-=> Quoting Ed Grinnell to Stephen Frazier <=-
 EG> Stephen was waived by Sparky Anderson and then ranted:
 SF> the other two. Either way, the Braves did better than the Pirates during
 SF> the B&B era, and they didn't even have any such superstars.
 EG> Bonilla was there for 2 of the 3 division championships and Bonds was
 EG> there for all three.
Exactly! And which team did better?
 EG> Atlanta beat them both times in 7 games so it's not like the Braves
 EG> were chewing them up and spitting them out. As for the superstar
 EG> comment, maybe you should go back and look at both rosters.
The Braves may have had STARS from 90'-93, but no SUPER stars. Teh superstars 
they have now were not yet shining so bright. The Pirates didn't many 
superstars either, but they had more established STARS, which cost them a lot 
more money than the Bravos were getting.
 SF> Incredible for anyone, really.
SF> All this talk about revenue and attendence. What did they do in the post
 SF> season?
 EG> Winning? Irrelevant, especially when you consider that they haven't
 EG> been there since that time and it had been years since their last trip
 EG> to the post season. Factor in the post season and the revenue
 EG> generated favors the team with B&B even more.
Winning is irrelevant? Well, the Yankees have even LESS post season 
experience 
during the same period, but look at how many rings THEY have.
 SF> Nuts. Its not like they could have earned such wages elsewhere.
 EG> Baloney. If they had let things go their natural course, Baerga and
 EG> Belle would have made a hell of a lot more through arbitration and
 EG> free agency.
Belle was out there a long time. If there was more money, why didn't he get 
it? Not even Cleveland would offer more.
 SF> I see Glavine dominate a game like John does now and then. I see Maddox
 SF> do it more often than that, but I have never seen either of them
 SF> dominate a whole season the way Smoltzie did this year.
SF> I would not pay those guys SMOLTZ money unless they gave me a SMOLTZ
 SF> year.
 EG> They've BOTH had Smoltz years. God, this is getting as bad as the Nomo
 EG> argument. They're BOTH worth more than Smoltz.
You are talking about past history. I'm talking about TODAY. No pitcher in 
baseball is as good as John Smoltz TODAY.
SF> still don't. Albert Belle can drive in a bunch of runs but he doesn't
 SF> have one pitching victory to his name. Someone has to pitch.
 EG> He doesn't have to pitch. They stand to lose a good pitcher, however,
 EG> they've got more in their system and they've still got enough money
 EG> left over to buy another one if he leaves.
All that's fine, but they need the victories NOW, not later. And Belle STILL 
can't pitch.
Stephen
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