You Don't Know What Cool Is....

So I decided I was going to try and spend somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour writing about various things--either blogging or indulging my own creative desire to actually crank out a novel; yes I'm sure you care--so I'll admit that my heart isn't totally in a Roger Clemens post.

But that being said, the guy is kind of a money grubbing d-bag, no? I mean, yes, he's easily one of the five greatest pitchers of all time right; if you want to argue that I'll just concede and say five greatest right handers of all time, and then you'll lose, so don't bother. But still. How many times can you dogpile various teams that you plead allegiance to before it just becomes blatantly obvious that you're only in this for the money. Which I suppose is what makes him and Bonds, despite the fact that they are the greatest pitcher/hitter of our/their/this generation of baseball, so damn hate-able. And easily hate-able at that. Clemens is vastly more popular than Bonds (if only right now because there are so many freaking band wagon Yankees baseball fans) but personally I can't stand the guy.

Matt Snyder, a.k.a. Show got in a little cross-comment-board, light verbal sparrage about who was in the wrong with the overspending of money in baseball. Besides the fact that I disagree with him on this one, I'm really just whoring out his link here but also pointing out that I don't really care one way or the other how much the Yankees attempt to spend/spend on their team payroll in their sad chase for the next World Series title; desperation is a stinky cologne my friends.

What I do care about is that they continue to bring together the worst group of d-bags ever imaginable. I mean, we're talking about a team where the now-mellow Don Mattingly at hitting coach is actually the only guy I like on the whole damn team. I was feeling for A-Rod and all the unnecessary media hype he got pegged with...until I saw him skipping rope around first and whiffing high fives on walk off celebrations. That and he's off the hook until September so I'm over it. But Clemens? Nah. He's just obnoxious at this point.

Yes we get it. You "train" so hard that you don't need the whole off season to prepare. You're body is in such "great shape" that you can just take two or three weeks to fire up the ole "weightroom" and be ready to pitch against the AL East. P.R.A.B.S. For the record, I don't think he will be that good this year--people talk about the offense getting him wins but what about the bullpen giving those right back? I'm thinking good K's, low IP, 7-10 wins and (I'm going topshelf on this one) a 4.20 ERA. He can cough up 4-5 earned runs in six innings and easily get a dubya with that lineup behind him. Assuming the bullpen holds up at all anyway.

All I'm trying to get across is that if this keeps going every year Rocket is going to get more played out than 24 (I really can't believe I just wrote that); he's making way too much money for the amount of time that he's actually putting in with the team and the whole attempt to act like he's doing this because he's either 1) a true Yankee, 2) Gyllenhals on Pettitte or 3) feels like he owes New York, well, I'm just not buying it. He wants 10-15 million dollars tacked onto his bank account. I think he knew damn well he would've gotten a mixed reception in Boston--if he hadn't been perfect those fans would have gone at his throat with him leaving for four out of five days--and Houston isn't going anywhere. Not with the Cubs and Brewers in that division. WOO capitalism and whatnot, but I think it just sucks when we have two "legends" sullying the quality of our national pastime. As I noted in the Josh Hamilton post below, we just don't have much in the way of heroes these days.


Some other baseball (fantasy and otherwise) notes of interest:
Rafael Soriano is absolutely filthy. Mike Gonzalez is great but if Wickman is gone for a long time, than I say Soriano gets the closer gig. I know Gonzo closed for the Bucs last year but I think Bobby would go with the righty if he absolutely had to make a choice.

I'm going to find the damn link where I called Brewers to win the N.L. Central, Braves to win the N.L. East and Cole Hamels to win the NL Cy Young. None of the three are out of the question. I know, laugh about Hamels, but I don't care. Kid is absolutely filthy and he's only going to get better (unlike Rich Hill who just can't keep up what he's doing, despite my man love for him).

James Shields is straight legit folks. He looked very good against the D-Rays and now has only one non-quality start on the season. He only struck out four but if Johan doesn't go nuts on Friday night then he'll be within striking distance of the AL lead (he's currently the leader I believe). Go get him if he's somehow available in your league.

Aside from giving up a home run to Dave Roberts (awkward and embarrassing!) John Maine pitched well again. Stupid Giants let the stupid Mets win on a stupid fielding error. (Hint: Not a NY fan)

Alex Gordon is for real, man. His eye at the plate, despite the unreal number of strikeouts, is there. He will start hitting and I'm expecting a monster second half, so if you can go get him and stash, please do so.

How the f*** can a fantasy team comprising of nine players put up an OPS of .500 for one night. It's the second night in a row that it's happened to a different team of mine. Ugh.

Jonathan Broxton bounces back from a bad outing last night to go 1.1 innings scoreless; would have liked more K's.

Francisco Cordero is the best closer in the majors. There I said it. Have a nice evening.