The Soft Pretzel Factory

You know when things aren't going your way? When you try to throw a FF game and your team scores two TDs in the first quarter of the Thursday night game. Grrrr.

Anyways, it is very slow now in the Philadelphia sports world as the vultures continue to circle and have started to peck at Donovan McNabb to see if still able to fight back. So as opposed to ranting about one issue, I will take on a few issues.

According to Jayson Stark, there are six teams trying to sign Randy Wolf but the Phillies amped up their pursuit this week by getting nearly every one of their top executives on the phone with him personally.

I'm glad that Pat Gillick and the Phillies are modeling their free agency pursuits after the college football recruiting process. I think the next step is for them to give his brother a job as the assistant athletic director. Seriously, if they want to sign Wolf, give him a two year deal. But don't leak stories like these to Jayson Stark. It just makes the Phillies front office come off more out of touch than they even are.

Recent internet rumors have Andre Miller being traded to the Miami Heat for Jason Williams.

You know when would have been a good time to trade Andre Miller? Six months ago before the draft to a team like the Atlanta Hawks who had two first round picks and really needed a point guard. But why get maximum value for one of your assets when you can wait a year and get fifty cents on the dollar? That's Billy King's motto and he's sticking to it.

Miller is averaging 5.1 assists per 40 minutes. That is two assists lower than his previous career low. While his shooting percentage has been decent, his value lies in the fact that he is a traditional point guard. And those skills are obviously starting to deteriorate. As opposed to getting actual value for Miller, the Sixers will probably end up taking expiring contracts so Billy King can figure out a way to further screw up the Sixers 2008 off-season.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News worthless new Phillies beat writer Steve King, the Phillies are rumored to be interested in trading for Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora.

In order to "break" this story, Steve King took a story from the Baltimore Sun and reprinted it. This would work in 1987 when people outside of Baltimore did not have access to the Baltimore Sun. Unfortunately the year is 2007 and we all have the Internet.

Now as far as Melvin Mora goes, there is one interesting fact about him that stands out to me: He stinks. He stunk last year and he stunk in 2006. His last good year was 2005. MLB started testing for performance enhancing drugs after 2005. Coincidence? Maybe, but I like accusing rich people of illegalities so bare with me. He will also be 36 at the start of this season and has two years left on his contract for a total of 18 million dollars.

Even when Aaron Rowand leaves, the Phillies will still have a good offense. Will it be head and shoulders above the rest of the NL like it was last year? Probably not. But the slight upgrade that Mora provides over the Phillies' current options is definitely not worth paying 9 million a year for.

Last night against the Utah Jazz, Willie Green went to the free throw line a season high 7 times, making 6 of them.

He also went 2-10 from the field to reduce his shooting percentage on the year to a chilly .376. For the year, Whistlin Willie is averaging a scorching 0.95 points per shot attempt. If the Sixers as a team averaged 0.95 points per shot attempt, they would score 75 points a night. Willie also currently ranks 258th out of 300 players in John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Ratings.

Seriously, can the Sixers just trade Miller, sit Green and see if Louis Williams and Iguodala can play in the back court together? Enough already.