Bill Simmons

Look. I know no one reads this. But if they do, I have a confession.

I'd never heard of FireJoeMorgan.com until about two weeks ago.

I have since read just about every single post.

On that note, Bill Simmons gets on my nerves a bit. He's very "poppy". He seldom writes anything of real substance. He often makes outlandish claims. He's that guy at the bar who won't shut the fuck up about the fucking Patriots and how great they are and how the whole NFL screwed them for spygate and on and fucking on.

Oh. And this is Bill at his best (worst, obnoxious, etc):

Conrad (Phila.): Sorry about the Dooze. As someone who watched his dog get run over by a car, losing a dog before they're supposed to is tough. Now that that's out of the way, you're an idiot -- Manny Ramirez is perfectly rated. He's just a nut case. That's why nobody wants him; nobody doesn't say he isn't like one of the top 10 hitters in baseball EVER . . .

Bill Simmons: But he's not! He is NOT properly rated! Here is a guy who got on base 24 of 36 times in the 2008 postseason and the fans of teams like Anaheim and Texas and San Fran aren't clamoring for their GM's to sign him. It's crazy to me. Everyone seems to think he is a cancer of the highest order... why? Because that's what the Red Sox front office told their media minions. We have NEVER HEARD MANNY'S SIDE EVER. We are hearing one side of the story. It's a smear campaign. How could anyone NOT think this guy would produce for 3 years if you gave him $75 million... in a league that's given AJ Burnett and Barry Zito huge money? I am just flabbergasted by this whole thing. His teams have won everywhere he's gone. Without fail.


Sooo....Manny clearly quit on his team, beat up an old attendant, signed with the most money grubbing agent ever, forced a trade, got his options removed on a contract that he signed, refused to re-sign (so far) with the team that gave up prospects for him after he screwed the sox, and is currently sitting at home, waiting for phone calls from his agent. Who likes money (not a bad thing) more than anything else.

I didn't get the press release from the Red Sox front office. But generally, they do a good job in my opinion. Two WS titles in three years will do that. They didn't outspend the Yanks (they did spend a lot) and they tend to keep the prospects they like. They don't cave in to public pressure (Manny, Varitek) and they make the moves they think are best for the club at the time regardless of media backlash.

Not to mention that Manny really doesn't have a story to tell. I like Manny. I love his stupid hair and his goofy grin and his stupid bathroom breaks in monster. I love it!! He makes baseball so much better to watch. I never know what he's going to do. But he really doesn't have a case in his divorce from the Red Sox. He wanted out, they didn't want to let him go. He did what he had to do to get his way. He acted like a dick. The end.

In fairness, he has a bit of a point about Zito. Burnett? Eh. We'll see. Personally (I know no one else gives a shit) I think he probably got overpaid for a not-that-great season (OPS against .707? Doesn't strike me as shutdown). But still. Manny gets respect. And he acted like a dick.

5 reasons not to follow the Padres in 2009

5. The five highest paid Padres are: Jake Peavy (probably traded sometime soon), David Eckstein, Henry Blanco(?), Chris Young, Kevin Correia. Yikes. Followed by Prior and Chris Burke. Granted, Prior and Burke are getting paid <= to a million per. But of the top five, maybe two are good players, one of whom will be moved this season or next. Gross.

4. Speaking of getting moved....Jake Peavy's imminent trade. I mean, this would be higher, but I'm kind of excited for the prospects San Diego should get back. Perhaps some great ones. I haven't done all my homework, but yeah. Peavy is a great pitcher, arguably top three in MLB. I would rather have him than CC (no weight issues and last season CC was thrown out there by the Brewers who could not have cared less about future injuries) and Haren, definitely Harden, definitely Kazmir. And he's younger than Johan. Brandon Webb is probably the only pitcher I'd rather have on my team. So, the Padres should get a windfall from the Peavy trade. But that doesn't change the fact that the best player on this team will be traded because of a 6.5 million dollar contract. I've got a better way to lose 6.5 million bucks. Don't sign Eckstein and Blanco (7.675 million total) and just get some minor league players.

3. David Eckstein starting in the infield. I'm going to have to hear about how tough and exciting he is all year. I don't care. It will be obnoxious. I don't believe in intangibles and I certainly don't care that he tries hard. I kind of expect that out of my professional atheletes. They should all try hard.

2. The Divorce. Get it? Like The Breakup? There's a metaphor here, I just can't find it. Both of them sucked. But at least I watched the Breakup under the influence. I really don't remember it. I seriously doubt I can drink all season long. Baseball is like eight months long. But, seriously, I feel bad for Mr. Moores and all--I hear divorces suck. But I don't see why he doesn't just sell the team and allow San Diego to move one with their Padres. I like the Chargers. But I bleed for the Padres. I get that he wants to remain involved in baseball for awhile and I get that he likes the team. But its kind of like Hoffman's situation. Its time to go. Unfortunately. Times change. And all Moores can do for the Padres at this point is screw things up more.

1. Hoffman. He's gone. Mr. Padre. Not even offered arbitration. I mean, he had a good bounce back year last year statistically especially his strikeout rate returning to above 9/9 innings for the first time since 2003. His OPS against was also pretty good at .655. He seems to be maintaining a pretty good level of production. And I personally feel like he's earned the right to stay as a Padre until he's overpaid and ineffective. Which he is not yet. Aside from the fact that he's a closer and by definition that means he's overpaid. I suppose the Padres did the smart thing by not resigning him and by not offering him arbitration, they didn't even leave him the option of returning. Sigh. I suppose.

On VORP

I like it. Quite a bit, actually. Especially because the WARP stats seem a little shady to me. I don't think you can account for wins since winning a baseball game is a team game. You can, however, account for runs. I just read a blogger who detailed how not good VORP is. I didn't agree.

I suppose that VORP is like any other statistic, though. Fall in love too much with it and it becomes the crutch that batting average and RBIs are today. I'm not in love with it, I suppose. I'd rather use it and OPS+ and WARP3 more than batting average, RBI and home runs. That's all.

VORP also proves the point that hitters are far more valuable than even the best pitchers. And that hitters are far more consistent from year in to year out. I know that seems like conventional wisdom, but I mean, look at most baseball teams. "Pitching is important". Yeah. I get it. But it seems to me that if you're trying to build for long term success, hitting is far easier to project. And to get.

On that note, I like what the Padres did with their ballpark. They can inflate the values of pitchers and trade them off for valuable hitting players. Speaking of which, they should trade Chris Young. He had a .29 GB/FB ratio. That's like, extreme fly ball pitcher. Works in Petco, probably work in Oakland but in, say, Texas? Haha. And they always need pitching. And CY is always injured. It would be a great trade, to move him, especially because his value is somewhat high now.

On Billy Beane

I wish he was the GM for the Padres...I wish he was. They're going to sign Adam Dunn. I know they are. And my god, they'll be monsters next year. Monsters. Destroyers. Scary good in a not-very-good division. Texas? Please. Anaheim? they just got a lot weaker. And seattle sucks.

Manny fucking Ramirez

There's a problem with the San Diego Padres right now...we have no money in a buyers market. This is terrible.

I don't think the team was that bad last year, I was just checking out Baseball Prospectus and, yeah, they were underperformed by maybe four wins according to their pythagorean projection.

I know this doesn't seem all that far out, but...Manny fucking Ramirez got the Dodgers in the playoffs. They won the division by two games with the Diamondbacks only two back. Manny's Warp3 over the course of 223(!) plate appearances? 5.6. That's ridiculous. That's like a third of the season. He had a 5.2 warp3 with the freaking Red Sox over two thirds of the season. Albert Pujols had like a 13.5 over the whole season. Soo....a motivated Manny over the whole season was worth more than Albert Pujols. By like 3.3 wins. That's ridiculous, again. Aaaannddd...Warp3 accounts for defense!! Which means that Manny playing an easy left field in Boston for two thirds of the season was worth less wins than Manny playing huge left field in L.A. for a third of a season. Stupid. Very very stupid. He's either going to cash in or some team (goddamn Giants) is going to sign him and get a great hitter for a small contract.

And I know I'm beating a dead horse here. But Brian Giles' Warp3 for the full year was...6.9. Manny, for a third of the season, at no cost to the Dodgers, was worth about a win less. For a third of the season. At no cost. (except for some minor league garbage).

I hate being a Padres fan. I suppose I do go to school in Philly...but I get the feeling that was fluky.

Padres

So...we have given up. The padres quit. We signed Eckstein. To play second base. I suppose he's alright there. Whatever. Hoffy's gone, Peavy's sure to get moved eventually. Although it looks like midseason at this point. At least we got Giles. And Wade LeBlanc.

In a terrible division with a glut of free agents on the market where catching even like two of them would have given us the division...the Padres fold. Sorry Moores. This is your fault. Get a divorce in like three years. Not this year.

New Things

Alright, I know no one reads this. But I re-read it. And that's fun.

New things, I got accepted to Drexel University and I'm going and I have housing. I actually found blogspot through the Drexel website. I know. Enthralling.

Chargers lost, Irish won, Padres are blowing chunks.

I have to bitch about this a little bit--people who are from cities like Cleveland or Philadelphia or some garbage complaining about how bad their teams are. I'm from San Diego mates, with an infatuation with Notre Dame football. I was born in 1985. I was three when the only championship that would have mattered to me happened--ND's National Champion year. And since then, I've seen a Chargers Super Bowl appearance and a Padres World Series appearance. We got toasted badly both times. And they both make the playoffs only to lose in the first round. San Diego does not have a major championship. Actually, I don't think they even have a minor championship. SDSU is the only college with sports around here and they are god-awful. The Padres have like five playoff appearances in the forty year history--two of them came within the past four years. So, stop complaining Phillies fans, Cubs fans, Dodger fans. I have to watch the San Diego teams throw away the careers of Trevor Hoffman, Jake Peavy, Tony Gwynn, Ladanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates. I have to watch great careers fumbled and unfulfilled. Talk about painful.

On a related note, Michigan sucks. Go Irish.