Monday, November 06, 2006

Happy news

I'm pretty freaked out about tomorrow's election - a bad feeling it's not going to turn out as well as I'd hoped - but focusing on good news: at the very least, Gary Sheffield will not play for Boston next year. Thank God. I hate forcing to root for guys I can't stand (Carl Everett, anyone?) I haven't been keeping up with the story too much, but there are two big questions I have about the whole Sheffield thing:
  1. Was the Sox front office really that interested in him?
  2. Why didn't the Yanks just pick up his option in May? By forcing him to wait all this time, allowing for the return of the old Sheffield we've all come to know and loathe, didn't they seriously reduce his trade value?
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2 comments:

  1. X11/06/2006 2:27 PM

    My tow cents...

    Were the Sox really interested? Probably, but only if they could get him for a discount, which would only have been after all other 28 teams had passed on him and he wanted to give NY a gerat big F You.

    Why not pick up in May was due to his injury and the uncertainty of the CBA. Maybe the better question was why not in February. Either way, the same old Sheff would be coming out. Had they picked up the option in February, May, whenever I guarantee that he would be whining about an extension, not wanting to play 1B, DH, being traded, etc. I really doubt it would have made one iota of difference in his trade value.

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  2. X11/06/2006 6:06 PM

    The power of the internet....

    I bet when Al gore invented it, he did not realize the power that would come with it.

    In yesterday's Globe, Cafardo was writing about Piazza and wrote the following:

    "Sometimes you forget what a great career Mike Piazza has had. After last season, Piazza, a free agent who will likely re-sign with San Diego at a lower rate than his $8 million contract option, has a .309 career average with 419 homers and 1,291 RBIs in 6,602 at-bats. Only eight other players have hit 400 homers and batted over .300. Among them: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Jimmie Foxx."

    Well, I know Manny had over 400 HRs (I was in SEA when he hit 400) and also that he was a career .315 hitter - as a result of my "research" on him and why the Sox should not trade him. And I immediately thought, wow A-Rod and Sheffield (who actually wasn't, but it did trigger the thought.) Anyway a bit more reserach revealed the list should have included Manny, A-Rod and Frank Thomas. So I emailed him (and I'm sure some other people did as well) and it now reads:

    "Sometimes you forget what a great career Mike Piazza has had. After last season, Piazza, a free agent who will likely re-sign with San Diego at a lower rate than his $8 million contract option, has a .309 career average with 419 homers and 1,291 RBIs in 6,602 at-bats. Not many other players have hit 400 homers and batted over .300. Among them: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Jimmie Foxx as well as active players Manny Ramirez, Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez."

    And it turns out that a lot of guys with 400+ HRs hit .295 - .299.

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