The ‘comps’ are flying, everyone is writing about Josh and his worth to the team, his potential value this winter, his health, all the things you hear when someone enters a walk year on a contract.
Here’s why, barring some freakish medical issue which I assume he doesn’t have or there would be bigger problems, you sign Josh now.
The one worry, other than health, you have when signing ANY player to a long term contract is the player themselves. Are they going to keep grinding, working, wanting it?
That’s where this becomes a no brainer. I know Josh as well as anyone knows Josh. There is not a sliver of a chance that you get anything less than his total focus, concentration and effort for every day he’s under contract, no matter what his uniform says.
Josh works from a different perspective than many, it’s why he was so good so young. He pushes himself with an internal bar and set of values that not many kids have. That isn’t going to change, in fact I’d argue that it’s only gotten ‘better’ over the past few years. He knows he’s in the games toughest division, he knows who people consider the best and I promise you he doesn’t ever take the ball, no matter who he is facing, and not believe 100% he’s going to not only win, but dominate.
He’s getting to a stage in his career where the mental work, the prep work, is going to meet and surpass the physical effort. Which in his case is saying something because he’s a kid who does work his ass off and does want to be the best. When he does combine max effort in the mental preparation arena (which is not to say he hasn’t before, but as you age you learn different things about yourself and the game) with his physical preparation, things could get interesting.
I do believe Jon Lester is an ace in the making, he’s going to be a legit #1 very soon, if not this year, the only thing stopping that is his command, when that comes he’s as good as there is, combining that with Josh, with Dice, with Clay and Lackey, there aren’t many deeper or more talented rotations anywhere.
You lock Josh up you lock up the top 3 spots in your rotation (well 4 if you don’t trade Clay) for the next 3-5 years, and each of those spots is occupied by a 1 or a 2. In the AL East you go into each season with a legitimate shot at winning it all with that mix.
Here’s the other thing. Whatever you perceive Josh’s value to be at the end of this deal the one thing you know for sure is that he’ll still be giving you every ounce of everything he has, that’s just who he is. You cannot say the same thing for other guys around the league.
Oh and for what it’s worth noted baseball expert Peter Abraham said that I think the Sox should sign Josh because he ‘tries really hard’. Apologies on my part since I obviously thought that teams only consider a player ‘trying really hard’ when committing 75 or so million, not withstanding his 65-34 regular season record, him basically carrying the team to the 2007 WS title, the fact that he’s only going to be 31, ya Peter my apologies for not having the insight into a players makeup or the teams process like the ‘experts’ over at the Globe.
In light of the accusations and barbs being thrown back and forth, here’s yet another piece about those trustworthy souls behind the trillions of dollars spent, being spent, and wanting to be spent, to save the planet.
Look I honestly think man has had an impact on the earth and our treatment, or abuse as the case may be, of her. However These men are responsible for shaping global policy, and that means TRILLIONS of dollars that could be spent at home, in our own countries, helping our own people, and that’s the shame, well one of them at least.
I said it way back when, when asked about Mark and his testimony, there’s “I never used Steroids or HGH” and then there’s every other answer but that, it’s not that complicated, it usually never is.
This excerpt right here
Days after receiving the request for information from the British climate change sceptic David Holland, Jones asked Prof Mike Mann of Pennsylvania State University in the United States: “Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith [Briffa] re AR4? Keith will do likewise.
“Can you also email Gene [Eugene Wahl, a paleoclimatologist in Boulder, Colorado] and get him to do the same … We will be getting Caspar [Ammann, also from Boulder] to do the same.”
If you were telling the truth, if your data was rock solid, there is not one reason on this planet why you’d EVER hide or doctor data as it relates to the “Global Warming Crisis”. Al Gore SHOULD give his NPP back as that entire movie was based on scientific ‘findings’ by this committee and others that used this committee’s data as their source material.
You lemmings that scream as loud as you can, just because. Think about this. If the evidence IS so overwhelming and the science is irrefutable, why would there EVER be a reason to fabricate ANY data? Wouldn’t the overwhelming evidence be RIGHT IN FRONT OF US? Would the data be so concrete we couldn’t debate it? Why would these ‘top scientists’ lie? Hide data? You do those things because you ARE lying and you ARE hiding the facts because both the DATA and the FACTS go against the arguments you are making, that’s why.
Remember “I’m not here to talk about that past” ?
Same thing.
We’re close to finding out that the authoritative works used as source material for the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was something someone got from a box of Honeycomb. This latest revelation just adds to the already extraordinary crime that was committed. This is going to end up being the most expensive crime ever committed against society. When you factor in the billions to trillions of dollars spent on programs we were told were ‘necessary’ if we wanted to survive as a race the cost is going to be staggering.
Do I think the planet is less healthy than it was 100 years ago? I think it might be, I’m not sure what criteria people use, but now that we know the ‘experts’ are full of crap, where do you go to get real data, real information? Wasn’t this at the heart of the meetings a few months ago? Is it going to die this quickly and no one is going to be held accountable?
What a joke.
Shonda’s book is now available for pre-order. Obviously I am incredibly proud of her desire to share her story and attempt to help people dealing with this difficult affliction. Grant has a heart the size of Texas but day to day struggles are things only a mother can understand. Yes I’m biased but Harper Collins did a fantastic job and I think she did an incredible job in relaying her story. So much of it I was gone for, and helping her write this story revealed so many things I never knew, about her, our home, our kids and our life.
One of my college roommates from Yavapai JC passed away the other day and I just found out. I wanted to pass along my families sympathy and prayers to Terri Kellen and family. Her husband Terry was a roommate of mine in what is to this day is still one of the funnest and best years of my life.
Terry and Terri were married the day they met, they just didn’t know it! They were made for each other. TBone, as he was known in the room and around the school, was the nicest, kindest, gentlest soul you’d ever want to know, and he’ll be greatly missed. An infectious laugh as well as being the proverbial “Big teddy Bear”, Terry was someone everybody liked and someone you always enjoyed your time with. From Lynx lake parties to courtyard wiffle ball he was in on it all. Shooting pool at the bar and the late night Jack in the Crack runs, I can remember it all like it was yesterday.
Never wanted to get to this stage in life, when people you grew up with and cared about start leaving.
God Bless and our prayers are with the Kellen family.
Had a chance to spend a few hours working with a bunch of young pitchers working out at Eric Cressey’s facility today. What a blast, great group of kids and some fantastic arms. Saw Youk as well, and as usual working his ass off. He’s in for a great season.
I’ve known Charlie Baker for the past 6 years and he’s a quality human being and a good friend. In case you didn’t know he’s running for Governor of Massachusetts. Don’t take my word for it, check out his web site and see for yourself.
If you believe he’s the person, get involved and let’s help him get elected!
After a year with the gang at EEI I have decided to move my blog back to it’s original WordPress location. Rob, Alex and the gang have started something awesome at weei.com and I wish them nothing but the best. Both Rob and Alex are two of my better friends and writers I have immense respect for in both talent and integrity!
My website is now back at http://38pitches.com/
Read this article, please, and tell me how the people associated with this part of it
In 1986, there was the fourth husband: Thomas Kaplan, a psychologist and son of a prominent financier and philanthropist. They filed for divorce in 1999. Their large home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx was lost in foreclosure, and Ms. King had to file for bankruptcy, both personally and for her business, King Administrators.
Some of the bankruptcy filings made note of several hundred thousand dollars in personal expenses from Ms. King’s business accounts, including tuition for her children at the Fieldston School in Riverdale and large payments to Neiman Marcus. The bankruptcy trustee, Yann Geron, passed the information in early 2000 to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, records show.
“She was using company funds to pay personal expenses,” Mr. Geron recalled in an interview. “I did see problems, and I made a referral.”
No criminal charges were brought against Ms. King, and she went on with her life. She moved to a large house on a quiet street in Irvington, and continued to operate her business under a new name, King Care.
How is it that every person involved at this juncture is not being prosecuted, fired or both? Is this not another Madoff like theft?
400 members, people who bust their asses at hard core blue collar jobs are possibly sitting on ZERO benefits and ZERO money at retirement? Who fixes this? How?
