Barry Rozner on ARod / White Sox

[witesoxfan]

-On MacD, How can you have confidence problems, and an oh well attiutude? Aren't those kind of contradictory? If you are having confidence problems you are obviously worrying about your preformance. I am not sure that makes sense to me.

 

It's really not that hard, as I think you can tend to notice it in every sport. If you constantly try to succeed, continually fail, and you can't figure out why you are failing, you just stop caring. You don't stop trying, but at some points, the concern is not there.

[Harry Chappas]

 

-On MacD, How can you have confidence problems, and an oh well attiutude? Aren't those kind of contradictory? If you are having confidence problems you are obviously worrying about your preformance. I am not sure that makes sense to me.

 

I thought the same thing.

Edited October 22, 2007 by Jenks Heat

[Wanne]

Thanks for the notes... a couple of thoughts I have here.

 

-On Torii, I am guessing AJ is one of the guys recruiting him, I wonder who the other one is?

 

If I recall it was mostly Dye that was pushing for him to come here.

[michelangelosmonkey]

That money is negligible in comparison to their contracts so, again, I don't see what your point is.

 

The Yankees weren't paying A-Rod to GET to the post-season. When they traded for him, they had more than enough offensive talent to win their division, or at least the Wild Card, without him. He was supposed to be the guy who put them over the top once they got there.

Uh, no I don't.

You're heavily weighing numbers from several years ago from a completely different team where his role and the expectations around him were not the same. He's been average-to-bad over the past few years.

Speaking of "playing on the biggest stage", look at what Manny has done since going to Boston (easily the second biggest stage and not far behind NY) in the post-season. Talk about pressure... those guys hadn't won crap since 1918 when he got there. That was probably a HIGHER-stress environment than NY. Compare what Manny has done for the Red Sox in the playoffs to what A-Rod has done for the Yankees and it's not even close. Do you think that anybody in Boston would trade Manny's post-season numbers for A-Rod's regular-season MVPs? Neither do I.

I never said that he was. I simply said that he has a history of having difficulty playing under pressure. That's not the same as somebody who NEVER plays well under pressure.

That's true. I'm sure that everyone here remembers how freaking bad Vlad was in the '05 ALCS. He was clearly pressing, swinging at all kinds of crap outside of the strike zone. Sox pitching wasn't giving him anything to hit. But it's not like Vlad had a ton of protection in that lineup. Meanwhile, A-Rod's '04-'06 Yankees offenses were some of the best collections of offensive talent EVER, and it's not like he wasn't getting pitches to hit. What's A-Rod's excuse? Geez, Andy Pettite could've hit better than him in '05 and '06.

 

Look, I'm not saying that A-Rod is a choke or that he's going to be a mediocre-to-bad player in the post-season from here on out. But he hasn't done crap in the playoffs since the '04 ALDS and hasn't been consistently good there since 2000 in Seattle. And this is supposedly the best player of his generation and perhaps the best player EVER? Uh, I don't think so. A-Rod's awesome for sure, but you can't reasonably ask for $300 million and the "Best Player Ever" title with some of the recent post-season performances he's had. From a hitting perspective, I'll take Manny over him in a second.

 

Stupid old Joe Dimaggio was a .271 career hitter in the post season with an OPS of .750. Stan Musial about the same. I sure wouldn't want THOSE guys on the Sox (being dead and all).

[YASNY]

Stupid old Joe Dimaggio was a .271 career hitter in the post season with an OPS of .750. Stan Musial about the same. I sure wouldn't want THOSE guys on the Sox (being dead and all).

 

Brian Doyle was the s***, though.

[Texsox]

The confidence problem could be I can't do well, so oh well, why try?

[michelangelosmonkey]

Brian Doyle was the s***, though.

Maybe if we bundled Dimaggio and Musial together we could work out a trade for Doyle...it would totally help our playoff chances.

[YASNY]

Maybe if we bundled Dimaggio and Musial together we could work out a trade for Doyle...it would totally help our playoff chances.

 

Sounds like a plan to me.

[Texsox]

Sounds like a plan to me.

 

And about as realistic as most of the trade ideas around here.

[southsider2k5]

It's really not that hard, as I think you can tend to notice it in every sport. If you constantly try to succeed, continually fail, and you can't figure out why you are failing, you just stop caring. You don't stop trying, but at some points, the concern is not there.

 

OK, I guess that makes sense.

[bmags]

consistently fail? He's in the major leagues.

[witesoxfan]

consistently fail? He's in the major leagues.

 

Continually failing. And there is a difference.

 

And, jeezus, I'm not talking about failing in life, and I'm not talking about just even failing in the major leagues;I'm talking about failing at his job this year, and his 6.80 ERA and 1.96 WHIP agree that he was failing.

[Gregory Pratt]

BACK TO THE TOPIC

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, BORAS, MONEY AND THE WHITE SOX

 

...

 

From Baseball-Fever

 

-From Pete Abraham's blog...

 

All the stories that Boras is trying to sell about ARod and the YES network came to mind when I read this:

 

-----

Remember when Scott Boras predicted the Red Sox would realize $21 million in additional revenue by signing Daisuke Matsuzaka? It didn't happen, team president Larry Lucchino said. "A grossly laughable estimate," Lucchino said. "The reality is far, far, far below that." ...

 

Et tu, A-Rah-rah-rah?

[Harry Chappas]

BACK TO THE TOPIC

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, BORAS, MONEY AND THE WHITE SOX

 

...

 

From Baseball-Fever

Et tu, A-Rah-rah-rah?

 

That is because Dice-K was not the second coming of what they thought he was. The Japanese hype is tappering off as these players are not all Ichiro, they are showing themselves as solid major leaguers that have some success and some failure. Remember in April when ESPN grossly over-hyped him. Ichiro is a superstar. Dice-K cost $105M, that is a a-lot of money, and he is not a superstar. I do not think he will be the be all end all that Boston expected and they were stupid to buy into the Scott Boras hype machine.

 

Scott Boras hype for A-Rod is entrenched in the home run chase to overthrough Bonds and soolidify the record as "clean" that is assuming A-Rod is clean. A-Rod catching Bonds could be more important to the record book and more watched and rooted for than if A-Rod was chasing Aaron.

[gosox41]

That is because Dice-K was not the second coming of what they thought he was. The Japanese hype is tappering off as these players are not all Ichiro, they are showing themselves as solid major leaguers that have some success and some failure. Remember in April when ESPN grossly over-hyped him. Ichiro is a superstar. Dice-K cost $105M, that is a a-lot of money, and he is not a superstar. I do not think he will be the be all end all that Boston expected and they were stupid to buy into the Scott Boras hype machine.

 

Scott Boras hype for A-Rod is entrenched in the home run chase to overthrough Bonds and soolidify the record as "clean" that is assuming A-Rod is clean. A-Rod catching Bonds could be more important to the record book and more watched and rooted for than if A-Rod was chasing Aaron.

 

 

Aren't most Boras clients over hyped? Boras is the king of hot air.

 

 

 

Bob

[Kyyle23]

Is it fair to judge Matsuzaka after one year though? Maybe the estimates of revenue are grossly overestimated, but I think Dice-K should be given the benefit of the doubt in terms of learning the league and what it takes to get through an entire MLB season. We can all see he has hit some sort of a wall similar to rookies coming up from the minors. IMO, next year will be much better in determining Dice-K's actual worth as a pitcher in the MLB.

[DBAHO]

I remember on Dice - K, I think there was a stat after a certain amount of days rested after he pitched, his ERA was below 3, might have been 6.

 

But I agree with kyyle23, now at least hitters will know his stuff. He'll need to improve that control of his obviously.

[Harry Chappas]

Is it fair to judge Matsuzaka after one year though? Maybe the estimates of revenue are grossly overestimated, but I think Dice-K should be given the benefit of the doubt in terms of learning the league and what it takes to get through an entire MLB season. We can all see he has hit some sort of a wall similar to rookies coming up from the minors. IMO, next year will be much better in determining Dice-K's actual worth as a pitcher in the MLB.

 

At $20M a year there is no learning curve. The rookie wall is explained by increased workload. I thought he threw a greater workload in Japan then he would here. I see your point though and it could go either way.

[Steve9347]

That is because Dice-K was not the second coming of what they thought he was. The Japanese hype is tappering off as these players are not all Ichiro, they are showing themselves as solid major leaguers that have some success and some failure. Remember in April when ESPN grossly over-hyped him. Ichiro is a superstar. Dice-K cost $105M, that is a a-lot of money, and he is not a superstar. I do not think he will be the be all end all that Boston expected and they were stupid to buy into the Scott Boras hype machine.

 

Scott Boras hype for A-Rod is entrenched in the home run chase to overthrough Bonds and soolidify the record as "clean" that is assuming A-Rod is clean. A-Rod catching Bonds could be more important to the record book and more watched and rooted for than if A-Rod was chasing Aaron.

This was a great post that was completely accurate.

[Kyyle23]

At $20M a year there is no learning curve. The rookie wall is explained by increased workload. I thought he threw a greater workload in Japan then he would here. I see your point though and it could go either way.

 

i completely agree, at his price there should be no learning curve at all.

[gosox41]

Is it fair to judge Matsuzaka after one year though? Maybe the estimates of revenue are grossly overestimated, but I think Dice-K should be given the benefit of the doubt in terms of learning the league and what it takes to get through an entire MLB season. We can all see he has hit some sort of a wall similar to rookies coming up from the minors. IMO, next year will be much better in determining Dice-K's actual worth as a pitcher in the MLB.

 

 

In this case, it's more then fair. They essentially shelled out $20 mill for him this year so you can't help but rate him.

 

 

 

Bob

[Balta1701]

In this case, it's more then fair. They essentially shelled out $20 mill for him this year so you can't help but rate him.

Bob

If Matsuzaka comes out and for 3 of the next 4 years is lights out, puts up a sub 3.25 ERA in the AL East and pushes 20 wins, then no one will care if he struggled a bit his first year, the overall evaluation will be "He was worth it".

 

If he gives you the same performance every year, then it's gonna be a lot more disappointing for the Red Sox.

 

But here's the 2 other issues; pitchers his age usually don't get that much better, and pitchers usually have an advantage over batters the first time they see them, which for DK was this year.

[sircaffey]

Something tells me the Red Sox aren't really regretting signing Dice-K. They seem to be just fine. Plus, he's not on the Yankees.

[Dick Allen]

If Matsuzaka comes out and for 3 of the next 4 years is lights out, puts up a sub 3.25 ERA in the AL East and pushes 20 wins, then no one will care if he struggled a bit his first year, the overall evaluation will be "He was worth it".

 

If he gives you the same performance every year, then it's gonna be a lot more disappointing for the Red Sox.

 

But here's the 2 other issues; pitchers his age usually don't get that much better, and pitchers usually have an advantage over batters the first time they see them, which for DK was this year.

People here were banking on Vazquez improving and he is 4 years older than Dice-K. They said after last year he just has to get comfortable. For a guy who "struggled", 15 wins, a 4.40 ERA and 201 k's in 204 IP are pretty good. Its not like he's an old man. He's the same age as Wasserman. He's a year younger than Garland. I don't know how "dissappointing" he will be if he does the same thing he's doing and the Red Sox continue to win. Granted, what they paid to get him was a lot, but remember, he's only getting about half of it. He signed a 6 year $52 million contract.

Edited October 25, 2007 by Dick Allen

[gosox41]

If Matsuzaka comes out and for 3 of the next 4 years is lights out, puts up a sub 3.25 ERA in the AL East and pushes 20 wins, then no one will care if he struggled a bit his first year, the overall evaluation will be "He was worth it".

 

If he gives you the same performance every year, then it's gonna be a lot more disappointing for the Red Sox.

 

But here's the 2 other issues; pitchers his age usually don't get that much better, and pitchers usually have an advantage over batters the first time they see them, which for DK was this year.

 

Those would be outstanding numbers if he reaches them 3 of the next 4 years, but it's a hell of a lot of money to pay a guy to be a stud pitcher 60% of his contract. And while I'm not adjusting for ballparks, a 3.25 ERA is great but not dominant.

 

As long as Boston has a great offense, he has a good chance at 20 wins.

 

 

 

Bob