Miguel Cabrera

Back in the day not a lot of people got a chance to see Vlad.  The baseball experts watched and knew about him.  They knew he was one of the best hitters in the game.  They knew he was young, had a cannon of an arm and played in a baseball town that largely ignored him.  The talent was there, but his team was lacking the money and talent to win and therefore catapult him into stardom.

Fast forward to today and put out your hand to meet Miguel Cabrera.  Now it might be said and is probably true that most people who know anything about baseball know about Cabrera.  And it might be said that Cabrera is already a star, which is true.  But believe it or not I don’t believe he gets as much credit as he should.  This guy simply has an amazing talent for hitting.  Which is why I compare him to Vlad.  Because as good as ARod is or others are, there are only a few who have that other worldliness when it comes to just pure hitting.  If I had to pick 3 baseball players just on their hitting ability and disregarding who would hit in front of them and who would hit behind them, just taking them on pure hitting ability. . . . my picks would be Manny Rameriz, Vlad Guerrero and Miguel Cabrera and not necessarily in that order.  Which is why I would be trying very hard this winter to get a deal done with Florida and with Miguel Cabrera.

Any deal of this magnitude and with the talent that would have to exchange hands would force me to demand to be able to talk with and talk out a deal for signing Cabrera long term before the trade could be finalized.  Where talking a combination of Edison Volquez, Chris Davis and Taylor Teagarden.  This trade is a little counter-intuitive.  The Rangers need pitching.  Why in the world would they trade that much for a player who is not a pitcher? 

The only answer I can provide is I believe Miguel Cabrera has the talent and will go on to have a similar career to the careers of both Guerrero and Manny Rameriz.  Which we would be reason number 1.  Number 2 is – as good as those hitting prospects project to be, you would be lucky if either one of them turned out to be 3 quarters of the hitter Cabrera already is.  Number 3 is – Jarrod Saltalamacchia is one of the best catching prospects in the game.  In fact better than Teagarden.  Number 4 – Last but not least you keep him from a team that is very interested in him, The Angels.  And perhaps with this move undo the Vladimir Guerrero curse that is visited upon the Rangers every time they play the Angels.  Perhaps even turn the fortunes of those two clubs around.

So for all those reasons listed I would send that package over for Cabrera and his newly agreed to deal.  What say you?

PS.  There was a video of the Angels rally monkey dying on YouTube.  But now I can only find this one worth watching.  I suppose it will have to do.

ARod Back To The Yankees? Awesome

There is a good possibility that Alex Rodriguez is going to sign a contract with the Yankees.  Why?  You must mean why would Alex opt out, losing the money Texas was giving him.  Or you mean why would the Yankees want to sign him after they said they wouldn’t if he opted out of his original deal. 

The answers:  first off Alex realized there wasn’t a huge market for his good looking, sweet swinging self.  Second, the Yankees made Scott Boras sit outside of the negotiating room, along with the fact that they still had a big hole to fill in the lineup and at third base.

Why is that so awesome?  Because the Rangers don’t have to pay Alex.  Alex still ends up with the same team.  And Alex may end up making about $60 million less than if he hadn’t opted out of, just renegotiated, his existing contract.  Boras finally gets knocked down and actually loses his client tons of money.

Of course this will be a good public relations move on the part of ARod.  Telling Boras to sit while Alex takes over his own future for himself.  And with this deal he might get out of that image that so scarred him in his previous contract:  He made a pact with the Devil (Boras), metaphorically speaking, for an obscene amount of money.  Of course this time he made a pact with a gerbil (Cashmen), metaphorically speaking.  And Gerbils are cuter than Devils, I think.

NFL Week 10 Schedule 2007

Last week didn’t go so well.  This week I’m putting the points up, but I am mainly just trying to pick the right winner.

BUF @ MIA – Buffalo Wins and covers.
-3          +3

STL @ NORL – New Orleans Wins, doesn’t cover.
+12       -12

ATL @ CAR – ATL wins.  or At least I’m taking ATL with the points.
+4.5     -4.5

PHI @ WAS – Philly Wins.
+3         -3

MIN @ GRE – Green Bay Wins, doesn’t cover.
+6          -6

CHI @ OAK -Chicago wins, doesn’t cover.
-3.5      +3.5

DAL @ NYG – Dallas Wins and covers
-1.5       +1.5

DET @ ARI – Detroit Wins.
+1         -1

IND @ SDC – Indy wins and covers.
-3.5      +3.5

JAC @ TITANS – Titans win and cover.
+4         -4

DEN @ KC – Take Denver
+3         -3

CLE @ PITT – Steelers win and don’t cover.
+10       -10

CIN @ BAL - Bengals win.
+3.5      -3.5

SF @ SEA – Seattle wins and doesn’t cover.
+10    -10

The Games Week 9

I’ve tried to develop a reliable system.  I’m going to pick the nfl games for week 9, and see how it turns out.  Maybe I could make a few bucks if it turns out I can do this.

 Wash @ NYJ -  Washington wins and covers.
   -3.5          +3.5

GB @ Kan – Green Bay wins.
+2         -2

Arizona @ Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay wins and covers.
  +3.5              -3.5

Carolina @ Tenn – Carolina Wins.
+4                -4

San F @ ATL -San Fran Wins.
+3            -3

Jac @ New ORL – New Orleans wins and covers.
+3.5      -3.5

Den @ Det – Denver wins.
+3         -3

Cinn @ Buff – Cinnci wins and covers.
-1           +1

San Diego @ Minn – San Diego wins and covers.
-7.5                 +7.5

SEA @ Clev – Seattle wins and covers.
-1.5       +1.5

New Eng @ Indy – Take the Indy points.
-6.5                +6.5

Hou @ Oakland – Oakland wins and doesn’t cover.
+3          -3

Dal @ Philly – Philly wins.
-3         +3

The four games I would definitely take are:  Green Bay, Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Cinncy games.  Now let’s see how I do.

A (St)Ranger Look? No.

A Ranger’s team that I could live with next year:   

                                                                      Torii Hunter

–

            Jason Botts / D. Murphy                                                                                               Marlon Byrd

–

–

–

                                                 Micheal Young                            Ian Kinsler

–

              Hank Blaylock                                                                                                        Sean Casey

                                                                      1.  Kevin Millwood
                                                                      2.  Vincente Padilla
   DH:  Frank Catalanotto                                  3.  Kason Gabbard              Bullpen:  Otsuka
           Jason Botts                                           4.  Brandon McCarthy                       Benoit
                                                                      5.  Eddy Volquez                            Wilson
                                                                                                                         Loe
                                                                                                                         Francisco
                                                                                                                         Littleton
                                                                                                                         Rhienecker

                                                                  Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Reserves:
C – Gerald Laird
InF – Ramon Vasquez
InF/OF – Joaquin Arias

Main Lineup against Righties:

DH L Frank Catalanotto
2B R  Ian Kinsler
SS R Michael Young
3B L Hank Blaylock
CF R Torii Hunter
RF R Marlon Byrd
1B L Sean Casey
C  S  Jarrod Saltalamacchia
LF L David Murphy

Main Lineup against Lefties:

2B R Ian Kinsler
RF R Marlon Byrd
SS R Michael Young
3B L Hank Blaylock
CF R Torii Hunter
1B L Sean Casey
DH S Jason Botts
C   S  Jarrod Saltalamacchia
LF L David Murphy

I believe the Ranger’s will either sign Torii Hunter or Aaron Rowand, and with A-Rod opting out of his contract - I’ll probably be O.K. with that idea.  When all is said and done it actually does make a bit of sense. 

I would sign Milton Bradley to a two or three year deal knowing he probably wouldn’t play much if at all next year, but he’ll be eager to prove he’s healthy and can still hit after the injury and what better place to prove he can hit than in Texas.  An incentive laden two or three year contract would probably do.  I would also sign Sean Casey – one year deal, two year deal, even if it has to be a three year deal (which I doubt) – I would still sign him.  He isn’t going to demand a lot of money, but he fills a need quite nicely and he shouldn’t be hard to trade if we desire to play someone else at that position.  Also, last year he hit for a better average against lefties than he did righties, which allowed him to play in 143 games. 

If during the offseason we find out Otsuka will be out next year, I might just let Wilson and Benoit battle it out for the closer’s role.  To tell you the truth if Otsuka is healthy I wouldn’t mind letting Wilson, Benoit and Otsuka battle it out for that job.  If Otsuka is out and we need another bullpen arm we could bring Jamey Wright back, although it wouldn’t be a major deal if he wasn’t resigned.

Ron Washington likes to use all the players at his disposal.  I kept that in mind and don’t mind playing anyone of the players that is on the team.  And a lot of the outfielders are interchangeable (Marlon Byrd, David Murphy, Frank Catalanotto, Jason Botts).

This is a team that has a chance to win now, while still letting young players develop.  Would this team be favored to get in the playoffs?  No.  Would it have a reasonable chance?  Yes.  At least that’s my opinion.