The Mailbag

Let’s get things started and dive right in to the Mailbag.

Why does Jim Hendry feel the need to keep reminding us that Dusty’s job is safe for the rest of the year? I expect the media to be the ones that keep reminding us all, not the GM.- Mike

That point is exactly why I expect to see Dusty fired before the end of the season. Not only are the journalists bringing it up, but the man deciding Dusty’s future is as well. Although I don’t feel sorry for Dusty, he is taking too much of the blame. Basically, the entire organization, from the owners, front office, coaches, and players have sucked. I’ll put more of an emphasis on the people making the decisions.

I’m sure that you have been asked on numerous occasions, who would you take, Wade or LeBron. I have little different question. If you were building your franchise around a post player, who in the group of Yao Ming, Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire, and Greg Oden would you take?- Jonathan

First off, great question. I’ll start by throwing out Greg Oden. Sure, he is a great high school player, but I want to see him at least play against collegiate athletes. I’m not much of an Amare fan either, mainly because that knee injury. He is a big time player when healthy, but I want a player that I know will be there.

That leaves Yao and Dwight. A great center up against a great power forward. Yao Ming is, right now, a 22 and 10 performer. He is a very good scorer, and plays good defense. Meanwhile, Dwight Howard is already considered great at least one thing, rebounding. He still isn’t a skilled scorer, but was able to average nearly 16 points just on physical ability alone.

In the end, the difference is upside an potential. Dwight Howard is 5 years younger than Yao Ming. Dwight is entering his third season at the same time Yao would have been entering his rookie campaign. My pick is the Magic’s Dwight Howard.

Carlos Lee was traded to the Rangers earlier in the week. Although trade rumors have run rampant regarding Alfonso Soriano, no deals have been finalized. My question is, who would you rather trade for?- Tomas

This is truly an analysis of their current abilities; they both are 30 years old. Lee and Soriano have nearly identical career batting averages and OPS. Both have big time power. This is basically about the type of baseball player I want. Soriano doesn’t drive in as many RBIs, but he has nearly twice as many steals. For me, Alfonso Soriano is the one I would choose. Considering it is just his first year in the outfield, he has shown flashes that he could become a very good defensive player. Plus, I’m a sucker for speed.

How shocked were you that Floyd Landis failed his doping test with that high ratio of testosterone? It was completely unexpected to me, especially just a few days after I saw his mom interviewed.- Chuck

I was on the computer messing with the site when my brother game in, and said that Floyd Landis failed his drug test. Let’s just say I thought he was yankin’ my chain. When just comparing the shock of it, Floyd Landis failing the drug test was on level of finding out Kirby Puckett died. Call me stupid, but I thought Landis was clean, but it just goes to show my judgement isn’t spectacular with the lesser sports.

Whatever happened to the People’s Champ, Fred-Ex? Last I heard of Freddie Mitchell he was busy getting cut by the Chiefs.- Drew

I was thinking the same thing today. I was watching the CFL on Comcast today (I think it was Montreal versus Edmonton) when I saw a wide receiver with the last name of Mitchell. I hoping it might be our very own Fred-Ex, but, unfortunately, it was some Mookie guy. I decided to try Google searching him (with no such luck). I couldn’t find anything about Freddie Mitchell post Kansas City except for story about potentially signing with the Philadelphia Sol of the AFL. If anyone as heard any news about Fred-Ex, please e-mail me. (And hopefully most of you saw who that question was from.)

Do you think it’s that big of a deal that Reggie Bush hasn’t signed a contract? It’s only, what, two days into training camp? ESPN, lay off the guy!- Chad

Regarding ESPN, they are just busy making a story out of nothing. It isn’t even close to being as big of a deal as they are making it out to be. If he gets into the Cedric Benson level (over30 days of hold outs), come talk. Anyways, hopefully he gets in there soon since he will have to learn some running back and wide receiver sets.

That’s it for the Mailbag. If you want to be heard, e-mail me at sportssphereandbeyond@yahoo.com . I am also looking for people that are interested in writing for their favorite NBA team on ProjectNBA.