1/3 through (almost) P.O.S. team

[BleedDodgerBlue]

almost 1/3 through the season.

time to take a look at the all piece of chit team both leagues included. feel free to add or detract members as you see fit. Generally looking for players that aren't rookies and are supposed to be much better than they are. Guys also that you wouldn't want in at any clutch situation. In general guys making way too much friggin money. 2005 salary in paranthesis.

starting pitcher: Vicente Padilla(3.2 million) PHI 1-5 7.03 ERA
closing pitcher: Danny Kolb (3.4 million)ATL 1-4 5.66 ERA
mid relief: too many to name

catcher: Jason Kendall (10.5 MILLION...LMAO) wins the award with his astonishing .241 average and 0 HR. Throw in 4 for 40 or so baserunners thrown out and making a boatload of money he wins hands down.

first base: Carlos Pena (2.57 milliion) DET .181 Avg

second base: Brett Boone(9 million wow) SEA. how the mighty have fallen. only 16 extra base hits in 185 AB's

shortstop: Christian Guzman (4.2 million) WAS and its not even close. .187 BA in 171 AB's with "6" RBIS

third base: Eric Chavez (8.5 million wow)wins this hands down. For all the promise he's shown before, it's just not his year. 192 ABS and only 4 HR and a .219 average and only 12 extra base hits.

outfielders:
Todd Hollandsworth (900k) CHI: ex rookie of year prospect with 1 HR in 103 ABS in the friendly confines batting a robust .204 with 7 extra base hits.

Bernie Williams.(12.35 million are you kidding me) NYY Time to hang em up pal. .241 avg in 141 abs. only 2hrs. your time is done.

Sammy Sosa. (17 million whopping dollars) BAL Tough to play without the juice. .254 avg and 4 HR in 126 AB's

honorary mention DH:
Maglio Ordonez 7.2 million to sit on the bench.

That's how you can spend 78.82 million dollars. And baseball wonders why it's losing fans.

 

[IE]

The cost of balls
The cost of baseballs to MLB is about the same as a starting first baseman. MLB runs through about 900,000 balls in a season, for $5.5 million. The average first baseman is making $5.7m in 2005, based on the top 30 salaries for the position at USAToday.

Of all the sports, baseball seems unique in treating its spheroid as almost instantly depreciated by contact, and disposable. By this story's accounting, the practice of players tossing balls into the stands - the observation motivating the conversation with Mike - accounts for less than 10% of balls retired from an MLB game. A foul ball into the stands is the modal cause of retirement, with foul tips (they must scuff the ball somehow) second.

Unlike a basketball or football, a foul baseball seems more easily captured and hidden by fans. The differential cost of policing the team's "right to the ball" may be a factor causing baseball to "let them go," while basketball and soccer manage to get their balls returned.

Two questions spring to mind when thinking about crowds and the cost of balls. First, does any baseball historian know when MLB quit trying to get balls back from the crowd? My hunch is that the "rule of capture" in baseball was established in the post-war period, and was not common practice during the depression.

Second, colleges rely on the goodwill of fans to return footballs to the field. Why then does the NFL resort to nets behind the goalpost to force the ball's return? Whatever the reason, viewed alongside practice in baseball, the NFL's nets seem miserly. Footballs are more costly than baseballs, but not as many leave the field. At $200 per ball and 10 balls per game, the NFL's cost per game of souvenir footballs would be roughly the same that baseball incurs at present. Relative to the cash collected from fans in the seats, it's even less.

 

[IE]

what has the team got out of these starters......

Carl Pavano 2005 Salary: $9,000,000
Kelvim Escobar 2005 Salary: $6,250,000
Jon Lieber 2005 Salary: $5,583,333
Al Leiter 2005 Salary: $7,241,931

 

[soul train]

i got the 1st baseman for you

jason giambi
39 games
27-118
4 hr
12 rbis
.229

$13,428,471 THIEF