goonys evil twin

I appreciate that the GM of my favorite baseball team uses wins as the true metric of a pitcher's ability. :roll: I know he's just looking for something to show the fans justification for the signing. Stick with the "we found a flaw in his delivery" kick and please stay as far away as you can from the "he's won more games than Zito" crap. He also pitched for one of the best offensive teams in baseball the last 3 years. He won a lot of games he didn't deserve to win. As stupid as it is to focus on wins, one thing I can't understand is why these people are so willing to ignore losses. Why do they only judge them on win totals? Maybe it has something to do with being more positive than myself. But if a guy is 14-13, I feel lots of people would like that over a guy who is 12-4.

Dave van Dyck is speculating it's done. And all the talk of Pie (by writers, Lou and others) makes me think they really want Felix to win the CF spot this year. I don't see them signing Floyd and keeping Jones, so, it's probably one or the other. What if they just keep everything intact from here. That would make LF a platoon of Murton and Jones, which would be really productive. And CF would be a mix of Pie, Jones, Pagan and maybe Theriot, which could end up anywhere from terrible to fantastic. And if Soriano needs a day off here and there, Jones plays there.

Yeah, I really don't think he should go 4 times in any week. I'd try and get him on some sort of set schedule, maybe prepare for him to go every time Hill and Lilly pitch.

Was he ever a realistic possibility? I don't see why not. Hendry wants LH bats, he wants CF help, but not anybody that would require a longterm solution. And Washington could be willing to get rid of him. I don't see how it couldn't be realistic. I agree - it makes a lot of sense. I'm just basing it on the past couple comments I've heard where Cub officials haven't even mentioned Church, combined with the reports that the Nats are asking alot in return. It just seems like they took him off the table and are looking for other options. I could definitely see it being dead now, I just don't see how it was ever not a realistic possibility. Getting ARod for Izturis is not a realistic possibility, Church was realistic.

Was he ever a realistic possibility? I don't see why not. Hendry wants LH bats, he wants CF help, but not anybody that would require a longterm solution. And Washington could be willing to get rid of him. I don't see how it couldn't be realistic.

That's what a budget is.

He said they fully expect Wood to be able to go 4-5 times a week and air it out for 30-35 pitches. I think that's a bit aggressive, but it's interesting because I was thinking Hendry and the Cubs were being a little more cautious with their Wood-related expectations. This doesn't seem to be the case.

Aww man you were there too? I'm pretty sure others on this board were there... CT Cubs fan being one' date=' I believe. I drove up from South Jersey with my dad for the game. It was so disheartening... the Mets sucked and their fans totally didn't care if they won or lost the game. I'd never been to a game at Shea and I really don't want to go to another one. The other thing that sucked was wanting to have some lunch and beer with my dad before the game, and finding out that Shea is surrounded by about 2341 auto body shops and not a single bar or restaurant. WTF is with that?[/quote'] CT, thedayman, and myself I believe. Shea is a get-in and get-out stadium. Yankee Stadium is pretty much the same thing, with maybe 2 crap bars in the area. You should have asked, I would have warned you. I sat right near this Mets fan who spent the entire game bitching about the Mets, yelling at the Mets, swearing at the Mets, etc. He was making a total ass of himself. Nonstop top the lungs profanity and ignorance. And he kept talking about how much he spends on Mets tickets and how it was his right. So anyway, come time for the comeback and sure enough, the dude is hootin' and hollerin' and doing his best to try and start a fight with me. And of course, the friend I was there with, a Pirates fan who hates Mets fans, was trying to get me to fight the guy as well. It was a beautiful day, the game was going along fine, and then Dusty brings in Dempster to start the 9th, before yielding to Hawkins. I cannot understand why, if you are willing to use your closer at all, you don't bring him in to start the 9th clean. If he's not available that day, fine, make due with what you've got. Latroy had pitched a few games in a row. But he used him, so either he was unavailable, and Baker used him anyway, or he was available, and Dusty waited far too long to put him in.

He also made a crack about signing Golic right now if he hit LH. It was a joke, but along with all the other talk about him trying to get a LH bat, and the general lack of LH bats on the team, it seems like the last piece of his puzzle is definitely going to be...... a left handed bat.

He had 1 2HR game in July, take that away and he hit .261/.333/.370. I don't like just "taking away" stats for players, but it's not as ridiculous as you eliminating his 3 worst months. Pagan's overall number sucked. Pagan's career has sucked. Pagan will always suck. He had a nice game. He might have a couple more in his career. But his numbers will suck when all is said and done.

He had a fluke 2 HR game, and other than that he was predictably awful. The more than 1 HR for every 10 AB he hit in ST suggests otherwise. It doesn't suggest a thing. ST stats are meaningless.

Hrm.... Does he view him as a player who can play with the offense, or just as a scoring threat on special teams, therefore, like an offensive player. I'd think that would be a nice wrinkle to throw at the opposition with the playoffs coming. I heard a clip of Lovie and he said that was what he meant. No plans for Hester on offense for the time being. That's unfortunate. But not surprising. If they were going to make that kind of change, I bet they'd do it during the offseason. I could still see them try and throw him in for a play or two before all is said and done this season. I could have sworn there was a clip from Lovie where he said it might be time to start looking at offensive possibilities for Hester. The key words being "start looking." I have no way to prove this though. It's in the first post of this quote. He was talking about thinking about what Hester has done as being like an offensive player.

Yes, with the pitchers jogging in the outfield, the manager signing autographs, and 1/2 the ball club there I could see how the pressure could get to a kid. Every game I've evered played whether it be a playoff game or beer league softball I've tried my damnedest. I really don't think guys who've played the game their entire life and are getting paid are any different. Players know they are auditioning for a job. You don't get infinite chances in a career. That's pressure. Some guys step it up in pressure situations and others wilt. It's one thing to put up numbers in unstressful minor league games, when it's just a game. It's another when your whole career and all the work you've put in are on the line. Your career is not on the line in spring training. You are grossly overvaluing spring training.

He had a fluke 2 HR game, and other than that he was predictably awful.

Not so much aimed at the poster, but this statement is what kills me. "When it counts" is the hundreds of regular season atbats (whether in the majors or minors). Judging a player's value by a handful of atbats during an arbitrary period of time is stupid. Neifi Perez was awesome when he joined the Cubs in 2004, but he had a history of sucking that indicated that he would continue to suck. It's also playing the hot hand, as well as rewarding recent performance. It's not an "arbitrary period of time." Players know what is at stake and what they can get if they perform. It's a litmus test for higher pressure situations. Everyone knows when ST is. It's not some arbitrary period of time in a player's career. Spring training is not high pressure. It is a terrible way to judge whether a guy can step up when it counts, the variables are enormous, comparing production in the spring is worthless.

I'm still pretty pissed off that they stayed with Hawkins even though he just sucked as a closer. That team had one hell of a rotation and Prior was really coming on at the end of the year. Thanks Latroy/Dusty. Ironically, they may very well have made the playoffs if Dusty just started Hawkins in the 9th against the Mets instead of putting him in after Dempster let 2 guys get on base.

I know Reyes was, and I think Harben was. There are 37 listed now, 39 yesterday.

Hrm.... Does he view him as a player who can play with the offense, or just as a scoring threat on special teams, therefore, like an offensive player. I'd think that would be a nice wrinkle to throw at the opposition with the playoffs coming. I heard a clip of Lovie and he said that was what he meant. No plans for Hester on offense for the time being. That's unfortunate. But not surprising. If they were going to make that kind of change, I bet they'd do it during the offseason. I could still see them try and throw him in for a play or two before all is said and done this season.

Again, there's a whole article about it, and Kenny Williams acknowledged the non-traditional bullpen usage. Earlier you said "This never works in practice." Feel free to give an example other than the 2003 Red Sox. 2004 Chicago Cubs. yeah that one was too easy Cubs' pen was 15th of 30 in ERA among MLB teams in 2004. But as was stated, that's a situation where the bullpens were just plain bad. It's not like the 2003 Sox and 2004 Cubs were rotating good relievers in the closer role and watching them fail because none of them was a "closer". Their pens just plain sucked. Cubs' pen was 15th of 30 in ERA among MLB teams in 2004. Yeah? And they didn't try closer by committee. They tried to send an injured Joe Borowski out there, because he was "proven", then they sent Hawkins out there until he melted. That's not closer by committee.

Yes, decent, it would be quite decent.

The price being paid is definitely influenced by the fact that this signing is more of an investment in an asset than most other signings.

figuring in the total cost makes it 17 mil a year, for an unproven commodity. That's too much to pay IMO. I mean, 17 mil makes him the highest paid pitcher in baseball, I think. Clemens likely will make more, and Zito might as well. And the fact is he's not getting 17m, he's getting under 9. 51m of that was akin to the money a team spends to develop their own guys and keep their rights for a long time. Yes, it's much more expensive than that normally costs, but this isn't a normal situation. Plus, Boston is a team that's willing to spend $150+ million on its payroll, and that figure will only go up. His percentage of Boston's pie is only slightly more than Lilly's percentage of the Cubs (and much less than Meche's slice of KC's). It's all relative. At least he has a legit chance to be truly great. Big market teams can afford to overpay for that opportunity.

SI is reporting 6/52, which is a very fair deal in my opinion. Total cost to Boston is 17.2m per for 6 years (counting posting fee). I wonder if Boras got a kick back from Seibu, if not, that is 8.7m per year.

I dunno, I'm a big fan of Gagne in 2003. Also an incredible year. I just think sometimes people forget how good Mesa was for that one season. Wetteland was pretty amazing in 1993. He threw 21 more innings, had a much higher K/9 and K/BB, and slightly lower WHIP. They gave up the same number of HR, 3.

I don't find it that freaky. I've used services like that to track people's flights for years.