Rob

I've moved into the top 100! Sitting at 99 with an ESPN of 194. Once Scotty Pods comes back and Randy Winn comes down to earth, I should be in pretty good shape.

Sorry, crappy puns are fun though. Somebody in my league just dropped Cano, and I had to drop Kendrick earlier because I didn't have a place to put him after he got injured. Right now, I'm holding on to BJ Upton. Stats are R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP. I've got top waiver priority, so I'm assured of being able to grab Cano once he's eligibile, and Kendrick is just sitting on the waiver wire. I can't decide which of the three to go with, though. Opinions?

Going 3-10 in a September callup is far from a huge success. The other teams and GM's who passed on Brown were correct. Beane was the one who was wrong. No offense to Beane, it happens to everybody. Sorry, but I'm still inclined to think the fact that Beane's longshot gave even a modicum of production to the big league club and the fact that Cincinatti and Montreal's sure things at #3 and #5 still haven't made it out of A ball makes this a notch in the win column for Beane. Even had Brown never made it past AAA, it still does show that performance analysis can be just as valuable as conventional tools-oriented scouting... making Moneyball a success.

I say we trade for him. His trade value has to be at a low, and his actual value to this team would be pretty high. Not only that, but it'd keep him away from his wife. Win-win!

Considering what a crapshoot the draft is, I'd count Brown's limited ML playing time as a huge success of the Moneyball philosophy. Beane was able to draft somebody that everybody hated, was mocked extensively for it, and yet his player still made the big leagues while others from that draft haven't even come close... including the number 3 and 5 overall picks.

Stupid Cubs have to ruin my freaking evening.

Oh yeah, see, all innings pitched be relievers are inherently more leveraged than those pitched by starters. So much so that his 1.2 IP of mop-up work has already surpassed anything he could have done in 5 or 6 innings during a start.

That kind of performance sure would be nice to see from our fifth starter. BTW, what the hell is Lou doing pulling him now in a double switch? It's like the man doesn't believe in straight pinch hitters.

A fastball in the dirt, and Jacque didn't swing at it?

Rob, the difference between left and rightfield is not only your arm. It's a little ridiculous to act as if it is. Soriano would be much worse in right than he is in left. Soriano's problem is getting a good read on the ball and taking the right route. This is significantly more difficult to do in rightfield. First of all, in all of those days games the sun is going to be in the rightfielder's eyes most of the time. Therefore, in Wrigley the rightfielder must rely on anticipation much more so than sight. This is something Soriano has a very difficult time with. Secondly, the most difficult ball for Soriano to judge is the opposite field slice. Obviously this would be a much more frequent adventure in rightfield considering the ratio of RHB:LHB. There's also plenty who say that ball off a righty bat tails more making it even more difficult but that's rather arbitrary. In rightfield, Soriano would have to take the hits that give him the most trouble much more often and with obstacles to make it even more difficult... His arm is the only thing that would be any good in right. In terms of team construction, there's no doubt you'd want Soriano in center or right longterm--and there might be enough to improve and turn him into one-- but right now it's very clear why he isn't in rightfield and it's certainly not because some dummy didn't think about it. I'm not debating that Soriano would have trouble in RF. But would your opinion of him change if he were the one forced into RF duty on the fly that he was ill-prepared for? Cause that's what your judging Murton on. Bottom line, one of Murton or Soriano was going to get screwed, and Lou chose to stick it to the rook. I'm not debating whether that was right or wrong, but I'm saying it's unfair to judge Murton on the basis of being a true RF. He's only had a handful of innings to try and figure it out.

Hill looks to be tipping his pitches for the most part. His pitching hand is flashing behind him before the pitch, and you can see his grip pretty clearly... presumably the batter could too.

For anybody who's interested, there's a rematch of Oswalt vs. Lincecum going on right now.

No, Izturis only had a single.

I'm gonna have a beer and a smoke... maybe things'll get better after that.

He screwed enough up as is, let's just leave it at that please. right, i really would like to let this go, but i don't think he has really screwed up so far, i think he is doing a great job...the only thing i would really like to see, which is probably under his control would be to move soriano to the 2 or 5 hole... other than that...he can't help that jones and zambrano are still with the team Lou deserves to be fired for his bullpen handling alone this season.

He screwed enough up as is, let's just leave it at that please.

Except Cameron... Oh you must have missed him barely missing a home run. That was pretty darn foul.

Apparently Rich Hill has a stuffy nose tonight.

Damn

Hoooooooolllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.... that was scary.

Cameron goes down looking at strike three on the inside corner.

Please don't channel Rick Ankiel anymore.

Didn't we rough Peavy up in ST?

That was a shot.

Cutting him would be stupid. I would see if anybody would be willing to shop him, though. Who in their right mind would take his contract? Even the crazy ones wouldn't... I mean, Jim Bowden didn't go that high.