Transmogrified Tiger

Abe is years away from free agency (think 2010) and I don't think we'll ever see the Yomiuri Giants post a player to MLB. Kenji Johjima will be a free agent after this season. He'll likely be the next Japanese superstar to take a shot at MLB. Johjima's a catcher too, right? How's he doing this year?

I think that's the same Abe that 1908 was keeping tabs on in the Japanese Prospects thread last year. 1908 is the person to ask, but the most likely way he'll come stateside is being posted.

Not sure where in his post he said Lee won't. Exactly, you're the only person to bring up Lee, and it's not really relevant to Carpenter.

It is great having Hairston and Walker at 1-2, but please don't overlook how the whole lineup's OBP has improved over the last three games. Somewhat related, but I think Barrett's recent approach at the plate has been VERY encouraging. I don't know if he was told to be more patient, or if something in his head clicked in (or maybe it's just one of those weird phenomenon's in baseball and Barrett isn't trying to be more selective), but Barrett's at bats in the Marlins series were almost always awesome. It's a slim sign that maybe management told the players to be less aggressive at the plate, but Barrett's recent approach has left with some semblence of excitement for the 2nd half. I think his better approach may have to do with him getting out of the 8 spot. 8 hitter: .238/.279/.427/.706 .041 IsoD in 149 PA's Elsewhere: .302/.379/.479/.858 .077 IsoD in 108 PA's

I really don't care what his record was, it's basically meaningless. In the past, the thing holding back Hill was his control. This season, he's found a way to spot his pitches while maintaining his ridiculous K rate. Other than 5 innings as a reliever, which he hadn't done all year, what's to say he won't be at least an average major leaguer?

Again, let's not lose sight of the fact that Dunn is still just 25. Sure there are problems with Dunn's game, but in this thread I think they're being made out to be worse than they really are. Dunn is one of the best offensive players in the league, he's quite young, and he's rumored to be available. As has been mentioned, with the dearth of quality players available this offseason, and with no certainty in any of our OF spots for next year, I think if it came down to it I would overpay to get Dunn. Pie, Dope, Hill? That's crazy, despite the flaws of each player. Two of the three? I'd have to think really hard about that if that's the minimum it would take to get Dunn.

I'm thinking of sending this to Phil via e-mail: Phil, I was reading your hopelessly flawed argument about Pujols deserving the MVP over Lee, and I was stunned to see that you mentioned Pujols had more "Runs Created" than Lee did. Then I realized you made up your own "Runs Created", which is essentially completely opposite the real "Runs Created", which Bill James (who I'm sure you revile) put together a couple decades ago. Runs Created measures offensive prowess based on an individual's total contributions. Adding Runs and RBIs (and subtracting homers, whatever) only shows a player's contribution based on the team around him. Is it really Lee's fault that he had to bat behind Patterson and Perez for a month, when neither could get on base to be driven in if their lives depended on it? Just for fun, here's the actual Runs Created leaders in the NL currently: 1. Lee 95.1 2. Pujols 81.1 3. Abreu 77.6 4. Cabrera 68.5 5. Bay 67.7 And here's a link, in case you don't believe it: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?split=0&league=nl&season=2005&seasonType=2&sort=runsCreated&type=sab&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&state=0&college=0&country=0&hand=a&pos=all As you can see, it's not even close. And if you want to talk about team performance, what of the fact that Pujols is surrounded by All-Stars? I think it can be very reasonably asserted that the Cardinals would still be in first place without him. However, without Lee, the Cubs would not even be sniffing the Wild Card -- they'd probably be just behind the Pirates, and looking to sell. Regardless of the argument, I would like to HIGHLY suggest you not use the term Runs Created anymore. That's not the name of the stat you showed, and it's beyond misleading to call it that. On point? I'm sure he'll just delete it (if he knows how), but it'll at least make me feel a little better. I actually thought about going all out in an email, shredding the Pujols over Lee decision and the hypocrisy in the Clark over Dawson decision in addition to the RC bit, but I was too lazy and couldn't find his email address.

Ok, so I'm wrong. I had never heard that that was where he was born. Huh... He was born in Curacao. But, apparently you dont need to be born in a country, to represent it. Pudge Rodriguez was born in New York, but is representing Puerto Rico. That's weird, will we see Carlos Delgado repping Australia next year because he vacations there each winter?

Yeah, it's not like Choi hit lefties as well as righties in the minors, and only has 57 AB's v. lefties in his major league career to make that assumption.

I don't think it's a huge deal. Most of these guys are pretty powerful hitters. Maybe they'll do US v. World like the AL v. NL of years past. That way you can get the most prodigious power hitters and some HR leaders. The thing that makes me the most upset is that Tejada can't defend his title. Has that ever happened?

Welcome. My experience is that it is the other way around. You'll find very few topics on here regarding the Sox, or usernames, or avatars that are anti-sox. On a popular White Sox board, there are many, icons, usernames, sigs, even forums dedicated to anti-Cubs material.

I'm pretty sure the fielder is entitlted to the basepath as long as he is fielding the ball. I didn't see the play, so I can't really judge in this case, but I don't think a runner has a right to knock a fielder out of the way that is fielding a throw, regardless of where they are in the basepath.

Shot in the dark, Little Big League?

I don't think there's any way you can say that you can say either guy deserves it over Clemens, unless you want to talk wins. Congrats to Ensberg, who's had a great first half.

Either Jones or Lee will look really bad. Choi and Teixeira in the finals.

According to mlbcontracts.blogspot.com, Abreu has only 7+ years of service team going into this season.

Exactly. It's not like Pujols is propelling the Cardinals to contention, although he certainly has a hand in it. On the other hand, the Cubs are probably 5 games worse without Lee's production. He's been more valuable to his team in addition to outproducing Pujols across the board.

Thanks for doing this. Have we had a high pitching prospect put up back to back good seasons? Seems like it's injuries, and breakouts followed by regression across the board.

that's why its amazing to me that phil rogers still picks Albert as the 1st half MVP. He is unreal. Let's get this straight Phil. Pujols and Clark deserve to win those MVP's, Pujols because he's close in the triple crown stats and because of Runs Created. Clark in 1987 had 164 RC to Dawson's 178. Clark deserved to win his MVP because he lead the league in OBP and SLG. Lee: .452 OBP .733 SLG, Pujols: .424 OBP, .598 SLG. Well, as long as you're consistently contradicting, I guess there's not too much of a problem. :roll:

Retrosheet doesn't know.

Actually Hill has been pitching since his Freshman year at the University of Michigan in 2000. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/rich_hill.shtml My apologies, I must've been thinking of someone else.

Getting away from the Dusty topic for a moment, thank you. I was going to post a comment on the very subject, but felt it would come across as whining if I did it. In my opinion, everyone sees what they want to see. My personal experience is that many people who go against the status quo or popular opinion regularly resort to attacking the poster rather than the argument(I am in no means suggesting anyone is this thread did or has done this, although it might be true, I don't know). Whether that is just the personality of the person, the frustration of being outmanned, or something else I don't know. Myself I try to avoid that sort of comment as much as possible, and I know that many of the people you would likely perceive as "regulars" or part of the "groupthink" strive to do the same. It's a thin line between saying "That's a really bad idea", and adding something sarcastic that crosses the line. I think it's unfair to characterize a group of people in the same vein, and furthermore, think it's more appropriate to contact a mod or admin if you have a problem with it. I'm pretty sure that's what they want and have asked anyone to do if they have a problem like that.

Specifically, Kearns probably would not be better than what we have. Stealing what Diffusion brought to light earlier, Kearns's major league success was at a ridiculously unsustainable BABIP rate, and since then he has regressed.

Yeah, because ARod and Kearns are at all comparable. Who the hell is comparing them? I have to keep restating that I commented earlier that Kearns may not be enough. My point has been that we have to look seriously at any deal for a quality major league need if someone came along asking for Richard Hill. I was being sarcastic by saying that ARod would get trashed here if we brought up a trade for one of our prospects, namely Hill. We need to wake up here, all minor leaguers are not prospects, Hill is one, but not one of our best. His value is as high as it's going to be, unless he becomes an all star, which I would bet my life on. Many people have suggested trading Hill for different players, and many people wouldn't trade Hill for Kearns. Hill is a prospect, and may or may not pan out, but someone who leads Minor League baseball in K's is not someone that I'd quickly trade away, and certainly not for someone like Kearns. I just think we should be careful to not delude ourselves over a 25 year old with two pitches who led AA (a pitcher friendly league) in strikeouts. IIRC, Hill was a pitching convert, so his age isn't as much of a problem, although it definitely has an impact. Hill's K rate stayed the same at AAA(a hitter friendly league) after being promoted.

Yeah, because ARod and Kearns are at all comparable. Who the hell is comparing them? I have to keep restating that I commented earlier that Kearns may not be enough. My point has been that we have to look seriously at any deal for a quality major league need if someone came along asking for Richard Hill. I was being sarcastic by saying that ARod would get trashed here if we brought up a trade for one of our prospects, namely Hill. We need to wake up here, all minor leaguers are not prospects, Hill is one, but not one of our best. His value is as high as it's going to be, unless he becomes an all star, which I would bet my life on. Many people have suggested trading Hill for different players, and many people wouldn't trade Hill for Kearns. Hill is a prospect, and may or may not pan out, but someone who leads Minor League baseball in K's is not someone that I'd quickly trade away, and certainly not for someone like Kearns.