JD Drew has never gotten the respect he deserves. He's an OBP machine and he has plenty of power. His little brother could learn a thing or two from JD about how to take a freaking walk.

I was really hoping for a tie. Having the ASG determine home field advantage is just silly.

Stephen may need to learn patience but I like his style.. he's not so over the top and he keeps his emotions in check.. much like his older brother

They weren't going to tie.

Selig might be able to pull something like that in his House that Used Cars Built in Milwaukee, but if it happened again, at Yankee Stadium, under the circumstances of this year, he wasn't making it out of the stadium alive.

Just to add to this part...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/drewj.01.shtml

You tend not to get much respect when you can't stay healthy. He's had 600 PAs once in his career, and only even approached it one other time. Between that and his reported attitude problems in the past.

Of course, no one has ever denied his talent. He can get on-base by hitting and walking, he has power, he could run when he started out, and he's pretty good in the field. He's underrated, but for good reasons.

They were in serious trouble though. Francona couldn't use Kazmir for another inning and that was his last pitcher. Is the ASG so important that they would have used position players as pitchers? I doubt it. It's a freaking exhibition game. There is no reason for it to go 15 innings. That's just silly.

Well, I saw an article stating that Francona was going to use JD Drew as a pitcher had the game gone on, and that David Wright was going to pitch if need be, as well. I'm pretty bummed that this didn't happen. I'm also bummed by the general lack of media outrage demanding that the silliness surrounding the ASG and its connection with home field in the World Series seems not to have taken root. If there was any year for that, this would have been it.

Well now they play for home filed advantage in the World Series, so yes it can be pretty important.

But even back in the day the game was important.Back before free agency and players swapping leagues, the All Star game was to show who the stronger league truly was. Which league had the best players.

And for those who think it isn't all that important and never was..... ask Pete Rose and Ray Fosse, how important that game is.

...fuckin' Billy Wagner...

Come on, it's one game. One game does nothing to show what league has the best players. As for home field advantage, it is and always has been a terrible idea. If they want to base it on league vs league performance, then make it dependent on interleague play. At least then it would be based upon real games.

That was an asshole move by Pete Rose. He permanently fucked up Fosse's shoulder in a game that didn't count for anything.

As for using Drew and Wright, that would have been a terrible idea and a great way to get someone hurt during an exhibition game.

I got $10 on Rose saying it wasn't really that big of a deal..

lol

It would be at least a little more sensible to use the league records in interleague play to determine home field, one game is almost meaningless in the context of a season...

If you're giving that $10 to Rose, he'll tell you anything you want.

I think I've just seen the most amazing thing from the Mets tonight.

Guts.

They may make a believer out of me just yet.

The coolest home run you'll ever see.

Melvin Mora hit a home run off the top of the foul pole Friday night against Detroit.

I mean, the TOP of the foul pole...

ya know, if the red sox could actually win a fucking game on the road.. they'd be a good team.

goddamn.

Note to Theo: Please get us some reliable middle relief. Thank You.

One HELL of a game last night between the Cubs and the DBacks. Harden allowed only 1 hit (a solo HR) and lost the game. The Unit went seven shutout innings to improve to 13-0 in 14 starts against the Cubs. According to the Arizona Republic, only one other pitcher (Sal Maglie, 10-0 in 19 appearances from 1954-58) is undefeated in 10 or more starts against Chicago.

Oh, and the reason why I can't stand the Cubs? Phoenix is full of Chicago transplants and they invade our ballpark like cockroaches when the Cubs are in town. Our loyal newspaper (some of the senior sports writers are from Chicago) even had a full page spread about the Cubs, all their tradition, and readers' greatest memories of the Cubs. Embarrassing.

Agreed. I wish I had stayed awake for the whole thing, but I was too beat to keep my eyes open.

I'll read the rest when your team plays in a real division, NLWestboy. Maybe next year. I woulda read it last year, but not this year.

We can get into a whole long diatribe about how the main industry of Phoenix is in making Phoenix grow bigger, but that's not what we're here to do.

We might win the next two, if we could get the lumber to move.

Agree on all just about all points. The NL West sucks, plain and simple. However, despite the suckiness I strongly believe that if they can just make the playoffs then anything can happen. A rotation of Webb, Haren, Davis, and Johnson is good enough to beat anybody if the damn hitters can just do SOMETHING.

It looks as if the DBacks just aquired Jon Rauch for Emilio Bonifacio. There must be another player involved because this just doesn't make sense on its own. Closers are highly overrated and Bonicafcio is a AAAA player. He's probably one of the fastest guys in MLB but you can't steal first base.

Who am I kidding though. Chances are it will blow up in thier faces just like their most recent aquisitions: (Carter for Quentin, Rosales for Hairston).

Just saw on rotoworld that Wood is probably going back to the DL. Poor guy.

This is really a puzzling issue with this team. If it was a team of 24 year olds, I would almost understand, but despite the fact that they do have some young players, they are a pretty experienced ballclub. You know that Theo won't pick up much because one of the only guys out there is Fuentes and he won't give up Buckholtz for a two month rental. Maybe Masterson will be the answer. Or maybe Papi will come back and Manny will stop acting like a pussy and they can just win 10-8 games on the road. Or Lester can throw every other day. hmmm

So at the top of the ninth inning, the Mets were up 5-2 on the Phillies. Now it's 8-5, Philadelphia.

THEY'VE GONE THROUGH FOUR RELIEVERS AND THEY CAN'T GET THREE OUTS.

I don't expect the bullpen to be the a reincarnation of Mariano Rivera, BUT HOW CAN ONE TEAM GO THROUGH FOUR RELIEVERS AND FAIL TO GET ANY OUTS?

Am I wrong to be upset over this collective failure of the bullpen to get three outs? My TV should be lucky I don't have a gun, because I would've shot it out a long time ago.

Just don't forget to vote Bowden a half-share of the playoff money...

lol, do you know that Bowden is has been questioned by MLB and the FBI about skimming money from DR players' signing bonuses? Maybe a shitty trade was needed to deflect attention.

Oh, believe me, I could write a college essay on why that whole organization is in the shitter. Jim Bowden is only the beginning, but he just adds a whole new level.

CC in the NL = 4-0, 1.36 ERA, 0.848 WHIP

/not big games though... ;)

good news/bad news

Good news: Xavier Nady comes back to New York
Bad news: Xavier Nady is coming back to the wrong team.

The Pirates got owned in the trade. No wonder they perpetually suck.

And that's a shame because they have too nice of a ballpark to suck so much.

To trade Manny or Not To Trade.


duh. don't trade him. even if he does whine sometimes at least he puts his money where his mouth is.

No shit. He has a 142 OPS+. Even considering what offense is lost due to his defense they aren't going to be able to replace him.

Regarding trades, I hear the that if the Braves were to trade Teixeria to the DBacks they would want Conor Jackson back.

I don't think so.

the Texeira trade doesn't make sense to me for the Dbacks. I'm pretty sure the GM realizes this too.

If it is Jackson for Teixeria sure I makes no sense. CJ is not getting traded. The buzz today has been Chad Tracy + prospect for TexMex. Whether or not that is a good deal depends on the prospect. If the prospect is Scherzer or Jarrod Parker then it doesn't sound good for the DBacks. Same for Micah Owings.

I will say that AJ Hinch (DBacks director of scouting) has been in South Bend (DBacks Class A affiliate, where Parker pitches) the past 2 days. AJ doesn't make it to low-A very much so that can't be a coincidence. It better not be Parker. He's too much to give up for a rental.

At this point I am in the don't trade him, but don't resign him camp. This petulant fucking baby will quit on them next year if they resign him. It is amazing to me that he has no moral fiber whatsoever, so that even if the club appears to have the leverage, by way of the options, they still don't because he can always just not play (or push over another 64-year-old) next year, or come up with some stupid phantom injury. I have to say, it freakin kills me that he is getting away with this and Scott fucking Boras will profit from this. It was Manny and his old agent who begged for these two club options just so that they could brag that he got a $200 million dollar contract, and not id the team picks them up he will probably take his toys and go home. I hope he gets blackballed like Bonds, but he will probably go to the NL and hit 40 home runs because the pitching sucks. //end of rant

eh.. I dunno. I wouldn't want it to go that far. There's just no way to replace Manny. Seriously, I don't know of anyone they can just trade for and get the same production out of. Think about it, everytime Manny gets pissed at the front office, what happens? He blows his numbers up. It's almost like a little game that Boston plays with him. He's just too good to lose right now. I'd even go so far as saying they should pick up his option for next year.

I'm beginning to notice that whenever contract disputes come up, it's with players who always the same agents. When it's baseball, it's Scott Borras. If it's football, it's Drew Rosenhaus. If it's basketball, it's David Falk. Am I the only one who notices this?

THIS JUST IN:

The Atlanta Braves have just sent 1B Mark Teixeira to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Casey Kotchman. Well, that's one less team the Mets have to worry about.

I was holding out hope that the DBacks could land him but this is a descent return for both teams.

As for contract issues, I used to think football players were assholes to constantly ask for contract renegotiations but contracts don't mean a lot in football. Even if you have a multi-year deal, a team can cut you. If the teams demonstrate time after time that they won't honor the contract, why should the player?

Baseball is completely different. It is damn near impossible to void a contract. It doesn't matter how much you suck. The DBacks, ingnoring all common sense signed Russ Ortiz to a 4 year 32 million dollar deal. After a year and a half they released him but were on the hook for all the money. Once he cleared waivers, any team could pick him up for the league minimum and he'd still get the money the DBacks said they would pay him.

I'm not sure how it works in basketball.

Hopefully the Angels can use Teixeira to their advantage before he comes home to Baltimore in the offseason.

They needed another bat, and that is what they got.

Well, I would definitely separate this year from next year as far as his production. There are something like 50 some games left, lets call it 1/3 of the season. If Manny is still the 30/100 guy that he's been, he may hit 10 hr and 35 RBI in the next two months. If you get a halfway decent player to "replace" him you may not get a 30/100 guy, but it could be a 20/80 guy. That 20/80 guy could be projected to hit something like 7/25 over the that same two months, so we're talking about the rest of the team making up 3/10 over two months. Now you could argue intangibles (Manny is "clutch" e has good postseason numbers, whatever) but there are also PLENTY of negative intangibles about the Manny experience.
Hey, I know that the dude can rake, and he always seems to do so when he fights with management, but I think that he is really wearing out his welcome, plus he is becoming less and less reliable. Every time he wants to send a message to management he does something when they play the yankees, because he knows that irks them the most.
Problem is, it's damn hard to find or get good sluggers nowdays, and Manny Papi have been one of the best 3,4 tandems ever.

Yeah you're right with the production numbers, but, projection only goes so far. At least with Manny you can look back and see what he'll do in a Boston Uni. Putting on that uniform has buckled many a player to their knees.

As far as his welcome, yeah he's pushing it this year, but it may just be because he want's his security. He'd like for the Red Sox to go ahead and say they'll either put him on the market free agent style or they'll pick up at least one of his options. Shit, it's a $20 million option.. I'd want to know too.

And fuck me. Texeira to the Angels. As if they needed help. Yeah they needed another bat to help protect Vlad but fuck. they are on a roll right now. I just wonder what the strikeout differencial is between Kotchman and T. I know that Kotchman is notoriously hard to strike out.

Kotchman: 23K/18BB in 398 PA
Teixeira 65/70 in 451 PA

Kotchman may not K but he's killing his value by not walking either. You can't be a productive 1B if you can't even put up an .800 OPS.

What a game by Lackey last night. Bummer that Pedroia had to screw everything up.

There is something about having security, knowing where you are going to be, but there isn't ever total security. Shoot, he was under contract, but they already tried to trade him and put him on waivers. Not that logic an Manny have any business in the same hemisphere. He said it himself, he knows he will get paid one way or the other, although I think that it is asking a lot to think he will get 4 years $100 Mil.
You are correct that the Angels were already looking very good without TexMex, and he will certainly help them. It is an interesting message, because it is unlikely that they will be able to sign him after this year, so they basically gave up Kotchman for a rental.

yeah.. but it's Manny. He'll get paid. despite other opinions he's a top 5 right handed hitter of all time. Most teams would kill to have his production..even if it means putting up with his cell phone. I think he's really just saying he's tired of Boston pulling out the Trade card every year. He knows Boston is a tough town to play in and they are smart (at least they are now) and they have the cash.

I think for the Angels this trade was for the sole purpose of trying to get out of the first round of the playoffs this time.