Friday, December 29, 2006

plea for sanity/rant of the insane

eighteen million dollars a year for barry zito? i'll bet supp wishes he had held out a while longer.

let's discuss salaries in baseball for a moment.

first off, i will make the disclaimer that i am something of a socialist and fully expect to see class warfare within my lifetime.

now, this is america, and entertainment is the ultimate good, so naturally, we pay those who entertain us extravagantly. professional sports are at least merit based, unlike hollywood, where being someone's nephew can guarantee a career (cough*nic*cage*cough), so i'll lay off that.

in a country where most households won't make baseball's league minimum salary, i think the sport needs a salary cap. nothing too restrictive, say 20 million a year, moving up on a sliding scale along with the minimum, but a cap is necessary nonetheless.

i'm not trying to sound too preachy, but our values as a culture are fucked up. when a teacher has to work a night job to keep food on the table, we shouldn't be paying someone the gross national product of malawi to play ball. yes, they provide a distraction from our pains as the everyday people, but we must look at it from a populist perspective. baseball is supposed to be our sport, yet ticket prices go ever upward, bleachers are torn down to make room for more luxury boxes, and virtually every game is on cable tv, often requiring an additional expenditure if you don't live close to your team's home town. furthermore, we're working our way back to having several teams in each of a very few cities as teams like the royals struggle year after year with low payrolls, low attendance, and low expectations. yes, new york is a big market, but folks in the midwest like baseball too.

ok, end of socialist rant.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

cold supp

i hope one and all had a merry christmas. i know that the suppan household did. i will miss supp as a cardinal, but in all reality, inflated market or not, a four year deal is too far to go with him. had he been willing to sign for two years at that per year price, he would have been a steal for the cards, but those last two years are the kicker. i wish him good luck and hope that the brewers emphasize their infield defense more next year for his sake.

i am starting to wonder where we're going to pull out that last starter, assuming that wainwright is definitely going to the rotation. at this point, i wouldn't mind letting brad thompson start for the half year or so that mulder will still be rehabbing and then trade him out for mulder (still not his biggest fan, but when he's on, he's freakin' on).

resquiat in pace, godfather of soul.

Friday, December 22, 2006

merry something

merry christmas to those who lean that way. never been much of a fan myself, but, hey, who am i to get in the way of someone else's good time.

my x-mas wish list

a serviceable starting pitcher who doesn't cost the remainder of our payroll (weaver? narveson?)

a 4th outfielder who bats right handed

a healthy izzy

somewhere to dump rincon (not his body)

more tickets than the one game we have so far.

if anyone wants to give rabid redbird any of these things, please let me know.

happy holidays

Thursday, December 14, 2006

per request

anonymous asked me to "talk about mcgwire!"

i don't get requests very often, with the possible exception of "stop posting: do you want to go on another 8 game losing streak?" in honor of the request, i will have a few swings at this dead horse.

i was only making my way back into baseball fandom when big mac and corky sosa were in the race, and it wasn't home runs that brought me back. i like the strategy of baseball, and the fact that one needs to be a complete player to succeed for long (that's why i don't like the dh).
mcgwire wasn't a complete player, in my opinion. he was a home run hitter, plain and simple, and unfortunately for me and those who feel the same way i do, there will always be a place for those guys in baseball, today more so than in the past. he was an average first baseman, and didn't hit for a great average, it's just that every time he was up, there was a good chance of it going out of the park.

if i got a vote for the hall of fame, i wouldn't vote for big mac. i think his scene on the floor of congress tells us that he did more than the andro he admits to, and i don't want cheaters in the hall of fame. if big mac is a hall of famer, so is barry bonds, and i don't want him in there either.

however, my opinion has no weight in these matters. i think both mcgwire and bonds will be in the hall of fame, though not on the first ballot. it is bothersome to me that that's what serves as "punishment" these days. in twenty years, it won't matter who was first ballot or not; they'll be hall of famers. and some of them will be cheaters.

Friday, December 08, 2006

big head barry

big head barry gets to play baseball another year, and in all likelyhood, will end up breaking hank aaron's home run record. this is a fucking travesty, but a virtually unavoidable one. at least he signed in the one town that likes him.

as for the cardinals, i (like everyone else) am waiting anxiously to hear that next year's rotation will not include braden looper or any other such nonsense. i'd also like to see chris duncan traded while his stock is high, but i've said that many times before.

i'm glad that we're not making moves for the sake of making moves (see royals) or spending money to show we have a lot of it (see cubs, red sox), i just want to see the move that will make me confident that this has been a good off season.

spring training is still two and a half months away. if i don't hear something about the dominican league or something soon, i'm going to break down and start watching the nfl. it can't come to that.