ThePuck

Fine, then they should have bought the freakin ballpark themselves so they wouldn't be expected to fulfill the promises, or rather blatant lies, they told in order to get taxpayers to fit the majority of the bill for the ballpark.

How many of those guys were CFs? How many batted .318 lifetime? How many of them had a batting title, 6 GG, 6 SS, 10 straight AS games? How many had all of that? So he hits .318 lifetime, had a 124 OPS+, was the fastest to 2K hits, and played gold glove CF. Dude was a HOFer

One wonders if, after making his comments, he felt bad and did the political thing. He didn't deny what he had said. Those quotes were accurate. He did later say Vavra helped him with his swing, no doubt, but he said what he said and that's where people are getting the idea that they messed up his approach. I'm not sure that means I'm backing up lying in so much as I'm saying it's possible Hardy did the politcal thing to cover what he had said. I mean, why is one quote accurate, but the next one not or vice versa. Depends on which side of the argument one is on...which side one wants to believe. We don't know which side is true. Now, the other side: SARASOTA, FLA. -- After a long talk with Twins hitting coach Joe Vavra near the batting cage today, Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy clarified his recent comments about the difference between the team’s hitting philosophies. Hardy had said Rod Carew pulled him aside after his first round of batting practice with the Twins and told him to start using the whole field. He said the Orioles told him to go back to pulling the ball the way he did during his best years with the Brewers. After hitting six home runs for the Twins in 2010, Hardy hit a career-high 30 homers last year for the Orioles. “I was talking to Joe about it right now," Hardy said, "and I said, ‘Listen, I hope nothing’s ever come out where I said anything bad or come out like it’s bad.’ Because like we were talking about -- 2010 was a year we were trying to bounce back from 2009, where I had a terrible swing and we worked with a lot of mechanical stuff, and once we kind of knocked that out in 2010, I come here [to the Orioles], and I think I would have done something similar [in 2011] compared to last year if I was still in Minnesota." He sounds a bit confused there, doncha think? He SEEMS to be back-pedaling and not doing a good job.

Ex-Brewer Hardy beginning to feel at home with Orioles

No need to stoop there johnny...

I gave you the only reason I can think of like three times. I'm not sure what else you want from me. Someone else said he might. I said it's possible, but that doesn't mean I think he will...nor do I think there'd be an advantage. I said it was possible.

with few exception, during a 162 game season teams win 50 games and they lose 50 games. It's what you do with the other 62 that makes the difference. But we get it, you don't think we should spend. You'd rather they just pocket the money and have us be even worse than we could be if we spent. So much for their promises...

If he didn't think he was getting what Boras thinks he's worth, he may be convinced to not sign...like last year. Doesn't mean there really is upside. If you follow the conversation, I wasn't the one who originally suggested he might not sign this year...i just gave a possible reason as to why if he didn't. I think he will sign, but if not, that would be the reason...

I never said there was an upside.

He was expected to be the first pick by many, but after statements by Boras, Stros went for a sure thing...Twins followed suit, and on and on till the Pirates took a chance. Boras cried cause he wanted way more money for his guy than was slotted for as the #8 pick. Now Houston has the #1 pick again, like they did last year.

If they aren't willing to pay him what he thinks he's worth?

which is what the plan was last year...and he had Stanford to fall back on. You're right though, he could choose not to sign again...that'd be interesting

Sure

Oh right, my bad...Stros didn't draft him because he (Boras) basically said Appel wouldn't sign with them if he took him. Thanks for the refresher.

The CPU comment wasn't a cheap shot? So you didn't understand what he was saying? I had no issues understanding what he meant. Largely incoherent? Hmmm, that's what Frodaddy said...

And we shoot for pitchers like this every year it seems...and they almost always blow chunks...which may make chunks happy, but the rest of us ticked off

This post is about JJ Hardy. If you're adamant about moving on, why did you even go on this thread? What did you think was being talked about?

I'm hoping Stros draft Appel again and offer him even less than they did last year. That'd be awesome

Think about what our team will look like in 2015. Other than Mauer, almost all of our starters will likely pre-arbitration guys with maybe 1 or 2 1st year arbitration guys mixed in. Do you know what that means for payroll?

2015 would be a dream as well. Most of out better prospects should be up by then (with the probable exception of Berrios and Buxton), but that is hardly gonna make them automatically competitive. Gonna take some time after that

He's giving you carp for your spelling and sentence structure even though he likely understands what you mean. Just more cheap shots.

except it's not like they put the money aside for the next year...like, okay, we cut payroll from 112M to 94M and now to 80M. They aren't gonna spend 112 plus the additional 32M saved over the last two years. There is no reason to believe they'll put that money aside to spend in 'contending years' which his likely 2017 at the very earliest.

If Florimon was anywhere near the defensive player Ryan normally is, I'd be fine with him not hitting that much.

'In their weekly podcast, John Bonnes and Aaron Gleeman addressed the same topic and discussed how the team's projected payroll ($78.5 million) is essentially the same as the 2007 opening day payroll of $71 million.' If you look at standard inflation that's true...when you consider players salaries have risen at a higher rate than standard inflation, we're behind 2007 payroll. Now, imagine if Morny gets traded. We'd have payroll in the mid-60s.

I'd be shocked if either was pitching for us before mid-July 2014...that's the very earliest...figure more like 2015