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fromthestretch

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Everything posted by fromthestretch

  1. fromthestretch
    On the Cubs.com site, it has JP current obp as .330 for the season. Ichiro's obp is .360. I'm not advocating JP over Ichiro, just pointing out that even tho Ichiro's obp is .30% points higher, that is not a significant difference. If you assume a decent increase in salary for Pierre next year, combined with the possibility of a multi-year deal, and Ichiro's edge in defense and power, I'll take Ichiro at the higher cost for one year over Pierre for 3-4 years at a slightly lower cost.
  2. fromthestretch
    I would add, however, that Murton's stats look a little better than they might because he faces a disproportional number of lefties. Last year Ramirez and Lee faced RHPs about 75% of the time. I think Murton is in the low 60s for his career. Not sure about that though. His AVG is nearly identical against righties and lefites this year. His SLG and OBP are a notch better against lefties though.
  3. fromthestretch
    He's been playing a lot of CF this year, I believe. 174 of his 1240 innings have been in CF. 221 of his 8000+ MLB career innings. Yeah, I just edited my post. I thought he had been playing there the entire second half, but it's only been 23 games.
  4. fromthestretch
    He's been playing a lot of CF this year, I believe. EDIT: Just looked, it's not as much as I thought, but he's played 23 games (started 22) in CF this year. I remember reading that he really didn't want to switch to CF.
  5. fromthestretch
    I'm not sure what that means, but you only have to look at 2003, when Prior was healthy, the kind of numbers he put up. The 2nd half of 2003 he was just dealing... I also look back to 2003 when he simply crumbled on the mound in game 6 of the NLCS. Prior doesn't have the killer instinct on the mound that Z has. You mean like how Zambrano crumbled in the third inning of Game 1?
  6. fromthestretch
    I've said in the past that we traded for the wrong Izturis. Maybe we could trade them Cesar for Macier.
  7. fromthestretch
    I dont want him. He cannot stay healthy for a 162 game season. He's on pace for 147 games this year. He played in 145 games two years ago for Atlanta. You certainly can't blame him for missing time last year after someone broke his hand with a fastball. That would be like holding Lee responsible for getting his wrist broken in a collision with Furcal. Drew did miss a lot of time early in his career with nagging injuries. But if he can stay healthly enough to play 145 games, he's worth a look.
  8. fromthestretch
    Speaking of current Dodgers, anyone think the Dodgers might be willing to entertain offers for J.D. Drew this offseason?
  9. fromthestretch
    If they signed Mulder, I highly doubt it would be for three years, considering his hip and shoulder issues. It would most likely be for one year plus team option for a second season. I also can't see Lugo getting four years. He'll most likely get three from someone though.
  10. fromthestretch
    If for some reason Ramirez leaves, Nomar could be a 3B option. His defense isn't ideal, but he'd be one of the better offensive options. I can't see Hendry bringing him back though.
  11. fromthestretch
    No they are not. Let me guess, you're going to be using VORP and that other garbage to judge Molina? Stats dont tell you everything. Playing and watching are 2 different things. I hate it when people just use some meaningless stats like VORP to judge a player. Average, Hr, RBI's, OBP, and fielding% are a good way to judge a player in my book. So it's ok to you that a catcher gets a putout on defense (thus greatly helping his fielding percentage) when his pitcher gets a strikeout, despite the fact that the pitcher was the one that got the hitter out? Fielding percentage for a catcher is a garbage stat.
  12. fromthestretch
    I really think MLB has to start penalizing teams for lying about player injuries. The NFL does it, and it works fine. From what I read on SI.com, the first x-ray was negative, so I can see how they thought he might be day-to-day. They didn't find the fracture until they did a second x-ray on Friday. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/wires/09/09/2010.ap.bba.indians.hafner.0228/index.html Edited to add link to the si.com story.
  13. fromthestretch
    Even if they don't keep Kennedy, they have Kendrick.
  14. fromthestretch
    Fielding % isn't exactly a great way to judge a catcher's defensive value, considering that around 85-90% of their chances come from catching a third strike. And that may be estimating on the low side.
  15. fromthestretch
    Any Cubs pitcher that says that Barrett doesn't call a good game is trying to deflect attention away from his own bad performance. I absolutely hate it when pitchers say their catcher doesn't call a good game. Unless you're specifically told otherwise by a coach, if you don't like what sign he's putting down, shake him off. Starting pitchers have several days to prepare for their next start. They should know what they want to throw and when they want to throw it. If you're worried that your catcher might not be on the same page, meet with him before the game to go over how you plan to approach each hitter. I'm not claiming that Barrett is good defensively. He's not. But people put way too much stock in the catcher's value when it comes to the performance of the pitchers that throw to him, especially when it comes to calling a game.
  16. fromthestretch
    Back on topic... No matter what context you put it into - whether you view 61 or 73 as the official record - Ryan Howard is having an amazing season. I'd love to see him hit at least 60 home runs. Of course, that would lead to John Kruk making a prediction that Howard will hit 80 home runs next season, just like he said the Yankees would win 130 games.
  17. fromthestretch
    I disagree. First of all, for your theory to work, we have to assume EVERY player is juicing. Otherwise the balancing-out effect just doesn't hold up. Secondly, even if it *was* every player doing it, it's still fruit of the poison tree. Once you pollute the game, there's no longer any basis to judge what the statistics mean. And without that basis, the stats themselves mean nothing. No we don't. I never said it makes it completely equal, but it certainly does level the playing field somewhat. We don't know how many homers Bonds hit off of pitchers on performance enhancing drugs...especially BEFORE 1998, if you go by the assumption that he started taking them that season. I agree that steroids should be out of the game. But there's no way to go back and test players from the past. If we could, we might as well go back several decades and test for amphetamines and other things. More players than we'll probably ever know have done something against the rules to gain an advantage and were never caught, simply because there was no good system in place to catch them. Now, we have drug testing. It might not be perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. Punish the guys who get caught. That's all you can do. Edited to add the word "somewhat." Stupid of me to leave out a key word.
  18. fromthestretch
    McGwire took the 5th when asked if he took illegal performance enhancing drugs by Congress, which is everything but admitting his guilt and cheating. Bonds testified that he "unknowingly" took illegal performance enhacing drugs to a grand jury, also admitting his guilt and cheating. Sosa's guilt can not be pinpointed so easily. The only arguments you can make for him involve a level of assumption. He is a known cheater (cork) and basically broke down when steroid testing began. I'll give you Sosa (barely), but I refuse to accept McGwire and Bonds' records as legit I agree with Easton. None of them failed a test. In fact, McGwire's career was played in an era where no players were tested. Since more pitchers than hitters have been suspended (at both the major and minor league levels combined) since testing began, one can reasonably assume that hitters were regularly facing pitchers who were on performance-enhancing drugs. There are most likely several players who took steroids and other performance enhancing drugs over the past several years. We'll never know who they all are. In my eyes, when you have several "juiced" hitters facing "juiced" pitchers, it tends to balance things out a bit. If players test positive or somehow get caught using something they shouldn't be using, by all means, suspend them, put an asterisk next to their numbers, etc. Until then, I view the numbers as legit. Keep in mind that it's not referred to as the "Steroid Era" because a handful of guys had some monster seasons. It's referred to as that due to alleged wide-spread use of those drugs.
  19. fromthestretch
    I'd love to get him, but I think we can all agree there's a 98% chance he ends up in Seattle or in pinstripes. I wonder if the Cubs even have any interest? I've read about the O's and Angels being interested too. I'd like to see the Cusb sign Schmidt and, say, Meche. I'd be curious to know why people like Meche so much. Not singling you out here, as I've seen his name mentioned quite a few times. I realize he's only 27, but his numbers aren't all that impressive. High career WHIP, high career ERA, gives up a fair amount of home runs, etc. I'd rather save the money and give one of the young pitchers a shot. Looking at Meche's numbers, it's almost like we'd be hoping for a Clement-esque turnaround...bad numbers pre-Cub, good numbers as a Cub. I don't think it's all that likely.
  20. fromthestretch
    I would think that if you sign a big contract with a team and perform poorly in the first season due to the pressure, you would probably feel even more pressure the second year to try to make up for such a poor first season. There are so many outside factors that we most likely don't know about that makes it difficult to say that Renteria and Beltran didn't perform well because of pressure. Based on the limited information we have, one might theorize that they just took it easy after signing those big contracts, not working as hard in the offseason to prepare since they just got their big payday.
  21. fromthestretch
    'Nuff said.
  22. fromthestretch
    You know who else has been around at least the past two years? Rothschild and Baker. If you want to improve the pitching staff, get better pitchers or at least a better pitching coach. Getting a new catcher isn't going to make pitchers stay healthy and really shouldn't help them improve any more than a good pitching coach would.
  23. fromthestretch
    The Red Sox have had a Cub-like couple of weeks with the health of their players. Ortiz has an irregular heart-beat, Lester could have a serious illness, Ramirez with a bum knee, Pena with a bad wrist...
  24. fromthestretch
    Sorry if this has been asked already, but what is that video in your signature? Even without sound that's funny.
  25. fromthestretch
    Hurt. explecitive Are you serious? I didn't know that. What kind of inury? Got hit in the arm by a line drive.
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