Transmogrified Tiger

That would've been right in my backyard had I not moved away. I remember reading a Plain Dealer article about it when it was announced/began building. Very cool of Friedel.

Wasn't Cabrera a young (for MiLB) teenager for most of those AB's, though? It's a little more understandable there. Not that I have any doubts about Soto, I'm just saying. Yes, Cabrera was a young teenager for most of those at bats. And going back to my original comment, players develop at different stages. Soto just got it going later. No disrespect intended, but you have no more idea if this is true than I do if the juice is true. In modern day baseball, when a guy's numbers change as dramatically as this, esp at his age, it brings suspicion. Especially at his age? This whole conversation is a brutal oversimplification. Soto isn't 31, he's 24. Players at his age in the minors make adjustments in their swings to add power, they add muscle (see the comment about him getting into shape this offseason), or they finally start facing age appropriate competition and take off. All of these are possible if not probable factors in Soto's case. He was always young for his league, and showed the discipline throughout his minor league career to be a discriminating enough hitter. Add in the fact that catchers are often have a later offensive development due to the physical demands of fielding their position, and there's plenty of reason to think Soto is legit. Jumping straight to "Soto hit a bunch of HR that he never hit before, he could be on steroids" is simply a lazy intellectual response.

We'd be pretty deep at keeper. Marco laid claim to the spot, Brinoch's a keeper, and I could do it as well. I don't have the creativity to play up top or the endurance to play midfield, so I'll play stopper or something. I say we go with Seth on the other defensive flank because he'll play dirty and such. Brinoch would make a good sweeper. USS is a target player, Soccer10k is an attacking mid, Raisin with his endurance makes an outside winger, and that's all I got. We need what, 3 more midfielders?

In no order: Marmol Hill Ramirez Zambrano Lee

1 TD and 2 picks, Palmer? Really?

How's everyone doing? I need Palmer to throw another TD to a non-Chad Johnson player to get a lead on Outshined.

Mizzou jumps to #20 in both polls. Nice. Hopefully a win against Nebraska can propel us past the likes of Hawaii and the one-loss SEC teams.

Mizzou's off next week, so it'll be the following Monday.

plz keep winning games

That's exactly what should happen if we get Bonds. It won't happen, but putting Bonds at 1B will be as successful as putting Frank Thomas at 1B. Umm... Double ummm There were times where Thomas's double play throws went into LF. I can't imagine Bonds, with the shape he's in, playing 1B. Keep Lee where he belongs. When did anyone say anything about Bonds playing 1B?

Williams Career: .853 OPS w/ RISP: .895 (+ 42 from career) Close and Late: .891 (+38 from career) Santo Career: .826 OPS w/ RISP: .863 (+37 from career) Close and Late: .856 (+30 from career) I wouldn't say I'd "much, much rather" have Williams up, but I'd prefer him simply because he was a better hitter.

Graham Harrell has over 600 yards passing and no picks, and OK State has 3 different players with at least 115 yards rushing. And one of them has to lose.

Yeah, the best part of today was Ole Miss and Illinois making our wins over them look better. Maclin is ridiculous, and Nebraska's defensive showing the last two weeks has me optimistic that we can put up about 90 points on them even if we can't stop their offense. I can't wait for October 5.

So was Barrett yet most people on this board looked past it in favor of his offensive strengths. It's a matter of degrees. Barrett was one of the best offensive catchers in the game, and so people were forgiving of his below average CS% and occasional braindead decision. Kendall is doing one thing well on offense(a very important thing, but it's important to know that his offense isn't all roses) while other teams have a permanent green light because he's physically incapable of throwing anyone out who doesn't trip and fall on their way to 2nd. It's a much different trade off and easy to see why people would be comfortable with one and not the other.

Yes, and please no repeating what the White Sox did and having a graphic about the championship in every spot of every WGN telecast during the following year.

I think he has one. Maybe not with the MLB clout, but I'm pretty sure his partner was a local guy.

I thought they were just rolling over on purpose for the Brewers. Weird. Well, he did eat the wall chasing a ball that went over the fence, so he did fail miserably. Had I not been angry at the result I may have fell over laughing at him.

LaRussa doesn't matter as much as Duncan. If Duncan follows LaRussa somewhere, that rotation is going to feel the pain.

Tejada's IsoP dropping 4 years in a row is definitely a trend.

I laughed entirely too hard at this.

None of that changes with the home run except that the game is already 5-4.

I don't necessarily disagree, but why? And do the reasons for that apply to Marmol?

You empty the basepaths because EVERYONE SCORES. Why in the world would you prefer to be down 2 runs with a runner on over being down 1 run with no one on, when there isn't any difference in outs? It's the perception of the homerun serving as the rally-killer. Either way, the guy at the plate has to score, so that doesn't change. The difference is, the runner at second keeps the pitcher in the stretch/under pressure/whatever. I don't know which way I'd fall on this one, but I at least understand the thought process. Well if we're going to use that logic, take it all the way. It's the 9th inning, so up 5 runs the other team probably didn't bring out their closer. Before the grand slam they probably did, as I doubt they let an inferior pitcher/tired starter allow the other team back into the game. So now the closer is in and he just gave up either a bases clearing double or a grand slam. It's obvious he's not lights out today. He's a closer/reliever, which means the odds of him throwing from the windup are slim regardless of the situation. Does he care about the runner at 2nd(if he hits the double)? Nope, that guy's run doesn't matter, so he's not getting flustered thinking about a potential steal(which tangentially makes the number of outs in the inning irrelevant). So in the end from the pitcher's perspective, there's no difference after the fact. He needs to keep the hitter from scoring and that's what he's worried about. Which means as the hitting team, we take the run in hand 150 times out of 10.

You empty the basepaths because EVERYONE SCORES. Why in the world would you prefer to be down 2 runs with a runner on over being down 1 run with no one on, when there isn't any difference in outs?

No, not ever.