Mephistopheles

Don't you get it? Rich Hill is big bird

This only cements my belief that Albert Pujols' IQ is like 85 or less. It's a shame, helluva ballplayer, but one dumb ass.

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"MLB Standout"

Is he just a typical college 6'5" sinker baller? Poor and I mean poor ratios and only like 50 innings pitched in two seasons. by typical i mean FB ranging 84-86 or so?

Perhaps, for w/e reason the Peavy talks died after the Pie trade and the Cubs value Heilman more than they do Olson.

wait, are we being contracted next year? For 2011 who is a better pitcher, Heilman or Olson? I'm saying Heilman.

3.) San Diego Padres - Dustin Ackley, OF - North Carolina The Padres have a huge belief system that pony-ing up for the expensive pitchers is a poor move. However, Grant Green and Stephen Strasburg are still going to be near or at the top of their board. They'd prefer an advanced college hitter here, I would think, but Boras' is all over the top of this draft. Dustin Ackley seems like a good fit, but he's a Boras guy. Ackley may not have enough power to play first at the next level, but he's relatively athletic. He should be athletic enough to be able to move to 3B or possibly 2B as well as play corner OFs above average and passable in center. He's the best "pure" college hitter available, and that's a profile that the Padres love. Other guys they could be interested in are the top college pitchers not represented by Boras. I highly doubt they look at a high school player, unless they simply can't even afford to go slot.

I do think it's a good trade. I support this move 100%.

1.) Washington Nationals - Stephen Strasburg, RHP - San Diego State Will edit in scouting report later. It would be nice for everyone to do the same and videos, as well. Just a sentence or two would be useful. Note, since Strasburg is a boras bitch, he could slide. However, the Nats are willing to open up the pocketbooks and they do have Strasburg at the top of their board (who doesn't?)

you know the drill as of now: First-Round Picks 1. Nationals 2. Mariners 3. Padres 4. Pirates 5. Orioles 6. Giants 7. Braves 8. Reds 9. Tigers 10. Nationals (for failure to sign 2008 first-rounder Aaron Crow) 11. Rockies 12. Royals 13. Athletics 14. Rangers 15. Indians 16. Diamondbacks 17. Dodgers 18. Marlins 19. Cardinals 20. Blue Jays 21. Mariners (if they fail to sign 2008 first-rounder Joshua Fields) 22. Astros 23. Twins 24. White Sox 25. Angels (from Mets for Francisco Rodriguez, A) 26. Angels (from Yankees for Mark Teixeira, A) 27. Brewers 28. Mariners (from Phillies for Raul Ibanez, A) 29. Yankees (for failure to sign 2008 first-rounder Gerrit Cole) 30. Red Sox 31. Rays 32. Cubs 33. Rockies (from Angels for Brian Fuentes, A)

This is an incredibly naive rudimentary sabermetric belief. Attempting to steal a base is a good idea in tons of situations - and with the notable exception of the first six weeks last season, Theriot's been incredibly efficient at stealing bases. Didn't you once say that steals are only good in the 9th inning or extra innings? Maybe that was your quote about bunts, but I'm certain you said that steals are pretty much worthless. That's when they're generally a good thing. They're also useful in other situations. If you're down by a run and it's the 9th inning. IIRC the breakeven point falls to somewhere close to 50% success rate, it may even fall lower than that depending on the baserunner, pitcher, batter and batters on-deck and in the hole. It's not completely unheard of for a breakeven point to be 30% or even 25% success rate in some situations.

and you're not even including "hidden runs" that come by him not making an out in a situation that led to a run scored via an RBI single by Soriano or Theriot. Most pitchers get out a lot more often than him, and that has value.

This is an incredibly naive rudimentary sabermetric belief. Attempting to steal a base is a good idea in tons of situations - and with the notable exception of the first six weeks last season, Theriot's been incredibly efficient at stealing bases. I'm afraid Alphonso Soriano will lose a foot en route to second base. Ryan Theriot hurt us on the bases last year. Neither validate your initial premise nor confute mine.

Everything in life is based on assumptions, except some branches of sciences and mathematics.

This is an incredibly naive rudimentary sabermetric belief. Attempting to steal a base is a good idea in tons of situations - and with the notable exception of the first six weeks last season, Theriot's been incredibly efficient at stealing bases.

I'd lead off Fukudome myself.

that's because you're always drunk.

Two of the four years were arbitration years. Gil Meche was a free agent. Greinke had very little leverage.

i read that as O.O.....

The Horizon league is a terrible conference, they have a good Friday starter and a decent SS and that's about it. Who's their friday starter? Worth watching closely next month? I'm salivating over the potential in the Longhorn's rotation this year. Chance Ruffin (8-3 1.96) will probably be the Friday starter initially, but he's playing fourth fiddle in terms of overall potential to the best collection of power pitching prospects Augie has assembled. Brandon Workman is probably the odds on favorite at this point to claim the number two job. He's a guy who could go in the top 100 picks next year higher if he gets his drek together. Austin Dicharry and Taylor Jungmann are incoming freshman with potential to develop into first round material in 2011. Cole Green is also in the mix for a weekend slot. Sam Stafford could steal some midweek starts too, though his low arm angle makes him an intriguing closer prospect.

That's not how you judge the age of a prospect during the season. That's not how some publications have arbitrarily decided to display a player's age, but he turned 19 during the season, so it's hardly a sin to say he was 19 last year. It is universal in baseball to "age" a player according to their age on July 1st each season. It isn't "some publications". It is how seasonal age is officially listed by MLB, MiLB and every stat outlet out there. That's why most people in the know use 19.5, 19.4, 19.3, etc.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3863555 Baseball America has their projected 64 field for the tourney. Four regionals within a couple hour drive from here. If I were back in Houston, there'd be five within five hours. Rice, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas would all be slotting to hold them, with LSU getting one as well. They've got UIC winning their conference and getting in as well.

Make sure you calculate EqA and DRA on all your splits plz. Thanks, Meph

On that note, keep track of how many times the Cubs make an out on the basepaths. That's also a very good idea. Obviously CS is already a stat, but there's no stat for getting thrown out at a base for being way too aggressive (either trying to take extra bases or trying to take 3rd on a ball hit to the left side). http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=421535 Care to translate? Each stat in the middle corresponds to a different part of baserunning. One deals with stolen base attempts, another one deals with advancing on groundouts, another one deals with advancing on flyouts, another one on advancing on base hits, and finally advancing on things like wild pitches. The value of the extra base is compared to how many outs are recorded and then it's calculated how many runs were created or lost in each category compared to an average runner. Each is factored into the stat on the very right, which is how efficient the player was on the bases overall. Is there a category for outs made on the basepaths? It's not its own separate category, no. But tracking outs by itself is just as worthless as simply seeing how many extra bases a player takes without taking into account the risk. What it does is factor those outs into each of the other categories similar to how outs are factored into stolen base percentage, which based on that percentage and run expectancy charts we can figure out if trying for extra bases was worth it or not. All the outs that a player like Theriot made on the basepaths are counted against him in one of those categories, depending on what type of out it was. But it breaks it down into several different kinds of situations, so it is easier to see if a player is too risky in one area but provides reward in another baserunning area. its factored in there, but it's not explicitly listed there.