The Whiny B's

Here are a few recent quotes (courtesy of Callie, who brought them to my attention) to illustrate why I engage in the heresy of calling Biggio and Bagwell the Whiny Bs:

"If you play this game, you're going to struggle at times," Biggio said. "What makes it worse is we're going through a tough time. But you know it's going to turn around. If you give in now, forget about it. That would make it a long season, and I don't want to do that."

"I'm having a tough time right now," Bagwell said. "But I have full confidence that I'll be okay. It's just tough when the rest of the team is struggling. That makes it very difficult for me."

And here is the line that NO Houston sportswriter will pen for some reason:

There is no middle class to bridge the gap. With 30.7 percent of the $64.3-million payroll going to Bagwell and Biggio, there is no room for that type of a player.

Throw in Shane Reynolds's 6.5 million this season, and my quick-and-dirty calculation says the Astros are spending 40% of their payroll on players who are either underperforming, injured, or both. Until recently, Richard Hidalgo would be on that list, but he has been playing pretty well since Jimy Williams benched him several games ago.

The link Callie sent me was actually to a piece on the local television station's website, and that shocked me. As I've noted, it's heresy in this town to print anything negative about the local underachieving heroes. But then I noticed the Dallas Morning News byline on the piece. Of course, a real sports page. And, like the local station that ran it, a Belo affiliate. Because no local sports reporter would do such analysis (except maybe Palillo on the sports talk station).

Those three players remind me a lot of the aging superstars of the Dallas Cowboys in recent years. Jerry Jones overpaid for them at the end of their careers (Deion, Novacek, Haley, Aikman), and last season was the result. At least the Astros haven't sunk to that level. The young pitchers and underpaid talent like Lance Berkman provide some hope for a rebound.

[Posted at 00:34 CST on 06/15/02] [Link]