And its nice to be back to blogging as well. Sorry for the extended leave, I've had a bunch of computer trouble.
Its great to have the MannyChild back under contract for another year with the Blue. Sure its a buttload of money (that's an actual scientific term), and they still won't sniff the World Series, but its gonna be a hell of a lot more fun with Manny around.
And Yesterday we got another great piece of pseudo-free agency news, with LT signing a new contract which will keep him in Powder Blue for at least one season and hopefully several more.
Its funny comparing these two contract negotiations and what they say about the differences between Baseball and Football. Both players are sure fire Hall of Famers and all time greats in their respective sports. Manny gets $25 million for this year alone, at least 20 million next year, and every penny is guaranteed. LT had a contract for $24 million over THREE years, and it took 2 months of negotiating to try and reduce that since it was too much for the Chargers to spend with the restrictions of the Salary cap. Even after all this, only part of his now less than 24 million is guaranteed, and its likely that most of it will never find its way onto LT's bank W-2 form.
It also shows how crazy the difference is between aging in the two sports. Manny is 36 and is still highly productive and should be for several years. LT is almost 30, which in football player years is like 48 and in running back years is roughly 74. Its gonna take a ton of luck, and some lean meat protein, for him to finish out this contract.
Showing posts with label We got Manny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label We got Manny. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Thinkin Blue
Well, we stole one. The Dodgers overcame a 2-0 deficit, a hostile crowd and the team with the NL's best record to get a 7-2 win in game one of the NLDS.
Baseball is a funny game, especially when it comes to the playoffs. In football, the playoffs are a one and done deal. One team can have a good day or a bad day and pull an upset or have their season end prematurely. Its interesting that baseball, the sport with more games than any other by a factor of 2, should have the shortest opening round series of all the non-football sports, series which are best 3 out of 5. What's also interesting is that baseball seems so much more random than Hockey or Basketball playoffs.
Let me explain. In a basketball or hockey series, teams go out and play. Strategies may change over the course of a series, but the basic participants and their roles remain fairly constant. In baseball, on the other hand, you're only as good as your pitching that day (or maybe you're only as good as your hitting that day). In theory, two dominant starting pitchers can carry you all the way through the postseason. In contrast, a team which is otherwise strong but has mediocre pitching may falter and be quickly removed from the playoffs. But those pitchers which a team relies upon are often one shot deals. Kobe may have a bad game during a playoff series but he can turn it around the next game. If CC Sabathia has a bad day it may doom his team. I guess what I'm trying to say is that its odd that a sport with 162 games in in a season should have its playoff field be so small and be decided by such a small sample size of games.
I still don't think the Dodgers should be favored to win this series, but its certainly nice to get a win. All too often during my life as a Dodger fan we've limped into October only to be swept out by superior competition. We're usually lucky to get one pity win after going down 2-0.
I know I've probably jinxed the boys in blue by getting my hopes ever so slightly up. But screw it, we got Manny and a 1-0 series lead. Those jerks from Not Los Angeles better watch out if they dare to challenge us in the World Series.
Baseball is a funny game, especially when it comes to the playoffs. In football, the playoffs are a one and done deal. One team can have a good day or a bad day and pull an upset or have their season end prematurely. Its interesting that baseball, the sport with more games than any other by a factor of 2, should have the shortest opening round series of all the non-football sports, series which are best 3 out of 5. What's also interesting is that baseball seems so much more random than Hockey or Basketball playoffs.
Let me explain. In a basketball or hockey series, teams go out and play. Strategies may change over the course of a series, but the basic participants and their roles remain fairly constant. In baseball, on the other hand, you're only as good as your pitching that day (or maybe you're only as good as your hitting that day). In theory, two dominant starting pitchers can carry you all the way through the postseason. In contrast, a team which is otherwise strong but has mediocre pitching may falter and be quickly removed from the playoffs. But those pitchers which a team relies upon are often one shot deals. Kobe may have a bad game during a playoff series but he can turn it around the next game. If CC Sabathia has a bad day it may doom his team. I guess what I'm trying to say is that its odd that a sport with 162 games in in a season should have its playoff field be so small and be decided by such a small sample size of games.
I still don't think the Dodgers should be favored to win this series, but its certainly nice to get a win. All too often during my life as a Dodger fan we've limped into October only to be swept out by superior competition. We're usually lucky to get one pity win after going down 2-0.
I know I've probably jinxed the boys in blue by getting my hopes ever so slightly up. But screw it, we got Manny and a 1-0 series lead. Those jerks from Not Los Angeles better watch out if they dare to challenge us in the World Series.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
*gasps for breath*
Today was the trading deadline for Major League Baseball. My team, the Dodgers, is the type of team that will usually make some horrible trade for an aging veteran in a vain attempt at winning their sorry division prior to being swept out the playoffs yet again. So naturally we did just that today, except this time we actually got a real superstar still in the (sort of) prime of his career.
What did it cost us: Andy Laroche, a backup third baseman. Well, on our team he's a backup third baseman. Given his minor league numbers and apparent talent, he should probably have been our starting third baseman. But since we were wasting his cheap, abundant talent on the bench anyway we might as well trade him for 3 months of an aging superstar. Which is what happened, and so WE GOT MANNY!
My mother skeptically asked me about the trade, wondering why the Red Sox would want to trade Manny if he's so great. Answer: Because the Red Sox decided they don't want to win the World Series this year. Its that simple. Trade Manny = No Win. Sadly, Dodgers Trade for Manny does not automatically = Win, but whatever. We got Manny!
Unlike a lot of people, I happen to love Manny Ramirez. Sure, he's a total goofball and a bum, but who cares: dude can hit. I mean really, really hit. This is baseball: either you hit, you pitch, or you are useless. Plus, he's one of the best characters on The Dugout. Personally I can't wait to see what their response is to this trade. (UPDATE: The Dugout has chimed in on Manny's big move, and honestly it got a little dusty in here)
Given the Dodgers typical MO towards acquiring talent, I figured Manny might eventually be wearing the blue. Except I predicted it would be in maybe 5 more years when he was well past his prime and they decided to shower him with a free agent contract which was worth roughly 300% of his fair market value. That's how the Dodgers have done things for roughly 10 years: spend spend spend on players who used to be superstars but are now only a year or two from collecting Social Security. So its extra sweet to get Manny for basically nothing (in money terms) and know he's still doing it as well as ever.
As an added bonus, this trade will hurt the Red Sox in more ways than one. Besides losing Manny, they'll be paying his salary for the rest of the year, meaning the Dodgers won't have to jack up the price on the all you can eat tickets in the Right Field Pavilion. Sweet.
The only thing I don't like about this trade is that now the Dodgers have 5 outfielders: Manny, Either, Kemp, Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre. And of course, since Kemp and Either are young, good and cheap, and Pierre and Jones are old, bad and expensive, more than likely the Dodgers will have a Manny-Jones-Pierre, which will ensure either an exciting but failed run at the NL West or another first round playoff exit. But whatever, we got Manny!
Does this makes us World Series contenders? Probably not. Hell, I still think we're only 50/50 to win the shittiest division in baseball, the NL West. But who cares! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
We got Manny! We got Manny! We got Manny!
*gasps for breath*
Today was the trading deadline for Major League Baseball. My team, the Dodgers, is the type of team that will usually make some horrible trade for an aging veteran in a vain attempt at winning their sorry division prior to being swept out the playoffs yet again. So naturally we did just that today, except this time we actually got a real superstar still in the (sort of) prime of his career.
What did it cost us: Andy Laroche, a backup third baseman. Well, on our team he's a backup third baseman. Given his minor league numbers and apparent talent, he should probably have been our starting third baseman. But since we were wasting his cheap, abundant talent on the bench anyway we might as well trade him for 3 months of an aging superstar. Which is what happened, and so WE GOT MANNY!My mother skeptically asked me about the trade, wondering why the Red Sox would want to trade Manny if he's so great. Answer: Because the Red Sox decided they don't want to win the World Series this year. Its that simple. Trade Manny = No Win. Sadly, Dodgers Trade for Manny does not automatically = Win, but whatever. We got Manny!
Unlike a lot of people, I happen to love Manny Ramirez. Sure, he's a total goofball and a bum, but who cares: dude can hit. I mean really, really hit. This is baseball: either you hit, you pitch, or you are useless. Plus, he's one of the best characters on The Dugout. Personally I can't wait to see what their response is to this trade. (UPDATE: The Dugout has chimed in on Manny's big move, and honestly it got a little dusty in here)
Given the Dodgers typical MO towards acquiring talent, I figured Manny might eventually be wearing the blue. Except I predicted it would be in maybe 5 more years when he was well past his prime and they decided to shower him with a free agent contract which was worth roughly 300% of his fair market value. That's how the Dodgers have done things for roughly 10 years: spend spend spend on players who used to be superstars but are now only a year or two from collecting Social Security. So its extra sweet to get Manny for basically nothing (in money terms) and know he's still doing it as well as ever.
As an added bonus, this trade will hurt the Red Sox in more ways than one. Besides losing Manny, they'll be paying his salary for the rest of the year, meaning the Dodgers won't have to jack up the price on the all you can eat tickets in the Right Field Pavilion. Sweet.
The only thing I don't like about this trade is that now the Dodgers have 5 outfielders: Manny, Either, Kemp, Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre. And of course, since Kemp and Either are young, good and cheap, and Pierre and Jones are old, bad and expensive, more than likely the Dodgers will have a Manny-Jones-Pierre, which will ensure either an exciting but failed run at the NL West or another first round playoff exit. But whatever, we got Manny!
Does this makes us World Series contenders? Probably not. Hell, I still think we're only 50/50 to win the shittiest division in baseball, the NL West. But who cares! We got Manny!
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