WWSH

WWSH

No, seriously, I haven't heard anything.

I'm not sure how it works with cash transactions, though. Perhaps the amount is based on how well the player ends up doing or how long he ends up staying with the team.

And don't even ask me how the Harry Chiti thing happened.

Steve...?

Two of Drew's former employers, Atlanta and St. Louis, had no interest in retaining him. They were tired of his act.

I can see why the LAD chose Drew over Beltre when you look at Drew's hitting acumen and the farm system's dearth of OFs and apparent abundance of third basemen. But they got absolutely played by Boras. And say this for Beltre: He's durable.

Oops.

However, I did win the bet I placed on the Yankees winning fewer than 104 games.

Apparently you really feel strongly about it...

robothal with a weaver article. states teams like O's, red sox, and cardinals are interested in weaver.

hopefully he goes to the red sox or cardinals. i want another first round pick!

27 - Which NL teams have a better short-series rotation than Penny + Lowe + OP? I think this has been discussed already but only Atl, StL, and maybe...the Mets? could throw three playoff-tested SPs, just off the top of my head...

Meanwhile, forget me. Here's the guy you want to hire:

appellatedecisions.blogspot.com

If I had to pick any three starters from your teams in 35 and mine in 33 for a playoff series, I honestly would go with Smoltz, Lowe, and then I would seriously go with Backe over anybody else. What are yours?

...sorry for hijacking the thread Jon! Back to homework now!!

He "lost" a whole year due to that botched appendectomy. But that is just an aside.

Beltre was the one who was duped in my opinion. The Dodgers showed him loyalty; he was still in the midst of his development and not at his peak. It is clear to me that Boras does not care about his clients as much as an extra million a year or so. Same thing with Weaver: he'll end up in New York or Boston with a 6+ ERA next year.

Players need to get wise and demand more from their agents. The players union should be concerned about this issue.

I'm sure there has been something about this on DT. I just neede to say it, too.

Maybe Honeycutt will give them some good advice about thumbtack usage...

I'm looking forward to seeing C. Zanbrano in the playoffs more than Prior. How about Carpenter, Zambrano, Oswalt.

Looking at Carpenter's playoff numbers, not a whole lot to go off of but he did win two playoff games this year. Of course, he had the 2005 Padres and 2005 Astros to pitch to.

Oswalt has somehow managed a career 4-0 playoff record despite a 6.75 ERA in the '04 NLCS and a 7.50 in one start this year against the ChiSox. He has a very interesting list of comps, hard to believe that he, Zambrano, and Prior have all only made one All-Star team while the 1990s version of Oswalt, Mike Mussina, already had 4 ASGs after his age 28 season.

In fact, that was a good time to anounce that "balsawoods" return will be delayed, the coaches take the worry out of that for me for some reason. Well, really, there's no point in worrying about any of it, but I still do.

Also, I looked back at the media comments from when Murray was fired by the Indians this summer and while not horrible, it certainly doesn't appear that his hiring is anything to get excited about. A coach who is reportedly uncommunicative with his players and doesn't seek them out to help them is probably fine for a team loaded with veterans like this year, but as the farm players start coming up, a hands on coach who is a good communicator might be better, or maybe he would screw up what was working, what do I know?

Although, I doubt a player like Kent or Drew is going to change their approach after the success they've had. Now if Murray has some fastball-to-wrist avoidance strategies Drew is all ears (made of frigid cartelidge).

Anyone keeping a tally of preseason injuries? Lets see how many more the Dodgers have than the rest of the league combined by opening day.

Also to be noted is that most of these surgeries (with the possible exception of Drew's shoulder) were clean-up preventative things. WHen you play as much baseball as pro-players do, you're bound to have a need for a "tune-up". At least we weren't repairing any achilles tendons or torn groin muscles (uh, forget I said that).

Yes, the botched appendectomy caused Beltre a detour, but if you look at his professional track record, he's shown great durability. Durability is often under-valued, but that's another topic. And while injuries aren't as predictable as we'd like, there certainly are greater durability risks than others.

Regarding Boras: Aside from the obvious buyer beware label that should be stuck onto his forehead, I have no big problem with him or the players who chose him. Together they seek top dollar from an industry that has enjoyed strong revenue gains, for the most part, in the last two decades. Are Boras' methods ethical? No less so than the owners who disguise accounting irregularities or an industry that costs the public huge sums in ballpark boondoggles.

My main point on Boras/Drew is that there were no grand mysteries here. A prudent club knows what Boras is all about and refuses to let him string them along. The machinations were all the more dangerous given that it was two Boras clients in the mix. Kevin Malone/Fox ownership allowed Boras to hamstring them with bloated contracts. Dan Evans wisely let Tom Hicks drink the Boras kool-aid on Chan Ho Park. To see Depodesta, a Beane protege, get hoodwinked by Boras was disappointing. Ideally a smart owner and savvy CEO would've given him some guidance...

Cleveland was extremely reluctant to get rid of him, but over time, his failure to communicate was so acute, the Indians had no choice. Again, it was something they had no desire to do, but the evidence reached critical mass. And for what it's worth, the Indians soared after Murray was canned.

Judging by Murray's remarks, he doesn't believe he did anything wrong. There's Hall of Fame hubris there. I'm skeptical that he'll be a good teacher. Many great ballplayers just aren't cut out for it. Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams were awful managers. So was Pete Rose. There are exceptions, I'm sure, but let's just say Murray's coaching career didn't get off to a great start. Not a brilliant move by an organization that recently regretted hiring another uncommunicatitive former hitting star, George Hendrick.