Some thoughts while doing jury duty

I am currently sitting in the jury waiting room of the Clara Shortridge Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.

My civic duty has called and I have to sit bored out of my skull waiting for my number to be called in a potential criminal case.

They've called for 2 different pools of jurors and so far your pal Sully has been left out of the fun. They have WiFi, but certain sites are banned. Like Facebook and YouTube. But NOT Blogger. So while I wait my chance to try and get out of a trial, I will keep you, my dear readers, up to date.


DODGERS... YOU ARE NOT CONTENDERS!

There is some serious denial in the people calling into the Dodger talk shows in Los Angeles. People are talking about making a deal or two to put them back into contention. REALLY? The pick up of Juan Rivera isn't helping matters.

Even without the extremely odd circumstances regarding this team, they are one of the truly crappy teams in baseball. They are a modest losing streak from the basement of the NL West. Only the Padres, Cubs, Astros, Royals and Orioles are worse than the Dodgers. And what kind of run can they go on against the Giants, Braves and Phillies. Remember those are the teams they are chasing. If they can't catch them, then why build for now?

They are 14 games behind the Giants.
That is TWO WEEKS of games behind the Giants. They only have 11 weeks left and they have to hope the Giants drop the equivalent of 2 weeks of games MORE than the Dodgers.

And they are closer to the Giants than they are to the Braves.

Even without the extreme circumstances of the current Dodger situation, this is a lost season. Add in the misery of payroll and the stench of the entire season, and the Dodgers should break this team up out of mercy. I'm serious. Deal Kemp. Deal Kuroda. Deal Ethier.

Keep Billingsley and Kershaw because they are the foundations of the pitching staff of the future. But trade everything else save for Vin Scully's microphone.

The only people showing up to Dodger games are the die hard fans. Out of MERCY kill this season and let them see the future of the team. Out of DECENCY have the next generation of Dodgers have their growing pains NOW.

The Dodgers will get new management and new hope soon. Give a glimpse of 2012 and beyond and bury 2011 as deeply as possible.


THE PIRATES ARE SHOPPING... HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

Personally I would love to see the Pirates make a run at Carlos Beltran. Seriously, have him pull a "2004 Astros" and play amazingly well for a few months, help the Pirates into the playoffs and pick up a few draft picks when he skedaddles.

It is more likely someone like Conor Jackson will be heading to the Pirates. But even THAT is a change in culture. Usually the end of July is the time for Pirate fans to say good bye to old friends. The fact that a reliever like Koji Uehara could be going TO Pittsburgh is enough to have Clint Hurdle the front runner for Manager of the Year.


BIG MARKET SMALL MARKET...

We will hear the familiar refrains about big market teams swallowing up all the players from small market teams this year... and I bet NOBODY will see the irony that the Pirates are shoppers and the Mets, Cubs and Dodgers are sellers.


HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM

I feel badly for Brad Mills and Ed Wade of the Astros. They truly suck. And the Astros farm system truly sucks. And they have to trade Wandy Rodriguez and Brett Myers. And they will also probably have to deal Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn.

But with new ownership coming in, they have about as much chance of keeping their jobs as I have replacing Heath Ledger in the next Batman movie.

Even if they make a trade getting all the best prospects in baseball including Bryce Harper, they will be shown the door. And if those trades pan out, whoever the next GM and manager are will reap the benefits and praise. "Man, the team is so much better since Mills and Wade left



All these thoughts are going through my head... as I wait... and wait... and wait for my number to be called.

I have nothing against Brad Mills but...

The All Star break can be very cruel for slumping managers. It is a natural transition time and a point where if a change has to be made, it will be as smooth as it can be.

Which brings us to Brad Mills.
It is NOT his fault that the Astros suck, but MAN they are a big ole pile of suck.

Their pitching sucks, their bullpen is Godawful and I hate to say it, but they may have to deal Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn. They might be the only chips that have any value. If they can flip two players for a pair of players each, they might have four players to build from.

Either way, the Astros are the worst team in baseball.

They look like they have a clear run at the #1 pick over all in next June's draft.

And oh yeah. They have a new owner coming in.

All of these point to Brad Mills having to get his resume ready.

I am not saying he's not a good baseball mind. He clearly is with his time on Terry Francona's coaching staff.

I am not saying he isn't a potentially good manager.

And I am not blaming him for the current state of the Astros.

All I am saying is when the worst team in baseball enters the All Star break knowing that new owners are on their way, it is a rotten chain of events for the current manager.

The current ownership gets to show the fans that they are still trying and the new ownership would have no issues dumping an interim manager.

If he had a long track record, then he might be safe. But it is easier to dump someone with only a year and a half on their resume.

What I'll say is this: Brad Mills will probably get axed and will eventually get another managing gig. (If Jim Riggleman and his nondescript resume was good to get hired over and over again, then Brad Mills will do fine.)

And one more thing.

Astros bench coach Al Pedrique might be getting a new gig!

When a manager gets canned, they usually take a look at the bench coach to take over temporarily. Bittersweet but good news for Al!

And guess what? He has managerial experience. When the Diamondbacks dumped (unfairly in my view) Bob Brenly, Pedrique managed the team the rest of the way in 2004.

He wasn't exactly John McGraw. He went 22-61 in those 83 games, but hey! He wasn't dealing with a great team either.

A nice blow out

Man the Astros are a special kind of suck this year.
And in a way it is too bad because old friend Brad Mills is stuck managing the worst team in baseball and will probably get the axe.

It's not HIS fault that his team stinks.
But it IS the good fortune for the Red Sox that they suck.

A 5-3 Red Sox lead never seemed in danger... mainly because you knew the bullpen was going to cough up some runs, which they did.

And Andrew Miller continues to pay dividends and it didn't cost the Sox the equivalent of Miguel Cabrera to get him! (Sorry Marlins.)

Go for the sweep tomorrow, Beckett. Don't fool around. These guys stink.

Cyrano De Varitek

Fans of Sully Baseball know that I refer to Jason Varitek as "The Lobster."

It's a much better nickname than 'Tek.

Well, like Jermaine Dye's time with the White Sox, it looks like the Captain may have played his last game with the Red Sox.

It wasn't even in the playoffs as he rode the pine all three games against the Angels this October.

The Sox declined his $5 million option and now Varitek is mulling over his $3 million player option. Now I can't imagine he is going to get more than that in the open market.

But I think the Red Sox should bring him back for $5 million.

Just not as a player.

About a year ago, I dropped the suggestion of making him a player coach.

Now I want to drop the player part and just keep him as a coach.

We keep hearing about he handles pitchers well and calls a good game...
He just can't hit anymore.

Well guess what? There is a spot on Tito Francona's bench!
Brad Mills is the new manager of the Astros. He was the Red Sox bench coach.

Make Jason Varitek the bench coach!
Have him call the game from the bench. Have Victor Martinez look over for each pitch.

Basically Varitek will be pulling a Cyrano de Bergerac and we get the bat of Martinez and the pitching mind of Varitek.

And yeah, I think that is worth $5 million.

Seriously, they spent $14 million last year on Julio Lugo and Brad Penny.

And they were uglier than Cyrano EVER was!