Brett

Outstanding news, and deserved. Hopefully he can keep up the domination.

I agree. I think Soto wins it barring a complete 0-fer the rest of the way, but he won't necessarily have been the best rookie by that point. He's been pretty worthless for about a month it seems.

That makes some sense. I'd still like to know how it wandered into baseball terminology, and if Brenly is the only person who uses it that way. I'll have to remember that one for casual use.

If he's set on returning to the Cubs and willing to give a hometown discount I don't think that would be much of a factor. Eh. If I'm him, I just can't let myself give a discount. This is his one chance to REALLY cash in. And he deserves it.

obviously, the pee jokes wore themselves out years ago, but this picture will never be not-funny I find it funny too, but I just can't explain why! How have I never seen that picture?!?!?! :rotfl:

I have no words. I won't look at a sleeping bear the same way ever again.

Seems like Sherrill is a guy we should be looking at.

why would you say that? it's not like dunn is getting hurt by playing his home games at the GABP, and most of his home runs go like 450 feet, which is a home run unless they've reopened the polo grounds. I don't understand your logic. Yes, his bombs go 450, so that would be a homer anywhere. It's the warning track shots that become homers that increase his numbers. 80 was hyperbole, I'd bet, but his numbers would improve there. Warning track shots in GABP are homers in YS, as the fence is 11 feet closer and 3 feet shorter there. RC power alley is also much shorter. Dunn would be a 50+ HR hitter there. dunn has 23 more home runs at home in his career than he does on the road. the GABP has rated as a better hitter's park, both overall and for home runs, than yankee stadium in each of the past four years. jason giambi didn't start hitting more home runs when he moved to yankee stadium, and neither did abreu. you're also merely talking about the fence immediately down the RF line; the power alley at yankee stadium is 15 feet deeper than the one at GABP. there's no support for the notion that a guy who averages about 42 homers a year will all of a sudden be a regular 50+ home run hitter upon moving to yankee stadium. Yeah, but that may have something to do with Giambi stopping using when he came to NY and Abreu turning 87 when he came.

Won't they just move Ramirez over to SS? That's the plan. But then how will he do those super-neato backhand scoop flips?

The terrifying part is Durham is just now entering his prime. Now they don't have to keep trotting out that aging, decrepit Rickie Weeks.

SInce they wouldn't include Hughes for Santana this offseason, I doubt they wanted to move him to get Nady and Marte. Yeah, I was gonna ask if that was a joke.

I've never felt so proud to be a Dayton transplant as I am while reading this thread.

Don't all of the Samardzija apologists (and it's not as if I'm anti-Shark) say that the reason he had such low K/9 numbers last year was because he was told to work on certain pitches? Seems to me you don't go from striking out NO one in high A, to striking out 9 per 9 in AAA unless things are being worked on. Great point on his fastball movement, btw. When it tops 96, it's very straight. When it's under 94 or so, it has a lot of movement.

He's not hitting his spots. Command is poor this year. Less movement on his fastball, too, if my eyes don't deceive me.

So you think those guys suddenly become completely different pitchers when they're at home or on the road? It's kind of like starting a guy on Mondays and Fridays because those are the 2 days of the week he has the best career numbers on. Well, home stats are meaningful because it makes logical sense that some pitchers perform better in one ballpark than in others. For Bush, that ballpark is his home park. Makes sense for pitchers, but I always wonder why it seems to be true for a lot of hitters, too.

how about the fact that he's tied for first in era+...ALL TIME? Seriously? That's wild.

Your icon terrifies me. And yet I cannot look away.

I think Samardjiza could be great in the pen when he lets it all fly. But how would this affect his development? Afterall, he's blowing up as a starter in Iowa right now. I know that a lot of people viewed him as a future reliever in MLB, but lately, I've been wondering if he's got ace potential.

There's change?

Any new word? With Edmonds getting an MRI today, this is unfortunate timing.

I never feel good hearing about injuries to players... but that doesn't mean I feel bad, either.

Here's hoping Mitch keeps up his Iowa awesomeness.

Seems like if I'm Canning, and I know I've got the inside track with the MLB higher ups, I have no reason to outbid everyone. I lowball, find out what the bids are - heck, I might even let them say they've "eliminated" me - and then I go to my friends in high places, and reconfigure my bid. Just enough to win. I'm not saying it will happen, but I'm still nervous.

I would think that a pitcher wouldn't want a callous on the pads of his fingers as he would lose "feel" for the ball Good point. Anyone have any info on this sort of thing from a pitcher's perspective? It must be true, because otherwise, why wouldn't they just pop the sucker, drain it, and cover it with superglue?

I'd agree with you if he were considered to have fifth round talent and the Cubs overpaid. But when a player has a higher talent level and drops just due to signability concerns I think it's fair to evaluate him compared to his perceived talent level rather than his actual draft round. I don't recall whether he was generally considered to have first-round talent, but I do think he was at least considered a 2nd- or 3rd-rounder by talent, so I think it would be fair to judge him accordingly. Right. How far did a guy like Porcello fall, for example?