Slammin' Sammy

I am not going to give an entire section to Sammy Sosa but I do want to say, way to go Slammin' Sammy on hitting homer number 600. It took a lot of guts and belief in himself to take a non-guaranteed contract coming into the season. It's easy to forget already that Sosa had to earn his spot on the Rangers this season and for a 38 year old that everyone thought was done, that's pretty impressive if you ask me. Now Sammy isn't having the greatest season, it seems like he's striking out at an alarmingly high rate even for him, and now that he's gotten that No. 600 he wanted so badly he should probably call it a career after this year, but none the less, it is a great accomplishment for Sosa. Now onto the real meat of the post, a story that happened a couple days ago that I meant to write about but didn't get the chance, the Memphis Grizzlies made one of the most perplexing moves I have ever heard of, and in the interest of fairness, Curt Schilling needs to reconsider his desire to keep pitching.


Grizzlies Really Reach for the Stars

The Memphis Grizzlies hired Chris Wallace to be their new General Manager a couple days ago. Wallace had been serving in that same capacity for the Boston Celtics. Yes, THOSE Boston Celtics. The same Celtics who finished with the second worst record in the NBA, second only to, you guessed it, the Memphis Grizzlies. Now I may be missing something but this seems like just about the dumbest move ever. The worst team in the NBA hires the GM of the second worst team in the NBA? How is this a good idea? The Celtics are one of the worst put together basketball teams I have ever seen. The only thing that would have been worse than this would have been if they Grizzlies had hired Isaiah Thomas to be their new GM.

Maybe it's just me, but if you are the Grizzlies and have any desire not to end up in the lottery every season wouldn't you try and hire someone who, I don't know, has any idea what he's doing? The GM of the second worst team in the league is not really the guy you should be shooting for. Maybe a guy with a proven track record, maybe an up and coming front office assistant. But a guy who has been with the Celtics for ten years? Can anyone name more than three good things that have happened to the Celtics in the last ten years? I didn't think so. That's not a coincidence, that's the handywork of Chris Wallace, the runner-up for the Worst GM of the Year Award. I bet that Grizzlies' fans, all 19 of them, are really excited about the new direction the team has taken. If Memphis was trying to alienate their fanbase to prepare for moving the franchise than this is a fantastic move. However since the Grizzlies have already been through a franchise move, that's probably not a likely scenario. There's a chance I am wrong about Chris Wallace, but let's be honest, not a good chance. This is why bad teams stay bad, because they make moves like this. Way to go Griz.


Well I Said it about Clemens, Now its Schilling's Turn.

Curt Schilling came within one out of throwing a no-hitter a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately it was a complete abberation. Schilling has simply not been a reliable starting pitcher this year, or really the last couple years, much less the ace that people still try to claim he is. Very simply put, Schilling needs to seriously reconsider his desire to keep pitching after this season. And for the love of everything good and holy, Boston Red Sox, do not resign this man. I am confident the Red Sox will make the right move in not giving Schilling another contract, the same way they wouldn't overpay for Pedro Martinez after the 2004 season. GM Theo Epstein seems to be able to seperate nastalgia of what the player has done for the team and doing whats best for the team when he is deciding who the team should and shouldn't resign. Schilling will always be a hero in Boston, and rightfully so, they wouldn't have won the World Series without his bloody sock heroics, but I wouldn't count on Schilling pitching for the Red Sox after this season.

To be completely honest Schilling probably should have hung it up after the 2004 postseason. By all accounts the man loves attention and would that not have been the perfect exit for an attention whore? Leaving the game of baseball after having carried his team back from an 0-3 deficit against its biggest rivals and eventually to the most heavily anticipated World Series championship in baseball history, is there really anything to prove after that? Is there any better way to go out? Instead he limped back in 2005, when he rushed his return and did not pitch well at all. He bounced back to a certain extent in 2006 to be respectable again but it wasn't nearly enough to help the Red Sox even make the playoffs. And this year he has not shown good stuff as he has struggled in seemingly at least every other start. So here is my plea, Curt, I like you and I will forever be grateful to you for sacrifing your body and probably your long term health to help the Red Sox win the World Series. With that said, you are currently a borderline Hall of Famer and hanging on too long will not help your case. Just call it quits before you taint the image every Boston fan still holds of you as one of their heroes.

Schilling was placed on the DL today even after the MRI of his shoulder showed no structural damage. So we know that he has the effects of a shoulder injury without any actual injury. You know what that's called? Not having it anymore. It's time to let go Curt, do it for me, do it for all of us.

That's all folks.