Baseball Contracts...for all you die hard baseball fans

I found this incredible site that lays out all baseball contracts.

I could spend hours reading it. If you go on the left, you can pick a team and it will lay out the details of each contract for each player.

Could you imagine if everyone's salary or contract was public knowledge for every job? it is a little crazy to think about.

Can the Dodgers make it to the WS???

I hope so! They may have won game one last night but they left 16 people on base! 16!!! That is not what I am looking for in a playoff team. Their lineup is deep and really does not have any holes.

From top to bottom, I really like their chances. Their bullpen is the best in baseball. If they have a lead going into the 5th inning, they can close any game. Their offense worries me. No one person has huge power numbers which means they need to be patient (which they are) and get hits in a row to score runs. In the first game, you saw their weakness as they left 16 guys on base. Another weakness they have is starting pitching but as long as we get 4-5 innings out of these guys, we can squeeze out games and series. I am not as worried about their starting pitching as most are.

I really think they get past the Cardinals. I think their next opponent, the Phillies will be tough. Hopefully, we can get by. Remember that the Dodgers led MLB in run differential which is a big sign of how good a team is. The Yankees were second. The Dodgers also have a good defense.

I really think it will be a Dodgers/Yankees WS. I hope the Dodgers can make it to the WS because then Thome gets to DH for us. A lineup with Thome in there would be as follows: Furcal, Kemp, Thome, Ethier, Manny, Loney, Blake, Hudson and then Martin. There is not an easy out in that lineup.

It has been 21 years since their last WS. Lets hope they end it this year!

The Bet!

Funk and I made a bet on today's White Sox/Dodgers game. If the Dodgers lose, I have to buy a Pierre Dodgers jersey. I then have to wear it out one night and get heckled. Lets just say I hate Juan Pierre in many ways. If the White Sox lose, Funk has to buy a Podsednik jersey. He then has to wear it out one night and get heckled. Big bet!

Well, right now the score is tied and we are in the top of the 8th! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Past a diving Jeter...shocking...

Fubar - don't read this on your birthday.

Jeter got bailed out last night. Jeter has always been terrible going to his left. Many times you will hear the announcer go past a diving Jeter when a ball is hit up the middle. His range is terrible and it has gotten worse with time. So lets go to last night. The US come back to beat Puerto Rico to reach the semi-finals. Well, they should have not been down in the first place. With the game tied 3-3, a slow ball hit up the middle goes by a diving Jeter, a run scores. Then in the 9th, Jeter misplays a ball up the middle and another run scores. Check out the highlights.

I had trouble embedding the video so here is a link. The highlights run at the top of the article.

Now, what is really upseting is that Jimmy Rollins is DH. WHAT?!?!?!?! Jimmy Rollins should be playing SS. That is a travesty. Just because Jeter is a likeable guy does not mean he should be playing. I would be good for the clubhouse. Sign me to the team!

Furthermore, he never has had good range. Forget about Bonds giving back his MVP trophies. Jeter needs to give back all of his gold gloves. What a joke those are!

ARGH! Play Jimmy Rollins and put Jeter on the bench! What a JOKE!

Realignment of Baseball

With pitchers and catchers reporting this weekend, baseball is back in full swing. Before I even get to steroids, I wanted to bring up the lack of salary cap in baseball. Lets be honest. Baseball is making hand over fist right now and has been for some time. As a private business, they are doing exceptionally well. With that being said, it really is unfair to think that a small market team like the pittsburgh pirates have any chance of competing year in and year out with a team from Chicago or New York. Last year the Yankees payroll was $209m payroll and the Florida Marlins has a $21m payroll. Now, Tampa Bay had a $43m payroll and they were much more successfull, obviously, than the Yankees. The problem is that the small market team has a much smaller window to be successful. Once the playoffs are set, anything can happen. In a short series, the best team may not win.

Here is what I propose. Keep the AL and NL seperate but each yeah divide the divisions up by total payroll. You want to spend a lot of money. Fine. I agree that you should. If you have it, spend it. The only advantage you get is that the highest payroll division has four teams.

Here is how last year's AL divisions broken down.

AL East --------------AL Central -------------AL West
Tampa Bay---------- Chicago -----------------California
Boston--------------- Minnesota --------------Texas
New York ------------Cleveland --------------Oakland
Toronto --------------Kansas City------------ Seattle
Baltimore ------------Detroit

Here is how last year's AL divisions would have broken down according to me.

AL Macro------------AL Middle ----------AL Micro
Red Sox -------------California -----------Tampa Bay
Chicago --------------Toronto ------------Minnesota
New York -----------Cleveland -----------Kansas City
Detroit --------------Texas ---------------Oakland
----------------------Seattle --------------Baltimore

Now, I see this as a much more fair way of doing it. Bud Selig has already smeared baseball in so many ways. Why not help balance the payroll issue everyone is crying about?

Just an idea.

Editor's note: These divisions would be determined on an annual basis. Each year, teams would be re-assessed by their payroll.

Baseball HOF

Shame on you baseball hall of fame voters. Rickey Henderson going in on the first ballot is a no brainer. 28 people did not vote for him. That is actually shocking. What I can not believe is that Jim Rice gets voted in on his last year of eligibility. Why not vote in Joe Carter? Oh wait, I know why. If Jim Rice would have played his entire career in Pittsburgh, he would never be in. Thanks to his Boston affiliation and the east coast bias that exists in sports, he is going in. Shame on you media.

What is driving me nuts is Bert Blyleven is not in yet. He is a no brainer but these idiot voters look at his win loss record and not at his peripherals. However, he is 5th all-time in strikeouts and 14th in innings. He was a great pitcher for many years.

Don't even get me started on Tim Raines. What a joke. He lost votes from last year. WHAT. He should be a LOCK for the hall of fame. WHAT A JOKE!

Congrats to the Phillies!

The Rays vs the Phillies left me torn. I have a soft spot for both teams. The Rays had won me some money this year and the Phillies I have always like because of Mike Schmidt. Well, last night the Phillies closed out game 5 and won the World Series. Awesome!

My favorite player on the team is Utley. He is a stud and he made a nice play at the plate in the bottom of the 7th innning to save a run.

Do not fret Rays fans. That teams is young and not going anywhere. They will be back.

Now that baseball is over, I can focus more on football and by football I mean soccer. Go Liverpool!

PECOTA is the best!

It does not surprise me at all that PECOTA was better at predicting the baseball season than any of the so-called experts. Additionally, it comes of no surprise that Buster Olney and Steven Phillips came in dead last. I love the two best predictions are the ones I put bets on. Yeah!

Now, I just need to figure out how to send something through registered mail...

Manny to the Dodgers!

When I first about this move, I was pretty excited about it. The Dodgers desperately need a bat and Manny has that in spades. I too was excited when they signed Andruw Jones...mistake. The more I look at this trade the more it looks like the Pirates and the Red Sox have really made a good trade, the Dodgers not so much.

The Dodgers gave up LaRoche who will be an all-star third baseman in the future for the Pirates. Ned Colletti has created a mess in Dodgertown. With the signings of Pierre and Jones, the outfield has become a disaster. Manny was basically a cover up for the mis-haps of Ned. He is trying to save his job. Why was such a young star like LaRoche expendable? Well, we earlier traded two really good prospects for Casey Blake and now there is a log jam at 3rd. Mistake. Another fear of mine is that Juan Pierre will still be starting in CF. Ethier and Kemp need to be starting out there with Manny. However, Torre is blind sided by Pierre's quickness (he is quick to make an out). He has lead off in 55 of the 56 games Furcal has been injured. Why is our offense bad???

Lastly, Christina Kahrl made an interesting point. If we wanted a good bat in LF, not very good defense, why not pick up Barry Bonds for the rest of the year and not give up anything? I just threw up in mouth...

Fire Ned Colletti.

Happy Birthday to me.

Baseball season begins!

In honor of the baseball season beginning, I give you a quote from the great Babe Ruth!

"I have only one superstition. I touch all the bases when I hit a home run. "

2012!?! Are you serious???

I love baseball. Love the sport. I HATE BUD SELIG! Has he made money for the owners? No question about it. They make more money now than they ever have. Sadly, money rules all and that is why he will be commisioner until he dies.

Bud Selig traded part of the soul of baseball in for money. Bud Selig never looks at long term solutions to baseball's problems. He wants quick fixes. Attendance is down in baseball in the early 90s...let do interleague play. No one has ever seen an AL team play an NL team before. That will generate revenue. Yes, but what does it cause long term Mr. Selig? Every teams schedule now is unbalanced. The Mets have to play the Yankees more than anyone else in the NL. That is not a disadvantage at all. Good to see they didn't lose playoff spot by a game. We have interleague play so no one cares about the all star game. Shocking...Well, so now we have to make the all star game matter. Winner host the WS. So stupid.

Offense production goes up in baseball in the mid 90s. Fans love this. Lets not examine too hard why though. Oops...the ball isn't juiced players are. Thanks Bud. Way to keep that under control. Way to put at stop to it 10 years later.

Who cares? Owners are making a ton of cash. Lets keep him!

Go away Bud Selig! You are a two dollar trick of a commisioner. You will make money any way you can for the owners no matter the consequences.

ARGH!