Put Them Out of Their Misery, Please

The Dallas Cowboys have imploded. This is not news to anyone. The fact of the matter is they have zero character and a locker room that is about as together as Yugoslavia. The fault lies squarely at the feet of one man.

Jerry Jones.

Now, you might say, "But Romo's a choker. Owens is a volitile prima donna. Pacman Jones is a criminal. Tank Johnson is a quitter. They have two Roy Williams and neither one was a factor all season. Wade Phillips is their coach."

Yeah. And who put all that together?

Look, Jerry Jones is the closest thing the NFL has to George Steinbrenner. He can't spend as wildly because of a salary cap. But he has to have his toys. So he picked up so many reclaimation projects that the folks in downtown Jackson are asking, "Can you take the King Edward and Standard Life buildings while you're at it?"

Jerry, like Steinbrenner, forgot where his championships came from. The Cowboys of the 1990s were built through the draft, with one big free agent signing (who ended up ruining the locker room), Deion Sanders. The Yankees last successful run wasn't with a bunch of big-name free agent signings, but with guys who were great team players. Really, let me ask you, who's the better third baseman, Charlie Hayes, Scott Brosius, or ARod? But Hayes and Brosius both have World Series rings. Is it any coincidence that when the owners demanded big, splashy signings instead of finding guys who fit, that these two franchises stopped winning championships?

The answer seems so obvious. How is it that two guys who have made billions can't see it?

Congratulations Mark Kotsay

He becomes the first Brave to hit for the cycle since 1987.

Sadly it looks like the Braves have wasted the effort.

UPDATE: Kotsay singles in the bottom of the 9th for his fifth hit. He's gone over 1500 hits for his career.

RIP Skip Caray, 1939-1968

Let Me Ask a Question

Does this lineup strike fear into anyone? Even the Kansas City Royals?

Blanco CF
Escobar SS
Kotchman 1B
Norton LF
Infante 3B
Johnson 2B
Francoeur RF
Miller C

Rookies, journeymen, and young guys in a slump. What a recipe for a fourth place finish. Casey Kotchman is in his first game as a Brave. The best player in an Atlanta uniform is Jair Jurrjens, and he's just been lifted for Blaine Boyer, he of the 8.31 ERA in the second half so far.

It's like a tale of three cities. The Braves, A's, and Twins all build from within, and are committed to making good moves and having a strong farm system. The A's trade half their starters every two years? They're the fifth-winningest team in this decade. The Twins can trade Johan Santana and lose Francisco Liriano to Tommy John surgery, and still be in the race. Why? Because they make smart moves, and every bad decision has a consequence. Atlanta isn't constrained financially; Atlanta is the 9th-largest metro area in the US. While Oakland is part of the 12th largest, they share it with the much more popular and visible Giants (and San Francisco is a bigger city, almost twice the size of Oakland). And Minneapolis-St. Paul is 16th.

Atlanta's advantage is a regional one; they draw fans from all over the southeast, with the nearest MLB teams in Washington and Miami. In contrast, the A's share the Bay Area with the Giants, and are in a state with four other Major League teams. Oakland is also per capita poorer than Atlanta. The Twin Cities are in the Great Lakes Megaplex, with Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, and Toronto. Neither city is as culturally dominant in its area as Atlanta; thus the reference to Atlanta as a 'big market' as opposed to the 'small market' Twins and A's.

As I type this the Cardinals have teed off on Blaine Boyer. That guy has to have pictures of Bobby Cox and Roger McDowell. It's the only way he can stay in the bigs. Now comes news that Tim Hudson has been told he needs Tommy John surgery.

My point is this: Those teams lose good players all the time. The list of players the other two teams have lost permanently are a veritable roster of stud horses. Yet they continue to contend. The Braves have had hell this season, yet they can't do the same. Of their opening day rotation only Jurrjens has stayed off the DL. Same thing with the back three in the bullpen, and half of the opening day lineup. The reason? There's no consequence if the Braves make a mistake on a player; they have room to make a mistake because of a bigger payroll, the 10th highest in the majors. The Twins and A's don't have that luxury, being 24th and 28th. Yet they don't have Julian Tavares on the mound, currently stinking the joint up for his 10th different team.

And that's why those two can replace players better than the Braves can. There's no room for error.

On the Bright Side of, Well, Everything

At least the much-overhyped New York Metropolitans are imploding more and more daily. There is nothing more sweet to my soul than watching a media favorite-and while they're not the Yankees or Red Sox, their media attention is so much more annoying, because they never win anything!-go down in a smoking heap. I'll admit to a bit of schadenfreude over the Mets' 2008 woes, since my Braves are in a mess as well. At least we've had Chipper Jones' .400 average to enjoy so far. That, and, let's face it, if the Braves get healthy soon they can still make a move. The Mets are so dysfunctional right now, from the owners to the GM to the interim manager to the underachieving players, that it'll take a miracle on the order of Bill Buckner for them to right things.

Mitchell Report

Here's my reaction to the Mitchell Report on Performance Enhancers in Major League Baseball:

1) Good luck getting the players to go along with any proposed reform. The MLBPA is the strongest union in professional sports; Bud Selig can't pick a tie out in the morning without approval of the union.

2) George Mitchell should be commended for naming as many big names as he did. Yeah, there's a bunch of Paxton Crawfords and Mike Stantons in there, but there's also Eric Gagnes and Roger Clemens and Migel Tejadas. I was convinced that no names that we didn't know-like Palmiero and Bonds and McGwire-would be included. I don't agree with the man's politics but he did everything you can ask, especially with a mostly-uncooperative group of people.

3) How stupid are you to pay for HGH with a check?

4) The mafia has nothing on MLB players. Kevin Brown UPSing a box of money to a dealer? Martin Scorsese needs to get a pencil out quick.