Clem Fandango

He had a 3.97 ERA his rookie year which was a good showing. He followed it up with a 5.80 ERA. He pitched 6 innings the following year because he was battling his anxiety and depression and he almost quit baseball. Then when he came back the next year he had a nice 3.69 ERA, but he only started 14 games, and made 52 total appearances splitting time between the bullpen and rotation. He started the first 6 games and had an ERA of 5.71 when they moved him to the bullpen, where he pitched until August 20th (when his ERA was still 4.40) when they moved him back into the rotation for the end of the season and he performed well. Then he made his first full season as a starter since 2005 in 2008 where he performed similarly to his end of the year in 2007, doing very well. They then signed him to a nice extension and then he came out of nowhere to put up on the best pitching seasons of the decade in 2009. He then put up a 4.17 ERA in 2010 and was traded in the offseason a year before his contract hit 7 figures. So I'm not sure how you could say that nothing I said was true when it was, in fact, entirely true and based on statistical and documented facts. It took several years (about 5-6) before Greinke started to pitch like they expected him to, and a year after his extension was signed and he turned in a performance that paled in comparison to his 2009 and they traded him off. Perhaps I should've clarified and said they traded him off early, meaning they traded him off well before his extension was finished and after his "poor showing" in the follow up season to get the most they could out of him in a trade, but I didn't say anything that wasn't based on statistical or documented facts.

Zack Greinke? It took several years before Greinke reached his potential, and by the time he did they had to ship him off because they knew they probably couldn't keep him. Shipped him off early for a larger return instead of delaying the inevitable. Greinke had a 120 ERA+ in his first full season at age 20. He pitched six years for the Royals before they traded him. And then he did poorly after his first year (76 ERA+ in 2005), had a psychological spell, wanted to quit baseball, then returned to the team in the bullpen, said he never wanted to start again, then agreed to start again and was a solid #2 type before becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball in his 6th year as a Royal (205 ERA+), which he then followed up with a completely league average performance (100 ERA+) before being traded to the Brewers that offseason.

Zack Greinke? It took several years before Greinke reached his potential, and by the time he did they had to ship him off because they knew they probably couldn't keep him. Shipped him off early for a larger return instead of delaying the inevitable.

Also, where did Kris Medlen come from?

What happened to Tim Lincecum? He's REALLY bad this year... http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/linceti01.shtml

3 years ago I wished that the Cubs were in the O's position, franchise wise... they had the following pieces of talent either established, breaking in at MLB level, or stewing in the minors: Matt Wieters Adam Jones Nick Markakis Brian Roberts Brian Matusz Chris Tillman Zach Britton Jake Arrietta Brandon Snyder Nolan Reimold Josh Bell Among others useful roleplayers. I could've sworn they were gonna be a force to be reckoned with by this time... but not a single one of their stud pitchers have really panned out yet, and it took Wieters years to finally become useful, Roberts got injured like a mf'er, and Jones is finally hitting his stride. It's sad. How does one franchise with so much young up and coming talent falter so badly at AAA/MLB level? Matusz was supposed to be ace level... now he's an after thought. It upsets me, I had high hopes for them. I'm glad they're doing well now but it does seem like extreme smoke and mirrors. Oh well. C'est la vie

Gomez's power surge is pretty strange. Has he always had that sort of Gary Sheffield style follow through? http://mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=23876031&c_id=mlb

Edwin Encarnacion hit a 488 foot homer yesterday http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=24391923&c_id=mlb He also hit his 37th home run of the year today, tying him for 2nd in the majors. Most he ever hit before was 26 back in 2008. His power is insane.

I would've voted for Amanda McCarthy out of that list, but I had to do the write in for Kim DeJesus. I'm baffled how she didn't make the list.

Josh Sale and Marcus Stroman busted for violating drug policy. Sale was busted for Meth like his other teammates.

This is so nasty. Who's the last LHP to throw a breaking ball like that? One-pitch Rich?

I don't know why but I always liked Rick Sutcliff's color commentary on ESPN. He always seemed to be very easy to listen to and not overtly former-player-meatball-ish. Though I've only heard him aabout 5 times so I can't say for sure.

He also has a career 396 OBP in 272 PAs from the 7 spot. He also has a career 382 OBP over 2212 minor league PAs where he was unlikely to have been batting in front of a pitcher. The Reds player with the most AB's this year in the 7 spot is Todd Frazier who has a .904 OPS, including 1.024 OPS out of that spot this season, but he's only played 43 games there (but that's a much larger amount than anyone else on the team). If you want to remove a guy with a .904 OPS out of the 7 spot and put him behind a guy with a .743 OPS that's your prerogative. Fact is this: Ryan Hanigan probably should be hitting out of the 7 spot, with Cozart hitting 8th (.696 OPS, .290 OBP)... but Dusty insists on batting Cozart at leadoff (95 GS at leadoff, .646 OPS and .265 OBP out of the leadoff spot, WTF), so with the exception of Cozart, Hanigan is the weakest link and of al lthe other batters he provides the least amount of offensive pop and he is relegated to batting 8th. If anything, he should probably bat 1st where getting on base is more important than hitting for power (which Hanigan sucks at), but Dusty would kill himself before he bats a catcher leadoff.

He also has a career .366 SLG and has hit in front of the pitcher 235 out of 378 career games played, he's likely prone to being pitched around in more situations than not. Castro had a nice walk rate batting 8th when he was called up, too. In fact, he's had 17 walks in 32 games batting 8th... compared to 28 walks in 166 games batting 2nd.

HE PAID HIS DUES AND ALL HE DID IN THE MINORS WAS WIN!!!

Onion Strong Side/Weak Side on Roger Clemens (NSFW Language)

I'm getting an earful in one of my fantasy leagues about how Strasburg shouldn't be babied and should be let go to pitch as many innings as he wants BECAUSE YOU GO FOR THE GLORY WHEN YOU HAVE THE CHANCE GOD DAMNIT even though the Nats sans Strasburg is still a championship caliber team

Touché... For whatever reason I continually forget that part. That being said it's still awful.

He's been right on a ton of stuff that came out of no where, I definitely think he's got connections, but I honestly can't remember whether he said he HAD TJS or if he was going to. And if I remember, a couple of media guys followed up with the same thing. When I was working with the Bay Bears Jarrod Parker went down with an elbow injury and when we were in the office we got the doctor's fax in with the suggested course of action and he suggested TJS, so we all assumed he was going to have it. I sort of leaked that bit of info to a D-Backs message board at the time and when it didn't happen and he tried to rehab I got called out on it. Of course, Parker ended up getting TJS, but this could've been a similar situation, where someone he had connections with knew that bit of info and passed it along before any decisions were made.

Volquez would be a hollow acquisition. Someone to acquire for the sake of acquiring him without providing any sort of major positive repercussions on the team's chances for success in the future. The FO does have to field a team in 2013. The rotation filler that we've used since the trade deadline certainly doesn't inspire confidence for 2013 or the future. Of course all of this is based on getting Volquez cheaply. We're not going to contend in 2013. Volquez is a FA after 2013. If they wanted to actually contend while pinching pennies they'd try and pick up guys like McCarthy or Jackson and the like on a 2-3 years deals. Volquez is a terrible pitcher. In fact I'm fairly confident we have one pitcher somewhere who can be as equally as effective as he can that will cost us nothing. If we're going to dumpster dive I'd rather it be for someone with a little more upside than a guy who, if you ignore his one breakout year, has a combined ERA+ of 78. There are better options on the scrap heap to pick up in FA after the year is over to fill out the rotation rather than trading away pieces, no matter how insignificant they may be, for Edinson Volquez.

He is only under team control through next year and would probably make $4ish million through arbitration. If he had an extra year or two of team control it might be worth it but he's probably looked at as too short term of an asset to acquire for a team that likely will be as good as we are this year, next year. He's also a big pile of hot garbage, so there's that. Yeah, I hadn't looked up his numbers in a while. He's one of those guys that had a good year and for some reason, I just kept assuming he was good. I'm not sure how much of that is Dusty lingering and how much of that was a fluke good season. He started out doing well this season, but he's turned back into the crap pitcher he pretty much is. I'm sure the park factor played a big part in that... but if you're in San Diego and you're still putting up an ERA+ of 87 you're probably no worth taking a look at., IMO

Three things that need to happen for 2013 to go our way: 1) The improbable 2) See #1 3) See #2

He is only under team control through next year and would probably make $4ish million through arbitration. If he had an extra year or two of team control it might be worth it but he's probably looked at as too short term of an asset to acquire for a team that likely will be as good as we are this year, next year. He's also a big pile of hot garbage, so there's that.

Volquez would be a hollow acquisition. Someone to acquire for the sake of acquiring him without providing any sort of major positive repercussions on the team's chances for success in the future.

Well [expletive]... in the time it took me to do all that others did a lot of it for me, and in less work, lol.