a700hitter

How many identities has he had? It must be a TalkSox record.

Not many people pickup on my subtle hints.

The Yankees have nothing big in the works. Yankee fans need to stop praying, and Red Sox fans need to get over the paranoia. They might make some deals, but no blockbusters. They missed out on Lee, but they never had a chance because he was hell bent on going to Philly of all places. They thought we had no chance at Crawford, but surprise surprise. It looks like the Yanks will enter the season with a talent gap with the Sox.

Trading Papelbon for a prospect would leave a hole in the bullpen. I don't see that happening.

It's not a pessimistic view. It's just a fact. It's very common for high paid athletes to have severe financial difficulties after their playing days are over and most of them have advisers. The ones that don't have problems are the ones that keep working and those who actively and smartly market their names after retirement.

I can think of lots of awesome rotations from the 60's: 1969 Mets -- Probably had as much talent as any staff that I have seen. 1967 Giants- They featured Gaylord Perry and Juan Marichal as #1 and 2, but Mike McCormick the #3 won the Cy Young that year. 1968 Cards- How do you go wrong with Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton on the same staff. Nelly Briles was 19-11 with a 2.81 era on that staff. 1965 Dodgers- Koufax and Drysdale--People don't realize that you just didn't score when you played that Dodger team.

Professional athletes are just not good at managing their financial affairs. It has nothing to do with greed. Many of them are very greedy, and they still end up broke.

It probably doesn't merit its own thread, but I watched the replay of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. As old as I am, I'm not old enough to have seen this game, but as a kid I heard a lot about this game from the adults. It was a very exciting game. My older cousin was 12 years old when the game was played. He is the ugliest of Yankee fans. He told me once that he threw up for two weeks after that game. A surprising little known fact came out during the broadcast. There was not a single strikeout in the game.

They have no clue. They are at the mercy of their advisers. Very few get good advice. Lenny Dykstra was supposed to have been a savvy business man. He made millions with car washes. Then he was supposed to be a investor savant. He was getting writeups in financial journals. He turned out to be a complete fraud and he owes about $50 million.

I am glad that guys like Lee and Wood turned down the Yanks money and went to other teams, but IMO they are schmucks. This is their livelihood and they will need to provide for themselves in a retirement that will start at about age 40.

It seemed like I always saw Wakefield pitch when I'd go to Fenway. I told my son that my nightmare scenario was that in 20 years at age 70, I'll be at a game where 65 year old Wakefield will be trying for his 300 win after averaging 5 wins for the last 20 years of his career and Mirabelli will be going for 200 HRs after hitting 2 a year for 40 years. He's got to go. It'll take him 3 - 5 years to get to 200 wins.

We may need to have someone pay a visit to Wakefield to tell him that it is time for him to take a hot bath and open a vein. Maybe he can succeed Mike Andrews at the Jimmy Fund. I don't like Wakefield or Miller in the pen.

Tony Maz is a weasel. This is typical of his left-handed compliments. He puts an antagonistic word in the title, but then doesn't even mention it in the article. it's just so typical of this weasel. He used the word for a reason, but he was too much of a weasel to explain it in the column. I can't stand the guy. I think he is a terrible sportswriter, except of course, when he agrees with me 100%- then I cite him as authority.

If Papelbon is traded, they will need to fill the bullpen spot. Also, what would they be looking to get for Papelbon. They have every position except catcher locked down.

Feliciano has been a Met for the last 3 seasons-- Nufced. Yankee fans know what I mean.

http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/massarotti/2010/12/jenks_only_adds_to_an_embarras.html Tony Maz is a complete jackass. Who is supposed to be embarrassed by the Red Sox having an "Uber" team? The cheering fans? The FO that spent the money to get the "Uber" team? This is why I hate the press. I hope they get Fuentes too then we can have an "Uber-plus" team and we can all feel humiliated. I'm embarrassed for the the Boston Globe that they have such an obnoxious no-talent little twerp on their senior sports reporting staff. He steals most of his ideas from message boards- the no-talent hack.

The Red Sox have been spending a shitload of money for years. They have been using some fancy bookkeeping to keep certain items from payroll to stay under the Luxury Tax threshold, e.g. The AGon extension. Let's not forget the Dice K $52 million posting fee. They are spending plenty of money. It doesn't matter whether it is hitting payroll. They are in a very very small universe of baseball franchises that can spend like this- maybe just them and the Yanks. Using Yankee $ as an excuse for getting beat by them hasn't been legitimate for years. I embrace the FO using it's financial strength by getting top star talent. If it embarrasses some people at Son of Sam Horn, so be it. The FO is putting together a kick ass team for 2011 and beyond. There was no "bridge" to home grown prospects this season or next season. The core of the team is set for about 3-4 years minimum. They will just need to fill in needs here and there- pocket change compared to the big expenses that they have incurred. The Jenks $ is irrelevant in the scheme of things. Two years ago they wasted $10 million on two dented garbage pails- Smoltz and Penny. They have spent 30-fold on two players this year, but they are game changing superstars in their prime. I will rub this in the faces of Yankee fans. I will ask every Yankee fan whether their team is having financial difficulty. Then I'll say "but why would they sign Mark Prior.". Enjoy the dumpster dive Yankee fans! There are plenty of low risk high reward type players in that stinking pile of garbage. Enjoy!