Transmogrified Tiger

Bay's young and cheap, and there's no reason for the Pirates to trade him, especially in the division. I don't think he's worth the trouble. We'd have to overpay dearly.

Carpenter's extra innings of great performance are taken into account in more advanced metrics. Clemens still comes out ahead.

Morgan Ensberg doesn't suck. Sarcasm is fun.

The fact that Bobby Hill is in AAA with the PIRATES says all I need to know about his career. Dubois is a dime a dozen guy that can hit fastballs a ton but can't hit anything with a bend in it or play the field. I know, good thing we got rid of Dubois so we could get playing time for....

Pick 135, Bubba Franks, Tight End, Green Bay

Really? That seems like a design flaw. I'm just thinking that the premium members would have 100% access accross the board. Hmmm...., thanks for the info. They have access, but it won't be in the premium format that they paid for. Either way, someone has to add/subtract something to the URL to get what they want.

you dont know what position he plays, but you think he is MUCH better? wtg Maybe he meant he's much better at hitting. When Corey was Eric's age, he spent the entire season in the Major Leagues. Eric spent the vast majority of the season in Low A ball, 3 levels away from Chicago.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?statsId=6787&type=pitching&year=2005

i think you're confusing "wins" with "name recognition" and "reputation." last year has nothing to do with this year's cy young. I assume you are referring to Clemens strong name recognition and reputation over Carp. I agree that Clemens will get additional votes based on that, yet last year RJ was almost as popular. Sure, last year should have everything to do with the Cy Young. Clemens lost in almost every pitching catagory except wins. So how did he win Cy Young? If wins are a poor indicator which everyone who is showing man love on here for Clemens is saying. So do we just make this a popularity vote or change the criteria from year to year to ensure the most popular pitcher wins the award. I understand this award is subjective by nature but it would not look good for MLB and the media to pick Clemens this year. I know he has been great this year, but so was RJ last year. The people who vote are stupid. Shouldn't we just be happy that they get it right, even if they supposedly do it for the wrong reasons?

Me and my dad walked up to Busch over an hour before game time and were able to get seats right around face value($35 each for face $31). If you go to the hotel a block away(Hilton? I can't remember the name of it now), there's a bunch of guys with tickets, even for sold out games(we went to the Sunday night game of Neifi's grand slam). I

Well, considering Murton can't play CF, it's not exactly a him v. Corey comparison. Regardless, it's criminal that Murton isn't playing, and I really don't care which of the other outfielders doesn't play to get him in the lineup. No, it really is. Hairston can play center and he's being shifted to left so Corey can play his natural position. It's very valid to compare Murton to either of the two. Of course, Corey is a far superior defender to Hairston, which is why it's not an exact comp. Either way though, I agree with you.

Well, considering Murton can't play CF, it's not exactly a him v. Corey comparison. Regardless, it's criminal that Murton isn't playing, and I really don't care which of the other outfielders doesn't play to get him in the lineup.

And if we are rationalizing the difference between Clemens and Carpenter, lets do so from Carpenter to others. You can make basically the same argument for Peavy over Carpenter. Sure his ERA is .73 higher, but their WHIPs are very close(CC: .98, JP: 1.02), Peavy strikes out more guys, they walk a similar number of guys(CC: 1.8 BB/9, JP: 2.02), and Peavy has a better K/BB by virtue of his significant strikeout advantage. Throw out the team dependent nonsense like Wins and Team Success(although the Padres do look to be playoff bound), and it's the same argument.

Clemens has had a great season, yet so did RJ last year. The main point is that Clemens won the award last year based on wins. This year he is losing in that catagory so everyone who has man love for Roger wants to change the criteria. Funny how that works. Roger does not deserve the award based on K's, Base on Balls, innings pitched, wins, CG, or team success. And to be blunt, his 1.57 ERA is not so impressive to warrent the Cy Young despite losing in almost every single catagory. Their whips are very comparable .92 to .98. Carp should win this hands down, IMO. Carpenter and Clemens have almost identical K Rates(8.07 to 8.03). Win Shares, VORP, Defense Independent ERA, Runs Prevented, they all easily favor Clemens. You can't just toss away an ERA advantage(especially when Clemens maintains that lead in DERA) that large for the sake that Carpenter's thrown a couple more innings, or worthless things like Wins, team success, and CG.

The top 20 in K's, and all of them are productive players, many of them hitting for good to great power.

He was better than Lenny freaking Harris. They both sucked. Belhorn finished 2003 with a .646 OPS playing half the year in Colorado. Everyone's favorite whipping boy (Corey) is at .626 (just as bad) this year, and Neifi is at .702. Point being it wasn't Dusty's fault - Belhorn played until he became a liability and was gone. Harris was on the roster and given first chance to replace Belhorn. He failed also, hence Ramirez. Bellhorn had a roughly .680 OPS when he was benched. Harris in 2003? OPS around .480. That's not a typo.

Excellent statement. In 2003, I ignored Dusty's ignorant ramblings for the most part. But after watching actions back up the worst possible interpretations of said quotes, it's hard to do so any longer. I disagree. I don't think it is an excellent statement at all. I think it has a lot of holes in it. As I stated in my post, I do think Dusty's approach to hitting has an adverse affect on a team's walk total and that he should be fired. But it is unfair and inaccurate to say that he hates walks. He doesn't. No manager does. To say that he does is to also say that he is an idiot. He isn't. No manager is. To say that he hates playing rookies is also inaccurate. He plays the people he thinks give his team the best chance of winning. Sometimes, that happens to be a rookie. It is accurate to say that he values major league experience, and it is a very supportable opinion to say that he overvalues it. But to take some not-so-carefully-chosen words and twist them to support your view that Dusty is an idiot who hates walks and hates rookies is simply inaccurate, disrespectful and letting your frustrations get the better of you. I don't really think that anyone seriously thinks that Dusty HATES walks or young players, any statement like that is misguided or more likely, hyperbole. However, your statement about Dusty "valuing experience", seems to support my point. By saying Dusty "values experience", and way too much according to some, it seems to be a logical conclusion that he is predisposed against those "without experience"(which is obviously not their fault that they haven't made MLB before then). On the topic of walks, Dusty has long voiced a preference for being aggressive, even showing a disdain for walking in some instances. His continued comments, some of which are pretty clear(see abuck's sig) would seem that he devalues walks. Furthermore, this conclusion is backed by the fact that the decisions he makes back this up. Dusty benched Bellhorn in lieu of Lenny Harris. He's had players like Perez and Patterson at the top of the order for extended periods of time. He campaigned for bringing back Randall Simon. All of these support the interpretations of his public words, which were interpreted that he devalues walks.

120 pitches, wow. I'd be furious if I were a Card fan. No one's going to care if Carpenter wins the Cy(which btw, Clemens still deserves IMO) if he gets hurt and can't get them to the WS.

You make it sound like those things are completely untrue. Many people came to these conclusions based on the ample quotes and decisions by Baker that confirmed that suspicion. Baker is a guy who doesn't choose his words very carefully, we all know that. Some of his sentences only make sense when you consider what he was trying to say, but in order to do that, one has to give him the benefit of the doubt. It is very easy for anyone who wants to support an already held belief to twist his not-very-carefully-chosen words around to do so. It has been my experience that some fans have done exactly that and don't give Baker the benefit of the doubt very often, if at all. Maybe you aren't one of them. I don't know. I don't pay close attention to the name of the person doing the writing. I pay more attention to what is being written. But it seems clear to me that some fans have an already held belief that they are seeking to support by assuming the worst about a certain quote or twisting the words around to make them mean what they want it to mean. I remember the Baker quote about tall guys having more moving parts. His words were poorly chosen and you kinda had to visualize what he was talking about to understand what he meant, but once you did, you got the gist of what he was saying. Some guys jumped on him for that quote and used it as evidence that he is an idiot or something, I don't know. His quote about walks clogging the bases was twisted by these fans, too. Baker was referring to the fact that a hit can drive in someone from 2nd base, but a walk doesn't advance the runner with 1st base open instead, it creates a double play opportunity for the other team. If you give him the benefit of the doubt that he isn't an idiot, you can understand what he was trying to say. But, if you have an already held belief that he is an idiot who hate walks, then it is fairly easy to twist Baker's poorly worded statements into evidence for your hatred of him. That said, I think Baker could have done a much better job of getting his hitters to take more walks. I think he could have emphasized it a lot more. I don't think it is a coincidence that the Cubs have walked as little as they have under him and I think he should be fired. But the twisting of his quotes and extreme viewpoints expressed with hatred towards Baker by some fans I think is unsupportable. I would agree with that if Baker's actions and decisions didn't support the supposed forgone conclusions that posters apparently twist his words to come to. It's one thing to interpret a Dusty quote to say "Dusty hates walks" or "Dusty hates kids". It's another thing to come to that interpretation after watching Bellhorn get run out of town, approaches like Neifi's continually rewarded, the PT situations of deserving young position players the last few years, etc. in addition to the supposedly twisted quote.

guess what "certain manager" will be back to use neifi in the problematic way? if neifi is signed as a backup next year, he'll still get 2-3 starts a week under dusty. no, not really. the only reason Neifi started so much is b/c our starter went down for a long period of time. Dusty knows neifi's not a starter on a $100M team. You end up playing what you have. A healthy starter (be it Nomar, Furcal, Cedeno, other) puts Neifi back where he belongs...on the bench. There have been 134 games this year, and Neifi has played SS for 95. That means 39 games Neifi hasn't been the SS, and he's STARTED at 2B in 16 of those remaining 39. That's basically 3 starts a week at that rate, at second base, his secondary position. There's only been 8 games ALL YEAR that Neifi has not played at all in. Dusty loves putting Neifi in the lineup, and there's no reason to think he won't continue to find ways to put him in there next season.

You make it sound like those things are completely untrue. Many people came to these conclusions based on the ample quotes and decisions by Baker that confirmed that suspicion.

No transaction, but we may be close to an anti-Maddux-bashing ordinance.

I assume that Cedeno's bunt was a sacrifice attempt? Twice in two games Baker's done that garbage with Cedeno on the SECOND BATTER OF THE GAME. Good thing Cedeno beat it out. That inning is why sac bunts are so wasteful this early in the game.

Looks like Murton and Cedeno are getting Dubois'd. Even when the alternative to Murton is right handed.

I don't understand, that's like saying "I'd like to see what our offense would do without Lee, Ramirez, and Hairston". There's no reason to think Prior will get hurt, unless we're counting on another line drive off him, or another collision on the basepaths. Also, if Mad Dog's money isn't there, then you sign Millwood to be a better pitcher for as much or less than Maddux is making.