TruffleShuffle

if he gets 81 starts we might end up with a .500 record! seriously Hill shuts out the Reds with his bad stuff

my rich hill optimism is unbridled

this guy is awesome

at Michigan State??? No, players at that school would never quit during the middle of the season.

I think that's the most important point. "Ready" is a subjective term, and can mean completely different things to different people. Is he ready to come up to the majors and star? Probably not. But he's probably ready to come up to the majors and not have his career destroyed. He could come up and put up acceptable 1st year numbers. Some people, like Dusty, think a prospect has to be 100% major league caliber good to earn the right to play in the majors. I disagree. I think you have to be willing and able to continue the coaching process of young players at the major league level. The major drawback to bringing a guy up too early is if he ends up being yo-yoed back and forth to the minors, and sits the bench a lot. At some point you have to give a guy a prolonged shot, and be willing to live through any struggles. Because just about anybody but Pujols and Cabrera are going to struggle, and they need exposure to major league pitching in order to learn to hit major league pitching. Right, but it's not like he tore up the PCL last season. His numbers were pretty average, which suggests that he still has some things that he can work on at the AAA level. Yeah, if he keeps hitting like crazy the next two months, maybe we can say he doesn't have anything left to gain there, but we're hardly at that point.

which begs the question, why the hell was every flight from albuquerque to omaha already booked?

Say that Price and/or Wieters are still available at the #3 pick... are there people who advocate not selecting the one who is still there (or either, if both are still available) and going in another direction? I'm nervous that the Royals will take Wieters, as John Buck is hardly a stud catcher. And I'm not sure that I'd take Brackman at #3.

As close as it was, I'm not sure he would really know. And the fact that someone didn't argue a call doesn't persuade me that the call was correct. I can't think of one time when a bad call was made in a close game, let alone a close game in the playoffs, and the victim of the bad call didn't argue it. Even if Giambi thought it was a tie, I'm sure he would've disputed it. If we're talking a matter of less than a second, would he really know if his foot was down before the glove hit his leg? He had to know the ball beat him, so maybe he assumed (as many people do) that the tag beat him too. I don't know - but to say "he didn't argue, so the call must have been right" is just not very persuasive. okay, well maybe you'll find "he admitted to a reporter that he was out" more persuasive.

The issue isn't that he threw 110 pitches in back to back games, it's that he threw 110 pitches in back to back games in early April. This is when pitchers don't have as much arm strength built up.

Oh yeah! Well I have tickets to see Daisuke pitch at Fenway on Patriots' Day!!! unfortunately they're getting blasted by a Nor'easter that day and the game will be cancelled

I'd take 276/359/473 and 105 OPS+ from a 23 year old third baseman.

As close as it was, I'm not sure he would really know. And the fact that someone didn't argue a call doesn't persuade me that the call was correct. I can't think of one time when a bad call was made in a close game, let alone a close game in the playoffs, and the victim of the bad call didn't argue it. Even if Giambi thought it was a tie, I'm sure he would've disputed it.

Giambi didn't argue the call... that should tell you that he was out. Plus I'm pretty sure he has said that he was out in later interviews.

Why? A batter should at least jog to first. It seems that Encarnacion didn't even do that. Believe it or not, fly balls and popups get dropped occasionally, and if you want to send a message to your team, now (early in the year) is the time to do it.

If I'm not mistaken, I do believe that the Mariner's have kept him on a short leash the past two years and not allowed him to pitch any more than a max of 90 pitches per game during that span, as well as monitoring his pitch selection. And now he's thrown 110 pitches in the first two games of the season. Danger, Will Robinson.

Don't forget Looper is a Cardinal... that means he'll probably end up around 130.

yes, plate discipline

http://www.onlinesports.com/images/ssm-01500_giamphs016007.jpg

I figured this is a pretty important debate, and rather than dump it in the lengthy 2007 draft discussion, I'll just start a new thread. I favor the Cubs going with a college player as opposed to a high school player, because I want something that is more of a sure thing. I know that this has been studied - I think by BA, maybe BP - but I found this excellent article on the equally excellent brewerfan.net page. Here are a recap of some findings: -Rated every player drafted in the first round from 1990-1999 on a scale from 2 (no production above A-ball) to 8 (superstar) -College players had a better average score (4.92 to 4.44) -52.6% of high school players were rated as a bust (2,3,4 - didn't make any meaningful contribution at the big league level) versus 43.9% of college players -39.4% of college players went on to become decent to great major leaguers (6,7,8) versus 34.3% of high school players And, I like what he has to say at the end: I agree with this sentiment. If there were a Delmon Young, Ken Griffey Jr., A-Rod, etc., sitting there when the Cubs picked, I'd be all for it. Those were guys who were regarded as lower-risk high school players because they were just that talented. But I don't see there being any players of that caliber, so I'd lean toward selecting a college player with the 3rd overall pick. I think Wieters is a safe pick who has a pretty solid chance of becoming a better than average major leaguer.

Ah-ha! Mr. Optimism has arrived :D it's not about optimism or pessimism.... juggling the lineup has little effect on the offensive output. If your team isn't scoring enough you need new players, not a new lineup.

well, the astros do have a pretty white team :lol:

I'm kind of sad that he didn't say something about how many black and Latin American hitters there are on the roster, and how they weren't bred to play in this type of weather.

From what I've heard, it's pretty likely he goes in the 20s. And the answer to your question, yes. Think Raja Bell (except Arron's not an meanie). [-X someone call a mod!!! [-X

Yeah, that was bad. Didn't help that Dusty continually tried to use him as a LOOGY even though he was better against LH batters. As far as consistently good middle relievers, I'm thinking of guys like Jeff Nelson, Mike Timlin, Scott Linebrink, Scott Shields, Juan Rincon. The latter four are still active. Timlin is about 75 now, but I'd feel confident that any of the next three will have another good season.