This is a classic case of quanity outweighing the quality. Gotta give the guy credit for sticking with it…
If only they could have gotten that snot nosed window licker to shut it.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
I’m not sure there is a whole heckuva lot to look forward to if you are among the few who call themselves Washington Nationals fans. However, MLB’s amateur draft is right around the corner and the hometown team own pick numero uno.
"Pressure? Nah, I always look like this."
It seems every ten years or so, a prospect comes along that has all the baseball executives and scouts chubbin’ up. Those “in the know” get so excited they say things like:
PLAYER X “is the best player in this draft class and the best college pitching prospect of at least the past 20 years, if not in the history of the draft”
And:
“His statistics are otherworldly”
And:
“PLAYER X is in great shape and has unbelievable arm speed; he takes a long stride toward the plate and can wait to start his arm because it is so quick, which adds deception to his absurd velocity”
You get the point.
Now I’d like to introduce you to PLAYER X. His name is Stephen Strasburg, and he is the consensus number one pick this year. Check out a complete scouting report on Strasburg below, courtesy of ESPN’s MLB Insider. You’ll see I didn’t make any of the above quotes up.
One guy does not a franchise make, but if you are a Nats fan the prospect of finally having a front of the rotation guy has to be exciting. Let’s hope this isn’t hype and Strasburg actually has the goods.
I’m not really a salt in the wound kinda guy, but I wouldn’t be doing my part if I didn’t remind you about Steve Chilcott, Brien Taylor, Shawn Abner, Kirk Dressendorfer, Todd Van Poppel, Matt White, Al Chambers, Kyle Sleeth and Matt Bush.
And a quick sidenote, I knew Matt White a bit back when he was selected by San Francisco and later signed with Tampa (for over 10 mil). I was buddies with his older brother, Greg, so I don’t want to bash him. But make sure you look at his Wiki page and see why he wasn’t able to pitch for Team USA in the 2000 Olympics. Must have been a bumpy ride.
According to a report on ESPN.com, Cal Ripken wants to give A-Rod the business about his admitted steroid use.
“I really want to know why,” Ripken said Thursday night at a banquet in Florida, according to the Palm Beach Post. “I’m going to make it my business to find out.”
This is awesome. Every player who plays or played clean should take personal umbrage with the guys like A-Rod and Manny. Because of their choices, every clean player is now tainted. And this entire era will forever be known as the “Steroids Era.”
So guys like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Rickey Henderson and Ripken should be making a lot of noise. You played the game the right way; you don’t have to go down with the ship.
Way to go, Cal! Go get ‘em.
The color guy for your hometown professional baseball club (the Nationals) has posted an “interesting” post on masnsports.com.
We might need to ask Dibs to pee in a cup for us.
Rob Dibble, in his first season as a Nationals employee, thinks the boys in red can salvage their season, and even win 92 games.
Uh, what?
I’m a Red Sox fan, so I shell out the $150 a season to catch as many of their games as possible. This doesn’t allow much time for me to watch many Nats games. But I do know this: they suck.
The Nats have the potential to be a decent offensive team. But they have absolutely no pitching and as such I think they will struggle to win 70 games, let alone 90+.
Optimism is a good thing. As is loyality to your employer. But credibility should be worth something, too. Dibble is either incredibly optimistic/loyal, or an absolute moron. We’ll let you form your own decision - check out Dib’s post and let us know what you think.
Eat one, Manny
Exciting news breaking out of Los Angeles - Manny Ramirez might have failed a drug test and is facing a 50 game suspension.
I hate Manny. He tried to sabotage the Red Sox last year with his antics. Not only do I hope he gets suspended, I hope his ugly ass dreads all fall out too.
And who wears #99 in baseball? The MLB should implement a new rule: If you can’t count as high as your uniform number, you shouldn’t get to wear it.
-Angry Todd out
*UPDATE - The more I think about it, it wouldn’t completely shock me if we found out Manny got caught on purpose. Based on the way he has dogged in during the regular season in the past, and considering the great start the Dodgers are having, a 50 game “break” might seem like a good idea to Manny.
Baseball is bigger than any one player; MLB will survive this just like it will survive the next “shocking” revelation.
White Sox starting pitcher Josh Danks was caught on camera last night looking for an illegal substance to put on the ball.
Pick it 'til it bleeds
Major League baseball today is celebrating one of its true heroes. Gigantic pioneer Mo Vaughn is being honored throughout the league as all uniformed players pay tribute by wearing Vaughn’s XXXXL #42 jersey.
Baseball historians attribute Vaughn as one of the forerunners of collecting undeserved, and extremely overvalued contracts.
Back when Mo was still lean and mean
His six-year, $80-million deal with the Anaheim Angels, later to be ingested by the New York Mets, paved the way for other colossal contracts for perennial disappointments like Barry Zito (with the Giants), Albert Belle (Orioles), Kevin Brown (Dodgers) and Mike Hampton (Rockies).
A number of current players, and their blood thirsty agents, attribute Vaughn’s gargantuan deal with the Angels as the reason they got into the game of baseball in the first place.
“I’m fat. I like money. Thanks, Mo!” commented legendary lard ass CC Sabathia. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be on the professional eating circuit, sucking down tubs of chicken wings and creamed corn.”
The GiGB Editors are paying tribute in their own way - as each will be consuming 42 deviled eggs in a 42 minute window. This feat will forever be remembered as the “Mo Vaughn light snack.”
These skinny little twigs need to pack on some LBs to fill out their 42s.
I wanted to get this down on paper (virtual or otherwise) before the brand spankin’ new MLB season got too far gone. Admittedly we’re only about 18 hours in, but when my projections all prove to be astoundingly accurate, I don’t want the haters to have any excuses.
I don’t pretend to follow the Central and West Coast teams nearly as close as I do the teams on the Right Coast, so I won’t bother speculating on how they’ll finish. I do think the Dodgers are the class of the NL West, as our the Los Angeles Angels of Southwest San Bernardino by way of the PCH in the American League.
The Cubs should run away with the NL Central, but they are still the Cubs so keep an eye out for them to find a new and exciting way to screw over their fans. The AL Central should just disband now, ‘cuz all those teams suck. My guess is somewhere between 85 and 89 wins will win that division. Off the top of my head, I’ll guess Minnesota will take it. And look for Kansas City to be much better.
But all the teams that matter are located on the good side of the Mighty Mississippi. In the NL East, the Mets look to have solidified their craptastic bullpen by adding JJ Putz and F-Rod (tee-hee!) The Phillies are returning with the same basic team that won the whole shabang last year, so it would be pretty dumb to pick against them. So I’ll take the Mets to win their division.
Speaking of the Phillies’ run to the World Series last year, do you think they’ll send Billy Wagner a Championship ring? That guy gagged more last year in save situations than Joe at the Grabby Awards (Google it.)
Anyway, I’ll go Mets, Phillies, Braves, Nationals and Marlins in the NL East. The Nats still stink, but they have a few young pieces, and a great ownership group comitted to building a team from the ground up. The Marlins arguably have the best player in all of baseball in Hanley Ramirez, but he will be wasted on a team with nothing else around him. Don’t be surprised if the Marlins move him before the trade deadline this year.
When we start talking about the American League East, my F-Rod starts to take notice.
As an unabashed Red Sox fan, it would be easy for me to say my boys will run away with the division. They have a ton of starting pitcher depth. Brad Penny is penciled in as the 5th starter, with John Smoltz set to be ready in late May or early June. They also have Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden waiting for the call in Pawtucket. The Sox also sured up their ‘pen by signing Takashi Saito and trading for Ramon Ramirez.
Offensively they return their starting 9 from the end of last year. Spots 1 thru 7 are solid. Varitek’s bat speed, in the 8 hole, is suspect but he’s still a decent situational hitter. Jed Lowrie and Julio Lugo (once he’s healthy) will most likely platoon at short and hit 9th. Lowrie is versatile enough to play second and third, too.
The bench is solid, if not dazzling. Rocco Baldelli will spell JD Drew in right against a lot of left handed pitchers, and Mark Kotsay will play first (and Youkilis will move to third) to give Mike Lowell the occasional day off.
I think this is a good team, top to bottom. But (and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hate to admit this) I think the Yankees have more firepower. The Yankees have all the pieces to score 1,000 runs this year, and that’s considering A-Roid will miss the first month.
I think the key to the Yankees season will be the guys who bridge the gap between their starting pitchers and Mariano Rivera. Sabathia and Wang will eat up a ton of innings (fat joke intended), but I’ve never been overly impressed with AJ Burnett, Joba Chamberlain is not a 7 or 8 inning pitcher yet, and Andy Pettitte isn’t anymore.
If the Yankees can have a couple of guys step up and fill the void in the bullpen, it should be their division to lose.
Tampa had a amazing season last year. I don’t think I was alone waiting for the bottom to fall out for them, but it just never happened. Everything went the Rays way and they bring back that young nucleus from last year and should be mentioned in the race in the AL East. I just don’t see it happening, though. They will have big targets on their backs this year, and won’t be able to sneak up on anyone. And they can’t run a pitcher out to the mound who you know has the ability to absolutely shut down the opposition (like Sabathia, Josh Beckett or Roy Halladay.)
I see it shaking out like this. The Yankees and Sox will go back and forth for the division title for the better part of the season, with the Yankees pulling away late in August or so. The Sox will win around 95 games, and as such have little competion for the Wild Card. Tampa will be solid, but the stars won’t align for them like they did last year. I think Tampa and Toronto will scuffle for the third spot and the Orioles will finish in the cellar again.
But a quick note on the Orioles; their offense should be pretty good. Their outfield will be formidable in the next couple of years - Markakis is already a stud, and Felix Pie and Adam Jones should be close to breaking out. The O’s just don’t have ANY pitching, and they won’t be able to keep pace in the toughest division in baseball.
So there you have it. If you happen to rout for a non-East Coast team, it sucks for you. I don’t want to make any World Series predictions just yet, but I bet the team that wins it all is based in the EST.
Thoughts? Lemme have it below.
BTW, I know Francisco Rodriguez is called K-Rod; I called him F-Rod to set up a joke I used later in the post. Get over it.
The Final Four.
NHL Playoff push.
NBA Playoff push.
The Masters.
MLB Opening Day.
Quit your job, abandon your wife and kids, unplug the phone and order a week’s worth of oven-baked subs from Dominos.
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