bradyjames12001
07-11-2004, 01:57 PM
Hello friends! I am a new guy on the board and I want to become a sportswriter, so i want you guys to read my paper that I wrote a week ago and tell me your honest to god opinion about it. Dont hold anything back. Bring it all to me.
At the All Star Break, and soon after that, people start separating the contenders from the pretenders. One of these teams cant hit worth a crap, their bullpen is a mess, and the rest of the rotation is a mess to big to clean up. I am talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks. My friends, this is a travesty of a team. A team that I picked to win the NL West, is now sitting in last place with the worst record in baseball. That’s right, you heard me. THE WORST RECORD IN BASEBALL!!!!!!! I guess all that spending finally caught up to them. Sooner or later, I knew this would happen. After 2002, that’s when I knew. Before this season, I made some picks on who would win their divisions. Only one has been right (Philadelphia). Every other division, wrong. This has been a tough season for me to fathom. Some say you can’t predict anything. Right now, they are right. I predicted for the Diamondbacks that they would win the NL West, Randy Johnson would come back to form, and Matt Mantei would finally have a productive full season. So far, only one prediction has been right. I think you can guess the right one.
Yes, Randy Johnson has been back to old form, winning 9 games with a 3.04 ERA and 129 Strikeouts. Add the perfecto and the 4,000th Strikeout to that list and you think you have a pretty good team, right? Wrong. The hitting has been horrible, the pitching terrible, the bullpen, well, I have no words to say about that that hasn’t already been said, and the defense, oh the defense! You might as well call it the efense, because there is no D! Look at the starters behind Randy and you see why. Brandon Webb, respectable 3.82 ERA, the record: a dismal 3-8. Casey Fossum, 5.68 ERA, record: 2-6. Don’t forget the six other starters that they have used because of injury or performance, either. Add those people in and yes, oh yes, you quite possibly have the worst starting staff in the majors, saved by who else, Randy. Look at the defense, and you see why they give up runs. I am talking specifically about third baseman Chad Tracy and shortstop Alex Cintron. Before this season, I hailed Alex as the poor man’s Miguel Tejada. I said he would hit 20 homers and drive in at least 80, if not more. I said he would hit .300. I guess I was wrong. Why, you ask? Well, if you have watched, you have seen countless groundout after groundout by Cintron. He is hitting .240 with 21 RBI and 1 home run. That’s what I get, I suppose. But Tracy? He wasn’t even in the big leagues at the start of this season. I can most definitely say that he is impressive offensively. As for his defense, well, that’s another story. I think you know where I am going with this. If you cant handle two grounders in a row, Alex Cintron, then you don’t deserve to be here.
Unfortunately, all the blame has to circulate around someone. That someone is Bob Brenly. Finally, after all the speculation about his future with the Diamondbacks, Jerry Colangelo ended Brenly’s tenure with the organization by firing him on Friday. Quite frankly, that is a shame, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I hope Bob can find a job soon enough, and although it looks kind of early, I am saying that he will have a job again by 2006. That job? Manager of the San Francisco Giants. His replacement is a guy by the name of Al Pedrique. Pedrique is the former manager of the D-Backs Triple-A affiliate, and from what I have heard, he is a players manager. All I can say is, oh no. No disrespect, but I hope that he is only an interim manager and not a long term manager because if he is, it doesn’t bode well for the future of this franchise.
After the shopping spree between 1998 and 1999, one that brought the Diamondbacks stars like Randy and Steve Finley, and a trade that brought us Gonzo, it became clear that the Diamondbacks were committed to the short term and not the long term. That short term was a sweet one at that, giving the city it’s first major sports title in 2001. After the D-Backs 98-64 2002, one that saw the Terrible Twosome (Randy and Curt) win 47 games together, it was expected that the D-Backs would contend in 2003. It never happened. All the injuries, including Randy’s knee and Curt’s appendix, really hurt us, and we never recovered from that terrible start. But we had hope in players that the fans called “The Baby Backs.” With those Baby Backs, we won 12 games in a row, and it seemed that we were still very much in the hunt for the NL West. It never materialized, and Arizona finished 84-78, 11 games back in the West.
We still had hope, but almost all of it was lost when the D-Backs traded Curt away to the Red Sox. The best guy we get out of this? Casey Fossum. CASEY FOSSUM!!!!! CASEY FREAKIN FOSSUM!!!!! In my opinion, we got hosed. We also got hosed again in December when we traded six players to the Brew Crew for Richie Sexson. One of those players we never should have let go is now figuring prominently in the Brewers success. No, it is not Craig Counsell or Junior Spivey. No, that guy is Lyle Overbay. We sent him down last year when he was batting .272. HE WAS BATTING .272, JOE!!!!! WHY DID YOU SEND HIM DOWN???? As a matter of fact, why did you trade him in the first place, Joe? He could have been a prominent pinch hitter. Well, you did not want to have competition for Richie when he got here, and I know that. But you never thought that Richie would go down, and Lyle would go up, up, uppity up. While Richie is gone for the rest of the season, Lyle Overbay is tearing it up in Beerville, hitting .336 with 8 home runs and 52 RBI. That puts him on pace for over 100 RBI. 100 RBI that we so desperately need right now.
I cant complain about the past, because I cant change it. But I can darn well complain about the future. The future doesn’t look so good for these D-Backs. Can you say, fire sale? I thought you could. Although Colangelo maintains that there will be no fire sale, I say it’s going to happen. First guy to go is Finley. Then Gonzo. Then Robby Alomar. Then the icing on the cake is Randy. All we are going to get for these guys are trash. Trash that we got for Curt Schilling, we are going to get worse for these guys. When it is all said and done, when the dust is settled, there will be no turning back. Richie Sexson has said all along that he wanted to play for a contender. After this fire sale of epic proportions, all he is going to play for is another version of the Milwaukee Brewers. I guarantee that. Meanwhile, all the Brewers will be doing is going up. I wonder how much Richie misses Milwaukee now.
It will get progressively worse as the years go on, players coming, players going, players staying, but I still hold out hope for the future. Hope that this Diamondback team will somehow, someway, make people shake their heads yes instead of no. Hope that Alex Cintron doesn’t bobble another grounder. Hope that Chad Tracy doesn’t throw the ball into the dugout or the camera well. Hope that someday, somehow, the Diamondbacks will contend again. Right now, all we can do is hope and pray. We can hope that someday, Joe Garagiola Jr. will get canned. For he, not Bob Brenly, created this mess. He started in 1999, and someday, he will be stopped. Stopped from crapping out our entire farm system. Stopped from firing an undeserving manager. Stopped forever. Meanwhile, I give you my candidate for the managerial job after this year. He has led his teams to three NLCS in 6 years, and he may be old, but old is how it’s done these days. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give to you, Jim Leyland. Look over his track record, Joe, then call him after this year. I assure you he will consider.
At the All Star Break, and soon after that, people start separating the contenders from the pretenders. One of these teams cant hit worth a crap, their bullpen is a mess, and the rest of the rotation is a mess to big to clean up. I am talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks. My friends, this is a travesty of a team. A team that I picked to win the NL West, is now sitting in last place with the worst record in baseball. That’s right, you heard me. THE WORST RECORD IN BASEBALL!!!!!!! I guess all that spending finally caught up to them. Sooner or later, I knew this would happen. After 2002, that’s when I knew. Before this season, I made some picks on who would win their divisions. Only one has been right (Philadelphia). Every other division, wrong. This has been a tough season for me to fathom. Some say you can’t predict anything. Right now, they are right. I predicted for the Diamondbacks that they would win the NL West, Randy Johnson would come back to form, and Matt Mantei would finally have a productive full season. So far, only one prediction has been right. I think you can guess the right one.
Yes, Randy Johnson has been back to old form, winning 9 games with a 3.04 ERA and 129 Strikeouts. Add the perfecto and the 4,000th Strikeout to that list and you think you have a pretty good team, right? Wrong. The hitting has been horrible, the pitching terrible, the bullpen, well, I have no words to say about that that hasn’t already been said, and the defense, oh the defense! You might as well call it the efense, because there is no D! Look at the starters behind Randy and you see why. Brandon Webb, respectable 3.82 ERA, the record: a dismal 3-8. Casey Fossum, 5.68 ERA, record: 2-6. Don’t forget the six other starters that they have used because of injury or performance, either. Add those people in and yes, oh yes, you quite possibly have the worst starting staff in the majors, saved by who else, Randy. Look at the defense, and you see why they give up runs. I am talking specifically about third baseman Chad Tracy and shortstop Alex Cintron. Before this season, I hailed Alex as the poor man’s Miguel Tejada. I said he would hit 20 homers and drive in at least 80, if not more. I said he would hit .300. I guess I was wrong. Why, you ask? Well, if you have watched, you have seen countless groundout after groundout by Cintron. He is hitting .240 with 21 RBI and 1 home run. That’s what I get, I suppose. But Tracy? He wasn’t even in the big leagues at the start of this season. I can most definitely say that he is impressive offensively. As for his defense, well, that’s another story. I think you know where I am going with this. If you cant handle two grounders in a row, Alex Cintron, then you don’t deserve to be here.
Unfortunately, all the blame has to circulate around someone. That someone is Bob Brenly. Finally, after all the speculation about his future with the Diamondbacks, Jerry Colangelo ended Brenly’s tenure with the organization by firing him on Friday. Quite frankly, that is a shame, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I hope Bob can find a job soon enough, and although it looks kind of early, I am saying that he will have a job again by 2006. That job? Manager of the San Francisco Giants. His replacement is a guy by the name of Al Pedrique. Pedrique is the former manager of the D-Backs Triple-A affiliate, and from what I have heard, he is a players manager. All I can say is, oh no. No disrespect, but I hope that he is only an interim manager and not a long term manager because if he is, it doesn’t bode well for the future of this franchise.
After the shopping spree between 1998 and 1999, one that brought the Diamondbacks stars like Randy and Steve Finley, and a trade that brought us Gonzo, it became clear that the Diamondbacks were committed to the short term and not the long term. That short term was a sweet one at that, giving the city it’s first major sports title in 2001. After the D-Backs 98-64 2002, one that saw the Terrible Twosome (Randy and Curt) win 47 games together, it was expected that the D-Backs would contend in 2003. It never happened. All the injuries, including Randy’s knee and Curt’s appendix, really hurt us, and we never recovered from that terrible start. But we had hope in players that the fans called “The Baby Backs.” With those Baby Backs, we won 12 games in a row, and it seemed that we were still very much in the hunt for the NL West. It never materialized, and Arizona finished 84-78, 11 games back in the West.
We still had hope, but almost all of it was lost when the D-Backs traded Curt away to the Red Sox. The best guy we get out of this? Casey Fossum. CASEY FOSSUM!!!!! CASEY FREAKIN FOSSUM!!!!! In my opinion, we got hosed. We also got hosed again in December when we traded six players to the Brew Crew for Richie Sexson. One of those players we never should have let go is now figuring prominently in the Brewers success. No, it is not Craig Counsell or Junior Spivey. No, that guy is Lyle Overbay. We sent him down last year when he was batting .272. HE WAS BATTING .272, JOE!!!!! WHY DID YOU SEND HIM DOWN???? As a matter of fact, why did you trade him in the first place, Joe? He could have been a prominent pinch hitter. Well, you did not want to have competition for Richie when he got here, and I know that. But you never thought that Richie would go down, and Lyle would go up, up, uppity up. While Richie is gone for the rest of the season, Lyle Overbay is tearing it up in Beerville, hitting .336 with 8 home runs and 52 RBI. That puts him on pace for over 100 RBI. 100 RBI that we so desperately need right now.
I cant complain about the past, because I cant change it. But I can darn well complain about the future. The future doesn’t look so good for these D-Backs. Can you say, fire sale? I thought you could. Although Colangelo maintains that there will be no fire sale, I say it’s going to happen. First guy to go is Finley. Then Gonzo. Then Robby Alomar. Then the icing on the cake is Randy. All we are going to get for these guys are trash. Trash that we got for Curt Schilling, we are going to get worse for these guys. When it is all said and done, when the dust is settled, there will be no turning back. Richie Sexson has said all along that he wanted to play for a contender. After this fire sale of epic proportions, all he is going to play for is another version of the Milwaukee Brewers. I guarantee that. Meanwhile, all the Brewers will be doing is going up. I wonder how much Richie misses Milwaukee now.
It will get progressively worse as the years go on, players coming, players going, players staying, but I still hold out hope for the future. Hope that this Diamondback team will somehow, someway, make people shake their heads yes instead of no. Hope that Alex Cintron doesn’t bobble another grounder. Hope that Chad Tracy doesn’t throw the ball into the dugout or the camera well. Hope that someday, somehow, the Diamondbacks will contend again. Right now, all we can do is hope and pray. We can hope that someday, Joe Garagiola Jr. will get canned. For he, not Bob Brenly, created this mess. He started in 1999, and someday, he will be stopped. Stopped from crapping out our entire farm system. Stopped from firing an undeserving manager. Stopped forever. Meanwhile, I give you my candidate for the managerial job after this year. He has led his teams to three NLCS in 6 years, and he may be old, but old is how it’s done these days. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give to you, Jim Leyland. Look over his track record, Joe, then call him after this year. I assure you he will consider.