My Morning in Exile

by
July 7, 2009

Happy San Fermin, everyone. When you get done having fun, read some of this stuff:

  • Ryan Braun to be Doug Melivn’s deputy?
  • I’m not going to judge Manny for doing steroids. I will judge him, however, for being a cheap sonofabitch.
  • Roy Halladay isn’t going anywhere.
  • “The Worst Team That Money Could Buy” could soon get a sequel.
  • Let freedom flush.
  • Finally, the All-Star Game has problems, but Adam Jones being part of it is not one of them.

    • And just remember: It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night is another thing.


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    Pete Toms
    14 years ago

    I think Halladay is gone and I (and many others) thought the same before the season started.  Despite the 27-14 start, current 43-41 record, attendance stinks.  I think the suits will be pressuring Ricciardi to dump payroll and Wells and Rios are probably next to impossible to move.  I think Rogers is going to run the Jays as a bare bones, low payroll club and the quicker they can move any and all big contracts the better (for them,not their fans).

    This winter, I went on and on and on about the dire future of pro baseball in Toronto.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there is no MLB in Toronto in a handful or several years.

    http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2922:what-is-the-future-of-the-blue-jays-and-rogers-cable&catid=67:pete-toms&Itemid=155

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    MooseinOhio
    14 years ago

    I find the Halladay situation very interesting as I fully understand the hypocrisy of trading within the division to the Yankees or Red Sox and how it could be self-defeating to send him to the Rays (lots of young talent) or Orioles.  However the Red Sox and Rays have some great young, major league ready talent to swap. 

    Trying to think of other teams that have a need and the resources for Cy Young level pitcher as well as the tradeable talent to be good suitors for Halladay.  My short list, excluding the above mentioned, are the Dodgers, White Sox, Phillies, Rangers and maybe the Cubs with the sale now immenient. 

    He is a better pickup than CC as he is under contract for next year but few small market teams will be in the running for him in fall 2010.  The enticement of a year and half of a Cy Young level pitcher needs to be weighed against the financial and talent cost to acquire him unless you have seemingly unlimited financial resoruces (Yanks), are a team that can compete for a title now and have a plethora of talent (Rays) or both (Red Sox/Dodgers). 

    I would love to be a fly on the wall in Toronto as offers are made.

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    Vin
    14 years ago

    The problem with the Mets’ situation is that their core is probably as good as it is going to get. Regardless of what the neanderthals on the FAN say, trading Reyes and Wright would be sheer madness, and dealing Beltran and Santana would only be slightly less nutty – and probably impossible, given their contracts. Frankly, given the weakness of the rest of the division, I think the Mets should make a couple small deals and hope things click when everyone comes off the DL. Will that happen? Who knows. But it seems like the least-bad option.

    The core problems of the Mets these last few years really point to the whole “luck is the residue of design” thing. Yeah, the ‘07/‘08 collapses were historical oddities, and this year the the team has seen a near-preposterous number of injuries. But Omar Minaya simply does not understand the concept of depth – he seems to think that he can fix the one big problem (and he always does that, see Santana, K-Rod, Putz), and then just throw a bunch of veterans marginal prospects out there to complement his stars, and everything will work out. Every Mets team of the Minaya era – even the ‘06 team, which has more than its share of good luck – has had a fatal flaw or two. Not that the team needs to be perfect, but most of these flaws can be traced back to things Minaya did, or didn’t do. Why did Minaya not sign a corner outfield bat this off-season when several were practically begging for contracts? Why did he throw money at Oliver Perez and not Derek Lowe when the Mets’ pitching staff clearly needs consistency? The Luis Castillo contract was so monumentally stupid that I can’t help but wonder if Castillo’s agent dug up some dirt on Minaya. I think Daniel Murphy merited something of a shot this year, but putting so much faith in him was horribly misguided – and expecting anything from Fernando Tatis was ridiculous. Ditto for Endy Chavez after his fluke year in ‘06. This, in fact, is an established pattern – Minaya digs up some veteran or marginal player (Chavez, Tatis, Jose Valentin, now Gary Sheffield), the player does fairly well at first, and Minaya somehow forgets everything about that player’s recent performance and/or age. Omar Minaya does not understand the word “fluke” or the concept of performance variation. He usually gets the big stuff right, but he has little conception of how to put together a full 25-man roster.

    OK…that went on WAY longer than I anticipated…needed to vent. But, seriously, the Mets CAN contend in 2010, if not this year. They just need better management.

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    Matt J.
    14 years ago

    I’m gonna give Manny a pass on the post-game spread thing because I’m willing to bet it was him being an airhead than being cheap.

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    Jake
    14 years ago

    the day Manny becomes aware of the postgame spread is the day it is pitched into his strike zone at 95 mph.

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