Transmogrified Tiger

As much as I'd like to see Hill or another young arm get a shot at a rotation slot next year, I must also stick up for my boy Rusch. He's once again having a tough-luck season in the ERA department. His Fielding-Independent ERA is actually among the best on the team, coming in at 3.67. That puts him right between Prior and Zambrano and is a far sight better than his actual ERA of 4.62. For whatever reason, Rusch just seems to be one of those pitchers whose results just don't match up to his peripheral stats. At what point to you come to the conclusion that he's either cursed or just bound to have a worse ERA than expected though? Last year was the only year of his career where he had an ERA near his DERA, as you of course know since you wrote an article on it.

Farnsworth 2004: 1.50 WHIP, 10.53 K/9, 2.36 K/BB Conclusion: Head case, get him out of here, too inconsistent Novoa 2005: 1.50 WHIP, 9.51 K/9, 1.8 K/BB Conclusion: Promising middle relief prospect Anyone seeing the problem here?

I understand that Dusty was relating Steve Garvey's motivation to win that he gathered when he wasn't feeling like playing. That doesn't even come close to answering the question he was asked. I also think you're better than this. You're a smart guy, you could definitely do better than repeatedly bringing up a discussion of semantics when it comes to the degree in which people use words to describe Dusty's shortcomings.

Everyone repeatedly takes their best shot against Federer and it's not good enough. Much more dominating than Tiger IMO, although Golf and Tennis don't make for good comparisons.

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.

Anyone know how they spell luck nowadays? It's spelled I-N-G-E.

It's ridiculous. Don't worry, he'll get the next long relief appearance, and when he gets hit because he hasn't pitched in nearly 2 weeks, that will prove Dusty right.

How is "Dusty is biased against rookies just because they are rookies" any different than "Dusty overvalues major league experience"? Clearly if you overvalue major league experience, then you are predisposed against, otherwise called biased against, people who lack that experience.

More than half the posts in this thread are wondering what Dusty was saying, with some cheap seats references thrown in. I count exactly one poster relating this quote to Dusty playing young players, which he certainly has a right to do so. Maybe your knee-jerk reaction to a Dusty quote thread so it supports your "posters go too far with Dusty hate" theory is what should be questioned. All it comes down to is semantics. Dusty doesn't like to play young players. No, he overvalues major league experience. That person is a racist/sexist. No, they overvalue being white/male. It's just a matter of degrees, and many people take it further than you personally like, because they are tired of the same nonsense for the last 2 years. I didn't want to have to spell things out like this, but now I feel I must. Clearly, CP20, I was not addressing the fans in this thread who were not trying to use this quote to whip Dusty Baker. Why bring up the posts that were about Cheap Seats? Why not address the other ones? Do you think they were justified in what they wrote about Baker given the quote in question? You accuse me of having a knee-jerk reaction to a Dusty quote thread. That would imply that you think my post is completely unjustified. Do you? If so, please make a case to support such an accusation. The reason to bring up the number of people who aren't needlessly bashing Dusty in this thread is because of your exaggeration in your original post of "is it even worth calling out everyone who needlessly attacked Dusty in this thread". Only a couple out of the 20 odd posts in the thread relate the quote to Dusty's performance. The rest are just calling him out for saying something that didn't make any sense. Your post is completely unjustified, since you've obviously done the same thing that you are accusing people of. You assumed that what everyone was saying was the worst possible interpretation so that it supported your "everyone takes things too far with Dusty" crusade. And, you missed the point on the racism/sexist arguments. Your whole argument of "Dusty doesn't hate young players, he (over)values major league experience" is pretty much saying the exact same thing. Some people may choose the former because of their emotions towards Dusty, or a flair for the dramatic/sarcastic. It's a pointless campaign to trying to get people to use the nicest possible language when criticizing a player/manager. Hyperbole is not always bad, and in some cases it's not even hyperbole. I don't think you can say that it clearly makes sense. I read it three times and then posted that I had no idea what he was talking about. If someone wants to say that a quote that they think doesn't make any sense makes him look like an idiot, I think that's well within reason. But then again, this shows your leap to think that everyone completely understood what he was saying, and therefore were unnecessarily bashing Dusty.

Anyone see this on TV?

Man, I was watching that game. I was thinking "When did you hire Greg Robinson as your defensive coordinator?" Was the fumble that became a TD legit? I couldn't believe they didn't overturn that. And that was a pathetic defensive performance. Smith was above average. He overthrew every ball of more than 10 yards, but had two ridiculous TD runs. I think on one of them he shook a lineman that had both arms around him. But since we couldn't stop a pass to #18, it was all for naught.

Dusty is not good at making lineups. Neifi gets a crucial day of rest after playing 9 consecutive games.

And he boots the PAT attempt off the upright. 6-0 I cannot understand how a player at that level can miss a PAT. It's too close, all you have to do is chip the thing to get height.

My bad, I saw the side judge running in, and assumed that it was past when the play was dead.

Terrible call. By the time that guy grabbed the ball, it was well after the whistle. You can't overturn that call.

With 8 seconds left and a TO left, they had the ball on the right hash at the KSU 23(roughly). They decided to try and gain some yardage, BY PASSING, and it got picked off.

Perfect example of why QB play is so important. It's a huge reason why OSU won't win anything big this year. They had magic with Krenzel, but Smith and Zwick aren't going to win a championship.

That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Yes it was. Unbelievably moronic. You win the game with a field goal idiots.

Marshall needs a field goal, 15 seconds to go about 25 yards.

Murton isn't that good that we should shift people around just so he can get into the lineup. If it falls that we need another corner OF and don't acquire anyone, then sure, put Murton out there. Otherwise, he's not worth building the rest of the roster around him as a mainstay.

I'm with you. The infield has been the least of our problems this year. Our outfield, bench, and bullpen have been the death of this team. Overall, we have one of the best infields in all of baseball. Ok, how fast is Murton? Don't jump all over me for suggesting this, but what if Nomar could handle left, Murton in Center, Giles in right, Aram at 3rd, Furcal/Cedeno at short, Cedeno/Walker at 2nd, Lee at first, and Barrett behind the plate? Would you be up for that? Murton looks to have above average speed, but the guy's never played cf. Nomar in lf and Murton in cf would probably be beyond brutal. Agreed. If you put Murton in CF, then you need plus-plus defenders at the corners. It's just not worth it.

Marshall fumbles the ball away at the KSU 5. :x

Mota has another year before free agency. Maybe they can take advantage of small market teams with arby eligible middle relievers. David Riske, come on down.

Playing right now. Temple I think. Up 30-0 early in the second quarter.

I don't see JVB as a starter but he's a top pen option. I'd assume Rusch picks up his option. That moves him into the trade bait/long man slot. Small sample size on Williamson. I'd don't know what the team option costs but when healthy the man rocks. I meant make him the 5th reliever. As you said, Dempster, Wuertz, Ohman and Novoa have been alright. Ah. I have JVB on the 40 man but still in trips in case Novoa or Wuertz falters. He might win a spot on the 25 man out of spring but I go with what is now as a basis. JVB is one more reason why the pen is the least of our worries. Yep, agree w/ you about it being the least of the Cubs worries. Finally, the Cubs have several solid, cheap and young guys. Perhaps they can make JVB the setup man and eventually turn him into the closer. Novoa and Wuertz are decent 7th inning guys, but I don't know if we should count on them as the mainstays in the pen. Their WHIP's are alarmingly high for someone in that position. I think at a minimum you bring back Williamson, and then possibly explore getting another reliever via FA or Trade.