Baseball All Star Game

[E40FDNYL35]

LET'S GO AMERICANS.
The Yankee All Stars are playing for home field advantage.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

What to do, what to do.

Manny "I am too lazy to play when we are out of it" Ramirez vs. Roger "I lied about my retirement" Clemens. Which quitter do you root for when you are a Yankee fan?

8 Yankees. Does it get any better than this?

[NJFFSA16]

Originally posted by GeorgeWendtCFI
What to do, what to do.

Manny "I am too lazy to play when we are out of it" Ramirez vs. Roger "I lied about my retirement" Clemens. Which quitter do you root for when you are a Yankee fan?

8 Yankees. Does it get any better than this?

And....the Yankees traded away Soriano...The MVP?

[E229Lt]

And....the Yankees traded away Soriano...The MVP?

That should read: "And....the Yankees traded away Soriano...The Free Agent"....He'll be right back, unless Nomah wants to play second.

[pvfire424]

How many of y'all think Piazza was telling the hitters what pitch was coming next ala Bull Durham ?

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Originally posted by pvfire424
How many of y'all think Piazza was telling the hitters what pitch was coming next ala Bull Durham ?

Unless he was telling them: "Hey Manny. Roger going to throw a fastball down the middle that won't move at all." I don't think he was. Besides, Piazza is not that smart.

229 is right. Sorianno will be playing next to Jeter in 2005. Personally I wouldn't pick up that psychpath Nomar if he was put on waivers.

[waterboy1]

George, Good to see you back on the forums

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

The new season is about to begin...

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Originally posted by CaptainGonzo
The new season is about to begin...

Not yet. Manny, Pedro and theboys won't tank until August.

[NJFFSA16]

Mike Vaccarro, From the NY Post of July 15th:

July 15, 2004 -- WE have some kind of two-headed baseball summer ahead of us, and how good does it feel to be able to say that again? The Yankees learned yesterday they are one of five teams still very much alive in the Randy Johnson sweepstakes, and learned the identities of their competitors: Cubs, Angels, White Sox, Red Sox.


GEORGE W.....CAN YOU TALK TO GEORGE S.?

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Just remember...

Randy Johnson has a no trade clause. He must approve a trade before it can happen.

Randy Johnson has said that he would go to a team with a realistic expectation of going to the WS, not just a team with a chance.

From mlb.com

>>Johnson indicated that were he to approve a trade, it would have to be to a team which he felt was a serious World Series contender.

"I'm not going to leave to go to a situation where they have a theoretical chance to win," he said. "There has been no list of teams [that he would accept a trade to], just teams that have a [good] chance to win. That's the only way." <<

Look at the five teams and tell me who he is talking about.

Boston and the Cubs...7 games out.
CWS leading the weakest division in baseball by .5 games.

Anaheim 2.5 back.

Yankees. Best record in baseball. One left-handed starting pitcher and a second baseman away from the greatest team ever put on a field outside of an all-star game. Winning tradition. over 30 come-from-behind victories this year.

This is a no-brainer.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

"Bull" Piazza:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/st...p-182688c.html

[manofire2]

You're right, this probably is a no brainer. The Yankees will likely buy the Big Unit, continuing their quest to field the best team money can buy. I hope though, for the sake of the sport purists out here, that the Yankees get knocked out in a first round sweep.

Unfortunately, we will in all probability prove once again that MLB is the one sport where the obscene spenders are most likely so be successful.

I have a great idea, why don't they auction off the World Series trophy to the highest bidder, then let all the other teams play off for the real Championship. That way Gearge S. can annually have his trophy and the rest of the World won't have to watch.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Originally posted by manofire2
You're right, this probably is a no brainer. The Yankees will likely buy the Big Unit, continuing their quest to field the best team money can buy. I hope though, for the sake of the sport purists out here, that the Yankees get knocked out in a first round sweep.

Unfortunately, we will in all probability prove once again that MLB is the one sport where the obscene spenders are most likely so be successful.

I have a great idea, why don't they auction off the World Series trophy to the highest bidder, then let all the other teams play off for the real Championship. That way Gearge S. can annually have his trophy and the rest of the World won't have to watch.

My, my what bitterness.

What is your definition of success?

If it is winning, there is no argument that the Yankees are succesful...more succesful than any other team in sports history.

But how about success being measured in terms of exactly what baseball is...a business. What do your beloved Expos average a night? 2000 fans? The Yankees are averaging over 40,000 per night. The Red Sox are sold out every night. These are two examples of owners who recognize that they have invested mightily in their team and they want (and expect) a return on that investment. The fans come out in droves to see a winner. They pour tons of money into the till. These are two owners that recognize their responsibility to their fans to do whatever they can to put out the best product.

What sickens me is to see a team (we have seen alot of them) who put a good team together, win a championship and then, before the first snow fall, they have a fire sale and sell off the contracts of the guys who took them to the top, dump all their free agents, and gather up there money and run. They then put out arguably a minor league team the next year that finishes 30 games out of first place.

Baseball is a business and the name of the game in business is success.

[Bones42]

and I always thought baseball was a kids game played by grown ups.

[manofire2]

Originally posted by GeorgeWendtCFI


My, my what bitterness.

What is your definition of success?

If it is winning, there is no argument that the Yankees are succesful...more succesful than any other team in sports history.

But how about success being measured in terms of exactly what baseball is...a business. What do your beloved Expos average a night? 2000 fans? The Yankees are averaging over 40,000 per night. The Red Sox are sold out every night. These are two examples of owners who recognize that they have invested mightily in their team and they want (and expect) a return on that investment. The fans come out in droves to see a winner. They pour tons of money into the till. These are two owners that recognize their responsibility to their fans to do whatever they can to put out the best product.

What sickens me is to see a team (we have seen alot of them) who put a good team together, win a championship and then, before the first snow fall, they have a fire sale and sell off the contracts of the guys who took them to the top, dump all their free agents, and gather up there money and run. They then put out arguably a minor league team the next year that finishes 30 games out of first place.

Baseball is a business and the name of the game in business is success.

Bitter you may call me, I prefer enlightened. I recognize the damage that perverted greed has wrought on Professional Sport. That greed has resulted in Professional Sports becoming accessable to an elite few on a regular basis.

You bring up the Expos (although not necesarily my team, nonetheless a good example), prior to the 1984 baseball strike the Expos were a very successful franchise. Favored to go on to win that year the Expos fans were denied their date with history and Montreal fans (bitter they were and are) have never returned. Greed is bad whether it is the players or management which is guilty. Baseball itself has never fully recovered from the strike, the Expos, Twins and other teams are struggling to avoid Contraction. Small market teams cannot compete on a regular basis with the mega-market spending.

I use the Yankees and others as examples but it is baseball itself which must fix the problem. In defence of the yankees, they do not break the rules.

I also agree with you on the matter of fire sales of talent, however if the market did not exist, fire sales would not happen.

I believe that Baseball and other sports need to move the trade deadlines to much earlier in the season so that teams cannot unload talent once they are out of the picture. The hired-gun should be outlawed so to speak.

Above all Baseball must recognize it is the fans who suffer and New York fans are not the only ones who deserve Baseball in October just because the can afford it.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

Originally posted by manofire2


Bitter you may call me, I prefer enlightened. I recognize the damage that perverted greed has wrought on Professional Sport. That greed has resulted in Professional Sports becoming accessable to an elite few on a regular basis.

You bring up the Expos (although not necesarily my team, nonetheless a good example), prior to the 1984 baseball strike the Expos were a very successful franchise. Favored to go on to win that year the Expos fans were denied their date with history and Montreal fans (bitter they were and are) have never returned. Greed is bad whether it is the players or management which is guilty. Baseball itself has never fully recovered from the strike, the Expos, Twins and other teams are struggling to avoid Contraction. Small market teams cannot compete on a regular basis with the mega-market spending.

I use the Yankees and others as examples but it is baseball itself which must fix the problem. In defence of the yankees, they do not break the rules.

I also agree with you on the matter of fire sales of talent, however if the market did not exist, fire sales would not happen.

I believe that Baseball and other sports need to move the trade deadlines to much earlier in the season so that teams cannot unload talent once they are out of the picture. The hired-gun should be outlawed so to speak.

Above all Baseball must recognize it is the fans who suffer and New York fans are not the only ones who deserve Baseball in October just because the can afford it.

If a city won't support the team, the team should be moved. You mean to tell me that in the so-called "small market" towns that there aren't enough baseball fans to fill a 40,000 seat stadium? It goes much deeper than ticket prices. It is all about marketing, advertising, fan accesibility, community service, etc. That is in addition to putting the best team possible on the field.

And let me say this about "fire sales". If you think that those players were dumped at top dollar you are mistaken. Many of them were waived simply to allow the team to dump their contract. They were, in effect, fired after winning a champiosnhip.

Baseball is not the only sport this occurs in. Everyone here knows that I am a die-hard NY Ranger fan. In searching for a word to describe their play over the past several years, the word SUCKS
seems to be the best fit. Even though there are millions of hockey fans in NYC, they have stopped coming to the games and buying tickets like they once did. I actually got a telephone call at home from the Rangers (no, not to play) to purchase season tickets. They are that desperate. They are paying the price for not putting a competitive team out there.

You don't have to be "elite" to go to a ballgame. You can buy a ticket for less than $20, park your car on the street, grab a couple of beers at one of the bars around the Stadium before and after the game and not spend $60. That hardly qualifies as "elite".

[manofire2]

Originally posted by GeorgeWendtCFI


If a city won't support the team, the team should be moved. You mean to tell me that in the so-called "small market" towns that there aren't enough baseball fans to fill a 40,000 seat stadium? It goes much deeper than ticket prices. It is all about marketing, advertising, fan accesibility, community service, etc. That is in addition to putting the best team possible on the field.

And let me say this about "fire sales". If you think that those players were dumped at top dollar you are mistaken. Many of them were waived simply to allow the team to dump their contract. They were, in effect, fired after winning a champiosnhip.

Baseball is not the only sport this occurs in. Everyone here knows that I am a die-hard NY Ranger fan. In searching for a word to describe their play over the past several years, the word SUCKS
seems to be the best fit. Even though there are millions of hockey fans in NYC, they have stopped coming to the games and buying tickets like they once did. I actually got a telephone call at home from the Rangers (no, not to play) to purchase season tickets. They are that desperate. They are paying the price for not putting a competitive team out there.

You don't have to be "elite" to go to a ballgame. You can buy a ticket for less than $20, park your car on the street, grab a couple of beers at one of the bars around the Stadium before and after the game and not spend $60. That hardly qualifies as "elite".

I am in full agreement that if cities can't or won't suport their team they deserve to lose those franchises. You also correctly point out that a competitive team helps to put seats in the seats. It is very difficult to field a competitive team however when the top players end up going to the teams with the cash and those teams make it impossible for the small market teams to be competitive.

The Rangers suck despite spending like drunken sailors. Like I said, baseball is the one sport where you have the greatest chance of buying a winner. Hockey is much more difficult as role players are much more important. Wasn't it great though to see the big spending teams like the Rangers and the Red Wings knocked out like they were.

When I was growing up my dad would take all 4 of us kids to a ballgame. We'ld each get a dog and a pop and maybe a treat. Even with your $20 ticket, you couldn't take a family to a game with a hundred dollar bill. Most families I know could only afford to go to maybe one or two games a year.

My first major league game I paid $1.75 for an outfield bleacher seat to watch the California Angels with Nolan Ryan on the mound. A couple of years ago I went to see the Anaheim Angels and paid $17.00 for my ticket. Now my salary has not gone up any where near 10 times during the same period.

When the guys riding the pine in Yankee Stadium make more that some teams starting line-up something is wrong and it is up to MLB to correct that. Put in meaningful penalties for breaking the salary cap such as losing your first round draft. Steinbrenner has made a mockery of the present penalties and the present cap. Until he is hit with penalties that hurt him, he will continue to spend obscene amounts of cash to try to "buy" a winner.

[GeorgeWendtCFI]

I'll bow out of this conversation after one more point.

Several years ago, the MLB ownbers decided, maybe at the behest of Steinbrenner, to stop offering the extreme salaries to the free agents.

The players went to court and accused the owners of collusion. They didn't win everything they wanted, but they scared the owners enough that it never happened again.

Can't only blame the owners.

[NJFFSA16]

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Posted on Fri, Jul. 16, 2004



In the hunt for Randy Johnson

By BILL MADDEN
New York Daily News

NEW YORK - The Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday made their second round of phone calls to potential Randy Johnson suitors - including the Mets - but ultimately, only the Yankees and Red Sox figure to be players for this year's trading deadline prize, and neither appears to have sufficient chips to get him. Money - the $24 million Johnson is owed through next year - may be the deciding factor, but as one baseball person close to the situation said Thursday: "The Diamondbacks are going to need to save face here, which is why it's probably 50-50 they'll trade him."

Here's a team-by-team analysis of the would-be Johnson sweepstakes:

YANKEES: They are clearly Johnson's team of choice - they were the team he specifically mentioned when he informed the D-Backs last week he'd consider waiving his no-trade clause. But they may have to get a third team involved to get him as the D-Backs are not overly impressed with the prospects the Yankee high command consider blue-chippers - catcher Dioner Navarro (13 passed balls and seven errors at Trenton, hitting just .129 at Columbus); infielder Robinson Cano (.301, seven homers, 44 RBI in 74 games at Trenton); lefthander Brad Halsey, who impressed and didn't impress in his brief stint in the majors, and righthander Scott Proctor. With money never an object for the Yankees, don't discount them moving Jose Contreras for the desired prospects and eating his contract in the process.

RED SOX: You have to ask yourself: How would the Diamondbacks justify to their fans trading Johnson to the same team they traded Curt Schilling to over the winter (for such minimal return). Two of the players traded for Schilling - lefties Casey Fossum and Jorge De La Rosa - were supposed to be the cream of Boston's system, and now the Sox are trying to tout catcher Kelly Shoppach (.237 at Pawtucket) and soft-throwing lefty Abe Alvarez (6-5, 3.94 ERA at Portland) as their new cream. Throw in the fact that Johnson has told confidants he has no great desire to reunite with Schilling and all indications are he would reject a trade to the Red Sox, even if they were to get a third team to provide the necessary prospects.

ANGELS: They've got the prospects all right - third baseman Dallas McPherson, first baseman Casey Kotchman and catcher Jeff Mathis are rated three of the best in all the minors - but owner Arte Moreno said Tuesday he's committed to building a championship team for the long term "and I don't think the way to do that is to give up part of your minor league system." In other words, count them out.

METS: Johnson has told people the Yankees are the only New York team he'd be interested in going to. Nevertheless, the Mets feel they owe it to themselves to at least make their pitch (without David Wright) and see what happens. Their primary focus, however, remains on more realistic pitching acquisitions, such as Pittsburgh's Kris Benson and Cincinnati's Cory Lidle and Paul Wilson.

CUBS: Starting pitching is not their priority. Shortstop and bullpen are, and they're moving on both of those fronts for Montreal shortstop Orlando Cabrera and Mariners closer Eddie Guardado.

WHITE SOX: White Sox board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf can't even sign his best player, Magglio Ordonez, so it's hard to see him taking on Johnson's remaining $24 million. Plus, he has already fortified his starting pitching with Freddy Garcia.

RANGERS: Buck Showalter would love Johnson, but owner Tom Hicks is still knee deep in red ink, even after unloading A-Rod. In addition, farm director Grady Fuson, who has Hicks' ear, is very protective of his few prospects.

TWINS: They've got plenty of prospects - outfielder Jason Kubel, shortstop Jason Bartlett, righthander Jesse Crain - knocking on the door at Triple-A, but no way could they take on Johnson's $16 million salary next season.

PHILLIES: Johnson wouldn't go there, and even if he would, the Phils would insist on including Kevin Millwood in the deal to help wash the salaries. No way will they part with their top pitching prospects, Gavin Floyd and Cole Hamels, whom the D-Backs would insist upon.

BRAVES: They're still looking to dump payroll for next year, not add it.

CARDINALS: They, too, have payroll restrictions and, besides, they're sitting pretty seven games up. And GM Walt Jocketty says they don't have to do a whole lot.

A'S: Starting pitching's not their problem, and they can't take on Johnson's contract.

MARLINS: Ditto.






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