TruffleShuffle

that's awesome, we started the year with a highly-regarded prospect in CF, and two months in we'll be platooning two past-their-prime players who can't hit or field particularly well.

well my response to that is, if you have a manager who cannot allow his players to make adjustments to big league competition, then you need to find a new manager. unless said manager is doing everything else perfectly, and let's just say that lou is falling short of that.

i don't see how one can assume this at all. not every player follows a slow aging curve; some guys get old in about a week. i'm sure PECOTA has no idea who is going to age gracefully and who is going to fall apart like a cheap suit. edmonds was way worse in 2007 than 2006 and in the first month of 2008, he was way worse than he was in 2007. so it's increasingly likely that the injuries (concussions especially) and old age have rendered jim edmonds a terrible baseball player at this point.

i remember it got to the point that year where people were stunned that shawn estes would be making yet another start.

on how to play craps! http://deadspin.com/389875/ah-the-cultural-rewards-of-major-league-baseball http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/resources/2008/05/papelboncraps.jpg

hockey sticks are breaking a lot more these days, too.

Examples of improved patience... columns are as follows: 1. O-swing% = Percentage of pitches outside the zone that the batter swings at. 2. Z-swing% = Percentage of pitches within the strike zone that the batter swings at 3. Swing% = Percentage of pitches that the batter swings at 4. O-contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at outside the zone that the batter puts into play 5. Z=contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at within the zone that the batter puts into play 6. Contact% = Percentage of swings where the batter makes contact? (or puts into play?) 7. Zone% = Percentage of pitches seen by the batter that are within the strike zone DeRosa: 2007: 19.45 % 71.28 % 45.85 % 57.48 % 89.07 % 82.49 % 50.94 % 2008: 16.97 % 62.50 % 40.18 % 51.06 % 80.56 % 74.45 % 50.97 % Theriot: 2007: 21.07 % 57.34 % 40.58 % 81.59 % 95.60 % 92.24 % 53.80 % 2008: 17.12 % 55.77 % 38.31 % 72.73 % 97.70 % 92.66 % 54.83 % ARam: 2007: 30.76 % 72.92 % 51.58 % 65.59 % 93.18 % 84.85 % 49.37 % 2008: 24.32 % 71.33 % 47.71 % 58.33 % 86.12 % 79.00 % 49.75 % Interestingly, another facet of what the guys above have been doing this year is putting fewer bad pitches (and therefore probably bad swings) into play. Maybe that is part of Perry's philosophy, when you aren't going to be able to do something productive with a tough pitch, just foul it off and wait for an easier one to hit. Who knows. This stuff is fascinating though.

apparently putting theriot and soto in places they can excel means "in the starting lineup"

This page is really interesting; however, I don't know what a lot of the columns mean. If you can clue me in on some of these I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm making these guesses: O-swing% = Percentage of pitches outside the zone that the batter swings at. Z-swing% = (Percentage of pitches within the strike zone that the batter swings at?) Swing% = Percentage of pitches that the batter swings at? O-contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at outside the zone that the batter hits? (or puts into play?) Z=contact% = Percentage of pitches swung at within the zone that the batter hits? (or puts into play?) Contact% = Percentage of swings where the batter makes contact? (or puts into play?) Zone% = Percentage of pitches seen by the batter that are within the strike zone?

Yeah. That's not going to last though. Those numbers are inflated by a couple of blowout games we've had this year. If I remember correctly, BP projected us to have the best offense in baseball before the season started. So who knows, maybe it will last.

](*,)

Especially if he never wants to have sex with her again. Not that I disagree with your "theory", just that in the real world it doesn't happen like that. they're married, so the "not having sex" part is an easy assumption

i know. in the real world, the diamond companies guilt toddlers (read: husbands) into buying expensive jewelry for their mom (read: wife) for mother's day.

53.2 IP, 32 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 44 K 6-0 record. Anytime your ERA matches your WHIP, you're probably doing really well. Especially when your WHIP is 0.67 Thanks for doing this in 2006 when I picked you on pretty much all my fantasy teams, expecting 20 wins and an ERA near 3. Jerk.

it's like ever ref is tim donaghy for the home team

unless you married your mom, you shouldn't have had to stay home with your wife on mother's day.

red sox 2007: pedroia doesn't hit the first month; team sticks with him because the team as a whole is hitting great, and pedroia's lack of production is not hurting the team's output much. cubs 2008: pie doesn't hit for the first month; team gives up on him despite having the top offense in baseball and signs a washed-up 38 year old outfielder as the "solution"

Peavy, Young, Maddux is a pretty decent top 3. Chris Young is an extreme fly ball pitcher playing in Petco. He'd probably be Sean Marshall if he played at Wrigley. Almost no difference in home and road ERA career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/psplit.cgi?n1=youngch03 That doesn't mean he doesn't benefit from playing half his games at Petco. Plus all of those road stats aren't at Wrigley. and the Home/Road ERA is completely ignoring the fact that more than a third of his home starts were made in arlington, not Petco. Arlington stats: 113 IP, 113 H, 4.70 ERA, 18 HR, 29 BB, 95 K Petco stats: 197 IP, 143 H, 2.97 ERA, 21 HR, 78 BB, 188 K I think it's safe to say that Petco has been pretty friendly to Chris Young.

what a lousy pitching matchup. get ready in the bleachers folks.

actually it is probably more like 40%, unless prior is exempt from paying taxes like the rest of us.

lance berkman hitting like roid-era bonds could have something to do with it

I enjoy mocking the people who mock him. Prior's career has been a tragic story, and the unwashed masses like questioning his manhood since he's young, well spoken, good looking, rich, and good at baseball. Certain guys are injury prone, and it sucks for them. He's not allowed to do what he does best because of injuries, and people think that's funny? See, it was heartbreaking to them how they thought he'd be a great pitcher and then he wasn't. It hurt them way more than it hurt Prior to see his lifelong dream crumble in front of him, slowly and painfully. His lifelong dream has crumbled to the tune of 15 million dollars in earnings before his 30th birthday. Yes, it's sad that he won't be the hall of famer he should have been, but I really can't feel sorry for a guy who has already made more money than I will in my entire life. and a guy who would have made more than 100 million dollars in his lifetime if he'd stayed healthy. plus, did you know that after prior pays taxes and 10 percent to his agent, a lot of that money goes away? and his ability to make money of his greatest ability may just be gone before he turned 30? that kinda sucks!

yeah that ops is over .700, look out major leagues, here he comes!!!

Criticize Lou all you want, but this wouldn't be happening under Dusty Baker. Being better at Dusty in teaching patience at the plate isn't all that impressive. Oh, and I credit Perry more than Lou for this particular change. You're missing the point. It's not just that he's better than Dusty, it's that this team has been extremely patient and productive at the plate. So you credit Perry more than Lou, okay. Who hired Perry to be his hitting coach? It seems like he lets his coaches coach, but ultimately they're carrying out his vision. I often dislike his in-game moves and some playing time decisions, but I appreciate a lot of his philosophies and strategies and overall I can't think of many ML managers I would rather have. yeah i don't give a crap whether it's perry or piniella behind the increase in patience; the bottom line is that most of the lineup is showing good patience. in the cases of a few guys (theriot, ARam, DeRosa), they're walking more than they ever have before and seeing career highs in pitches per plate appearance. that suggests that someone is preaching the proper approach to them.

as i said in tonight's game thread, this is the first cub team i can remember that puts a great deal of pressure on pitchers by getting deep into counts, drawing plenty of walks, and getting ahead in the counts so that the pitcher has to throw them a hittable strike. some cub teams have had one or two of those types, but never a majority of the lineup.