Bobby Abreu...
Here's my take on Bobby Abreu's 41 home runs...
AMAZING.
That's all you can say. I thought it was really dumb to have the only quote in all the sports stories I read about this be given by Johnny Damon, by the way. "Pretty sick." Pretty sick! The guy hits 41 home runs and the best we can come up with is "pretty sick." Well, it's a good thing Damon said it, instead of, I don't know, Kenny Rogers.
What irks me about the whole thing is that Abreu has been one of the ten best players in baseball this decade, and people are just like, "Who is this guy?" But damn if we don't know what Derek Jeter had for breakfast. Let's not forget, Abreu went 30-30 in 2001 without being an All-Star, 25-25 in 2000 without being an All-Star, and 20-20 with a .300 average in 1999, 2002, and 2003 without being an All-Star. It isn't his fault he plays for the Phillies, who never seem to get anybody who can hit leadoff or get on base for him. The Philly fans actually like this guy, and that's enough to make him the truth in my book.
Kudos to Ortiz for showing up too... nobody seemed to want to question his home runs. I've heard talk that the ball might have been juiced... but I think that's sort of ridiculous. If the ball was juiced for this Derby, then it was definitely juiced for all of Sosa's and Giambi's Derby performances. Those balls traveled forever. And Jason Bay, Andruw Jones, and Mark Teixeira didn't really do much. Did the HR Derby orchestrators only juice Abreu's balls? That seems sort of unlikely.
Let's go on to the trades, namely the Bret Boone to my Twins deal. This trade tears at the heart of my core, as I'm actually going to have to cheer for Boone now. I guess his dismissal from Seattle is enough to make me change my mind about him, he seemed pretty heart-broken. But I still maintain that he was on 'roids. He could get on my good side by admitting it... I have a soft spot for Jason Giambi because he at least admitted (though he was forced) that he took steroids. That's better than the other cheaters... that whole reconciliation thing works for me.
At any rate, Bret Boone is better than Luis Rivas or Nick Punto, and I guess that's all that matters.
Preston Wilson to the Nationals... this goes into the Jim Bowden immediate acquisition of five-tool outfielders category. I guess Wilson can't really hit for average, but he should be able to hit for power. What this trade does for Washington is basically up in the air. I think it puts Marlon Byrd probably back on the bench, and Ryan Church should get fewer innings as well. Still, the whole idea is to protect Jose Guillen, and Preston Wilson should be able to do that a little better job of that. At any rate... Zach Day, welcome to hell.
Byrnes for Kennedy and Witasick.... I really think Eric Byrnes will be able to hit in Colorado, and Joe Kennedy will probably be better off not pitching there. There's some expert-quality analysis. Apparently the A's have not read my memo that tells them they're out of contention and insist on acquiring some more contracts. By the way, Jay Witasick could have been an All-Star this year, that's how bad Colorado is.
Payton for Bradford... Jay Payton needed to get the heck out of Boston; he might be better off on a team where he actually plays. That '04 campaign with the Padres would worry me though. I guess replacing Byrnes with a similar player is an OK idea.
Question of the day: What is the value of Preston Wilson's 2005 contract? The winner gets a prize.
AMAZING.
That's all you can say. I thought it was really dumb to have the only quote in all the sports stories I read about this be given by Johnny Damon, by the way. "Pretty sick." Pretty sick! The guy hits 41 home runs and the best we can come up with is "pretty sick." Well, it's a good thing Damon said it, instead of, I don't know, Kenny Rogers.
What irks me about the whole thing is that Abreu has been one of the ten best players in baseball this decade, and people are just like, "Who is this guy?" But damn if we don't know what Derek Jeter had for breakfast. Let's not forget, Abreu went 30-30 in 2001 without being an All-Star, 25-25 in 2000 without being an All-Star, and 20-20 with a .300 average in 1999, 2002, and 2003 without being an All-Star. It isn't his fault he plays for the Phillies, who never seem to get anybody who can hit leadoff or get on base for him. The Philly fans actually like this guy, and that's enough to make him the truth in my book.
Kudos to Ortiz for showing up too... nobody seemed to want to question his home runs. I've heard talk that the ball might have been juiced... but I think that's sort of ridiculous. If the ball was juiced for this Derby, then it was definitely juiced for all of Sosa's and Giambi's Derby performances. Those balls traveled forever. And Jason Bay, Andruw Jones, and Mark Teixeira didn't really do much. Did the HR Derby orchestrators only juice Abreu's balls? That seems sort of unlikely.
Let's go on to the trades, namely the Bret Boone to my Twins deal. This trade tears at the heart of my core, as I'm actually going to have to cheer for Boone now. I guess his dismissal from Seattle is enough to make me change my mind about him, he seemed pretty heart-broken. But I still maintain that he was on 'roids. He could get on my good side by admitting it... I have a soft spot for Jason Giambi because he at least admitted (though he was forced) that he took steroids. That's better than the other cheaters... that whole reconciliation thing works for me.
At any rate, Bret Boone is better than Luis Rivas or Nick Punto, and I guess that's all that matters.
Preston Wilson to the Nationals... this goes into the Jim Bowden immediate acquisition of five-tool outfielders category. I guess Wilson can't really hit for average, but he should be able to hit for power. What this trade does for Washington is basically up in the air. I think it puts Marlon Byrd probably back on the bench, and Ryan Church should get fewer innings as well. Still, the whole idea is to protect Jose Guillen, and Preston Wilson should be able to do that a little better job of that. At any rate... Zach Day, welcome to hell.
Byrnes for Kennedy and Witasick.... I really think Eric Byrnes will be able to hit in Colorado, and Joe Kennedy will probably be better off not pitching there. There's some expert-quality analysis. Apparently the A's have not read my memo that tells them they're out of contention and insist on acquiring some more contracts. By the way, Jay Witasick could have been an All-Star this year, that's how bad Colorado is.
Payton for Bradford... Jay Payton needed to get the heck out of Boston; he might be better off on a team where he actually plays. That '04 campaign with the Padres would worry me though. I guess replacing Byrnes with a similar player is an OK idea.
Question of the day: What is the value of Preston Wilson's 2005 contract? The winner gets a prize.
posted by mike at 10:36 PM
4 Comments:
The prize, by the way, is a 2002 Donruss Rated Rookie Ricardo Rodriguez, #ed 679/1500, BV $4. If you need it sent to you, you will need to post your address.
Well, let's look at my Top 10 Players this decade (the 2000s).
1) Albert Pujols
2) Barry Bonds
3) Alex Rodriguez
4) Vladimir Guerrero
5) Ichiro
6) Gary Sheffield
7) Scott Rolen
8) Abreu
9) Miguel Tejada
10)Manny Ramirez
Apologies to Jeter, Edmonds, Beltran, Berkman, Andruw Jones, Todd Helton, and any pitchers (these are just my position players). Looking at statistics, these are my guys. I think the trade values are pretty close too.
Who am I missing? Who did I leave out?
If the Yankees could trade Jeter for Abreu they would... guaranteed.
And I like Varitek as much as the next guy, because he's tough, but he's won just one ring and been to only two All-Star games. Those aren't numbers of a Hall of Famer. The Red Sox haven't won the World Series yet, they are no dynasty... I think Jorge Posada is possibly more qualified (more rings, more All-Star appearances, etc.) for the Hall of Fame anyway.
Well, you make a nice point about the power surges possibly being due to other factors, so I might be willing to retract my comments about Bret Boone pending his performance with my Twins.
Do you want the card or not? If you don't want it, you have to come up with a new trivia question.
The whole "dynasty" reference is merely an aside to a point that I'd like to make, namely that the Red Sox have won as many World Series as say, Florida or Anaheim in the past few years.
I agree with your analysis of Nomar, and I still think he could be a HOF quality player. He will need a few more years.
ESPN, Skip Bayless is a hack. That's all I have to say on that.
Look for an extensive article soon.
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