HR Derby

[mack 44]

To me it could have gone either way. I hate how a team's record is what really goes into the choosing of an MVP and why Cecil Fielder should have been the MVP over Rickey Henderson back in '90.

[LegoDoom 0]

That's why I qualified the statement with the word "typically." In all honesty, I just said that because I'm a Braves fan and am thus relatively frustrated.

Well, we all know that Andruw Jones isn't going to be winning it. Go ahead and make a crack about our starting pitching.... it's nothing I haven't thought of already.

[mack 44]

AJ sucks donkey this year but I'm hoping it deters a lot of would-be courters and he can re-sign for cheap. If not...meh.

[LegoDoom 0]

To me it could have gone either way. I hate how a team's record is what really goes into the choosing of an MVP and why Cecil Fielder should have been the MVP over Rickey Henderson back in '90.

Yeah, it could have. But Howard hit .355 with 30 HRs after the break last year. It's just unfortunate since Utley improved in the 2nd half the of the season.

AJ sucks donkey this year but I'm hoping it deters a lot of would-be courters and he can re-sign for cheap. If not...meh.

Speaking of the Braves, when are they going to unload one of their catchers?

[mack 44]

Not sure. Even without being owned by Time-Warner now, they still aren't spending any money. I think what's going to end up happening is they're going to stay with McCann at C and get Salty "serviceable" enough as a 1B. Thorman is absolutely horrible there and makes me miss LaRoche. Seeing the youth makes me look back at the early '90s when Ted Turner would say "enough of this losing crap" and package some together for a bona fide star. Not anymore and it sucks, especially since Davies isn't panning out like they'd hope.

[LkptTiger 1]

AJ sucks donkey this year but I'm hoping it deters a lot of would-be courters and he can re-sign for cheap. If not...meh.

I sure hope he doesn't try to charge by the pound.

[LkptTiger 1]

Worst rendition of "God Bless America" EVER. Make it stop!!!

[mack 44]

They really need to learn from the NFL and just not bother with an all-star game. This is pathetic.

[LkptTiger 1]

Crack if you want, mack, but I'm willing to bet that the Pro Bowl gets better ratings than any given NHL playoff game. It's a sad truth.

Good things with two, eh? Just not good enough.

[mack 44]

I wouldn't be surprised about that as bull sex or whatever the PBR is, gets higher ratings than the NHL.

[patr0510 0]

Forgot to add this, but, the ump at the all star game was 67 year's old. I could not believe that.

[LegoDoom 0]

Not sure. Even without being owned by Time-Warner now, they still aren't spending any money. I think what's going to end up happening is they're going to stay with McCann at C and get Salty "serviceable" enough as a 1B. Thorman is absolutely horrible there and makes me miss LaRoche. Seeing the youth makes me look back at the early '90s when Ted Turner would say "enough of this losing crap" and package some together for a bona fide star. Not anymore and it sucks, especially since Davies isn't panning out like they'd hope.

Looks like the Braves got Teixeira, but they had to give up Salty, Andrus (SS in A-ball), Harrison (LHP in AA), and another prospect.

That's a lot to give up for Teixeira, even if he is signed through next year.

[mik3 1]

And Feliz

Harrison's their best pitching prospect and Feliz is their #3-4 but is only 19.

Oh and Andrus was one of, if not the, youngest player at the futures game this year.

[LegoDoom 0]

Andrus' numbers aren't great, but he's an 18 year old SS in high A ball. He's doing well considering that he's probably two levels higher than most other kids that young.

[mack 44]

If they get Dotel for Davies tonight/tomorrow it almost makes up for what they paid for Teixeira. He's not Fred McGriff but it's at least a faint heartbeat coming out that the owners aren't going to sit around and let deals pass them by. My guess is they're going to weigh how he performs against Andruw Jones to see who they offer the long-term deals too.

Bringing players in and Chipper's playing like it's 1999, but it's still the NL and no team stands a chance against any AL team.

[mik3 1]

Dotel has said that even if he's traded he'll entertain signing with KC after the year. Davies numbers don't tell how good a pitcher he is though, and he's still 23.

Personally I feel Andruw's as good as gone. I just don't see how they trade all this for Tex and let him walk after next year. And honestly, Andruw looks like he's not worth what he's going to get. Expect Boston to have the most expensive OF ever next year.

[mack 44]

I don't know though, Davies is still young but I think he's more of a Pete Smith rather than a Jason Schmidt in terms of what he'll turn out to be. Even if Dotel re-signs with KC, I think the Braves' bullpen can cover him if he came and left. They're effective when they're not making 3-4 appearances a night.

As for Andruw, I can see him leaving but I can also see him giving a home-team discount to ATL for at least one year so he can try and try and have a decent season. Then again, who knows what he'll be offered on the open market and he may see that as his best chance for a deal and take it.

[mik3 1]

I think Ichiro's contract killed Atlanta's chances of keeping Andruw. Here's my thought on it, Ichiro gets almost 20mil, so what's Hunter going to get? Not nearly as much but you KNOW Andruw's going to get at least 2.5mil a year more than Hunter.

[mack 44]

I would hope no team tries to compare Ichiro's contract to what they think they should pay for Hunter or Jones because there's a level separating them. I'd say if Ichiro's got $20 per, Jones will look for $15 and Hunter will go for about what you said he'd do compared to Jones. Then again maybe Jones and Hunter wait each other out to see who gets what so they can ballpark their expectations accordingly.

[mik3 1]

I think Hunter will probably get an undeserved 13.5mil per, and Andruw probably ends up somewhere around 16per. Remember, Andruw's agent is Scott Boras. He likes to use contracts he got to get his other guys bigger deals, it's mainly how he got Zito that insane deal. He also makes up bidders and bids to make teams sweat. If he got JD Drew 15, he's getting Andruw more.

[mack 44]

Ugh, reading that makes me want to avoid all baseball talks this winter so I can just enter spring training thinking that Jones signed with *insert team here* because they had more CF for him to roam.

[mack 44]

Well I'm very pleased with how the Braves' deadline turned out. I guess they were trying for Arroyo too and I wouldn't have minded his cornrow-having ass in the rotation, but oh well.