(NY Post via Can't Stop the Bleeding)
Do you hear anything?
Well if you don't, then good. What you don't hear right now is my head banging against the wall this season. This probably seems a little odd because well the Mets are bewildering team that do great and then fall flat on their faces, so lotsa head-banging-on-walls should be occurring (or at least hand palm slap to forehead).
The reason its not happening this year is I have made a very conscious effort to not listen to certain baseball analysts. Its one thing when a friend says something stupid in sports, or a peer, or a colleague, or an idiot blogger (see: me), but its another when a person is being paid a large sum of money, and still publicly state opinions that leave you scratching your head.
Going into this season, that meant I needed to avoid to people. The first is Rob Dibble, the Nationals announcer. For me, he is pretty difficult to avoid since I live in DC and well when the Mets play the Nationals, MLB.com says I need to watch my local TV broadcast of the game. After suffering through one game (seriously, he says the same things every single broadcast, his range of color commentary is that short), I realized that I could still get MLB.com Audo, which I play over the TV broadcast. Problem solved, no more Rob Dibble.
Next person was Steve Phillips. He generally does a great job of saying things that leave normal baseball fans just stunned. Well he did it again yesterday. Phillips, as we all remember is all about winning right now. This very second. His long-term plans are the equivalent to most people's short term plans. His proposal to get the Washington Nationals to the playoffs is to trade Strasburg for Oswalt.
Thats right, Strasburg for Oswalt.
The Nationals are sitting on a wealth of prospects right now, and there is one player who is generating revenue and attention(ticket sales, minor league sales, jersey sales, TV time, National coverage…the list of intangibles, companies, and other teams that are profiting from Strasburg just goes on and on). While I generally do not buy into rookies making impacts immediatley, the minor league stats are are point Strasburg in that direction. This trade, would be really unthinkable.
If that part doesn't get you, consider the money arguement. The Nationals have Strasburg now for 6 years. Thats incredible! Oswalt is due 31 million between this season and next season.
Another if. If the Nationals really wanted Oswalt, there are other pitchers and hitters that they could (although they probably shouldn't) cut ties with.
Moral of the story. 1) Phillips is not ready to be a GM again. 2) Don't even read an article talking about Phillips. 3) I really should get my head checked because I care this much about this topic.
