Transmogrified Tiger

Mizzou landed a 4-star WR this evening, he'll make a nice replacement for Coffey. Doesn't look to be a star-studded class, but at least the commits are at places of need. Next year's basketball class looks to be pretty solid too, I'm optimistic about next year for both major sports.

I could buy Jones having a down year because of external factors, these things happen. However, there's no discernable difference in production between the rest of his career and '05. He was performing the same as he always was. Not to nitpick a generally good post, but Jones' 2005 numbers were significantly below his career averages pretty well across the board, aside from XBH. His OPS was about 30 points below his career norm. That's true, but his '05 was nearly identical to his '04 and similar to his '01. It wasn't an aberration for him.

That's one of the most bizarre lines I've ever seen. Either he makes them look stupid for bunting him twice, or they are stupid for bunting him twice after he hits a HR.

I'm pretty sure it was White who some member here got to chat it up with on a cruise. IIRC, he loved Chicago. White would be a great pickup at this juncture.

Okay then... First of all, K's are way down the list on why Jones is terrible. K's are not evil. Most times they are no different than any other out, and they chiefly harm you on the whole by hampering your BABIP(a stat I did not make up). This is garbage. It's enough that Patterson has been unfairly criticized for not caring, but there's never any evidence that he of all people doesn't "leave it on the field every time". And furthermore, who cares if he "leaves it on the field every time"? He's not good, players like Augie Ojeda and Bo Hart leave it all on the field, that doesn't make them worthwhile ballplayers. So Jones has a good glove, is fast, and doesn't screw up on the basepaths. Okay, so do many other people who are terrible baseball players. Corey Patterson fits all those criteria, to carry over a common theme. We certainly shouldn't be giving him a huge contract. I could buy Jones having a down year because of external factors, these things happen. However, there's no discernable difference in production between the rest of his career and '05. He was performing the same as he always was. I really hope that Pierre and Jones inspire the team to new heights, I really do. I'll set the likelihood of it happening at negative 2 percent though. Baseball isn't basketball or football, where the players need to act in harmony to make things work. It's mostly a collection of individual performances. There's no evidence of Jones and Pierre motivating teammates to perform better at their previous gigs, how is it going to start now? He's got VCS though. Hopefully Merck will have a prescription out soon. Yes, Jones is an outstanding defender. And no, we are not always saying we want defense. Jim Hendry is, but most certainly not all of us here at NSBB. This is cliched nonsense. There's no proof of this, it's just platitudes to make him sound better based on what you've seen of him.

Jacque Jones, like so many baseball players before him, suffers from VCS. VCS is, of course, Vanishing Clutch Syndrome. Take 2005 for instance. He performs great with Runners on and with RISP, a .879 and .881 OPS respectively. But when those RISP happen with two outs, BAM, VCS strikes. Poor Jacque only mustered a .612 OPS w/ RISP 2 outs. Or how about 2004? Stellar marks with Runners on, RISP, RISP 2 outs. But when the bases are loaded, VCS turns Jacque into a little leaguer. A staggering .100 OPS in that scenario in '04, that's not a misprint. Also, despite having great production w/ runners on, and RISP 2 outs, when it's just runners on and 2 outs, VCS hampers Jacque to a paltry .702 OPS. There may be a cure out there somewhere, but some people don't think VCS exists at all. In fact, they think that there isn't anything depriving the players of their clutchness. They claim that since performance in those situations changes so much from year to year, and comes under such small samples, that Clutch itself is not real. You be the judge.

a team w/ a 100 mil payroll shouldn't need platoon buddies for their corner OFer's. Good in theory, but what RF was out there that's far superior? Unfortunately, Giles & Abreu were pipedreams. Bring on Rondell White. YES If we're forced into this crap, let's at least have some depth. White or C. Wilson should start on this team, but we should get them even though they won't because they aren't "athletic". [rant]What bloody good does it do to be athletic in baseball? Is being athletic going to get you more hits? more extra base hits? More K's pitching? No, they don't do any of that. The only thing you could remotely claim it helps you is on a small handful of defensive plays, and I'm sure glad we sacrificed a vast majority of our offensive output trying to look good while we glide to the ball in the field.[/rant] BTW, that was directed at Hendry's comments, not at anyone else.

My apologies for quoting myself, but in order to give those numbers some context, here's the same for Manny Ramirez. Batting: 62 above replacement, 44 above average Fielding: 1 below replacement, 13 below average Net: 61 above replacement 31 above average

Baseball Prospectus calculates FRAR, which is fielding runs saved over replacement. Can someone post that, please? I would like to know just how many runs Jacques "Savior" Jones is going to save us this year in right. Last year defensively Jones was 23 runs above replacement, 12 runs above average. He was 17 batting runs above replacement, and 1 run below average. Net: 40 runs above replacement 11 runs above average

I disagree - I think the three years is pretty **** bad. If it was, say, 3 years, $7 million, it would be better. Who in the hell would take Jacque Jones off our hands at 5+ million per year? Someone who has to deal with him for a short timeframe.

Jones would be an outstanding platoon CF, a decent regular without a platoon. But that contract is a killer, and there's no way we're trading Pierre.

Uh....it's costing them a draft pick because the Twins have already tendered him a contract.

They were #2 and #3 in ERA in an absolutely loaded league(Both made BA's top 20 for the Southern League as well, IIRC). Pinto and Nolasco are good prospects. You may think that they are worth Pierre, but let's not devalue them by calling them 'mediocre at best' or 'middle relievers'. Feel free to call them whatever you want. I wish to call them middle relief prospects. Why?

freedom jones is a true american, don't make fun sacrifice bunts = freedom outs

They were #2 and #3 in ERA in an absolutely loaded league(Both made BA's top 20 for the Southern League as well, IIRC). Pinto and Nolasco are good prospects. You may think that they are worth Pierre, but let's not devalue them by calling them 'mediocre at best' or 'middle relievers'.

baseball discussions

Indians get Cubs' 2nd round pick for Howry Giants get Cubs' 3rd round pick for Eyre Twins get Cubs' 4th round pick for Jones So Jones was offered arbitration by Minnesota? Yep

Seriously, do it now. Use multiple teams to make sure you get the package you want.

I don't think it is. Now Hendry has several options: 1. He can trade Pie as part of a deal for Tejada and have all three OF positions set. 2. He can platoon Jones and Murton if Pie is playing for the Cubs in 2007. 3. He can platoon Jones and Hairston or another rightie this year. Please tell me you're joking? A platoon of Jones and Hairston? Yeah, that will produce some massive offensive numbers... :roll: Not ideal, admittedly, but against LHP Murton is much more of a power bat, and Hairston could bat 2nd against LHP. Jones has some very good numbers when facing RHP, which some on this board overlook. They aren't "very good", they're barely acceptable for a corner OF.

There's less than that left.

I don't think it is. Now Hendry has several options: 1. He can trade Pie as part of a deal for Tejada and have all three OF positions set. 2. He can platoon Jones and Murton if Pie is playing for the Cubs in 2007. 3. He can platoon Jones and Hairston or another rightie this year. Why is a team with a 100M dollar payroll using a platoon system? That's absurd. Platoons are not bad, in fact, more teams should probably use them more often. However, platooning in RF when the LH version is Jones is never a good idea.

I don't think it is. Now Hendry has several options: 1. He can trade Pie as part of a deal for Tejada and have all three OF positions set. 2. He can platoon Jones and Murton if Pie is playing for the Cubs in 2007. 3. He can platoon Jones and Hairston or another rightie this year. And yet he is still paying Jones 5+ million per year to play a corner outfield position for the lion's share of the at bats, at the minimum. Terrible, terrible move. Platooning Jones is worthless, because you're probably better off just playing the RH option full time because of overall production, age, upside, etc.

Fried? Man that's harsh...but I agree. Oh, you wrote fiRED... Oh how I love flash edits, or reading competency, one of the two.

There's a time and place for this type of post MET and this is not one of them. I would be pissed if this were like a stinging loss, but this is just the stupidity of our organization, and it truly is laugher. Seriously, this offseason is like a carnival of horror.

My response when your posted this elsewhere was that we did hear about this before. It just wasn't clear for when and how he got that option. I don't know the final answer. But it's not true that we haven't heard about this before. We knew he had the option to file if he became eligible as a super-two after 2004, but there's nothing that indicates that the option rolled over to 2005. If it had, I have to believe we'd have heard something about it.