Ever watch a movie and think it was fine enough as the credits rolled? And then you get into the car and realize, "Holy Crap, that movie sucked!"It comes from being able to step back a bit and see it's suckitude in all it's glory.
We'll call it the Burn After Reading effect.
Phil's column today has it. Boy, does it have it. It's Phil's Whispers. He has his ear to the ground for us, people.
Let's get started.
Also unsigned is a large group that was offered arbitration and declined it, including Orlando Cabrera, Ben Sheets, Juan Cruz, Jon Garland, Brandon Lyon and Oliver Perez. Brewers GM Doug Melvin said he considered signing Cruz as his closer but opted for Trevor Hoffman because he didn't want to give up a first-round draft pick. …
How committed are the Cubs to Ryan Theriot as their shortstop? There was never even internal discussion about pursuing Michael Young, who the Rangers made available after he balked at moving to third base.
Yes. Ryan Theriot's diminutive wonderfulness is what stopped Hendry from talking about Michael Young. Not the fact that the Cubs are about to be sold and Young has a contract that pays him $16 million each year for the next five years. Yes. Not that. It's Ryan Theriot and all his throwback greatness to the 30s and 40s.
Young and the Rangers appear to have worked out their differences, meaning it's Hank Blalock the Rangers are trying to trade. …Blalock's availability doesn't help the market for Joe Crede, who is among the large group of free agents still unsigned. …
Yes. A team should trade a couple of decent to good minor leaguers for Blalock and pick up his $6.25 million contract for 2009 instead of signing Joe Crede to an incentive-laden one year deal worth $5 million with an option. Yes. That's the way teams should operate. Give up something or somethings for Blalock, a guy who also hasn't played a full season since 2006. Phil = Consistent.
Phil. Sweety. Melvin was being nice. If he let it all fly, Melvin would have said that Cruz has been a decent middle reliever over the last two years, has a WHIP that says it's been a bit of a mirage and HAS NEVER CLOSED! Yes. Give up a first round draft pick for that.
Spring training sleeper for the Cubs—center fielder Sam Fuld, who has had a big winter in Venezuela and has leadoff man skills. For the White Sox—third baseman Javier Castillo, a non-roster invitee who hit .288 between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte last season. …
Cripes! That's the 48 bazillionth time he's mentioned Sam freakin' Fuld's "big" winter in the freakin' Venezuelan league. Please tell me how Fuld gets into the lineup to lead off. Please. No answer has been given yet. Cubs outfield: Soriano, Bradley, Fukudome, Johnson, Gathright. And man, if Fuld breaks camp with the Cubs, they're quickly becoming a nugget convention with Theriot, Fontenot and him.
Javier Castillo? A light-hitting third basemen with a career .266 minor league average, doesn't walk and is a little too booty? Fuck Viciedo and Fields. He's is The Answer!
The Brewers are interested in free-agent starter Braden Looper.
Early 2009 nomination for the most irrelevant sentence ever written ever.
And then there's Phil's flagship Sunday column.
...Both Reinsdorf and McCourt keep a close eye on the bottom line. While Reinsdorf took the White Sox's payroll into the nine-digit stratosphere in the honeymoon seasons after the 2005 championship, he and general manager Ken Williams now appear ahead of the curve in watching out for the economic downturn facing baseball and other professional sports.
Nine-digit stratosphere? It was $103 million, good for 4th in baseball...after a World freakin' Championship. Now...I'm thinking that Phil believes that kind of spending is bad given the word choice and the fact that he wrote 4,000 columns in 2008 about the White Sox irresponsible spending. Let's see who this plays out.
And they're not 'ahead of the curve'. Has Phil been watching this offseason? Not one team will enter 2009 with a payroll higher than 2008. Not one. Not even the Yankees.
The White Sox opened 2008 with a payroll of $121.2 million and added to it by trading for Ken Griffey Jr. at the trading deadline. The signing of Bartolo Colon gave them 14 players signed at $83.525 million. Factoring in the arbitration-eligible Bobby Jenks and 10 entry-level players, they will be in the range of $92-94 million when the season opens—and they are still open to trading Jermaine Dye, which could lower that figure.
So that's pretty good...right?
The movement to get younger—creating opportunity for players like Josh Fields, Dayan Viciedo, Chris Getz, Brian Anderson, Jerry Owens and Brent Lillibridge—is allowing the White Sox to cut almost $30 million off the payroll, seemingly without being passed by anyone in the American League Central.
So...really good...right?
The Dodgers' cost-cutting is even worse, as Manny Ramirez can testify. The reality with a situation almost as strange as Ramirez himself is that it now appears the Dodgers never really wanted to re-sign Ramirez. Many around baseball believe general manager Ned Colletti made Ramirez a two-year offer only to save face, with the expectation that somebody would outbid him. But that hasn't happened.
Worse? Probably poor word choice. But...worse?
And so...now we have the Dodgers NOT signing Manny. They're NOT signing him in Phil's world for the reasons given.
If the Dodgers really wanted to keep Ramirez, they would have done it by now. But whispers have gone around for years about McCourt not having the usual financial muscle of Dodgers' owners, and that is being borne out this winter.
So again...there's NOT signing Manny...in Phil's world...for the 12,000 reasons given.
...The Dodgers opened the 2008 season with a payroll of $118.6 million, and added Ramirez, Casey Blake and Greg Maddux in midseason deals. But they since have released Andruw Jones, lost six free agents to other teams (most notably Derek Lowe and Brad Penny) and allowed eight others, including Ramirez, to linger unsigned.
So...they're...cutting...payrolllllll. And no Manny...?
They have only about $52 million committed to nine players, with two of the three biggest contracts belonging to players who haven't helped ( Juan Pierre and Jason Schmidt). They have four arbitration-eligible players, including catcher Russell Martin and closer Jonathan Broxton, and are expected eventually to re-sign Ramirez.
JEBUS H. CHRIST!!!! YOU JUST SAID THEY'RE NOT GOING TO SIGN MANNY!!!!!!!!
While the Sox count on production from inexpensive contributors like Carlos Quentin, Alexei Ramirez, John Danks and Gavin Floyd, the Dodgers have a deeper, more touted core of young players. Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney and Martin figure to hit together near the middle of the order for years to come.
De-Bat-Able. Matt Kemp looks like a monkey humping a football when he plays the outfield. Loney hasn't developed anything resembling consistent power yet (except against the Cubs in the playoffs, of course. Tee-hee.) and Ethier? Meh. We'll see. They were a .500 team last year in a shit-ass division before trading for Manny.
Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw, James McDonald and Cory Wade similarly anchor the pitching staff (although Billingsley may not be ready to open 2009 because of a November broken leg, when he slipped on ice).
Anchor?
Billingsley = Good. Yes.
Kershaw = Should be decent. Great hook. Had some control issues.
McDonald = Six major league innings. Six.
Wade = Never started a major league game. Never.
And where the hell is Kuroda?
Gee whiz, Phil. Two guys have no major league starting experience, one is coming off an injury and the other is primed to go through growing pains. How is that 'anchoring' anything?
But can you cut your payroll 30 percent and defend a division title? The Dodgers, like the White Sox, hope the answer is yes.
Well...it kind of depending on what that 30 percent is, doesn't it? Just a thought.
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