We finally have the return of Formula 1 tonight with the Australian Grand Prix. So, in case you’ve never seen a full onboard camera view, here’s a hot lap with Jenson Button at Mount Panorama (Bathurst).
This is not a video game. This is what the drivers see while on the track. It’s the best motor sport on the planet and NASCAR fans can just go suck it.
For those of you that know me, I never wanted Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo resigned. I said it would be a mistake to do so. I was happy knowing their contracts were up. Then, former general manager Omar Minaya resigned both to gigantic contracts. They got rewarded for mediocre play. I was angry. I knew things wouldn’t go well and they haven’t. Their performances over the past few years have been disgraceful. I don’t care if they had potential. Potential shouldn’t get you $12 million and $6 million, respectively, per year. Potential gets you league minimum.
In one of his last outings as a Met, Perez said a few things that leads people to conclude that he just doesn’t care or just doesn’t get it.
“People can say a lot of stuff,” Perez said. “I did everything I can. It’s one of those days. You’re going to have really bad days. I know I don’t want to have a really bad day, but I think it’s one of those days. I just have to come here tomorrow and try to get better.”
The problem is, Perez has been saying this same thing for several years in one form or another. You never know what you’re going to get when he gets on the mound. It’s usually something awful. That’s why he was put in the bullpen last year and hardly used. Every day is a bad day for Ollie. He’s not going to get any better.
In seven Grapefruit League outings — two as a starter — Perez has posted an 8.38 ERA with six strikeouts, eight walks and 13 hits in 9 2/3 innings (numbers strikingly similar to those produced in the Mexican Winter League). His fastball velocity on Saturday never climbed higher than 87 mph, also typical of his recent work.
With such performances in Spring Training and winter ball, Perez should never have been a candidate for a spot on the rotation. The Mets had to face facts. They had to cut Perez and eat the $12 million. You can’t put a guy like this into the rotation. With thirty starts a year, the team would not have been able to pick him up every single game. Keeping Perez and putting him in the rotation would have meant at least twenty losses for the Mets. That’s a hard pill to ask players to swallow when they’d like to win.
Yes, I’m happy both players were cut. No, the Mets aren’t going to win the World Series this year. They probably won’t even make the playoffs, but when you’re trying to cut players who are mediocre and useless, sometimes you have to eat the contracts of your predecessors and move on. The Mets need to rebuild. Now is as good a time as any to replenish the farm system and start building a solid team.
This is a nice little video for Robert Kubica. I hope that he gets well soon and that he’ll be able to drive in F1 again.
For those of you who don’t follow racing, Robert Kubica was rallying in the off-season of Formula One when his car hit a guard rail and flew off the road into a building. He had to be cut from his car and they did not think he would live.
When they knew he would live, they weren’t sure if his right hand could be saved. It was nearly severed off. Now, everyone is happy his life and his hand has been saved and are wishing him a speedy recovery.
It’s no secret I hate the Wilpons. They have mismanaged the NY Mets for many years now, spending millions on old players and giving even more millions to players that aren’t qualified at their positions. Players, such as Luis Castillo, should never have been given a contract. Now, these sorts of decisions are coming back to haunt the Wilpons.
Because the Wilpons were involved with Bernie Madoff and it’s been reported that they actually made money, investors who got screwed are reported to be suing the Wilpons for $1 billion.
The New York Times, citing a source, reported Irving Picard, the trustee charged with recovering funds for Madoff victims, could be seeking as much as $1 billion from the Wilpon family in the sealed lawsuit, by taking into account their conduct in addition to actual Ponzi scheme gains.
“I think [Fred Wilpon] has a very serious problem,” the newspaper quoted the source. “If that’s true, he might have to sell the Mets.”
If this is true and the investors win, Fred Wilpon will be forced to sell the Mets. The first signs that there is money trouble is that the Mets recently announced they are seeking to sell a minority stake in the Mets. While a new own could be worse, I really don’t see how you could get much worse than what the Wilpons have done to the Mets over the last ten years.
Every year, a bunch of dorks sit around contemplating what their teams will do during the off-season. If you’re a Mets fan like me, you know it’s just going to suck. It’s partly the fault of the Wilpon’s incompetence and partly the fault that the Wilpons lost a lot of money to Bernie Madoff. They have said over and over it won’t affect who they go after, but it does, as evidenced by the garbage we have on the team right now. Anyway, here’s how the Major League Baseball off-season is usually conducted these days.
