ok, gotcha. i thought you meant that roy and carlos had some kind of friendship off the field. yeah roy's competitive nature is one of the main reasons he's my favorite player on the team. you can tell he's fearless. as for whoever said taveras could easily hit 20 home runs cause he plays at minute maid couldn't be further off. i'd be SHOCKED if he hit 10 in one season. not to say he can't be a really good player in other ways but he's not going to beat you with any kind of power. and as for minute maid, i don't have any numbers but i bet that centerfield takes away almost as many homeruns as left field gives up.
I didn't compare the Beltran of today with the Taveras of today. If you read my statements I made the case that Taveras could easily match Beltran's early career numbers, and could very well progress faster then Beltran did because he isn't on a horrible club like the Royals. Besides, they aren't comparable because Beltran is making 11.5M this season while Taveras is making a whopping 316K... I'll take Willy's cost vs. production ratio any day. I also made the comment that I don't see Beltran doing much better then last season ever again, it was his peak... he has his huge contract, he has nothing to work for. It will be easy for him to shine on another horrible team like he did in KC. By the way, I couldn't ever look silly posting in the same forums as you.
based on what? and so would/did Drayton...and now we will struggle to make the playoffs baseless comments...he is 27..he has at least 3 or 4 yrs left of 30/100/100 (and thats conservative) left in him
What I've seen so far. Beltran's FIRST THREE SEASON STATS are easily obtainable. I'll quote you by stealing your "baseless comments" tag. There is no proof that Drayton DIDN'T do everything in his power to keep Beltran around. We have the best pitching in the NL Central, and our top three can go head to head with any other top three in the league. Feel free to ask the Marlins, Angels and Diamondbacks how they won their Series. The comments are not baseless. He's in the NL East now and has to face the Marlins, Phillies and Braves countless times this season, which is far better pitching then he ever saw in KC... The NL pitchers also know more about him then they did last season. 30/100/100 a year isn't worth 125 million for 7 years.
You wrote that "Taveras could easily match Beltran's early career numbers". Beltran hit 22 HRs in his first full season. Based on Taveras' career minor league numnbers, he won't come within 15 of that. The only stat of of Beltran's first year numbers that Taveras will probably reach or surpass (providing he plays the whole year). Stolen bases.
My analogy did apply to Orlando fans. They have a reason to be bitter. Toronto fans have a reason to be bitter in the T-Mac and Vince Carter situation. Orlando fans had a right to bitter when Shaq left. I was dissapointed he didn't sign here but I'm definitely not bitter. He has no obligation to this team. He only played here for half a season after being traded. He didn't choose to be here and he certainly wasn't here long enough to say he was "nurtured" in this organization. Just like Randy Johnson it was a good mid-season trade that helped this team out but both guys were at points of their careers where they deserve to go to teams of their choice. He played here for HALF a season. Playoff run or not it was just HALF a season.
Regardless of how you feel about Beltran and whatever the "truth" is about the failure to re-sign him, I'm not sure it is proper to boo him for leaving given he is the primary reason we won our first playoff series and came one game from the World Series. Take away his bat...and we lose that series to the Braves AGAIN. He did more for us in 4 months than anyone has ever done on our team as far as the playoffs go. He didn't choke. I'm pissed he's not on our team but he had a huge impact in the little time he was here so, for that, I'm thankful.
I don't want Taveras to try and match Beltran's numbers. Never going to happen. Taveras is not a power hitter. I would rather Taveras shoot for becoming a Kenny Lofton like player and assume the leadoff role for years to come.
I wouldn't be so pissed if he hadn't about the Astros chances of signing him. At least you knew where you stood with Johnson - he wanted to pitch in Arizona, and said as much. That's the part that makes me angry with him - the lying.
exactly. i'm guessing 95 percent of the people pissed at him now wouldn't hold any grudge had he been straightforward. it's not that he left for another team, it's that he dicked us around forever then left.
didn't totally surprise me. and after the fact...particuarly RIGHT after the fact when the deadline passed...i knew what the root cause of the whole situation was. but this was really the first time i saw boras up close. i knew his reputation...but never followed one of his free agents closely during an offseason. and frankly, this one may have taken the cake.
I thought his play of the Beltran "sweepstakes" was masterful. Probably added 40 million to the fair-market contract. He destroyed the Rangers, literally, in the A-Rod deal. He somehow got a team to buy into Magglio Ordonez without a medical exam. And he single-handedly altered the landscape for first-round picks. Boras is an ass, but he gets top dollar for his clients at the expense of laying waste to anything in his path. But the thing is, teams have to be complicit to negotiate with him, on his terms. The Stros got burned this time.
complicit..unless he's outright lying to them. not just bluffing...but material misrepresentation stuff.
Well that's true, you negotiate in good faith and all. I agree with you there. But, and I'm sure you've seen this, there are some attorneys who you know aren't entirely honest in negotiations, civil or criminal. I've negotiated pleas and deals with guys who I didn't trust in the slightest. It's just one of those things, you can't pick who's on the other side of the table. But past history certainly factored into my method of dealing with those guys, and I knew I couldn't trust their word at face value.
So, what would happen if all the general managers took the same step as Ken Williams, the White Sox G.M.? I believe he said last year that he'd never go after a Boras client again. Anybody who admires what Boras does is shady themselves. What's ironic about baseball is that only the fact that there are a couple of teams who can afford to pay whatever to whomever saved a franchise that was nearly ruined by Boras and to some extent the owner and G.M.
