Mephistopheles

Prime years are 26-29. I don't see how it's arbitrary to say a player who is 31 is past his prime. Soriano has an OPS+ of 126 right now, below what he had at 26, 27 and 30. Prime years are not static for everybody, it goes back to what Have a seat, Neifi! was talking about. His OPS+ for this year is trivially lower than a couple years past, especially considering the difference in OBP making up any difference in league/park factor. The point is that Soriano is playing just as well as he has at any point in his career(again, look to last year's numbers at the break), I don't see how you can say he's past his prime just because he's 31. Also, 26-29 isn't universally accepted as the normal prime years either, ranges from 28-32 have also been cited. OK. Let's not lose sight of the point here. Whether the prime is 26-29 or 28-32 Soriano, Lee, and Aramis are not "entering" their prime they are "leaving" their prime. How dare you. These are all individuals and we have to judge them individually. You can't just make assumptions based on their ages. yes you can. the fact show its VERY likely hes past his prime. betting on him is betting on failure.

Yeah, you're probably right. But Ichiro's production doesn't have to fall off more rapidly to make him less of an asset more quickly. Let's face it, Ichiro is valuable, but he's not a superstar. If he falls off much at all, he's Juan Pierre with a cannon arm instead of Ichiro... and there's a huge difference. While Ichiro is the posterboy for all BA yet no good OBP, he's still a superstar player. Not because of his bat as much as his defense. He's a tremendous defensive player at CF and RF.

I don't have the sabremetric tools to prove it, but I would guess that from a statistical point of view deliberately taking a 2nd strike so Soriano can try to take 2B is a ridiculous decision. Somebody can point me in the right direction, but I think a player's odds of getting on base with 2 strikes are significantly lower than getting on with 1, and that increased probablility of an out more than offsets the expected value of an attempted stolen base. considering that stealing in general is a waste of time it makes no sense to do it with one strike.

i would argue that you need a CAT scan. To say connect offensive production to the position a player plays deciding what he should be able to do is not only stupid, it's downright a complete logical nightmare. Im going to say this one time and only one time: "OFFENSE AND DEFENSE ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. TO CONNECT THEM IS TO BE STUPID." You get the best hitter you can get at the position and that's the answer for EVERY position. Whether the offense comes from SLG or OBP makes no difference.

For a Cubs' prospect the PCL really isn't all that great for hitters. It's good, no doubt, but not nearly in the Albuquerque level.

youre so far out of the loop its not even funny

Because I wasn't trying to prove a point about catcher's defense!

Ichiro is also the face of human ignorance.

CERA is mostly worthless even when used to compare catchers on the same team since so many factors change from game to game (opponent, lineup, weather conditions, etc.) CERA is completely worthless when comparing catchers that don't play for the same team. As for the list of defensive catchers above, I'd say their team's success probably had more to do with the pitching staff they were catching rather than their ability to cause a call a good game. I know what CERA is and it's worth. Don't lecture to me. Then I'm praying you were doing your damndest to be sarcastic before. Probably.

CERA is mostly worthless even when used to compare catchers on the same team since so many factors change from game to game (opponent, lineup, weather conditions, etc.) CERA is completely worthless when comparing catchers that don't play for the same team. As for the list of defensive catchers above, I'd say their team's success probably had more to do with the pitching staff they were catching rather than their ability to cause a call a good game. I know what CERA is and it's worth. Don't lecture to me.

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Well of course every team's ERA is going to be outstanding when they basically say "hey let's throw out the bad starts and keep the good ones." It's kinda worthless.

Wow the Cubs lost a game and now they're terrible. Yay they're what? 10-2 over their last 12. Come on they're not the Globetrotters.

Who doesn't love Dunn?

maybe he should WPA 2.57 - Aramis Ramirez 1.21 - Derrek Lee 1.19 - Mark DeRosa 0.72 - Alfonso Soriano 0.72 - Angel Pagan Of course WPA is useless. Since 90% of the world believe in clutch hitting as a possessed ability, then Aramis should be dominating this poll.

Colvin sucks guys.

No we shouldn't be worried because we should already know he won't ever be very good. Duh.

marquis sucks and hendrys a dumbass

yeah murton1, only i can add insults to my arguments because i, sometimes, provide one of a kind analysis to keep the masses loving me.

I bet he thinks Jacque Jones is a great player also. Nope. Jacque ain't white enough for this kid. Ooo, good point. Replace Jacque Jones with Wade Miller or Scott Eyre. Neifi was white. True story.

I said he's my favorite, and he is good he just needs more playing time, something cedeno had plenty of last year and still sucked while murt led the team in BA Yeah, and then Murt completely blew during 2007 in the majors. Why does he get room for aches and pains and Cedeno doesn't? And honestly, how good do you think Theriot and Murton can be? I wanna hear this. good to close to great starters, neither will be great. i never made the aches argument for Murt. What in the blue hell has Theriot done to make you think that? Murton I can understand, kinda. Theriot though. Tell me why he's going to be anything more than a decent utility player. Tell me why he didn't get a regular stay in the majors until his age 27 season. Bad scouting, good hitting gives me the idea that and speed and D Murton over Floyd, Theriot over Cedeno, Marshall over Zambrano...you must love the whities and hate those darkies.

2006 WHIP Zambrano: 1.29 Marshall: 1.52 Career WHIP Zambrano: 1.28 Marshall: 1.44 Marshall still holds the edge for 2007 based on a few nice starts, but that margin is closing fast and will probably disappear within the next 2 starts Still, Z led the league in walks. Doesn't say much for him and those whip is mostly hits for Marshall and walks for Z. Z's control doesn't look to improve but Marshall's "stuff" does. And even if Zambrano doesn't improve his control, he's still a better pitcher than Marshall. Even with Zambrano's control issues, he's still had those awesome seasons. Even with what you call great control by Marshall, his best would be the worst full season Zambrano has seen in 5 years! And when Marshall has those 5 years of experience we'll see whose better. All we're doing now is debating without fair statistical comparison. But in a lot of ways we are. We can compare each player to the other at the same age. When Zambrano was Marshall's age, he was dominating major league hitters. I'm trying to take you seriously, but it's laughable to think Marshall is now or ever will reach the level of pitching that Zambrano has achieved. I'm not asking you to agree with me i'm just giving my opinion, and on paper Marshall deserves all star more than Z. Well, Zambrano may not have deserved the ASG. That's debateable. But Marshall's 8 starts of 3.50 ERA doesn't make him all-star worthy in any shape or form...and in now way makes him a better pitcher now, in the past, or in the future than Zambrano. If you were using hyperbole to state your love for Marshall, you should have dropped the inane arguments a long time ago. Because if you think Marshall really is better than Zambrano, I'm having trouble wondering if this is the first year you've actually followed baseball. No, it's not. Then you should observe things a little more closely. Marshall is in no way the pitcher Zambrano is. or you could stop getting so worried about my knowledge and worry about yours Or I could just laugh at the fact that someone thinks Marshall is better than Zambrano. go ahead laughter is good for you, maybe it'll make you smarter I think the intelligence factor in this argument is self-evident. This quote thing is getting long. hot.

I'm convinced. I was going to put Billy Koch, but even he could throw gas and K a few guys here and there. Looper throws gas but can't strike out anyone.

SHUT UP AND GET ON YOUR KNEES FOR THE TIM REDDING CAREER 3.34 ERA AGAINST THE TUBBY CUBBYS

CEDENO SUCK. DID YOU SEE THAT SACK OF SH--- LAST YEAR?!