his accumulated numbers over his last, i dunno, 15-20 games or so...even though they were spread out...those numbers were Kempesque. his ridiculous trot home probably cost us a WS berth. probably still could've made it if Hanley hadn't been hit in the ribs... i'm still pissed about the non-retaliation there. i don't give a shit if it wasn't on purpose. can't just bow to the Cardinals and allow them to hit our guys and have nothing come from it. Dodgers didn't get nasty in return until Beltran started making comments. the time to get nasty was Game 1
It's difficult when you're in the playoffs. You can't go around risking getting thrown out and losing more players when you're already down. We also weren't getting shit done in game 2, so throwing at them would have been a bad idea if we lost CK who was pitching a great game.
I think there is something going on with the Mariners that could end up being big. They have apparently upped their attention on both Kemp and Cano at the same time, making me think they could be trying to pull in Cano then use one of their 2 MIF prospects to land Kemp. They are desperate to land some talent and it is sounding like they are willing to overpay to get it.
The M's want to put people in the seats and that's about it. The ownership doesn't really care about winning.
Heres my thing about Matt Kemp: I don't want to just get rid of him for the sake of it. I'm hoping a solid deal that can have positive impact in 2014 and moving forward comes up (clearing lots of $$$ and/or getting a good player, realistically a starter). I love Kemp and have seen all the signs that he can bounce back and be great, but I disagree with the thought that we are for sure "selling low" on the guy. At the end of 2012, if trade rumors would have happened as strong as they are now, everyone would have (correctly) said that we are selling low. Now, a year later, his value is even lower. The perception behind selling low is that his value can't go any lower and this is correct, and I truly fear this can happen to Kemp. I think right now his value is that he is an elite player when healthy. And that might be true. I actually do think that's true. But what if 2014 happens and what actually happens is he falls victim to injuries making him worse, similar to what happened with two players on our team: Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. What if he just declines as a player and instead of "elite when healthy" it's simply "good when healthy" Then his value is even lower. Remember, it isn't just one injury he is recovering from. Really, it's three injuries we are worried about (hamstrings, ankle and shoulder" He might recover from all 3 and show us glimpses of eliteness, god damn I hope that happens. But what happens if he shows us early 2013 Matt Kemp. Carl Crawford shows us glimpses of the past, but he also shows us a norm of him being not that good. Again, what I'm trying to say isn't that lets sell Matt Kemp for 40 cents on the dollar. Because we can do that and then want to stab Ned if Kemp shows us glimpses of greatness. But if someone is willing to buy Kemp as an elite player and willing to give up value for that in a number of ways, we have to pounce on that shit. (Same with any of our other players really)
http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/4123/matt-kemp The significant line in the article was they characterize Matt Kemp as oft injured, lol.
I hope the Mariners sign Cano as it will intensify their efforts to add another bat, namely Matthew Ryan Kemp, or even Andre Ethier, if they offered something suitable. Dream scenario is a package with one of Miller/Franklin.
i don't believe that for a second. Game 1 was when war should've been declared...you stand your ground from the start. if they did that, by the time Kershaw took the hill both teams would've been warned and the inside of the plate would've been tough to get...which staff do you trust to get it done at that point? we have the control guys...they have the hard throwers. Mattingly has to know his team better than that. Hanley wasn't right anymore and that was a huge shot to our chances...having others get thrown out would've led to us losing, but guess what?...we still lost by playing it safe and allowing them to own us. this is where Mattingly could've used some playing experience with the Clemens/Pedro/Damon/Jeter more recent and definitely more volatile Boston/NY era...he missed that era. he never won a damn thing as a player. you nip it in the bud now, so you don't have to deal with that shit in the future. STL was just basically over there snickering. they KO'ed our best guy in Game 1 and we did nothin. hell, why not just do it again next year? <-----and that's our worst nightmare. it happens again
if Cano and jay-z have any brains they make the m's trade first. Cano controls his own destiny and shouldn't hedge bets on what the dodgers or rays will ultimately do.
