mul21

Um, probably because Theo and Jed said as much during the call that just was transcribed. That whole "no major FA signings until the year we plan to win the division" part (paraphrased, of course).

He's an average late inning guy who's never been worth more than 1.3 WAR and he'll be 30 at the beginning of next season. They're paying over $7 MM per year to a guy who shouldn't be getting more than about $3-4 MM max. For the money he's being paid, yes, he's a bad player. He has a combined 3.5 WAR over the last 4 years. $5 mm per year to fill a gaping hole, okay, but to sign him to that deal when he hasn't even hit the open market is asinine.

Absolutely. He's a guy you'd definitely like to have on a short term deal at the deadline. Somebody always needs a closer and if he's healthy, he's got the track record that somebody will be willing to pay for.

Well, there's kind of a huge difference in overpaying for players who are actually good at baseball and doing what Ned Colletti is doing. That's a pretty poor effort, even for you.

There's so much dumb in there I don't even see the point in trying to find all of it.

I see a little bit of Mike Fetters.

I find it hard to believe that Williams was worse than Rachal. He was just terrible yesterday.

Just so I have this straight, there's definitely no spending limit on a guy like this because he's over 23 right?

I don't think the likely asking price for one year of Johnson from a team primarily looking to dump his $15M salary is going to be prohibitive. A lot depends on the demand out there, obviously. And yea, no thanks on Buerhle. It just seems like a needless risk, unless he's really cheap. The only reason we would acquire him is to flip him at the deadline. Given his history, it's a big risk to think he'll be healthy all the way through July 31. Why would the only reason we'd acquire him be to flip him at the deadline rather than to have a good relatively young pitcher? Unless you're confident enough he can stay healthy and you sign him to an extension, you'd have to think that would be the reasoning since he's only got 1 year left on his deal.

No one seems to know or is willing to say. It's not an injury. Also not sure why his play is bumming you out. He's playing against AA/AAA players as the second youngest guy in the AFL. i know, and i wasn't expecting him to rake, but still. i think all of us were hoping he would do better than he's doing right now. he still has time to turn this stint around though, and it's not like he's been atrocious. and even though it's aa/aaa pitchers, isn't it more like A+ talent for pitching due to a lack of top end guys? I'm completely okay with it. I think he's a guy that needs to struggle to get that he'll need to change his approach to have long term success. I really think that's part of the reason he was picked to go to the AFL. He gets a taste of higher level pitching that he can't completely dominate and it allows the FO to reinforce that he has some things to learn still. If you can do that without wrecking his confidence, I think that'll go a long way to his long term development.

Right forearm? I was wondering what that was. More likely a band-aid covering up an affliction tattoo that's affiliated with a gang that MLB didn't want shown on National TV. I'll go with a birth control patch as my guess.

bears win, you [expletive] mook. cutler did exactly what he is supposed to do and led two huge scoring drives in the 4th quarter and the bears beat an inferior team, like they were supposed to do. at no point was the game carolina's to lose. i know that doesn't fit your "the bears are terrible, the coaching's terrible, nobody wanted to coach this team because of its terrible reputation, this barf bag i ate is just terrible and everyone should be fired and die because that's the kind of guy i am this week and my friend theo, the other hanger-in-the-ass-attempted-abortion on this board, agrees" narrative that you've been spinning since before the season, but the bears are 6-1 and cutler is 11-1 in his last 12. so [expletive] off Oh, come on, that's a poor effort. Tell him how you really feel.

That safety was in position. I'm still not sure how he whiffed on the ball.

Maybe it'd be easier to list what didn't get broken and torn. How would they have gotten an MRI already? No way the swelling has gone down yet. You don't need an MRI when it's trashed that bad. A good PT/doctor can tell what is and isn't intact just by manipulating the joint.

I just saw the replay. That was absolutely awful. And you really do have to feel bad for the guy. I'm surprised if he ever sees a football field again.

It's not going to be anything more anecdotal because Castro is probably more talented than 98% of guys who ever put on a major league uniform and more than likely has a much greater capacity to "learn" selectivity than the other average type guys you're referring to. You skipped a step logically to make that connection. Let's break it down. Castro is probably more talented than 98% of guys who ever put on a major league uniform This may be true. more than likely has a much greater capacity to "learn" selectivity than the other average type guys you're referring to. The logic here assumes that Castro is a more talented hitter than 98% of guys. That's much less certain. Castro's ability to stick at shortstop and provide above average offense at the position is why he's an extremely talented baseball player. Castro's ability at the plate is far from being in the 98th percentile. He's certainly above average in that regard, but he's probably closer to the 75th to 80th percentile in terms of a hitter. He's probably going to settle in as a .300-.310 BA guy with power to hit 15-20 homers a year. That's outstanding as a shortstop, but as a hitter that kind of upside is good, but not super-duper. If we assume that only super-duper offensive guys can be forced to learn to walk, then he's not one of them. He's a early-count hitter whose value is spraying line drives around. He's more or less league average at swinging at good or bad pitches. He's not overly aggressive to do that. He just doesn't swing and miss. Do you want him to start swinging and missing? Excuse me for not specifying I'm of the opinion his overall hit tool is better than 98% of guys who ever put on a uniform and that's why he will be able to learn something he's never been exposed to before.

It's not going to be anything more anecdotal because Castro is probably more talented than 98% of guys who ever put on a major league uniform and more than likely has a much greater capacity to "learn" selectivity than the other average type guys you're referring to.

"Getting excited" in this case meaning "posting a link to a blog post without comment and without reply before you decried it as being more or less pointless". I see even the moderators get in on the fun. See, the problem is that this "half season" was under completely different management who, if you read a bit, you'll find really emphasizes seeing pitches and patience and has just come out and said how devoid this organization was of any thought of teaching prospects in that manner. Everybody else here is aware of the different circumstances this spike in walks was achieved under and due to the approach change, some decline in BA was expected as Castro made the adjustment. Does that make you feel better?

And who writes an entire article full of single sentence paragraphs? Guys who have a certain number of inches to fill with their column and can't come up with anything insightful to say.

It was McCarver and I took it with a large grain of salt because of that. My biggest issue in the citing of that rule is that you don't really know if the ball was in fair territory or not. It may have still been in the batter's box when the bat hit it again.

http://images.wikia.com/mk/images/e/eb/Fatality_motor_kombat.jpg

You rang?

Ok, that Pence hit is seriously the weirdest damn thing I've ever seen. How the hell does the ball hit the bat twice? And I'm loving McCarver whining about everything going right for the Giants. Because the Cards haven't had so much sunshine blowing up their collective asses for the past 14 months.

Giants need to tack on here. I have a feeling Cain will be lucky to get through 6 at this rate and that bullpen has to be getting fatigued.

Definitely the worst thing in a baseball broadcast. I hate it live. No idea if the pitch is even anywhere near the zone.