Transmogrified Tiger

A quick look shows they have 35 combined out of state players on both rosters. There's probably at least 150 players total on the two rosters.

by no means am I defending that Neifi was worth that money.... but he had aboslutely NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs last year, and to claim that he sucks because he didnt carry us to the playoffs is the most absurd thing Ive ever heard. The fact that Neifi played so much at SS and hit so often at the top of the lineup had a whole bunch to do with why the Cubs didn't make the playoffs. He's not good enough to start on a playoff contender that already has offensive issues, and he's a brutal top of the order candidate. You can't blame Neifi for not carrying this team to the playoffs, he doesn't have the talent, skills, abilities or production to be relied upon for such a task. He's a 25th man. And you don't let your 25th man leadoff or give him $6 million. Also, he's not the savior so many tried to paint him as last year. How many "where would we be without Neifi" comments did we have to hear before the truth was spoken about how handicapped this team was by his presence atop the lineup? Neifi at SS last year had NOTHING to do with us not making the playoffs - its not hard at all to figure that one out. Dusty's use of Neifi in the batting lineup did for sure, but his performance was far from the reason we didnt make the playoffs. Please examinie the other issues I claimed for us not making the playoffs - those are extremely more relevant. Please contrast Neifi's defense and offensive skills with those of the other #8 batters in the lineup for last years playoffs. Neifi's OBP would've been 26th of 30 teams last year for the 8 spot, ahead of Molina at STL, Matheny at SF, Buck at KC, and the juggernauts in Detroit and Seattle.

Ironic isn't it? Do you think if Nomar was more 'motivated' he could have avoided such an injury? And here we are two years after the trade, counting on Murton and watching backwards Ramon take 55 out of town. Nomar is one of the most fit players in the game, following a ridiculous off-season training regimen. SI did a story about it a ways back when he was with Boston. Laziness or lack of conditioning isn't what caused Nomar's injuries. He could be overtraining. A distinct possibility. It's definitely not undertraining or lack of motivation though.

Ironic isn't it? Do you think if Nomar was more 'motivated' he could have avoided such an injury? And here we are two years after the trade, counting on Murton and watching backwards Ramon take 55 out of town. Nomar is one of the most fit players in the game, following a ridiculous off-season training regimen. SI did a story about it a ways back when he was with Boston. Laziness or lack of conditioning isn't what caused Nomar's injuries.

Unfortunately, he's very very bad at it. You're just missing the point entirely. What makes you think if you were a coach and I was a FA, I would in any way want to play for you? You obviously as a coach wouldn't hold any loyalty to players, and its questionable whether your commitment is winning or sticking to your SABR for right or wrong in order to possibly come out in the end looking like a genius. No, I understand the point, and I think you're dead wrong. How do we know that everytime Neifi goes to the mound, the pitcher just wants him to get away, half the pitchers I've ever played with didn't want anyone to conference with them. Same thing in the dugout/clubhouse. Someone who is a happy guy can be perceived as annoying as they are uplifting. Again, from my own experience, and in my day I was the one trying to be the positive teammate. It's not ALL about the numbers, but when someone is as lacking as Perez, all the platitudes about him making contact and being a nice guy don't change the fact that he's horrible, and terribly undeserving of 2 years and 5 million. Now, for your hypothetical on free agency. Neifi played pretty poorly last year, so if anything he should be down my "loyalty" list. But there's what, 1 in 50 guys who won't bolt the "loyal" club for more cash when their time comes. That's what free agency is about. Money. It may sound nice to say that we're being scumbags to treat Neifi that way, but it's not like he performed amazingly and we kicked him to the curb, or we reneged on a promise. He was bad, we should've gotten rid of him, that's how the market works. And finally, it's not trying to make myself look smart, it's about building the baseball team that's most likely to win you games. SABR does NOT = Stats necessarily. It's all about finding the best way to evaluate players/teams. And signing Neifi Perez to a 2 year 5 million dollar contract, especially when you have Dusty Baker managing your team, is a very poor decision if you are trying to build a team that will win you the most games.

Unfortunately, he's very very bad at it.

You're exactly right. Neifi is a quality player and honestly, I have absolutely no problem giving him 2.5M - I said about a million times in other threads - who else is there to sign if not Neifi, I didnt get ONE reply. Hm, maybe instead of 2/5 for Neifi we should get Graf for 3/9? that makes more sense? Neifi's brutal. It's easier to count players we wouldn't rather have. First and foremost though, we don't need a backup middle infielder with Cedeno and Fontenot both ready. But if for some reason we HAVE to start Cedeno, D'Angelo Jimenez was available at last check, and is roughly infinitely better than Neifi. Fontenot's D isn't nearly as good, he's not a veteran off the bench, and Jiminez was let go due to awful personal behavior. Fontenot's O is also much better than Neifi, and I could care less if the player on the bench is young, old, veteran, choirboy, jerk, or unborn fetus as long as they produce.

You're exactly right. Neifi is a quality player and honestly, I have absolutely no problem giving him 2.5M - I said about a million times in other threads - who else is there to sign if not Neifi, I didnt get ONE reply. Hm, maybe instead of 2/5 for Neifi we should get Graf for 3/9? that makes more sense? Neifi's brutal. It's easier to count players we wouldn't rather have. First and foremost though, we don't need a backup middle infielder with Cedeno and Fontenot both ready. But if for some reason we HAVE to start Cedeno, D'Angelo Jimenez was available at last check, and is roughly infinitely better than Neifi.

Macias ? Come on, Brian, you're overstating the case here. Through 127 games, Macias had exactly 16 ABs hitting ahead of Ramirez in the lineup. Far be it from me to question you Fred, but.... Macias had 48 AB's hitting 1st or second in the lineup. Are you saying that 67% of them happened in the last third of the season?

Well the thing is -- and this is the tricky part, mind you -- he actually isn't. Actually, there's nothing "tricky" about your opinions. :wink: Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. An opinion is neither right nor wrong. A condescending retort, however, is very blatant and factual.... This doesn't look like an opinion to me.

He had a complete meltdown performance wise. 14 Appearances, 6.1 IP, 23 ER, 4 K, 30 BB at Boise That's not a typo.

One thing I think I've seen elsewhere is a "search the thread" feature. That would be helpful in big threads to see if some info had been brought up already.

haha, good thing cause I completely forgot about Pawelek

1. Felix Pie + 10 + 10 2. Rich Hill + 10 + 6 3. Ronny Cedeno + 10 + 10 4. Mark Pawelek + 10 + 7 5. Renyel Pinto 6. Sean Gallagher 7. Eric Patterson + 10 + 6 8. Sean Marshall + 10 + 8 9. Ricky Nolasco + 10 + 8 10. Ryan Harvey + 10 + 7 If Cedeno and/or Hill aren't eligible, everyone else slides up one and 11. Angel Guzman 12. Brian Dopirak 142

Todd Walker was fun to watch in Left Field.

Don't the school that used to be the chinks, they're the dragons now Also the Zion-Benton ZeeBee's (fits under WTF) Although my schools mascot can get ripped on, we're the roadrunners. I personally like it. You don't see it too often and if you're gonna be a bird, best not be one that everyone is (cardinals, eagles, whatever) Go Zion. ZeeBees vs. Sequoits, quite a matchup. My dad went to Zion, don't be hatin' on the ZeeBee's.

Not only the name, but the colors and uniforms. Atrocious.

Look here

Is Hill eligible?

Delgado's massive contract certainly brought his price down. That's a huge difference. Gomes is still a year or two from arbitration.

Greenberg can take a walk and hit more than singles. Gathright's been an okay base stealer at the major league level, but he's also put up a .316 OBP and .656 OPS there. He won't be worth what it'll cost to get him methinks. I totally agree that he likely won't be worth what the DRays are asking. I just wanted to point out that his major league OBP might be a bit misleading. His minor league OBP was excellent, better than Greenberg's on the whole, IIRC. So he is major league OBP likely will improve from .316 before it is all said and done and he would probably be a bit better than Greenberg at getting on base. His minor league OBP is much better because he was able to slap the ball around to a .316 minor league AVG. In order to have a decent to good OBP, he's going to need to hit .300 at the big league level. Not impossible given his speed, but he's still a ways from that, plus he hits nothing(and I mean nothing) but singles.

Hanley Ramirez is far more talented than Novoa, Ohman, Mitre, Wellemeyer, etc... Also, Ramirez had never been above AA when Renteria signed. The Cubs relievers have all been in the bigs when Eyre and Howry signed.

Overloaded OF and the fact they may undervalue him. I seem to remember some comment about Piniella's or the organization's attitude toward him was less than stellar.

Doesn't that assume perfect competency on every GM's part? Is Cristian Guzman's contract his current value? I think his argument is that Guzman's contract was his value at the time he signed it, not at a latter date. *not trying to argue for him, but that was my understanding of it. Either way the logic applies, Guzman wasn't worth the contract he got when he signed it, last year just proved it to the nth degree.

There is concrete evidence of their market value - it's what Hendery just paid them. That would be true if it was an efficient market, which it is not. How do I know it isn't efficient? If it was, records would directly reflect payroll. A contract’s value changes over its lifetime due to player performance and market conditions. As more information (i.e. player performance and market changes) emerges the contract value adjusts accordingly. Meaning what Hendry paid for Howry/Eyre is their current value. I’m not saying the market is completely efficient but it’s prolly more so then you think. Doesn't that assume perfect competency on every GM's part? Is Cristian Guzman's contract his current value?