Phightins

Even with him I really don't see them lasting. I have always liked their lineup, but their pitching is atrocious and one guy is not going to change that, IMO.

Paging Jimmy Rollins..... Yeah, this lineup kind of needs you...

He is not long for the minor leagues. I don't expect his stay at AAA to be much longer than this was. Unless the Nationals are scared of starting his arbitration clock and keep him there until the end of the year, lol. No way that happens though.

Can't believe I am rooting hardcore for the Canadiens. But yes, I certainly am tonight, and I will be rooting for them even harder in the next round if they win tonight.

No it was certainly fair. Luckily for you, this bullpen is such a mess right now that rule 5 pick David Herndon is pitching the 9th inning of a tie game...

It will be nice for them to get back home. As usual, they played like absolute [expletive] at AT&T Park. I know it's just April and there are some major injuries, but this is frustrating as hell.

Excited for the game tonight. Go Canadiens! Hopefully it goes a bit better for them than it did for the Coyotes last night.

The Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez contracts are perfect examples of why the Phillies are indeed in that group. They signed Raul Ibanez to a 3 year , $31 million contract when he was 36 years old, knowing that in all likelihood, he'd be well into decline well before the contract is up. The Ryan Howard contract is the same deal. They will be paying him $25 million as a 37 year old, and unless you are a roided up Barry Bonds, power hitters start their decline well before that age. (That is why all the SABR guys like Keith Law and Rob Neyer hate this deal, because they are not capable of looking at baseball multidimensionally. They can't see intangibles, business strategy, a team going above and beyond to make a statement, etc. All they see are trends, numbers, wins-above-replacement, etc). So the Phillies signed these contracts knowing they'd probably be wishing they're off the books well before they end, with just the short term in mind. That is taking a page right out of the Yankees book. Nobody else does that, it's bad money for at least 26 of the other teams.

Hate to say it but he's right. The Phillies have joined the Yankees and Red Sox in MLB's financial elite. As they should be, considering the insane amount of money they are making. On another note....this offense is horrendous right now. Proves my theory that Jimmy Rollins is the most valuable hitter in the Phillies lineup. They need him back ASAP.

Brad Lidge says he is ready to go. Thank God. He threw a scoreless inning in AA tonight and struck out the side. My only concern is that, according to the stadium gun, his fastball was topping out at 88 mph. Who knows how accurate that is, though. And it's not like he throws a blazing fastball in the first place. Anyway, this bullpen needs him back badly.

I'd copy Jayson Werth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ0eIqyjpaw

Make that the rest of the playoffs for Lappy. [expletive]ing a. He has a brain contusion.

Ian Laperriere is out for the next series. [expletive].

For the time being. Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder will likely wind up with a higher annual salary than Ryan Howard by the time 2012 rolls around, Pujols especially.

Yeah, it's absolutely a huge risk, and God forbid something happens to him during this contract, it will be disastrous. I think the Phillies were kind of backed into a corner though. Their options were either sign him to this deal right now or lose him to free agency in 2 years. If they waited until this winter to try to work something out, they may have had to deal with Pujols/Fielder/Gonzalez getting extensions and possibly setting the market even higher. But the bottom line is that the hitters like Ryan Howard do not come along every day, and no matter what the Sabermetric geeks will tell you, this offense does not roll without him. Are they overpaying? Probably. But they kind of had to. Lets hope it doesn't backfire.

Well, the Versus coverage is terrible too. Even if it is covered poorly on ESPN, the NHL will have the benefit of advertising on a channel that people actually watch, which is the main thing that is missing now.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/cable-tv/e3ieae2fa145a05b6f7f039aa91bab73b7c?pn=2 I think it would be great to get the NHL back to a real network.

Yeah. Also, not surprisingly, the sabermetric community has not received this contract too well.

It won't seem so stupid when Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, and Adrian Gonzalez get paid. I think that's the main reason the Phillies got this done so soon. Obviously it's a risk though. Anyway....a couple years ago, when Ryan Howard was really heavy and couldn't field his position to save his life, most scouts thought he was the second coming of Mo Vaughn. As the years have gone on, it's been proven that he's hardly that. Every spring he comes into camp in better shape than the year before, and he's turned himself into one of the better defensive first basemen. And it doesn't appear like his bat is going anywhere any time soon. The bottom line is that in baseball, as it is with most sports, if you put up numbers you will get paid a crazy amount of money. That's really what it comes down to. And Ryan Howard's numbers are insane.

Also has an option for a sixth year and a limited no-trade clause.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=319538 Hmm. Maybe Lou threatened to fire him if he didn't do this.

This combined with the Ryan Howard extension = good day.

http://www.csnphilly.com/04/26/10/Phillies-Sign-Howard-to-125-Million-Exte/landing.html?blockID=223476&feedID=704 . Not crazy about paying him $25 million when he is 37 years old, but it's nice to know that he will probably play out his career in Philadelphia. Lets see if Ruben can work some magic with Jayson Werth now, although my hopes are not particularly high.

Cooper is pretty comparable to Baskett, from what I am hearing/seeing. Makes sense, they are pretty much the same size.

Yeah that would be awesome to watch. Selfishly I am hoping Doc pitches Saturday, haha. And from what I'm reading this morning, it will be Kendrick Friday, Halladay Saturday, and Moyer (hopefully Blanton) on Sunday.