TruffleShuffle

geovany mf'ing soto

what, they couldn't squeeze angel hernandez in there? barf.

gonna have to start getting that curve over, or at least closer to the strike zone to draw some swings.

well you definitely shouldn't have fired him then. you're hard pressed to find a talent evaluator who knows that two of his guys have peaked at age 25.

People suggest this because it is true. yeah you got me, i hate those lazy latin americans and i love me some gritty white guys

the only problem is that drew and lugo are subtraction by subtraction

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/printer/p261918.html http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5305 i think the latter one is premium, so i'll cut and paste a bit:

My first round picks: East Canadians vs. Bruins - Habs in 6 - right result, but went a game longer Penguins vs Senators - Pens in 5 - right result, but went a game shorter Capitals vs. Flyers - Flyers in 6 - right result, but went a game longer Devils vs. Rangers - Devils in 7 - wrong result, two games shorter West Red Wings vs. Predators - Wings in 5 - right result, went a game longer Sharks vs. Flames - Sharks in 6 - right result, went a game longer Wild vs. Avalanche - Wild in 6 - wrong result, right series length Ducks vs. Stars - Ducks in 7 - wrong result, two games shorter so i was in the ballpark, except for the 4/5 games. My second round picks: I think the Habs will top the Flyers in 6 or 7 (previously I had 5, but I am not quite as pessimistic now). I think the Pens will get rid of the Rangers in 6 games. In the West, I think Detroit doesn't have too much trouble with Colorado, and puts them out in 5 or 6. The Stars will push the Sharks to 6 or 7 games but I am sticking with the Sharks in that one.

Maybe it's the same approach he's had all along but which he seemed to completely abandon in the majors, possibly due to pressing (or Dusty) or whatever (if that makes any sense)? :-k You would know better than I would, though. the argument that cedeno was not coached properly and slid into terrible habits is by far the best argument for discounting his 2006 season and starting him right now. the arguments that he was "rushed" or "too young" at age 23 are terrible. So the difference between Pie and Cedeno for you is that Cedeno struggled for 500 ABs and Pie struggled for 200 ABs b/c the numbers in Cedeno's '06 and Pie's ABs up to now are almost identical. Pie had 200 PAs at the big league level at age 22, and has 36 at age 23. Cedeno had 90 PAs at the big league level at age 22, and had 572 at age 23. if pie gets nearly 600 PAs and is an absolutely brutal hitter this year, then you'll have a valid comparison. No, I think there's a basis for comparison now. I'm not saying they're identical, but they're certainly comparable. Esp when on the one hand you argue that Pie should be handed the job now and on the other hand don't have any interest if giving Cedeno an extended look over the likes of Theriot. As you said yourself, Pie has the higher ceiling. I'd expect him to perform better at a younger age. But Pie #s at the majors to date are striking similar to Cedeno's 2006. And it's hard to argue Pie has looked worse (until the last 2-3 games) in his ABs than Cedeno did in '06. you're right, pie has looked terrible, just like ronny cedeno did. the difference is that pie has a history of taking some time to adjust to higher levels, and he's not been given that chance. his 236 PAs at the big league level have come in small chunks of playing time, divided by time in iowa, on the cubs' bench or between seasons. cedeno had 650 PAs, most of which came when he was the everyday starter for the cubs in 2006. there's a very big difference between the opportunity that pie has gotten with the big club so far, and the opportunity that cedeno had in 2006.

cannot say i'm thrilled about the thought of hill's big curveball in colorado. he'd better be locating his fastball tonight because if he's not, this could be bad.

Maybe it's the same approach he's had all along but which he seemed to completely abandon in the majors, possibly due to pressing (or Dusty) or whatever (if that makes any sense)? :-k You would know better than I would, though. the argument that cedeno was not coached properly and slid into terrible habits is by far the best argument for discounting his 2006 season and starting him right now. the arguments that he was "rushed" or "too young" at age 23 are terrible. So the difference between Pie and Cedeno for you is that Cedeno struggled for 500 ABs and Pie struggled for 200 ABs b/c the numbers in Cedeno's '06 and Pie's ABs up to now are almost identical. Pie had 200 PAs at the big league level at age 22, and has 36 at age 23. Cedeno had 90 PAs at the big league level at age 22, and had 572 at age 23. if pie gets nearly 600 PAs and is an absolutely brutal hitter this year, then you'll have a valid comparison.

Cincy got nothing out of Harris. At the time of the trade, Cincy was giving up the three best players in the deal, and nobody has done anything to dissuade that perception aside from Harris, who's in Minnesota. yeah, that trade was roundly panned by pretty much every source out there. if it didn't turn out that bad for cincy, it's because they got lucky.

Maybe it's the same approach he's had all along but which he seemed to completely abandon in the majors, possibly due to pressing (or Dusty) or whatever (if that makes any sense)? :-k You would know better than I would, though. the argument that cedeno was not coached properly and slid into terrible habits is by far the best argument for discounting his 2006 season and starting him right now. the arguments that he was "rushed" or "too young" at age 23 are terrible.

I'm not sure you understand Truffle's argument, TT. Look it's very simple: Cedeno is a complete and total bust. He's a failure as a ballplayer and as a human being. Whatever he's doing right now is a fleeting illusion, an artifact of a small sample size. His 2006 performance at age 23 proves he should never be a starter at any level of baseball, be it majors, minors, church-league softball or video game. The fact that you want to bench an .893 OPS for something that is barely a form of life just proves how illogical you are and invalidates your argument better than Truffle ever could. I hope this clears things up.

the seahawks' best TE is marcus pollard, who needless to say is not a TE of the future. i'd say we go with Fred Davis, TE, USC with this pick.

how absurd.

I completely agree with what he is saying, but if he's complaining about people making a decision in 200ABs, he's making a decision on Pie's usage in 20 games. If Pie continue to get 1 start per week by this time next month, then there is a problem. For once, I tend to side with Cubs coaching/management, because since Felix has been worked closely with, he's 3-6, with a HR. oh absolutely, i agree that if you see a significant flaw in a player's swing or approach, it's better to give him a little time off to work on the issue, rather than continuing to play in games and ingraining the problem to a greater degree. my concern over pie's lack of playing time stems more from the cubs' long history of impatience with position players. if the cubs organization had a history of developing players in a competent manner, then i wouldn't be worried about johnson or an outside solution (crisp) taking significant playing time away from pie.

don't lie vance... your students have each voted 1500 times already.

actually, yes.

No offense, but the debate has gone off-topic. While you're right that it's clearly named, the last time I checked the thread wasn't named Cedeno vs. Theriot. Indeed, it is still named "Is it time to make Cedeno a starter?" If you want to debate Cedeno vs. Theriot, then make a thread called Cedeno vs. Theriot. It's tiresome reading the same pointless arguments in multiple threads and derailing otherwise good discussions into the same entrenched positions over and over again. The discussion here is about Cedeno starting/playing most games... and I think he should. I don't care whether he plays 2B or SS all that much. I'd prefer that he play SS, but I'm not going to whine if he starts at 2B instead. And, as I've said repeatedly in this thread, the issue is perhaps more about Cedeno vs. Fontenot than it is Cedeno vs. Theriot. But, no one wants to discuss that. They'd rather rehash old, tired arguments. actually it's just looking ahead to when soriano is back healthy and playing nearly every day. unless the cubs go to a softball lineup and play a roving fielder, cedeno "starting regularly" means cedeno supplanting one of the current starters.

Ironically, outside of the 200 AB figure, isn't that much the same argument that can be used in support of Ronny Cedeno? i suppose, although (a) cedeno certainly has a lower ceiling than Pie, (b) cedeno was given an entire year in the majors at age 23 to sink or swim, and he sank like a rock, and (b) cedeno has 550 more major league plate appearances than pie. so actually, it's not ironical at all.

to put it another way, as BP's nate silver recently wrote in a chat:

from everything i've read, pie is a really good kid who works really hard to improve, and is very coachable. if all that is true, then the cubs have to give him every chance to succeed. he's got a lot of natural talent and the right attitude to improve and become a good player.

i hope walsh just hands the nfl a cardboard box full of pornos

the second goal was arguable - it's either interference if you think the flyer player pushed the goalie into the goalie, or a no call and a good goal. as for the game winning goal, if you don't think that was a tripping penalty, then you're basically saying the referees shouldn't call penalties in playoff overtime. There shouldn't be penalties called in a playoff OT, unless they take away a scoring chance. It was a joke to call that after what they let go so far in the OT and the last 5 minutes of play. my guess is that they called it because the caps had blatantly tripped kapanen a minute earlier, and the refs had let it go. probably their way of saying "we'll let you play to some extent, but if you're going to keep taking obvious penalties we're going to have to call it eventually." and count me in the camp that still wants penalties called in overtime. do you want the refs to decide the game? no. do you want the NHL to turn back the clock 10 years and be played like a game of tackle football? no thanks, that's boring and stupid.