Comments on: …. Eat it

By: Burton

Burton — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 11:12:13 +0000

More Hardball wants to know who has the hottest fans in baseball. We’vl be running a set of posts over the past month or so featuring images of each teams’ hotties, with a voting poll to crown a champion. We’ve crowned champs of the AL East (BoSox), Central (ChiSox), West (Angels), and AL Wild Card (A’s) already, and we’re now moving on to the National League. The Phillies won the NL East, the Cubbies took the NL Central, and now it’s time to move out to the NL West. Sticking true to Major League Baseball’s roots, there will be an eight team playoff system where the winners of each division square off with the addition of a wild card team to determine who wins the pennant and represents each league in the World Series of Hotness.

Link: http://morehardball.blogspot.com/2009/03/hottest-fans-of-nl-west.html

Give it a plug if you like it, thanks.

By: Paul at Hum Hydro

Paul at Hum Hydro — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:20:23 +0000

Hi Johnny, read a bunch of your blogs, very entertaining and outspoken and refreshingly honest. A pleasure to read. Paul

By: marc

marc — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:00:29 +0000

Gosh, not even a bucket of balls?

I agree Bochy probably had some influence, but still, it seems so obvious – one has to remember that he was injured, but even if he wasn’t, he never was much more than replacement level. Certainly not $9 million more. Only good enough to be a starter on a, ahem, bad team….

By: Top O’ The Order: Korea KOs Tapei in its WBC opener | Boobs and More

Top O’ The Order: Korea KOs Tapei in its WBC opener | Boobs and More — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:34:23 +0000

[...] [Federal Baseball] • Giants release Dave Roberts; fan moves closer to massive coronary. [OBM] • Not surprisingly, Ken Griffey accounts for two of the Mariners’ five biggest subplots of [...]

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:12:23 +0000

To be fair you might have to lay some of the blame for the acquisition of Dave Roberts on Bruce Bochy, whose wing he was most certainly under. After two uncharacteristically average years at San Diego Roberts returned to his sub-par norm with a vengeance. I, for one, am very pleased to see him gone. No, you could not get anything in trade for Roberts, not a bucket of balls or a fungo bat, even from the Red Sox who, apparently, love him for having stolen a base. He has been a one tool player since he joined San Francisco and when he hurt his knee he became a zero tool player. It is only because of Roberts’ spectacular sub-mediocrity that the acquisition of Aaron Rowand was even palatable. Hell, at the time I nearly wept with joy; Rowand would occasionally catch balls hit over his head (although he usually breaks in on those).
I believe Sabean was convinced to sign Roberts by Bruce Bochy and, perhaps, through the use of hypnotism. Roberts is a real nice guy, or so I hear, and I mean no disrespect, but I am glad he is gone.

By: B

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:22:13 +0000

To quote Baggs at the Merc:

“GM Brian Sabean said he shopped Roberts all winter and ths spring, hoping to move at least some of his contract. But it became clear that wasn’t happening, and the team needed “to start zeroing in on guys like (Eugenio) Velez and (John) Bowker,” Sabean said.

“It just didn’t seem there was a light at the end of the tunnel,” Sabean said.”

Nobody was willing to give us anything for Roberts, prospect or contract-wise. Players like Roberts are easy to find for free – he pretty much defines replacement level. Teams knew they could either sign someone else for the minimum or wait until we release Roberts and pay him the minimum, why would they give up anything?

John – I disagree with you that we’re being told we can’t afford to sign better players. We ended up with Zito because neither Lee nor Soriano were interested in our offers. It just doesnt’ make sense to go after a guy like Tex right now because our team is being built to be a real contender 2-3 years or so down the road. We’d get the most value out of Tex in the first few years of the contract before our team is really ready to contend for a WS, and by the time we were, his production likely wouldn’t live up to his contract anymore. I think the Giants are being patient in going after a superstar, waiting for the right situation, and guys like Renteria are just stopgaps until we find the right guy at the right time. Zito and Rowand’s contracts don’t help, though…ugh.

By: +mia

+mia — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:04:37 +0000

“I clearly have no understanding of Brian Sabean.”

Clearly this is a sign of mental health. It reminds of the little vignette that my favorite player of all time, Jim Bouton, tells about his wife, Paula. She said of a very corrupt banker-adversary in a dispute in front of the Pittsfield Town Council: “He was a good looking man and had a wonderful speaking voice…but than he ruined it all by standing up and speaking.

By: marc

marc — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:28:36 +0000

Idiotic contract aside (is it so hard for GMs to look at career stats?), what I just don’t understand about this kind of stuff (see: Pierszynki) is, okay, nobody’s gonna eat Robert’s contract, but why on earth don’t the Giants trade him to somebody and at least get some 28 year old A leaguer who throws 95 mph with the minor problem that it’s over the backstop? Or a guy that can hit them 500 feet but bats .125?

Maybe I’m missing some catch, but it seems like getting anything or anybody whatsoever is better than just paying Roberts for nothing. A shot in the dark, sure, but better than zero.

I clearly have no understanding of Brian Sabean.