Eephus Speed

Nolasco had -- by far -- the lowest FIP-ERA amongst starting pitchers in 2009. He was incredibly unlucky. Nolasco's no ace, but he's certainly above average. His biggest problem is that he's a fly ball pitcher (without a Pedro-esque K rate), so he's going to give up a lot of HR.

I don't dislike Pierre. He seems likeable, in fact. I dislike that there are a lot of people who don't know how to properly evaluate talent.

Even crazier is how some people misspell John. J-u-a-n. Ha ha ha. And don't get me started on the pronunciation. Stupid non-US American douchebags. http://drew3000.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/the-world-according-to-americans.jpg

I re-read daske's post, and you're probably right. Philly, Florida, San Francisco and Colorado have comparable tandems.

I don't know how Aaron Miles continues to get work. All I can figure is that he's blackmailing some folks. That and quite a few people in MLB still don't understand how to properly evaluate players. The fluke of '08 aside, Miles isn't even at replacement level. As good as Carpenter and Wainwright are, I'd definitely prefer Lincecum and Halladay. LaRussa seems to be infatuated with Miles, so I wouldn't be so sure that Miles won't make it out of the minors.

FWIW, the MLB average BB% is around 9 and the MLB average K% is around 17 or 18. Isn't that 70/125 over 500 AB's? I'd be positively euphoric if he could keep that up. or was that a green font thing? No green font thing intended. What ratio of BB/K is considered acceptable? Obviously more BBs than Ks is what every player would like to have but I always assumed a ratio around 50/50 is acceptable. There are very few players in baseball (maybe five in any given year) that both walk at an acceptable rate and also have more walks than K's. Last season, there were about a dozen who qualify, but it seems that's more than normal. There are only a handful of players who consistently have an above average BB rate and have more BB than K. Pujols, Mauer, Chipper and Helton. N. Johnson is semi-qualified. Pedroia may become a member of that group.

It's time to start a new thread titled, "The end of Halladay."

5/$125M for a 30-year-old, 4-win first baseman? That's a horrible contract. For that amount, Philly could have extended both Werth and Hamels.

I don't see anything idiotic about that take on the White Sox and their chances of contending in a weak AL Central. My point is that both Central divisions are weak and to say that the Cubs awful start is reality while the White Sox awful start is an illusion is idiotic. The WS have a strong starting rotation with a lineup that is close to being terrible. The Cubs have a very good rotation with a much stronger lineup (that is slumping). While the Cards are better than the Twins, I think the talent gap between the WS and Twins is greater than the gap between the Cards and Cubs. I disagree with your last statement, but I don't want to go there. Regarding the blurb about the White Sox, it pretty much said the same thing you're saying. That their offense sucks, though probably not quite as bad as it may currently appear. And that they have a very talented rotation that is currently underachieving in a big way.

I don't see anything idiotic about that take on the White Sox and their chances of contending in a weak AL Central.

It's my understanding that ground ball pitchers tend to have a higher BABIP than fly ball pitchers. I'm not positive that's true, and the difference may not be substantial. But that's my understanding. I looked up the BABIPs of a handful of veteran SP. According to B-R, Zito's career BABIP is .270, Santana's is .278 and Lilly's is .277. 3 fly ball pitchers. Lowe and Webb, 2 ground ball pitchers, are both in the .290s.

Because UZR is unreliable and that's where all his value was tied up in last year In what way is UZR unreliable? I don't contend that it, or any other stat for that matter, is flawless. But I'mcurious as to exactly why you say it is "unreliable." Theriot was worth 7.7 fielding RAA last season. Even if we knock that down to 0, he was worth 2 wins. If we bump it down to -5, he was worth 1.5 wins. From a guy who made a total of $900,000 over the last *2* seasons. Seems odd that he's the recipient of so much hate, but maybe it's a personality issue. I don't know much about the guy.

Why all the Theriot hate? He's been worth 3 wins each of the last 2 seasons, while being paid next to nothing.

I'm just poking fun at the pixie dust nonsense. Because it's precisely that, nonsense. And I didn't just show up. I've been reading and posting here since before the season began. Also, FWIW, I've been complimentary about quite a few of the players on the Cubs. I'm not here to bash the Cubs or even to promote the Cardinals (though I make no bones about being a Cardinals fan). Most of my posts on this board deal with baseball in general. The "Dave Duncan turns crap into gold" stuff is way overblown. There have been many failures, as is the case with every team, but Duncan has helped some pitchers (veterans mostly) improve their game. Sometimes a change in repertoire works, and sometimes it doesn't. Joel Pineiro, for instance, eventually learned just how effective a sinker can be, but it didn't happen immediately...and his success has carried over into this season (27 ground balls vs. 13 fly balls) with another club.

McGwire was a 4.5-win player in 2000. He was worth less than half a win in 2001, and then he retired.