The Opening Day LAD/SDP Game Thread

Maybe, just perhaps we are turning on some of our younger players to soon and chasing them out of town. Can you imagine an all star battery of Broxton and Martin? We almost did it with Kemp and unless there is a change Loney will be gone to write his career elsewhere. These are players who had very good years at a young age and then hit a plateau or regressed so we turned on them and others took them in on the cheap. Its not like we got rid of them to make room for a young stud in are system or a quality free agent. We got rid of them to get rid of them and save a few bucks.

 

Along with performance, injury also played a big part in the case of retaining/cutting both Brox and Martin. I wouldn't necessarily say saving money was the primary reason we cut them loose although it could be quite possible.

Jayson Werth is a player they gave up on too quick because of injury. Martin did go on to have a decent year with the Yankees and was worth the 4 Million for them. But now he's making 7.5 M and I doubt I'd want to pay that for Russ.
Broxton was a one trick pony. I'm glad he's gone, even if he has regained his velocity. Dude was a choke artist who I wouldn't trust for shit.
People overreacted to Kemp because they expected so much more out of him. I doubt FO ever gave up on him.

 

Werth was a roster squeeze and while I didn't like it at the time I could see the need to make a decision. Martin was replace with no replacement on hand and in fact we can see the results of the following year. Broxton was also not a roster squeeze and we went out and signed left overs like Coffey etc. The Yankees seem happy to have their all star catcher back and just that designation might make him worthwhile to NY fans.

 

I wish we kept Broxton. He is (in my opinion) the most unfairly persecuted player we've had in my lifetime.

 

He was amazing, and I loved him too. It was just so hard to get over those blown games in the playoffs. then Torre made him throw 50 pitches against the Yankees and he was done

 

Fitting that Torre caused Brox to blow a save against the Yanks.

 

fuck this game
i blame Ned

2 year deal to Harang!!!!!!!!!!
FUCK

 

i really cant stand Mike MacDougal.

Mac, Coffee, Wright are useless. you guys see Padilla today? 4 innings in relief, 2 hits, 4 K's vs the Tigers. and he'd rather be in the pen than start he said

 

Broxton physically looked like he was done. His velocity was gone, and his slider became a cement mixer. It looked like it was truly dead arm syndrome.

And just because he goes somewhere else and does well doesn't necessarily mean he would have the same fortune here.

I would have much rather have kept the Broxtons and Kurodas but oh well. Broxton ran his course and Ned is retarded.

 

Yeah not signing Kuroda over Harang is gonna be a killer pain in the ass.

 

General Managers in most sports have to run the risk of letting a player go to early/soon or letting a player go to late. That is always a tough call when free agency approaches. However does it seem to anyone that Ned has a knack of letting players go to early and replacing them with someone he is signing to late? We rarely discuss Cody Ross but he had a great spring got let go in a roster squeeze and has been a great 4th outfielder for a number of teams. Most of that time we were struggling for outfielders. It is often a tough call. I was a Jason Repko fan but I think we kept Jason over a few players we might have been better off keeping.

 

These are all valid points and opinions, without a doubt.
But ultimately, what a bunch of grumpy fans feel or opine on a team website, has nothing to do with the real world...if BB can be considered the "real world". But it is the place where the moves are made, and who knows why some of them are? We think we do, and we read a sportswriters article that puts us all "in the know", but do we really know?
We all saw Billy Ball...and if that was accurate, aside from the SABR aspect of it all, it looks like a bunch of guys sitting around the table and arguing for and some against this guy or that guy, whether they get go out and get him, or release him or trade him or make him a RP, or whatever. and we all also know that if one guy can make amore persuasive point than the next, he usually wins. It's not all black and white, like say, Kemp or Pujols or Kershaw...tou'd have to be an idiot not to do what you have to to keep them, or go get them if available.
And in the end, with a guy like Ned Colletti giving the final thumbs up or down, disasters are coming. Might as well be Brad Pitt, who doesn't even like BB at all...an octopus picks the Superbowl winners all the time or some shit doesn't it?
And somebody must tell me eventually, what was there in Colletti's past with SF that made them go out and hire him? Was there a history of success there, or did we just need to get a body in the GM spot?