as long as he proves that last year wasn't a fluke) but if he can help fish up some useful part elsewhere you can't vow to keep him around just as a hedge against injuries. He'd actually be most valuable if/when Beltran goes down since he's the only legit CFer on the bench (maybe Johnson?) but he's not a real long-term solution at one of the corners.

ESPN the Mag is a Rag

Edgy DC wrote: Seriously, it's been 48 hours. Anybody suspect that this isn't happening? The team held a conference call news conference today as a confirmation on the signing. I guess S.S. doesn't rate a "pose & grin" and break out the shrimp platter for the scribes sort of deal.

Opinion: I'm glad the Mets aren't responsible for either one of those contracts Fact: More than 1/4 of the walks that Rey Ordonez received as a Met (64 of 251) were intentional.

During the time he was here briefly a few years back, Thomson - a Vicksburg, Miss native - made it pretty clear that he wasn't enamored by the thought of living & working in NYC. With that in mind, I see this dissing of LoDuca as just a clumsy way of trying to say to his new employers (plus the press and any fans listening) that he chose them not just because they gave him the best deal but also that he genuinely prefers their city over "that other place", and what better way than to illustrate the fact that you found NYC to be loud and abrasive then to point out how the guy you'd be throwing to has been known to get loud & abrasive. Oh yeah, and that guy in LF is no good either. "What? ... he's not there anymore? ... ahh whatever".

"And I can switch hit-I'm just as good from both sides" Must ... refrain ... from ... comment

"The 5-foot-9, 170-pound switch-hitter is second in the league with a .419 postseason batting average and 18 hits" Any of those hits leave the infield?

soupcan wrote: They just make the story exactly opposite of what it is and 'poof' hilarity is supposed to ensue. Am I wrong? Not in my mind you're not. I've never thought 'The Onion' provided much more than just the occasional chuckle.

Dude's already a 16-y/o father, let's not try to turn him into a 5-y/o one.

Not a good review of the Schoenweis signing - basically saying the same thing that many of us here have; what's so special about this guy that required a 3-year, near $11mil deal on a team that already has 2 LH relievers?

cooby wrote: Antlers? Wow, how did you attach them to a cat? Duh ... a stapler! What else?

More from espn: Schoeneweis and the Mets reached a preliminary agreement on a $10.8 million, three-year contract. The deal is pending a physical, three people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract had not yet been finalized. WOW! That's more than they balked at with Bradford AND it'll cost draft pick compensation (Schoenweiss is Type B FA) I don't get this one at all.

Buster Olney on espn sez: Mets are "on the verge of signing free-agent pitcher Scott Schoeneweis to a three-year deal" Schoenweiss is a 33 y/o LH reliever. Works a lot, had a coupla good seasons w/the Angels but has looked more or less ordinary recently. Not quite sure I get the point in this one - particularly over the supposed multi-year committment.

="Yancy Street Gang"]I haven't been following the story closely at all, but I thought I saw a headline saying that they were making progress on the stadium issue in Miami. Anyone know? From the folks at 'The Hardball Times': it looks like the Marlins, the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County are close to putting together a deal that would consist of a 60/40 split between public and private funding. The public money would come from a hotel-motel, facility and redevelopment district tax. Most importantly, the whole issue won’t require a public referendum. It will require approval from both the Miami City Council and the Miami-Dade County Board of Supervisors, but if it reached the floor of either government body, there will probably already be some kind of agreement that makes approval a formality.

So you were hoping they'd sign the good hitting defensive specialist for the minor league catching position?

]And even worse -- 12 morons voted for Paul O'Neill! Or, as Yanqui fans would put it, 'ONLY twelve votes for Paulie'!!!! I once listened to an entire afternoon of talk radio listening to NYY fans talk about how Barry Bonds wasn't a fraction of the player O'Neill was. And that was before the steroid scandals began.

This whole notion about not wanting modern players to go in unanimously or on the 1st ballot because it would somehow disrespect older (and presumbably better) players who didn't is ridiculous. The voting process isn't even the same today as it was way back when. The 5-year waiting rule, for instance, wasn't always in place and it is the main reason why DiMaggio wasn't elected his 1st time. Everyone knew he was destined to get in but many writers simply weren't sure that he was even going to stay retired (he was only 36) and there just wasn't the sense of urgency that he be elected NOW!!!!

"Will one of them displace Seaver as the most perfect electee?" I'm betting no. There's always some voter who decides that he's not going to elect ANYONE on the first ballot. I also heard a story about one writer who has apparently decided not to vote for anyone who played in the steroid era - whether there are suspicions about him specifically or not - until we have more facts about that era. At least one of the Seaver blank votes (IIRC) was a similar "protest" type vote - in that case it was about Rose's absence from the ballot.

Baseball America chimes in with their Top-10 list (details to paying customers only) and continue with the now common refrain about good talent up top but little depth. 1. Mike Pelfrey, rhp 2. Fernando Martinez, of 3. Carlos Gomez, of 4. Philip Humber, rhp 5. Deolis Guerra, rhp 6. Kevin Mulvey, rhp 7. Jon Niese, lhp 8. Mike Carp, 1b 9. Joe Smith, rhp 10. Alay Soler, rhp Best Hitter for Average -- Fernando Martinez Best Power Hitter -- Fernando Martinez Best Strike-Zone Discipline -- Corey Coles Fastest Baserunner -- Carlos Gomez Best Athlete -- Carlos Gomez Best Fastball -- Mike Pelfrey Best Curveball -- Philip Humber Best Slider -- Joe Smith Best Changeup -- Deolis Guerra Best Control -- Willie Collazo Best Defensive Catcher -- Drew Butera Best Defensive Infielder -- Jose Coronado Best Infield Arm -- Corey Ragsdale Best Defensive Outfielder -- Carlos Gomez Best Outfield Arm -- Carlos Gomez