<p>Yeah the NL West is always a joke. </p>
<p>Actually, to be honest, the NL is always a joke. There might be 2 or 3 good teams but for the most part it is awful. (And don’t use the lame WS argument. Any team can get hot and win a 4 game Series. Look at interleague play.)</p>
<p>Damnit I was having such a good day today too.</p>
<p>Angels did not deserve to win that game after the way Fuentes pitched</p>
<p>Haha, i am so ticked about Burnett and Hughes’ inability to beast conistently. Then Swisher whiffs at the end, great.</p>
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<p>How is he over-hyped? He is known as a clutch hitter, and didn’t do steroids. Look at pics of him when he was younger, he look like the same. Look at A-Rod, he’s a monster now. Jeter never cheated, is well-respected, and just goes plays ball in a classy way. He’s never been a hulking power hitter, but the guy just goes and does his job. Manny is overrated. Ortiz is overrated. Jose Reyes is overrated. Just because he was a leader and a big-time contributor in the playoffs, and got 4 rings (should hoenstly have 7 right now though) means that he has been a great ballplayer. He has lost some ability, but he’s easily a first-ballot HOF. He has the most multi-hit games in the postseason of all-time. He is the Yanks’ hits leader of all-time. The guy has been incredible, respect him. By the way, he’s played this entire ALCs with the flu.</p>
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<p>Uhm, only Sabathia, Burnett, Texiera, A-Rod, and Damon were “bought.” Jeter, Rivera, Hughes, Chamberlain (good reliever, not starter), Posada, Cano, Cabrera, etc all are from the farm system. Granted, we have signed an excellent crop of free agents lately, but if there is no salary cap, then what’s the big deal? It’s not illegal and the Yanks are using their assets to put the best team out there. You know, tight-wad owners get blasted for being cheap and not ponying up the cash to compete. The Yanks are willing to commit $462M to 2 players, and they get railed. The Steinbrenners get whoever they want because they just pay the players more than anybody else wants to(that is a huge sum, I wish they didn’t re-up A-Rod at $300M lol).</p>
<p>Yeah I guess the Yankees deserve credit for being in a whole other universe financially :rolleyes:</p>
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<p>almost = didn’t</p>
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<p>To their credit, they did score more runs than the Yankees.</p>
<p>Tomorrow will be the final game before we go for 27. Fo sho.</p>
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<p>Yeah, at least the Steinbrenner’s are willing to pony up the cash, that’s all I am trying to say. Daniel Snyder does the same thing, but fails too. The Yanks, although blunder sometimes, generally do target the right guys to fit into the team. </p>
<p>Don’t be jealous. Mets and Red Sox pay a lot too, but where are they now? Yanks do overpay some of their players for sure, but hey, it’s working right now. A-Rod, CC, Texiera, and Damon have been productive free agents. Don’t hate because your team fell apart. :rolleyes:</p>
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<p>To the Yankees’ credit, they didn’t get smashed by the Phillies.</p>
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<p>Um yeah, when you have a payroll that’s 30% higher than the next highest team, 66% higher than the next competent organization and 150% higher than the league median, it’ll “work” sometimes. Of course they generally target the right players - any idiot knows that A-Rod is better than your typical third baseman.</p>
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Yeah, so they deserved to beat the Angels :rolleyes:</p>
<p>[Philadelphia</a> Phillies vs. New York Yankees - Recap - May 22, 2009 - ESPN](<a href=“MLB on ESPN - Scores, Stats and Highlights”>Phillies 7-3 Yankees (May 22, 2009) Game Recap - ESPN)
[Philadelphia</a> Phillies vs. New York Yankees - Recap - May 24, 2009 - ESPN](<a href=“MLB on ESPN - Scores, Stats and Highlights”>Phillies 4-3 Yankees (May 24, 2009) Game Recap - ESPN)</p>
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<p>That is a bit idiotic. The Red Sox can afford to pay more, but they still don’t. That’s the point, do what it takes to win. Like the Olympiakos owners, who said they would pay Lebron/Kobe $50M a YEAR because they would own the Greek League. The team would lose money, but win titles. </p>
<p>Duh, that’s why he gets paid so much! But any idiot knows that Manny is lazy and does not care once he gets paid. He in no way deserved that big of a contract tcbh. Yep, he really helped you guys this year. The best thing that happened was that your young players got exposure and grew during his 'roids suspension. Dodgers paid a guy too much cash (when there were no offers on the table), and he is slacking off. A-Rod is performing right now, CC is beasting, and Texiera is hustling on defense. Worthy investments. </p>
<p>Maybe the Dodgers should have targeted A-Rod a couple years back. Maybe they should have signed him. Yanks through $300M at him becasue they really wanted him, so they nabbed him again. The Yanks do what it takes to win. Have your owner do the same. LA is in trouble with this nasty divorce now.</p>
<p>Games is May don’t exactly matter, the postseason is much different, anybody will say that. If the Phillies win it all, great. If they don’t. it proves that games in May don’t matter. OK, most Yanks are hitting their stride now. Teams do start out cold, then heat up. That’s what happened this year.</p>
<p>Fine, you can deny that the Yankees have any sort of built in advantage. You’re wrong by all objective measures, but whatever.</p>
<p>And I don’t care at all what happened between the Yankees and the Phillies. I only brought it up because jamesford tried to cover the stupidity of his first post with an even worse one.</p>
<p>^ Are you trying to argue that the Angels played well in Game 5? </p>
<p>And if it weren’t obvious enough, I was referring to what happened between the Dodgers and Phillies, not the Yankees and Phillies.</p>
<p>No, but the idea that the team that scored more runs didn’t “deserve” to win is ludicrous, unless the reason they scored more was because of something unfair, like fan interference (e.g. Yankees beating the Orioles in '96) or the umpires making terrible calls (e.g. Yankees beating the Twins in Game 2 of the ALDS).</p>
<p>Of course you were referring to the Yankees and Phillies - you literally said the Yankees weren’t crushed by the Phillies. Obviously there was an implication that that supposed fact made them better than the Dodgers. Now if you didn’t mean to refer to the Yankees at all, it completely eliminates the previously tenuous link to the original dispute - whether the Angels deserved to win.</p>
<p>The Yankees’ advantage is a massive amount of cash. Don’t hate because your team’s “superstar” is a lazy, well-overpaid, unfocused idiot and the Yankees’ “superstar” is having the best postseason of his life right now. There are more MLB teams with the Yankees’ amount of cash. They just don’t spend it. That’ my point. Has is that objectively wrong? Pshhh, you are just upset. MLB likes the Yanks to win of course because they are the most marketable team because of all the titles they won and thusly, the merchandise they sell. But they spent cash initially to get to this point tcbh. You cannot deny that. You copped-out of our little arguement by just saying I am totally wrong. A-Rod is earning his $300M right now. Manny is not deserving of his deal. Although it is only for 2 years, his salary is waaaaay more than what he is producing.</p>
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<p>Here’s the part that’s objectively wrong:</p>
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<p>You mean to tell me that the Red Sox cannot afford to pay $200M? They got close to that threshold not too long ago, and the guy that spearheads the ownership group is a billionaire. The team generates so many millions. The new Cubs owners could do that as well. The Yankees overpay their players, that way teams we’ll stay away from certain free agents. Hey, the Nationals offered Teixera big bucks too. He chose the Yanks because they always will over pay the right players that they want. Could they have gone after Manny? Of course they could have. They didn’t because they foresaw the issues that the Dodgers have with him now. There are more teams than just the Yanks who are willing to pay $200M. They just don’t want to. If you own a team that’s $800+M, why not pony up the cash to win actually? The Yanks give their fans something to cheer about, not ask them to pay several thousand dollars to watch a team lose. Look at the Indians, they got rid of CC & CLiff Lee, Cy Young pitchers. That is cheap.</p>
<p>Also, why don’t you negate my points about Manny? That’s right, I’m right about him 
HAHA, you are focusing on the assets of teams, not what they do with said assets.</p>
<p>YES, Let’s look at the Indians!</p>
<p>They made $181 million last year in revenue. I wonder why they didn’t spend $200 million on player salaries?!?! That’s a tough one!</p>
<p>Now let’s look at the Yankees. They had $400 million in revenue last year. I wonder why they’re the only team to spend more than $200 million on player salaries. Again real tough to figure that one out.</p>
<p>Haha, great sarcasm. The point is: why not reach a deal with CC and Cliff Lee before the team sucks, before Cleveland hates the team, and before their deal runs out. Hmmm, if I give a pitcher mid-contract a 4 year/25M extension, that’s not too bad? Sure, a player can deny that, but why not actually try? </p>
<p>Nice job taking it out of context, tcbh, good job Jon Stewart, brilliant investigating. I never accused the Indians of not spending $200M, but of not retaining their best players. The Yanks grew scared that A-Rod would go to the Sox, the team he initially wanted to play for when he was traded, when he opted out, so they threw more cash his way. Yes, players will change teams, but the Yanks make things happen. The Suns gave Steve Nash a nice extension before his contract ran out, but with back-payments, that way their cap would not take as much a hit. There are ways to make it work. Like I said, the owners of Olympiakos are willing to lose money for the sake of a title. Greed, on the part of the owners, keeps teams from winning. Cleveland spent about $182M this year. If they make around $180 annually, that’s $100M as profit. Why not put an extra $25-30M back into the team to afford good players and field a competitive team? Fans really love their team throwing away their future and quitting on the year at the trade deadline and letting the ebst players walk away.</p>
<p>You ever going to discuss the “Manny project”? Hmmm, looks like your silence on this issue is a concession to my being right :D</p>