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Hey guys, sorry I just found this now but I can give ya some info on Floyd and Madson (maybe even Lieber too)...

Floyd came up too early. Period. His #s in the minors seemed to show he was ready going into '05, but two good pitches does not an MLB starter make. Good good info here, start at "Gavin Floyd, oh my:

http://www.philliesflow.com/100306.html

Madson is a bit of a different story, he came up in late '03 and worked his way in '04 into the 7th-8th inning setup man role. Apart from one horrific start at the White Sox he put up very good numbers his first two seasons, but started making noises this winter about wanting to start and ended up in our rotation instead. BAD bad bad idea. Typical Ryan Madson start:

http://www.philliesflow.com/072606.html#072606

Both of these guys are still young, cheap, and potentially very good pitchers. Madson is fine so long as he is used in relief only; NYers may remember the May game that Beltran won with a HR off of Madson in the 16th inning but conveniently ignore the seven scoreless innings he had already thrown to that point. Floyd is more of a reclamation project, but is also younger and has shown considerable talent at times.

Lieber you know what you are getting, at least those of you who have not blocked out all of 2004. He has come up big in September in both of his years with the Phils, but has his troubles in the months before then, ideally you have the offense to hide that and that seems to be a Yankee specialty these days.

The reason the Yankees would want to pick him up is because your rotation is basically Wang and little else. Do you really want to count on Randy Johnson as a #2? Is Mussina willing to accept less than the $7.5m that Lieber is under contract for? Do you want to bid crazily on Matsuzaka and risk another Hideki Irabu moment? Or is the best bet to rid yourselves of Sheffield and bring back a starter who has already proven himself in pinstripes?

I hope this helps..

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As for Sheff, he will likely be traded. But if not, what's the harm. You can't have too many bats in the lineup or on the bench. But he will likely be traded, and has the potential to bring some talent in return. One just has to hope that Cashman holds out for a good deal and doesn't sell too low.

Key is finding that other SP to join Wang. Hopefully its D-Mat.

If Sheff is true to his words, this should be an interesting week... I just hope we get some decent pitching.

No GM or manager will want to go through that. Oh wait, there might be one: Jim Bowden.

Could he retire then play in Japan?

He misrepresented Cashman this spring training saying Cashman promised to pick up his option when I guarantee Cashman said nothing of the sort. Now after a severe injury and hitting crapola in the playoffs Sheffield is going to get paid his option money and he is STILL bitching. The guy would complain about free ice cream on a hot day. I'm done caring what he says about anything. At age 31, Nomar Garciaparra signed a 1 year deal for 1/2 the money Shef under his option at age 37. If the Yankees didn't pick up his option in order to trade him Sheffield would be lucky to sign a two-year deal for the same money. He's just a world class whining diva.

I understand his being upset, but at the end of the day, he will play. He has to, if he wants to get the payday he seeks.

I figure whichever team he gets traded to will throw a bucketfull of loot at him, and he will sign