I was sent the following by a friend, who might start posting here regularly if we can come up with a suitable nom de guerre:
I was pleasantly surprised by the signing. I held my breath when I heard it because I was fearful that the $$ would be stupid. I really like having the third year option contingent on incentives being met.
When I occasionally go over to Viva El Birdos I usually find myself nodding in general agreement with lboros. Tonight I think he's off the reservation with his opportunity cost criticism. I really don't know WTF he is talking about:bad idea imho, for reasons explained here. the $13m guarantee is not the issue; in this market, that's not such a terrible bet to place. the big problem with this signing is the opportunity cost. mulder, when he returns, will take starts/innings away from other pitchers who might well be better than he is. he also further muddies an already murky rotation picture. we won't know for 6 to 7 months whether he is capable of helping the team this year --- but until that question is answered, the team will probably scale down its pursuit of other rotation help. if they do in fact wait for mulder to come around, the delay could be very costly in the win column.
This is nonsensical. Our rotation is Carpenter, Reyes, Wainright, Wells and Looper/Thompson/Franklin. What are the odds that this lot of losers, reatreads and unprovens are going to simultaneously become the 1971 Orioles staff?!?!? That all of these guys are going to be pitching so well that inserting Mulder into the rotation is going to hurt us? I for one hope La Russa has that tough call to make. Am I the only one who does NOT see it as a problem for the Cards if Mulder is ready to pitch in June and our rotation is so crowded with Cy Young candidates that someone is going to lose innings. In fact, if they are all pitching so well, I'm happy to have
Mulder's salary sitting on the fucking bench and throwing batting practice. Pitching is like pussy. There is no such thing as too much of it operating at peak performance levels. I don't ever want lboros as my wingman in a bar.
lboros: Hey, what are you up to later tonight?
Me: I'm heading home to unwrap my Christmas gift. The wife arranged for me to have a four-way with Penelope Cruz, Halle Berry and Salma Hayek and they just arrived.
lboros: I wouldn't do that. You only have one dick. What if they still want to fuck and you can't get it up anymore after the seventh time? Lemme buy you another beer.
An abundance of good pitching addresses his final question of trades. If we have arms that are throwing well, they're valuable. It's the perfect chance for a three-way deal where we send a guy like Wells and a strong bullpen arm or a good minor league prospect to a team that has something the White Sox want and they send up Beurhle for the pennant stretch. As lboros points out, the dollars are not big and I can't see them as prohibitive for the Cards signing someone else.
And besides, if the arms are firing that well and we're not running away with the division, I have a feeling it means our outfield is a lot like my starlet-laden bed of my fantasies, there are a lot of gaps that desperately need filling. It's always easier to get a bat than a good arm so we'd be in a strong trading position in that direction as well.
And finally, his comment about this further muddying an already murky rotation is like arguing that one more Molotov cocktail in Baghdad is going to make the place more violent. Our rotation isn't murky. It's a wing and a prayer....
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