I Give These Writers an "F"

I'm getting really tired of this nonsense.

It's this inane crap of so-called expert sportswriters (who I consider in the same league with politicians, lawyers and snake oil salesmen like Giuseppe Franco) who feel compelled to give teams "grades" or call what they did or didn't do at the trading deadline either 'winners" or "losers."

Many times they are made to look like fools when down the road the real story unfolds. Right now there is simply no way to judge whether the Red Sox did the right thing or not in trading Manny Ramirez. Not enough time has passed to judge. Management simply couldn't deal with him any more, so it was done. Will Jason Bay do what Manny accomplished in Boston? Probably not. But the move was made for the good of the club and its future. Many have called them "losers" for doing it, because they didn't get back enough for Ramirez and had to sacrifice two young players as well.

Hours and the first days after the deadline ended is no criterion for making a judgment. Do I need to remind these dimwits that everyone seemed to think the Red Sox were big "winners" last July when they swung the deal for Eric Gagne? (No need to rehash what happened after that, as we all know the story.) Or back in 2004, when everyone said the Red Sox were big "losers" for not getting enough when they traded Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago? Or the Mets were big "winners" when they picked up Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano at the deadline that year? (Again, no need to rehash that either. However, Zambrano takes his place in the Mets' infamous trading history with Jim Fregosi and Juan Samuel.)

It's as fruitless and stupid grading these teams as those knuckleheads who grade the NFL Draft every year. That is something you can't properly grade for at least 1-2 YEARS after it's happened. How many times have you seen guys who no one thought anything of and were drafted in the later rounds (Tom Brady) become stars, while guys who were "can't miss" turn out to be total busts (Blair Thomas)?

But of course, these sportswriters have to write about something, right?

Leave the grading to the school teachers, guys.