USSoccer

Quick Thoughts: -Vince Young is every bit as good as Michael Vick was in college-probably even better. Let's see if the BooYa Network's hype machine does for him what it has done for Vick. -Was it me or was Reggie Bush really underused in the game? Just my opinion, but if you are going for it on 4th and 2, I'd rather give the ball to your best player (Bush) than anyone else. -Leinart should have thrown the ball away on the last play of the game. 9 seconds in College FB should be enough time to get 2 plays off, and all they really needed was 1 first down to get into FG range.

Can all of these be on it? Especially the first one, which I'm most pissed off about. That's a big section of it. It's designed to get him thrown out at the very least. Suffice to say it's a pretty harsh question.

Where's Tree? I have to give him his script for the Peoria Caravan stop...

i'm sure it was a minor league type deal

So the Orioles, in conjunction with the reverse Vampires and Saucer people, coordinated a leak stating Mark Prior was available in order to futher a fiendish plot to eliminate the meal of dinner? We're through the looking glass, people.

Yeah, they were, a little, but I think the point is, when you compare HOllandsworth, Karros and Estes to Cruz, Choi and Dubois, you're talking about a bunch of guys that are equally mediocre, so why not go with the potential upside/breakout potential or lower cost of the young guys, vs bringing in vets that will definetly prevent one of the young guys from busting out, and won't be any better than the kids?

Diffusion brings up a good point, Saber. The A's just used those statistical metrics to find market inefficency, and exploit it. The stats were a means to an end, not the end itself.

There are some sentence fragments and misspellings/grammar errors that could be easily polished up by taking a fresh look at it, paragraph by paragraph. Try reading it out loud-that gives you the ability to spot missing words, fragments, etc. Try breaking that thought up into shorter sentences. Also, should "Sabermetrics" be capitalized? I think it should just be regular case. The info in the parantheses seems awkwardly put. Try rewriting that thought into something like "The evolution of sabermetrics has helped not just small market teams, but major market teams with bigger budgets have also used the priniclples with successful results. One can look at the success of the Oakland A's from 1999-2004, the Atlanta Braves of 1993-2005, and, most recently, the Boston Red Sox of 2004 to see how clubs in different economic states have benefited." Reword that to say something like " OBP is a stat that measures the likely percentage of not making an out. It as a very effective metric, although it does have it flaws" Overall, your thesis is good, and content-wise, it's good. It just needs to be proof read with a fine tooth comb. Well done! :D

I would imagine you would agree that we can't go into the 2005 season with this for an outfield: (assuming Patterson will be traded) Jacque Jones Juan Pierre Matt Murton Jerry Hairston John Mabry That might be one of the worst outfields ever assembled. You must really be down on Murton to make that assessment. That outfield won't be great, but can be solid. It's just not a conventional outfield w/ at least one power hitter tho. However, few teams have a 1b and 3b as good as the Cubs. I do agree with you. The power we get at 1B and 3B helps make up for the lack of your more traditional power corner OF. The key to the whole thing is where Murton hits, and how well he does.

I would imagine you would agree that we can't go into the 2005 season with this for an outfield: (assuming Patterson will be traded) Jacque Jones Juan Pierre Matt Murton Jerry Hairston John Mabry That might be one of the worst outfields ever assembled. Then all Hendry did when he signed Jones was guarantee that Murton gets buried on the bench. What a stupid move that was.

If I had to choose, I'd take Z.

They're better now then when they stepped off the field in October, but they've not come anywhere near closing the nearly 20 game gap in the division with St Louis. Ramirez and Lee were having great seasons before Aramis got hurt, and the team was still fluttering around .500. Why? Mostly because of the 1-2 spots in the order having pathetic OBP, and erratic starting pitching from everyone except Zambrano and, to a lesser extent, Williams. Now, Pierre should be better than he was for Florida last season. Certainly he will be better than the assorted tripe we trotted out in the leadoff spots last year. But he's not going to make a 75 point jump in OBP. He'll be average, which is an improvement but not a big one. The 2 spot scares me. If Baker constructs his lineup like a sane, intelligent baseball man, Murton will hit 2nd. It's the idealspot in the oder. He's got some speed, has a great eye, can hit to all fields, doesn't K a lot, and has plate discipline. However, Baker is not a sane, intelligent baseball mind. I fear Perez or Jones in this spot, and if it's Jones, it basically negates the OBP improvement that Pierre brings, since Jones hit into 26 DP's last season, IIRC. Perez wasn't much better there, either. Both Jones and Perez have terrible plate discipline, and while Jones has speed, Perez does not. This, IMO, is the key spot in the lineup. Bat Murton, Walker or Cedeno here, and you have an improved OBP ahead of Ramirez and Lee. Bat Jones or Perez here, and we're going to suck at scoring runs when the wind blows in. The pitching staff is also a big question mark. Zambrano is Zambrano. He's going to win 20 at some point here in the next couple of years; I don't concern myself with him. Likewise, assuming we don't trade Prior (please, please don't trade Prior), I don't really worry about him, unless he's hit by an asteroid on the pitching elbow or something. I think he'll give you 15 wins, at least, assuming he's through with the fluke injuries. But after Z and Prior, what do you have? Wood, who probably doesn't start until May 1st, and will be babied even then, Maddux, who stands a great shot at being worse than last year, when he was truly bad considering his salary , and Rusch, who was brought back as a security blanket in case Baker isn't comfortable starting Hill or Guzman in place of Wood. I left out Williams because I think he's the key. I think he's a good pitcher, and assuming the conditioning improves to where it was before last season, I think he could be a pleasant suprise. I think it's not unreasonable to expect a sub 4 ERA, 190 IP and a decent chance to win when he pitches. So, to make a long post short, we're counting on a lot of "If's" to contend. IF Prior isn't traded, IF Aramis's conditioning improves, IF Wood comes back healthy, IF Prior doesn't get hurt, IF Baker doesn't torpedo the lineup, etc, etc, then yeah, we can contend, but the smart thing would have been to make better decisions via trades and FA in order to minimize those "if's".

Whether or not Hendry expected the team to contend, resigning Perez and Rusch-especially to 2 year contracts-was a stupid move. If you don't think you can contend, give Cedeno, Hill and Murton starting roles. Let them develop so you can see which direction to go in the 2006 offseason. If you think you can contend, Perez and Rusch are barely replacement level players, so the salary you gave them prohibits you some flexibility for a real impact player, either via trade or FA. The only reason they were brought back was Baker, and Hendry's over-loyalty to average veterans. It's disappointing to see an ex farm director mismanage his farm system the way Hendry has, since now we have to rely on Baker to play Cedeno and Murton everyday and let them develop for good or bad, and we all know how that will turn out.

We know Rusch sucks, makes no sense to keep trotting out the guy when somebody can be better. But do "they" know? Just thinking about the Cubs makes me irritated that they brought back Perez and Rusch, when we had players at least at replacement level for a fraction of the cost. I'm sick of having to provide Baker with a security blanket for every tendency he has.

Agreed. At this point I'd be happy with it if it meant our pitching staff were intact, and if Walker is to be traded, then Soriano is probably the best we could do. God knows what BOwden would want for him, though.

agreed, but i'd rather get .275/30/90+ and some Ks from soriano than .260/8/45 from neifi. It's a choice between bad and worse. I'd rather keep Prior and deal with Soriano than have a bad pitchign staff and a slightly better offense.

That's my concern too, especially given the words used in the last sentence. That's a statement designed to raise value.

If Soriano meant we held onto Prior and Z, and Soriano batted no higher than 5th (assuming Jones bats 6th), then I'd be fine with it, depending on the prospect cost. Note the word prospect.

I dunno, Dal. I personally believe that ARam's injuries last year in particular were flukish, and given the lengths the CUbs have gone to make sure his conditioning is where it needs to be this winter, I have to believe that he won't suffer the nagging groin injuries again. I guess I've become more of a pessimist. Being hurt one year I can see, but two straight years to me and I start believing it's a trend. I could be wrong, but there's no way I'm taking any chances on believing he'll be healthy. Just as I no longer would take chances believing Wood and Prior will remain healthy. Am I wrong, but hasn't Nomar been on some kind of conditioning program the last three off-seasons? Yeah, but Aramis only missed about 10 games due to injury in 2004, and it was only the blowout that kept him out the last month and a half of 2005. Plus, it's muscular and not structural, like with Wood and Prior. It's easier to learn to stretch and be more flexible. Unlike 2004, ARam is our "rbi guy". In 2004, at least someone could argue, "Well you still have Sosa and Alou." This year, I don't know what to say since Lee would/should get pitched around every at-bat, especially if ARam is not hitting fourth or not in the lineup. I'm just going to have to see a full healthy year from ARam before I pencil him in for a full season. As I said going into the offseason, I wanted to see one more high OPS guy in the lineup in case ARam had to miss time. We haven't seen that yet. I completely agree with your last point. Our entire offense relies on Lee and Ramirez being a great 1-2 punch.

I dunno, Dal. I personally believe that ARam's injuries last year in particular were flukish, and given the lengths the CUbs have gone to make sure his conditioning is where it needs to be this winter, I have to believe that he won't suffer the nagging groin injuries again. I guess I've become more of a pessimist. Being hurt one year I can see, but two straight years to me and I start believing it's a trend. I could be wrong, but there's no way I'm taking any chances on believing he'll be healthy. Just as I no longer would take chances believing Wood and Prior will remain healthy. Am I wrong, but hasn't Nomar been on some kind of conditioning program the last three off-seasons? Yeah, but Aramis only missed about 10 games due to injury in 2004, and it was only the blowout that kept him out the last month and a half of 2005. Plus, it's muscular and not structural, like with Wood and Prior. It's easier to learn to stretch and be more flexible.

I dunno, Dal. I personally believe that ARam's injuries last year in particular were flukish, and given the lengths the CUbs have gone to make sure his conditioning is where it needs to be this winter, I have to believe that he won't suffer the nagging groin injuries again.

It's not the first time, and won't be the last, either.

Interesting. I've read the 'net theory that the offer was on the table and turned down, and the Cubs are just denying it via the media. Or this is posturing, trying to see if Hendry is desperate enough to send them Z. And let's hope he's found his brain and decided that the Cubs with Prior are better than the Cubs with Tejada and no Prior.

The day ARam got hurt he led the team in HR's and RBI. After having a awful April. That's probably what he's referring to.

I think-and this isn't just exahustion talking-i really think the Yankees would entertain sending us ARod for Prior.