dew1679666265

Tennessee can't get a shot to fall right now.

Yeah but you followed the Cubs all of last year so you know DeRosa made a change to his swing. How do you know Miles didn't change anything? I bet Indians fans are wondering if DeRosa's season was a fluke last year too because they didn't hear anything about a step being added to his swing. I actually heard a little bit about it when DeRosa was a Ranger and then looked more into it when the Cubs signed him. I knew about DeRosa's stance change before he was a Cub, though. Yes. He worked with Jaramillo in Texas in 06 and changed the stance. So since his change he has had 3 good years, thus making his improvement in #s less 'flukey'. Flukey isnt a word but who cares. It's not even the three good years I'm looking at, because Miles hasn't had two more years after his initial career year. What I'm focusing on is that DeRosa made a pretty major change to his stance (Jaramillo's timing mechanism) and immediately had a career year. Miles had a career year completely out of the blue (unless you count the Cardinal pixie dust). The latter seems less likely to be repeatable than the former.

Yeah but you followed the Cubs all of last year so you know DeRosa made a change to his swing. How do you know Miles didn't change anything? I bet Indians fans are wondering if DeRosa's season was a fluke last year too because they didn't hear anything about a step being added to his swing. I actually heard a little bit about it when DeRosa was a Ranger and then looked more into it when the Cubs signed him. I knew about DeRosa's stance change before he was a Cub, though. It was a timing mechanism that Jaramillo put in place to help him out. Exactly. Similar to what Sammy did in the '90s before his best seasons.

The 06 and 07 versions of DeRosa are still a decent amount better than the best year Miles has ever had. And good point on being stuck with Miles' salary in 2010 instead of having that extra flexibility.

Since making the change, though, DeRosa has had the three best years of his career. Players normally make slight tweaks, whereas DeRosa's was a pretty large adjustment (adding a step to his swing).

Yeah but you followed the Cubs all of last year so you know DeRosa made a change to his swing. How do you know Miles didn't change anything? I bet Indians fans are wondering if DeRosa's season was a fluke last year too because they didn't hear anything about a step being added to his swing. I actually heard a little bit about it when DeRosa was a Ranger and then looked more into it when the Cubs signed him. I knew about DeRosa's stance change before he was a Cub, though.

He certainly hasn't figured out how to take a friggin' walk yet But he can hit a single 30% of the time he steps to the plate . . . Touché http://robdamanii.com/macros/curses.jpg Haha! Victory is mine! (If I knew how to post pictures, I'd post an image of Stewie. But I can't, so pretend there's one here)

This game between two very young teams is a roller coaster ride. Tennessee will make a run, then Kansas, etc.

Kansas was. Tennessee's cut pretty deeply into the KU lead. It's just a nine-point lead right now.

He certainly hasn't figured out how to take a friggin' walk yet But he can hit a single 30% of the time he steps to the plate . . .

For the people who are comparing the DeRosa signing to the Miles signing, keep in mind that DeRosa had his career year because of a tangible change he made in his swing - adding the step was at least part of it. Miles' career year, from what I know, appears to be just complete luck. I haven't heard of him "figuring anything out" or making any tangible changes to his swing. That would mean Miles is much less likely to repeat his career year (which was just a 99 or so OPS+).

The reason he went nuts on the ump was, supposedly (his coach confirmed it, IIRC), the ump made some racist comments. That doesn't necessarily justify anything, but it's a whole lot more understandable than him just thinking it was a bad call. I believe he tore his ACL as his coach was restraining him. Just a freak injury. Much more understandable if the ump made a racist comment, but he still went berserk and got hurt. It was a freak injury, but when a guy's career is littered with injuries it can't just be ignored.

I hadn't heard LT wasn't playing. Forget everything I said, then. I'm not seeing where he's been ruled out. The most recent news I've heard is this: And even if he doesn't play, Colt fans (for good reason) are more worried about Darren Sproles than LT.

White played more often than Bradley, as unbelievable as that sounds.

I know. I question it, but I understand what he was saying.

No because most of that stuff happen when he was a young player in 02-04 and it's unlikely to happen now. Like when he lost it on an ump at the end of the season in a playoff run while with the Padres - in 2007? The reason he got hurt one of the times in 07 was because he went loco on the first base ump after what he thought was a bad call. He ripped his hammy, or something like that. . As others pointed out yesturday Bradley mixed with Hoffpauir, Gathright and Johnson is still better then Dunn. When you factor in how much Dunn defense would hurt us in RF. But you're also expecting injuries to be there, that aren't currently there. As much as I respect haltz and his understanding of sabermetrics, I find it hard to believe that Bradley/Gathright/Reed/Hoff would be substantially better than 150 games of Dunn. And I'm expecting injuries because Bradley is extremely injury prone. He'll miss time. He has missed substantial time in basically every season he's ever played.

if this is supposedly a detractor for Bradley. I have some words for you. You are doing it wrong. I'll bite. 98 101 141 75 96 61 126 (DH) The numbers of games he's played in a season since 2002. We all know those numbers and it is a concern, but that's not what SweetZombieJesus was saying. There isn't much to complain about with thise home/road splits. Just as there isn't much to complain about his 07 numbers in Oakland and San Diego. I'd prefer Dunn too, because of health reasons, but Bradley is a stud when he plays no matter what park he is playing in. I understand. I just think his time missed can't be overlooked, despite his awesome numbers.

if this is supposedly a detractor for Bradley. I have some words for you. You are doing it wrong. I'll bite. 98 101 141 75 96 61 126 (DH) The numbers of games he's played in a season since 2002. Only three years he missed games due to being on the DL though. The other seasons he didn't play because he was a young player who didn't get playing time or had off the field issues. Bradley being hurt from 05-07 is a bit of a concern. But if your doctors/trainers put him through test, and he passed them all. Doesn't that say the guy is healthy now? Being a full-time RF and playing half his games in a smaller ballpark like Wrigley should also help him. In 2005 he was still in CF, and even started 15 of those 61 games in CF in 07, and neither were small ballparks. It's a risk signing him, but if he can play even 120 games per season he's a bargin at 10m per season, with the offensive numbers he will most likely put up. So he's a hot head who could well miss a good portion of the season for losing it? That's better than getting hurt, I guess. :-k The fact of the matter is that he's averaged slightly less than 100 games played from 2002 to 2008. No matter what the reasoning is, he missed that time - and he's extremely likely to miss the time again. We could have spent $2-3 million more for Adam Dunn, gotten great production and not had to worry about Bradley missing time for whatever reason - and thus seeing Joey Gathright, Micah Hoffpauir and Reed Johnson getting more time than they should.

if this is supposedly a detractor for Bradley. I have some words for you. You are doing it wrong. I'll bite. 98 101 141 75 96 61 126 (DH) The numbers of games he's played in a season since 2002.

First: Nick is classier then people give him credit for. Of course... It is pretty hilarious to read a Saban-led Alabama fan whining about the opposing team "winning with class". "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach." - Nick Saban

We'll see I guess. I'm not confident right now, though.

Counting stats or rate? Since 2002, they've both amassed a little over 20 WAR. I'll be honest and admit I don't know what WAR is. Is it Wins Over Replacement perhaps? And I was wrong on the similar stats comment anyway. Bradley will be better, but are his stats so much better that he'll be worth Dunn even though he'll likely only play 85-90 games and the rest we'll be stuck with Gathright/Hoff/Reed? I tend to doubt that. Yeah, from fangraphs "Value Wins". Thanks. I hadn't heard the WAR term before. Even accounting for the many, many at bats Gathright/Hoff/Reed will get?

Counting stats or rate? Since 2002, they've both amassed a little over 20 WAR. I'll be honest and admit I don't know what WAR is. Is it Wins Over Replacement perhaps? And I was wrong on the similar stats comment anyway. Bradley will be better, but are his stats so much better that he'll be worth Dunn even though he'll likely only play 85-90 games and the rest we'll be stuck with Gathright/Hoff/Reed? I tend to doubt that.

Thats because Cintron was a young player, and not making any money yet. Womack was a bargin in 2004, but thats because he was bad in 03(we had him that season to). I'm not saying you can't find bargins with scrubs sometimes, but alot of the time you just get crap, and it hurts your roster if you have injuries. Just like we did in 2004-2006 when we had injury problems. And I'd rather have crap for nearly free than crap for $2.5 million dollars. I'd say it's less likely that Aaron Miles turns into Mark DeRosa than Alex Cintron repeating a year he's already had. Thus, I would have preferred grabbing Cintron for cheap rather than signing Miles. Aaron Miles simply isn't a good contributor to a team. He's a guy who will hit a single 30% of the time that he steps to the plate. He doesn't hit for power, he's only shown the ability to get on base at a decent clip if he's in a strict platoon and if he continues having career years at 32. He really is a dime a dozen type player. The Cubs can't count on Cedeno being part of a platoon with Fontenot, or a quality fill in guy if we have a big injury. I would have been very upset if we traded DeRosa, and didn't bring in any infield depth, or someone to platoon with Fontenot. The Cubs might be able to sign Dunn for 10m, there isn't much of a market for him. But the fact is they don't want Dunn defense in the outfield, and would rather have Bradley over Dunn. If Bradley is even healthy for 120 games he's the better move IMO, when you factor in defense. But his injury history is a big concern of course. I will agree with you that some of these moves look questionable. But like I said yesturday I believe Hendry deserves the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. There are very, very few GM's in any sport who I will trust without ever questioning them. Bill Polian (Colts) is one, John Schuerholz (Braves) was another. Jim Hendry isn't nearly there. I'm not calling him a bad GM - heck, I like him more than a lot of posters on this board. But if I see moves that don't make logical sense to me and appear to be making the team worse, I will complain. That's how I see weakening the team's depth by trading DeRosa and then signing a guy who pretty much demands that we have depth readily available. Dunn might have been a better choice when we had DeRosa, he definitely is now that we don't have DeRo. That's what bothers me the most in this offseason. These moves look like the Hendry of old (when he wasn't very good) rearing its ugly head. The utter infatuation with lefties no matter how good they are and no matter what good players it costs us is vintage Hendry from a few years ago. That worries me a lot.

Nor do I, depending on what you mean by "dumping" DeRosa. If you mean get rid of him for a bag of balls, then I disagree. If you mean sell high and get good value, then I agree. Sadly, Hendry came closer to the bag of balls trade than the good value trade. And then, he follows that up by signing a guy that we desperately need DeRosa on the roster to maximize his value (Bradley). If you're going to get rid of your best depth, get a guy (Dunn) who we don't need a lot of depth behind. Dunn will most likely play 150 games next year, Bradley will most likely play less than 100.