*A few quick thoughts
By Zach
*Today's Daily Quickie on ESPN.com's Page 2 (which is an indulgence in "opinion of the moment" sports "journalism") insinuates that Mariners manager Mike Hargrove is the second most likely coach to get fired in baseball. While I'm no fan of Grover, and much of the rest of the M's blog world agrees, he's not going anywhere. The team just hired him this year. He's their third manager since 2002. Besides, while his in-game management and lineup choices can be baffling, it's not as if anyone else could be doing much better with this rag-tag bunch.
*I had a long talk with my dad about Vlad Radmanovic which in many ways echoes the differences in the two of our generations. My dad said that he think Vlad should sign the three-year deal the Sonics are offering and then look for a big payday after that. As he put it, he'll "only be 27." Now, excusing the fact that my dad is 55, and thus 27 does seem mighty young, in today's NBA a 27-year-old is a grizzled vet. Heck, Vlad's only 24 and people are already speculating if he might have reached his ceiling as a player. God forbid he try and convince teams that he might improve after age 27. Additionally, if Vlad sticks around, he's going to be coming off the bench no matter how we he plays, since Rashard Lewis is making big money to be the starting small forward, and Nick Collison is much better equipped to play power forward. Thus, if he sticks around for three more years, he's gambling that a team's gonna want to pay starter money to a guy who's played 7 years in the league and only started sporatically.
If I were Vlad's agent, I'd be doing exactly the same thing as he's doing. Insist on making starter money in Seattle, or sign the 1-year tender and take our chances on the open market next year. So while Sonics fans may dislike it, it's absolutely the right thing for Vladimir to be doing.
*Of course, my dad also thought Antonio Daniels would resign with the Sonics, despite the fact that I told him it would never happen, because there's no way AD could pass up starter money and starter minutes somewhere else, two things the Supes didn't, and couldn't offer.
*After King Felix's debut, incorrect info started poking up on the web that by calling him up now, the Mariners would start his arbitration clock this year, making him eligable for free agency a year earlier than otherwise. That is wrong. He won't spend enough time on the Major League roster for this year to count, meaning that his clock won't start until 2006, and he won't reach free agency until 2011.
*Jason Giambi is back on steroids
*The Orioles firing Lee Mazzilli won't matter. God help any team with Sidney Ponson as their ace.
*Their local NL counterparts, the Nationals, won't be making up for it this year either. But at least they found their ace, John Patterson, who Ben has been loving since way back in May.
*No baseball player baffles me more than Barry Zito. From winning the Cy Young in 2002 to looking lost down the stretch last year and in the first half this year, I figured he may have lost it...um...nope. He's been lights-out since starting against the Mariners on June 22 (isn't it odd how the Mariners have a way of getting pitchers back on track?), going 65.1 innings and allowing 16 runs while winning his last 8 starts (he got a no-decision against the M's). That means since June 22 he's 8-0 with a 2.20 ERA. And people wonder why the A's have been hot?
*I had a long talk with my dad about Vlad Radmanovic which in many ways echoes the differences in the two of our generations. My dad said that he think Vlad should sign the three-year deal the Sonics are offering and then look for a big payday after that. As he put it, he'll "only be 27." Now, excusing the fact that my dad is 55, and thus 27 does seem mighty young, in today's NBA a 27-year-old is a grizzled vet. Heck, Vlad's only 24 and people are already speculating if he might have reached his ceiling as a player. God forbid he try and convince teams that he might improve after age 27. Additionally, if Vlad sticks around, he's going to be coming off the bench no matter how we he plays, since Rashard Lewis is making big money to be the starting small forward, and Nick Collison is much better equipped to play power forward. Thus, if he sticks around for three more years, he's gambling that a team's gonna want to pay starter money to a guy who's played 7 years in the league and only started sporatically.
If I were Vlad's agent, I'd be doing exactly the same thing as he's doing. Insist on making starter money in Seattle, or sign the 1-year tender and take our chances on the open market next year. So while Sonics fans may dislike it, it's absolutely the right thing for Vladimir to be doing.
*Of course, my dad also thought Antonio Daniels would resign with the Sonics, despite the fact that I told him it would never happen, because there's no way AD could pass up starter money and starter minutes somewhere else, two things the Supes didn't, and couldn't offer.
*After King Felix's debut, incorrect info started poking up on the web that by calling him up now, the Mariners would start his arbitration clock this year, making him eligable for free agency a year earlier than otherwise. That is wrong. He won't spend enough time on the Major League roster for this year to count, meaning that his clock won't start until 2006, and he won't reach free agency until 2011.
*Jason Giambi is back on steroids
*The Orioles firing Lee Mazzilli won't matter. God help any team with Sidney Ponson as their ace.
*Their local NL counterparts, the Nationals, won't be making up for it this year either. But at least they found their ace, John Patterson, who Ben has been loving since way back in May.
*No baseball player baffles me more than Barry Zito. From winning the Cy Young in 2002 to looking lost down the stretch last year and in the first half this year, I figured he may have lost it...um...nope. He's been lights-out since starting against the Mariners on June 22 (isn't it odd how the Mariners have a way of getting pitchers back on track?), going 65.1 innings and allowing 16 runs while winning his last 8 starts (he got a no-decision against the M's). That means since June 22 he's 8-0 with a 2.20 ERA. And people wonder why the A's have been hot?
posted by Zach at 11:23 AM
2 Comments:
Re: Orioles... Erik Bedard and Daniel Cabrera are clearly ahead of Ponson in the rotation, and Bruce Chen is probably ahead by now, too.
Re: Patterson... Good for Ben. He's building the ultimate Fantasy team-- if we were limited to 45 million dollars of real-life salary.
I've checked on MLB.com, and I believe that to start the arbitration clock, a player has to spend 86 days on the active roster, but the wording was kinda vague, so I'm not really sure.
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