This isn’t one of your normal run of the mill “Ramey’s Rants.” This is going to be a few paragraphs of me bragging and gloating about how awesome I am and how intelligent my sports knowledge is. Basically, this is me letting all of you know that 3 weeks ago in my 2nd half baseball preview, that was the writing equivalent of a breakout performance. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, let me explain.
The biggest deals made at the trade deadline were the deals that sent Matt Holliday, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, George Sherrill, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson and Ian Snell all packing to new locations. If you didn’t read my 26 page “Second Half Preview”, let me give you a few snippets from it when discussing the above names.
Re: Matt Holliday: “Adding Mark DeRosa, who now finds himself on the disabled list helps, but they (the Cardinals) could use something more. (perhaps call up Billy Beane and see how Matt Holliday is feeling?)”
Where’d Matt Holliday end up? The St. Louis Cardinals.
Re: Cliff Lee: “If they (the Phillies) can't put a package together to get Roy Halladay (you'd have to lose Kyle Drabek, sorrrry), maybe they could package some lesser talent together to snatch Cliff Lee from the Indians”
What happened? The Phillies refused to part with Kyle Drabek in order to acquire Roy Halladay and instead packaged together some lesser talent and snatched Cliff Lee from the Indians. Thank you, thank you very much.
Re: Victor Martinez: “Victor Martinez? Call up the Red Sox, see if you can pry Clay Buccholz from them for his services”
What happened to Mr. Martinez? Well, he got traded to the Red Sox, but I under-estimated Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro’s stupidity and he only got Justin Masterson out of it. Basically, that’d be the equivalent of trading in your Porsche for a used Toyota with poor brakes.
Re: George Sherrill: “thanks to the Joe Torre book on ruining bullpen arms, they could use a little more relief in that pen”
Well, I didn’t directly infer that the Orioles would trade Sherrill to the Dodgers, but I at least take credit in knowing that Joe Torre is still terrible at managing a bullpen and help was needed.
Re: Freddy Sanchez: “On the downside of things, your offense (Giants) is horrible. You need an Aubrey Huff or a Freddy Sanchez just to provide a little more support."
What happened to Sanchez? Freddy was packaged and shipped by the Pittsburgh Moving Company, I mean Pirates and sent to San Francisco. Again, I was right.
Re: Jack Wilson and Ian Snell: “With the recent trade of Yuniesky Betancourt and Ronny Cedeno batting just .168, they could be in the market for a middle infielder (Jack Wilson)….. The Mariners are one of the few teams who aren't in dire need of pitching help. I'd say maybe they'd be interested in someone like Ian Snell”
What happened to them? They were BOTH traded to the Mariners and Ronny Cedeno and his light weight batting average was part of the deal. I think I deserve a pat on the back for this one guys.
Now I’m not saying I’m some sort of baseball prophet on the level of Moses or Nostradamus or anything, but I’m definitely somewhere in between. I’m like the Muhammad of baseball knowledge.
That being said here are some random thoughts that have popped in my head this morning:
1. The New York Giants are giving Quarterback Eli Manning a $97.5 million contract extension. Huh??? Really? He’s not even a top-10 QB in the league! And if you don’t believe me, here’s who I’d rather have in no particular order; Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Phillip Rivers, Donovan McNabb, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers. Sorry Eli, you’re no better than 11th best.
2. Of Trevor Hoffman’s major league record 578 saves, only 54 have been for more than 3 outs or a mere 9.3% of his total.
3. Of “best closer in baseball” Francisco Rodriguez’s 232 career saves, only 19 have been for more than 3 outs or just 8.1% of his total.
4. Meanwhile, to end any doubt that Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in history, of his 513 career saves, a staggering 110 have been for more than 3 outs, or an astonishing 21.4% of his total.
5. Michael Jordan “retired” from the NBA on three different occasions, Roger Clemens “retired” on three different occasions as well. Brett Favre has now “retired” on three different occasions, but has ‘discussed’ the notion on at least five occasions. I thought boxers were the only athletes who were allowed to retire a million times?
6. Michael Vick spent 2 years in jail, was suspended 2 seasons from the NFL and is still suspended at least 4 games into the 2009 NFL season? How does this begin to make sense? Hasn’t he paid his debt to society?
7. The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium is living proof that everything is bigger in Texas. If a fan wants to sit in one of the luxury suites, it’ll cost $800,000 per year to lease it, but that doesn’t include game tickets. Also, you’ll have to dole out $90 for pizza (not kidding) and $66 for a 12-pack of beer (also not kidding). And people complained about Yankee tickets?
8. The last time a major league baseball team had two 20 game winners in the same season was the 2002 Arizona Diamondbacks; they got swept in the first round of the playoffs. Bad omen for the Giants as Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are both on pace to win 20 apiece.
9. San Diego Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie was fined $2,500 for posting a comment on his twitter account complaining about the food at training camp. Call out a player or coach, no big deal. Call out the chef on his choice of cuisine, pay the price. Food = power.
10. New York Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran has been out since June 22nd with a “bruised knee.” That could be the worst bruise in the history of black and blue’s.
11. Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is a complete bulldog on the mound. He’s made 21 starts this season and has pitched at least 7 innings in 19 of them. In the other two starts he pitched 3 innings (and left with an injury) and 6 innings (his first start back from injury).
12. On June 7th, Halladay won his 10th game of the season, running his record to 10 – 1, with a 2.52 era. Since that time he’s put up a 1 – 4, 3.15 era in 57 innings over 8 starts. That also includes a complete game loss and another complete game no decision. Too bad they didn’t trade you buddy.
13. Recently enshrined to the baseball Hall of Fame, Rickey Henderson played 25 professional seasons and stole at least 50 bases in thirteen seasons; including 66 when he was 39 years old. Rickey liked to run. His AVERAGE season would see him hit .279 with 16 home runs, 59 runs batted in and 74 stolen bases. No wonder he declared himself “the greatest of all-time”
14. The ‘Ol Gunslinger Brett Favre, the “greatest Quarterback in history” had 36 career games of 3+ interceptions and 64 games of 3+ touchdowns and only twice in his career did he have 3+ of each. So, if you’re keeping score, Favre started 269 games in his career, in 13% of them he was REALLY bad, in 23% of them he was REALLY good and in the other 64% he was above average. He’s also guided his teams to a career 169 – 100 record for a .628 winning percentage.
15. On the other hand, Peyton Manning has started 176 games in his career and has only had 10 games of 3+ interceptions, while having 52 games of 3+ touchdowns and 71 games in his career without throwing an interception. So, if you’re keeping score again, of the 176 games Manning has started, in 5% of them he’s been REALLY bad, in 30% of them he’s been REALLY good, in 40% of them he’s been nearly flawless and he’s guided his teams to a 117 – 59 record for a .664 winning percentage. Sorry Brett, but Peyton is far and above better than you ever were.
16. Still don’t believe me? Well, Favre had only 5 seasons of 4,000+ yards passing and in only one of them did he complete over 65% of his passes. Peyton, meanwhile, has already had 9 seasons of 4,000+ yards passing and in six of those seasons he completed over 65% of his passes.
17. When it’s all said and done Albert Pujols will go down as the greatest hitter in baseball history. Think about this, the worst season he’s ever had was in 2007 when he hit .327 with 32 home runs and 103 runs batted in. He’s averaged 43 home runs per year in his career. He’s 407 home runs away from Barry Bonds. If Pujols averages just 35 home runs per season (which he very well can do since he’s only hit below 35 homers twice), he’ll surpass Barry Bonds record of 762 BEFORE his 40th birthday. Say hello to the baseball God.
18. When the Texas Rangers traded Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves at the 2007 trade deadline, they acquired Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz and Beau Jones in return. Saltalamacchia is now the Rangers starting catcher, Andrus their starting short stop and Neftali Feliz, fresh off a 2 inning, 4 strikeout performance in his major league debut, is the best of the bunch. Greatest trade in Rangers history.
19. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers may be one of the dumbest names in sports. What the hell is a Sound Tiger? Then again, I may be employed by them in the future, so I may name my first child Tiger after them.
20. Back to the Twitter conversation from earlier; I follow dozens of athletes on twitter and I have to say, it really makes me dislike them. I thought I’d get an inside glimpse into the lives and personalities of athletes and I did, but I’ve been largely disappointed. I’ve learned that athletes, much like us regular Joe’s, are weird people with insane tendencies. Just ask Stephon Marbury. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, google it.
21. Pete Rose remains banned from Major League Baseball, because he bet on games? Yet, hundreds of players have compromised the integrity of the game by using performance enhancing drugs and they haven’t been banned. How’s that fair?
22. Can anybody else wait for the eventual press conference that David Ortiz will have in a few months saying that he tested positive for a banned substance in 2003 because of that mysterious “milkshake” he had that one time in the Dominican?
23. I’m glad to see Plaxico Burress was indicted on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. If Michael Vick was given the stiffest penalty the law could provide, I hope Burress receives the same treatment and is put behind bars for at least 3 ½ years.
24. Don’t believe anything that MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko’s handlers say that they “tried their best to get a deal done with the UFC.” It’s 100% BS. If he really wanted to fight in the UFC, he would be. Fedor is scared of finally having competition and having the talent of his 30 – 1 record come into question, since about 25 of those victories have come from a group of people not good enough to be labeled a “has been” or a “never was”
25. Having recently attended a Yankee game, the stupidity and ignorance of sports fans is unbelievable. I’m talking about the “fans” who expect their sports teams to play flawless and nearly perfect 100% of the time. Newsflash genius’, nobody is perfect, nobody will play mistake free every minute of every day. If you expect that, give me whatever pills you’re taking, because life must be pretty sweet being that high. Grow a brain.
The biggest deals made at the trade deadline were the deals that sent Matt Holliday, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, George Sherrill, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson and Ian Snell all packing to new locations. If you didn’t read my 26 page “Second Half Preview”, let me give you a few snippets from it when discussing the above names.
Re: Matt Holliday: “Adding Mark DeRosa, who now finds himself on the disabled list helps, but they (the Cardinals) could use something more. (perhaps call up Billy Beane and see how Matt Holliday is feeling?)”
Where’d Matt Holliday end up? The St. Louis Cardinals.
Re: Cliff Lee: “If they (the Phillies) can't put a package together to get Roy Halladay (you'd have to lose Kyle Drabek, sorrrry), maybe they could package some lesser talent together to snatch Cliff Lee from the Indians”
What happened? The Phillies refused to part with Kyle Drabek in order to acquire Roy Halladay and instead packaged together some lesser talent and snatched Cliff Lee from the Indians. Thank you, thank you very much.
Re: Victor Martinez: “Victor Martinez? Call up the Red Sox, see if you can pry Clay Buccholz from them for his services”
What happened to Mr. Martinez? Well, he got traded to the Red Sox, but I under-estimated Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro’s stupidity and he only got Justin Masterson out of it. Basically, that’d be the equivalent of trading in your Porsche for a used Toyota with poor brakes.
Re: George Sherrill: “thanks to the Joe Torre book on ruining bullpen arms, they could use a little more relief in that pen”
Well, I didn’t directly infer that the Orioles would trade Sherrill to the Dodgers, but I at least take credit in knowing that Joe Torre is still terrible at managing a bullpen and help was needed.
Re: Freddy Sanchez: “On the downside of things, your offense (Giants) is horrible. You need an Aubrey Huff or a Freddy Sanchez just to provide a little more support."
What happened to Sanchez? Freddy was packaged and shipped by the Pittsburgh Moving Company, I mean Pirates and sent to San Francisco. Again, I was right.
Re: Jack Wilson and Ian Snell: “With the recent trade of Yuniesky Betancourt and Ronny Cedeno batting just .168, they could be in the market for a middle infielder (Jack Wilson)….. The Mariners are one of the few teams who aren't in dire need of pitching help. I'd say maybe they'd be interested in someone like Ian Snell”
What happened to them? They were BOTH traded to the Mariners and Ronny Cedeno and his light weight batting average was part of the deal. I think I deserve a pat on the back for this one guys.
Now I’m not saying I’m some sort of baseball prophet on the level of Moses or Nostradamus or anything, but I’m definitely somewhere in between. I’m like the Muhammad of baseball knowledge.
That being said here are some random thoughts that have popped in my head this morning:
Ramey Rants Twenty Five Random Thoughts:
1. The New York Giants are giving Quarterback Eli Manning a $97.5 million contract extension. Huh??? Really? He’s not even a top-10 QB in the league! And if you don’t believe me, here’s who I’d rather have in no particular order; Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Phillip Rivers, Donovan McNabb, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers. Sorry Eli, you’re no better than 11th best.
2. Of Trevor Hoffman’s major league record 578 saves, only 54 have been for more than 3 outs or a mere 9.3% of his total.
3. Of “best closer in baseball” Francisco Rodriguez’s 232 career saves, only 19 have been for more than 3 outs or just 8.1% of his total.
4. Meanwhile, to end any doubt that Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in history, of his 513 career saves, a staggering 110 have been for more than 3 outs, or an astonishing 21.4% of his total.
5. Michael Jordan “retired” from the NBA on three different occasions, Roger Clemens “retired” on three different occasions as well. Brett Favre has now “retired” on three different occasions, but has ‘discussed’ the notion on at least five occasions. I thought boxers were the only athletes who were allowed to retire a million times?
6. Michael Vick spent 2 years in jail, was suspended 2 seasons from the NFL and is still suspended at least 4 games into the 2009 NFL season? How does this begin to make sense? Hasn’t he paid his debt to society?
7. The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium is living proof that everything is bigger in Texas. If a fan wants to sit in one of the luxury suites, it’ll cost $800,000 per year to lease it, but that doesn’t include game tickets. Also, you’ll have to dole out $90 for pizza (not kidding) and $66 for a 12-pack of beer (also not kidding). And people complained about Yankee tickets?
8. The last time a major league baseball team had two 20 game winners in the same season was the 2002 Arizona Diamondbacks; they got swept in the first round of the playoffs. Bad omen for the Giants as Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are both on pace to win 20 apiece.
9. San Diego Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie was fined $2,500 for posting a comment on his twitter account complaining about the food at training camp. Call out a player or coach, no big deal. Call out the chef on his choice of cuisine, pay the price. Food = power.
10. New York Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran has been out since June 22nd with a “bruised knee.” That could be the worst bruise in the history of black and blue’s.
11. Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is a complete bulldog on the mound. He’s made 21 starts this season and has pitched at least 7 innings in 19 of them. In the other two starts he pitched 3 innings (and left with an injury) and 6 innings (his first start back from injury).
12. On June 7th, Halladay won his 10th game of the season, running his record to 10 – 1, with a 2.52 era. Since that time he’s put up a 1 – 4, 3.15 era in 57 innings over 8 starts. That also includes a complete game loss and another complete game no decision. Too bad they didn’t trade you buddy.
13. Recently enshrined to the baseball Hall of Fame, Rickey Henderson played 25 professional seasons and stole at least 50 bases in thirteen seasons; including 66 when he was 39 years old. Rickey liked to run. His AVERAGE season would see him hit .279 with 16 home runs, 59 runs batted in and 74 stolen bases. No wonder he declared himself “the greatest of all-time”
14. The ‘Ol Gunslinger Brett Favre, the “greatest Quarterback in history” had 36 career games of 3+ interceptions and 64 games of 3+ touchdowns and only twice in his career did he have 3+ of each. So, if you’re keeping score, Favre started 269 games in his career, in 13% of them he was REALLY bad, in 23% of them he was REALLY good and in the other 64% he was above average. He’s also guided his teams to a career 169 – 100 record for a .628 winning percentage.
15. On the other hand, Peyton Manning has started 176 games in his career and has only had 10 games of 3+ interceptions, while having 52 games of 3+ touchdowns and 71 games in his career without throwing an interception. So, if you’re keeping score again, of the 176 games Manning has started, in 5% of them he’s been REALLY bad, in 30% of them he’s been REALLY good, in 40% of them he’s been nearly flawless and he’s guided his teams to a 117 – 59 record for a .664 winning percentage. Sorry Brett, but Peyton is far and above better than you ever were.
16. Still don’t believe me? Well, Favre had only 5 seasons of 4,000+ yards passing and in only one of them did he complete over 65% of his passes. Peyton, meanwhile, has already had 9 seasons of 4,000+ yards passing and in six of those seasons he completed over 65% of his passes.
17. When it’s all said and done Albert Pujols will go down as the greatest hitter in baseball history. Think about this, the worst season he’s ever had was in 2007 when he hit .327 with 32 home runs and 103 runs batted in. He’s averaged 43 home runs per year in his career. He’s 407 home runs away from Barry Bonds. If Pujols averages just 35 home runs per season (which he very well can do since he’s only hit below 35 homers twice), he’ll surpass Barry Bonds record of 762 BEFORE his 40th birthday. Say hello to the baseball God.
18. When the Texas Rangers traded Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves at the 2007 trade deadline, they acquired Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison, Neftali Feliz and Beau Jones in return. Saltalamacchia is now the Rangers starting catcher, Andrus their starting short stop and Neftali Feliz, fresh off a 2 inning, 4 strikeout performance in his major league debut, is the best of the bunch. Greatest trade in Rangers history.
19. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers may be one of the dumbest names in sports. What the hell is a Sound Tiger? Then again, I may be employed by them in the future, so I may name my first child Tiger after them.
20. Back to the Twitter conversation from earlier; I follow dozens of athletes on twitter and I have to say, it really makes me dislike them. I thought I’d get an inside glimpse into the lives and personalities of athletes and I did, but I’ve been largely disappointed. I’ve learned that athletes, much like us regular Joe’s, are weird people with insane tendencies. Just ask Stephon Marbury. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, google it.
21. Pete Rose remains banned from Major League Baseball, because he bet on games? Yet, hundreds of players have compromised the integrity of the game by using performance enhancing drugs and they haven’t been banned. How’s that fair?
22. Can anybody else wait for the eventual press conference that David Ortiz will have in a few months saying that he tested positive for a banned substance in 2003 because of that mysterious “milkshake” he had that one time in the Dominican?
23. I’m glad to see Plaxico Burress was indicted on two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. If Michael Vick was given the stiffest penalty the law could provide, I hope Burress receives the same treatment and is put behind bars for at least 3 ½ years.
24. Don’t believe anything that MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko’s handlers say that they “tried their best to get a deal done with the UFC.” It’s 100% BS. If he really wanted to fight in the UFC, he would be. Fedor is scared of finally having competition and having the talent of his 30 – 1 record come into question, since about 25 of those victories have come from a group of people not good enough to be labeled a “has been” or a “never was”
25. Having recently attended a Yankee game, the stupidity and ignorance of sports fans is unbelievable. I’m talking about the “fans” who expect their sports teams to play flawless and nearly perfect 100% of the time. Newsflash genius’, nobody is perfect, nobody will play mistake free every minute of every day. If you expect that, give me whatever pills you’re taking, because life must be pretty sweet being that high. Grow a brain.
