I hate to admit that the Giants are kind of growing on me, probably because they're the "local" (ish) team and theirs are the games that are on TV. I do think Kruk and Kuip are good announcers, but, in the end, they're still the freakin' Giants.

Phillies trade for Cliff Lee.

Mets front office bungles ANOTHER firing and press conference.

Reyes and Beltran are still not running at full speed and are weeks away.

How long until pitchers and catchers?

And Manny and Papi on the 2003 list...(not that that is surprising)

"The Giants' inability to score for Cain prevented him from becoming the Major Leagues' first 13-game winner. Cain was rewarded nevertheless, as he trimmed his ERA from 2.27 to a league-leading 2.12. His ERA in six July starts is 0.94.

Cain thrived despite striking out only four batters -- a marked contrast with co-ace Tim Lincecum, who struck out 15 Pirates on Monday."

The 2009 Giants - amazing pitching, almost no scoring. Giants just picked up Freddie Sanchez from the Pirates and Garko from the Indians... hopefully that will help, though neither are marquee players...

jmccarthy said:

Yep, totally agree regarding homeruns/high scoring baseball games. In that regard, I'm a firm believer that the casual fan doesn't really know what they like/want. The whole McGwire/Sosa thing was credited with 'bringing back' the game after the strike - but, I think it's was just a natural arc after the strike/people were bound to come back to the national pastime. Sure, if you survey casual fans, they'll say they want to see homeruns (remember the 'chicks dig the long ball' ads?). However, those same people will then complain that the biggest problem is games taking too long - & there's a direct correlation between the two.

Anyway - Brewers are just blahh/hard to get excited about. Yeah, they can hit a lot of homeruns - unfortunately, their offense ends there & needs to be better the way this team was built. It was supposed to carry the pitching.

Any Pirates fans out there? Man, I get that they're going nowhere this year/need to cash in on their players - they just don't seem like they get much of a return for some of the players they do trade (e.g the Grabow/Gorzelanny deal with the Cubs), or the Bay deal last year.

Peavy to ChiSox suprised me. Have to make them the favorites in the AL Central now methinks.

I think the Cardinals did well getting Holiday when his value was low.

I'm kind of surprised that Cleveland traded Cliff Lee. Pundits seem to think they did OK, but he wasn't costing that much/I'm not sure I would have traded him if I were the Indians. At some point, you have to make a stand/go for it - you can't just keep churning over your best players for prospects (I think the A's/Beane has fallen into this trap).

I really don't like the way the Pirates and Indians have gutted their teams of players comiong up for new contracts/free agency. I am not sure about the Indians, but I know **** well the Piartes are beneficiaries of teh luxury tax - and it just sucks that they don't pump that money abck inot payroll. You have to feel bad for fans of those teams - even Tom Snow.

In the Pirates defense...they did get some really good young players back for a bunch of players they weren't going to re-sign anyhow; LaRoche, Sanchez, Wilson weren't exactly superstars anyhow, though the McClouth deal with the Braves earlier on was odd (but McCutchen does look to have all five tools). I do agree with you about the luxury tax, though. If you're gonna be a team that receives money from the tax, put it back into the team! It seems mind-numbingly simplistic, but apparently teams can't figure that out (aside from maybe Tampa Bay).

Kade: All I'm reading is that the Pirates didn't get ANYTHING back for these deals. Of all the players the Pirates got back for their former regulars, only two, Double-A pitcher Tim Alderson (acquired from the Giants for '06 NL batting champion Sanchez) and righty Charlie Morton (who came over from the Braves in the McLouth deal) are regarded as potential frontline prospects - and neither of them was rated by their teams as top-tier. It makes me nuts.

Yeah, here on the West Coast, we don't hear much, but Alderson was pretty highly regarded by the Giants (at least...according to the Giants), and I don't think Freddy Sanchez is all that great. Really, Jack Wilson was the best player they lost, but were they gonna be able to pay him $8 million? I think what the Indians gave up is much worse.

And I guess since we're on the subject, Jerry Crasnick just put up a piece on ESPN about those hapless Pirates:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=4373943

I think the Pirates GM made a fairly good point about "not like we're breaking up a juggernaut," even if it is regarded as "cocky."

Indians got a lot more then the pirates.

Alderson is the best piece that the pirates got and he was the #2 (behind baumgartner) pitcher in the giants system.

The indians got Masterson (who won his start for them the other night) from the Red Sox (thier #2 pitcher in the system counting bucholz) and two other guys with one of them being described as having the second highest ceiling on any prospect moved. Who had the highest ceiling? On of the other 10 guys they got, Jason Knapp a 6'6" fastballer. Carriascio (only the #2 pitcher because Drabek was a surprise in that he is doing so well so fast this year) is no slouch and will be fighting for a spot in the rotation next spring training (Drabek is still 2 years away), Macdonald was my favorite phillie in spring training, plays just about any INF position and would look much better as the phillies depth INF then Eric Bruntlett does...(bleh). Marson was a guy the philies really wanted to get his bat into the line-up, but with Ruiz (and manuel's and the pitching staff's hard on for his defensive work) entrenched there Marson wasn't coming up any time soon. Marson will also be better in the AL then in the NL where he can DH half the year if need be. The only reason it feels like these guys are chumps is because toronto tried to ass-**** the phillies and wouldn't take a deal that didn't include happ and drabek (which we couldn't have given both up).

Indians still got fleeced, I think. Oakland did better for Holliday than Cleveland did for Martinez. What is Cleveland going to do with Marson? I guess they could trade him...but they're pretty much set at catcher coming up with Carlos Santana (Got a black magic womaaan). Masterson should be serviceable and Hagadone does have a high ceiling. I don't know much about the other kid they got from the Red Sox, though. The haul on Cliff Lee was "okay" as well, but it's not like Cliff Lee was terribly expensive (and the Indians ownership said that there was no mandate to cut payroll), and he's quite proven. Just seems as though both Cleveland and Pittsburgh are run by clowns.

Stag Lord said:

I do not fault the Pirates in that regard. Just because they aren't spending it on big league salaries doesn't mean they aren't spending - there's minor league organization, signing bonuses for draft picks, and upgrading of Int'l scouting to consider. In fact, they SHOULD be dumping salary when it comes to the likes of Wilson, LaRoche types. The thing is, at some point, these teams Have to make a stand/keep 1-2 guys to build around.

I'm pretty sure that the Indians Payroll is medium level, & Lee really isn't owed that much (in comparison to others). I think it was more they felt like they were getting a good deal/something for nothing since they can't resign him after 2010. I wonder though.

how about them braves!!!!!!!!

oh wait......

not to bad for a team picked by some to miss the playoffs.

the city is a little crazy tonight. i'd love to see it after a second WS win.

I was still closer with my Braves pick than the guys picking the Indians to win the Central were with their pick.

I'll sort of be rooting for the Phillies next week. Not that I wiil be paying much attention one way or the other.

just had to share why one newswriter is rooting for the Yankees to win tonight:

"There's also the added benefit of knowing a Phils-Yanks Fall Classic is sure to make Mets fans projectile vomit all over their plastic-covered couches. Everyone wins this way."

hers a surprisingly well written and journalistic article from the daily news in relation to my last post

www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20091027_Mets_fans_rooting_for_Phillies.html

Very accurate and spot on article. Captures the take of this Mets fan precisely.

You can shut the frak up now, Lars.

Andre Dawson makes the Hall of Fame.

Geez - what a joke.

Guy plays for 20 years and complies some good numbers. But in those 20 years he only has four years of 100+ RBIs and 2+ years of 100 runs scored. The HoF really gives too much weight to guys who hang aorund forever, but are never dominant. I saw Dawson play - great player - far from an immortal.

Yeah, I'm biased/was a fan - he was a good defensive player which helps, but even I can admit he's really not quite HOF caliber - but this isn't any worse than Jim Rice's election.

But Stag, you can come up with better reasons than using Runs and RBI's (stats that are heavily dependent upon the team you played for, as well as era you played in).

Figured you'ld stay consistent and go wth that take Jase - and we don't really disagree here.

when AJ gets back to posting I'm sure he'll have a few comments.

at least - Thank God - Blyleven the compiler didn't egt elected yet - though i'm afraid he may next year.

and the Mets can not catch a break. i'm pretty happy withe the Bay signing, but geez - Beltran still has knee issues and now he won't be on the field until May or June. This surgery couldn't have been done, say, around Hallow-freaking-ween?

Yeah, I don't understand why he didn't have surgery right after the season ended.

You know I can't allow the Blyleven compiler comment to stand unchallenged, here's a brief debunking of one of those arguments:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/1914/does-blyleven-baines

Dammit LoB - you finally got your wish. The career stat complier Blyleven finally got voted in after 14 years to the Hall of Fame yesterday. Tehre to join his equally undeserving buddy Don Sutton in the "I hung around forever and padded my stats" wing. Sigh.

I saw blyleven pitch. He never scared me - he was never even the best player on his particular staff. oh well. At least the cheating steroid guys aren't in yet.