Stout
Hold onto the ball, Murray!
But fair is fair Stout.
To sit back and constantly play the hindsight is 20/20 game is a little unfair too. (yes, we all do it I know)
I currently am batting about .500 on the issue.
I admit I thought Holt was a good pick up.
As for Ross, I was happy SOMEONE, was brought in, but had my doubts.
Plus you can pan Graves for signing these players and they suck. But at least, in Holt's situation they signed him to a contract that allowed the Cardinals to ditch him after one season and not recieve a huge cap hit.
Fair would be fair if I had gone on record as happy with the Holt signing. I didn't. I only ranted and raved about that contract. I also wasn't at all happy that we went with Ross, but I tried the 'well, wait and see' approach. We waited, we saw, we threw up, and we cut him. I will NOT give Graves kudos for the contract we signed Holt to. It helped hamstring us last year, and I won't smile and pat Graves on the back for making it easier for us to cut FA signings the next year. One, you should be willing to go for broke with the guys you sign and expect to keep them, or else why are you signing them? Two, it simply wasted a year at the position. Signed a guy to a contract that kept us from signing others who actually did nothing for us for a season, and now he's gone. Blech.
Hey, I give Graves credit on the Hood signing--better than I thought he'd be--and on the Gandy signing--waaay better than I thought he'd be. I also have to give Graves his lumps for when he does a bad job.