MSG T

I SUUUUCK at 70's/80's baseball trivia That's where I made up for it. I got 175/200, I only missed 5 names from the 70's and 80's, none of them were multiples. I missed a bunch from the 90's/00's, though spelling cost me a few, like Galarraga (kept thinking 1 r and 2 g) and Bichette (forgot the e). Plus, who's this Thome guy that popped up a few times ( :banghead: )?

Brilliant!!! Hey, we thought about doing something, then made a decision not to do it.

There's around 20 pitchers total in baseball that you can feel confident will start 20+ with an era around 3.00. And Shark isn't even one of them Define "around" >3.30. I'll stand by my statement. 7 meet your first post, 15 meet your second. Travis Wood was one of the second (200 IP, 3.11 ERA).

Nice, Tunney, you [expletive]... http://www.suntimes.com/23054547-418/tunney-pressures-needy-cubs-to-start-wrigley-rehab.html

Just found this. http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=mlbdk2k10babipprimer Edit: Page down to "quality of contact" It looks like Inside Edge is a subscription service, though it looks interesting. http://myinsideedge.com/Default.aspx

This surprises you? Not anymore, but I remember him being one of the first players I looked up when the lights switched on stats-wise and a little part of younger me dying inside when I saw the truth. I wasn't expecting him to be good, but man, that was ugly. The first game I went to on my own, without my parents, was in high school. I was sitting on the first base side, in some seats a friend of mine provided, and I almost caught a Dunston overthrow. It went off my fingertips, and the hand of the guy behind me, and ended up somewhere in the next section up. IIRC, we were in the Field boxes. I remember being honestly shocked that a throw ended up there, then a buddy reminded me it was Dunston throwing.

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/917/526/Pedro-cerrano-major-league2_display_image.jpg?1304588518

In no way is this true. My younger brother didn't play on any fancy traveling teams and moved right before he started high school. He played all four years of high school, was first team all state, and lead his team to a state title. That other crap is a nice way for people to make money off of families thinking that their kids have to do it. It depends on the size (and probably the socioeconomic makeup) of the high school. My little brother is a really good soccer player and was left off his high school team basically because he wasn't playing in those elite-type leagues because my family couldn't afford it (they all but told him so). But my high school is in a pretty well-off area and has around 3,000 students, so they can get away with pulling that crap. None of the schools I cover where I live could do that, because none of them are big enough and several are from lower-income areas. Highest class of school in Iowa. I also never did any of the summer camps for basketball designed to take money, I was a three year letter winner. You're also old enough you have a kid who must be over 6 years old now. I don't think anyone is saying this was the situation 20 years ago To be fair, he did mention Iowa high schools. I know of plenty of 4A high schools in Iowa that have 2-3 year letter winners that are like that now. I don't know which HS he went to in Iowa, but there are probably 15-20 in 4A alone where you can legitimately do that, and there's only around 45-50 4A schools in Iowa. And AAU ball is bigger in Iowa now that it ever has been.

i timed it with a stopwatch and it looks like ryan got the ball to first base in about 5.5 to 5.7 seconds, with pierzynski touching first at about 5.8 to 5.95 seconds. that is [expletive] pathetic for a left handed batter. you're considered a 2 runner if it takes you 4.5 seconds to reach first base from the left side of the batter's box. taking nearly 6 seconds is off-the-charts bad. That would be in the neighborhood of a 7.5 second 40 time.

I actually had a few pretty good music discussions with KG. And he was generally only an ass to stupid people, Parks is an ass to everyone. Parks isn't really an ass, but ok. I guess I didn't phrase it right, he can be an ass to anyone. I didn't mean to say he's always an ass. But I've seen him be snarky to people asking decent questions, maybe there was a history there somewhere, maybe not. But then again, there's a LOT of those guys (baseball scouting/writers) that that do similar things. Of course, I'll also fully admit, outside of their being a history of someone being intentionally argumentative, I rarely see an appropriate time to be snarky just for the sake of doing it. To me, being snarky a lot of the time kind of shows that someone is an ass not funny. Doesn't mean I don't glean some good info or that they don't know what they're talking about, I just don't get why people feel the need to do it. (not just talking about Parks here, just people in general)

I actually had a few pretty good music discussions with KG. And he was generally only an ass to stupid people, Parks is an ass to everyone.

WTF? Did that guy see J. Baez and think he was describing Joan?

Vogelbach's ratio of hits/XBH is around 39.5%, Barney's (minor league) ratio is about 23.5%. Now, I'm not saying Vogelbach couldn't stand to be a bit higher, but his ratio is FAR closer to Baez than Barney.

Well, at least that will make @FacebookCubs entertaining.

And Abreu. If it makes you feel better, you can put someone else in place of Almora, because all he's doing otherwise is promoting two top prospects who are likely to be MLB ready at some point next year. Also, the Cardinals and Reds both have homegrown position players at 6 of 8 spots and at least 3 of 5 rotation spots. Ellsbury? He'd be a fairly reasonable possibility. And if that 6/$54 was even remotely close for Abreau, I don't think I'd have a problem with that. Figure out your contingencies while he's establishing residency, then start trying to work the best option if you get him. Go from there.

I think it's mostly borne out of not being good enough to advance with a more traditional delivery. IIRC, they talk a little bit about how Bradford picked up a submarine in Moneyball. Came down to the fact that his 88-90 mph fastball was a lot harder to hit from that angle. When I was a kid it was fun just to copy the guys who did it. I think it is a bit like becoming a knuckleballer. If you can't be an effective 95mph thrower, mix it up by changing the batters eye level. We faced a kid in high school that threw submarine style, he picked it up because Quisenberry was his favorite pitcher.

I think he just likes playing in Japan. I mean, who wouldn't. Anyone who likes natural grass fields Hey, otherwise they have to blur parts out over there. :lol:

You should take a glance at Steve Clevenger's game log from last year. Or Bryan LaHair's. Anyone remotely capable of being a major leaguer can have a 6 game stretch like this. It's awesome, exciting, and fun to watch, but it doesn't tell us anything about what will happen with that player in the future. LaHair was [expletive] incredible last April. The rest of the season wasn't so hot, though.

If you didn't see a drinking fountain, its because you weren't looking for a drinking fountain. i walked the entire concourse and never saw one. maybe i was having a heat stroke. Fair enough. I filled my water bottle up multiple times while there. Like someone else said, they're usually right by the bathrooms. Yep http://neighborhoods.redeyechicago.com/lakeview/files/2011/08/110816_restroom-585x389.jpg

Hank Aaron used [expletive] PEDs. Regularly.

Tell that to Bonds who only became once in a generation after he took them. PED's made multiple once in a generation players (Bonds, Sosa, ARod). None of those guys would have been that good without them. Holy smokes are you comically wrong about this. No he's not. All of those guys would have been really good players but none of them, especially Bonds and his comically ridiculous seasons, would have put up anywhere near the numbers they did. I mean seriously, go look at the post in another thread talking about Rich Aurilia hitting 37 HRs and the top 9 guys in the MVP voting averaging 49 HRs. But Bonds was ridiculously good pre-blow up period. 11 straight seasons at 6.0 bWAR or higher, 7 of them 8.0 or higher. That's ridiculously [expletive] good.

Tell that to Bonds who only became once in a generation after he took them. PED's made multiple once in a generation players (Bonds, Sosa, ARod). None of those guys would have been that good without them. Holy smokes are you comically wrong about this. No he's not. All of those guys would have been really good players but none of them, especially Bonds and his comically ridiculous seasons, would have put up anywhere near the numbers they did. I mean seriously, go look at the post in another thread talking about Rich Aurilia hitting 37 HRs and the top 9 guys in the MVP voting averaging 49 HRs. Bonds would be in the HoF whether he took steroids or not. He was already the best player in baseball.

Tell that to Bonds who only became once in a generation after he took them. PED's made multiple once in a generation players (Bonds, Sosa, ARod). None of those guys would have been that good without them. Holy smokes are you comically wrong about this. No kidding, evidently everyone has 9 straight seasons with an OPS+ over 150 while not being on the juice, including a 204 and 206.

Hrm burp ha that's totally the same thing as amazingly making a player good. No, but they allow players to be better for longer, letting them work out harder and more frequently, and also helping them with endurance. And no, they don't magically make a player a great hitter, but it stands to reason that big muscles = can hit the ball further, therefore more XBH, correct? Yes, the player still needs to make contact and I agree that PED's don't help with that. Not necessarily. What they do is allow that guy to not lose as much because of wear and tear, as you said, recoverability. They can help you get stronger, yes, but keep in mind, some of the best HR hitters ever were kind of scrawny looking guys (Ted Williams???) who didn't do any weight lifting at all.

Exactly