So I have mono and Im out of work for about 3 weeks so im sitting at home watching sports and lookin at stupid stuff on the internet.

When it hits me, when is Sheffield going to retire, he can not swing the bat as fast as he used to be able to, doesnt get the respect / walks, and may be losing his eye becuase he cant hit anything on the inside of the plate a.k.a. cant get the bat around anymore.

If he retires, and he is broke down, I seriously dont see how he can play another year and we save 14 million dollars! thats a whole hell of a alot of change. At this rate it will take him 3 more years to hit his 500 homerun /hall of fame dream, but roids will keep him out.

Could we throw that at a starting pitcher like a Ben Sheets (Age 30) or CC Sabathia (Age 28 ) (free agent to be, both from the Brewers.)

If these go for an average of this per season (see below), why cant we throw some change at another ace, God knows we need it! Plus Rick Porchelo is supossidy up and coming!

Name -------- Per Year Avg - Contract Lngth
Johan Santana, $22,916,667 (2008-13)
Carlos Zambrano, $18,300,000 (2008-12)
Barry Zito, $18,000,000 (2007-13) <----- BUST
Jake Peavy, $17,333,333 (2010-12)
Andy Pettitte, $16,000,000 (2008)
Jason Schmidt, $15,666,667 (2007-09) <---BUST
Mike Hampton, $15,125,000 (2001-08 ) <---BUST
Roy Oswalt, $14,600,000 (2007-11)
Mark Buehrle, $14,000,000 (2008-11)
John Smoltz, $14,000,000 (2008)
Roy Halladay, $13,333,333 (2008-10)
Pedro Martinez, $13,250,000 (2005-08 ) <---- Semi BUST
Randy Johnson, $13,000,000 (2007-08 )
Chris Carpenter, $12,700,000 (2008-11) <---- Semi Bust (Injury, doing great b4)
Bronson Arroyo, $12,500,000 (2009-10) <---- Reds Are Stupid
Kevin Millwood, $12,000,000 (2006-10) <----- BUST

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And if we cant get those go after a new DH in Adam Dunn (Age 29) to replace Sheffield, he strikes out alot but the man is a homerun machine...

So please do not hate on my pipe dream, maybe the mono is getting to my head

I appreciate your looking at this,

MK

What incentive does he have to retire and throw away $14 million dollars???

We might be able to buy him out, but I can't see him walking away from that money on his own... You can say he should/could do it to save face, but worst comes to worst, if I were him I'd play sick. Baseball K's are guaranateed, and IMO that mistake is on Dombrowski, not Sheff. If I were him, to "save face" I would simply play sick all of next year, rather than walk away from the $14 mill.

Yeah but hes embarrassing himself, its sad, they showed his hotzone on the Fox national game 2day against the Twins, and the whole thing was almost blue cuz he sucked so bad...lol

Im tossing around the idea of buying out Edgar Rentaria with the 3 million that we can use which is in the contract. Put Inge @ Short

Joyce(L/R) / Rayburn (R/R) maybe even Freddy Guzman (S/R) Platoon in Left. Thames (R/R) @ DH? I really like this Joyce kid, I just dont think hes ready 2 do it on his own yet.

Batting Order '09
1 - CF - Granderson L/R
2 - 2B - Polonco R/R
3 - 3B - Guillen S/R
4 - RF - Ordonez R/R
5 - 1B - Cabrera R/R
6 - DH - Thames R/R
7 - SS - Renteria R/R
8 - C - Rodriguez R/R
9 - LF - Joyce L/R

Besides being a righty heavy lineup it doesnt look bad, but im sure you can move it around abit. Like Joyce in the 7 Hole

Im starting to think that maybe Thames will be moved before the deadline. If Dombrowski doesnt think we have a shot at catching the White Sox and Twins in the 2nd half. The Twins series really showed our age. They have a bunch of young guys with fresh legs and energy and we just looked like an old team. I can see us trading Thames to make room for Clete Thomas or Matt Joyce as a regular player. I hope they buy out Renteria and let Santiago play short next year until Iorg is ready to play from the minors.