Oh, and “schwaaa?” is definitely a legitimate question lol.

As for #107, fair enough.

MW: The poster in #100 was indeed referring only to the Braves, but I didn’t know that’s what you were referring to.

#107: It’s possible for someone to respect your opinion on baseball but not respect how you deal with your callers. I could ask how you can insult your caller and then tell them you appreciate the call within the span of about 7 seconds.

MW: 101 – unless the question was “schwaa?” How could I misread it? 107 – that’s fine, and I don’t disagree, but don’t tell me I’m an a** and then expect me to want to answer a question of yours.

MW: Yeah, that was definitely swell.

MW: OK, it wasn’t a huge insult, but my point still stands, and it has nothing to do with dishing it out. Why would someone write in, insult me, then expect me to answer a question? Better still, why would they even want me to answer a question?

Ah yes, the days of Gord Ash when we traded sure fire prospects like Michael Young for stunning mediocrities like Esteban Loaiza. Remember when Shawn Green held Gord Ash over a barrel, despite having ZERO leverage (1 year before free agency) and demanded to be traded to the Dodgers and we got Raul Mondesi? Those were the days. Green could’ve been traded to any of the other 29 teams for a boatload as he was coming off a .309/.384/.588 season with 45 2B, 42 HR, and 123 RBI and the home nine ended up with Raul Mondesi. Wow! How about when 3 years removed from his unbelievable 1993, everyone all of a sudden decided John Olerud should be a pull hitter, despite the fact that he had had great success as a spray hitter. Who’d we get for him again? Oh yeah, Robert Person, who stunk the joint out for 2+ years before being dealt for the second coming of… Paul Spoljaric. Good times!

Where have you gone Willie Greene, Jacob Brumfield (twice), Dave Hollins, Jeff Frye, Alberto Castillo? Hurry back Tilson Brito, Domingo Cedeno, Felipe Crespo, Sandy Martinez, Tomas Perez: we miss you. Hope to see you at the next Flashback Friday Steve Trachsel, Joey Hamilton, Omar Daal, Luis Andujar, Jeff Ware. Make sure you leave room on that ole Level of Excellence for Steve Parris, Chris Michalak, Edwin Hurtado, Paul Menhart, Huck Flener, Marty Janzen (that reminds me: remember the David Cone trade? Wow that was a blockbuster wasn’t it?), Scott Brow.

Mike, the memories are flooding back to me. I’m becoming very wistful, in fact I’m starting to feel quite verklempt. I’m gonna have to go now as I can no longer contain my emotions. 1995-2001: the glory days of this esteemed franchise. I will forever remember those years with great fondness.

MW: Don’t forget, the Jays threw in $5 million with Olerud to get Robert Person.

I am not sure how extreme Bonds and his entourage would be these days but a lot of teams are likely turned off by the idea of a hotshot moving into a clubhouse and the morale effect.

That being said though, from a strictly qualitative point of view (I haven’t looked up stats for this) Bonds seems to at least make contact. I spent many years watching the Cubs (I’m a big fan actually) and spent many years watching Sammy swing and miss, again and again and again. If you get upset with Overbay and double plays with the bases loaded than Sammy will put you over the edge with…yet another…strike out. Harry Caray once moaned on WGN: “What the hell is wrong with a base on balls”, after Sammy chased a 3-2 pitch one at eye level. For every three run home run on the highlight reel there were a whole bunch more times when Sandberg and Grace made the long walk from the basepaths to the dugout after another Sosa flailing.

MW: From 1995-2003, Sosa averaged over a strikeout per game, but strikeouts don’t bother me that much.

MW: Sosa had over a 1.000 (I assume that’s what you mean) OPS against righties last year? In what league? Because in the American one, his OPS against righties was .676. And J.P. doesn’t think that Barry Bonds can’t hit.

MW: Overbay had a bad year last year, with a broken hand. He is not having a bad year this year. Hill had a much better season last year than he was having up until he got hurt. Wells is the same .330 obp guy, but without a lot of the power he’s shown in the past. Rios, Hill, Overbay, Wells, Rolen and Lind can all be expected to improve. The new bats coming in, as I said, would slide in at DH and shortstop. Catcher, too.

Now Bonds will donate his salary to kids and still nobody will sign him? What an absolute disgrace. MLB should be ashamed. Barry is the best player of our generation and the 2nd best hitter of all-time. Yeah, he may be a jerk as well, but he puts asses in the seats, mine included. I hope he sues the league for collusion and wins.

Regarding #77, how can you use Arencibia’s RBI totals to make a sarcastic remark about people who criticize the farm system? Every time I point out how lousy the numbers are for the guys in the minors, you respond by saying “i don’t care what they hit now, lets see were they are 6 years down the road”. Its a fact that the Jays minor system ranks near the bottom in total talent according to ever scouting source, so why not just acknowledge this ?

Anyhow, love debating/talking ball on the blog and post game show, keep up the good work.

Rick

MW: I have acknowledged that the Jays’ minor-league system ranks among the lowest among most of the analysts (maybe even all), but that’s a very biased, very subjective ranking. Like I said, six years hence is the only way to know what a minor-league system is doing. I don’t recall using Arencibia’s RBI numbers, though.