Commander Shears

Rookies who win 20 games and lead the league in ERA while pitiching for the best team in baseball tend to get some votes (outside the bubble that is Boston, mind you). That said, let's ignore Verlander & Liriano for a second. ERA is hardly the most important stat for a closer. Just to play devil's advocate, let's not forget that Jenks is still technically a rookie, as well. Papelbon crushes him in ERA, hits, walks, etc, yeah yeah yeah, because he's the better pitcher. But at the end of the day: Jenks; 30 S 2 BS Paps; 30 S 5 BS Papelbon also converted his first 20 save opportunities, which means he has blown five of his last fifteen chances. Awards usually go to guys who turn it on in the stretch, not fade (or come back to reality, as the case may be). Yeah, he's a stud and it's mainly because he seems to only inherit one-run leads, never gets those cushy three-run specials, he's the best pitcher among closers, and he's having an insane year. Agreed, but he is not Rookie of the Year. On the bright side, maybe this will help get him into the rotation next year where we'll get 230 innings out of him.

He goes where he wants. He does as he pleases. http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/05/31/imageNYET70105312303.jpg

Was Lou Pinella riding side-saddle with Roethlisberger, or did he suffer massive head trauma somewhere else? This is embaressing.

You do realize that Orsillo actually said that, right?

I made a bet this offseason that Farnsworth would get canned before Tavarez (closing in Atlanta is too much pressure, so he goes to New York?), but neither would last all season. I still like my chances, but Julian is making it closer than I would like.

Don't forget play-by-play man. Don Orsillo, Sean McDonough, Ned Martin, Curt Gowdy. Let's see, who's a distant fourth? Hmm....

1. Our Orsillo is my new hero. 2. Does anybody else remember what he's talking about? I thought I was the only one. Gowdy was telling a story about someone - sorry, I don't remember whom - and the inning ended, so Orsillo just interrupted, gave the score, and said 'thanks for coming.' Then Gowdy, since he wasn't done, but he was in fact, the man, said something like 'I just want to finish up on that story. (pause) He's dead now.' Then the most awkward silence EVER. It was classic. Orsillo looked not only like the ass that he is but he could not have possibly been ruder to a broadcasting legend. He isn't fit to plug in Gowdy's mike.

Let's just focus on the bright side. Now we get to watch Johnny be slowly crushed by the mercenary reputation and Yankee business style. This will only end in misery for the Boss's new trophy.

I know we're all a little thrown by Johnny Judas, but let's not lose our heads here. Reed will NEVER be a lead-off hitter for the Sox.

He seriously needs to platoon with Brian Daubach somewhere. They can compete to see who's the more random dude that somehow ended up on big league roster, and have a BadFacialHair-Off.

Nice to see that cordial atmosphere didn't take.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. He says he wants to retire, but if someone begs him, he'll come back. Everybody has known that kind of person who says he doesn't want to go to the party, just so everyone else will tell him that he has to go, that it won't be the same without him, yada yada. Then, lo and behold, you convinced him. It's dramatic, manipulative, passive aggressive, whatever you want. If he wanted to retire, he would have retired. He wanted to play, as long as he was treated a certain way.

I would advise you to stay away from much baseball coverage and analysis then, as I'm hardly the first person to express this opinion. For those of us who are counting, this is the fourth team he's quit on when he wasn't showered enough praise. His last four years with Boston, he was clearly out of shape and underperforming. He then gets motivated, kicks ass for a crap team about which he cares not a bit, so he leaves. He rides the Yankees' coattails to a Series, again has his performance slide with each year on the team, and leaves when they don't treat him like an ace. Houston bends over backwards for him, shells out enormous cash, but he doesn't feel loved enough so he goes on sabbatical. He wants to be begged, missed, coddled and various other forms of ass-kissing, and you're saying he isn't a drama queen? He only cares about one guy, and it's been readily apparent every time he's joined/deserted a team. To me, this past season was his absolute ideal. He put up crazy stats (other than wins and in particular, playoff wins), while everybody played the violin for him and his lack of run-support. How does the best pitcher of all time take himself out of playoff games? (Or get himself thrown out, for that matter) He reminds me of Terry Glenn in a way. I always felt that Terry would rather get open and have the pass be overthrown, then have to go fight for the ball. Rocket would rather lose 2-1 and have everyone talk about how it wasn't his fault. He gets praise and pity, what a two-fer. In every sport, in order to be considered the best, you should have to perform well in the clutch / under pressure. (To be fair, some are excused due to lack of opportunity.) To me, he is on the wrong end of that spectrum, no matter how talented he is. In every conceivable way, he's the anti-Derek Jeter. Oh, and Enrique owned Pedro. That's undeniable, but it's also an entirely different phenomenon. Heck Trot Nixon owns Clemens, what does that prove?

I didn't say worst, I said most overrated. He's considered by many to be the best of all time, yet he quits in the playoffs and wets himself when he faces Dave Stewart. With that ratio of rating to reality, who could possibly be more overrated?

Just what we need. A self-absorbed excuse-making drama queen. Only this one chokes in EVERY big game of his career. Winning a playoff game for the Yanks when you're up 3 games hardly outweighs getting blown out vs. Pedro, outduelled by a more-injured Smoltz, and losing to Dave Stewart about twelve times a year. Most overrated pitcher in history.