Salary Cap

So, I am looking at my rankings in google and my site disappeared for the keyword, salary cap.  Cannot find my site at all.  So I go to http://www.webrankinfo.com/english/tools/google-data-centers.php to see if this is my problem for my data center or an overall problem.  It is just my damn google data center is being totally stupid today.  It makes me want to call google and ask why this happens to my site for my data center.  GRRRR!

Back to the damn Philadelphia Phillies, I went to the game last night between them and the New York Mets.  Well, this was the coldest game ever.  I keep hearing about climate change, but I sure don’t see any warmth.  It doesn’t matter that the Phillies have crapped the bed in April, again.  I mean, two on, no one out, with Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Pat Burrell up.  Strike out, Strike out, Pop up.  Are you F***ing kidding me?  Then, the bull pen comes in.  The mets fans were asking for Madson and Geary to come in.  You  know when your bullpen has hit rock bottom when there is a groan from the home crowd when someone comes in.  Pat Gillick needs to fix this or we will never see post season action.  Salary cap refuses to go to another game until it gets either, 1. warmer, or 2. the phillies earn their money and win some damn games!

Well, here it is…my blogging thoughts about race.  Today, we have the dismissal of the “duke rape case”, the suspensions of “pacman” Jones and Chris Henry, and also the “nappy headed hos” of Rutgers via Imus.  So, where do I start?  Let’s take them one at a time and then give a whole big summary at the end. 

First, the Duke case.  People’s poor life choices and lack of personal responsibilty was about 100 percent of this story.  The “victim” made poor life choices and now has to dance half naked to feed her illegitimate children.  The Lax players made a poor choice of hiring a drunk stripper to a drunken frat party.  And DA Nifong lacked personal responsibilty to just drop the case, but his ego got in the way of his better judgement.  Nothing to do with race or class, just idiots all the way around and everyone got exactly what they desreved for making their choices.  Has everything to do with sports and why we treat them differently in our society.  You never here about the computer club’s stripper party.  And do NOT get me started on the racist Jesse Jackson.

The second is the suspensions dealt out by the Commish on “pacman” Jones and Chris Henry.  You know, when the rest of the league turns on you and says you deserved to be punished for your actions, you really f***ed up.  I mean, you have the “murderer” Ray Lewis saying these guys are out of control.  I want to know where is the outcry, the outrage, the anything from left-wing liberals about how these guys are being singled out because of their race.  How about the black community saying these guys are giving “African-Americans”(I am an american, not any other bullshit nationality) a bad name?  How about the black community saying these guys should be punished at all?  Where is the outrage on this?

Third, Imus.  Just goes to show you that ignorance comes in all shapes.  He certainly has the shock part down of his title shock jock.  A wonderful team puts together a cinderella run and they get called names for it?  Are we back in the sixties?  Imus has no personally responsibilty and deserves everything he has sown with that one comment.  Rutgers, you ladies are my reason for even watching women’s basketball this year.  Take a bow.

So, in summation, race is stupid.  Life choices and personal responsibilty are not.  Sports creates headlines in our society today because we lack real heroes and leadership from top to bottom.  Salary cap has dated and been friends with just about every different race out there.  My friends are not determined by their skin color, but by their actions.  Stay in school, get an education, find a job, and work your ass off to achieve your dreams.  There is no easy money and much of the time the pursuit of easy money will make your journey to the dark side complete.   I am now getting down from my soap box. 

I want to go on record and state that the Phillies lost their home opener.  I was met by my coworker who gleefully stated that the Phillies are on pace to be 0-162.  He is about as funny as cancer.

Anyway, mlb salary caps are in full view to start the season.  While the NFl has shown that any of the 32 teams can win from year to year(Detroit being the only team destined to lose as long as Matt is in charge) baseball only has about 10-12 teams realistically with a shot at the title.  So, while I would normally go into the salary cap rant about why baseball is no longer America’s past time, I will instead start to cheer for all the teams with no chance.  I am going to keep an eye on you, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Montreal Expos, er, Washington Nationals.  If these teams have more wins than the Yankees and Red sox, I will be shocked.  Anyone else agree?

Ok, I am going to come out and tell you I hate the Mets.  I hated them since Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez and the rest of those yahoos won the series in 1986.  So, I want to take a look at the respective salary caps of both teams to prove my point that the Mets really do suck.

Since that world series win in 1986, the New York Mets have spent about 250 million dollars more than the Phillies have.  So, looking back over 20 years, the Mets have averaged about 12.5 million dollars more than the Phillies.  This should get you about two quality starting pitchers or one superstar pitcher to take you to the promise land.  What have the Mets done?  Nothing…nada…zip.  The Phillies have the same amount of titles as the Mets got in the same time period.

So, why am I bashing the Mets?  Because I am going to every home Phillies game versus the Mets this year.  I want to be able to tell my Mets friends’ ( whom I believe to be retarded ) that their team not only blows, but spends their money as foolishly as a kid in the candy store.  I would love to hear from the salary cap crowd what they think about the Mets.  God, I hate you Gary Carter. 

Well, here we are.  Spring training.  I was looking over the rosters of all the NL east teams and I cannot help but think this is the phillies year.  The mets have no starting pitching.  While they might win games 10-8, how many 2-1 games are the mets going to win?  I say none.  The braves are still rebuilding.  Maybe one or two years away for them.  Marlins will lose 100 games this year.  Young talent with no direction.  The expos(er…nationals) will be fighting anyone for the basement.  So, I am making a prediction.  Phillies, Mets, braves, expos, and the fish.  This wont even be close.  You have my salary cap guarantee.

Jon Lieber came into camp this spring as the odd man out of the rotation.  He has been linked to many off season trades as a possible bullpen upgrade.  So, if you are bound to be traded, how would you report to camp?  Would you work out and come into camp the best shape of your life?  One to prove to the team that you are dedicated and seriously trying to make the team better.  Two, to showcase your talents so other teams will be willing to redo your contract.

However, Jon decided to come in at 265 pounds.  Out of shape and clearly disinterested in baseball.  Good work Jon.  Way to come through for your family.  Idiot.

I want to be the one to come out abd apologize to anyone who tried to leave a comment here.  I was messing around with a new spam controller and accidently set the thing on killer mode.  I am not sure how long it has been this way, But I have over 400 spam deleted comments on it.  So, if you left a comment, I apologize that it didn’t get posted. 

I blame the guys I work with, but they are programmers and basically get defensive when you say anything to them.  So, salary cap is now back in business and ready to field questions once again.  Thank you for your patience.

I just wanted to place a title there that would make you think that the Phillies have a problem with money.  Seriously, the phillies are in the best shape(Pat Burrell withstanding) I can ever remember.  We have a pethora of starting pitchers.  The infield may be the most explosive offensively in the whole MLB.  Ryan Howard is going to be making chump change for what he brings to the table.  The middle is great defensively and Chase Utley is the best second baseman in baseball today.

 So I see Jimmy rollins has taken some heat for saying that the phillies are going to win the NL east.  Well, he didnt really say that, but who cares.  I am thankful that the phillies finally have some attitude to go with their talent.  I say talk tough now, because you might end up like the Chicago cubs and lose 100 games.  Salary cap is very happy to see teammates like closer Tom “flash” gordon backup rollins comments with a of course we are going to kick ass.  Just look at this team.  Lets pray the bullpen finds someone off the street that gives a once in a lifetime yearly performance.  If not, we are going to have to score 9 runs a game to make sure the bull pen doesn’t blow it.  Thats it for now.  If you want to see more baseball, got to this site.

Salary cap is amazed at the status of baseball.  One look at it and you can see why a salary cap is needed.  The chance of a lower payroll winning it all gets less and less every year.  With that being said, I think only 8 teams have a realistic shot at winning the title this year.  The Phillies are one only because of their fanatastic farm system.  But, how many times can you develop players like Chase Utley and Ryan Howard and Cole Hamels year after year.  Salary cap has decided that one look tells the whole picture of the haves and have nots.

1 New York Yankees $194,663,079
2 Boston Red Sox $120,099,824
3 Los Angeles Angels $103,472,000
4 Chicago White Sox $102,750,667
5 New York Mets $101,084,963
6 Los Angeles Dodgers $98,447,187
7 Chicago Cubs $94,424,499
8 Houston Astros $92,551,503
9 Atlanta Braves $90,156,876
10 San Francisco Giants $90,056,419
11 St. Louis Cardinals $88,891,371
12 Philadelphia Phillies $88,273,333
13 Seattle Mariners $87,959,833
14 Detroit Tigers $82,612,866
15 Baltimore Orioles $72,585,582
16 Toronto Blue Jays $71,915,000
17 San Diego Padres $69,896,141
18 Texas Rangers $68,228,662
19 Minnesota Twins $63,396,006
20 Washington Nationals $63,143,000
21 Oakland Athletics $62,243,079
22 Cincinnati Reds $60,909,519
23 Arizona Diamondbacks $59,684,226
24 Milwaukee Brewers $57,568,333
25 Cleveland Indians $56,031,500
26 Kansas City Royals $47,294,000
27 Pittsburgh Pirates $46,717,750
28 Colorado Rockies $41,233,000
29 Tampa Bay Devil Rays $35,417,967
30 Florida Marlins $14,998,500

Salary cap wants to be the first to welcome Chase Utley to years of being in Philly.  I hope he has a strong stomach, short memory and invests his money well because the fans in Philadelphia are going to give him the business if he doesn’t live up to the hype of his contract.  Just a side note, Salary cap had to get seats right behind Chase this year so salary cap’s girlfriend could watch him from behind.  Chase came out early before the game and stretched about 20 yards from our seats.  She stared without blinking and never heard a word I said for 5 minutes.  I considered that a small price because it was a win win for everyone involved that day/night.  This is an article showing how much Chase will make.

PHILADELPHIA — Chase Utley is quite comfortable with long-term deals.

One day after getting married, Utley agreed Sunday to an $85 million, seven-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, who can keep three-fourths of their infield in place for the rest of the decade.

“Chase puts up very good individual numbers, but at the same time, he’s a team player,” Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said.

Utley hit .309 last season with 40 doubles, 32 homers, 102 RBIs and 131 runs. He also had a 35-game hitting streak that tied for the 10th-longest in major league history and longest by a second baseman.

After making $500,000 last year, Utley gets a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $4.5 million this year, $7.5 million in 2008, $11 million in 2009 and $15 million in each of the final seasons.

“Chase is a pretty special player,” Gillick said. “The commitment speaks for itself.”

Utley, who must pass a physical for the deal to be finalized, would have been eligible for free agency after the 2009 season. Utley was not available for comment because he was on his honeymoon, surely a disappointment for his female fan club, “Chase’s Chicks.”

It is believed the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols is the only other player who got a seven-year contract after just three years of major league service. Pujols and St. Louis agreed to a $100 million, seven-year contract that began in 2004.

“When the Phillies came to us with a multiyear deal of this length and magnitude, it made it very easy for Chase to accept, given that he loves Philadelphia, wanted to stay in Philadelphia and is hoping to retire in Philadelphia,” said Utley’s agent, Arn Tellem. “He is excited about the team’s prospects and nucleus and feels they can be competitive for the term of this contract and beyond, He was very appreciative of the security this early in his career, and he was willing to give the Phillies a break in the free-agent years.”

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins is signed through 2010 (with a club option for 2011) and first baseman Ryan Howard, the NL MVP, isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2011 season.

“Those are the type of guys you want on your club if you’re going to win on a daily basis,” Gillick said of the trio, all All-Stars.

Gillick said the Phillies are in no rush to sign Howard, who hit .313 with 58 homers and 149 RBIs in his first full season as the starting first baseman.

“We think the world of Ryan. He’s a wonderful talent, a wonderful kid,” Gillick said. “Certainly there will be a day where he’ll be rewarded. It might be this year, or it might be down the line.”

Utley also became the 15th player in major league history — and second on the Phillies — to hit .300, and record 200 hits, 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, 40 doubles and 130 runs in one season. He and Hall of Famer Chuck Klein (1930 and 1932) are the only Phillies to accomplish the feat.

Over the past two seasons, Utley led major league second basemen in homers (57), RBIs (197), hits (350) and runs (217). He was Philadelphia’s first-round pick in the 2000 amateur draft.

Philadelphia has two players remaining in arbitration: pitchers Brett Myers and Geoff Geary.