Taliesin

Watch out Cam...you're going to get multi-quoted by the Bill James of the Internet by posting the exact line-up of next years team. And he will be angry. And dull. And he will smite. And he will lack reading comprehension. And will despise thouest who have a sense of humor and a sense of serious and who haven't spent several stints at Bridgewater. Mumbling numbers like Rainman.

http://bosoxbanter.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/2007/03/jayhawk_bill_sa.html pretty infamous aren't ya Bill. Squawking and preening everywhere.

Ya think? Pitchers are notoriously fragile. He is clearly the most dominant left-handed pitcher and may be the best pitcher in baseball. I'll argue Beckett. He also has a lot of miles on that arm and showed some clear signs of slowing down last year. He's 27 but that's in dog years. Fans of shiny things get distracted by the big picture. Forest meet trees. I don't think we need to do a damn thing except tweak. If Haren becomes available at a reasonable price...I'd jump, but not at the insane asking prices. The MFY's don't have the farm to offer anything reasonable for any of them unless they are willing to offer 2 of their 3. I understand the arguments. I know the numbers. I also get The Game and I'm quite content w/ keeping the guys we have...trading Coco for some solid bullpen arms and adding a little bench strength. No way we trade Ellsbury. And who said earlier the 1-9 should have him at 9. He and Dusty are the 1-2 for the next 6 years. He's the leadoff hitter we've been waiting for since the dawn of time.

Correct

Oh no...sigh. Somehow I knew that your exact accountants mind and mine would clash at some point, but I've got too much going on right now to do it justice. As to your first sentence. I'll consult my psychologist. I was never hugged as a child. I don't think I suggested that people who judge others are pedophiles. I'm sort of abstract in the way that I think, and write, almost always sarcastic, but I'm reasonably certain that I didn't suggest that. If I did, I'm an idiot and I'll permanently withdraw the field and send myself to a very very cold place...preferably Siberia. In December. With those big fuzzy hats. I don't see how commenting that I respond viscerally w/ saying I don't like cold judgmental people is even close to being relevant to any argument....less the one that I'm not actually having w/ anyone. I was talking about the holier than thou attitude. If you felt the shoe fit than sobeit. I could tie shoestrings around your very precise and statistically valid arguments until the cows (and you see how I turned it back around to the moo mentality) come home but I've got a crazed ex and a mortgage. You can quote Federal code and what not forever. Baseball Anthologies till the end of time. Claim flame wars....I actually have other stuff to do, but I'll be happy to continue the dialogue in Spring. Please refrain from the armchair Freud routine if you don't mind. Cause darlin' I've got your number.

Anyway, I'll respond viscerally like I do with everything else. Logical arguments and quotes from codes aside...believe me I know them well. As much a passionate baseball fan as I am, I'm not sure I can equate a President of the most powerful nation on earth making up a war and inciting genocide (see Bill: Kosovo) to cover his indiscretions so to speak, to some doofus baseball player "cheating" on his taxes or another ego fluffed baseball player using substances that weren't banned at the time. The court of public opinion...no doubt should be on castigating these individuals. Stay w/ me here...the analogies aren't even close. The lists of the worst offenses pale. Rotten things in this tiny microcosm..yes. I don't think you can compare the proponent of mass killings w/ some guy fighting dogs in Virginia or some other dude shooting up whatever..anywhere. Of his own volition. I should probably recuse myself of the tax argument in any case because I think we are just cows to the machine and there should be a national sales tax and no income or property tax..but that's just me...moo. So, "cheating" becomes only an argument if you are slaves to the machine and just do as you're told and don't exact change on an individual level. As we get squeezed into proverbial boxcars and how's Britney doing? Can't smoke, can't drink, can't drive, can't, can't, can't except pay the man. The D.O.D. works in overtime. I'll be an expatriate in 2 years and you will enjoy 8 more years of the most powerful and evil couple in modern times. There's a reason the Aztecs looked at 2012 as the end days. BTW. Jetesy can f*** as many hookers as he likes and not pay their parking tab. The hell do I care about his personal life other than some kind of odd voyeuristic journey into the darkness of his soul and the Post needs to sell more papers. Y'all can leave the moral argument out the door. I can control my own ethics. That's it. This holier than thou attitude is generally promulgated by those who can't keep their frocks off 11 year old boys. I don't trust the judgmental.

Commissars and pin-striped bosses roll the dice Any way they fall guess who gets to pay the price How much do I love that is the actual line from the song....quite a bit.

And the whole world full of petty wars Singing I got mine and you got yours. And the current fashions set the pace. Lose your step, fall out of grace. And the radical he rant and rage, singing someone got to turn the page And the rich man in his summer home, Singing just leave well enough alone But his pants are down, his covers blown

Yeah...like 275 or 300+ make a fiddler's f*** of a difference. It's monopoly money at that point. You're not really arguing that are you. Yes...I suppose you are. First of all...what? The analogy to the Dice-K deal is absurd. There actually is direct revenue coming in from that deal to offset the 51 million to speak with him. I imagine it's already been recouped and been tripled...winning the World Series I'm sure made the Red Sox caps in Tokyo fly off the shelves. John Henry is smarter than the brothers Karamazov. There is a 200 million dollar difference. Dice-K has more big game hits than your boy who you threw away like a two dollar hooker less than a week ago. Where's the direct revenue coming in from this deal? The Queens in Queens who are going to spend all their trick money on merchandise now? The (whichever nationality/race he decides he is) crew will get behind him so to speak and pay for the new Stadium? Bad advice...right. You've never spent a moment in an environment of negotiation clearly and this whole thing was smoke and mirrors and softball/hardball type of ********...they've got the P.R. thing down to a science. Had every intention every last one of them of attempting to upstage the W.S. and every single one of them knew that they needed each other no matter how much they actually despise one another. The Fraud doesn't get more than a 180 offer from any other team and the MFY's would be left w/out their drama and their main draw on the national scale. Big Stein's sons continue his legacy and I can only hope they keep on keeping on.

And this is the last sentence I'd ever think myself uttering as a free-market capitalist. There needs to be a salary cap in this game. I'll take my chances on my team being smarter. The MLBPA has run amok. Arguably, the most monied and powerful union operating today. Socialism at it's finest while holding the balls of everyone in its path. It worked great during the brief period it was supposed to last. FDR was the worst president in the history of this country (although Fillmore tried) and his policies resound. Rugged individualism and all that, tainted by the meek shall inherit my taxes. Anyway, I don't want to hear anymore...who has the second highest payroll as an argument by the snide and the O's fans. Let's get it on ala Marvin Gaye and just play the game and who falls..falls.

Reached out to mend fences. How old are you? I know this place is schizophrenic and I'm alternately having logical conversations w/ 11 year olds and arguing vehemently w/ shut ins and the reasonable, and I suppose that is my choice, but I'm bored and it's winter. Regardless...you're buying the spin that the media is throwing up to you, you've proven yourself a hypocrite, you're backtracking, dancing, doing the jig. Regurgitating absurd arguments, jacking off to your AROD poster...did I mention hypocrisy. Look...I respect you people when you are consistent. You sir...are not. Parameters...right. mwid.

No problem man. Sometimes things get lost in translation in this form. I do kid around quite a bit and in person it's easy to see....this way...not so much.

No Kilo...not scary stats. I use them all the live long day at work. They ain't the end all and be all and only 1/3 of the story. I was being facetious. Sarcasm...you've heard of it? I was kidding. You do have a stick up your ass a bit. This is just people talking baseball and goofing around late at night while drinking I assume. I'm sure Jayhawk will appreciate your defense of his honor. You might try getting laid once in awhile. On another note...most recent quotes. "The past is the past. I don't know what brought about him approaching us," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said in a telephone interview. "I guess you could say things didn't go the way before that he intended on and weren't handled properly or whatever. "But the bottom line, the only thing that really matters, is he wants to stay a Yankee (or they were the only team willing to pay him what he wanted). And it could be very well that he's always wanted to stay a Yankee (threw up in my mouth a little bit) and we just didn't know it." Rodriguez, likely to win his third AL MVP award next week, had not made any public statements since becoming a free agent following the Yankees' first-round loss to Cleveland in the playoffs. After consulting with his wife and family (and his male stripper friends at the sleepover at Jetesys), Rodriguez reached out to Hank and his brother, Hal, through a third party. "It became clear to me that I needed to make an attempt to engage the Yankees regarding my future with the organization," Rodriguez said in a statement. "Prior to entering into serious negotiations with other clubs (none of whom wanted him even a little bit at anywhere near his salary demands), I wanted the opportunity to share my thoughts directly with Yankees' ownership. We know there are other opportunities for us, but Cynthia and I have a foundation with the club that has brought us comfort, stability and happiness." (laughs uncontrollably)

And MJ...this is exactly why I've found you so oddly endearing all these years....very fond of you in this type of frantic diatribe. Also, this post made me laugh. And, you've never been a hypocrite. Wrong almost always, but never a hypocrite and for that I'm getting rid of my signature and replacing it with my new favorite target. Jayhawk Bill. Until Fred comes back.

"Even if he comes back, my opinion on him won't change after this. He talked and talked about how he was willing to give money back to go to a winner. How he wanted to play in New Yankee Stadium. And it was all ********. I gave him the benefit of the doubt on it, and I was wrong. He's a phony who's only chasing money" __________________ Proud Member of the Greatest Rivalry in Sports 9-11-01 FDNYPD We will not forget. Just because it's a rivalry doesn't mean you need to make retarded arguments. f*** this. I love a little hypocrisy in the morning...it smells like victory. MWID.

just striving for accuracy

You should be careful w/ absolutes.....never & always. I agree with the Yankee fan lawyer in this article. "In the ONLY season that counts" and "Are you people insane?" http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2007/11/11/2007-11-11_scott_boras_talks_big_bucks_but_arod_lac-8.html

In any case 700, you're intentionally provocative to stir lively debate and that's the point I imagine, otherwise we'd just be virtually high-fiving each other and that gets old. You also do not resort to juvenile retorts like "WOW" when you have no intelligent response and your moniker doesn't allude to your use of a controlled substance. We can agree to disagree w/ a modicum of civility and that's what's missing in today's crude culture. Forgive me if I don't write a 4,000 word essay w/ cut and pastes and stats going back to Mathewson's time. Clearly, you have class and sense of humor and that's been apparent for awhile.

I'll laugh w/ you in a year or two when Ellsbury wins the MVP. He is no longer just a prospect. The real deal he is. After him...all bets are off. Pitching is incredibly precarious and prospects in that arena are simply just that. I'd trade the top two seemingly untouchables for Santana plus whoever else they can throw at them. Cabrera....you are wrong. I'm chuckling myself.

She, but thanks for the compliment. I think. And the overblown apocalyptic scenario was not my intent or my position. I do love that we just won the World Series twice in my lifetime and we can still have heated arguments in November about the greatest game ever invented. Used to think I'd be content w/ just winning the damn thing once. Ride off into the sunset assuaged w/ final victory. Turns out I just love the game, and that team which plays in that lyrical little bandbox all year round. It's that passion and a faithfulness that has stayed w/ me for decades and carries me through many obstacles and a quality I've passed on to my daughter. In these small matters which translate into character and into larger ones which define it.

I'll send him a stripper gram for you. I mean group hug. Now, he's a vilified misunderstood man-oh-the-people. (Has Boras stopped by your house tonight?) While he rapes and pillages his way to an obscene contract that could support most third-world nations, not to mention buy 11 major league teams. I've never been a cap person, but he's starting to change my mind. And, hey I'm a capitalist and go for it...but Yeesh. No...he doesn't lollygag...so to speak. He slaps balls ....ah hem and yells Ha! and generally offends people who play the game right (and before you start w/ the Manny argument I'll stop ya...Manny has a W.S. MVP) Arguably, the most physically gifted baseball player of perhaps all time. What you little one's don't see are intangibles. Yes, I'm sure the transcendent shine of all of our players in all of their glory would make him a humble servant of the lord of baseball. The naivete is astounding. Crunchy can be forgiven because he's been voting Democrat since Truman and has some ingrained mental defect in general and poor P.C. is stuck in a frozen communist country that wants to defect and elect Ben and Jerry as President, but since the majority believes the fraud as the second coming I'll just retreat to my expatriate dreams. Can you spell duped? He doesn't "say" anything BTW. He's a glossy P.R. machine. The opposite of all that I like about baseball players and THE GAME in general, and that's just my f***ing opinion.

Excellent post PC and I don't buy into the media manipulation in any way as I imagine you know about me by now. Jim Ed was reviled by their ilk..the list of our own players who have been eaten by the wolves is legion. See: Shank: Manny/Schilling/Petey et al. Buckley blows, etc. Teddy Ballgame was a wonderfully cantankerous thorn in their sides for years and only revisionist history on their part changed the dynamic of that relationship in their minds. Yaz was a cranky, non-speaking curmudgeon. They revile and spit upon those who deign not to bow to their absolute power which corrupts absolutely. Eddie Murray comes to mind. This guys own teammates despise him. He is universally disliked ...and that is by actual quotes and non-quotes and non-support in the most telling situations when you would think someone (and not just the kid he ostensibly saved from a bus) would say anything to support him. Ya...I think his leaving was a big f*** you to the bozo MWID fan base and the constant unending pressure to play in that cesspool under those bright lights. He should definitely come to to friendly Fenway where hardly anyone cares about game results and the denizens of the Boring Broadsheet will give him puff pieces every day of his career. Much less pressure to play in Boston. He didn't do a damn think when it counted in that Cleveland series. Dice-K has bigger post-season hits. Throw down the .300...it matters naught. This isn't a trip down memory lane and absolutely that 04' team should have been dismantled and only nostalgia would have said otherwise. There is a glaring possible hole as a RH power hitter in the not to distant future. We need a catcher pretty soon. 3B is up in the air. We also have a core nucleus that was not there in 03' 04' ...for years to come ...built on...wait for it. PITCHING. Which is the most important thing IMHO. :-)

Well then don't bother, because I'm not arguing with you or anyone else. I'm expressing an opinion. Lot's of players have that kind of ego. No way to succeed at that level without having an enormous opinion of your ability. Not simply arguing that he is a colossal dick...could care less about that in reality. I don't know any of these people personally. For all I know Schilling kicks his dog on a regular basis. This isn't Petey w/ his quirks, this is a person who will bring the circus to town every day and not in a good way. Actually no circus is good...clowns frighten me. He's a huge clown. This a person who not only thinks he's above the "beautiful game"...he deters from it in ways that I find egregious. If you ask me to explain it by connect the dot numbers, it's not going to happen, because it's just a feeling I get when watching how he goes about his merry smarmy way in every respect. The team ain't broke. Doesn't need fixing...just some tweaking. Greed...with apologies to Gordon Gecko ain't good and every single moment of the next ten years would be about him. Not willing to sell my soul just yet and this isn't a remake of Damn Yankees.

Abject futility when it really counts and a divisive personality who commands LOOK AT ME, ME, ME into the first truly cohesive team from the top down, in my lifetime. I totally agree.