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Everything posted by Mephistopheles
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Reality Check
Mephistopheles replied to Mephistopheles's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
how so? injuries? or has he lost speed on his pitches? I havent seen him pitch much this year, so I only really know he is healthy.. +------+------------+-------+--------+ | SPD | Date | First | Last | +------+------------+-------+--------+ | 93.5 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.6 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.4 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.4 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.2 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.7 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.9 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.8 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.4 | 2008-09-02 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.8 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.3 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.4 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.4 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 91.6 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.6 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.3 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.4 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.7 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.4 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.1 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.4 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.7 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.1 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.3 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 89.7 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.4 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.1 | 2008-09-05 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.8 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.2 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.0 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.6 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.8 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.4 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.8 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 96.4 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.1 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.1 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.4 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 96.0 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.9 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.8 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.9 | 2008-09-17 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.0 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.0 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.3 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 96.1 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.0 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.3 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.9 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.9 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.3 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.9 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.3 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.9 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.0 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.6 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.8 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.9 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.6 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.7 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.2 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.3 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.3 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.0 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.4 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.6 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.4 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.4 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.2 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.2 | 2008-09-19 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.2 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.2 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.7 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.7 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.2 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.2 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.7 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.3 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.0 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.2 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.8 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.5 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.0 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.5 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 91.9 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.4 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.6 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 92.4 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.5 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.5 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.7 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.3 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.5 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.8 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.6 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.0 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.9 | 2008-09-23 | Angel | Guzman | | 91.8 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.1 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.3 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.3 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.7 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 93.8 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.0 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.2 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.4 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.4 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.5 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.6 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.2 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.8 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.3 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 95.8 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.9 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | | 94.3 | 2008-09-28 | Angel | Guzman | +------+------------+-------+--------+ 115 fastballs thrown, min of 89.7, which happened to be the ONLY fastball he threw under 91.0. so 114 of 115 fastballs were over 91. The max was 96.4 MPH and the average was 94.1 MPH. His average puts him 53rd among MLB pitchers with over 100 fastballs thrown. +------+-----------+-------------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+ | rank | First | LAst | NP | Min | Max | Avg | STDEV | +------+-----------+-------------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+ | 1 | Joel | Zumaya | 356 | 94.3 | 101.3 | 97.79 | 1.515 | | 2 | Brandon | League | 404 | 91.6 | 100.3 | 97.05 | 1.213 | | 3 | Jonathan | Broxton | 852 | 89.3 | 101.0 | 96.70 | 1.684 | | 4 | Matt | Lindstrom | 633 | 91.6 | 101.0 | 96.65 | 1.648 | | 5 | Jason | Motte | 155 | 92.6 | 99.2 | 96.41 | 1.011 | | 6 | Manny | Delcarmen | 823 | 91.6 | 99.3 | 95.75 | 1.338 | | 7 | Brian | Wilson | 802 | 90.5 | 100.2 | 95.71 | 1.441 | | 8 | Bob | McCrory | 145 | 92.2 | 97.9 | 95.65 | 1.073 | | 9 | Jose | Valverde | 874 | 90.1 | 99.3 | 95.62 | 1.674 | | 10 | Brandon | Morrow | 755 | 89.0 | 99.6 | 95.52 | 1.736 | | 11 | Ubaldo | Jimenez | 2243 | 89.0 | 100.4 | 95.48 | 1.816 | | 12 | Chris | Perez | 547 | 92.5 | 98.2 | 95.45 | 1.002 | | 13 | Fernando | Rodney | 457 | 89.1 | 100.2 | 95.40 | 1.979 | | 14 | Kerry | Wood | 687 | 89.8 | 98.4 | 95.34 | 1.213 | | 15 | Joel | Hanrahan | 951 | 83.8 | 98.7 | 95.27 | 1.450 | | 16 | Matt | Thornton | 879 | 88.5 | 98.3 | 95.25 | 1.811 | | 17 | Joba | Chamberlain | 1098 | 90.3 | 100.2 | 95.19 | 1.828 | | 18 | Craig | Hansen | 506 | 88.4 | 99.5 | 95.14 | 1.547 | | 19 | J.J. | Putz | 566 | 89.4 | 98.7 | 95.10 | 1.574 | | 20 | Tyler | Yates | 893 | 88.1 | 98.7 | 95.09 | 1.280 | | 21 | Jose | Veras | 648 | 88.2 | 98.1 | 95.08 | 1.137 | | 22 | Adam | Russell | 314 | 90.5 | 98.9 | 95.01 | 1.594 | | 23 | Jonathan | Papelbon | 863 | 88.9 | 99.7 | 94.98 | 1.954 | | 24 | Kyle | Farnsworth | 621 | 88.9 | 98.6 | 94.96 | 1.968 | | 25 | Merkin | Valdez | 198 | 89.2 | 98.7 | 94.94 | 1.827 | | 26 | Tony | Pena | 739 | 88.0 | 98.3 | 94.88 | 1.843 | | 27 | Jesus | Colome | 827 | 83.1 | 99.3 | 94.83 | 2.121 | | 28 | Frank | Francisco | 825 | 88.0 | 98.3 | 94.83 | 1.283 | | 29 | Brian | Stokes | 361 | 90.9 | 97.3 | 94.81 | 1.129 | | 30 | Billy | Wagner | 481 | 88.4 | 97.7 | 94.79 | 1.367 | | 31 | Grant | Balfour | 916 | 88.4 | 97.9 | 94.76 | 1.174 | | 32 | Ervin | Santana | 2011 | 87.9 | 100.6 | 94.74 | 1.714 | | 33 | Dustin | McGowan | 846 | 88.7 | 98.7 | 94.64 | 1.997 | | 34 | Juan | Cruz | 610 | 83.1 | 98.4 | 94.58 | 1.750 | | 35 | Jeff | Samardzija | 322 | 84.4 | 99.0 | 94.58 | 2.031 | | 36 | Francisco | Cordero | 627 | 87.7 | 98.6 | 94.57 | 1.694 | | 37 | Felix | Hernandez | 2092 | 86.8 | 98.7 | 94.55 | 1.823 | | 38 | Jesse | Chavez | 143 | 87.7 | 97.0 | 94.53 | 1.289 | | 39 | Dennis | Sarfate | 1207 | 88.4 | 98.8 | 94.53 | 1.601 | | 40 | David | Aardsma | 691 | 88.9 | 99.0 | 94.49 | 1.870 | | 41 | Jeremy | Affeldt | 827 | 86.7 | 98.5 | 94.48 | 1.799 | | 42 | Guillermo | Mota | 529 | 87.6 | 98.0 | 94.47 | 1.321 | | 43 | A.J. | Burnett | 2308 | 87.0 | 99.0 | 94.45 | 1.630 | | 44 | Brian | Falkenborg | 256 | 88.6 | 97.3 | 94.44 | 1.327 | | 45 | Mark | Lowe | 789 | 87.9 | 98.1 | 94.42 | 1.493 | | 46 | Mike | MacDougal | 126 | 90.9 | 97.6 | 94.42 | 1.537 | | 47 | Kameron | Mickolio | 118 | 91.4 | 96.4 | 94.38 | 0.957 | | 48 | Erick | Threets | 126 | 91.2 | 97.3 | 94.38 | 1.209 | | 49 | Max | Scherzer | 654 | 83.8 | 98.6 | 94.36 | 1.862 | | 50 | Clayton | Kershaw | 1262 | 87.5 | 98.1 | 94.31 | 1.384 | | 51 | Bobby | Jenks | 542 | 89.9 | 99.7 | 94.20 | 1.577 | | 52 | Robinson | Tejeda | 473 | 89.3 | 98.5 | 94.20 | 1.617 | | 53 | Angel | Guzman | 115 | 89.7 | 96.4 | 94.18 | 1.144 | | 54 | Santiago | Casilla | 619 | 84.3 | 98.6 | 94.15 | 1.904 | | 55 | Jeremy | Accardo | 136 | 90.8 | 97.1 | 94.14 | 1.514 | | 56 | Brian | Bruney | 363 | 86.0 | 98.0 | 94.12 | 1.708 | | 57 | Brad | Lidge | 527 | 89.0 | 97.4 | 94.10 | 1.279 | | 58 | Edwin | Jackson | 2051 | 86.2 | 99.8 | 94.09 | 1.725 | | 59 | Josh | Beckett | 1911 | 87.8 | 98.9 | 94.09 | 1.912 | | 60 | Jesse | Crain | 658 | 87.1 | 97.6 | 94.08 | 1.566 | | 61 | Tim | Lincecum | 2249 | 87.8 | 99.3 | 94.07 | 1.706 | | 62 | Jason | Frasor | 629 | 89.7 | 98.3 | 94.07 | 1.298 | | 63 | Leo | Nunez | 428 | 82.2 | 98.5 | 94.07 | 1.962 | | 64 | Carlos | Marmol | 712 | 90.1 | 97.0 | 94.01 | 1.146 | | 65 | Chris | Resop | 251 | 89.0 | 98.2 | 93.92 | 1.639 | | 66 | Blaine | Boyer | 894 | 89.3 | 98.0 | 93.91 | 1.274 | | 67 | Jose | Arredondo | 564 | 87.8 | 97.6 | 93.90 | 1.478 | | 68 | Manny | Acosta | 493 | 87.9 | 97.6 | 93.90 | 1.836 | | 69 | Jim | Johnson | 746 | 89.4 | 97.4 | 93.85 | 1.264 | | 70 | Jorge | Julio | 265 | 88.8 | 97.3 | 93.85 | 1.319 | | 71 | Radhames | Liz | 1007 | 87.4 | 98.6 | 93.81 | 1.865 | | 72 | Heath | Bell | 868 | 89.1 | 98.8 | 93.81 | 1.577 | | 73 | Josh | Outman | 278 | 83.9 | 97.2 | 93.80 | 1.751 | | 74 | David | Price | 175 | 84.7 | 97.2 | 93.75 | 2.116 | | 75 | Freddy | Dolsi | 608 | 84.0 | 98.2 | 93.71 | 2.415 | | 76 | Dustin | Nippert | 901 | 87.0 | 98.5 | 93.70 | 1.514 | | 77 | Ross | Ohlendorf | 616 | 85.6 | 97.0 | 93.69 | 1.273 | | 78 | Phil | Coke | 120 | 89.7 | 96.3 | 93.65 | 1.163 | | 79 | Kelvin | Jimenez | 259 | 89.7 | 96.2 | 93.64 | 1.262 | | 80 | Justin | Verlander | 2071 | 79.5 | 99.7 | 93.59 | 1.954 | | 81 | Wilfredo | Ledezma | 735 | 82.0 | 97.1 | 93.59 | 1.565 | | 82 | Joe | Nathan | 619 | 86.9 | 96.5 | 93.58 | 1.137 | | 83 | Franklyn | German | 234 | 87.9 | 96.5 | 93.58 | 1.344 | | 84 | Edinson | Volquez | 1788 | 87.9 | 98.4 | 93.57 | 1.599 | | 85 | Hong-Chih | Kuo | 966 | 83.3 | 97.9 | 93.57 | 1.729 | | 86 | Derrick | Turnbow | 121 | 89.4 | 96.5 | 93.56 | 1.587 | | 87 | Denny | Bautista | 611 | 86.3 | 98.6 | 93.52 | 1.600 | | 88 | Scott | Proctor | 444 | 87.9 | 98.0 | 93.45 | 1.551 | | 89 | Jason | Bulger | 129 | 90.3 | 96.7 | 93.44 | 1.379 | | 90 | Jeremy | Guthrie | 1884 | 82.4 | 98.3 | 93.42 | 1.682 | | 91 | Matt | Garza | 2000 | 85.7 | 97.5 | 93.41 | 1.647 | | 92 | C.C. | Sabathia | 2195 | 82.5 | 98.9 | 93.40 | 2.516 | | 93 | Alfredo | Simon | 129 | 87.7 | 95.5 | 93.38 | 1.536 | | 94 | Zack | Greinke | 1907 | 86.6 | 98.2 | 93.35 | 1.854 | | 95 | Romulo | Sanchez | 114 | 89.2 | 96.2 | 93.32 | 1.268 | | 96 | Seth | McClung | 1227 | 87.3 | 98.7 | 93.25 | 1.965 | | 97 | Aaron | Heilman | 896 | 86.2 | 97.0 | 93.24 | 1.745 | | 98 | Ryan | Tucker | 455 | 83.9 | 98.8 | 93.23 | 2.301 | | 99 | Eulogio | De La Cruz | 168 | 86.6 | 98.1 | 93.22 | 2.505 | | 100 | C.J. | Wilson | 681 | 86.7 | 97.2 | 93.21 | 1.287 | +------+-----------+-------------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+ -
Reality Check
Mephistopheles replied to Mephistopheles's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
overpaying for wood is fine. its like the yankees overpaying for jeter -
Reality Check
Mephistopheles replied to Mephistopheles's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
I don't think Angel Guzman's command and control is a long-term issue. It's something that he has had plus grades for in the past before the injuries cropped up. If you really sit down and look at it the guy simply has not pitched a lot. He's averaged about 50 total innings the last five seasons due to the injuries. We should downright expect his control during this time frame to be sporadic at best because of his sporadic playing time not to mention the fact he's been battling injuries the entire time. I do think if he can stay healthy for a long term, he would be able to have his command return. Now, I think he still has great upside (probably the best on the staff outside of Harden), I don't think we can count on him right now. He's much like Hill. If he develops fine, great, grand, but at this point we can't really expect that. Also, Guzman's thing is health, he's much more likely to stay healthy in the bullpen and his repertoire would simply overmatch hitters in short spurts. It's so unfortunate. Plus-plus arm strength. Plus sinker. Plus-plus change, borderline plus curve, previously plus command. -
Penn State could beat Missouri and Texas. They'd give Oklahoma a run for their money. Penn State is as good as the top three in the Big XII, who honestly have yet to play anyone real good. SEC cannibalism is in full swing, Big XII cannibalism is next week. Big Ten cannibalism is well, basically Penn State eating cake. Really, right now the NC *should* be Big XII winner versus SEC Winner. Both conferences have three or four outstanding teams. The most likely scenario is that the conference winner has one loss. Someone will have to take out the Joe Paternos if the NC wants to become Big XII versus SEC. Seriously if UT runs through their schedule with one loss (say to OU) they would have two wins over Missouri and a win over Texas Tech. If Bama runs through their schedule they will have wins over Georgia and LSU as well as a second one over Georgia or Florida. You can basically insert in Georgia, LSU or Florida for Bama and Oklahoma and Missouri for Texas and come out with the same scenario. But Penn State will have quality wins over Ohio State? Im not saying PSU isn't in the class of {OU, USC, Mizzou, UF, LSU, UGA, Bama, UT}, I'm just saying that as an undefeated team should two of the one loss SEC/Big XII teams jump them? The answer is probably yes. Voters love W-L too much so it won't happen. I will say that a non Big XII or SEC team won't make the NC with 1 or more losses. Unless the Big XII or SEC teams become total sham and everyone in the conference has at least two losses - which in the SEC's case you can still make the argument that a two loss SEC team is more than likely better than a one loss Big Ten team. In the end the system sucks. Give me an eight team playoff - no conference affiliations for auto-bids.
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That's exactly how I am defining it. And the game of the week is the closest game to 50% among ranked teams.
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79.4% #21 Wake Forest over Clemson - 7:30 EST (Thursday) 54.3% #1 Oklahoma over #5 Texas - 12:00 EST 76.0% #16 Kansas over Colorado - 12:30 EST 96.6% #14 Utah over Wyoming - 2:00 EST 75.4% #13 Vanderbilt over Mississippi State - 2:30 EST 79.4% #7 Texas Tech over Nebraska - 3:00 EST 98.4% #8 USC over Arizona State - 3:30 EST 82.2% #10 Georgia over Tennessee - 3:30 EST 86.4% #12 Ohio State over Purdue - 3:30 EST 80.0% #22 North Carolina over Notre Dame - 3:30 EST 50.4% #23 Michigan State over Northwestern - 3:30 EST 92.7% #20 Auburn over Arkansas - 5:00 EST 92.6% #9 BYU over New Mexico - 6:00 EST 89.1% #25 Ball State over Western Kentucky - 7:00 EST 88.5% #11 Florida over #4 LSU - 8:00 EST 71.4% #3 Missouri over #17 Oklahoma State - 8:00 EST 76.4% #6 Penn State over Wisconsin - 8:00 EST 80.8% #15 Boise State over Southern Miss - 8:00 EST Upset Alert Game of the Week
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Concrete ideas to improve the playoff system?
Mephistopheles replied to ArthurVandalay's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Drop the wild card. Drop the divisions. Best team in each league makes WS. -
I understand that most of you want to go splat from Sears Tower, but honestly we need to be realistic. The Cubs don't need a big makeover, we just need to tinker here and there. Yes we've struggled in the playoffs, but that doesn't mean we need to go out and make a big splash. Disclaimer: If an opportunity presents itself, then fine, but we don't need to make a dumb long term move to make ourselves better. In other words we don't need to sign Manny Ramirez to a ridiculously long contract. In fact, the offense needs very little work. We don't need a catcher. We don't need a first baseman. We don't need a third baseman. We have two outstanding offensive second baseman. We have a serviceable shortstop. We don't need a left fielder. We could add another outfielder, one who can play either right or center, but there's really nothing wrong if we just resign Johnson and Edmonds. Regarding right field. At this point we shouldn't relegate Fukudome to the bench, nor outcast him. We've invested a ton of money on him, and if he continues to struggle next year, we can adequately fill the gap with DeRosa in right field and Fontenot at second. At the same time we need to realize a few things about him. The guy was an incredible player in Japan with a lengthy track record of success. Every offensive player to come to the US has eventually hit their translations. Every single one of them has done as expected eventually. Most of them did not do it the first year. The pitching style differs quite a bit from Japan to the US. So a longer adjustment period is probable if not expected. At the same time it's why a lot of mediocre pitchers from Japan come here and flourish. It's also way quite a few major leaguers who went there happened to struggle. The guy has all the tools to be a successful major league hitter. He has quick hands, a good swing, stays back really well on an off speed pitch, and has excellent discipline and pitch recognition. Given his past the guys going to hit at some point. We shouldn't trade him for pennies. We have enough backup plans to if he doesn't work out we'll be fine. And I am not buying that MLB pitchers have "solved" him and that the book on him is stay on the outer half all day long and watch him ground out harmly 24/7. If the book on a guy was that simple, pitchers in Japan would have figured it out long ago before he started winning battling titles and offensive MVPs. No, the most likely is just an adjustment to the sinking fastball. Considering the guy almost never saw it in Japan, and here it's a staple, we should expect a long-term adjustment. But as I said earlier, every Japanese player to come here eventually hit at their translated level. Why should Fukudome be the first one not to? He's one of the best to ever play in Japan. Oh and the Kaz Matsui comparison isn't valid. He's hit as expected for most of his career in the US. Now this does not mean not to go after someone to play right if the price is right, but our money would be better spent elsewhere, I think. If we do sign someone to play right, then we need to give Fukudome every opportunity to play center - which honestly he should have been playing since day 1. What the teams primary goal in the offseason should be is resigning Kerry Wood and looking to fill the void left by Ryan Dempster. Ryan Dempster is going to get offers this year in the 4/50 or 5/60 range - maybe more depending on how the market explodes, and honestly that's a terrible buy. I do think that management will resign him, though. At that point I really would be content to add just role players. If we don't make a single move in the off season we will be good enough to win the division. That includes not resigning Wood or Dempster. We can place Marmol as the closer and insert Samardzija in as the primary setup guy and be fine. And really, Sean Marshall probably has the same expected level of production over 30 starts as Dempster. I think we, as usual, need to dangle Marquis and try to replace him. I *dont* think we should get rid of him and not replace him with a starter (ie hand Marshall a job). Let's be frank, Harden's not going to make 20 starts next season and Marshall will have to pick up those 15 starts. If we hand Marshall the job and dump Marquis those starts will go to lord knows who. At the same time, we don't need to get an impact starter to replace Marquis. We have Hill, who we shouldn't count on, but if he's back then he absolutely can get the job from Marqui, and we have Marshall to put in if the guys a total waste. So really, there's no need to dump Marquis. All we need to do is find a replacement for Dempster, if we don't resign him. I know a lot of you are going to want a big offseason move, but there's really not a reason to make one just to make one. Most of them really won't help us. I'll be happy if we resign every player thats a free agent and get ready for next year with the same team.
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Getting blown out every game.
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guys, its 3 games. we dont need a makeover. we need to tinker here and there and try again next year
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Why are we surprised Soriano struggled? He feasts on weak pitching. However saying he's a choker or doesn't care or whatever really isn't fair. He's just at a relative disadvantage in the playoffs.
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typo
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Yeah You are my fire The one desire Believe when I say I want it that way But we are two worlds apart Can't reach to your heart When you say That I want it that way [Chorus:] Tell me why Ain't nothin' but a heartache Tell me why Ain't nothin' but a mistake Tell me why I never wanna hear you say I want it that way Am I your fire Your one desire Yes I know it's too late But I want it that way [Chorus] Now I can see that we're falling apart From the way that it used to be, yeah No matter the distance I want you to know That deep down inside of me... You are my fire The one desire You are You are, you are, you are Don't wanna hear you say Ain't nothin' but a heartache Ain't nothin' but a mistake (Don't wanna hear you say) I never wanna hear you say I want it that way Tell me why Ain't nothin' but a heartache Tell me why Ain't nothin but a mistake Tell me why I never wanna hear you say (Don't wanna hear you say it) I want it that way I want it that way
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90+ 6-0 80-90 4-0 70-90 1-1 60-70 3-1 50-60 2-0 overall 90+ 18-3 = 86% 80-90 8-1 = 89% 70-80 7-4 = 64% 60-70 4-4 = 40% 50-60 4-2 = 67%
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11-1 thus far.
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That was a hell of a throw by Nickson. 14-13 Vandy
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only contact and only through about 9/11

