Frayed Knot

I, btw, also have more faith in Matsui than he's actually earned to this point and wouldn't mind seeing him return for next year (although I suspect he'll be gone before April). I posted not only as a cheesy device to start conversation about the topic but also to temper any notions that are creeping into Met fans' heads that KazMat is addition by subtraction because 'we've got two kick-ass minor leaguers all ready to step in and become stars!!'

"I still say it sucks to be a Pirate fan." Agreed. Partially that's because of MLB's system but also partially because they've been run poorly over recent years. "You know (and for some reason I'm being ignored in this discussion), logic would suggest that just because some teams succeed despite being forced to play under a more restrictive set of rules doesn't mean that it's OK to continue to force them to" Also true. I'm not suggesting that the current system is where it should be -- just that I don't believe that the 'cap' alternatives are the answer especially when they've shown themselves to be no better at spreading the titles around or keeping the bottom feeders from consistently being bottom feeders. "I think I'll go with this: Teams with more money have a HUGE advantage over the smaller market teams." Of course they do and things would shirley be better it if incomes were more uniform throughout, although part of the differences in income is that some teams have been better at creating income by marketing and investing in their product better. Point is that not only are the leagues w/caps not producing better results, but that the whole point of the salary cap has nothing to do with parity, it has to do with artificially holding down salaries across the entire league in order to ensure profit levels.

In the race to replace Matsui, this will be one of the more interesting decisions of the winter. A question to 'Ask BA' gets the topic started: Q: - - With all the second basemen the Mets have been using, why has Jeff Keppinger faded out of the picture? Even before his injury, he seemed surprisingly off the radar for the kind of year he was having. Has Anderson Hernandez bumped him from the top of the Mets' minor league depth chart, and what are the odds of them being on the big league team next year? A: - - Keppinger likely would have gotten a shot in New York this year if he hadn't broken his left kneecap trying to turn a double play in mid-June. Big league second basemen Kaz Matsui and Miguel Cairo got hurt in the same week. But instead of getting that opportunity, Keppinger saw the opposite happen as Hernandez took over for him at Triple-A Norfolk and passed him on the organization depth chart. Before he got hurt, Keppinger was doing what he does best: hit for average. He was batting .337/.377/.455 in 65 games. Nothing else about his game (power, on-base ability, speed, defense) stands out, so his ceiling is probably that of a line-drive hitting utilityman. He's already 24, two years older than the flashier Hernandez, who fits the more traditional middle-infield mold. That said, and even with Hernandez coming off a career year of .315/.357/.421 with 35 steals between Double-A and Triple-A, I still don't totally believe in his bat. Hernandez looks like a utilityman to me as well. You may see Hernandez or Keppinger on the Mets in 2006, but I doubt it will be as a starter.

Well yeah, neither one of them are MLB or NYY employees. In fact, they're not only allowed to contact him but can do so while carrying bags of unmarked bills in large denominations.

So I guess this means that the FA period commences on or about November 10th* * except of course for when Torre puts in a "friendly" call to BJ Ryan, explaining that he can't discuss money with him but that he can think of at least 27 million reasons why he should be a Yanqui for the next 3 years.

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"When did what you say in that bolded sentence happen?" Inequalitites? There have been those in the system since the dawn of time. You think the Yanx just happened to win all those pennants in the '40s & '50s because they were pure of heart? Or believe that the Cardinals and their 20-something farm teams weren't at an advantage over teams (like the Phils) that had none? In many ways things are better now than they were back "in the good old days". "Who has been competing and winning? Minnesota? Oakland? They never won a WS." But they've been in hot competition for one, in some cases more often than other supposedly well-heeled teams. You're making a bit of a leap by treating the lack of a WS as proof that one can not and will not happen. "What data are you referring to? The percentages of teams that get to the LCS and WS?" Sure. You're assuming that a cap system will produce better results while dismissing the data which shows that the leagues that already have cap systems are not better and, by some measures, are worse.

]It already has [affected the success rate] ... I don't know how else to explain what I mean. Certain teams will never win a WS under the current structure. But those teams have been competing for them and winning them despite the inequalities in the system - and have been doing so at a rate at least comparable to that of the other systems that MLB's critics demand be adopted as a fix. That's been the argument all along. ]I don't belive that tallying up the number of teams that have won a league pennant is a counterargument to what I'm saying. I'm not sure how to objectively measure it. Which is sort of like saying that you know player A - because he has a smaller strike zone and is faster - is going to have a better future OBA than player B ... even though there's many years of actual data showing otherwise. ]So you're telling me that Oakland dealt those players because they wanted to, and not because they couldn't afford to resign them? Not at all. Just saying that there are different paths to succeed (or try to) within a system and that the NFL & NBA cap plans are putting up different limits on how a team can keep talent. The results of these different systems have been - despite claims to the contrary - remarkably similar in the way championships have been distributed and in the pct of teams that have been shut out.

Nice Summary of the cast of characters who made up the ChiSox season.

The only thing wrong from my intitial "scouting report" on that linked post: ] - They pitch well. Real well. - Ozzie loves the small ball better'n Willie ever dreamed of. - Posednik's running wild but gets thrown out alot. - This Rowland guy can play the heck out of CF and their defense overall is good - No one in the lineup hits .300 - Their 2nd sacker Iguchi is what we hoped Kaz would be - Big Hurt is likely out for the season with another ... well, big hurt of some kind - I'm not sure if they'll hit enough. They don't have a ton of power so they need their hits in bunches and when they don't get 'em they'll lose while out-hitting the Yanx 9-4 like they did tonight. - Who's older: El Ducky or Contreras? - Dustin Hermanson was terrible closing for the Giants last year but is good this year. Can he be trusted in October? ... is that they hit for more power than I credited them for. Only 1 true top HR hitter (Konerko) but a bunch of mid-power guys surrounding him. And then as Jenks stepped in where Hermanson had been their bullpen became even stronger. Not often that you see a manager with 5 deep in the pen that he trusts in all kinds of spots. Relative unknowns like Politte & Cotts had some terrific numbers. And so while 'Conventional wisdom' had them as paper tigers during much of the year as ALCentral winners had been in the past, including the end of the reg season they finished up 17-1 which is enough to be considered legit in any season. So how big a share does Shinjo Takatsu get??

]My point is not so much "Who has won a championship?", but more, "Could they win a championship?" In other words; forget how it works in practice, how does it work in theory!! ]My point is, there are certain teams that will never win a title under the current system in baseball. The same is not true in the NFL or NBA. Y'see what you're arguing here don't you? You're opining that the system is bad that it's bound to result in big differences between the results of MLB & other leagues in the future even though it hasn't yet during the time it's been in effect. Well get back to me when it does. ]Most any of those teams can afford to pay the players they need, they just have to get them. With a team like Oakland, that has had the luck and the management to get the MVP caliber players like Giambi and Hudson, they have to trade them away because they can't afford them once free agency roles around. Yes, and they've dealt them for players who have (or they hope will) help them in the future. And again, the other systems offer alternatives which aren't necc an improvement. While MLB's system allows for player movement, the NFL's with it's hard cap requires it in many cases and so those good teams with good players are forced to jettison some of those players whether they can afford them or not! I don't see where that set-up is any better, particularly since the system is designed not to ensure parity (income levels are already largely stabilized) but to ensure owner profits.

You [Elster] keep saying that the chances of winning and competing are far less in baseball than in other sports yet these differences don't show up in the results. How does that work exactly? ]Teams like Tampa, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Minnesota will never win a WS because they can't afford the players The baseball teams in 3 of those cities - KC, Cincy & Minny - have won more recently than their NFL counterparts. In fact the Cincy & Minny teams have never won on the gridiron while the Reds & Twins have at least 3 each during that span - including one each in the '90s. ]I also meant after salaries started to sky rocket, so I'm not including the WS teams with Kirby, obviously. OK, so then the 'last 10 years' numbers would diverge wildly. Yet - even with the recent run of NYY success mixed in (something that has become LESS common since prior to the draft/FA period) - they don't.

So unless I'm mistaken, MLB & Japanese baseball both had their championships won by foreign born managers for the first time just one day apart.

] ...But these percentages really don't tell the story. The story is that some teams will never make the playoffs under our current system. The same is not true in other sports Yet for 2 decades now it HAS been true in other sports - to the same extent if not moreso than in baseball. And my point isn't that MLB's system is perfect, it's that I don't see a salary cap system (hard, soft or otherwise) as a great solution. The best 'Anti-MLB' argument is that they have a slightly higher pct of teams not to reach a league final over the last 10 years than the other 2 which one could argue is a result of the explosive yet uneven increase in local media money that started with the MFY contract w/MSG network - although that goes back about 17 years now and at least some of those effects have been partially remedied (at least theoretically) by the most recent labor agreement. In the interim, the success of the Twins & A's have been mixed in with the failures of the Orioles, Dodgers and ... oh hell the Mets. So if the next 10 years produce marketly different results than the above numbers you may have an argument. But until then, wake me when the LA Clippers and Az Cardinals start winning consistently.

So when's Opening Day?

We may have just seen the closest 4-game sweep ever.

C'mon fans, you can't let him catch that!!! Helluva play though.

Jenks in to face Lane, Ausmus & Everett. One or both of Ausmus/Everett will be PH'd for I'm sure.

A timely hit ot two could have turned any of the first 3 games in Houston's favor. Here's comes another spot now that'll likely either make this interesting or kill the series.

Meanwhile up in Boston, young Theo is apparantly balking at the Sawx attempts to sign him to an extension by holding out for a bundle.

Backe is an energetic little bastard innt he? Lidge in for a tie game in the 8th ... must be 'no tomorrow' time I find Everett hitting for Iguchi a bit odd - he grounds out.

Just a hunch, but I could see Monkeywrench in da Bronx next year. They need a gloveman/1st baseman good enough to keep G-I-am-bi anchored in the DH spot and to go in for defense when he doesn't. He's still young enough to where they could gamble on at least a partial bounce back year with the bat and will probably come cheap enough to where they could dump him if he doesn't. They could bat him 8th and treat any offense he gives them as a bonus. The short RF porch won't hurt him either.

Newsday is reporting that Brian Cashman will re-up for a 3-year stint in da Bronx.

The point of Morgan's comments and the article in general isn't to demean the Astros org for intentionally dodging black ballplayers; it's that the absence of black-Americans from their current roster serves as a symbol for the shrinking presence of blacks in baseball.

Piersynski's roots are on Long Island's east-end, making him the 2nd best Polish player from that area.