Matt Cain of the Giants signed a contract for $127 million a few days ago, which will run through 2017. With his record of 12-11 last year, I can only say that something is very wrong! What would they pay him if his record was 20-3?

Some day the salary of a player will be so high that he will own the team! Then how do they pay the other players? :)


>I suppose there are exceptions but I don't believe athletes stop trying as hard when they get a big contract. They still have their pride and still want to excel. Besides, Lincecum has always made good money AFAIK.
>
>Joe Torre, who was an outstanding player as well as a successful manager with the Yankees and other teams, said one of the reasons he could relate to players was having been a player himself. He said I hit .363 one year and .270 the next and knew I was trying just as hard both seasons.
>
>Roger Craig was the top pitcher on the godawful New York Mets when they were an expansion team. His record was 10-24 and 5-22 their first two seasons. It's rare for a pitcher to lose 20 games -- this sounds weird but you have to be a pretty good pitcher to do so -- much less do it twice. That was a legendarily bad team. (Six years later they won the World Series, which is a lot better than the Cubs).
>
>>We had a AAA Baseball Team in San Francisco, called the Seals, before the Giants came to town in 1958. When the Giants would loose, my grandfather would say, “Bring back the Seals”!
>>
>>Tim Lincecum received a $40.5 million 2 year contract, and enjoys a 10.54 ERA. Now if the Giants would pay him some “real money”, he would start winning! :)
>>
>>There is something basically wrong with all professional sports. It has to do with money. Talk about overpriced entertainment and greed.
>>
>>
>>Roger Craig was the San Francisco Giant manager from 1986 – 1992. He was a pitcher when he played baseball. After a starter would pitch one or two innings, he would be pulled. Craig did not want to have a pitcher injure his arm. It drove me crazy seeing pitchers rotate so often. The Giants under Craig posted a 72–90 record.
>>
>>As for Wilson, he is interesting to watch and fans have great expectations of him. He had a similar injury 9 years ago while attending Louisiana State University, requiring elbow reconstruction. Now they are saying he pitched too much in 2010. Once you have an injury you have a life long problem.
>>
>>I cannot blame Bruce Bochy for what happened to Brian Wilson. Wilson told Bochy he was all right. If you pay these guys a few million dollars to play ball they should have enough sense to say they have a problem. Mocho mocho man…
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Switching to a more amiable topic: baseball. Well, more amiable usually. I said to Tamar yesterday that the baseball gods are p**sing on me. I think you know who my two favorite players are. Ryan Braun is now a pariah, probably for the rest of his career, and Tim Lincecum is getting rocked every time out. He has started three times and has as many bad starts as he normally has in a season.
>>>
>>>I wish I could have given Braun some advice last fall. He would be a lot better off now. As it is everyone thinks he is guilty and got off on a technicality. It would have been far better IMO to take the 50 game suspension, admit he was doping with whatever it was, and say he made a mistake. He could go around, on his own dime, telling young athletes I was wrong and please don't make the same mistake I did. People will forgive someone who admits they were wrong and is repentant. What they don't like is a liar.
>>>
>>>While eating my dinner one night last week I watched some of the Brewers' road opener at Wrigley Field. Braun was booed and mocked mercilessly. As you know, he was previously one of the most popular players in baseball, the golden child. This was a whole new ballgame. The camera caught one sign with pictures of Braun and Barry Bonds and the caption "Two of a kind." This is going to be the rest of his career if he doesn't repent.
>>>
>>>Lincecum, I haven't turned on him, he is just getting knocked around. I have to think there is something wrong with his arm. People have always said his pitching motion is so unorthodox it's inevitable that he will have arm trouble. For sure it isn't normal for a guy who weighs 160 or 170 to throw the ball close to 100 mph. The Freak, they call him. Unfortunately he doesn't play for a manager who coddles his pitchers. I am FURIOUS at Bruce Bochy. The other night he put closer Brian Wilson (no, not that one) out there back to back in early April, throwing 32 pitches in the second game. Guess what? His arm is blown and he is gone for the season, at least. Managerial malpractice.
>>>
>>>We should figure out a way to take in a game one of these days. Maybe even a minor league game. I could go for a weekend road trip sometime this summer. Maybe if we play our cards right we can talk Tamar (and others) into it. Tamar and I have batted around the idea of taking in a game at Miller Park or Citizens Bank Park. (Ballpark names have lost their poetry, but never mind). They both have the same incredibly cool tradition at Sunday afternoon home games. Kids whose names are drawn by lottery stand next to the position players for the national anthem. Their names and home towns are announced. Can you imagine how cool that is if you're a 10 year old kid, standing on the field next to Ryan Howard or whoever?