MLB - 2006 Season! Continued!

[Arrian]

54 Wins, 76 Losses. That ain't .500 ball.

In other news, the Yanks are playing badly, but the Red Sox are playing just as badly, so it's a wash for the division. The Yanks are *not* inspiring confidence that they can escape the 1st round, though.

Shocking development! Carl Pavano has had a "setback." Geez, I never would've predicted it!

Keep collecting those checks from uncle Steiny, Carl, you ****wit.

-Arrian

[asleepathewheel]

Jeff Reardon

[Imran Siddiqui]

Nice run recently for the Mets, winning 9 of their last 10, and only 2 behind the Tigers for the best record in baseball .

[Ming]

I think you can put a fork in Boston now... There down slide continues as injuries take their toll.

The Yankees might not be at their best, but they sure look good enough to stay ahead of Boston now.

But you have to love the Pavano story... gets in a car crash, breaks a few ribs, and didn't feel the need to tell the Yankees.... HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!
The line on ESPN radio this morning was great... The Yankees own those ribs, you would think they would like to know what condition they are in

[Arrian]

It's better than that, Ming:

Injured in car crash.
Weeks later, having not said anything, he pitches in a rehab assignment (AA Trenton, I think) and pitches WELL!!
Stories are written about his successful outing and how he's almost ready to join the team...
And THEN he says he's hurt.

There are some rumblings that the Yanks will attempt to void his contract (he's obligated to tell them right away if he's injured, and he clearly did not). But I suspect that it's too much of a minor technicality to get them off the hook. 4 years, $40 million. Yeah, baby.

Boston does indeed look done. They were having enough trouble before the latest rash of injuries hit. Now they're a total MASH unit.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

NEW YORK -- Yankees pitcher Carl Pavano has a pair of broken ribs, sustained in a mid-August car accident that the oft-injured right-hander didn't tell the team about until Monday.

Pavano, who hasn't played in the major leagues since June 27, 2005, due to shoulder, back, buttocks and elbow injuries, is scheduled for a medical checkup Tuesday and remains on track to make his final rehabilitation start Wednesday for Triple-A Columbus at Durham.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was unusually pointed in his remarks about Pavano, who signed a $39.95 million, four-year contract with the Yankees as a free agent before the 2005 season and went 4-6 with a 4.77 ERA in 17 major league starts before going on the disabled list.

"I think it's obviously frustrating, disappointing. There's a lot of words which would come to mind," Cashman said. "Of course I'm angry. ... I've got an army of people here that we provide to put our players in the best position possible to succeed, and I don't want anybody to sabotage that by holding back. And clearly here, for a period of time that took place."

New York had hoped Pavano possibly would be able to rejoin its rotation this week, filling the spot opened when Mike Mussina went on the disabled list last week with a strained right groin. Pavano and Cashman both expressed hope that this latest injury wouldn't keep Pavano from rejoining the major league team when rosters expand this week.

The Yankees would not comment on whether they will pursue any action against Pavano contract-wise. Prior to the 2004 season, the organization terminated the contract of Aaron Boone, who hurt his knee while playing basketball in the offseason, a violation of his contract.

"I still want to pitch and get through this," said Pavano, who has been trying to come back from surgery on May 25 to remove a bone chip from his right elbow.

Pavano said he was hurt early Aug. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla., when on a rainy night his car hit a puddle, spun out of control and hit a truck that was at a stop sign.

"There was no ambulance or anything. I was able to walk away from it," Pavano said. "I had my seat belt on. I think that's the area where maybe I got injured, is where the seat belt was."

Pavano lives in West Palm Beach and had permission to go home, Cashman said. Pavano said his lack of performance with the Yankees led to his decision not to initially inform the team.

"It's been pretty frustrating for not only the city, the team, my teammates, myself, management," he said. "It just seems like it's one thing after another. I'm not impervious to this because I make a lot of money and I play baseball."

After the accident, Pavano pitched four shutout innings that night for Class A Tampa at Brevard County, the first of three rehab starts.

"It just seems like there's a lot of distractions that are caused by me that go around with the team, and I figured that, at the time, it was something I could get through," he said. "I felt all right. I knew something was wrong, I didn't know the extent of it, but I figured that I'd pitch through it and it would get better. I just didn't seem to get better, and that's the only reason why I really went to the team."

Pavano pitched six innings for Columbus last Friday and told the Yankees he felt rib discomfort the following day, when the team was thinking about bringing him to the major leagues for his next start. A baseball official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team is only just starting its own investigation, said Pavano did not tell the club about the accident until Monday, when a scan revealed the injury.

"I needed a doctor's opinion on what kind of treatment I needed," he said. "I figured the best thing to do was come clean with it and get the right treatment."

Cashman rejected the notion that Pavano told the team then because he didn't want to pitch again at the major league level. He said Pavano threw a side session Monday.

"We have had players play with this issue before," Cashman said.

It sounds like they're gonna make him pitch through it. Good.

-Arrian

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Arrian
That really is a disgrace. Reminds me of the late 90s Orioles... but probably worse.



I take it, therefore, that you had no complaints whatsoever concerning the Yankees payroll during the late 90s dynasty?

Yeah, right! I bet you were whining about it then, too. Waaaa, "MFYs" waaaa.

Not about the payroll. Like always, I just flat out hated the MFY in general, but the payroll was nothing special then.

Forbes.com on the value of the Red Sox as of 2005: http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/...&datatype=Misc

They are listed as #2 at $563 million. The Yankees are #1 at $950 million. The Mets are #3 with $505. The Dodgers are 4th at $424 mil, then it's the Mariners, Cubs, Phillies, Braves, Giants and Cardinals.

Thus, the Yankees clearly blow everyone away in resources. Duh. Then the Red Sox & Mets. Then it drops off fast.

-Arrian

Speculative "value" for possible sale purposes or for Forbes' ****s and grins doesn't necessarily translate to payroll capabilities year by year.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Arrian


It sounds like they're gonna make him pitch through it. Good.

-Arrian

Oooh, Cash Man's so cuuuute when he talks tough.

[Arrian]

Speculative "value" for possible sale purposes or for Forbes' ****s and grins doesn't necessarily translate to payroll capabilities year by year.

It's probably a better measure than anything put out there by MLB or the Red Sox themselves. All MLB bull**** about their finances. That being said, yes, franchise value does not necessarily translate directly into this year's payroll.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

I found this article interesting, because of the discussion I had with Imran about the Marlins.

Is Larry Beinfest History’s Greatest Monster?
by John Brattain
September 01, 2006

Is Larry Beinfest History’s Greatest Monster?

I guess that depends on whom you ask.

To begin with, I’d like to hearken back to something we discussed last November:

Despite the fire sale, general manager Larry Beinfest has done his usual outstanding job in the Delgado/Beckett/Lowell deals and gotten some nice young talent. Remember, he got you a year’s worth of Carlos Delgado for just $4 million (plus what he sent to the Mets), and as long as he is in charge the team will always have a bright future.

It’s not often the word “outstanding” can be an understatement. The red-hot Marlins, fresh off a nine-game winning streak, have closed within 2.5 games of a playoff berth in the NL. In fact, of their final 30 games, one-third are against their fellow Wild Card contenders Philadelphia Phillies.

Suffice it to say the Padres, Reds and possibly the Dodgers and Cardinals are praying for a 5-5 split which would probably eliminate both clubs from the mix. I’m guessing that the Fish/Phillies need to win seven of their head-to-head to have a really viable shot at significant October baseball.

Regardless, if the Fish do reach the postseason it just opens up several cans of worms that make me wonder if Bud Selig, Jeffrey Loria and David Samson might just consider attempting to do to Beinfest what they did to the Montreal Expos.

Why?

Well, as you all know the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires at the end of the year. Further, as has been discussed here more times than most care to recall, Selig and the Marlins have been whining lying asserting that the only way the Marlins can be competitive is for somebody to build them a Taj Majal mallpark on the public dime.

So thanks to the hard work of Larry Beinfest and his staff, the Florida Marlins, with an opening day payroll of less than 50% of their revenue-sharing subsidies and an admittedly crummy ballpark lease, might end up in the postseason.

Let’s assume the Marlins win the Wild Card. How can David Samson with a straight face go to any South Florida politician, look him straight in the kneecap, and say that the two-time World Champion and 2006 Wild Card-winning Florida Marlins need a new stadium to compete and if they don’t, they’ll…

Um…have another fire sale and cut payroll?

I guess they could trade Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis (might I suggest Toronto?); they’d have to fire Beinfest first, however, lest he get even more good young cheap players and win the NL East.

And that just wouldn’t do.

Of course in the meantime Selig will be trying to discover ways to use the word aberration as a noun, verb, adverb, pronoun, adjective, conjunction, and colloquialism since he has to sell the idea that salary restrictions (to the Major League Baseball Players Association) and enhanced revenue sharing (to large market/revenue teams) are required so teams like Florida can compete with big money teams like the Red Sox, Cubs and Angels.

I’m guessing that there are a number of revenue-sharing contributors who aren’t too thrilled with the idea that the Marlins took their $31 million welfare check, spent $15 million of it on payroll and made it to the postseason while they’re staying home.

If the Marlins do win the NL Wild Card Bud Selig, Jeffrey Loria and David Samson may well conclude that Larry Beinfest is history’s greatest monster. After all Selig is undoubtedly aghast at any idea that even hints at making huge profits without substantial contributions from taxpayers, large-revenue teams and baseball players.

Earning money from hard work is for peons like us.

Linky:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/is-larry-beinfest-historys-greatest-monster/

$31 million in revenue sharing, $15 million payroll and a possible wild-card berth (I don't think they will make it, but they will be within a few games of it). Impressive. Not to people in Florida, apparently, though.

-Arrian

[Stuie]

The Phillies need a new bullpen.

And a new manager.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Stuie
The Phillies need a new bullpen.

And a new manager.

Is that all... you got it easy.

The Cubs need a new General Manager, a new Manager, 3 or more starting pitchers who can actually stay healthy enough to pitch, a real closer, another outfielder... and on, and on, and on

[Imran Siddiqui]

The Cubs need to finish the season ahead of the Pirates. Man, that would be embarrasing... though if there was any doubts that Dusty would be gone...

[Arrian]

I saw a quote from Dusty Baker the other day that was so mind-blowingly stupid I was stunned that *anyone* in MLB could say it.

Here it is:

"On-base percentage is great if you can score runs and do something with that on-base percentage. On-base percentage just to clog up the bases isn’t that great to me."
--Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker (Daily Herald).

Que? The Cubs have many problems, and this man is one of them. Wow.

...

Schadenfreude:

Annibal Sanchez: 7-2, 2.89 ERA, 1 no-hitter.
Hanley Ramirez: .283/.347/.459 (SS)

Josh Beckett: 14-10, 5.11 ERA.
Mike Lowell: .286/.340/.474 (3B).

Even adjusting for NL vs. AL, that’s gotta hurt. The ballpark effects prolly wash, because you've got a hitter and a pitcher in each.

But the Red Sox develop young players and will be a juggernaut for years to come and the Yankees trade all their prospects for old crappy veterans, right?

-Arrian

p.s. Of course it may well end up looking better than this in a couple of years... or it could get worse. We don't know yet. But right now... well, it warms my heart.

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Stuie
The Phillies need a new bullpen.

And a new manager.

Seems to me that the Phillies need more pitching in general. The starting rotation isn't really very good, is it? Beyond wife beater, I mean.

-Arrian