Mephistopheles

Eric Milton? Yes? This is true!

Mark Prior? No. Kerry Wood? No. Randy Johnson? Yes. Carlos Zambrano? No. Ted Lilly? No. Kent Mercker? Yes. Jason Schmidt? No. Rich Hill? No. Wade Miller? No. If someone can guess what the question being asked is, then you know why Mercker is good for the Cubs. He has the ability to get butts in seats something the tribune didn't see late in the season.

sexson at first and derrek lee at shortstop, damn the defense. the cubs need to be in an xbox world!

Why is Tennessee undeserving of being in the top twenty-five? Their losses came to #12 Arkansas, #4 LSU and #2 Florida. They beat #18 Cal, #29 Georgia, and #38 South Carolina. Penn State lost to #1 Ohio State, #3 Michigan, #7 Wisconsin and #11 Notre Dame. But they have beaten, um #43 Minnesota and nothing else. And you can say but those four losses were to great teams, but if Tennessee had lost to Cal, Cal would be 10-2 and probably sitting ahead of Notre Dame. So they'd both be at four losses but guess what, Tennessee had better wins so they should be higher, and if Penn State is #26, then well Tennessee should be somewhere in the top twenty-five. The simple fact is that Penn State doesnt have a win over a top 30 team. Those teams 19-25? #19 Texas: Oklahoma and Nebraska #20 BYU: TCU #21 Texas A&M: Texas #22 Oregon State: USC, Oregon and Hawaii #23 Nebraska: Texas A&M #24 Boston College: BYU #25 UCLA: USC and Oregon State #26 Penn State: None Once again Penn State's best argument is who they lost to, not who they beat. That's not earning anything...

you know, i was thinking, and just thinking.... and i know it isnt true but if the cubs were penalized by the four type A FA rule with Ramirez, then they should get compensation for Ramirez signing somewhere. That would be cool, because we'd get our second pick give up our third pick to the Nats and get the #32 pick. its a shame it doesnt work that way!

is he really trying to argue that penn state did more than auburn? jesus get a clue

there was a third guy from Seton Hall on the Aflac team, but his name escapes me. I believe it was a middle infielder. Christian Colon? Er no hes a socal kid. 10 • Steven Brooks • OF and of course Porcello. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/highschool/news/262131.html

As is the put an inferior team in the title game argument. Inferior by what criteria? records? game resumes? Florida's terrible play 6 of the last 7 games? Florida wouldn't even be in this position if South Carolina could kick a fricking extra point or a field goal. :x And Michigan wouldnt even be in this position if the refs in the Auburn game could make a call correctly.

the problem with michigan is that their best argument to get in is a loss not a win. ND and Wisconsin are terribly overrated. The teams Wisconsin have beat have a combined ZERO wins against top 25 teams. Florida has run through a gauntlet. I am not saying theyre better, but they've probably proven more on the field. Look at it this way, say UM makes it. If UM beats OSU, and UF beats ND, then we really know nothing about who the top team is. It's a three team disaster. If OSU beats UM again, we'll say so we already knew they could beat UM, what about UF? Really there's no good coming from UM in the NC in that respect. If UF goes and OSU wins, we can say hey OSU beat UF and UM so they are the easy top team. If UF wins, then there's a bit more clarity then there was if UM won. Anyways the LA Times is reporting that UF is number 2 in the BCS didnt michigan put up like 14 points against 3-9 BSU? They had a downstretch earlier.

The Yankees are dangling Farnsworth!

http://pgcrosschecker.com/collegebaseball/2006/recruiting_classes.aspx http://pgcrosschecker.com/showcase/2006/wwba_world_ch_06_day2.aspx

thats understandable and I can promise you that it's going to be the same way comparing the latest one and the final one in June. Look at four various top 10s for the 06 draft Date: January 27, 2006 1. Jordan Walden rhp 2. Chris Marrero 3b 3. Brett Anderson lhp 4. Kyle Drabek rhp/ss 5. Matt Latos rhp 6. Chris Tillman rhp 7. Dellin Betances rhp 8. Jeremy Jeffress rhp 9. Cody Johnson of/1b 10. Hank Conger c Date: April 20, 2006 1. Clayton Kershaw lhp 2. Kyle Drabek rhp 3. Chris Tillman rhp 4. Chris Marrero 3b 5. Brett Anderson lhp 6. Jeremy Jeffress rhp 7. Jordan Walden rhp 8. Hank Conger c 9. Chris Parmelee 1b/of 10. Travis Snider of Date: May 25, 2006 1. Clayton Kershaw lhp 2. Kyle Drabek rhp/ss 3. Jeremy Jeffress rhp 4. Bill Rowell 3b 5. Travis Snider of 6. Brett Anderson lhp 7. Hank Conger c 8. Chris Marrero 3b 9. Jordan Walden rhp 10. Kasey Kiker lhp Half of the final top 10 werent in the January one. For kicks, the oldest one I could find: Feb 2005: 1. Kyle Drabek, rhp/ss, The Woodlands (Texas) HS 2. Kasey Kiker, lhp, Russell County HS, Seale, Ala. 3. Gavin Brooks, lhp, Rancho Buena Vista HS, Vista, Calif. 4. Chris Marrero, ss, Monsignor Pace HS, Opa Locka, Fla. 5. Chris Tillman, rhp, Fountain Valley (Calif.) HS 6. Aaron Miller, lhp, Channelview (Texas) HS 7. Nicholas Akins, ss, Los Angeles HS 8. Tony Delmonico, ss, Farragut HS, Knoxville 9. Jared Mitchell, of, Westgate HS, New Iberia, La. 10. Hank Conger, c/1b, Huntington Beach (Calif.) HS Its always like this and it is understandable. Akins and Brooks got hurt. Tony Delmonico pulled a Stock and went to Tennessee a year early, where he hit .335/.421/.448 and was a fish all american and 2nd team SEC

eh hes not very good but it wouldnt be terrible.

the Big east sucks. UL has no business sniffing it.

gah my poor college ass cant afford that but its so purdy. though pgcrosscheckers expensive stuff is supposed to be better. when was the original 2007 300 you are referring to? If it is was before the summer of course it isnt going to be accurate compared to the end.

if a player signs before the arby deadline we get the picks regardless. If he signs after the deadline and we dont offer arby we dont get picks.

It is if you factor out the Yankees. His ERAs against them have sucked a lot, I think the best the last few seasons was like 4.50. His ERA against the Sox has been like 3.00 the last three seasons overall. He's been quite the sox killer. Dunno why, I've thought it has been because the Red Sox have been a left-handed heavy lineup most of the last three seasons with the exception of Manny and Millar. Lilly is murder on lefties.

He needs a good DL partner. Kerry Wood may not be on it anymore moving to the bullpen and all.

since someone brought up Rate2 and FRAA which absolutely sucks as far as defensive stats go (yes most suck but those are barely a step above errors). From 2000-2003 Alex S Gonzalez had a UZR of +5 per 162 games, which is the equivalent of a 103 Rate2 if you want that scale. In the same data stretch Cesar Izturis had an identical +5 mark. I should also note that from 2000-2003 Julio Lugo was a +15 per 162 games shortstop, roughly equivalent to a 109 on the Rate2 scale. Relative to UZR, FRAA and Rate2 have relatively small standard deviations if I am not mistaken.

and this is why the cubs will ultimately fail.

Well to be fair, the probability that a .262 hitter hits at least .328 in 134 ABs is just 5.2%. Granted, his BABIP was flukishly high at .368, but not all that much higher than his .347 BABIP in AAA. Oddly enough apparently his AAA BABIP translates to a .300 MLB BABIP and the chances of that figure getting .368 over 113 (ABs - HR - K) is .005% or roughly 1 in 20,000. Granted it is a small sample size, but it does tell us that the MLE's are lowballed and that he's probably decent.

zitos been constant for the most part.

because zito walks more and strikes out less than the others. and another issue with zito is that like 15% of his flyballs are of the infield variety - something I would bet his home park has a large effect on.

I wonder if the 'source' emailed sackmann or mlbtraderumors. If it was sackmann, i would certainly trust the rumor more

Only Ted Lilly and Cliff Lee had a lower GB% in the american league last season. Lilly had a higher LD% so only Lee had a higher FB%.