Saturday, February 7, 2009

I'm ready for baseball season

Word.

I'd love to get my previews going, but there are still some impact players left on the market.

Adam Dunn or Orlando Hudson I couldn't care less about. Whoever they sign with won't necessarily put the team over the hump - they aren't those type of impact players.

Ken Griffey, Jr. and Bobby Abreu can make a team better. But they aren't the ones I'm talking about.

Ben Sheets is probably having surgery and will miss most, if not all of this season, so his availability is a non-factor for now.

But there is the one guy whose presence can impact a team.

You know who I mean.

Derek Jeter.

Derek Jeter, Derek Jeter, Derek Jeter.

Since I've got that out of my system, let's be serious.

Manny Ramirez needs to sign somewhere. NOW. He's holding up my baseball season. Maybe he'll just defer until into the season when teams are underperforming and get so desperate, they really shell out the dough (Rawja Clemens?).

Of course I'd like him on the Mets now that we have our starting rotation figured out. His bat would really put a nice shine on the rings we win in October.

I don't think the Giants will shell out the money on him. I really don't think they're ready for another high-caliber slugger/media frenzy maker.

The Angels would be a nice fit for him, but they really need a left-handed bat, so Abreu or Griffey (and Ramirez?) could work for them.

The Rangers seem to have smartened up since the 10-year/$252 million deal they gave to A-Rod earlier this century, so don't expect them to swoop in with some ridiculous number in an attempt to get their team out of the gutter.

Let's not talk about if he puts on pinstripes. Bad things will happen.

Then we come to...the Dodgers.

Playing chicken with Scott Boras. Like he said, it's a dangerous game. Most likely, he'll win. Why? Because he has Manny Ramirez, and neither of them care who he ends up with, or when he ends up with them.

Los Angeles' front office needs to just realize this, give him his money and his years, and deal with whatever follows. The fans won't accept not signing him, he's right in front of their faces.

Three years, $54 mil might do the trick, but $60 mil isn't a bad deal either, considering they started by offering $22.5 mil per year then went up to $25 mil.

Step up, do the right thing.

As for the A-Rod testing positive for steroids thing - leave it alone. We taint every single sports star in the world. What? You're good at something? Let's ruin you!! We're even in the process of ruining America's darling, Michael Phelps, because he's a 23-year old taking a bong hit.

Nobody's perfect. Let it go.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

You can't compare a bong hit to steroids. Your love for A-Fraud is becoming worrisome.

Travis Miller said...

My love for Mike Vick should be more worrisome. He actually did something wrong.

Unknown said...

Well, that's the problem. You've accepted that Vick did something wrong whereas you're in complete denial what A-Fraud did was wrong.

Travis Miller said...

Curt Schilling was finally right about something. Give me 103 other names.

Unknown said...

I agree. Just because he's in the same boat as 103 other players, doesn't change the fact the he cheated though.

Travis Miller said...

I just don't want every star I watched growing up going down in flames like this. I hate it. I'm glad Juan Gonzalez got out when he did. He'd be toast.

Unknown said...

Its a very disappointing era (for baseball) that we grew up in. I was so scared that Piazza would be named in the Mitchell Report, but now I'm worried he might be one of the other 103 names.