Transmogrified Tiger

Yes. That's how he has gotten injured in the past. We are trying to stay healthy here. I think this is what an aneurysm feels like.

So Ramirez is getting ragged on for not hustling on a double to left field, and simultaneously getting ragged on because he was "forced to" hustle once he saw it wasn't a home run? Am I following this correctly?

There is no sliding scale that determines how long it takes a player to turn it around. Just because Pie looks awful doesn't mean it's going to take longer for him to get in gear than if he were popping up a bunch or rolling over everything. It's small adjustments that make that difference, it's not like Pie needs a bunch of work to become Juan Pierre and then a bunch more work after that to become worthwhile. And by the same token, it's the same result whether Pie is waving and missing or popping up a bunch or rolling over everything. Sometimes people need to remove the "argh he struck out and looked dumb" emotion from watching a player when evaluating him, because those outs count just as much as Mike Fontenot grounding out on a chopper to the first baseman.

Right, Walker wasn't good at putting the ball in the hole. 16 ppg on almost 47% shooting is a level above "bad". He's 6'5" and he doesn't have a jumpshot(30% from 3, a lot of his FG% is on post moves and putbacks), that's simply not going to play in the NBA, and it's why he's a supporting player in college.

Simokaitis doing his Marmol impersonation, haha

Bill Walker is not an elite talent. In order to be an elite talent you need to be at a level above "bad" at putting the ball in the basket. He's not big enough to be a 3 and he can't shoot enough to be a 2.

It doesn't.

IMO there is about a 0.001% chance of Crede coming close to maintaining his current level of play. This is the very definition of "time to sell high". Sure about that? His BABIP is actually lower than his average this season, which means he's getting unlucky. He's also got a 5.6 LD%, so his BABIP is actually about 60 points better than expected, and this from a guy who has underperformed his expected BABIP his entire career(nearly 1800 PA's).

Well, let's see. The National League average starter put up a 4.65 ERA last year. The average National League reliever put up a 4.06 ERA. So 200 innings of 3.75 and 80 innings of 4.06 gets you a 3.84 ERA out of both players combined. 80 innings of 2.00 and 200 innings of 4.65 gets you a 3.89 ERA overall. Of course, having those good innings all come in close games does give an extra benefit to the setup guy. At the same time, you have to add in that an average reliever costs you probably 1 million dollars and can easily be replaced if something goes wrong, while an average starter is going to cost you 3-6 million dollars at least and if they bust, they're much harder to find a replacement for. If I could lock in either of those two choices, I'd go for the starter. There is so much more flexibility in a bullpen to find a few good players and use them in all the important situations. In the Cubs case for example, Marmol going into the rotation moves Howry into Marmol's sport, Wuertz's into Howry's, and Eyre into Wuertz's. The guy who would replace Marmol wouldn't even have to be that good, because he'd be getting most of the mop up innings anyway. Of course, I have my doubts that Marmol could produce that much as either a starter or do it again as a reliever, but that's another discussion entirely. I'd take him as a reliever, simply because he's comfortable as a reliever. And if I am mistaken, he was developed a s a reliever in the minors. Which means, even if the Cubs wanted to move Marmol into the rotation, they'd prolly have to send him down to AAA for about a month or so, to stretch out his arm, and fine tune his mechanics. So nothing only would the Cubs be down an outstanding bullpen arm, but an outstanding arm all together for atleast a month. At this point, I much rather have Marshall/Gallagher/Veal/Smardz have the shot at starter in front of Marmol. Middle of the season is not a good idea to experiment. If the Cubs believe Marmol can be an outstanding starter, then let him make the transistion to starter in the OFFSEASON, not the middle of the season. Nonetheless, Piniella absolutely trusts Marmol in his current role, and thus is NOT about to move Marmol out of that spot. He was a starter in the minors. You're not going to make him a starter right now, but it's something I wish they would have done in the offseason. I'm not trying to be a butt, as I really want to know, was a "Starter" in the minors, or an arm who needed as many innings as possible for his development? The reason why I ask, is that both Billy Wagner and Mo Rivera were both "starters" in the minors, also. He was a starter in the minors, that's why he started 13 games for the 2006 Cubs. Also, he was good at starting, very good, so it's not as if they moved him to the pen out of ineffectiveness.

FINALLY, we can fill that 1B/OF gap at Iowa.

If only Pie had shown over the last several years to be able to make adjustments when he's faced with new challenges. Pie's monthly OPS's at Iowa:.862, .676, .630, .771, .913, 1.389(20 PA's), (promotion/end season), 1.127, .992, (promotion/demotion), .885, 1.111

Don't see why he wouldn't, he's the Friday starter. He got touched up by Texas this weekend: 5 IP, 9 ER, 9 H, 4/2 K/BB. Not sure how much to read into it since there was apparently a teacup strike zone and a stiff wind blowing out. Mizzou eventually won the game 31-12. That's not a typo.

I suppose he doesn't have much to gain from staying, but where is Love going to go in the draft? His 3 inch vertical on his 6-8 body isn't going to take him too far methinks.

Strong pitching day, I'm interested in every level's starter.

I thought of Utley, but after checking I didn't realize he turns 30 this year. I know he's a man with no position, but I'm tempted to say Billy Butler.

I love the small font "also champions of the world" on the first pic.

Funny thing is, LH starters are a situation where it could make sense to use Theriot. Can't complain about Cedeno picking up at bats though, hopefully he makes the most of them.

When was this? I must've skipped over it when I looked earlier today. The blog entry about it is timed at 4:35 PM, so it may not have been up when you checked.

I'm more of an anti-DH guy, but something needs to be done to make whatever the decision the same in both leagues. Someone's getting an advantage simply based on the rules of the game, and that's no good.

Coincidentally, Baseball Reference added a big update to their splits, which now include splits based on leverage. Soriano's career numbers: High leverage: .254/.317/.438/.755 in 780 PA's Medium leverage: .293/.334/.549/.883 in 2138 PA's Low leverage: .278/.319/.505/.824 in 1951 PA's

From Yet Another Basketball Blog:

He's a goon who for whatever reason thinks he's good at basketball.

Sexy

Mario Chalmers is the best player in the country no one ever hears about. That shot was absolutely ridiculous. And an overzealous "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, AHAHAHA, AHA, HA" to Memphis choking their chance to ice it away at the free throw line. Also that stuff about Joey Dorsey. I'd say hate, but you kids have taken all the meaning out of the word. Hmmmm, I've got it. I megaloathe you, Joey Dorsey, now go pro so you can disappear into obscurity.

I have to say I was a bit surprised to see him as the first B12 name on the list. From everything I've read though, he's simply putting his name in there to get feedback on where he stands, what he needs to work on, etc. Much different than, say, Thomas Gardner, who go swindled into signing with an agent.