winners & losers

July Madness has come and gone, giving us a chance to sort through the ashes and hand out grades.

[Fair Hooker]

IN A NUTSHELL, HERE IS THE REALITY OF HAVING THE OWNERS THAT WE HAVE:

And so while Fredi was unveiling his trophy new acquisition of 38 year old Arthur Rhodes, well, there was GENIUS JOE GIRARDI, unveiling all his new players acquired at the trade deadline. BOY, WHAT A GENIUS GIRADI IS. He can now really manage, especially when he doesn't have to think about making moves to pinch hit for pitchers with the designated hitter rule, or burn out the arms of the youngs pitchers as he did here. Now Girardi simply throws out another $15 or $20 million guy out there to play when he is missing some parts to catch Tampa Bay.

Girardi won his game today 14-9 when the mighty California Angels allowed a total of 9 unearned runs with 4 or 5 errors at big moments. The Angels did not play Guerrero or Tori Hunter and their outfielders looked like the Marlins on defense. Abysmal defense, kicking the ball around and absolutely incapable of making a major league play. And so the Angels saved Girardi from sure crucifixion in the big putrid Apple. In the 8th inning with the Yankees up 8-5 and 2 outs, Yankee reliever E. Ramirez loads the bases and up comes Mark Teixeira with 2 outs the go ahead run in his bat.

Instead of putting the game away by bringing in Mariano Rivera to get 4 outs, genius Girardi allows this Ramirez guy to throw a gopher ball to Teixera who puts it on the bleachers for a SLAM and just like that it is now Angels up 9-8. The fans started yelling and screaming for Girardi's head because clearly the man had a brain lock like the many he had here as a manager of the Marlins. But, hey, everybody in the Yankee uniform was clean shaven and perfumed and with that perfumed and the $250 million payroll, Girardi has found that it is easier to manage. It is so important to be clean shaven to hit the ball (look up Manny Ramirez).

Imagine this, while Fredi unveiled his 38 year old Arthur Rhodes acquisition, poor Girardi, things were not going good enough for the Yankees so they go out and get Xavier Nady (hitting over 300), Hall of Famer Pudge Rodriguez, a good young left handed reliever and Richie Sexon and whateve else. On this Sunday, Nady batted in 6 runs and got 4 hits including a homer and a double. Pudge got a homer and a single and batted in. The Yankees also bought Richie Sexon and a good lefthanded young arm from Pittsburgh in the trades last week and .... like I said, the Marlins got Arthur Rhodes but there are still people that say that this owners need a FREE STADIUM and without a vote.

AND THERE are those that the Marlin front office was really in the market willing to spend some of the revenue sharing dollars to acquire a quality player or two and fill the voids. But once again, they pulled the stunt they do every year, where, unless they get a player for free or nearly free they are not spending money they need. This is not a major league management this is commodity trading. OH..... WHY DON'T GET JACQUE JONES AGAIN, HE MIGHT HELP US AND DOES NOT COST?

[peter - Boca]

Mike,

I think that you should only write about the NL EAST when considering "winners and losers".

The clear winner is Philadelphia. They needed a starter and went out and got one. The clear loser is New York - they are so happy with their team that they did not sign anyone.

The award for "best appearance while doing nothing" belongs to the Marlins. Not only was Beinfest able to devert attention away from his feeble efforts to give the Marlins a catcher, that now that July 31st is over, people are talking about how Ramirez almost came to south Florida instead of asking why the Marlins did not do more.

It is eveident that the NL East is wide open and can be won by any of the 3 teams. Each team has weaknesses. But the Marlins actually have the best chance IF and its a big IF, Sanchez and Johnson can pitch decently the rest of the way.

But Loria and Beinfest do NOT really believe that the Marlins can win. If they did, they would have gotten a catcher. Afterall, the Marlins payroll is about 20 million dollars lower than the next lowest payroll. It is NOT a question of money, its a question of putting this year on the line and going for it.

There is all the talk about how many Marlins are arbitration eligible over the winter and how many the Marlins will sign and how many they will let go. Now was the time to make the effort. Beinfest failed because no one wanted to give him a catcher for 100,000 and a minor league journeyman pitcher.