soccer10k

You said Alderson was the real architect, and that Beane only followed along. I don't think I need to defend including you in the group that simply can't give Beane the credit he is due. I'm not commenting on how you judge him as a person. I really don't care. Maybe he is a jerk, and if you feel you have enough evidence to make that claim, go right ahead. I don't claim he's an infallible human being. All I'm saying is he's a great GM who did things differently and people just can't stand that fact so they pick at his negatives. I'm commenting on people's insistence on refusing to simply admit that he's a great GM, and/or insisting on qualifying the credit he is due to some "but" statement, including that Alderson was the real architect (even though the team was consistently getting worse and worse in the last 5 years Sandy was there). Sandy did a good job overall as the A's GM. But he does not deserve credit over Beane for what has happened since 1998. He's not the "real architect", he's simply Beane's mentor. Agreed on the following. Just because somebody comes up with a plan doesn't make them a genius. That person actually has to execute the plan to gain praise. Alderson may have come up with a strategy for the A's teams but Beane was the one who actually executed that strategy and did so extremely effectively.

Same goes for me.

He might have had a HOF caliber career if you exclude his numbers from 1998 on. But well before? Not a chance. Going into the 1996 season he only had 277 HR's on his career. For a power hitter, those aren't HOF numbers. Going into his 1998 he had just 387 HR's. Still not HOF numbers for a power hitter. Well obviously if you take his career numbers at that point they don't stack up. Point is that he had OPS+'s of 164, 134, 130, 143, 175, 224, 137, 200, and 223 all before he went to St. Louis. It's not like he was a middling slugger before he broke the record. I'll agree with that. Like cheapseats and wolf pointed out, HOF voters look at counting numbers and before he hit 70, McGwire didn't have enough to get into the Hall of Fame. But McGwire, when healthy, was one of the most feared sluggers in baseball during his career.

Fixed.

I think I understand the first part now, but not the second. If someone claims Soriano-and the Nats want more in a trade offer then the claiming team is willing to give, the Nats are left with 2 choices: pull him back, or let him go. If they let him go, then that team wouldn't have to send any players for Soriano. All they have to do is pay for Soriano, and I'm sure any team in the race would easily pay 2.5 million for Soriano for a month if that's all they had to give up. If the Nats pull him back, then the claiming team doesn't lose anything either. The only way the claiming team would trade players is if they agreed to a trade with the Nats during that negotiation period, and of course then the risk would be in the trade, not the claim. The difference here is that the Nats are not letting Soriano go for just a waiver fee and the rest of his salary. They are either going to trade him or pull him back. So in this case, there is no risk for any team that claims him. If the Nationals aren't just going to let him go for his salary and a waiver fee, that means some other team has to trade for him. If they don't want to trade for him, they obviously aren't going to get him. Hence, no risk in this situation. Even if the Nationals would consider letting him go for the rest of his contract and a waiver fee, a team is still not at risk of losing any of it's players. You know that when you make a waiver claim that you are likely going to have to assume that player's salary. But whether or not a team loses a player or two in the deal is up to that team.

I think Neifi Perez is a good fit for every team not called the Chicago Cubs.

He didn't review the Raiders either. Personally, I'm offended because it should have taken him all of 5 seconds to come up with: "Aaron Brooks = 5-11".

With a win on Friday, the Cubs will have their longest winning streak of the season. I would like to nominate Fred for official game thread starter.

Beane tries to find traits in players that a majority of people in baseball undervalue and finds a way to make them fit with his team. Generally, be cause these traits are undervalued, Beane is able to sign those players for less money.

Welcome to the mind of Jim Hendry 2005 Cubs = 2004 Red Sox (all chemistry, all the time) 2006 Cubs = 2005 White Sox (small ball redux) 2007 Cubs = whoever wins it this year Well then I'm pulling for the Yankees and the Red Sox. They are the top two teams in MLB in OBP.

I don't, should have kept him in for another inning or two, let's see what the kid can do. Baker wasn't worried about a proven star why should he have worried about a kid whose biggest highlight will be beating Rocket Roger? It's a plunk in the back he could have taken it. Besides it would have looked too obvious and Roger would have been tossed. HCCF, I have to disagree. If we're going to rip Baker for his irresponsible usage of Prior and Wood in 2003, and Z this year, then I'm going to give him credit for pulling a young, developing pitcher after 78 last night. He threw well, why extend him another 15-20 pitches if you don't have to? Why risk uneccesary wear and tear? Baker did the right thing. Now, if he pulled him not to protect his arm but because he thought Clemens would hit him, he still did the right thing, albiet for the wrong reason. Agreed. I like that Dusty actually pulled Mateo (whatever his reasoning may be) before he could rack up a huge pitch count.

I would definitely agree with you there that Beltran is worth that extra money. The only problem is that if he's only making 12 million this year, the contract must be back loaded (because the deal averages exactly 17 million per year). So Beltran could be making 20 million in his last 2 years of the deal at 33 and 34, and he would probably not be worth it then. That said, I would still want him-and hope other baseball salaries continue to go up and make that deal seem less expensive in comparison. The actaul contract part is 7/$108 mil with a $11 mil signing bonus.

Pierre is making $5.75 mil this year and Beltran is making $12 mil. For that extra $6.25 this is how much extra you get: .001/.060/.236/.296 with 32 HR, 40 BB, 41 SO, -28 SB (negative denoting less for Beltran) Both are 29 as well. Somebody can add their opinion on defensive metrics as well. Personally, I would take Beltran for that extra money any day.

That's what I remember as well. The sticking point IIRC was the Cubs didn't want to have two huge contracts on the book for that one year.

CUBS SWEEP!!!

Very impressive major league debut for O'Malley.

He might have had a HOF caliber career if you exclude his numbers from 1998 on. But well before? Not a chance. Going into the 1996 season he only had 277 HR's on his career. For a power hitter, those aren't HOF numbers. Going into his 1998 he had just 387 HR's. Still not HOF numbers for a power hitter.

Hilarious.

ARam should have let that ball roll. It looked like it was going to go foul.

BARRETT!!

What exactly would be the gamble? The worst thing that happens is you get Soriano for nothing but what is left on his contract the rest of the season. Giving up talent for a month rental. You don't have to give up talent to make the claim. The claim costs a nominal amount of money. It's no risk. As soon as someone claims him, the Nationals will withdraw him and try to arrange a trade (which is where you would have to give up something.). Again, you don't have to trade for him if you claim him. There is no risk to putting in the claim. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the Nationals really didn't want him, couldn't they just tell the team that claims him "hey, you can have him" and then the team that claims him would have to pick up his contract? I remember Manny Ramirez being placed on, and clearing waivers a couple years ago because nobody wanted to risk having to pick up his contract.

Zep got a bigger percentage of the vote though. Zep won 45-22 which is 67.2% while The Who won 61-37 which is 62.2% of the vote.

Agreed. He's going to score from second on virtually any single hit to the outfield. He doesn't need to be on third.

He played 18 innings yesterday and is tired? Oh, I forgot he played yesterday. :oops: Didn't he have 4 hits? Yes. He went 4-8 yesterday.

He played 18 innings yesterday and is tired?