Blogs By Fans

7/2/09: Zito Betrayed

2009-07-03T03:51:30Z

Cardinals 5, Giants 2: Dammit if Barry Zito didn't deserve better. If Giants' defenders made two extremely makeable plays tonight, he would have given up three runs at most. In the first inning, Fred Lewis lost a ball in the lights, or in the stands, or in the grass, or in his mind, and what should have been one out, man on first, turned into second and third, no outs, and eventually three runs scored without another ball into the outfield. Zito wasn't blameless: he nibbled, he walked Yadier Molina with the bases loaded, he screwed up a play at first base (though it didn't lead to extra runs). He was not overpowering, and thus he couldn't wiggle out of a jam not entirely of his own making.

In the fifth inning, with runners on second and third, no out, Ishikawa fielded a ground ball and had a play at the plate but bobbled it. Instead he got the sure out at first. After an intentional walk for Pujols, Justin Miller came in, hung a slider that Ludwick whacked up the middle, and the Cards had their fifth run, all earnies charged to Zito. His seven Ks tell you he had good stuff tonight, but not good enough to escape from his teammates' sloppy play and, as so often befalls Zito this year, zippo run support.

I gave the team slack last night because Adam Wainwright was doing his nasty thing, but tonight the Cards started Todd Wellemeyer, who has sucked all year. Not against the Giants. Funny how that works.

I'm giving Zito the benefit of the doubt tonight, but since June began he has snuck back more frequently to the Bad Barry Barrio, which raises a caution flag: What if The Big Unit continues his pattern -- seven innings max, more likely 5+ with two or three runs allowed -- and the Zito revival we saw earlier this year completely fades out? Add to that a unsettled fifth slot, and suddenly the Giants' spectacular rotation becomes Lincecum, Cain and pray the Unit's not feeling back pain. I'm not pushing any panic buttons, but it's never too early to have a quiet discussion with slightly sweaty palms. Are you worried? Do the Giants have enough starting pitching depth? Discuss.

Andre Miller's Disappearing Leverage

2009-07-02T18:44:28Z

Thank you, Joe Dumars. While I firmly believe the two free agent signing Dumars made yesterday will cripple his team, there's another reason to be thankful for his decisive action on the free agent market. He took one bullet out of Andre Miller's gun.
]]> Reports indicate Miller is asking for a contract worth about $30M for 3 years. The Sixers are willing to offer 2 years, maybe $16M. Here's the sad fact for Miller, if Hedo Turkoglu signs in Portland, Miller's leverage is effectively reduced to nil. Perhaps Toronto could renounce a couple of contracts and clear enough money to pay Miller's asking price, but that's doubtful, especially with Jose Calderon in place. Sacramento may be willing to pay Miller, but they don't have that kind of cap space either, and I don't think they suffer any illusions that they have a window in the next three years or so. Miller to Sacto just doesn't make sense.

Memphis ate up most of their cap space in the Zach Randolph trade and Oklahoma City is primed to use theirs on a young player, like Paul Millsap. To put it bluntly, Andre Miller will be screwed if/when Portland uses up its cap space on Hedo Turkoglu.

Look at it this way, any other team who wants his services will have two choices - 1. Offer him the MLE, 2. Work out a sign and trade with the Sixers. A three-year, full MLE deal will be worth about $18M, maybe a little more. For a sign-and-trade, Miller needs the Sixers to agree. Here's the question, is 2 years, $16M preferable to 3 years, $18M? You'd have to think so, wouldn't you?

If you're feeling inpatient and want the Sixers to do something big, just think about this situation for a couple of minutes. The more time passes, the more the leverage shifts to the Sixers. Pretty soon, teams will even start using their MLE on other players. The list of teams who could potentially offer Miller a contract will shrink, and he's going to have to either take less than the Sixers offered to play elsewhere, crumble and take the Sixers' offer, or beg the Sixers to work out a sign-and-trade, which they may or may not be willing to do. Any way you slice it, though, the Sixers are in the driver's seat in these negotiations. Eventually, Miller is going to need them a lot more than they need him.

Things could shift in the other direction if Kidd, Bibby and Sessions find homes elsewhere, but even then, I'm not 100% convinced the Sixers believe they need to add one of the starter-level points this Summer. They may very well just go with a vet minimum guy to join the PG rotation.

7/1/09: A Tolerable Loss

2009-07-02T15:14:28Z

Cardinals 2, Giants 1: On another night, in another month, with a different Giant team, this might have been a 6-0 loss. At risk of making my middle name Pollyanna, I thought this wasn't too bad, as losses go. First, the Giants hit a lot of balls hard. Karmic cyclery, perhaps, for the team's "ground attack" of bloops and bleeders and choppers that have won several games this year. Second, Matt Cain didn't have his best stuff but threw a beautiful game, with Romo and Affeldt to follow. Third, I can't blame Bobby Howry for surrendering the game-winning homer to Rasmus in the 10th. He should have had Rasmus on a strike three, then on a foul pop. On 3-2 he had to come with a fastball with Pujols on deck. Howry did his job; Rasmus just did a better job.

What's more, I'm not too steamed about the missed opportunity in the eighth, when the Giants loaded the bases with no outs (thanks in part to a blown call at first base) and only scored one. The key to the inning was the 3-2 curveball Wainwright threw to the Panda for a swinging strike three. That's balls-out pitching. With Wainwright at the top of his game last night, Molina did a great job getting the sac fly to tie the game. A little more toward the alley and it might have been a three-run double.

Best part about the game, though? Hearing Cardinal fans boo when Albert Pujols was intentionally walked. Oh, I'm sorry, did you just drive 200 miles through endless cornfields and a tornado storm with three screaming kids in your minivan to watch Pujols hit? I feel your pain. Wait, it was here somewhere. I must have misplaced it. I'll go look for your pain; meanwhile, Cardinal fans, go suck 688 eggs.

Progress So Far?

2009-07-02T12:18:29Z

A comment last night from TK76 got me thinking. Let's assume the Sixers make no significant moves this Summer. Say they fill out their roster with Dionte Christmas and a few low-impact veteran minimum contracts. What would that mean for the 2009-2010 season? I'll give you some of the factors to consider after the jump, then have at it in the comments and vote in the poll.
]]> Let's assume this is your 10-man rotation and the final two guys on the active roster won't see much action:

PG: Williams, Holiday
SG: Iguodala, Green
SF: Thad, Kapono
PF: Brand, Speights
C: Dalembert, Smith

Here are things we need to take into account, questions that need to be answered:

Eddie Jordan vs. Tony DiLeo/Mo Cheeks as coach
Losing Miller
Gaining Brand/Smith
The team's willingness to play Iguodala, Thad and Brand at the 2,3,4
The team's possible insistence on playing Brand at the 5
Learning and implementing the Princeton offense
Very, very little PG experience on the team
Dalembert's reaction to a reduced role
Team defense if Dalembert's minutes are significantly cut
The maturation of the young core (Thad, Iguodala, Speights, Lou)
Jrue Holiday's learning curve
Changes in the Eastern Conference (have the Cavs, Magic, Pistons improved themselves with major moves. Boston is a year older)

Weigh those factors and give me a super-early prediction for the Sixers' win total in the poll below. As usual, we'll use the comments to discuss this as well as the happenings around the league throughout the day.

St. Louis Loves Their Colby Jack

2009-07-02T11:15:24Z

As most of you know, my first name is Daniel. Daniel, of course, was a prophet in the Old Testament. For one night, at least, I got a chance to emulate my forbearer.

During last night's UCB Radio Hour, Nick from Pitchers Hit Eighth and I discussed the game as it was happening, including wondering about the Giants' philosophy toward Albert Pujols in the 10th inning. Nick then asked me if I had any predictions about the bottom of the extra frame and, after a little consideration, something along this vein popped out:

"What about Colby taking care of it?"

Not that I expected much in the way of accuracy, but when after a long at-bat (and, I found out later, an egregious error by the Giants' third baseman) the ball flew out of the ballpark, Colby Rasmus had indeed earned himself a Hero tag. And it's nice to know the one time I'm actually right, it's recorded for posterity.

Without that personal connection, though, Adam Wainwright definitely would be getting the nod. It's always good to see the Wagonmaker in top form. He's been a little erratic this year, but when he gets into the groove, watch out. Twelve strikeouts, one earned run (after loading the bases with none out in the eighth) and was in command all night. Ryan Franklin also did a good job of locking down the tough part of the Giants lineup to set the stage for Rasmus's blast.

It's the second time this year Wainwright has gone over 120 pitches. It's also the second time in five starts. After his last outing of that nature, the next time out he gave up one run in seven innings, so hopefully he won't be negatively affected by the large work load. There's also an extra day in there for him between starts this time, so that should help as well.

On the Goat side, it has to be Joe Thurston. No hits in four at-bats with three strikeouts, including one in the eighth when the Cards had a chance to win it.

Quite a bit of other news in Cardinal Nation yesterday. First, the Cards made another roster move, farming out Clayton Mortensen and promoting Jarrett Hoffpauir from Memphis. This is probably less of an indictment on Mortensen's rough outing Monday night and more the fact that Mark DeRosa is going to be out for a few days, meaning that a short bench was that much shorter.

DeRosa's wrist injury, at least from all appearances and reports, isn't as serious as was first feared. Of course, we've learned to take a lot of the reports from the Cardinal medical staff with a silo of salt, but if it's actually the case that he'll be back in the lineup by early next week, St. Louis may have dodged a real bullet. John Mozeliak really doesn't want to see this trade blow up on him this early. The fact that apparently the PTBNL is a quality pitching prospect may be enough on its own to do that without DeRosa sitting for a long period of time.

The other bit of news, which came as a surprise to me at least, was that Troy Glaus is almost ready to head out on a rehab assignment. The way the timing works, if he goes out in the next week to ten days as expected, he could be back right before the trading deadline. Whether his rehab will free up Mozeliak to make a move or help him not feel forced to do one remains to be seen. Getting a relatively healthy Glaus back into the lineup could do wonders for this team, though.

The last home game of the first half is tonight, as the Cards head out after this one so that MLB can get everything ready for the All-Star Game. The saying goes that momentum is today's starting pitcher, which means that the afterglow of the walk-off homer may not go too far.

Todd Wellemeyer is on the mound for the Cardinals. Right now, you can't even point to his few good outings, like the back-to-back seven innings, no runs games earlier in the season, and have any kind of faith that he can return to that level. You just hold your breath, hope he stays around four or so earned runs allowed, and that the offense can actually come alive. San Francisco hasn't seen him much, but they've hit him when they have so there is little reason to expect a pitching duel tonight.

Barry Zito has infamously struggled since moving to the National League. This season hasn't been much different, though he's been better than he has in the past. He gave up three in 6.2 innings against the Cardinals earlier in the year and has been hit by them at a .384 clip in his career. It'd be nice to have DeRosa and his three career homers against Zito in the lineup, but Pujols is five for nine with two bombs so there's still a threat. Assuming they pitch to him, of course!

Peace, Ben. It's been real.

2009-07-02T06:23:22Z

Is there another Chicago athlete in recent memory that elicited more passionate opinions both for and against him than Ben Gordon? To prove my point, look no further than...the Internet! (Why go anywhere else?) Hit up the Bulls blogs today and you'll see lots of anger and sadness.

For example, Andrew from DaBullz wrote:

Well, looks like the Bulls are going back to the lottery next season. The Bulls lost their best player and will suck next year.

Tell us how you really feel, man! But, last I checked, the Bulls compete in the sport of basketball, not competitive bicep curls. And Derrick Rose exists.

Then I logged onto Twitter and saw this message:

Now the Bulls will have to find a new undersized guard that will give up 35 points a game.

You see what I mean? It's kind of funny because, as Bulls fans, we all watch the same games and root for the guys on our team, yet Gordon is the one player that it seems no one can agree on.

Also worth noting: you can make the argument that both Gordon and the Bulls were losers in the negotiations. The Bulls lose because one of their best players is going to their biggest rival in the prime of his career for zero compensation. In Interweb speak, we like to refer to that as FAIL. Gordon doesn't get off clean either, though. The contract he took from Detroit is pretty similar to the one he rejected two years ago from the Bulls. Now he's 26, back then he was 24. Had he taken the Bulls' first offer way back when, he'd still be young enough to cash in on another phat contract. By the time his deal with the Pistons expires, he'll be 31 and out of his prime. Also, Gordon is leaving Chicago (which is a great city) for Detroit (which is a miserable city).

In basketball terms, Gordon's departure means John Salmons and Luol Deng need to step up. Last we saw them, Salmons was awesome, and Deng was bad and hurt. Is that what we can expect again?

Salmons will be Gordon's replacement at shooting guard, and the Bulls better hope that last year wasn't an aberration. Make no mistake, Salmons had a career year last season. He set careers highs across the board at age 29, a point when most players begin to decline, not take off. His biggest jump was in three-point percentage. Without Gordon, the Bulls are going to need more shooters. Last year, Salmons was good enough to fill that roll, making 49 treys in 26 games as a Bull. He was efficient from long range too, connecting at a Gordon-like 41 percent. Again, was it a fluke, or is John Salmons for real? The Bulls better hope it's the latter.

The spotlight will shine even brighter on Deng, Gordon's classmate in the '04 draft. He got the money that Gordon didn't, now the Bulls need him to earn his contract. Deng has been pathetic the last two seasons, and the fans and media have been quick to make excuses for him. Two years ago it was all that damn Kobe trade talk that got in his head. Poor guy! Last year, it was a stress fracture in his leg that cost him the final 22 games plus the playoffs. That's when people started to question his toughness. If the Bulls are going to be good next year, Deng needs to put those questions aside. Simply put, he has to be their second best player. I think there is a good chance that happens. Deng just turned 24, and, you know, most basketball players don't peak at 22. The future is still bright for Deng, or at least the Bulls better hope it is.

Finally, one last note: pretty much everyone the Bulls have paid recently has been a huge disappointment. Hinrich, Deng, Noce, Ben Wallace, and Tyson Chandler all signed for big money and then seemed to take a step backwards. Now that the Bulls let Gordon walk, will it happen again or will he take off? Discuss.

*
Find this post and a little more on the 'Hawks at the Sun-Times Full Court Press blog. Also: the White Sox are awesome and Beckham > everyone else in the world combined.

2009 Free Agents, Position-By-Position

2009-07-02T02:35:01Z

This is an addendum to the 2009 NBA Free Agents post from the other day. This time, we'll break the players down by position as well as free agent status.]]> Point Guards

Unrestricted Free Agents

Jason Kidd
Mike Bibby
Andre Miller
Stephon Marbury
Jason Hart
Brevin Knight
Smush Parker
Ronald Murray
Marcus Williams
Jacque Vaughn
Lindsey Hunter
Anthony Carter
Kevin Ollie
Quincy Douby
Mike Wilks
Tyronn Lue

Restricted Free Agents

Ramon Sessions
Raymond Felton
Nate Robinson
Luther Head
Jarrett Jack

Early-Termination Options

~~Eddie House~~
~~Anthony Johnson~~
~~Travis Diener~~
~~Chris Quinn~~
~~Bobby Brown~~

Shooting Guards

Unrestricted Free Agents

Allen Iverson
Wally Szczerbiak
Bobby Jackson
~~Ben Gordon~~ (5 years, $55M Detroit)
Desmond Mason
Anthony Parker
Damon Jones
Keith Bogans
Rodney Carney
Ronnie Price
Morris Almond
Maurice Ager
Gerald Green
James Singleton
Dahntay Jones
Von Wafer
Shannon Brown
Quinton Ross
Kareem Rush
Juan Dixon

Restricted Free Agents

Rashad McCants
Joey Graham
Linas Kleiza
Carlos Delfino (If he returns from overseas)

Early Termination Options

~~Kobe Bryant~~
~~Jamal Crawford~~
~~Quentin Richardson~~
~~Trenton Hassell~~
~~Michael Finley~~
~~Ricky Davis~~
~~Devin Brown~~

Small Forwards

Unrestricted Free Agents

Hedo Turkoglu
Shawn Marion
Lamar Odom
Ron Artest
Trevor Ariza
Walter Herrmann
Grant Hill
Ime Udoka
Stephen Graham
Matt Barnes
Darius Miles
Justin Reed
Adrian Griffin

Restricted Free Agents

Marvin Williams
Ike Diogu
Jamario Moon
Josh Childress (If he returns from Greece)

Early Termination Options

~~Hidayet Turkoglu~~
~~Kyle Korver~~
~~Devean George~~
~~Yakhouba Diawara~~

Power Forwards

Unrestricted Free Agents

Rasheed Wallace
Anderson Varejao
~~Charlie Villaneuva~~ (5 years, $35M Detroit)
Channing Frye
Malik Rose
Drew Gooden
Chris Wilcox
Stromile Swift
Joe Smith
Shelden Williams
Maceo Baston
Cedric Simmons
Juwon Howard
Chris Anderson
Steve Novak
Donyell Marshall
Ryan Bowen
Michael Ruffin
Shavlik Randolph

Restricted Free Agents

~~Charlie Villanueva~~
~~Channing Frye~~
Hakim Warrick
David Lee
Leon Powe
Glen Davis
Aaron Gray
Brandon Bass
Paul Millsap

Ealry Termination Options

~~Jermaine O'Neal~~
~~Al Harrington~~
~~Anderson Varejao~~
~~Brian Cook~~
~~Brian Skinner~~
~~Malik Allen~~

Centers

Unrestricted Free Agents

Raef LaFrentz
Radoslav Nesterovic
Jason Collins
Zaza Pachulia
Robert Swift
Chris Mihm
Saer Sene
Jarron Collins
Didier Ilunga-Mbenga
Calvin Booth
Melvin Ely
Ryan Hollins
Lorenzen Wright
Adonal Foyle
Jamaal Magloire
Sean Marks
Theo Ratliff
Patrick O'Bryant
Jake Voskuhl
Dikembe Mutombo

Restricted Free Agents

Johan Petro

Early Termination Options

~~Zydrunas Ilgauskas~~
~~Eddy Curry~~
~~Mehmet Okur~~
~~Mark Blount~~
~~Etan Thomas~~
~~Jerome James~~
~~Kwame Brown~~
~~Steven Hunter~~
~~Francisco Elson~~

Be sure to check out the full breakdown of 2009 NBA Free Agents as well.

I'm All Up in Your Grill, Harshing Your Mellow

2009-07-01T19:40:37Z

Once upon a time, a 25–year-old Giants outfielder finally got his chance after he spent what seemed like years punishing triple-A pitching.

He was under the radar for much of the year, with a .570 OPS in limited at-bats, but on a summer road trip that included a swing through the Midwest, our friend made a nice splash. He got hits (12 for 25 in six games), he hit for power, he showed off his strong arm and his wheels. This is it, Giants fans said. This is the turning point.

Anyone care to guess this young fellow’s name? Here’s a hint.

If you said Nate Schierholtz, I don’t blame you. On the current road trip, which includes a swing through the Midwest, Nate had a six-game, 14–for-29 streak. He cooled off last night with an oh-fer but still hit a couple balls hard.

Is Schierholtz experiencing a Lindenesque flash-in-the-pan? I’m not saying that. I’m just sayin’.

Here’s today’s Bucket Of Cold Water on Your Campfire #2, courtesy of BP’s Kevin Goldstein:

One pitcher with numbers that are impossible to argue with is Giants righty Tim Alderson. After leading the California League in ERA during his full-season debut last year, the 20-year-old has a 2.36 ERA in his first nine Eastern League starts for Double-A Connecticut. Scouts still find it difficult to warm up to Alderson, however. "It's not an insult at all, he's a for-sure, big-league starting pitcher for me," said one scout who saw him recently, "but it's strictly back of the rotation for me," he added, while explaining that Alderson's backwards style of pitching is not one that is usually conducive to major league success. "That plus breaking ball is his calling card, and he's a guy with plus-plus control and average command, but he can't pitch off his fringy fastball, and you don't really see many changeups out of him."

Does this mean the Giants should sell high on Alderson immediately and trade him for a big bat? If the above scout’s opinion is already widespread among other teams, they might not be able to trade him so easily — at least not for the bat they want. And what about Schierholtz? Is there anything about his game that makes you think he’s not for real? Discuss.

Pacers Getting Involved in Free Agency

2009-07-01T17:54:41Z

I just got done reading an article about the Pacers jumping into the Marcin Gortat bidding. While I am happy that the Pacers are looking to be aggressive this summer, I don't think Gortat is the player we need. Not that I don't think he is a good player, but look at the roster at the four and five right now:

Jeff Foster, Troy Murphy, Tyler Hansbrough, Josh McRoberts, and Roy Hibbert are all in the way right now. One or two of these players would have to be moved in order for Gortat to really be able to succeed and be worth the money. Larry Bird has said the Hansbrough and Hibbert are untouchable...along with Danny Granger and Brandon Rush, so that makes Foster and Murphy expendable if this signing goes through. In the end, Murphy is too much of a commodity on the offensive end, so that makes Foster the most likely to be moved this summer. Can he be moved for a solid wing player? That would be the ideal situation in my opinion.

Thoughts? Who should the Pacers go after?

990 words on the why Bulls should probably resign Ben Gordon

2009-07-01T17:39:01Z

Watch as I try to convince blue collar, hard-nosed Chicagoans that you can win with offense, too. I'm sure this will go over well. It's all at the Sun-Times' Full Court Press blog. And it all comes back to Jay Cutler, of course.

Also, in case you missed it, everyone's favorite former Sun-Times columnist got ripped to shreds all across the Web yesterday. His masterpiece of a column was on steroids and bloggers. Find it at Fanhouse, if you want, but I think I'll follow Stompy's edict and not give Jay the pageviews.

Great posts here, here, and here. FreeDarko's tweets were dead on, as well.

I feel like it has been too long since we've had some quality Jay bashing. Maybe it's better that way. But - more than anything - I just want another excuse to post this picture.

He has a very punchable face, doesn't he?

Cobra Crackdown: 4th of July Edition

2009-07-01T12:58:19Z

(You get this a day early because of the holiday)

I'll be honest with you, I haven't had that many memorable 4th of July's. I wasn't a kid who was big on setting off fireworks and many of my weekends growing up were filled with baseball tournaments so I didn't spend much time watching fireworks shows and doing whatever makes 4th of July memorable for most of you. But.....I did have one very, very memorable 4th of July and it includes wiffle ball and 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon'. Keep reading to hear the story and to catch up on some sports related stuff......

]]> Everyone has a friend who just flat out knows how to throw a party. Well, I'm no different. My friend, we'll call him "Weber", throws 4th of July bashes that are like mythical beasts of nature. Everyone has heard of them but few have seen them. It is filled with alcohol, a beautiful pool, music, laughs, alcohol, alcohol, women, his family and....wiffle ball. For many years I had to turn down an invite but when I was, I believe, 22, I was able to attend and participate in the festivities. I'll never forget it.

I'll skip the appetizer and get straight to the main course. We're all playing wiffle ball and we're all trashed. When I say all of us I'm talking about 9 guys, 2 girls and.....Weber's Grandfather. We're all absolutely trashed. We're all having a great time.

Weber's wiffle ball field is set up pretty normally except for the fact that there isn't an outfield fence. His backyard led up to a corn field so anything hit in the corn field was an automatic home run. The only exception was if you dove from the grass into the corn field to nab a fly ball. The only thing wrong with this setup was that.....Weber's septic tank run-off ran along the third row of the corn field. Everyone knew and was well aware of this.

So we're playing wiffle ball, drinking beer, cracking jokes, hitting on women....having Weber's Grandmother hitting on Cpt. Morgan.....everything is pretty much normal. It's a tight game so the competitive juices start flowing a little bit. No one wants to lose. Least of all, Grandpa Weber.

I'm standing on third base when the next player on my team, it might have been Cpt. Morgan, hits a blast that's heading straight for the corn field. No doubt about it. We're going to be up a couple of runs easily when all of a sudden....yet in slow motion....we all see Weber's Grandfather start to run back to catch the ball......he ignores the 'no catching in the corn field unless diving from the grass' rule and starts floating about in the second row of the cornfield.....the home run blast is finally losing it's momentum and preparing to fall to Earth when it gets to the third row....Grandpa Weber is chasing after this ball like he probably chased after the Germans. Nothing will stop him yet we are all wondering what the hell he's doing.

Next thing you know, Grandpa Weber leaves his feet and is Jim Edmonds-style diving for the wiffle ball in the third row of the cornfield. He finally falls to terra firma and we all begin to worry a little bit when we don't see movement. With the combination of corn (knee high by the 4th of July) and septic run-off (shit stew), we fear this man might have expired.

Suddenly, yet slowly, we begin to see movement much like Hulk Hogan and his patented rise from the mat. One leg comes up....we see an arm....we see a leg....and finally Grandpa Weber rises up.....wiffle ball in his right hand.....and covered in shit. He looked like a combination of 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon' and 'The Blob'. He screams that Cpt. Morgan is out (!!!) but we're all already on the ground in tears from laughing so hard. You can't keep playing after something like that happens.

I would pay $1,000,000 to see that happen again but I know it never will. On days that are rough, I just think of that memory. Onto the sports stuff.....

- Cubs - Aramis Ramirez is supposed to come back next week so the Cubs Management is hoping that he'll turn things around. I don't see it happening because this ballclub is fundamentally very poor. They aren't hitting with runners in scoring position, they are making bad plays in the field and Milton Bradley and Alfonso Soriano are jokes. I'd almost say to start trading guys (Rich Harden, Kevin Gregg) but there isn't anyone in the system that's ready to come up for some seasoning. On the bright side, Jake Fox has looked decent at third base.

- NBA Free Agents - Really, who cares?

- Pitchmen - I told you guys about this show a few weeks ago and by now we all know that Billy Mays has passed away. I have to say this was more upsetting to me than the death of Michael Jackson.

Anyways, that's all I have since it's a short week. Enjoy your 4th of July but beware of the shit stew.

We Are All Witnesses

2009-07-01T11:19:27Z

I don't think of Albert Pujols as a home run hitter. I mean, obviously he can hit home runs, that's never been in doubt. However, in my mind he's a 35-40 home run guy, which is very good power, don't get me wrong, but being that he is such an all around hitter with average, RBI, etc., the home runs don't stand out the way they do on, say, Ryan Howard. I mean, Ted Williams had 521 homers, but power isn't the first thing that comes to mind with him.

Albert may be changing that perception some this year and not by losing anything, but by hitting so many home runs that you have to sit up and take notice. Two more last night, off of a Hall of Famer-to-be, even, pushed him to 30 before the calendar changed to July. Thirty by the end of June! We've already gotten to 1/3 of the marks Cardinal fans watch on him. Everyone knows by now that he's the only one to start a season with so many consecutive years of .300, 30 HR and 100 RBI. Some years, he's needed a little kick to get there (as in 2007 when he finished with "just" 103 RBI) but he's always gotten there. Now, he might get there by the All-Star Break.

That's assuming, of course, that anyone else could get on for him to drive in. After his three-RBI night, he stands at 77. Again, though, the Cardinals only scored when Albert was in the middle of it. There were signs of hope, though, as the Cardinals almost looked like they were going to rally from a five-run deficit for the first time this year. The double play by Tyler Greene in the sixth really broke the back of the rally, though. Even a sac fly in that situation would have been nice, and it would have put the team one step closer to rolling over the lineup again to have Pujols up in the ninth.

Greene's double play gets Chris Carpenter off the hook for the Goat tag, but you know things are going wrong when Carp gives up six runs. As the Post-Dispatch story said, it's not like he was necessarily hit around the yard, but the flares weren't spread out enough and it led to runs. You'd like to think it was just an off-night; we'll see what happens when Carpenter takes the mound again against the Reds this weekend.

In what was hopefully a positive development, it was good to see Ryan Ludwick hitting the ball well. Two extra-base hits, including a triple that was just a foot away from leaving the ballpark. If he can start getting rolling, maybe that'll help the offense put together some sustained rallies.

Hopefully Ludwick won't be forced to step up to replace Mark DeRosa, but apparently that's a possibility, as DeRosa is feeling pain in his wrist. DeRosa, who has run his hitless streak with the Cardinals to nine at-bats, tweaked it on a swing and will have it examined today. You have to hope that it's nothing serious, but wrist injuries are a difficult thing. If he goes down for any length of time, you know John Mozeliak's going to be feeling snake bit. Not pressure, because it's one of those things, but his last two trades are DeRosa and Khalil Greene, and we know how Greene has turned out so far this year.

Rick Ankiel had himself a rough night, didn't he? He seemed to misplay a drive over his head that allowed a run to score, then threw to an uncovered base, allowing another run in. Add to that an 0-2 and, well, not one you want to put in the scrapbook.

It doesn't get much easier for the Cardinals tonight. Matt Cain goes for the Giants against Adam Wainwright in a game that can be seen on ESPN. While Cain's numbers against the Cardinals aren't that impressive, a lot of that comes from the beating St. Louis put on him last year. Cain faced the Cardinals earlier this year and allowed two runs (one earned) in six and a third. On the plus side, DeRosa doesn't hit him so it's a good night for him to be sitting.

Wainwright, who hit his first major league home run in San Francisco, didn't have as much success in his first outing against the Giants this year. He allowed four runs in seven innings as the Cards took the loss. Historically, the Giants have been tough on him as well, but no home runs allowed at least.

So it should be a good game. If nothing else, you have to tune in to see just what Albert is going to do tonight.

Daryl Morey Stole My Idea

2009-07-01T04:06:48Z

The first free agency report broke early and will probably break my heart as well. Rockets' GM Daryl Morey apparently rang Marcin Gortat's doorbell at 12:01 a.m. I guess he read my post from earlier Tuesday.
]]> Let's use this post to keep track of the rumors of the day. Make sure you leave a link in the comment.

Morey visits Gortat (Jason's Blog [NBA.com])
Morey set up an e-mail address to trick Gortat into signing with Houston, use it to tell Gortat Philly is the place to be.

UPDATE: 12:57 p.m.

There's a rumor circulating involving the Sixers and the Rockets. The base of the deal would be Dalembert for McGrady, but the Sixers would have to add other pieces to make the deal work.

McGrady's deal will pay him $22,483,124 this season. Dalembert's will pay $12,125,694. The Sixers would have to send at least $17,886,499 to Houston in order to make the deal work. When you factor in Dalembert's trade kicker, he would be worth $13.94M in a deal, so essentially, the Sixers would have to find another player, or players, to add to the deal whose salary(ies) equal at least $4M. Willie Green makes $3.6M, which would fall just short of the amount the Sixers need to send. The rumor says the Sixers do not want to include Lou Williams in the deal.

The math doesn't seem to work out unless the Sixers are willing to include Lou Williams (after his BYC runs out later this month), they could also include Jason Smith to make the numbers line up.

This move would get Sammy off the roster, and it would give the Sixers somewhere under $10M in cap space next season, but it raises a few issues. First, they're probably going to be taking back more salary than they're sending out. Meaning, their wiggle room below the luxury tax for this season will shrink, possibly by as much as $5M. Meaning you can kiss Miller goodbye, and you can forget about using the full MLE to replace him. Oh, and you still wouldn't have a center.

It would be a big risk and I think you could officially consider this season a rebuild if they made this deal as constructed. Now, if they expanded it a little, sending more salary to Houston and getting something in return, like maybe Kyle Lowry, Aaron Brooks or Von Wafer, a player who fits a need, then I could live with it.

NFL Moneyball - Digging Deeper

2009-07-01T04:00:13Z

Jason La Canfora of NFL.com put together a list of actual dollars spent on salary by each NFL team from 2004 through 2008. The Dallas Cowboys were first at $566 million. The Colts were fourth at $532 million. The Steelers, Patriots, Giants, and Eagles ranked eighth ($516m), tenth ($513m), nineteenth ($497m), and twentieth ($495m), respectively. The Cowboys spent the most money and have nary a playoff victory to show for their excesses. The Chargers spent the 26th most ($485m) and have three playoff victories. What can be learned from such a list? Money isn't everything - shrewd decision making is a more important indicator of success. Let's take a look at the numbers in terms of what really matters (Joe Banner just bookmarked this post under his porn folder).

Dollars Spent Per Win

In terms of overall regular season efficiency, the Birds rank an impressive 8th; second amongst NFC teams behind only the New York Giants. What really jumps out here are the number of teams that have spent over the $500 million threshold from the Saints (23rd) on down. That's some horrifically inefficient spending. In fact, the top 10 teams in the league spent an average of $495.98 million over the five year period, while the bottom 10 teams spent an average of $510.71 million. The middle 12 spent an average of $501.30 million. Talk about diminishing returns. Now let's look at the real indicator of success - postseason accomplishment.

Dollars Spent Per Postseason Victory

Of the Super Bowl Champions over the past five years, only the New York Giants have spent under that $500 million threshold. So it seems money does buy happiness. The most successful teams, the Patriots and the Steelers have spent an average of $515.00 million. Those second tier teams with 4+ postseason victories over the five year period averaged an expenditure of $519.64 million. The third tier squads (2 to 3 postseason victories) averaged $501.89 million and the fourth tier teams averaged $501.45 million. The teams without a playoff victory over the five year span (here's looking at you Cowgirls!) spent an average of $495.95 million.

So what does all of this mean? It's not really clear to me actually. Without spending hours on end studying each team's salary structure, I really don't think you can make any concrete conclusions (Looking at you beat writers, and other salaried writers who do this type of thing as their full-time jobs). I'll take a stab though.

1. The best teams have productive franchise players who they've awarded huge contracts over this defined 2004-2008 timeframe. Manning signed a $99 million dollar deal in 2004. Brady signed a $60 million dollar deal in 2005. Roethlisberger signed a $102 million dollar deal is 2008. If you remember, McNabb signed his deal back in 2002. If you're defining a period of time, these franchise contracts have large implications on these aggregate numbers. For example, Brady made $51 million bucks from 2004-2008, Manning made $68 million, and McNabb made $32 million. Hell, Mike Vick was due $44 million over the same time period. So imagine McNabb was looking at a new, market-level deal in 2005, the Birds would likely be right at that $515 million number the Patriots and Steelers have bracketed. Thus, if you've got a roster with one or more franchise players with a contract due in such a defined timeframe, you'll likely rank amongst the top teams on this list. Look at Seattle - in 2005 they re-signed Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander to massive contracts, only to be followed in 2006 with a new deal for Walter Jones. No wonder they rank number two overall - but look at those deals now - they were bad decisions.

2. Why do some of these bad teams have high rankings? Inefficient spending. Bad teams with top 5 draft picks who turn out to be busts, thus a bad team commits a disproportionate level of salary to a player who can't play. To make up for the top heavy spending they snatch up average veteran players at average to below average deals to round out their rosters. The Raiders paid JaMarcus Russell, Robert Gallery, and Darren McFadden huge money. For what exactly? The Lions went Joey Harrington (3rd overall), Charles Rogers (2nd overall), Roy Williams (7th overall) and Mike Williams (10th overall). Ouch. These teams continue to suck because they pay the wrong players the right money and the right players, well, they tend to move on.

3. Overspending tends to snowball - lack of flexibility in the interim, with less consistency from year to year. In 2006 the Washington Redskins guaranteed over $40 million to Adam Archuleta, Andre Carter, Brandon Lloyd, and Antwaan Randle El. Only Randle El and Carter remain on the team and neither player has consistently excelled. I think this is less of argument because of the ever expanding salary cap.

If anything, the Birds are an efficient team. They are one of the elite teams that are always in the mix for the top end free agent. They are not cheap. Do they underpay players based on below market long term deals offered and accepted by younger players? Yes, but who's signing their names on those contracts? Do the Birds jettison players based on age which tend to snowball into PR disasters? Sure, but we all know who usually comes out on top on those deals. The NFL is less about money and more about decision making. Just look at those Washington Redskins. I love to hear some alternate theories from the readership.

[Cue Joe Banner sexy-time explosion]

Smoltz, but No Cigar

2009-07-01T02:15:34Z

Every human has a fight or flight mechanism that kicks in during times of stress. During John Smoltz's first outing back from major shoulder surgery last week, that flight instinct manifested itself as a very hittable slider.

In last Thursday match up against the Nationals, the 42-year-old threw 10 sliders in just the first inning (which stretched a grueling 34-pitches). With a less than stellar slider these days, this was a clear sign that he was in trouble, and he was looking for ways out.

Today, he threw zero first inning sliders. This means that he's more comfortable with his pitches, and is more in command. Today, he kept the off-speed pitches down. Today, he decided to fight.

Now, it's certainly easy to forget the plusses when the bullpen puts forth such a putrid showing. It's just too bad that their stinkfest had to outshine Smoltz's real comeback. In what would be the biggest comeback in the history of the Orioles franchise, Red Sox "relievers" gave up five runs in two consecutive innings, after Adam Jones, on of the most dangerous young players in the leauge, left the game. Ten runs between Masterson, Okajima, and Saito? Seriously? This is a team that crumbled to the Sox 11 times in the last twelve meetings, mind you. Since when did Oscar Salazar coming off the bench strike fear into the hearts of major league pitchers? So many questions... so little time.