Part 2
I did some thinking over the weekend, prompted mostly by the rant I wrote regarding the Cowboys. I analyzed my own thoughts and came to the conclusion that I had every right in the world to be upset regarding the way the Cowboys were losing games and how the Rangers refused to help themselves, but I had no reason to be upset about what happened to the United States soccer team in the World Cup draw. I know that I have not commented about the draw in writing, but it has been on my mind ever since it happened.
First, I would like to start with the Rangers. It all began with the Josh Beckett trade debacle. At one point the trade was a certainty. All that needed to happen was the Rangers needed to include one of their two top pitching prospects, John Danks or Thomas Diamond. I don’t know why or how, but the Rangers balked at this request. Next thing you know Josh Beckett has been traded to the Red Sox. The sequence of events should infuriate all Rangers fans. Josh Beckett, a Texas native, and a pitcher who has legitimate #1 stuff was in our grasps. We could have had him, but we didn’t pull the trigger because we didn’t want to trade a prospect. I’ve always believed that any chance you get to trade an unproven commodity for a proven one, you do it. It’s not like Beckett is old. To the contrary he is only 25 years old and could have been the #1 in Texas for the next ten years. It’s unbelievable that the Rangers were unwilling to make this happen. The word ‘potential’ means one thing and one thing only: in the future, the player may (and may is the key word) turn into a future star. But there are a ton of prospects out there. If one were to listen to Peter Gammons there are 400 certain future Hall of Famers in the minor leagues (I don’t want to get started on Peter Gammons, and I think a lot of people would take it as blasphemy, but he overhypes everyone in the minors to the point that reading his opinion on minor league players is an absolute waste of time because he is not objective enough about their talents). Prospects that produce are great for a team, but a lot of times their value is at its peak when people like Gammons throw their names around as they are the reincarnation of Pedro Martinez. The bottom line is that trade needed to be made.
After the Beckett fiasco, the Rangers traded away Alfonso Soriano. I have never liked Soriano because I believe he is a terrible defensive player who sometimes refuses to hustle (on the basepaths and while playing second base). I am glad that he got traded, but he needed to be traded for a pitcher. This trade upset me because the Rangers now have six outfielders (Mench, Nix, Matthews, Jr., Delucci, Wilkerson, and Sledge) and still no pitching help. This trade, logistically, doesn’t make sense to me. It almost seems that the Rangers pulled the trigger just so they could get rid of Soriano. But why would they do this? At worst, they could have kept him, given young Ian Kinsler a chance to play at Triple-A this year (now he is going to be the starter straight from Double-A), and traded Soriano in June or July. His value would have been higher and maybe they could have forced someone’s hand and gotten pitching help.
I really truly believe that if I was the GM of the Rangers for the last 5 years, they would be in much better shape than they are in right now.
I really think there have been a lot of foolish signings this winter, starting with the Blue Jays. Everyone is giving them a ton of credit for what they did, but I just don’t buy it. They signed A.J. Burnett, a pitcher who doesn’t have a winning record to the biggest contract for a pitcher since Chan Ho Park. All Burnett has done in his career is show signs of the possibility of being a good pitcher, but he has never put it together for long stretches at a time. I wouldn’t pay him more than $7 million a year. I would pay B.J. Ryan even less. He had one good season, but a lot of people in the bullpen have one good year and struggle after that. Do people still remember Ryan Zimmerman, an All-Star closer for one year? He closed that one year and he was not heard from again. What about Jorge Julio, one of Ryan’s former teammates? Or Antonio Alfonseca? Or Tim Worrell? The list is countless. I think the chance of both Ryan and Burnett being complete busts is equal to both of them earning their contracts. To me, that’s something you can’t do. If you are going to spend that kind of money, the players are going to have to be sure things.
The other signing I didn’t understand was why the Orioles paid Ramon Hernandez $7 million a year for four years. He’s just not that good of a player. I wouldn’t pay him more than $4 million a year. What’s the difference, talent level wise, between Hernandez and Rod Barajas? I don’t see too much of a difference, but there is a significant gap in salaries. And the Orioles have Javy Lopez, who is making $8 million a year. Now they have two catchers making a combined $15 million a year, a disgruntled shortstop, and not much else.
Now, I would like to completely shift gears and write about World Cup Soccer. On Wednesday, I felt that the United States got gypped when they were not awarded one of the #1 seeds for the tournament. Mexico got a #1 seed, but the United States won the CONCACAF group that both teams were in, and the US had won the Gold Cup, the last tournament both teams were in. At this point I was hoping that the US would not end up in a group with one of the other two top ten teams in the world that were not ranked, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. Then came the fateful draw that pitted the US against Italy (a #1 seed, ranked #10 in the world by FIFA), the Czech Republic (ranked #2 in the world), and Ghana (the best team in Africa). Ghana was the one non-European or South American team that some were worried about. They have not lost in over two years and have a good amount of players who play in Europe. Also, they are a really physical team. The group the US is in is deep and any of the four teams can make the quarterfinals. At first I was very upset with the draw. I even had all kinds of doomsday scenarios. But then I got to thinking, and pretty much it comes down to one thing: the US just needs to win some games. It’s that plain and simple. The Czech’s are very talented and deep, but they are old. The Italians are also very talented and deep, but they are a team that likes to make a lot of long passes and lobs, and the athleticism of the Americans enables them to be the perfect team to stop the Italians from doing so. Ghana might be the best team in Africa, but the US is just more talented. And we shouldn’t forget that the US has arguably the best goalie in the world in Casey Keller and have guys like Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, Claudio Reyna, and others who played extremely well at the last World Cup. I don’t think the results at this World Cup are going to be as dire as some think. Can the Americans win all 3 of those games? Absolutely. Will they? I hope so. But no matter what happens, crying over the pairing is not the way we should conduct ourselves. This is an opportunity to show the World we are truly for real, and I trust that the US will make that statement.
Say What?!?!: I got a chance to watch the Jermaine Taylor and Bernard Hopkins fight and I thought it was one of the worst fights I have ever seen. Nothing happened for about the first 10 rounds. I don't really know how you can possibly have a winner in that fight. Neither guy was at all hurt. I'm glad that the decision went to Taylor just because we won't have to watch those guys fight again.
The Cowboys won an exciting game this weekend and the Rangers have traded for Vincente Padilla (not huge, but at this point anything helps). So maybe things are turning around.
First, I would like to start with the Rangers. It all began with the Josh Beckett trade debacle. At one point the trade was a certainty. All that needed to happen was the Rangers needed to include one of their two top pitching prospects, John Danks or Thomas Diamond. I don’t know why or how, but the Rangers balked at this request. Next thing you know Josh Beckett has been traded to the Red Sox. The sequence of events should infuriate all Rangers fans. Josh Beckett, a Texas native, and a pitcher who has legitimate #1 stuff was in our grasps. We could have had him, but we didn’t pull the trigger because we didn’t want to trade a prospect. I’ve always believed that any chance you get to trade an unproven commodity for a proven one, you do it. It’s not like Beckett is old. To the contrary he is only 25 years old and could have been the #1 in Texas for the next ten years. It’s unbelievable that the Rangers were unwilling to make this happen. The word ‘potential’ means one thing and one thing only: in the future, the player may (and may is the key word) turn into a future star. But there are a ton of prospects out there. If one were to listen to Peter Gammons there are 400 certain future Hall of Famers in the minor leagues (I don’t want to get started on Peter Gammons, and I think a lot of people would take it as blasphemy, but he overhypes everyone in the minors to the point that reading his opinion on minor league players is an absolute waste of time because he is not objective enough about their talents). Prospects that produce are great for a team, but a lot of times their value is at its peak when people like Gammons throw their names around as they are the reincarnation of Pedro Martinez. The bottom line is that trade needed to be made.
After the Beckett fiasco, the Rangers traded away Alfonso Soriano. I have never liked Soriano because I believe he is a terrible defensive player who sometimes refuses to hustle (on the basepaths and while playing second base). I am glad that he got traded, but he needed to be traded for a pitcher. This trade upset me because the Rangers now have six outfielders (Mench, Nix, Matthews, Jr., Delucci, Wilkerson, and Sledge) and still no pitching help. This trade, logistically, doesn’t make sense to me. It almost seems that the Rangers pulled the trigger just so they could get rid of Soriano. But why would they do this? At worst, they could have kept him, given young Ian Kinsler a chance to play at Triple-A this year (now he is going to be the starter straight from Double-A), and traded Soriano in June or July. His value would have been higher and maybe they could have forced someone’s hand and gotten pitching help.
I really truly believe that if I was the GM of the Rangers for the last 5 years, they would be in much better shape than they are in right now.
I really think there have been a lot of foolish signings this winter, starting with the Blue Jays. Everyone is giving them a ton of credit for what they did, but I just don’t buy it. They signed A.J. Burnett, a pitcher who doesn’t have a winning record to the biggest contract for a pitcher since Chan Ho Park. All Burnett has done in his career is show signs of the possibility of being a good pitcher, but he has never put it together for long stretches at a time. I wouldn’t pay him more than $7 million a year. I would pay B.J. Ryan even less. He had one good season, but a lot of people in the bullpen have one good year and struggle after that. Do people still remember Ryan Zimmerman, an All-Star closer for one year? He closed that one year and he was not heard from again. What about Jorge Julio, one of Ryan’s former teammates? Or Antonio Alfonseca? Or Tim Worrell? The list is countless. I think the chance of both Ryan and Burnett being complete busts is equal to both of them earning their contracts. To me, that’s something you can’t do. If you are going to spend that kind of money, the players are going to have to be sure things.
The other signing I didn’t understand was why the Orioles paid Ramon Hernandez $7 million a year for four years. He’s just not that good of a player. I wouldn’t pay him more than $4 million a year. What’s the difference, talent level wise, between Hernandez and Rod Barajas? I don’t see too much of a difference, but there is a significant gap in salaries. And the Orioles have Javy Lopez, who is making $8 million a year. Now they have two catchers making a combined $15 million a year, a disgruntled shortstop, and not much else.
Now, I would like to completely shift gears and write about World Cup Soccer. On Wednesday, I felt that the United States got gypped when they were not awarded one of the #1 seeds for the tournament. Mexico got a #1 seed, but the United States won the CONCACAF group that both teams were in, and the US had won the Gold Cup, the last tournament both teams were in. At this point I was hoping that the US would not end up in a group with one of the other two top ten teams in the world that were not ranked, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. Then came the fateful draw that pitted the US against Italy (a #1 seed, ranked #10 in the world by FIFA), the Czech Republic (ranked #2 in the world), and Ghana (the best team in Africa). Ghana was the one non-European or South American team that some were worried about. They have not lost in over two years and have a good amount of players who play in Europe. Also, they are a really physical team. The group the US is in is deep and any of the four teams can make the quarterfinals. At first I was very upset with the draw. I even had all kinds of doomsday scenarios. But then I got to thinking, and pretty much it comes down to one thing: the US just needs to win some games. It’s that plain and simple. The Czech’s are very talented and deep, but they are old. The Italians are also very talented and deep, but they are a team that likes to make a lot of long passes and lobs, and the athleticism of the Americans enables them to be the perfect team to stop the Italians from doing so. Ghana might be the best team in Africa, but the US is just more talented. And we shouldn’t forget that the US has arguably the best goalie in the world in Casey Keller and have guys like Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley, Claudio Reyna, and others who played extremely well at the last World Cup. I don’t think the results at this World Cup are going to be as dire as some think. Can the Americans win all 3 of those games? Absolutely. Will they? I hope so. But no matter what happens, crying over the pairing is not the way we should conduct ourselves. This is an opportunity to show the World we are truly for real, and I trust that the US will make that statement.
Say What?!?!: I got a chance to watch the Jermaine Taylor and Bernard Hopkins fight and I thought it was one of the worst fights I have ever seen. Nothing happened for about the first 10 rounds. I don't really know how you can possibly have a winner in that fight. Neither guy was at all hurt. I'm glad that the decision went to Taylor just because we won't have to watch those guys fight again.
The Cowboys won an exciting game this weekend and the Rangers have traded for Vincente Padilla (not huge, but at this point anything helps). So maybe things are turning around.
posted by bbwillrk @ 7:52 PM
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