Ishii May Not Sign

[RockieBill]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The agent for Japanese left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii said Tuesday his client may not sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers by the Feb. 8 deadline.

The Dodgers won the right to negotiate with Ishii earlier this month, when their bid of $11.26 million was accepted by the Yakult Swallows.

Under an agreement between the commissioner's offices in Tokyo and New York, the Dodgers have until midnight EST on Feb. 8 to work out a contract.

``There is a salary level we need to get to convince him to come over here. If we don't get to it, he's not coming,'' said Joe Urbon, Ishii's agent.

Urbon said he spoke to Dodgers assistant general manager Kim Ng for about 45 minutes Tuesday and will relay the offer to Ishii.

``They gave me a very clear indication as to how they got where they are in terms of what they think is a reasonable offer for this player and I need to explain this to him, as delicately as possible, quite frankly,'' Urbon said.

``This is the first time that I've recognized the possibility that Ishii may not be in a Dodgers' uniform this year. We have 16 days to go, of course, but based on where we are right now, there is a distinct possibility we may run out of time.''

If the 28-year-old Ishii doesn't sign with Los Angeles, his rights would revert to the Swallows. The Dodgers don't pay the $11.26 million unless he signs with them.

``This is all part of the process,'' Dodgers general manager Dan Evans said. ``We are still in the early stages of the negotiations and we have until February 8 to get a deal done.''

Ishii was 12-6 with a 3.39 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 175 innings for Yakult last season. He went 78-45 with a 3.38 ERA and 1,266 strikeouts in 1,173 innings over 242 games in 10 years with the Swallows.

Seattle right fielder Ichiro Suzuki signed a $14 million, three-year contract when he came from Japan. Seattle closer Kazuhiro Sasaki signed a two-year contract that paid him $4 million last season.

``We are looking for something along those the lines for the best starting pitcher,'' Urbon said.

http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=BASEBALL&STORYID=APIS7H71JL00



Now then, if we had a commissioner that had a spine, this sort of BS would not be going on. As far as Japanese players coming into the league, they should be subject to the amateur draft, just like every other rookie. They're not rookies, ya' say? As long as they're eligable for ROY honors, they're rookies! Sheesh, this game needs some help - and it's not coming from Selig...

[Baseball Guru]

Originally posted by RockieBill
Now then, if we had a commissioner that had a spine, this sort of BS would not be going on. As far as Japanese players coming into the league, they should be subject to the amateur draft, just like every other rookie. They're not rookies, ya' say? As long as they're eligable for ROY honors, they're rookies! Sheesh, this game needs some help - and it's not coming from Selig...


I totally agree....They should be drafted just like any other player...
The fact that you have to bid a ridiculous amount of money to be able to even have the right to sign a player from Japan is ridiculous and just shows you part of what is wrong with baseball....
11+ million just to earn the right to try to sign a player...Geez:angry:

[RockieBill]

This whole rookie thing is such a sore spot with me, James. The amateur draft is so totally corrupted, I don't even know why they bother to call it a draft. Most teams don't have a chance in hell of signing their first round picks, and when they do, they pay through the nose.

The overseas players are just beginning to see how much money can be wrung out of the system. All of the money involved just begs to be fought over. Fiascos like JD Drew, Matt Harrington - even Little League parental violence and the Danny Almonte embarassment - all of this happens because there's so much money involved. The complete amateur system needs to be blown up as it stands and rebuilt from the ground up. It seems no one is in the game just for the love of the game anymore.

[KingFish]

It wasn't that way when I was growing up but it seems to be the way the system has developed.

Is it right? Absolutely not but to tell you the truth I hope the guy doesn't sign with the Dodgers. Sure Nomo and Sasaki did well when they came over but I'm not sold on this guy. I truly believe the Dodgers are making another mistake here and that money would be better spent devloping there own talent.

Why are they doing this? Corporate ownership may once again be driving the decision making process that team management is forced to win now and the heck with tomorrow. By golly that is the same attitude that got the Dodgers in the sad shape they are today.

Is the problem local to just the Dodgers? No way. Look around at all the corporate owned teams. They are all operating that way.

What does this do to the support system/farm teams/amatuers? It forces them down the same path.

Do I blame the players for trying to get all they can? Sorry but no. They are not the ones responsible for setting the business of baseball up. You have to look hard at the ownership to see where the root cause of this degragation of the game is coming from.

Is there a way out? Well if the owners do not do it on their own, and I simply do not see them doing that, then someone else will have to step in and do it for them. I think the first move in that direction will be the lifting of the anti trust exemption. At least this would force the corporate ownership to manage their business's in a regulated environment.

The problem with that may be, What would prevent a team from operating like Enron? They got away with it and the baam! The hammer comes down. Nope, it has to start with a change of Commish that is not selected by the owners. It will have to be force fed to them and they will be held accountable.

I'll give you a prime example of how out of control they really are right now. John Henry owns parts of three teams at the same time! What up with that? It is a clear rules violation but the rest of ownership is choosing to ignore the rules for now. The Commish is't saying anything. It will all be worked out.

Well how in the world did it ever get that way in the first place? Corporate greed!

Who suffers? You got that right, the fan!

Who can change it, the voter! You make sure your representative knows how you feel about the state of the game and it will be changed. Votes are to valuable to be ignored. Make it an issue and it will be. If we don't I fear for the future of this great game.

Whoa, now that was a Fish rant! :angry:

[bear]

Nice rant, Kingfish!! Vintage stuff!
While I agree with both you and Rockiebill and James, I must take issue with 1 very important thing you suggest:

"Do I blame the players for trying to get all they can? Sorry but no. They are not the ones responsible for setting the business of baseball up."

I too, do not blame the players for trying to get all they can--as long as it is not taking something important away from the game itself.While it is technically true that the players are not responsible for the business side, it is they-the players-who for some unknown reason have to ALLOW the owners to change the draft, change the rookie rules, change the way money is spent! That's like you and I vetoing our company's investment plan, their choice of moving to a new building when they outgrow the old facility, the corporate structure, the date for the shareholder's meeting, th--well, you get the picture!
Some fun, eh?

[Baseball Guru]

Agreed!!
Its not really the players fault...After all we as people will always try to get as much as possible...It is the responsibility of of our bosses, or in the case of MLB players, the owners, to keep salaries at a reasonable rate....
Nothing wrong with asking, but owners should not pay these ridiculous amounts...

Great points by all:biggrin:

[KingFish]

Point taken Bear but... (There is always a but isn't there?)


After the recent Enron fiasco, the analogy to business practices of corporations and employee ability to effect them may not be the best to use to attack the players for what they do to the game.
It turns out that it may be very appropriate for employees to veto a lot of what corporate business does ala forced purchase of company owned stock. That is a major issue with the company I am with right now. In fact I wish we would of had the ability to veto them shutting down our manufacturing at our LA site. The plan was to build a machining facility in So Carolina to take advantage of much lower labor rate and huge tax breaks offered by the state. Looks good on the surface for sure. To bad there are zero available Aerospace, out of work skilled machinists in that state. To bad there are not any skilled machinists that are willing to take huge pay cuts to leave sunny California to live and work in the lush tropical paradise of South Carolina. This was a short sighted, quick profit management move doomed to fail and we are now taking a multi-million dollar hits for what the employees knew was a major mistake. During the time that the decision was passed down to us I and several other veteren managers gained the mark of being "resistor's to change" because we were vocal in our disagreement with the plan at the time. We knew it was wrong. I am now the last of those managers. The rest are all gone and while I have achieved cult hero status with the employees for my heroic stand, I'm history as far as our new enlightened management is concerned.


I state again, I do not blame/fault the players.
They are only doing what all employees do. They try to get the most income they can. They try to get all that the employeer is willing to pay. If employers do not pay it, the employees simply can not expect to get more. Employers set their wage scales based on what they can afford and baseline them against similiar business enities to ensure their pay levels are high enough to attract good employees and low enough to not negatively effect the bottom line profit margins. The current state of affairs in baseball is a forced situation and the responsibility for it falls squarely on the slouching shoulders of ownership and the Commish's slippery back. The current accounting methods employeed by ownership is geared to show loss. Magic pencil's at work and a bean counters heaven. The Commish is as wrapped up in it as any other owner. My gosh, he is an owner for crimeanee's sake. He is knee deep in the muck now and he will suck the game down with him and the rest of the greedy bastards. So the players are to blame? I think not.


I'm a Six Sigma Black Belt (loosely translated it means I am a business problem solving expert) and take my word for it when I say, "A vast majority of todays business leaders are degreed Masters of Business majors with little or no real world experience or business ability." They very simply do not have a clue of how to go about building or running a business. They are text book brilliant and business stupid. The focus of most their efforts is short term profit and/or immediate increased stock value, neither of which may have anything to do with a running a sound, thriving business. My apologies to any of you Business grads out there and I have met a few that are actually good business managers. They are rare though, very rare indeed.


Will removing the anti-trust laws change this?
We'll again take Enron as an example. Enron had to live with the anti-trust regulations but that did not prevent them from destroying thousands of families and their hard earned retirement incomes. At least the law was there to prevent this from happening and criminal proceedings can and most likely will begin although it will take years to settle all the cases.


So what can be done for the game?
1) Lift the anti-trust exemption to begin with. This then gives at least some ability to monitor/regulate the way the game is run.
2) Force out Selig. No if's, no ands and no buts. He was selected to go along with the "owners best interests" and not the best interests of the game. That is what the job is for, dam it!
3) Install a strong, baseball loving and knowledgeable Commish that has the power and authority to tell the owners how to operate as a group. Give this Commish veto power over any individual owner's activities.
4) Establish a Commission or House of Representatives of Joe Average baseball fans to act as a support body for the office of the Commish. Let them act as the point of contact for the millions of loyal fans around the world. Give them a direct line of communications to the office of the Commish.
5) Force the owners to reveal all of their accounting methods and records. Do you know that right now the only reason most teams show a loss on the books is because the owners to not include any assests owned by the team? This includes stadiums, buildings, training sites, players etc... Excuse me????
The owners continued free spending only reinforces the belief that we are being lied to.


Well that's my take at least. Hope it didn't come on to strong for any of you but I have strong feelings on the subject, as you might be able to tell. The Game is at stake and I love the Game. It is America's past, present and perhaps future all rolled up into our very own field of dreams. Our country was founded on dreams and this is one dream I'm not about to give up without a fight.:uzi:

[usc2002]

I wish el cheapo AOL Time Warner would start blowing money so the Braves could buy themselves another World Series...

[KingFish]

Profits my son, it all comes down to profit. If they thought they could make money the investment would be there ala Sheffield.:freak:

[Trots]

Good points all the way around, gang. Allow me to add my two cents. First the Ishii deal. I really don't care if he comes or not. If he wants to play here, he will. If not, he can stay in Japan. I agree with KingFish, I am dubious about Ishii's value. The Dodgers would have been better off giving Sheffield the cash.

As for the business analogies, I won't even pretend to understand economics, but what if MLB went the same way as Enron? Or died a slower death, ala KMart? What harm would be done? No, really. Think about it.

If MLB fell over from it's own weight/stupidity/greed what would we lose? We'd lose the greedy, moronic, double-talking owners we are presently saddled with. We'd have to survive without Bud Selig, too. Sure we might lose the history associated with team names like Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers, but something tells me we would still have the game.

There are just too many of us baseball geeks left in the world for the game to go away. While baseball's popularity continues it's decline in the US, it gains in Latin America, Asia and other places around the globe. I have to believe in this global marketplace somebody would start up a new league pretty quickly after MLB collapsed.

There is still a large market for the sport, albeit smaller and less passionate here than fifty years ago, and we have a seemingly endless source of labor and lots of new stadiums that would be left empty if MLB crumbled. Somebody would start a new league, with some new rules (especially in regards to the draft and probably salary structure) and we would all follow along.

While we all lament the condition of baseball at the start of this century, we should remember that people did the same thing at the start of the previous century, as well. Players were viewed then as overpaid whiners, just as they are today. The AL was just getting off the ground, McGraw wouldn't even let the Giants play against them, and Commissioner Ban Johnson owned a piece of nearly every team in the league. (There is a great story of how Johnson, annoyed with an owner, sold the guy's team away from him while he was on vacation in Europe. He got a telegram from Johnson basically saying "you're fired".) Yet, somehow, in spite of it all, the game made it to today.

I'd love to see the equity (without the government intervention) most of you passionately desire, but I just don't think it's going to happen. After all, since the beginning of organized baseball, its ALWAYS been about profits. The only differences between 2002 and 1902 is that the numbers are bigger, the players get more of the money and we know more about the "business" of the game than our grandfathers or great-grandfathers did.

I've said this here about twenty times, but I love the game lots more than I love MLB. If the owners of MLB can't figure out how to run their business properly, it will go the same way as Montgomery Ward, the Edsel, and Enron. Maybe, just maybe, the "game" would be better off.

[KingFish]

Great take. A real eye opener. Gotta love it and appreciated every word. Not to sure about the fans just following along meekly after a potential collapse of the ML but you may have a very valid point. Thanks a million for the astute comments! :thumbsup:

[Trots]

Thanks, KF. However, I should clear up one point. I didn't mean to imply that we would follow baseball blindly along. After all, we wouldn't exactly adjust to an entirely new league overnight. One hundred plus years of tradition wouldn't go away easily.

I just meant that most of us diehards would watch baseball at its highest level regardless of what it was called. If I can go watch high school, college and minor league games, the odds are I'd watch a new pro league, too. Especially, if it was the only game in town.

[KingFish]

Unfortunately baseball isn't the only game in town for a lot of fans. It sounds like you and I would be there to pick up the pieces but what about the younger generation? They would not have the history, the memories to fall back on. They would not have the sometimes emotional involvement that we do. What then happens to the Game? Dark times certainly but I would hope/pray that it could rise up from the ashes, dust itself off and steal home on the next pitch. :angel2:

[Trots]

I fear that the younger generation is already alienated from our National Pastime. Their disassociation was created from their parents open disgust of the game they grew up with. Frankly, I think there is a strong possibility that a new league might appeal to the next generation and might even, if perceived as more equitable, bring back some of our lost older fans, as well.

Fish, since we are discussing the state of the game, do you believe that baseball is held to a higher standard than the other major professional sports? It's a theory I'm starting to buy into. For some reason, perhaps just paranoia, I feel like MLB gets hammered on more frequently than any other sport and I wonder why?

All leagues have criminals, over-paid performers, labor disputes, egomaniacs, stupid rules and the like, but there seems to be much more venom aimed at baseball and I'm starting to wonder if that is because we (fans and media) expect so much more from baseball than we do the other sports? Is it because of the game's history or the closer nature of the game? (As an example, football players seem to be little more than uniform numbers to most fans.) What do you think?

[GiveHyzduashot]

Excellent thread ...

MLB is hammered more often because they have an inept commissioner, have no will to support the lesser teams, give outrageous contracts, have a draft that hurts the worst teams, and don't provide an equal playing field for all involved.

Look at the NBA, NFL, and NHL. They all have a commissioner who really cares about the game. You have to question how much Bud cares about baseball.

In the NBA, NFL, and NHL, there's a salary cap, so consequently, no $25 million dollar contracts are given. In fact, in the NBA, there is a maximum amount a player can receive. In the NHL and NFL, you can pay out as large as a contract as you wish as long as you're under the cap and can field a team. In baseball, teams have an unlimited cap.

MLB is the ONLY sport where the worst team cannot select the best player. Look at the Twins taking Maurer while the Rangers and Cubs chose Teixeria and Prior respectively; the Twins taking Maurer is a direct result of a lousy draft system. Maurer would want less money, so that's who the Twins took. There's no doubt if there was a cap on how much a player gets, the Twins would have taken Teixeria or Prior. They were the best players in the draft, yet the worst teams didn't get them. Also, what other sport is out there where it's two years before the worst team has the number one pick? Look at the Cubs, there's no way they should have had the number three pick. The draft rankings should be based on the prior season. MLB also is the only sport where a player is not forced to sign with the team or sit out a year. Look at what J.D. Drew did. Did that help the lesser teams? It's ridiculous college baseball players can have an agent in their junior year, but still retain eligibility. In every other sport, if you sign with an agent you forfeit any eligibility. Also, it's not right the Pirates (and all teams, I chose the Pirates because I am most familiar with the situation) lost their rights to Jeremy Guthrie, a pitcher at Stanford who didn't sign with the team and went back to school. They should have his rights until he turns pro or enters the draft again. They should have a six month period to sign him, then let him choose to go back to school or play independent ball for a year.

MLB is also the only sport where you know there's only 10 teams at best who can compete, with one surprise team each year. That turns fans off. What's the point in following baseball when you can pick it up at September and not miss a beat? In the NFL, it is extremely rare for a team to be dominant two years in a row. In MLB, it is extremely rare for a team to be dominant for less than two years in a row.

The MLB is slammed the most, and rightfully so. Their system, frankly, stinks. It does nothing but appeal to the higher teams.

Alright, enough of my rant. If only MLB could be run by the fans instead of greedy owners. :)

[KingFish]

Good points all around but i have a bit of a different take on it.

Baseball has been up until the recent past, the "Heart of America". It is/was argued over, applauded, cheered, booed and worshiped much as a religion and it was our game. Yes, Baskeball and Football have come along as our games also but Baseball was there and in strength from the beginning. Through the best of times and the worst of times. World Wars, financial disasters, The Black Sox scandal, assinations and political woes never stopped the beat of that heart. It lived on and became the pillar that Americans could lean theirs sometimes weary and sometimes tear stained shoulders upon.

The game became engrained in our culture over the decades. Generation after generation produced new legions of fans to take up the flaming torch that the game so inspired. Entire blocks, burroughs, neighborhoods and cities across the land followed each and every move of their teams and home town heros. Baseball provided the biggest, best and most entertaining hero's to be had during it's day. Our past shared national hero's, like the Babe and the rest laid the foundation for the game that, for the better part of the last six decades, was the one place all Americans could retreat to in times of strife and discord. All creeds and colors eventually took part in what was truly a national past time. Note that I say was, as in the past tense.

Although, did anyone out there besides me see through all the media hype and get the feeling that after 9-11 the country really needed Baseball to be the game we all knew it could be? It was more than the hype. Almost genetic in nature was the feeling I perceived. Perhaps that is due in part to my bias towards loving the game. I personally know several folks that hadn't watched/attended a game in years come into work the next day after the first post 9-11 game and it was all they could talk about. The feeling is still there. The heart has not stopped.

Today the diversity in sport and the busines of sport has for the most part knocked baseball clear out of the limelight except during some brief flickering moments. All the while leaving behind a cadre of knowledgeable fans that thirst for the game but detest the day to day baloney that it is now served with. What used to be caviar is now not much more than fish eggs. I guess we the fans may be partly to blame. Can you love something to much? I guess our business leaders and politicians deserve their share of blame to but most of all I place the blame where it belongs. I just cannot bring myself to point any blame towards the players themselves. Baseball owners and Baseball's leadership now have the game in a position where it just may fail under it's own heavy load. Of course that has been said before but you know what? Not in my lifetime and I've been with this for some 50 years. I guess that is because I was born on the sixth of October and upset my mom something terrible because she missed the Series game that day.

Does the game get hammered for it's weaknesses and transgressions? Even more than other sports? I think the answer is yes on both counts and I believe it is because Baseball has for so long, been so important, for so many Americans. It may not be the most popular of games now as the youth of America partakes of it's sweet nectar less and less but it is still the most important game. It is still the heartbeat of the country. Yes it skips a beat every now and then just llike my old ticker has started doing lately but so far it hasn't stopped. Life support may be in the near future for the game unless the current debate over the labor agreement can be resolved. If not, a transplant may be needed.

Do I want government to take over the game? Not really but who else will have the power to force the owners to change? I'd love to think the fans could but the game draws us like moths to a burning lamp on a steamy summer night. Even if Joe Average fan and his family can no longer attend games, the corporations are already addressing that. Notice how when you attend a game today that so many seats are occupied by business groups? At Dodger Stadium it is a big to do and they flash every group up on the big diamond vision screen. There are thousands of them at times. Bought and paid for by business as perks and not for poor Joe Average fan. The only other way I can think of that would force a change to the system now would be a major financial crisis. I mean a Wall Street collapse or multiple Enrons' going off at the same time event. Something so major that Americans across the board would be suffering big time because of it. Corporate money for frivilous expenses would dry up and the owners would loose the ability to sell their tickets to other business enities and then what? Weak teams would fail, ticket prices would have to be adjusted downward and the players will have to accept lower pay if for no other reason than they would be considered by fans to be no more than a cancer feeding off of the misery of the rest of the land. Not a pretty picture that much is for certain.

I guess we should all be thankful that it hasn't come to that but eventually it just may and you know what? I think the game will still be there in one form or the other for us to lean on when we will need it most. That may change in the future and that would be a tragic loss. Life is full of change, it would get real boring if it wasn't. I guess we'll all have to see how this will plays out in the long run, won't we?

I want to thank Trots and the rest of you guys for making this a most interesting thread. Reminds me of another site where titans clashed. At least it's still for the game we love.

[Baseball Guru]

Again, just a phenominal thread that hits so many points....
Karl, your last thread from which you said "Through the best of times and the worst of times. World Wars, financial disasters, The Black Sox scandal, assinations and political woes never stopped the beat of that heart. It lived on and became the pillar that Americans could lean theirs sometimes weary and sometimes tear stained shoulders upon" reminds me so much of the line that Terence Mann from Field of Dreams had said which I beleive to be so true.....

Terence Mann: "People will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door, innocent as children, longing for the past.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again."

Now maybe I am one of those people that love the game too much as I believe Karl had stated or maybe I am one of those few baseball geeks like Trots has suggestest there are left in the world, but you know what?? I really don't care.....This is my game and the game I love and the game I hope my kid will love when he grows up and nothing can ever take that away....
I totally agree with Trots with the thinking that yes I love baseball the sport not MLB....If for some reason MLB were to just "go away" I would follow anther "major league" in which they surely would recreate....Do I hope it gets to that point?? NO!!! MLB has so much history helps fuel my passion for the game and it would be a shame to lose that...But if worse comes to worse, I will follow whatever league they were to throw out there.....
Karl, to answer your question about the 9-11 tragedy, yes I saw thru all that, but maybe it was just because I was a baseball fan....I will admit, the playing of the National anthems and flag waiving brought tears to my eyes every time....
Heck, who who did get teary eyed when Mike Piazza hit a HR late in the game to beat the Braves in the first game in NY after the tragedy??? See baseball is about heroes, it always has been and it seems that someone, or some team will always come thru when we as people need it most.....
After this tragedy what did we see happen???
Well we saw Rickey break records, we saw Bonds become immortal and we saw possibly the greatest World Series any of us has ever seen??? Did we not all need to see these things to help ease our pain?? Even the casual fan had to get wrapped up in another HR chase and anyone who saw that WS should have become an instant fan if they were not so already.....
Maybe I am just looking at this thru baseball colored eyes but these are things that I believe in my heart to be true.....
I don't believe there is a greater game in the world!!
Now don't get me wrong, I totaly agree with Josh's post about MLB probably being the only major sport which our commish doesn't seem to care enough and salaries are escalating to ridiculous amounts but where else can you take your whole family for about $30-$40 bucks??
Hell in the NFL, NBA and NHL-$30-$40 gets you a decent ticket....The prices at those games are ridiculous and while prices have gone up at baseball games, economically it is still the best game in town.....In Tampa, I can take my whole family which is only 3 of us for $54 for very, very good seats....$18 a ticket.....If I wanted the same kind of seats for hockey I would have about $40 a ticket.....Prices are going up everywhere and that is just the economy.....Heck, some places youpay $9 for a stinkin movie ticket!! Heck on half price Mondays at the Trop I can pay $9 to see a baseball game.....My son that is 2 1/2 has been to about 20 games, Spring training and regular season games....How many NHL, NBA or NFL games has he been to??? None!! To pricey and I am also one of those dads that while I hope he likes all sports, I hope he LOVES baseball and so far he does.....
Again, I know what all of you are saying and I agree with just about every point, but I also want to defend our game a little as well...While there are many things that are wrong with the game, there are a few good things that come out of it as well.....
I just want to be able to LOVE the game again and not have to worry about all the economical BS that goes along with it.....As a diehard fan I feel that I should NOT have to worry about those kind of things and just worry about the simple things like "is my team going to win tonight?" Or "Boy I hope Leiter pitches a good game tonight."
After all shouldn't it just be about that????

[KingFish]

Truly another great post in a thread that deserves high marks! around. :biggrin:

[Baseball Guru]

I do truely believe that this is one of, if not the BEST "BASEBALL" thread ever at this site....
At the bottom of the thread you can "rate the thread"...I did, giving it a 5-Best:biggrin:

[GiveHyzduashot]

Your point about baseball being cheap for the family is a good point, James.

I have gone to exactly one NHL game, three NFL games, and one NBA game. The price just to get in is outrageous. When I went to my only NHL game, I paid $40 and had the worst seats in the arena. Now a rinkside seat is $200. The worst are about $60, unless you are in some type of faimly plan. You won't find me at any NHL games. At the hockey game, I won't forget walking into the gift shop and seeing a $20 price tag on a stinking cup, and $200 for a jersey. The NFL games were reasonable ... $40 for good seats. And I'd pay $45 to see MJ any time. Not a problem there ...

However James, baseball would go bankrupt if they charged the price of admission other sports do. If they even APPROACH $40 for a mediocre seat, I won't go to more than one game a year. Right now I go to 5 MLB games on average. The closest professional team to my house stinks, no way I pay outrageous money to see lousy baseball. If it comes down to it, I'll spend the $8, take the 10 minute drive, and watch AA baseball from right behind the dugout.

[Baseball Guru]

Ishii in town; deal more likely

By Brian Dohn
Staff Writer

The Dodgers and Japanese lefty Kazuhisa Ishii are no longer so far apart all of a sudden -- in more ways than one.
Ishii and his agent, Joe Urbon, spontaneously flew to Los Angeles in an apparent attempt to bridge the large gap in negotiations.

The Dodgers believe such a move means a deal is probable before Friday's 9 p.m. deadline, though the sides remained far apart late into the night.

That was only one of two surprises for the Dodgers during the day. Shortly after Urbon alerted the Dodgers of his plans, the Angels signed closer Troy Percival to a two-year, $16 million contract extension. Percival was the Dodgers' top target for closer.

However, sources said Percival's extension includes only a partial no-trade clause, and the Dodgers are not on the block list. Therefore, the Dodgers still plan to pursue a trade for Percival, sources said, and he might be even more attractive because he's under contract through 2004.

But before the Dodgers trade for a closer, they want to sign Ishii. The Dodgers' latest offer was three years for slightly more than $8 million; Urbon was seeking a three-year, $13 million deal, sources said.

Urbon met with Ishii at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles. One of the topics to be discussed was whether Ishii would take less guaranteed money from L.A. than he could get from the Yakult Swallows.

Urbon planned to talk with Dodgers assistant general manager Kim Ng.

"I'm encouraged that (Ishii) is here, but in no way did the Dodgers bring him out here," Evans said. "He came here on his own."

That Ishii is in Los Angeles means an enormous hurdle was cleared. Rather than fly him in for a physical after reaching an agreement, Ishii would be ready if a deal is reached.

[KingFish]

Sorry but I'm still not sold on him being the guy they should be going after. Starting pitching is not the critical problem. Closer is and the Dodgers would be better served focusing their efforts in that area and than to worry about Ishii. He is the one that drug this out. Let him sit and sweat for a while now. Sucker deserves it. The Dodgers made a huge financial committment for the rights to talk to him and now he wants to twist them dry? Just how bad does he want to play in the big show anyway or is it just the money again? I've had quite enough of that shallow self-serving BS to last a lifetime. So he wants to talk now? Give me a dying break. He and his thick headed greedy ass agent should have thought about that a lot earlier. I do not want to sound like I'm going off on some pre-loss sour grapes tangent but he can BITE ME! That is exactly what the Dodgers would have done in the past although O'Malley would have course stated it in his more politically correct phrasing.

The fact that the Angels were able to sign Troy to a decent enough long term contract makes him even more attractive but likely he will not be any cheaper. Deal to get him now is what I say! I think the Dodgers management may be making a bad move otherwise. And I'm the Dodger fan that thought dealing Sheff away wasn't such a bad move. Who would of thunk it?:angry:

[Baseball Guru]

Bumping one of the best threads ever at this site!!

[KingFish]

So this good ol post is still alive and kickin?
Well I'll be, there may be some hope for the game yet.
Anyway, I know it has been way to long but I am back.
Had more than a few minor medical problems that medical technology has overcome, i.e. pacemaker installed and heart beating away. Now if only my roto team could climb outta second place I think I'd be lovin' life even more. I'll stop by from time to time. Later guys:clap2:

[Baseball Guru]

Holy crap!!:yikes:


Its like deja vu all over agian...

I bring up a thread from the dead and from the dead comes our hero Karl--AKA:King Fish!!

A classic poster indeed and one of the best I have ever had the pleasure to deal with...

For you's that don't know him, he is as good as they come as he is from the ol' Sleeper Picks days!!!

Welcome back Karl and glad to see your still a kickin!!:clap2:

[KingFish]

:sun:
Ah jeez, now I'm a blushing!