Pittsburgh Pirates Great Trades, Years Later

The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken alot heat when they
have traded theirs "stars" the last few years, and
much of that is without question deserved, but when
you take a look at these two trades, the only argument
you can against their decision to make the trades is
the garbage they got in return, not the players they
gave up in the trade.

Bryan Morris, Andy LaRoche, Craig Hansen and Brandon
Moss are the player received for Jason Bay on Jul 31st
in 2008 when they made a trade with the Red Sox, and
though there is no question Bay flourished for about
a year and a half, the Red Sox were fine with letting
him get a max contract elsewhere. That elsewhere turned
to be with the New York Mets, and though Bay is a great
team mate and pro by everyone's account, right now the
Mets couldn't get a tub of Bazooka bubblegum for him if
they tried. He's costing them an eight figure salary
and in his time in New York he has put together a .235
batting average with 31 Hr's and 118 Rbi's. If you were
to cut that up into a 162 game season it would work out
to 19 Hr's and 71 Rbi's with that stellar .235 batting
average. At $16Mil a year for 2012, it's fair to say
he's way overpriced and the Pirates are ahead of the
game on this one. The players they received may have
performed poorly, but they were paid that way too.

The other trade the Pirates took heat for was when the
Braves gave Pittsburgh outfielder Gorkys Hernandez,
one of its top prospects, along with pitchers Charlie
Morton and Jeff Locke on June 3rd 2009 for Nate McLouth.
Needless to say that trade did nothing for the Pirates
other than to incense their fans. I once again can't
blame the fans for feeling that way, but 3 years later
I think it's safe to say that McLouth was a McBust for
the Braves and the Pirates once again got away with
one. The Pirates even got Mclouth back, and got rid
of him again he was so bad after he left the 1st time.

The Pirates may have gotten lucky with these two, but
as Lefty Gomez once said "it's better to be lucky than
good". Now the Pirates need to get that "Good" part
together and their fans might forgive them for twenty
years of futility.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Mad Stork Sports on ScatterRadio Podcast For 8-1-12

Ed Hawkins and I took to the ScatterRadio airwaves
again on Wednesday, so if you missed the show, here's
what we had to say, Enjoy the show!



Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Mad Stork Sports on ScatterRadio Podcast For 7-25-12

If you missed the show Wednesday, chances are you missed
something, so here it is, Enjoy !



Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Mad Stork Sports on ScatterRadio Podcast For 7-18-12

Miss the show Wednesday? Here it is, Enjoy !



Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Jason Bay Concussion May Be A Mets Break

Sipkin/NY Daily News

You never wish anyone one true harm, and I certainly
don't, to what many believe to be one of baseball's
true good guys, but let's face it, the Jason Bay
signing by the New York Mets has been one of the
colossal busts of all time in pro sports. The only
reason this signing hasn't received more negative
press by the national media is because Bay isn't a
major league a$$hole, otherwise it would be much
easier to pick on him and the Mets for the flop.

Pro sports isn't about which team can put together
the roster with the most nice guys, it helps when
they're not pompous jerks, but so does winning a
few games. The Mets have been doing pretty well
this season, especially with the youngsters called
up from the minors to fill in for injured players
such as Bay, and when Bay returned things got worse
not better, as you might hope with a returning vet
"star". It took Bay more than a dozen at bats
before his first hit, and even his outs were awful
to watch. Now Jason may have another concussion,
and for his sake, and the sake of his family I hope
he doesn't he'll be ok, but it may be the break
the Mets need to continue on what could very well
be a very special season for them. They have been
playing better without him these days, and have for
awhile now, their youth is ready to take over, and
the price tag is much cheaper.

I wish Jason Bay the best, in health, wealth, and
happiness, but I hope he never plays another inning
or takes another single at bat for the Mets, he has
already cost them, and their fans way too much.
I never thought the Bay signing was a bad one, but
I did think it was a bad one for the money they gave
him. I made the analogy that I would definitely
pay $1.50 for a loaf of bread, but I most certainly
wouldn't pay $73.99 for that same of loaf of bread,
and that's what the Mets did. They bought it, over
paid for it and in turn had to try and eat it. They
couldn't let it get moldy or thrown out. They had to
play him, they kinda had no choice, but now they do.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

NY Trade Rumours That Start Here

Carlos Beltran: I am going to side with my
guest today on my show and, also take Carlos
at his word that he wants to stay in NY.
That is why I am going to predict that he
either A) Stays a Met, B) Gets traded to the
crosstown Yankees or C) gets traded & returns
to one of those two teams via free agency

Jason Bay: Mark it down ! Jason Bay returns to
the Red Sox in a deal that benefits both teams
greatly. Come on! Jeff Francouer? Really! ? !

Hiroki Kuroda: The Red Sox will not trade for
this Dodgers starter. Japanese is starting to
give them mucho indigestion.

Juanne Pierre: Is likely to join another team in
the stretch run before this is all over.

Oakland A's: Will be sellers, D'uh !

David Wright or Wrong?

Since David Wright went on the DL the NY
Mets are 3 games over .500 at 21-18,
they were 4 games under with him, and
though you can make the case that the
Mets are doing this without Ike Davis
as well as any sort of real fire power
from the bat of Jason Bay, it is clear
the Jose Reyes is making a real case
to receive a "Carl Crawford" type offer
from someone this off season. In this
writers opinion it's also becoming more
and more clear that perhaps that can
survive without David Wright, and should
consider using him as trade bait as soon
as he starts to show he's healthy.
Jose Reyes has more stolen bases and hits
in his first 1000 games than anyone except
Ty Cobb, yes even more than Ricky Henderson,
and you can get more for Wright who has a
1 1/2 left on his contract as opposed to
just a few months for Reyes. Just Sayin'.

NY Mets: Is Trading Wright Wrong?

Aristide Economopoulos/Star-Ledger

The short answer is, NO. Lots of talk this
past off season and season has the NY Mets,
making trades, starting over, and not being
able to sign Jose Reyes, but the truth of the
matter if they wanna save money is quite
simply this: Unload Jason Bay the minute he
becomes a commodity again, and he will.
Carlos Beltran's salary comes off the books
this year, so there you can go youth, and
David Wright can get you more in a trade than
Jose Reyes can right now, and Thank God for
that! Wright has one more year after this
left on his contract and that will make the
team that wants to acquire David much more
open to giving you more of what the Mets may
ask for as opposed to give you lots for the
possible rental of Jose Reyes for the
remainder of this season when Jose becomes
a very valuable free agent.

Yes the Mets have money problems, we all know
that, but one cure for that ill is bringing
fans to the ballpark with wins, and let's
face it, Jose Reyes is a much better player
than David Wright, that's RIGHT, much better.
David has been a disappointment for quite a
bit now, and his strikeouts just keep on
coming. As evidenced by today's 4-2 loss
to the Dodgers, Jose Reyes triples, and gets
and RBI in the bottom of the ninth, and David
Wright strikes out to end the game.

Next year Wright is set to earn over 15 million
dollars, but since 12 million from Oliver Perez,
6 million from Luis Castillo, and 1 million from
Gary Matthews Jr. (yes they are still paying him)
come off the books, it is simple to see that you
can afford to pay Jose to stay and use that money
and payroll still goes down. Fourteen million just
by those numbers alone, if the rumored 20 million
that Jose is supposed to earn is true, and he just
might give you a hometown discount if he really
feels wanted.

David Wright's legend has now reached a point where
it is bigger than he is. His numbers keep getting
worse, and his clutch(ness) is stuck in first gear.
Just look at what he's done the past three seasons
alone, while it's clear that Jose is that Carl
Crawford type of player teams were drooling over
this past off season. Look at recent history and
you can also see that Jose's numbers are on the
rise as opposed to decline. He's six months
younger and definitely more dynamic, and honestly
I just can't bear to watch Wright throw another
ball away. The errors were supposed to get better
once Ike Davis became the 1st baseman, but he
isn't a magician you know.

With whatever you get back from a David Wright
trade, Ike Davis, Jose Reyes (re-signed), and
a bit of youth that continues to mature, the
2012 Mets will definitely benefit from the
departure of David Wright and his monotone
excuse filled voice that has all the leadership
of a mating Panda bear. Time to move on !