stevece80

And Ryan bested Pedro's 2004 in 3 out of 27 seasons. Amazing. Pedro pitched 244 innings this season, Ryan did that exactly once at age 32 or older. Sandy Koufax was a babied pussy as well. I mean, the damn wimp retired because he had an owie on his elbow.

Not bad, he's pretty limited in what he does, but I have no problem seeing him re-sign.

I know who goyanks9 is. I still don't agree.

f*** u its calld spanish they spk it cuz they don spee engliz.

Though I'm not a BC alumnus, or even Catholic for that matter, it would be nice to see BC go far in the tourney this March. It would really do a lot for the Champhionship-starved residents of the Boston area that had not seen a title in, at the very least, a month and a half.

And Brown and Vazquez had combined for 441 2/3 innings at an ERA of 2.83 the season prior to coming to the Yankees. Randy and Pavano combined for 468 innings at an ERA of 2.79 last season. Talk about your all-time slam-dunk upgrades. What's that, a potential zero win upgrade over last year's prediction? What you're also failing to recognize is that Lieber to a Mazzone-less Wright has the potential of being an absolute disaster. At the very best, and I'm being generous, it's a wash.

Actually, Quantrill, Karsay, Stanton and Sturzte were hardly reliable. Please, take your rose-colored glasses off when it comes to any of them. Gordon is a very good reliever, that is a habitual postseason failure. Mo's the only slam dunk, when he's not pitching against the Red Sox it seems, and I'd much rather have Foulke/Timlin/Embree in the postseason than Rivera/Gordon/(flavoroftheweek). Depth is BS, as you only carry 6 relievers in the regular season, one of which is the mopup guy, and you're relying on your 3 primary relievers in the postseason. It's nice to have "depth", but when there's two good relievers, and a bunch of interchangable parts, you're not a lights-out crew by any means. Sturtze is feces personified.

Don't really like Boras, but he's an amazing agent. For all those, myself included, talking about how dumb Lowe was for turning down 3 years/27 million in Spring Training, he ends up with 9 million extra dollars and an addition year, playing for a better organization than Detroit, and in a much better climate. For all the hatred towards Boras spewed forth from the standpoint of the fans of an organization, you'd be absolutely insane to not have this guy as your agent if you had the opportunity.

Does anyone else find it amazing that the Yankees didn't sign Beltran? It was an absolute no-brainer on their part. I'm absolutely loving the thought of Bernie, already on a sharp decline, playing center full-time. For some reason, I'm thinking Steinbrenner is waiting off a year to sign Juan Pierre, or trade for Darin Erstad, as he has a bizzarre fascination with collecting artifacts from playoff series he's lost. When money isn't too much of an issue, Pierre is an okay consolation prize, but he's not Carlos Friggin' Beltran. With Bernie's long-term deal coming off the books after this season, the salary thing is even less of an issue starting in 2006.

Wow, CB's post on Pedro is even dumber than some of the crap I've seen on Netsports. Anyone with an agenda can try to distort reality to try to prove not a point, but put forth a childish hatred towards someone they've never met. I'm sure you could pitcher 200+ innings over the course of a season, right?

Nolan Ryan was quite overrated. He was a compiler who should be recognized for his longetivity, but he isn't one of the 25 greatest pitchers of all time. Pedro Martinez has a career ERA+ of 167, Ryan bested that figure in a season just once, in the strike-shortened 1981 season. In a full season (30+ starts), the closest Ryan got to that total was in 1977, when he posted an ERA+ of 141. He also walked 204 batters in 299 innings. In 1987, his ERA+ was 142, but his home ERA was 1.2 runs better than his road ERA, so take it for what it's worth. Current pitchers who have a higher career ERA+ than Ryan: Brad Radke Bartolo Colon Freddy Garcia Wilson Alvarez Al Leiter Andy Pettitte Matt Morris Derek Lowe Nearly equal: Tim Wakefield (109) Pat Hentgen (109) David Wells (110) All those pitchers are good pitchers. None of them are Hall Of Famers. The only way any of them make the HOF is if they compile 300 wins. Ryan was overrated, always will be as long as people only look at the 300+ wins and his strikeout record. The only offensive player I'd say is similar would be Dave Kingman, had he played until he was 46 and broken Aaron's record, there would be plenty saying he's one of the greatest ever, when in fact he was a BA and OBP sinkhole, that had quite a bit of pop.

Actually, the Yankees haven't donated jack yet.

Patriots don't get past their first round in the playoffs, Foxboro or not without Law, unless someone really steps up, and it'll have nothing to do with coaching. They didn't show the slightest chance of even contesting with the Steelers, either, something's that going to need to change. For all those acting so confident about the Patriots and what's happened since 2001, where was the genius in 2002? The man who has largely made the Patriots look brilliant is out for the playoffs, the people who are oblivious to the fact that it may hurt the team better come down pretty soon unless you are ready to be mentally crushed if they don't win the Super Bowl, which looks like at best a 40/60 shot. Hardly an outside chance, but far from as easy as some people are pretending it to be. There's following your favorite team, and then there's having a team's success go to your head. I think some followers really deserve a letdown, as the lack of respect for other opponents is just ridiculous. Respect the game first. The Patriots are hardly infallible. Sure, they'll probably win, but it's not because they're inherently better than everyone else.

Winning against Manning without Law? Face it, the team can't make as much contact in the secondary as they got away with last season, it's going to be a tough time against the Colts' receivers. The Patriots better hope for a snow storm to level the playing field a bit, or it could get ugly without Law.

I've never had to sit in traffic for hours in a parking lot after watching a Patriots game on my TV. I had a ticket to this year's game against the Seahawks that I unsuccessfully tried to give away, I gave away a ticket to a game against the Jags last year. I don't really see the point unless it's a playoff game. Unless you're paying 100 bucks or more, you're not going to have a good seat at all, enough to justify the long wait after the game. Who really cared about the game this past Sunday to do all that waiting around?

Ortiz was never a fringe guy. He's a fringe guy to whoever has enough of a lack of baseball knowledge to understand how, and why, he put up "only" better than league average numbers before his prime. Ortiz, overwhelmingly helped by Fenway, putting up an OPS of .984 there in 2004. On the road, not feeling the Fenway effect that made him in the hitter he is, put up a putrid OPS of .982. So, might I ask, is it the Fenway EffectTM that makes him hit the crap out of the ball as a member of the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium, or is because he absolutely OWNS the Yankees? Sucks to be owned by Fringe Guys, doesn't it?

Actually, Duquette's problem was he viewed stud starters over the age of 33 (see Clemens, Roger) who were a bit inconsistent, to be washed up. His main problem was giving good money to players who were a bit better than league average. To counter this, he found a few players that could produce league average or better numbers for very little money, like Daubach and O'Leary, and didn't know when to cut bait with them. O'Leary would certainly fall into the "good money for a player a bit better than league average". If Duquette were around in 2003, I have little doubt that Daubach would have been retained, and Ortiz would never have been in the fold. On the same token, I can see Mueller getting a fat 3 year extension after 2005 if he were in charge. I love Mueller, but his value to the team is right now, with the reasonable contract he's under.

Hey genius, try this on for size. Let's say, by some chance, the Red Sox choose to have David Wells start Opening Day, so he'd be on the same schedule as Randy Johnson. Alright now, listen up, here's something that might take you a little bit of brain power to grasp, but here we go..... First start of the season, they'll both be pitching the same night, in the same weather, in the same city of New York. Next start, Wells will be pitching inside of a dome, in Toronto, while Randy has to pitch in New York, which is colder than room temperature in April. Next start, David will be pitching in Boston while Randy will be in sunny Baltimore. Next start, Wells will be in Baltimore, while Randy pitches on the climate-controlled turf of Toronto. Then, it's off to Fenway to face those pesky Orioles on the frozen tundra of Fenway, while Randy takes on the warm Los Angeles Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles in the sunny confines of Yankee stadium. That's April, that's the extent of the cold weather, which typically is over by the middle of the month, but let's just assume it's so frigid in Boston all month just to give some validity to your argument. I don't know how Wells' alledged back problems will hold up, while Randy's lack of cartilage in his knee will somehow be better off in temperatures mildly warmer.

Can you read? Try again.

I know many of you Yankee fans have a bit of a hard time grasping the concept of years closest to the current one being most significant, but can you understand that 2003 is much closer in the year view mirror than 2001? Significance? 2001 is the year Wells missed significant time with a back injury, the only year in a span from 1995-2004 in which he's pitched less than 200 innings. 2003 is the year RJ missed significant time with a knee problem. Wells doesn't keep himself in good enough shape? Randy Johnson has no frigging cartilage in his knee. None. Want to know something even more significant? If Wells' injury causes him to lose effectiveness and have to retire, the Red Sox are on the hook for a low base salary and have to work to replace their #4 starter. If Johnson, who's been more injury prone in both his career, and in recent years, is ineffective or sits on the DL for most of his time with the Yanquis, they're on the hook for 48 million dollars and they lose their number one starter. Quit comparing the two pitchers, their situations are hardly analogous considering the expectations and monetary commitments. The Red Sox clearly view 40+ year old starters are excellent depth moves. The Yankees are pinning all their overpaid hopes on one to make everything okay in Yankeeland once again. It's amazing how much a team that spends in it's own orbit continues to spin it's tires. Here's a hint, 2005 will be no different than 2002-2004 for the Yankees. I've seen this story before, it's called the 1980s. Get used to it.

That isn't entirely accurate, but I'd say the fans in Boston haven't caused a delay as the result of crying over the correct call.

Yeah, I wonder if Wells could handle the AL. Good point. And a tremendously better awesome shouldn't provide him with better run support?

I really dislike the whole "Yankees suck" chant, and the clothing/stickers/etc. that go with it. However, "Who's your dealer", "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal-co", and "year-two-thou-sand" are perfectly within reason. I think stooping low is tossing batteries and singing the "Gangbang" song the poor excuses for human beings in the bleachers at YS do. You're safe from "stooping" if you can read, have more in your wardrobe than jogging suits, and don't think Joe Piscopo was an important figure in American history.

I like the girls that work where you work. Too hot. Sorry, Hijack

Babe Ruth's a Hall Of Famer, Shea Hillenbrand is at this point of his career, cumulatively, a below-average hitting corner infielder, though. I'm not sure it's exactly a compliment being the most consistent hitter on one of the worst offenses ever. He would have been the 7th or 8th best on the Red Sox last season, which is to say, a bit above league average. That's assuming he'd be able to get past his troubles with hitting at Fenway which he had his entire time with the ballclub.