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Bluescale

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Everything posted by Bluescale

  1. Bluescale
    Seeing this thread made me realize that I have a really cool story to share. I've been a member of this board for a long time, but I don't post, or even visit much any more. That's especially true during the baseball season, since I often watch games on a one day delay via MLB.tv Anyway, I live near Eugene, Oregon, home of the awesome Eugene Emeralds. Last August after a game, as we were leaving PK Park, an unassuming gentleman in an Em's jersey stopped us and said, "Check this out..." At first I thought he was going to try to sell us something. Instead, he took off a very large Cubs World Series ring and handed it to us. He let us pass it around, wear it, take photos of it, and generally oh and ah over it for a few minutes. The man was Allan Benavides, GM for the Emeralds, and he told us that he's always on the lookout for people decked out in Cubs' gear to share the ring with. Here are a few photos. If I'd know there would be photos of my hand, I would have lotioned up first, so they weren't all ashy:
  2. Bluescale
    I keep reading articles regurgitating that the Brewers have been among the most aggressive in pursuing Darvish. Everyone's favorite say-nothing man, Heyman, had another article uttering something along those lines. What the hell does that even mean? Short of offering him the biggest offer (something we've heard nothing about yet), how are the Brewers any more aggressive than anyone else? Is Stearns calling him every few hours, asking if he's done washing his hair yet? Did someone put a horse head (with a Brewer's logo branded into the fur) in his bed?
  3. Bluescale
    Offer him 6/130 or 7/145, and see if he bites. We can even frontload the deal a bit, since it's the average that counts for the LT calculation.
  4. Bluescale
    Brewers are like "j/k, folks": http://www.bleachernation.com/2018/01/31/lukewarm-stove-maybe-brewers-cant-afford-top-starter-after-all-hosmer-wants-8-yrs-avila-terms-more/
  5. Bluescale
    Boras is not Darvish's agent, but yeah, same situation.
  6. Bluescale
    Let him pass out orange wedges in the dugout between innings. Heck, at $21.5M, if he's trustworthy with the knife, maybe even let him cut the oranges up. Anything to keep him busy and off the field. Or maybe we can turn around and trade him for Albert Pujols who is even more expensive, and even worse.
  7. Bluescale
    No he wasn't and I have no idea where you came up with that. The only tool keeping him from being one of the worst all time outfielders is his arm. Guys take extra bases on him all the time and occasionally he makes up for his terrible judgment and routs by making a strong accurate throw. He was and is a terrible fielder. EDIT: 1st base is the easiest position to play so the SD of great to worst is really small. In other words, he's not that bad. EDIT 2: I hate the DH. Both UZR and DRS have Soriano as an elite LFer from 2006-2008. And watching games told me that both are wrong.
  8. Bluescale
    The 2008 Cubs would love to remind you that this isn't an either or situation.
  9. Bluescale
    I'm not a Pena detractor, although I have to admit -- the first thought that jumped to my mind is that Soriano has had several great months in his Cub career too. The difference, of course, is that so far about 50% of Pena career as a Cub has been worth the money. Pena may turn out to be a bust, but right now he's showing signs of life. If he is a bust, at least it's only for 1 year/$10M during a rebuilding season (when the Cubs had very few other viable options to spend that money on). Soriano's 8 year/$136M is a very different story.
  10. Bluescale
    Let me put this very simply: anyone who isn't pleased with the May Pena has had so far isn't paying attention. I wasn't very happy with the signing when it happened, although I understood it. I still believe that the final results may show that the signing didn't pan out. I am skeptical of any player who swings and misses as much as Pena. Still, I'll go back to my original premiss, which is simply that May has been a good month for him so far. Would any of his detractors like to argue against that point?
  11. Bluescale
    For anyone still following this thread: Day/Month AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB HBP SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS April 63 2 10 1 0 0 5 12 0 23 0 0 .159 .289 .175 .464 May 58 13 17 2 0 5 14 16 1 16 0 2 .293 .447 .586 1.033 Last 7 Days 20 6 6 1 0 2 7 6 1 4 0 1 .300 .481 .650 1.131 His May has been as good as his April was bad. As a Pena skeptic during the off season, I'm certainly pleased at the moment.
  12. Bluescale
    You don't honestly think 2010 Pena was the same hitter as 2008 Pena, do you? No, probably because he was injured. Okay, lets take a step back here. Do you think my skepticism is completely unfounded?
  13. Bluescale
    Right. And I already stated I was wrong about his SO/BB #'s changing. I have no vested interest in being right in this argument. Hell...I have a vested interest in being wrong. However, I'll maintain my skepticism. MOST players can't strikeout that often and still consistently put up an OPS+ around 130 or above. Hopefully Pena is more talented than I'm giving him credit for. If his OPS+ is blow 125 and he's batting 3rd, we're in trouble unless we have a bunch of guys hovering right around there. If we have a bunch of guys hovering around a 125 OPS+ we'll have the best offense in baseball Agreed. Assuming we don't have a bunch of guys around 125, I at least want our #3 hitter to be there. I'm not convinced that Pena, despite his run from 2007-2009 is going to be that guy.
  14. Bluescale
    You don't honestly think 2010 Pena was the same hitter as 2008 Pena, do you?
  15. Bluescale
    Right. And I already stated I was wrong about his SO/BB #'s changing. I have no vested interest in being right in this argument. Hell...I have a vested interest in being wrong. However, I'll maintain my skepticism. MOST players can't strikeout that often and still consistently put up an OPS+ around 130 or above. Hopefully Pena is more talented than I'm giving him credit for. If his OPS+ is blow 125 and he's batting 3rd, we're in trouble unless we have a bunch of guys hovering right around there.
  16. Bluescale
    Or if you think he peaked between 29 and 31, and is now sliding back hard...His strikeout to hit ratio is really, really bad. It's hard to keep getting on base when you miss the ball that often.
  17. Bluescale
    How do you figure? Aramis, yeah, you can make that argument, but Pena really doesn't have to improve all that much to be producing runs from the #3 spot. Yeah. Even with his overall crappy numbers last year, Pena still drove in 84 runs. I'm pretty sure that would have lead the Cubs in RBIs. RBIs alone don't tell you how good of a run producer a guy is, just like wins alone don't tell you how good a pitcher is. But yes, point taken.
  18. Bluescale
    How do you figure? Aramis, yeah, you can make that argument, but Pena really doesn't have to improve all that much to be producing runs from the #3 spot. Because I don't have much faith in feast or famine guys. He walks a lot and hits for a lot of power, but he also creates a lot of outs, many of which are unproductive outs. In his career he has 260 more strikeouts than hits. That sort of ratio makes me uncomfortable unless you're walking and getting hits as often as Adam Dunn. That said, I just looked at his numbers, and they aren't as atrocious as I thought. I was under the impression that his BB were going down and his SO were going up. I was wrong about that. It's definitely not as certain as I made it sound above.
  19. Bluescale
    Why not stick Aramis in the 3rd spot and be done with it (unless he shows that he's going to have another bad year). Soto goes after him. Unless folks really think Pena is going to have a big turnaround, Ramirez and Soto will be our two best run producers.
  20. Bluescale
    Moises Alou. He was a player who exemplified the Dusty victim attitude. I irrationally hate him as much as, if not more than Dusty.
  21. Bluescale
    Anyone who's managed a team know that it is the managers job to understand the limitations of his employees. Sure, you take input from your team, but the decision and responsibility ultimately lie with the leader.
  22. Bluescale
    usually the people who don't care about the more advanced metrics are also the people who talk about guys playing the game the right way, knowing how to win and being gritty. and i'm definitely smarter than those people. You're less ignorant than those people...
  23. Bluescale
    Come on folks...being ignorant and being dumb are not the same thing. I know plenty of smart people who could give a rats ass about OPS+. Have a passion for baseball statistics doesn't necessarily make you any smarter than the next guy.
  24. Bluescale
    I'm not sure if this is sarcastic or not, but with Marshall in the rotation over crappier options like Silva, those games should happen less often. I think it's safe to say that was sarcasm...
  25. Bluescale
    Chicken or egg. How is Marshall supposed to build up durability when he's never allowed to pitch an entire season in the rotation? Hendry probably figures that if Marshall pitched out the rotation he's an average starter but he is an above average reliever. I believe Hendry values relief pitching more than he does back of the rotation starters. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Unless Lou has reason to believe Marshall will pitch like a 2007-2008 Marmol, I'd rather see Marshall used as an average starter than allow our rotation to stink it up two out of every five days. I haven't looked at his starting vs. relieving splits, so perhaps this a moot point, and he's really worse at starting than I remember, but if the two are even remotely close, his value is greater as starter than as a reliever.
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