XM MLB Chat

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Eric Karabell of ESPN.com with Jeff Erickson on XM discuss Phillies

Eric will consider it a good year if the Phillies put together 90 wins. Moving the fences back won't have much effect on their hitters as most are lefty power; may get 1-2 fewer homeruns from righty Pat Burrell. Will mainly help pitchers & their attitude. Bullpen has questions with a bunch of people being evaluated for setup roles as well as replacement closer should Tom Gordon get injured. Eric feels they'll get enough innings from Tom Gordon's rebuilt arm, just needs to stay healthy. On building the farm system, Phillies got some good young lefties from the White Sox in the Jim Thome deal. Also worthy in minors are Gavin Floyd & Chris Booker. The team now has a log jam at 3rd base & needs to get a 5th outfielder. Of general interest, a caller mentioned fantasy team he'd been happily using for 16 years has closed down, due to its owner not wishing to pay a license fee to MLB to stay in business. In conversation with another caller, it appears the fantasy league in question was owned by Bill James. MLB has been taken to court by fantasy leagues over this issue, but the fallout has begun. UPDATE---Thanks to an alert expert in the business, the info is the fantasy league that closed down was owned by STATS, Inc., & Bill James isn't known to have been an owner, but may have had an association with them.

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4 Comments:

  • Quick clarification:

    Bill James lent his name to the game (and might have had a hand in creating it), but the owner/operator was Stats Inc.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:16 PM  

  • I was surprised Eric did not speak as highly of Cole Huh-MELS (not HAM-uls).

    I see the possibility of him filling a Ryan Madsen role in middle relief.

    Any chance XM/MLB will replay your show during the evening hours, so I can record it (along with Jim Cramer's Mad Money)?

    I cannot always count on getting lunch while at work.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:04 AM  

  • I think he got a little rushed on Hamels and the prospects in general. Hamels is the one that really needs to work on:

    a) staying healthy for a full season
    b) staying out of trouble - remember, his 2004 season was delayed because of his involvement in a bar fight.

    As far as the replay goes, every time I have a conference call with the program director, I bring it up. They're working on having a weekend replay at some point - I'll be sure to announce it when I have more details. In the meantime, e-mail them to let them know you want that option at: mlb@xmradio.com

    Thanks!

    JE

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:49 AM  

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    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:21 PM  

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