SouthSideRyan

Harrison.

Yes. Mainstream, at least. The great thing about the internet is that it's made better sources (and worse, obviously) of information available to everyone. Would this whole baseball enlightenment period have ever moved as much as it has without it? Not a chance. I picked up pretty much all my statistical inclination from here and BTF. I never even heard of Bill James until the internet.

I know of a few Brewers fans who were driven nuts by Yost's smiling as Rome burnt around him last year.

Well people work for other reasons than disposable income. But you're talking about taking a day off and that real fans should take a day off... So only real fans who have extra vacation or sick days should be able to go to the playoffs? Well the Cubs have been good since April...if you wanted playoff tickets you shouldn't have taken that 2 week vacation to Hawaii! The price spent on Hawaii could probably pay for some stubhub tickets.

Nope. I'm simply saying that there is no reason to treat each and every team as a completely independent event, and deny all possibility that valid data can be gleaned by examining the past. Well the fact is that 29 out of 30 GMs are failures every year. To attempt to glean anything out of how players will play based on how previous players played acquired by that GM seems foolish to do at the end of a season. If you want to judge offseason transactions that way, I could understand(i.e. GM 1 has a great scouting eye, so even if this guy's #s don't seem that great, I trust him that there's talent in this guy waiting to come out. Or GM 2 loves spending on mediocrity and has shown no real ability to identify anything but tools goofs, so this guy will probably be just another free swinging 220 hitter with power potential.) After we have the full year's worth of data on the players, I think that's what we should be basing our judgements off of, not what Neifi Perez did in a Cub uniform.

I wouldn't say that. I would say that the evidence points to the fact that there is no effect at all. I would tend to agree that a cause isn't always needed to be known in order to say that an effect is probably real. I just don't see an effect anywhere (which I realize now wasn't really the point of what you were trying to get across and you were instead going more hypothetical). And it's true that there is continuity from year to year, but the Cubs have had very little of it. 3 players are left from the 03 team. Only a couple more were added that are still here from 04. Even the turnover from 07 to 08 has been fairly significant, especially when you consider what the roster was in the first half of 07. And who picked those players? And who picked him to pick those players? So unless a GM wins it all in his first few years, we shoudl expect his teams to fail?

Should be A-Rod, Pujols, Lee, Lincecum. Will probably be Quentin/Morneau(whoever wins the division), Pujols, Lee, Webb/Sabathia(Depending if Sabathia finishes undefeated) EDIT: Actually thinking about it, I recall hearing A-Rod's been pretty bad at clutch situations this year(not a repeatable skill, but should be weighted as to how valuable a player is in a given season.) I'd have to look a little harder at the #s, and I'm at work.

But that doesn't matter to the Cubs because they set their ticket prices and are going to sell out regardless. They explained their decision as a way to be "fair" to fans and if you define fans as anyone who is willing to go to a game at Wrigley then sure its fair. But it ain't fair to those of us that bleed the Cubs. If you really bled the Cubs, you'd have season tickets and it wouldn't be a problem. Have you seen the season ticket waiting list? I have, because I'm on it. I moved up 3 spots this offseason!

How bout people who can't afford to take off work and don't sit in front of a computer all day? Can you only be a real fan if you take a day off of work to sit on a computer all day, or work in an office? What if that soccer mom has been a lifelong fan, but has to actually watch her kids during the day rather than sit in front of 100 VWR windows waiting for one to pop up?

Disagree, the difference is that today they actually use a bullpen, back then every starting pitcher had a giazillion inning on their arms when entering Aug. Leo the lip abused his pitcher and Santo, Banks and Williams never ever got a rest So...you're saying this team is better than 69's. At least when Alabama fans live off the carcass of Bear Bryant, they have a reason to. At least he won something. If I never hear the word 69 again except for awesome jokes, I'd be elated.

This is still the same management team that put together 2004's collapse, 2003's 3-game collapse and 2007's sweep. Why is it unassailable truth that those were all coincidences? The Braves gave John Schuerholtz way too much time.

Anyone who has ever given the Cubs their email address is going to get this email. There are going to be a TON of people who couldn't name three Cubs starting pitchers that will register for this chance to buy playoff tickets. It's going to be very difficult to get tickets this year. Yup, the Trixies and Chads that populate Wrigley during the summer months will be in full force in October. You'll hear things like "Hey wait, that guy has the same name as that ND football guy, remember him?", "Derrek Lee is going to go yard here, I feel it. He's a stud", "HEY ARAMIS HUSTLE ITS THE PLAYOFFS", "(on cell phone) Hey bro, can you see me on TV?" and finally "Hey, its too cold out here, let's skip out in the 7th and head to the Cubbie Bear" Yeah thos people definitely weren't out there last year.

2 ABs. Good sample size. Let's draw some conclusions. I'm drawing conclusions off his entire minor league career. McGehee isn't now, nor will he ever be a major league caliber hitter. The fact that he's taking important ABs this season is mind-numbing.

2 months later?? When we don't even know what's wrong with Z?? Carroll's a hack.

This team is better than 1969's. People need to get over that bunch of losers.

You can't win a single game without an offense.

According to Josh Mora, Harden says it's just normal in-season discomfort, nothing serious.

Were they supposed to wrestle Z into the MRI machine? In the old days, they'd put a date on someone coming back from injury, but then the player never would. If they don't know what the situation is, I'd rather they say so than try to reassure fans with unrealistic projections. COme on, they're clearly holding stuff back. Lou first lcaims he's skipping Harden's start as a precaution, then he eventually admits something isn't right....then the next day finally admits there's discomofrt. Meanwhile Harden keeps claiming he's fine. So Harden is the one we can't trust!!! It's a campaign by Harden to make sure people buy playoff tickets!!!

Or not. What Valverde does is no different than what Zambrano does. Zero percent different. but when zambrano does it, it's cute Zambrano's never murdered a family of 5 in their sleep though. yet if it turns out that he's pretty injured, i would think dusty would probably start locking his doors and windows at night He's only got 1 kid though.

I don't get some of these, and I probably woulda went with the no electricity/dumb people jokes. From an SEC fan at work: HOW MANY SEC STUDENTS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB? At VANDERBILT: it takes two, one to change the bulb and one more to explain how they did it every bit as good as the bulbs changed at Harvard. At GEORGIA: it takes two, one to change the bulb and one to explain how they're not a student but their cousin's best friend's father-in-law's son is a student at Georgia and the whole family is so proud of him...Go Dawgs! At FLORIDA : it takes four, one to screw in the bulb and three to figure out how to get stoned off the old one. At ALABAMA : it takes five, one to change it, three to reminisce about how The Bear would have done it, and one to throw the old bulb at an NCAA investigator. At OLE MISS: it takes six, one to change it, two to mix the drinks and three to find the perfect J. Crew outfit to wear for the occasion. At LSU: it takes seven, and each one gets credit for five Semester hours. At KENTUCKY: it takes eight, one to screw it in and seven to discuss how much brighter it seems to shine during basketball season. At TENNESSEE: it takes ten, two to figure out how to screw it in, two to buy an orange lampshade, and six to phone a radio call-in show and talk about how much they hate Alabama. At MISSISSIPPI STATE : it takes fifteen, one to screw in the bulb, two to buy the Skoal, and twelve to ye ll, "G O TO HELL, OLE MISS". At AUBURN: it takes one hundred, one to change it, forty-nine to talk about how they did it better than at Bama, and fifty to get drunk and roll Toomer's Corner when finished. At SOUTH CAROLINA : it takes 80,000, one to screw it in and 79,999 to discuss how this finally will be the year that they have a decent football team. At ARKANSAS : None. There is no electricity in Arkansas.

Or not. What Valverde does is no different than what Zambrano does. Zero percent different. but when zambrano does it, it's cute Zambrano's never murdered a family of 5 in their sleep though.

The 2nd place wild card team (Phillies) are as close to the Brewers as the Brewers are to us.

He will and Lou will use him in at least one close playoff game I guarantee this I'd bet Howry doesn't get into a playoff game within 3 runs of winning or losing unless it's the 13th or later. I don't see why anyone thinks yesterday's outing will change Lou's use of Howry. People have been saying "this is the outing that will convince Lou that Howry sucks" after just about every game he's appeared in. He's still used in tight games and crucial situations. It's not going to stop. I think Lou's going to use 3 or 4 relievers for the entire postseason.

He will and Lou will use him in at least one close playoff game I guarantee this I'd bet Howry doesn't get into a playoff game within 3 runs of winning or losing unless it's the 13th or later.

I'm happy for you and jealous raisin. Robinson couldn't out coach a tackling dummy. Yeah, I'm really happy and thankful. I know a thing or two about horrible coaches. http://www.coachesdirect.com/images/products/toledo.jpg http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2006/1026/ncf_u_dorrell_195.jpg I know it's the football thread, but I still thought Lavin was gonna make an appearance there.