There have big some big post-season moves this off-season.
The Giants this last year proved what people have been saying for years - pitching wins championships.
Let's start with the Cliff Lee move
Mulligan/Repentance
Give the Phillies credit. They made a mistake in trading Cliff Lee last year. And they were men enough to admit- we made a mistake.
Some may say, hey not a big deal. They get Lee back- and get some prospects.
But not so
Why this was a mistake
1. The players they got weren't that great, and now they have to give up a 1st rd pick... likely better than anyone they got in the trade
2. Since they didn't have Lee, they had to trade for Oswalt, giving up a good young pitcher in Happ and a good player in Gose. Plus they have to put more money into Oswalt.
They could have instead of traded for a middle reliever or a big bench bat, or kept those guys for the future...
3. If they would have signed Lee last year, they probably could have got him for 5 years 100 million... That's 20 mil they could have used on... maybe Rafeal Soriano....
4. Let's face it, as good as Oswalt is, Cliff Lee is better... and they would have had a better chance to win last year.
But, at least the Phillies corrected their mistake and got Lee back.
i guess that is what life is all about. This is what God expects of us. Admit your sin, repent. You will make mistakes, just don't stay there
Now, do the Phillies have the best rotation ever?
4 Aces
1. Halladay 2. Lee 3. Oswalt 4. Cole Hamels
Jayson Stark writes a pretty good article.
i'd have to say the 80 Mets were pretty good... i mean, if Doc Gooden doesn't get hurt, he may have gone as one of the best ever. David Cone - amazing, Frank Viola a Cy Young... and Sid Fernandez, Ojeda, Darling decent. Phil certainly better
but the Braves of the 90's?
How do you top Maddux, Glavine & Smoltz? 3 for sure Hall of Famers. And Steve Avery was pretty good too, sometimes looked better.
Of course i liked the White Sox rotation of Jack McDowell, Alex Fernandez, Wilson Alvarez and Jason Bere.
The Yankees had some good rotations: including one that had Clemmens, Cone and Mussina
Or how about the A's big 3 of Hudson, Mulder & Zito
The Phillies has to be right up there with the Braves...
Of course, some teams may think they have a better rotation this year!
And the Giants have a case - look, they won last year with just their pitching.
We forget Tim Lincecum is called Freak, because of how dominating his was his first two years.... Matt Cain was even more dominant than Lee last post-season. Sanchez has thrown a no-no... Bumgarner looks amazing and Zito is the highest paid...
The Cardinals can boast Wainright- who i think is the best pitcher in baseball, Carpenter, still top ten... and guys like Garcis, Westbrook under the tutolidge of Dave Duncan...
Both the BoSox and ChiSox have deep rotations... Tampa Bay & Florida... and now Milwaukee
Brewers
Last year, it looked like Greinke was the best pitcher in the game bar none.
Meanwhile both Gollardo and Marcum were considered Aces last year.
The Brew Crew still have Braun, Fielder & Hart up the middle of their lineup.
The sacrificed their future (Lawrie & Escobar + pithcers), but they have a pretty good rotation, and they should be excited in Milwaukee.
Showing posts with label Phillies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phillies. Show all posts
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Mook vs Mike Wilbon & the media pundits
I like Mike Wilbon… but he is an idiot.
He makes bold, brash claims… then when he’s wrong he says nothing.
And he’s a so-called expert, but what does he know?
No one gave SF or Texas a chance to make the World Series. Even when they were up 3-1… no one believed they would actually win.
The Phillies had a great rotation… but how come people couldn’t see the Giants rotation was better?
And the Rangers were supposed to lsoe b/c they never won in the post-season before? But not the people on the field.
Cliff Lee has won. Vlad Gurerro has won.
What are you guys talking about?
I’m sure East Coast bias played into this.
I think more-so, headlines did.
If a player was traded, it made headlines – and so, Halladay, Oswalt, Cliff Lee were big deals. If they make a lot of money, they’re also headlines.
The Giant’s rotation was killer all season, and especially in September… but somehow it was the Phillies rotation that was deemed unbeatable.
Granted the Phillies had much more offensive weapons… but let’s face it Ryan Howard is the most over-rated player in baseball (that actually has nothing to do with this, I just wanted to get that off my chest again, as I’ve been saying it for years).
The media loves the Yankees. They love the Red Sox. And now that these teams aren’t in it, they won’t cover it. And it’s not because baseball fans don’t like it- it’s because the media doesn’t like it.
It’s the same reason Boise St and TCU get screwed in college football. It’s the same reason we won’t ever stop hearing about the Miami Heat. And the same reason we think Brett Favre was a great QB.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Mook vs Fall baseball
Does anybody care about baseball anymore?
i think everyone has moved on to football. We're already thinking about the heisman and national championship games in college. We're already deciding some teams are out of the playoff race and some are the teams to beat.
We forgot about baseball.
It's still around. Fortunately for me, many have forgot about it in my fantasy leagues and i moved into first place in one league and gaining more points in others...
i guess there were some exciting things this year, but now it's fading. When the Rockies were hot that was exciting- the Rockies are always exciting in September, but not many others are. The Wild Card is still up for grabs in the NL, but it's only because the two teams left fighting for it have both given up HUGE leads in their division. That's not exciting at all. They are losing their way to the play-offs, only hoping the other team loses more.
There were some hopes for triple crown winners - in both leagues! But Josh HAmilton got hurt, which killed his chances- but also hurt Miguel Cabrerra as Hamiltons' average never came down. IT was even more exicitng before Justin Morneau got hurt.
In the NL, Albert Pujols clearly wasn't himself- perhaps because i owned him on a few fantasy teams this year. He still came close to a triple crown though, but he and the Cards faded down the stretch.
Tulo may have had a chance at it, but like Hamilton injuries knocked him out. We don't think of him that way, because his long stretch on the DL was much earlier. His teammate CarGo was much closer. Still the story is Joey Votto, because he almost didn't make the all-star team (Actually, did Car Go make the team?).
my votes for awards
NL MVP
1. Joey Votto
2. Tulo
3. Pujols
4. Car Go
others...
5. A Gone
6. Halladay
7. Prado
AL MVP
1. Josh Hamilton
2. Miggy
3. Paul Konerko
4. Robinson Cano
others
5. Evan Longoria
6. Adrian Beltre
7. Carl Crawford
8. Jose Bautista
9. Joe Mauer
NL CY
all the attention was on Ubaldo and Halladay, but...
1. Wainright
2. Halladay
3. Ubaldo
4. Tim Hudson
5. Josh Johnson
6. Heath Bell
7. Tim Lincecum
8. Heath Bell
9. Billy Wagner
10. Mat Latos
11. Roy Oswalt
12. Carp
others
13. Johan
14. Bret Myers
15. Brian Wilson
16. Jonothan Sanchez
17. Clayton Kershaw
18. Matt Cain
AL CY
everyone is making a big deal of old stats vs new stats... i think everyone is just getting caught in debate
1. David Price
2. Jon Lester
3. CC
4. Clay Buchholz
5. R Soriano
others
6. Cliff Lee
7. Justin Verlander
8. Felix
9. JEred Weaver
10. Trevor Cahill
Check it out: Wainright's numbers are right there with Halladays and would have been better if he made his last start...
21-10 2.44 era 219 k 1.04 whip Halladay
20-11 2.42 era 213 k 1.05 whip Wainright
And everyone is talking about Felix, but what about Jered Weaver
Felix 13-12 2.27 era 232 k 1.06 whip
Weaver 13-12 3.02 era 229 k 1.08 whip
Manager of the year
1. Bobby Cox
2. Bud Black
3. Bruce Bochy
4. Ron Gardenhire
5. Ron Washington
6. Terry Francona
7. Ozzie Guillen
8. Dusty Baker
9. Jim Tracy
10. Charlie Manuel
as for the actual games...
i think the favorite has to be Philly: they're hot, their pitching is incredible and they're motivated. The Yanks don't seem motivated and their pitching isn't very good. i like the Reds, but they're too young. The Giants pitching could take them somewhere. The Rays are good, but will the lack of support do them in? And the twins don't seem to do much once they make the playoffs recently...
So i say Phils, Giants, Yanks, Rays, Twins, Reds, Rangers, Braves
i will be rooting for anyone other than the Phillies.
i think everyone has moved on to football. We're already thinking about the heisman and national championship games in college. We're already deciding some teams are out of the playoff race and some are the teams to beat.
We forgot about baseball.
It's still around. Fortunately for me, many have forgot about it in my fantasy leagues and i moved into first place in one league and gaining more points in others...
i guess there were some exciting things this year, but now it's fading. When the Rockies were hot that was exciting- the Rockies are always exciting in September, but not many others are. The Wild Card is still up for grabs in the NL, but it's only because the two teams left fighting for it have both given up HUGE leads in their division. That's not exciting at all. They are losing their way to the play-offs, only hoping the other team loses more.
There were some hopes for triple crown winners - in both leagues! But Josh HAmilton got hurt, which killed his chances- but also hurt Miguel Cabrerra as Hamiltons' average never came down. IT was even more exicitng before Justin Morneau got hurt.
In the NL, Albert Pujols clearly wasn't himself- perhaps because i owned him on a few fantasy teams this year. He still came close to a triple crown though, but he and the Cards faded down the stretch.
Tulo may have had a chance at it, but like Hamilton injuries knocked him out. We don't think of him that way, because his long stretch on the DL was much earlier. His teammate CarGo was much closer. Still the story is Joey Votto, because he almost didn't make the all-star team (Actually, did Car Go make the team?).
my votes for awards
NL MVP
1. Joey Votto
2. Tulo
3. Pujols
4. Car Go
others...
5. A Gone
6. Halladay
7. Prado
AL MVP
1. Josh Hamilton
2. Miggy
3. Paul Konerko
4. Robinson Cano
others
5. Evan Longoria
6. Adrian Beltre
7. Carl Crawford
8. Jose Bautista
9. Joe Mauer
NL CY
all the attention was on Ubaldo and Halladay, but...
1. Wainright
2. Halladay
3. Ubaldo
4. Tim Hudson
5. Josh Johnson
6. Heath Bell
7. Tim Lincecum
8. Heath Bell
9. Billy Wagner
10. Mat Latos
11. Roy Oswalt
12. Carp
others
13. Johan
14. Bret Myers
15. Brian Wilson
16. Jonothan Sanchez
17. Clayton Kershaw
18. Matt Cain
AL CY
everyone is making a big deal of old stats vs new stats... i think everyone is just getting caught in debate
1. David Price
2. Jon Lester
3. CC
4. Clay Buchholz
5. R Soriano
others
6. Cliff Lee
7. Justin Verlander
8. Felix
9. JEred Weaver
10. Trevor Cahill
Check it out: Wainright's numbers are right there with Halladays and would have been better if he made his last start...
21-10 2.44 era 219 k 1.04 whip Halladay
20-11 2.42 era 213 k 1.05 whip Wainright
And everyone is talking about Felix, but what about Jered Weaver
Felix 13-12 2.27 era 232 k 1.06 whip
Weaver 13-12 3.02 era 229 k 1.08 whip
Manager of the year
1. Bobby Cox
2. Bud Black
3. Bruce Bochy
4. Ron Gardenhire
5. Ron Washington
6. Terry Francona
7. Ozzie Guillen
8. Dusty Baker
9. Jim Tracy
10. Charlie Manuel
as for the actual games...
i think the favorite has to be Philly: they're hot, their pitching is incredible and they're motivated. The Yanks don't seem motivated and their pitching isn't very good. i like the Reds, but they're too young. The Giants pitching could take them somewhere. The Rays are good, but will the lack of support do them in? And the twins don't seem to do much once they make the playoffs recently...
So i say Phils, Giants, Yanks, Rays, Twins, Reds, Rangers, Braves
i will be rooting for anyone other than the Phillies.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Mook vs the Phillies... and other bad moves
Sorry Phillies fans.
Your team made a good move... and it may even get them to the playoffs and another world series... but it has to be bitter-sweet
Gose > Gillies
JA Happ > JC Ramirez
Aumont probably better than Villar, but about even
Of course it wasn't as bad as rumored when they were giving up a guy like Worley or Singleton in the deal instead of Villar...
but Oswlt vs Lee?
Oswalt is a good pitcher to be sure. A good vet too.
But Lee actually wanted to play in Philly and Oswalt doesn't really want to.
Plus they could have had Lee the whole season. They'd be a lock for post-season now... They could haved used Happ to get a good reliever, which is what they really need...
How much money does it end up saving them? They still have to pay Oswalt 12 million.. couldnt they have paid Lee his 9 mil this season and got a cheap FA for 3 mil next year... not to mention they then would have got some draft pick compensation for Lee...
Of course they could have saved some money by not signing Polanco. He has been good, but is he worth 6 mil/year the next 3 years. Pedro Feliz likely would have signed a 2 yr 6 mil deal to stay in Philly... and they could have traded Blanton and his 7.5 mil contract to Sea for one of those prospects... they then could have had a bit of money to resign Chan Ho Park...
Even better would have been if they didn't give Raul Ibanez a 3 year 30 mil contract... or vastly overpaid Ryan Howard (whose contract made me say are you serious?)
i will give the Phils this: they're able to get other teams to pay for people to play for them. How they do that i don't know...
Let someone else develop prospects, that's ok, get players when they're good during free agency or trade works out pretty well...
As for other GM's?
i thought the Astros could have got more - but trading Gose for Wallace was a big win... i'm surprised they were willing to pay so much of Oswalt's contract though, it seems like if you're gonna pay a guy so much, let him make some money for you- he was still a popular player in Houston... trading Berkman makes more sense
i can't believe the twins gave up Ramos for Matt Capps. i like Capps, he's on my fantasy team and working wonders for me, but still... they should have gotten more for Ramos, even if they don't plan on using him as more than a back-up...
i think i would have made a move for Prince or Hart from Milwaukee... and if i was Milwaukee i would have tried to trade them as much as possible - i'm surprised they couldn't work out a deal with the braves - who have a ton of pitching and need some hitting...
one of these years i'd love to see a team in no contention make some of these trades. Haren & Oswalt were had cheap... Smoak & Ramos were traded for crap...
Your team made a good move... and it may even get them to the playoffs and another world series... but it has to be bitter-sweet
Gose > Gillies
JA Happ > JC Ramirez
Aumont probably better than Villar, but about even
Of course it wasn't as bad as rumored when they were giving up a guy like Worley or Singleton in the deal instead of Villar...
but Oswlt vs Lee?
Oswalt is a good pitcher to be sure. A good vet too.
But Lee actually wanted to play in Philly and Oswalt doesn't really want to.
Plus they could have had Lee the whole season. They'd be a lock for post-season now... They could haved used Happ to get a good reliever, which is what they really need...
How much money does it end up saving them? They still have to pay Oswalt 12 million.. couldnt they have paid Lee his 9 mil this season and got a cheap FA for 3 mil next year... not to mention they then would have got some draft pick compensation for Lee...
Of course they could have saved some money by not signing Polanco. He has been good, but is he worth 6 mil/year the next 3 years. Pedro Feliz likely would have signed a 2 yr 6 mil deal to stay in Philly... and they could have traded Blanton and his 7.5 mil contract to Sea for one of those prospects... they then could have had a bit of money to resign Chan Ho Park...
Even better would have been if they didn't give Raul Ibanez a 3 year 30 mil contract... or vastly overpaid Ryan Howard (whose contract made me say are you serious?)
i will give the Phils this: they're able to get other teams to pay for people to play for them. How they do that i don't know...
Let someone else develop prospects, that's ok, get players when they're good during free agency or trade works out pretty well...
As for other GM's?
i thought the Astros could have got more - but trading Gose for Wallace was a big win... i'm surprised they were willing to pay so much of Oswalt's contract though, it seems like if you're gonna pay a guy so much, let him make some money for you- he was still a popular player in Houston... trading Berkman makes more sense
i can't believe the twins gave up Ramos for Matt Capps. i like Capps, he's on my fantasy team and working wonders for me, but still... they should have gotten more for Ramos, even if they don't plan on using him as more than a back-up...
i think i would have made a move for Prince or Hart from Milwaukee... and if i was Milwaukee i would have tried to trade them as much as possible - i'm surprised they couldn't work out a deal with the braves - who have a ton of pitching and need some hitting...
one of these years i'd love to see a team in no contention make some of these trades. Haren & Oswalt were had cheap... Smoak & Ramos were traded for crap...
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Mook vs Cliff Lee
Another big move as Cliff Lee was traded from the Mariners to Texas... despite all the reports he had been traded to the Yankees...
This could serve as another reminder to Cleveland fans of another player who got away.
Lee is posting incredible numbers this season, and is front-runner for the Cy Young despite missing a month of the season. Has has an amazing 89k's vs 6 walks on the season in over 100 IP, while sporting a 2.34 era... WOW!
While it may be sad for Cleveland, maybe sadder for Expos fans who saw him, Brandon Philips and Grady Sizemore traded together for Bartolo Colon... at least the Indians got a few years out of him...
The M's were able to get top hitting prospect Justin Smoak and others. Last year the Tribe only got Lou Marson- a back-up cathcer- Jason Donald - a good utility player- and a couple pitchers who could turn out ok, but nothing spectacular.
Still the losers here are the Phillies. They didn't need to trade Lee when the traded for Halladay. And if they would have waited a bit, they could have got even better prospects. Plus, if you keep him and lose him you get two high draft picks.
It is interesting that teams pay more for half a season than a year & a half...
The lesson though may be this. Everyone was raving about the Mariners off-season moves last winter. But where did it get them. True the prospects they got from Texas were MUCH better than the ones they traded to Philly, but how about Figgons? Letting go of Beltre? Bradley's explosions & Silva's success?
People are quick to praise moves way before we see any results.
(i guess i shouldn't pass judgment on the prospects Philly got yet- that's more of a fact they traded Lee when they didn't need to...)
So all those who think the Miami signings were incredible or horrible - i guess we have to wait & see...
I think the Lee trade is good for both teams. Texas is doing well, but will need better pitching. Seattle needs some power in their lineup and builds their future.
I'd be both happy & sad if i was a Texas fan, but at least i know my team is going for it!
This could serve as another reminder to Cleveland fans of another player who got away.
Lee is posting incredible numbers this season, and is front-runner for the Cy Young despite missing a month of the season. Has has an amazing 89k's vs 6 walks on the season in over 100 IP, while sporting a 2.34 era... WOW!
While it may be sad for Cleveland, maybe sadder for Expos fans who saw him, Brandon Philips and Grady Sizemore traded together for Bartolo Colon... at least the Indians got a few years out of him...
The M's were able to get top hitting prospect Justin Smoak and others. Last year the Tribe only got Lou Marson- a back-up cathcer- Jason Donald - a good utility player- and a couple pitchers who could turn out ok, but nothing spectacular.
Still the losers here are the Phillies. They didn't need to trade Lee when the traded for Halladay. And if they would have waited a bit, they could have got even better prospects. Plus, if you keep him and lose him you get two high draft picks.
It is interesting that teams pay more for half a season than a year & a half...
The lesson though may be this. Everyone was raving about the Mariners off-season moves last winter. But where did it get them. True the prospects they got from Texas were MUCH better than the ones they traded to Philly, but how about Figgons? Letting go of Beltre? Bradley's explosions & Silva's success?
People are quick to praise moves way before we see any results.
(i guess i shouldn't pass judgment on the prospects Philly got yet- that's more of a fact they traded Lee when they didn't need to...)
So all those who think the Miami signings were incredible or horrible - i guess we have to wait & see...
I think the Lee trade is good for both teams. Texas is doing well, but will need better pitching. Seattle needs some power in their lineup and builds their future.
I'd be both happy & sad if i was a Texas fan, but at least i know my team is going for it!
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