Monday Morning Mehta 7/31/06

Edition # 171
July 31, 2006

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Phillies/Trade Deadline report

The Phillies finally pull of the deal the fans have been waiting for, trading Bobby Abreu to the Yankees for 4 minor leaguers. Also going to the Yankees is Corey Lidle who is a free agent at the end of the year. On paper, this trade looks lopsided in the Yankees favor. But the Phillies get what they've been looking for in relief of Abreu's $15 million he is due next year. The Phillies were limited in dealing partners because of Abreu's no trade clause and that really made this a tough deal for Phils GM Pat Gillick.

My thoughts:
- The deal is an absolute incomplete right now. You cannot grade the trade.

- The Phillies have been around a $95 million payroll team the last few years. They need to spend the full $95 mill next year (and possibly some more) - preferably most of it on pitching in order for this trade to be complete and be graded.

- If the Phillies spend $92 mill or lower next year, this trade was useless and it was all about the cheap owners telling Gillick to lower payroll, and had absolutely nothing to do with on the field betterment of the team. And I will be pi$sed the payroll is going backwards. In a new stadium with very good attendances the last few years dropping the payroll is unacceptable (yes - it has dropped, but nothing like Pittsburgh or Milwaukee's drop). Repeat - "Unacceptable"

- The words "payroll flexibility" has been thrown out there a lot the last few days. With David Bell's $5 mill, Mike Lieberthal's $7 mill, Randy Wolf's $9 mill, Corey Lidle's $2.5 mill, Rheal Cormier's $2.5 mill, Ryan Franklin's $2.5 mill, and Arthur Rhodes $4.8 mill off the books (a total of $32 million), what more "payroll flexibility" can a GM ask for?

- The Phillies didn't get any of the Yankees top 3 prospects or Milky Cabrera in the deal. Yankee GM Brian Cashman had to use all his strength not to bust out in laughter yesterday during his press conference. He was ecstatic.

- Will they sign Barry Zito or Jason Schmidt? Listening to Gillick yesterday, you'd think not. But I just want to remind everyone that every year there's more than just the free agent pitchers out there. Last year it was Josh Beckett, in previous years it's been Tim Hudson & Mark Mulder. Although the ladder two have been disappointments, I'd still take them on this team any day.

Overall:

- I don't think Pat Gillick is a dope. This trade smells too much like a straight salary dump because the owners are going to lower the payroll for next year. Not far away is the organization calling themselves a small market team.

Trade Deadline talk

- The WOW of the trade deadline for me has been the Astros willingness listen to offers for Roy Oswalt. As mentioned above, if guys like Oswalt or Carlos Zambrano ever become available, the Phillies should be all over this. If "payroll flexibility" was so important, these are the $15 million pitchers they need on their radar. Both are free agents after 2007 (Zambrano has another year of arbitration).

- As usual there's a ton of talk and we'll have to wait and see what transpires in the next few hours. Alfonso Soriano to the Dodgers, Angels, Astros, Twins is the biggest name to watch. Brad Lidge's name has been out there as the Astros are desperate for offense. It would've been nice if Abreu had said Houston was one of the teams he'd waive his no trade clause for. Seems like a perfect match - Astros want offense, Phils want pitching.

- The Mets are trying to get Jason Schmidt and may be willing to give up top prospect Lastings Milledge to get him. If Schmidt lands with the Mets for the last two months in a great pitchers park, you can rest assured that he isn't going to sign with the Mets next year and the Phils have no chance to get him.

- Chase Utley extends his hitting streak to 31 games.

- Hank Baskett mania is sweeping Philadelphia.

I'd love the Phillies just become absolute sellers and get rid of Cormier, Delucci and if it's even possible Pat Burrell. Sell, sell, sell!! Please don't let the recent 3 game winning streak deter you from that path. Let's really start fresh and stock the farm system (which is barron right now), so that next year if Carlos Zambrano is made available, we have the talent in the minors to go out and get him. The "core" of this team (Utley, Howard, Myers, Hamels) are all very young so it isn\'t like the winning clock is ticking. Let's do it right this time instead of trying to band-aid ourselves to the playoffs like the last 5 years.

- Sources tell me that the Eagles are close to signing rookie first round pick Broderick Bunkley and the deal should be completed by Tuesday. OK, nobody actually told me that but since most of the first rounders around him signed in the last few days, I think his contract should fall into place now and the frugal Eagles will finally ink their first rounder. The holdup is the Eagles want him to be signed to a 6 year deal, while the agent for Bunkley is insisting on 5 years. The Eagles are so forkin ridiculous that they'd let this get in the way of the kid's development. What gets me is Andy Reid preaching everyday at camp that Bunkley should be in here and he's hurting his chances by holding out. Hey Andy, it's just as much your fault he's not signed as it is his fault.

- I find it highly amusing how Larry Bowa was raving about Bobby Abreu yesterday. "Team player" was his exact quote. Can Larry just shut up please? Wasn't he bad mouthing Abreu last year when he got canned?


NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser

- It's been quite a disturbing week for us all. Ex-N'Synch member Lance Bass came out of the closet and shockingly revealed to the world that he was gay. When a paragon of masculinity, a stall worth if you will, of machismo and toughness like Lance Bass can reveal his homosexuality then what can we believe in this crazy world? At any rate, here we go......

- Some ridiculous sporting feats as seen on TV or movies (This will make more sense as you read on)

- American History X - Derek (Edward Norton).....So Edward Norton plays a white racist guy who challenges a group of black guys to a basketball game which the white guys win. But that's not the ridiculous part. The ridiculous part is the game ends with Norton doing a two handed reverse dunk. Please, having Norton dunk is silly enough, but to have him do a two handed reverse jam is ludicrous.

- Beverly Hills 90210 - Brandon (Jason Priestly).....4'9" Brandon Walsh was the most dominant child hockey star in Minnesota and, according to his father, could have made it to the NHL. But Mr. Walsh thought it was more important that Brandon be a regular kid and had him stop playing hockey. WHAT!?!?!? What parent would step in and stop their kid from being a professional athlete? The funniest scene in the history of that show was when ex-Boston Bruin great Cam Neeley played himself in a guest starring role. Neeley towered over Priestly so badly it looked like Mr. Rork and Tattoo. And I'm supposed to believe he was going to be an NHL player? Please.

- One Tree Hill - Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray).....OK, I guess I have a thing about height. Granted I don't know a lot about the NBA but I know being a tall guy sure helps you be successful. Chad Michael Murray plays Lucas, who is not even the tallest guy on the show, girls included, yet he is supposed to be the best basketball players in the area. Oh and by the way, he's not even a guard, he's a 5'5" power forward. Another classic cameo is when Charlotte Bobcat Emeka Okafor was on the show and Lucas gets to meet him. It looked like the scene from "Rocky III" when Sly Stallone is standing in front of Hulk Hogan and looking straight into his chest.

Monday Morning Mehta 7/24/06

Edition # 170
July 24, 2006

Next MMM: August 7th, 2006

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It's finally over! The curse is broken! Lancaster's own Floyd Landis wins the Tour de Fran...I can't even finish it. In typical Philadelphia fashion we're grasping at straws trying to hype Amish bicyclists as the face of the city. Oh well, onto the exciting Phillies.

A 2-3 week for the Phillies in which they fell to fourth place in the division.

Brett Myers returned to the mound in his first home appearance last night. A loud set of boos accompanied his first at bat, but a nice ovation as he left the game in the 9th inning after a great performance. It's becoming more and more evident to me that if the Phillies just told Myers to skip a start or two when in Boston, none of this would have grown into the sports radio angered Phillies frustration that it has become. And if Myers continues to pitch the way he did last night he's going to make it a lot easier on himself.

Sal Fasano's released! Wow was he bad.

As you can see I'm slowing getting back into the Phillies. I watched both Braves games this weekend and felt a calmness while watching. I have no expectations now and it's starting to feel like I was watching the Phillies in 1990 again, when it was just obvious we were going to lose and I didn't care.

One week from the deadline and your guess is as good as mine as to what this team will look like on August 1st. Bobby Abreu's name is all over the rumor mill but I would suspect he gets traded in the offseason. I could see Jon Lieber being sent back to the Yankees as a deal the Phillies pull. I'd also like to see the Phillies deal Mike Lieberthal to anybody for whatever single-A prospect they want to give. Let's move on from the Lieby era. I gotta think he'd make a nice 3-4 day a week catcher for somebody in contention (Houston?). There's a lot of bad catchers out there (Brad Ausmus).

I don't know if that Aaron Rowand for Jon Garland deal was true, or if it was shot down by the White Sox or Phillies, but I'm liking it more and more from a Phillies perspective everyday. People go crazy over these offensive players but let's get pitching in here, and Garland is only 27 he is still getting better (well, until he puts on a Phils uniform that is).

Eagles

The Eagles started camp last Friday and the talk is still Terrell Owens. It will be Terrell Owens during the season too when the Eagles play Dallas twice. Two things I can't listen to anymore, a caller on WIP talking about Bobby Abreu or anything to do with Terrell Owens and the Eagles.

NFC Previews don't come out for a while, but I'll say this: The Eagles aren't in as bad a shape as you may think. I have started doing my extensive research on the NFL teams and the talent level on the Eagles is still there. The Redskins are the team I just can't figure out yet though. My gut tells me Mark Brunell is going down early this year and their QB situation could be a disaster.

Brian Dawkins is in the final year of his contract with the Eagles. It'll be very interesting to see if he gets a two year extension.

The Open Championships
Tiger Woods wins his 11th major and 3rd Open title by holding off a charge from Chris DiMarco. Tiger never really ran away from the pack over the weekend, but for the most part from Saturday on, there wasn't much doubt who was going to win. Sergio Garcia chokes once again. I'll never understand how Garcia plays so well and so un-choke-ingly in the Ryder Cup, yet when he plays for himself is a total choker. His putting is downright horrendous when the pressure is on.

On the other end, there's Chris DiMarco. In my opinion he's currently the best Ryder Cup US player (yes, and that includes Tiger Woods) and he's going to win a major very soon. I'm thinking the 2007 Masters. DiMarco has guts and is awesome to watch. Great competitor.

Next up is the final major of the year in a few weeks the PGA Championship at Medinah in Illinois. I look for Phil to really bring it here and this could be the Tiger/Phil Sunday duel at a major we've all waited for.

NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser

- Announcement!!!! From this point forward in this column, whenever I get tempted to use a curse word, I am going to substitute the profanity with some version of the word "Islanders". For example, let's say Eric Lindros missed an important shot I would say "Lindros really Islandered up that shot". Or if Bobby Clarke made a senseless trade I would say "Bobby Clarke has Islander for brains with that trade". OK, just so you know.

When you're a fan of Philadelphia sports teams you start to become immune to asinine management moves. The GM's of the Philadelphia sports teams could Islander up making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I mean if you fans of Philadelphia sports read tomorrow that Allen Iverson got traded to the Knicks for Malik Rose would you honestly be THAT surprised? Or if the Phillies traded Bobby Abreu to the Yankees for Bernie Williams would you really be THAT bowled over? It would just be par for the Philadelphia sporting course. But occasionally news will come out of another city that is so Islandering silly, so Islandering ludicrous, so flat out Islandering ridiculous that it makes me stunned that it didn't happen in Philadelphia. Ladies and gentlemen I give you the new general manager of the New York Islanders....Garth Snow (What the Islander?? THEE Garth Snow?). Yes, THEE Garth Snow.

I got the news of this move from MMM subscriber John Miller and my reaction was "huh?? Are you sure?" My mental rolodex was spinning thinking that it couldn't be THAT Garth Snow, it must be another Garth Snow. I mean when does a guy go straight from being a player right to the most important job in an organization? In fact Snow would have still been on the Islander roster when he got the job. Right from player to GM without any training whatsoever, that would never happen in a million years right? Well, I was wrong.

According to ESPN.com this is what happened...Islanders owner and certified crackpot Charles Wang hired Neil Smith to be the general manager a little over a month ago. Smith won a Stanley Cup as GM of the Rangers in 1994 by the way. So Smith, did I mention he won a Stanley Cup, went about trying to dismantle the slop that is the Islanders. That team is the most Islandered team in the NHL between the bad trades, free agents not wanting to play there, and Alexi Yashin's idiotic 10 year contract. And who gave Yashin the 10 year contract when he probably would have signed for 4 years? Charles Wang of course. For some reason Wang, who once thought about trying to recruit Sumo wrestlers to play goalie (true story), didn't like what Smith was doing as GM because, you know, it may actually cause them to win a few games. So Wang approached Smith and asked him to resign. That was after Smith was on the job a total of 41 days. Smith told Wang to go Islander himself because he wasn't quitting.

At that point special advisor and ex-Islander great Pat LaFontaine stepped in. LaFontaine tells Wang that he's going to really Islander up the team even more if he doesn't back off and let Smith do his job. Wang ignored him and fired Smith and hired Garth Snow because Snow claims he "reads the NHL collective bargaining agreement for fun". So LaFontaine, realizing that Wang has made the team an even bigger Islandering mess then it was before, resigned his position in disgust.

Oh and by the way, just by accepting the GM job Garth Snow Islandered up their salary cap because his own $750,000 salary counts against the cap this year and next year. Retirement as a player doesn't mean that the cap hit disappears. That team my friends is a clusterIslander.

- The Penguins are about to be sold to some rich guy from Connecticut named Sam Fingold. Believe it or not he out bid a group that included Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and ex-NFLer Dan Marino. Fingold has ties to Kansas City, a city which reportedly wants an NHL and an NBA franchise to help them rid their podunk town image, yet he swears he plans to keep the team in Pittsburgh. Yeah right. If the Penguins don't get the new arena they need within a few months they'll be in Kansas City quicker then a fat kid on ice cream cake.

Monday Morning Mehta 7/17/06

Edition # 169
July 17, 2006

http://www.mondaymorningmehta@blogspot.com/

I'm back, energized and refueled for the upcoming football season. Training camps are set to open all around the NFL in the next week or so (Rookies report for the Eagles camp on Thursday - the rest a few days later). I'm ready to cover the NFL for a 4th season (maybe it's 5th I really don't keep tabs). AFC Previews and Predictions August 28th, NFC will be on September 5th.

In the meantime, you'll have to suffer through some baseball talk.

Phillies

The Phils come out of the break winning 2 out of 3 to the Giants. The next few weeks are huge for Phillies fans from a general directional perspective. If the Phillies can win a couple more series in a row, they'll be right in the thick of the NL Wild Card race. As sad as it sounds, the Phillies are only 5.5 games out of the Wild Card. Pat Gillick is faced with the tough task of determining whether or not the Phillies will be buyers or sellers at the deadline.

I never condone rooting against your team in almost any scenario. But this may be the case where the Phillies should consider being sellers, and if that means losing a few games, I'll take it. If Jon Lieber, Corey Lidle, Rheal Cormier, and even guys like Aaron Rowand, Bobby Abreu can get you value, take it. This team needs a pitching overhaul throughout the organization. Let's start it now and not try to go down this wild card path, one that we've been burnt on many times.

Knowing the Phillies though, they'll get semi-hot when the pressure is off (right now) and when they close to 1 game of the WC, they'll choke again. Yes, the Negadelphia attitude in me is coming out, but what evidence do I have to contradict any of that?

Around the League

The Yankees start the dogs days of summer after the all star break with an impressive series sweep of the White Sox. The race in the AL is going to be awesome. They should only allow 2 NL teams in the playoffs this year and take 6 from the AL.

Don't look now, but two of the hottest teams in baseball are the Angels and Braves. Expect the Angels to be bigtime buyers at the trade deadline. The Braves are getting healthy at the right time. Chipper Jones looks like the player from 5 years ago again. The bullpen is horrendous though still which could hurt them.

I think Toronto and Minnesota (currently in 3rd place in their divisions) would be one of the best teams in the league if they were in the AL.

I'm waiting for Houston to get hot, but now I'm starting to wonder if it's going to happen this year. Morgan Ensberg has struggled mightily the last month and in desperation the picked up Aubrey Huff from the Devil Rays. They still need plenty of offense though as Lance Berkman can only do so much.

The Open Championship

Always one of my favorite tournaments starts on Thursday as the 131st British Open at Liverpool (I really didn't check if it's the 131st, I think I remember seeing that this week). The golf world is begging for a Tiger/Phil Sunday showdown, this could be our best shot at it this year.

I'll pick a sleeper to win it - Luke Donald. Yes, I know I picked him to win the US Open and he played well. I just think it's a Europeans turn to win a major.

NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser

- Ohhhhhh baby!!!! NHL Week in Review goes Page 6!!! OK, when we last met I reported that Oilers defenseman Chris Pronger wanted a trade out of Edmonton because of "personal reasons". Well, thanks to MMM subscriber John Miller, those personal reasons have been found. And even though these are simply allegations I'm going to report them as fact because I'm irresponsible like that. Well (everyone lean in because I have to tell you this in a whisper) it turns out that Pronger, who's married with 2 kids, knocked up a hot blond named Christie Chorley, who's an anchor for something in Edmonton called "a-channel Sports". Believe it or not, Mrs. Pronger was less then amused. Apparently she ordered Chris to get the whole clan out of Dodge and SOON!! So Pronger, I'm sure fearing that half his dough was about to walk out the door, was trying to accommodate the mrs. Apparently Pronger, not known for his offense, can occasionally slip one past the goalie.

- The Oilers granted Pronger's wish by sending him to the Ducks for winger Joffrey Lupid and defenseman Ladislav Smid. Not a bad deal for the Oilers considering Pronger, well Pronger's wife I should say, had the team by the you know what.

- This story is just as good. Avalanche goalie José Theodore was at an after party for the Much Music Video Awards (Canada's answer to MTV) in Toronto. During the party Theodore, who evidentially is the Brad Pitt of Canada, was seen in a compromising situation with everyone's favorite slut Paris Hilton. It turns out that the only reason Theodore was even in Toronto was to see his 3 month old infant son, born prematurely by the way, and his girlfriend of 8 years Stephanie Cloutier. Supposedly Cloutier is heir to a media fortune in Canada and her family's wealth makes Hilton money look like the tips you give the toilet jockey at a strip club. At any rate, when Cloutier heard about the liaison and saw the pictures of Hilton and Theodore splashed all over Canada José was shown the door. And I guess since Cloutier's family controls the media, Theodore is getting destroyed in the Canadian press. I don't know what it is about that dingbat Paris Hilton but man, she turns guys into jelly.

- Notes from around the league.....The Bruins fired coach Mike Sullivan. Firing that guy and blaming him for the Bruins' woes would be like firing the guy that shovels the coal in the furnace and blaming him for the Titanic disaster.....Steve Yzerman calls it quits after 22 seasons in Detroit.....The Flyers sign centers Mark Cullen and Randy Robitaille, defenseman Nolan Baumgartner, and winger Brad Tapper. If you think these are just insignificant signings of journeymen players, you'd be right.....Eric Lindros is going to sign with the Stars. Funny what being a complete bust with few options does to a guy. Back in the day Lindros said he would only play for a team on the east coast so he would be close to his Toronto home and of course we all remember how he held the Flyers ransom trying to get traded to the Leafs, settling for the Rangers. Now Lindros would sign with Vancouver if they wound up being the only team to offer him a deal.

- Some of my favorite badasses in sports movies, in no particular order. I'll do a few this week and maybe a few more next week. (By the way, I'm trying not to write about characters I've never written about before).....

Racki (George Finn) "Youngblood".....So Rob Lowe plays Dean Youngblood who's a hockey sniper who needs to prove he can whip some ass in junior hockey before he can finally make it to the NHL. Why? Ahhhh.....I dunno, you have to suspend your disbelief on that one I guess. Wayne Gretzky couldn't beat up my sister but he did OK in the NHL. The biggest badass in the league is a guy known simply as Racki, and despite the fact that the age limit in junior hockey is 19, he is somehow in the league as a guy in his mid 40's. And despite the fact that Youngblood is not a fighter and looks like an elementary school girl Racki wants to kick his ass. The character is cool, the movie is so - so, but watch it to see Cynthia Gibbs' racki and to hear Keanu Reeves' community theatre reject French accent which will make you howl with laughter.

Tony D'Annunzio (Scott Colomby) "Caddyshack".....Proving that there are no small roles, just small actors, Colomby takes what could be a throw away part and turns it into a masterpiece. That sounded a little like James Lipton from "Inside The Actor's Studio" on that last one. But it's true. Say to any guy from the age of 21 through 50 this line, "Mr Havercamp, Mr. Havercamp....your ball's over there Mr. Havercamp" and they will know EXACTLY what you're talking about. I'm listing Tony as a badass because of his two near fights with Danny Noonan in the beginning of the movie and because, in true mafioso fashion, he smokes cigarettes and wears slacks and a red silk shirt while playing golf. And don't forget about how he pounces on Lacy Underall the second he sees her at the pool on "Caddy Day". The thing about "Caddyshack" is that there's not one stunningly great performance, it's tons of small, yet great performances that are pieced together to make it a classic movie.

- Baseball Fury (Multiple actors) "The Warriors".....So it's not a sports movie. In fact, it's not even really a good movie. It's actually completely and totally ridiculous even by late 70's gang movies featuring gangs that look like zombies in baseball uniforms standards. If you've never seen this movie it's worth a look because it has a "Showgirls" type charm, a movie so bad it's good.

- Chico "Brush Back" Curosco (Marcos Gonzales) "Blue Skies Again".....OK, I've completely lost my mind. This movie is supposed to be a comedy but it's about as funny as the Nazi propaganda film "Triumph of the Will". It came out in the 80's and was about a girl trying to be a professional baseball player. But the actress who played the baseball playing girl sucked at baseball. But she was better at baseball then she was at acting because her performance was brutal. Also in this movie is Harry Hamlin, fresh off his stint in "Clash of the Titans", and a hot looking Mimi Rogers before she married Tom Cruise and before she hit the wall at lightning speed. Anyway the girl finally gets a chance to bat in a real game and who does she face, Chico Curosco. And he lives up to his nickname and throws the first pitch right at her coconut. She of course brushes herself off, gets back into the batter's box and hits a double down the line. Yeah, whatever. Unlike "The Warriors" this movie is so bad it's bad

Monday Morning Mehta World Cup Edition

Just a few thoughts from Derreck Sura about the World Cup today, Ed Wasser and I will return next week.


World Cup Roundup - Derreck Sura


Just a few quick thoughts on the World Cup as my farewell until October.....


- I know Zinedine Zidane's head butt is getting all the attention, but that was not the reason Les Bleus lost. The penalty kick France was given in the 7th minute came off a dive that the ref bought. However, the off sides that took away the Italian's second goal was legit in my opinion. The Azzurri were the best team throughout the tournament and deserved to win it all. Overall Italy proved to be the deepest team that played the best defense. Some things are always the same for championship teams regardless of the sport.


MVP of the World Cup - Gianluigi Buffon (goalie for Italy). The guy was off the charts from start to finish. He only gave up two goals in the entire tourney. The first was an own goal against the USA and the last was the PK in the Final.


Best Individual Performance - Zidane against Brazil in the Quarterfinals. Zizou was absolutely masterful in that match. He single handedly controlled the midfield against the most talented team in the world.


Best Player For My Money - Cristiano Ronaldo (midfielder for Portugal). I know he's taking a lot of heat for his antics and diving, but the guy was unreal every time I saw him in action. He's only 21 and already plays for Manchester United. Enough said.


Until next time.