David

Sorry, its gone now. But it is not correct. Average is very important. There's a reason why that is the 1st stat shown when a player comes up to bat. It shows how good a hitter is. There are other stats that might tell more about a player, but there is no way that average isnt an important stat. You are a very good hitter if you can bat .300 over a season. Hopefully you have some other tools as well besides being a batting average hitter, but having a high average is a good stat to have. The reason average isn't that important is that it can't stand on it's own. If a guy has a .300 average but a (let's say) .320 OBP, he is not a good offensive player. It doesn't matter that he can hit for high average because overall he's making outs too often because he doesn't get on base in other ways. On the other hand, if a guy has a .240 average but a .370 OBP, he's a pretty good offensive player (might even be very good, depending on how much power he hits for), regardless of the low average. OBP encompasses BA and tells you more about the hitter on top of it. There's really not that much of a reason to look at his BA, other than if you want to evaluate how likely a player is to continue to perform at the level he has previously exhibited. In other words, you might want to look at it to see if a given player's OBP is highly batting average dependent, because if it is, without getting too far into detail about stuff like BABIP, it's probably less repeatable, particularly as the player ages. If a guy hits .240 hes a terrible hitter regardless of his OBP. Hits are better than walks. Hits can get you more than one base, and can actually drive in runs. Id rather have the .300 .320 guy, but it depends on his power and speed too. I give up.

How so? You can say that about any stat then. If a guy hits .300 one year, then there is no reason to expect him not to hit .300 the next year. Same with HRs. If a guy hits 30 HRs one year, then there is no reason not to expect him to hit 30 the next year. Except that HR's can dramatically decrease with age while average actually can stay close to the same, so i dunno. Every stat can be expected to be repeated, but it might not happen. Some things are more likely than others to be repeated. In fact, you can go as far as to say that some things are likely to be repeated while others are unlikely to be repeated. Good statistical analysis of a player can paint a good picture of what is and isn't sustainable. It stems from the fact that certain things are more luck dependent (it's often reasonably easy to tell when a player has performed at a certain level, be it good or bad, due to luck - again, good or bad - or skill/ability). It's not fool-proof, but, again, without getting into too much detail, there is a difference.

Huh? What does this even mean? The way it's phrased, it seems like it's intended as an insult, but U of I is a very good school, so I don't really get it.

Sorry, its gone now. But it is not correct. Average is very important. There's a reason why that is the 1st stat shown when a player comes up to bat. It shows how good a hitter is. There are other stats that might tell more about a player, but there is no way that average isnt an important stat. You are a very good hitter if you can bat .300 over a season. Hopefully you have some other tools as well besides being a batting average hitter, but having a high average is a good stat to have. The reason average isn't that important is that it can't stand on it's own. If a guy has a .300 average but a (let's say) .320 OBP, he is not a good offensive player. It doesn't matter that he can hit for high average because overall he's making outs too often because he doesn't get on base in other ways. On the other hand, if a guy has a .240 average but a .370 OBP, he's a pretty good offensive player (might even be very good, depending on how much power he hits for), regardless of the low average. OBP encompasses BA and tells you more about the hitter on top of it. There's really not that much of a reason to look at his BA, other than if you want to evaluate how likely a player is to continue to perform at the level he has previously exhibited. In other words, you might want to look at it to see if a given player's OBP is highly batting average dependent, because if it is, without getting too far into detail about stuff like BABIP, it's probably less repeatable, particularly as the player ages.

How do you draw the line between realllllly stubborn and trolling for responses? It's a thin line. It almost seems like it can't be serious. The posts are TOO perfect. amirite?

Oh, the ironing. Oh, and opinions can be wrong. You talk about objectivity, yet people have refuted your arguments with objective facts and legitimate arguments, but you have yet to respond with anything but your own subjective opinion and regurgitations of what you hear the "experts" (most of whom are stubborn themselves and completely close-minded to anything that conflicts with conventional wisdom) say. Your only response when you get called out is that it's your opinion (which can't be wrong - what a beautiful thing) and that the Cubs (and Steve Stone) agree with you (despite the fact that nobody in the organization has said a thing to back up your argument - you're making the inference based on the Cubs' pursuit of Roberts - I get it). It must be great to take a stance in a debate that can't be refuted or argued with.

Congratulations... you are the first person I have ever put on ignore. I have a big thing about the ignore thing and how I think it's stupid, but I'm definitely considering it for the first time, too. I have never done it anywhere for anybody... nobody before has been this aggressive in pushing their flawed agendas, though. The only problem is that people will keep responding to him, and I'll be able to see it when they quote his posts... if we could just get everybody to ignore him, that'd be much easier. I remember a couple others who were as bad, but they usually eventually went off at some point and got banned. I'll give wrigley one thing. He's persistent and seemingly unflappable. Alligator blood.

Congratulations... you are the first person I have ever put on ignore. I have a big thing about the ignore thing and how I think it's stupid, but I'm definitely considering it for the first time, too.

Unless they had Carlos Beltran or Brian Roberts (or someone THAT good at it), I would be perfectly fine with the team never attempting steals (barring some crazy extreme case like Maddux pitching with Kendall behind the plate in a one run game in the 9th or something like that). And I wouldn't long for a good basestealer like that if we didn't have one. Nice to have but totally not necessary.

I'm pretty sure there's less than a handful. Probably none.

I don't get this ... why does everybody keep just posting his name, and other people quoting it? How did this start? I think early on last year, a lot of people were misspelling his name. So they'd write out his full name/correct it and quote it over and over. At least, I think that's how it started.

Oh and LOL at "soriano leading off lovers."

I have a question. What do the Cubs need more, an upgrade in speed at the top of the order, or an upgrade at shortstop?

25. Derrek Lee 26. Russell Martin 27. Joe Mauer 28. Brandon Phillips 29. Brian Roberts 30. BJ Upton 31. Derek Jeter 32. Corey Hart 33. Josh Beckett

Looks like the Bears want to keep Grossman and Benson (although JA doesn't seem to be ruling out adding another RB) around and just revamp the line(s). http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=4375

I've never understood the irrelevant shots at people's social lives, or lack thereof. Newsflash - We have hundreds (if not thousands) of posts on an internet message board about the Cubs. We're all pretty big dorks to some extent.

I don't want to derail anything either way, but yea. I don't know when the lines between natural (genetic - if you will) race got crossed with ethnicity/nationality. Coming from a Spanish speaking country doesn't make his ancestry any less African. What is known in the US as Hispanic or Latino can be an individual of any one race or some "mix," including "white." I'm Cuban and of 100% European (Spanish) ancestry. I'm white. People always tell me I look "so white." Well, gee, no crap. /rant

I'm interested in hearing why Meph is so sold in Pie being a complete bust. I'm sort of on the fence, either way. Objectively, his minor league numbers look pretty good. I didn't see much to get excited about either numbers wise (obviously) or otherwise (other than his arm) in his limited playing time with the big club, though. You would think he'll figure it out to some extent, eventually, though.

The Mets. I think most of us have a problem with the fact that the Cubs, given their market and payroll situation, should be one of those head and shoulders better teams, rather than maybe the best of the mediocre bunch that is the NL (after the Mets).

Gotta love the iPhone It seems like a lot of the position players arrived early, so they probably already checked in, had their physicals and are ready to play. Ramirez most likely just got here and is doing that. I could be wrong but the following starters are reported to have been in camp at least yesterday C: Soto 1B: Lee 2B: DeRosa SS: Theriot LF: Soriano CF: Pie RF: Fukudome --You're watching all this on the Iphone? Or are you actually there in Mesa? UMFan isn't watching anything on the iPhone, nor is he in Mesa (as far as I know). We know from all the reports and photos over the weekend that those players listed are already in camp. I'm pretty sure he just mentioned the iPhone because he was implying that WilcoFan is at Fitch Park and posting from an iPhone.

Um, great report.

It's actually somewhere between very good and mediocre, as the roster stands now, IMO. Guess we'll see. A few key guys like Geo and Fukodome could make it go either way.

If it meant anything with regard to Roberts, it would mean the opposite. They wouldn't just sign Cintron because Roberts isn't coming, IMO. It could easily mean, however, that Cedeno is or will be headed somewhere.

Infante isn't a reliever, not that it makes anything any better Eh?

Cintron = Izturis There you go.