Transmogrified Tiger

Now having read the article, Sullivan comes off too harsh, but that's nothing new considering he's terrible at his job. Also, I'm deeply disappointed that I share a tie to Mizzou with him. I think the reputation of the J-School here just took a hit.

Sorry, I aspire to someday be as smart as you and not read Paul Sullivan. BTW, no one put a gun to your head to read or respond. Take it easy, I was making fun of Sullivan. Obviously a person's choice in sports columnists doesn't make them stupid. Seriously though, Sullivan is a hack.

This thread is what happens when anyone is stupid enough to read something Paul Sullivan writes.

That dude put up some of the most ridiculous rushing lines in HS I'd ever seen. Consistently above 200 and 250 yards. Ohio State made some questionable decisions in the 4th quarter, although I am not complaining. Their LB core is by far the best in the nation, and is the sole reason VY did not put up over 400 total yards on them. The made some great adjustment during the game. Texas did not play great, but played good enough to win. Despite all the talk about VY, two things occured this game that could propel them back to Pasadena. First their Defense is just as good as last years even having to replace Derrick Johnson. 9 point off 3 turnovers allowed was the sole reason Texas won. Second, Cedric Benson has officially been replaced. Jamall Charles has a chance to be the next very special Texas running back. The fact that Mack Brown sees this and is not afraid to play the true freshman in the biggest game of the season in only his 2nd ever game is great. He has to get more carries before the OU game. Also don't forget about Big Henry Melton, this freshman is an absolute beast. Combined with the best OL in college football the running game is going to be huge on the avg. wide recievers. I can't wait until Texas comes to Columbia. Smith and Young could put on quite a show.

Maybe in the short term, but in the long-term, both Felix Pie and Ryan Harvey---IMO---will be better then Quentin. Conor Jackson on the other hand..... Quentin hit .300/.420/.550 in AAA, Neither Pie or Harvey have approached those numbers at any level. In fairness to Pie, Quentin is two and a half years older than Felix. Pie hit .304/.349/.554 as a 20-year-old in AA. Quentin hit 303./.398/.539 as a 20-year-old at Stanford. Pie does have the advantage in age, but he's never going to walk enough to even touch Quentin's OBP.

2003 was that middle ground. Everything since has been failure. The prospect list keeps shrinking, and the major league win total has nosedived. Sure, some nice things happened this year, but on the whole it's been an utter failure. That's all well in good, but you generalized all of pro baseball. Teams like the Braves, A's, Twins, etc. aren't failures just because they didn't win it all. Like I said before, there's a difference between not reaching your goal and complete failure(I'm not saying the Cubs have or haven't done any of this).

There's really no point in rooting on a professional sports team unless you are rooting for them to win the championship. This isn't a little league team where you can be proud if everybody just figures out how to play, or a high school team where you can be happy with the team winning big games against rivals, or even a college team where you can enjoy watching a class of players grow from raw freshmen into solid seniors, and be proud of a postseason appearance. This is pro ball. The only goal is the world series. The time for gradual improvement is long past. 2 steps forward 3 steps back will not set me up to be happy with 2 more steps forward. That doesn't mean you can't acknowledge things that did go right even when you fall short of the ultimate goal. There's middle ground between reaching your goals and complete failure.

That dude put up some of the most ridiculous rushing lines in HS I'd ever seen. Consistently above 200 and 250 yards.

OBA must have gone up then. If his WHIP stayed the same, his walks decreased, and his HR allowd is down, the 1.50 inflation in ERA has to be attributed to something. More hits? Higher OpOPS? Could be a number of things with only 70 innings. More hits, more XBH, worse defense, bad luck with placement of hits, relievers letting in more of his runners after he leaves, etc.

Maybe I am oversimplifying, because I can't claim to recall these games in specifics, but that sure seems like a classic case of a low-zone pitcher dominating when he stays low, and getting lit up when he doesn't. Send Mitre to Atlanta. He'll win 15 games. [edit - maybe in AAA he isn't nervous, and stays down most of the time. Nerves get to him in the bigs and he overthrows, raising his zone.[/edit] Yeah, it seems to be either a matter of "does he have the good sinker" and/or "is he able to locate the sinker". When he does, he's great, when he doesn't, he's BP.

Trachsel has made a lot of money throwing a baseball. :wink: Correct me if I'm wrong Dal but hasn't Mitre had a lot of success pitchng at the AAA level? If he was getting lit up there I'd agree with you in a second but he has something to offer and I'm curious if it just isn't a mental thing for him. A lot of success? 2005: 70 2/3 IP, 5-6, 4.33 ERA, 72 H, 22 BB, 55 K's, 1.33 WHIP Was that what he did at Iowa? As I said, correct me if I'm wrong and those numbers are not great by any means....average yes but not good. He has to get those walks down to be effective. How was his Homerun rate? Mitre at Iowa Age 23, 2004: 2.98 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 8.33 K/9, 3.48 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 Age 24, 2005: 4.33 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 7.00 K/9, 2.80 BB/9, 0.63 HR/9

You have the numbers to back that up? Because I would argue that Mitre sucks in every capacity involving a baseball, glove and uniform Mitre this year was Jekyll and Hyde as a starter. In 3 of his starts he threw 23 IP, 0.78 ERA, 0.60 WHIP. In his other 4 starts he had 23.1 IP, 8.87 ERA, 1.80 WHIP. Last year was similar in 9 starts. Good Mitre: 26.2 IP, 2.70 ERA, 1.23 WHIP in 4 starts. Bad Mitre: 23.1 IP, 10.03 ERA, 2.22 WHIP. There just doesn't seem to be any middle ground. It's either quality start(or better), or disaster start. When Mitre gets lit up what happens? I mean to say is it HR's and bullets right away or a couple of bleeders that drop or get through and then he gets ripped? Also, how is he with men on base....maybe holding runners on or just pitching from the stretch is a problem for him. It wouldn't appear that holding runners or pitching from the stretch is too much of a problem. In each of the last two years he's had better numbers with men on base than with the bases empty.

I hope this is alright with you Derwood. I figured this would be a more appropriate place for this post, even though it's quoting you from the game thread. You have the numbers to back that up? Because I would argue that Mitre sucks in every capacity involving a baseball, glove and uniform Mitre this year was Jekyll and Hyde as a starter. In 3 of his starts he threw 23 IP, 0.78 ERA, 0.60 WHIP. In his other 4 starts he had 23.1 IP, 8.87 ERA, 1.80 WHIP. Last year was similar in 9 starts. Good Mitre: 26.2 IP, 2.70 ERA, 1.23 WHIP in 4 starts. Bad Mitre: 23.1 IP, 10.03 ERA, 2.22 WHIP. There just doesn't seem to be any middle ground. It's either quality start(or better), or disaster start.

Florida, complete game shutout.

Maybe, just maybe, it's not a good idea to use him as a reliever because of the nature of his stuff. Of course, none of us were saying that months ago when he first went to the pen.

Interesting. I didn't think Ryu would rank quite as highly as those guys without his lost velocity.

Some firm is suing Sosa over something with Taxes. I don't care, neither should the Tribune.

Cards. :twisted: If Neifi goes to the Cards and does well, I may lose hope and interest in the game of baseball.

It's pretty straightforward, if you can't get on base more than 30% of the time, whether 28% or 21% is a hit, you just aren't a good offensive player. All those players you mention make significantly less outs, and they do so with more power. That's the name of the game right there. Again, putting entirely too much stock into OBP. If you're batting .280, you're doing something right. Something right, but not enough. The goal of offense is to not make outs, and Neifi makes too many outs(otherwise known as a low OBP) to be any good offensively. No, the goal of the offense isn't to not make outs - it's to score runs. That's how you win ballgames. And not to sound like Dusty Baker, but walks don't score you runs... in certain situations. Man on 3rd, or man on 2nd, you need a hit to get him home. Walking will just keep him there. And no, I'm not undermining the importance of the walk - just saying that, again, you can't just look at OBP. It's not just walks. In that situation, 30% of the time Neifi will get on base, 28% of the time drive him in. Compare that to a .260/.350 hitter, who gets on base 35% of the time, and 26% of the time knocks him in. Walks won't knock that runner in, but what Neifi does instead of walk, which for the vast majority is make outs, won't get him in either.

It's pretty straightforward, if you can't get on base more than 30% of the time, whether 28% or 21% is a hit, you just aren't a good offensive player. All those players you mention make significantly less outs, and they do so with more power. That's the name of the game right there. Again, putting entirely too much stock into OBP. If you're batting .280, you're doing something right. Something right, but not enough. The goal of offense is to not make outs, and Neifi makes too many outs(otherwise known as a low OBP) to be any good offensively.

It's pretty straightforward, if you can't get on base more than 30% of the time, whether 28% or 21% is a hit, you just aren't a good offensive player. All those players you mention make significantly less outs, and they do so with more power. That's the name of the game right there.

2 good offensive seasons back to back is luck? He wasn't hitting as a catcher because it wore him down to much...ever since he started playing different positions aside of catcher (CF, LF, and mainly 3B) he's been a good offensive player. No, hitting 30 points better than your BABIP says you should makes you lucky. Erm, Inge's BABIP this year is .315, and his BABIP last year was .316. Not only are those numbers somewhat consistent (though his strikeouts and home run rates have both deteriorated significantly enough this year, which is why his average has dipped to a bleh .263), but they're not particularly high or lucky. Huh, THT has him at .320 this year and .322 last year, both at least 25 points higher than his 18% LD% might predict.

:?: Are you talking about your previous post? You (I assume accidentally) put it inside the quote, a common mishap.

I'll admit, I haven't looked this up, but how many 2-0 counts has Neifi been in this year? I don't remember many PAs where he didn't swing at one of the first 2 pitches. Neifi is one of those players that you don't have to throw a strike to in order to get them out. He doesn't have a low OBP b/c no one will walk him, he has a low OBP b/c he swings at everything. Just yesterday, Len & Bob were saying on the air that Neifi isn't known to walk or take a lot of pitches. He's a hacker. That doesn't necessarily mean he's a bad hitter. The fact that he has a .300 OBP w/ little power means he's a bad hitter. If I'm reading this right, 51 of Neifi's 497 AB's have gotten to a 2-0 count or beyond, that's 10%. By comparison, Patterson is 44 of 400 AB's have gotten there(11%), 14 of Macias's 133 ABs(10%), and 80 of Lee's 528 AB's(15%) have reached a 2-0 count.

This thread is probably a long time overdue. There was a similar discussion in yesterday's game thread though. The point I made there and the one I believe some are making here is not that Neifi is a great player; rather he has contributed quite a bit this year and people still villify him like no one else on the team. I know everyone will not agree with this, but, in terms of relative suckiness, Neifi has been way overcriticized relative to Patterson. While lately the Patterson defenders have been quiet (no other choice), there were plenty of excuses being made for him earlier in the year as he flailed away and played with his head up his ass. I am not saying there wasn't any criticism of Patterson; it's just that there wasn't enough of it compared to the grief perez received. People just seem to hate Perez's game no matter what he does. That's fine. But if you hate his game PLEASE do not say a single word defending Patterson or making any excuses for him. But it's okay for you and others to bash Corey and defend Neifi? Give me a break. Patterson has sucked this year, and there are a multitude of reasons why that could be. It could be his new swing, it could be him taking the same approach and pitchers adjusting, it could be him being a selfish jerk and trying to do things his way, whatever. Most of the defending of Patterson that's been done this year has been done against ridiculous attacks on his character. No one's ever accused Neifi of being stubborn even though he put up bad numbers this year and has put up awful numbers his entire career. Yet Patterson, coming off consecutive seasons that gave us reasonable production for a CF at a reasonable price with good D, gets villified because he won't change that approach. People get so much more frustrated with Patterson simply because of strikeouts. While they are a result of a problem in his approach, people just don't tolerate them as much as other outs, even though the majority of the time they act as the same thing as another out. I can almost guarantee you if you switched Neifi's and Patterson's rate stats for the year, people would still be more upset with Patterson because of the blasted strikeouts. And finally, the claim that Patterson hasn't been criticized in proportion with Neifi is entirely untrue. People have been on Corey's case for years just like others have been on Neifi's case since he was signed. Perhaps the fact that Patterson was demoted and therefore has 100 less AB's has something to do with this perception.