Good points. But I think when you're talking about suspending someone without pay, you're talking about something very different under this cba.
maybe so...but this situation, imo, is a whole different animal...there is a policy in place for steroids/drugs...and based on the policy, these guys have not tested positive that anyone knows of....the commish would be killing his own sport by playing judge and jury with these guys on the words of trainers and clubhouse guys.....not to mention, if he does that, you can bet dollars to donuts that the players will NEVER again agre to any type of testing...because it wouldnt hold any water whether or not they passed the tests or not
Somebody wrote this very early on....that after Selig started taking on the role of disciplinarian after Mitchell urged him not to...that it caused serious damage to the relationship between the players and the league...which was hugely improved from recent past.
He's already suspended Gibbons & Guillen with similar evidence, for post-2003 violations. Gibbons admitted & accepted, Guillen has filed a grievance through the mlbpa. Will be interesting to see how the arbitrator rules.
Okay, before I get too many people stirred up, the Stros didn't sign Miceli. I was just watching the 2004 NLCS on tape today and thought of the guy and how much he stank and decided to post something silly.
So the Mariners signed Silva for 4yrs/48 million. We are going to have to pay out the ass for Livan or whoever.
Thank goodness that at least prevents the Stros from signing him. The Mariners paid way too much money for his average services. I think we will be fortunate if we can sign either Prior or Jennings short-term given our utter lack of dependable starters after Oswalt. The Astros MUST find at least one more decent starting pitcher before spring training or all these bold offseason acquisitions go down the tube. Since management is taking the ALL OR NOTHING approach, they better not stop halfway. Our neighbors, the Rangers, will tell you first hand that a potent offense will take you nowhere without enough pitching to back it up. Not to beat a dead horse, but the only 2 times the Astros got past the first round were based on strong pitching and putrid offense. Pitching is infinitely more important than hitting.
The offense in 04 was not bad at all. In fact it was the 5th best offense in the league(without beltran for half the season). It was the 5th best pitching team too, so i don't see how we got there on the strength of pitching. If anything it was pitching that was our downfall. The lack of starting pitching depth that caused us to have to start Peter Munro twice in the NLCS was by far the biggest hole on that team.
That is true. If it is good pitching. But, there is nothing worse than paying through the nose for some old broken down pitcher that can't put 3 innings together and you are stuck for 4 more years and $50 million. There comes a point when the risk becomes too great. And Livan is a fine example. He's up in years, getting long in the tooth, lots of innings under his belt. If I was a GM, I would not take the risk of offering him multi years at over $10 mill per guaranteed. Too great a possibility of dragging a bunch of dead weight. I think Wade has got it right. He has cleaned out our roster of mediocre non-difference makers and brought in established talent. He's also cleared the deck so younger players can perform and develop in our minor league system. We should develop our own young arms and keep scouring for cheap deals that we can get rid of if they do not work out. If we are in the hunt, we can always add a pitcher through trade midseason from some team that is out of it and going into rebuilding mode. Not to mention, there are some pretty good pitchers playing out their contract in 2008.
We have no assets to use in a midseason trade unless we give up a very good player. Our best chance is to sign a low-risk, high-potential deal with a player like Prior, Colon or even Jennings.
No, he was consistently very good throughout one and a half years with us. Everyone just remembers his awful 2004 playoff run.
Saw this on mlbtraderumors.com. I remember several people have mentoned wanting Colon on the 'stros, so it seems post worthy: [rquoter] Two clubs that have seen Colon's medical reports and/or price tag have already backed off (Astros, Rangers). The Cardinals, Nationals, and Mets may have lingering interest, but we don't have great information here. How healthy is he? Would he take a one-year deal? On December 4th, Bill Ladson suggested he was not open to one year. [/rquoter] also this: [rquoter] This was one I was going to pass on posting, but it's pretty dead right now. The Astros signed newly acquired reliever Oscar Villarreal to a two-year deal. He was already under team control through 2008. The MLB.com article adds that Ed Wade's interest in Livan Hernandez and Bartolo Colon is low, and talks with Jon Lieber pretty much died. [/rquoter]
Not happy with that rumor at all. I have Livan at the top of my list for our 2/3 pitcher slot. I don't see why he wouldn't be in the mix. Interesting about Wade's former Philly boy Lieber. And if it's true that Kris Benson was topping out around the 80s in his showcase a few weeks ago, who the heck is still out there?
