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So your theory is: Play in high school and know scouts are in the stands? No problem. Play in minor leagues knowing your future as a ballplayer is on the line each and every season? No problem. Break into the big leagues, knowing that rookies need to perform immediately or get labeled "AAAA," No problem. Play for a team whose fans really want to win? Oh no, too much pressure! There's a difference between pressure coming from yourself and pressure coming from millions of rabid fans who are ready to label you satan if you don't perform in the biggest situations. I mean, are you really going to pretend like the Cubs getting swept the last 2 seasons had absolutely nothing to do with pressure and choking?

i predict that jim hendry blows most of his spending money on jarrod washburn

predictions on olsen's numbers this season?

you ruined it

hmm. bradley is finally hitting so he's due for an injury

i bet he gets lit up

I saw a vid of the cab driver speaking and he claimed that he DID say that. Actually, it's the vid at the top of this page

Guys, Ryan Dempster has amazing control. He can put the ball exactly where he wants, whenever he wants. Obviously he did it on purpose.

I almost don't even care anymore. I've ccepted the fact that this team is probably not making the playoffs. If they end up going on a run and making it, fine. I just doubt it will happen.

literally 2 hours ago i heard somebody on mlb network saying that the white sox just acquired "a superstar caliber hitter", in those exact words Congratulations, you got the wrong network. I'm all for ESPN bashing but they've never panned Alex Rios out to be some sort of superstar. Never. Just because ONE GUY on MLB Network said he's a "superstar caliber player" definitely doesn't mean that and basically everyone else in national sports TV has never said Rios is that good. Now if he puts up those numbers from 2-3 years ago in CF for the Sox, that's a real steal. I'm not a big Rios fan but that contract definitely isn't as bad when he's placed in CF. My bad, I forgot that ESPN is soooo much better than MLB Network. Every ESPN on-air employee is very knowledgable, right? BBTN is pretty much brilliant. John Kruk is a mastermind and Fernando Vina knows more than everyone on this board combined. I feel foolish for comparing them to those jokers over at MLBN. I'm aware that I said MLBN. MLB Network, ESPN, etc. It's all the same garbage. I gave that as an example because it was the most recent. Unless you watch ESPN 24/7 and have a superhuman memory, that's a pretty ridiculous claim to make. Making that kind of argument is pointless, to boot. You can say "they never do that" as many times as you want. I know what I've seen and heard. Don't tell me what I do and do not hear.

Let me explain this for the 28526h time An inning pitched that wouldn't have been pitched = an extra inning Maybe you grasp it this time And I never said anything about crippling overuse.

literally 2 hours ago i heard somebody on mlb network saying that the white sox just acquired "a superstar caliber hitter", in those exact words

That makes sense though. Toronto fans see him enough to know what he is

what

Oh, and nothing about how Rios' LD% plummeted this season? I'll go ahead and say that I doubt his LD% fall off by a couple percentage points at the age of 28. Your turn. Huh? That post didn't even make sense. You used BABIP for this season to show that he's just been unlucky. The low LD% (something that should always be used with BABIP) shows that he has not been hitting the ball hard. It is by far the lowest of his career. This just in. If you don't hit the ball hard, you're going to have a low BABIP. And I read the article. It was pretty good. Nothing in it has to do with my argument though, which is simply that Rios is overrated as a hitter. A lot of people make him out to be Evan Longoria, when really he's been more Robison Cano so far. Noooooooooo. You said he was the most overrated player in baseball not an overrated hitter. He might be an overrated hitter, but not a overrated player. + his LD% is a good bet to return to where it has been for the rest of his career. which was my point. I know. And my point wasn't to show that he was falling off a cliff at age 28, and you know it. It was in response to your "well, he's been crappy this season, but check out his BABAIP. He's just unlucky!" post. You can't make a post saying that a guy has just been unlucky this season and then fail to mention the fact that he is also hitting the ball much softer this season as well. And I'll admit that in 06 and 07 Rios wasn't ioverrated as an overall player. Unfortunately, those are the only 2 seasons he's done it.

mediocre? oh now you've done it. how dare you go read that dave cameron article, dude. it pretty much changed my life

Oh, and nothing about how Rios' LD% plummeted this season? I'll go ahead and say that I doubt his LD% fall off by a couple percentage points at the age of 28. Your turn. Huh? That post didn't even make sense. You used BABIP for this season to show that he's just been unlucky. The low LD% (something that should always be used with BABIP) shows that he has not been hitting the ball hard. It is by far the lowest of his career. This just in. If you don't hit the ball hard, you're going to have a low BABIP. And I read the article. It was pretty good. Nothing in it has to do with my argument though, which is simply that Rios is overrated as a hitter. A lot of people make him out to be Evan Longoria, when really he's been more Robison Cano so far.

Oh, and nothing about how Rios' LD% plummeted this season?

He's not overrated ummmmmmmmmmm Now you're just making useless posts. I think he's overrated and you don't We've established that. You tried to play the "haha, i got you!" game by quoting two seperate posts, when really both posts pretty much said the same thing. That's rich. Calling my posts useless. Explain to me how he is overrated. You have told me that he is not a stud hitter, which he's not. And you understand that hitting is not the only part of a player's game. But, you don't get how he is undervalued Oh my god. I've already explained to you why I think he's overrated. Here, let me help you. Combine that with his big contract and maybe you can comprehend what I'm saying.

He's not overrated ummmmmmmmmmm Now you're just making useless posts. I think he's overrated and you don't We've established that. You tried to play the "haha, i got you!" game by quoting two seperate posts, when really both posts pretty much said the same thing.

apparently you don't understand that hitting is only part of a players game. apparently you also missed the 1463 posts in this thread talking about how good his defense is. i figured you'd be smart enough to comprehend all this. my mistake

i just used OPS because it was easies to post. his overall offensive numbers are pretty accurately displayed there. and ages 23-25? what about the last 2 seasons where he's failed to break .800? He hit for a .798 OPS last year. That's plenty good for a great defensive CF. This year, he has suffered from a BABIP 34 points lower than his career average (which I know you love). His BB/K has stayed pretty much the same from the last few seasons. I'll say this again... I never said he's a crappy player. I said he's overrated and not the rgeat hitter people make him out to be. A .798 OPS is fine, but it's not great. Hopefully you actually try and understand what I'm saying this time. I never said Rios is a bad player. Nice try. You said What I am saying is that he, not only is the most overrated player in baseball, but isn't even really overrated. If you don't want to listen to me, listen to dave cameron. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/rios-wells i feel like you aren't even reading the posts. you say "nice try" to a post where i said that rios is not bad, just overrated. then you quote a post where i say "he's overrated" ummmmm

by the way, babip is useless if you use it by itself. his ld% this season is 18.4, which is by far the lowest in his career, and way lower than last season. guess what? if you aren't hitting the ball hard, you're going to have a low babip.

ah yes the famous career OPS. When I evaluate a player, I use more than his age 23-25 OPS, sorry. i just used OPS because it was easies to post. his overall offensive numbers are pretty accurately displayed there. and ages 23-25? what about the last 2 seasons where he's failed to break .800? He hit for a .798 OPS last year. That's plenty good for a great defensive CF. This year, he has suffered from a BABIP 34 points lower than his career average (which I know you love). His BB/K has stayed pretty much the same from the last few seasons. I'll say this again... I never said he's a crappy player. I said he's overrated and not the rgeat hitter people make him out to be. A .798 OPS is fine, but it's not great. Hopefully you actually try and understand what I'm saying this time. I never said Rios is a bad player.

BUT THERE WEREN'T EXTRA INNINGS PUT ON THE BULLPEN. Marshall 2 Grabow 1 Heilman 1 Guzman 0 Marmol 0 Gregg 0 Stevens 0 6 of 7 arms available the following day. That's much closer to a fresh bullpen than a "burned" bullpen. This whole "every inning pitched by any reliever this late in the season is relevant" nonsense has been smacked straight back in your face already, so no need for me to pile on there. And once again you ignore the point An inning that wouldn't have been pitched if the start had avtually gone 6-7 innings= AN EXTRA INNING PITCHED I really don't understand why it's so hard for you to explain. You keep bringing up the "they still could have pitched the next day" stuff over and over again, when that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. I don't even care though. My point wasn't to argue this, it was just to point out that you conveniently left out Marshall, because you constantly pick and choose with parts of an argument you want to mention, and then ignore the parts that hurt your argument. Oh well, back to OH to talk up Jim Hendry and act like the Cubs authority