a700hitter

The yankees need starting pitching and they need to get younger. I am not talking about putting into the rotation 3 kids with the combined ML starting experience of less than 1/2 year. Re-signing ARod until age 42 for more than a quarter of a billion dollars, Posada until age 41, and Lowell for 4 years to age 38 does not help the Yankees accomplish either of their needs.

It's clear that Yankees bid against themselves here. They look more stupid than the Rangers when they signed him to the 10 original 10-year deal. At least he was young when he signed that deal.

It's funny. ARod may be the best player in the history of the game, but when he exercised a contractual right to put himself in a better negotiating position, Yankee fans reacted like spurned lovers, because Cashman and the Yankee FO bluffed a line in the sand. "If you walk out that door ARod, We will not take you back." ARod walks out the door cuing tears and anger by the Yankee fans. Now he is back, and they are happy to have him back, but how do they reconcile letting this whore back into their hearts? They buy into the lie that he came crawling back to his true love-- the Yankees and their most knowledgeable fans. Pathetic. Wake up. It's business. It was a business negotiation by both sides. It wasn't some relationship drama. The Yankees were cleverly tying to hold the Texas money over ARod's head by saying "stay, no one will offer you more than us, and we can both screw Texas in the process. Here's 8 years $225 million." Boras probably realized that no one would pay more than the Yankees, but if he opted out, the Yankees would up the ante, which they did. He called their bluff. Believe what you want Yankee fans, but remember this. In his four years with the Yankees, ARod has won two MVPs, but the Red Sox have won two World Championships. Enjoy your Trophy Player. We'll just enjoy the Championship Trophies.

The Marion Jones plea conviction came out of the same investigation. Bond has more resources than Jones and he is likely not to plead out, but you would have to think the Feds are trying to build a more solid case against Bonds than they did against Jones.

On whose table? BTW: Sterling is just happy he doesn't have to shelve his homer calls: "An A-Bomb by ARod!!" and "A long home run by Alexander the Great" and "A Titanic Blast by Alexander Emanuelle Rodriguez1!!"

It was the right baseball move without question, and that is all that matters, so why are you trying to convince yourself that ARod turned his back on his agent and came running back for a measly $25 million increase over the original Yankee offer, which cost the Yankees an additional $46 million due to losing the Texas money. Clearly, they had ARod over a barrel.

The Yankees had an offer prepared. I am sure that Boras knew what it was. I think there were reports in the press about the offer too.

ARod is very concerned with his image, and if the Yankees commit $275 million to him, they too are concerned with his image. What better way to make ARod look good than to play out the farce that he always wanted to stay a Yankee. Yeah I believe that ARod came crawling back for a deal larger than the one originally offered. If ARod came crawling back, why wouldn't the Yankees say "here is our original offer minus the $21 million forfeited to Texas."? After all, if he came crawling back, they'd have him over a barrel...right? Go ahead .. believe the propaganda. I am sure he never wanted to leave the Yankees, their tradition and NY.

This is all such a farce. The Yankees are trying to save face by saying that they will not negotiate with the evil Boras, but they know all too well that refusing to negotiate with the players agent or asking to exclude the agent is a violation of the Collectively Bargained Agreement. Boras knew that the Yankees would come crawling back on their bellies. All he had to do was leak that they were talking with the Red Sox or the Mets. The Yankees couldn't live with him going to one of those teams. Unfortunately, by throwing the equivalent of a hissy fit by publicly declaring that they would not negotiate with ARod (ooops I meant Boras) if he opted out, the Yankees have generated a tremendous amount of anti-ARod passion and yes venom on behalf of many Yankee fans. I don't understand the strong venomous reaction against ARod for exercising his contractual right.

Have there been any news stories that the White Sox are looking to move Konerko?

I expected Blalock to be a big star, but he has regressed instead of improving. Has the league's pitchers figured him out and he has not adjusted? He's a dead red fastball hitter. He's one of the few hitters that I have seen that could get on top of a Mo Rivera fastball. Is he all he could be, or does he need a change of scenery.

That's a long contract. He'll be a relic by year 3.

Several of them have said that they don't win without Mike Lowell. Ortiz on Conan. Pedroia was quoted at length on the subject. I am sorry that I didn't survey the whole team to have better data.. you smug jerk.

Statistics are indicators of performance and probability, but they do not precisely predict the future. I am not denigrating the use of stats in building a team, but I would doubt that there were any statistical computations that predicted Ohio State losing this weekend or New Orleans losing to the winless Rams. Your opinion is based on your review of statistics, but it is still an opinion. It is no more valid or accurate than that of a dedicated knowledgeable fan. If you asked the guys in the clubhouse, they would probably agree with redsoxrules without consulting any stats. Are their opinions also invalid or less worthy than yours? I think playing with those guys gives the players something more to support their opinions than any of us could offer.

He was the offensive spark plug once he was put at the top of the order. He is totally deserving.

Gagne was so bad pitch after pitch that I thought he would get lynched as he left Fenway. Do you remember that some guy threw a water bottle from the left field seats that landed by the pitchers mound. It seemed to shake up Gagne a good bit. The jerk that threw it had better aim than Gagne.

That statement was made in the wake of an embarrassing year. I think 2006 was a slap of reality to the FO. Theo took responsibility and none other than JH gave the go ahead to be aggressive (i.e., money) in building the team for 2007. Since then I have agreed with the approach they have taken. Maybe I have not agreed with every decision, but I have agreed with the overall approach. I am at a loss at what you are contending. Do you feel challenged that I might like the FO moves more than you do.

I enjoy your posts and learn a lot from them, but I do get tired of your generalizing when it comes to my views. For the 1,000 th time, I'm not against young players. I love the acquisition of Beckett and I still like Dice k although I think he will blow out his arm if he doesn't learn to pitch more efficiently. I've been a big promoter of papelbon since his first appearances in 2005. I think Ellsbury is going to be a star. I like Bucholz a lot. I wouldn't trade either of them for an over the hill overpaid guy. Miggy Cabrera is a young HOF talented player and Santana is a young shut down Cy Young ace. I don't think we have to have these guys, but I would go hard after Santana if the Yankees are making a play for him, because i think that could shift the balance of power in their favor for 3 or 4 years. Please stop generalizing. It gets tiring to explain more than 1,000 times why the stereotype is wrong.

In the 16 1/2 point teaser OHio St was getting 1/2 point. I guess they were very over-rated.