a700hitter

Closer of the future! I'm really looking forward to that.

Maybe Beltre can miss a base on a scoring play. It's about the only stupid thing that he hasn't done tonight.

Beltre with another banjo hit.

Alex Gonzalez went deep twice tonight for 7 HRs on the year.

Lucky for me that I activated JD in one of my leagues. Maybe he's starting to get hot. Yes!!!

Jones has been observing Beltre too much tonight.

The Banjo Hitting Butcher of Third Base will likely cost us this game. Thank goodness for the little man.

Beltre needs a head transplant.

Beltre is a disaster.

If anything, popularity meant more in Ruth's day than today. You can't say that there is no comparison because the game is different today. Yes it is different today. More tickets are sold than ever before, but the impact of individual players on gate receipts is much harder to define, because same-day walk up ticket sales are not as significant today. Back in Ruth's day when a popular pitcher pitched there would probably be 10,000 -15,000 additional fans in the stands. It was very easy to measure. Player popularity was maybe more important in those days, because players stayed with the same organization due to the reserve clause. Because they had less invested in those players, teams were more willing to let a popular guy sit on the bench for a year or so past his prime before they cut him. Today, popular players are allowed to walk away all the time. Look at Pedro for instance. He was every bit as popular as Ortiz, and they let him walk rather than invest anymore money in him. Ortiz probably will also be allowed to walk after this season whether or not he produces. What is the difference to the fan if a popular player leaves by trade, release or free agency? Is one way more upsetting than the others, resulting in retribution against the organization?

When a player is done, the fans don't usually care about him. The fans are the first ones to turn on the player in a slump. Keeping Ortiz and Lowell and playing them has nothing to do with sports and everything to do with business. Businessmen are all about self-preservation. If you invest $25 million of the Company's money in an asset, well you had better hope that the asset is very productive, or else your behind is toast. They are going to keep these guys and hope one or both of them produce or that they can trade one and get a decent return, because businesses hate non-performing assets. Whether they stay or go has nothing to do with the fans. It never has been. Throughout the history of the game popular players and icons have been released when they are done. The Yankees released Babe Ruth-- the biggest of American icons. The fans move on. If the team is winning they show up, it doesn't matter who is on the team.

BTW I don't think the sole reason for their success is not due solely to getting top draft picks. They have made some key acquistions. The trade to get Garza/Bartlett has been a huge contribution to their recent success.

They have a lot of work to do in building a fan base. That will be diificult, because Tampa is Yankee territory in many respects. Tampa had been bad for so long that the built no fan loyalty. If they make progress with regard to gate revenue, they might be able to keep some stars and sustain their success.

They extended Beckett and he is good for about 3 or more press conferences where he drops the F-Bomb.

What a snide jerky post. I think Tampa is getting much more value for their payroll dollar than the Sox, and they have been getting better value for the last few seasons. Their FO is doing a fantastic job with very limited resources. Our FO is doing a good job too, but their resources are enormous compared to most teams. For $160 million, we have a career utility infielder playing SS, an unimpressive OF, even when healthy, and terrible defense at the catching position. These are glaring deficiencies. You would expect that $160 million could have fixed some of this.

From everything I've heard and read, his return is a real long shot.

That was about $17-18 million for 2010. Where did the other $140+ million go, and why isn't this team better after spending that kind of $?

I want ARod.

Someone posted the other day that they don't expect Tampa to continue playing .750 ball, and neither do I. However, a red hot start like Tampa's can be very difficult to overcome, especially if you are also off to a slow start. If they play .750 ball in their first 24 games (18-6) which is pretty close to their current record and they cool down a bit and play .550 for the next 40 games (22-18), their combined record would be 40-24. That's still .625 ball. If they cool off even more and merely play .500 for the next 36 games (18-18), their combined record would be 58-42 for the first 100 games for a .580 winning percentage. That's a damn good winning percentage and that would be after playing 75 games at a very mediocre clip. Hot starts are hard to overcome. They should not be disregarded because it's just April. When overcoming a hot start, you have to play excellent ball for a prolonged portion of the season and you have to hope for the team you are chasing to go cold. Unless Tampa gets bit by the injury bug, I don't foresee them having prolonged losing stretches. They are a very solid, well-balanced team. If the Sox are going to catch them, they are going to have to beat them in the head to head meetings.

I'm not with you you on this either. If his performance falls off that much, he'll be deemed a big time bust.

Roids are no longer in vogue.

I'm not with you on this. At age 37, his productivity and health will fall off.

$18 million is a shitload to pay for a guy that is a really good team mate. That's about all they will get from Cameron for 2 years.