sethuel1

I'm on it. I'll try to get Farns' numbers back to 2003 posted some time this evening. Sweet. Who should we compare him to? i think he'd stand up pretty well even against some of the better closers like Lidge and Wagner, but I still don't think that's a tremendously fair comparison. We could compare him to "tried and true" set-up men like Flash Gordon, Eyre, Howry, and Tim Worrell.... I'd also like to pull in some of the new, more talented bullpen guys coming up like K-Rod and Francisco Cordero.

Congratulations, you've just defined a good closer as one that evokes an unquantifiable emotion from you. I think we should adopt this statistic. It will be called FISTKS, for Feeling In Soccer Ten K's Stomach, and it will be represented in binary: for each appearance, you either get a zero or a one. The closer with the highest total at the end of the year will receive a role in a horror movie. hey, it'll make about as much sense as Gold Glove balloting.

Mariano Rivera blew saves in games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS. What a bum. If he didn't suck in either of those two appearances, the Yankees would have won. But, in these two instances, he failed to do anything but suck. This means that, over the course of Mariano Rivera's career, he's nothing but a bum, a nobody, and a total hatchet-job of a closer. They should give him to the Devil rays for a bag of used balls.

it's called a spreadsheet.

Did you watch the 2005 postseason? Game 4 against Houston? What gets lost in the 18 inning marathon was the fact that Farnsworth came in with runners on first and second with no outs, got an out on a fielders choice but the runners advanced. Then he walked Luke Scott to bring up Lance Berkman. I called the Berkman grand slam right after ball 4 to Scott. Then, everybody knows all Farnsworth has is a fastball and Berkman launches it to left field for the grand slam. Even after that Atlanta still leads 6-5 and going into the ninth you think, with the 6-7-8 hitters coming up that Farnsworth is going to get out of it. He gets two outs and then gives up a home run to #8 hitter Brad Ausmus who had THREE HOME RUNS ALL OF 2005 AND JUST 71 IN HIS CAREER. This is your "very very good" closer? You've got to be kidding me. I was so happy to see Farnsworth go. Good riddence to him. The Yankees can have him. So, one incidence makes Farnsworth a choker? Is Brad Lidge a choke artist? Remember, I said Farnsworth in 2003, which was your original comparison to Howry. Calling BK. We need you to apply exactly the same stats as you did for the hitters, but in reverse, in order to show that the "Farnsworth can't pitch in pressure situations" myth is exactly that. You know, like you just did for the "Walker can only hit when the bases are empty" myth.

Nope, it definitely shows that Derrek Lee was the best at that. What it does show, however, is that Todd Walker "raised his game" more than anyone else when it came to advancing people. BK has just kicked in the "Todd Walker always pops up when there's a man on base" theory in the teeth.

Yeah, the crime deterrant commercial was sweet.

:D Thanks. I need sleep now. Well done, sir. Also, guess who laid down what he thought were 10 wasted dollars on Hines Ward for MVP and Hines Ward to score the last TD of the game. What were the odds? 12-1 on the MVP, 8-1 on the TD

:D Thanks. I need sleep now. Well done, sir. Also, guess who laid down what he thought were 10 wasted dollars on Hines Ward for MVP and Hines Ward to score the last TD of the game.

Steelers 27 Seahawks 20 MVP: Hines Ward

Mini Bears 24, Giants 14.

A possible violation and he didn't even push the kid to his favorite team. Also, he made it blatantly obvious he's not "in with the times" by inadvertantly sexually propositioning Rolle.

By all accounts, Maybin is a fantastic guy. He's been the organizer for all of the Baltimore get-togethers, been at the announcements for a lot of the other recruits, made phone calls, etc. he also sent his LOI in yesterday at about 6:30 AM. Now I'll read the article....

Both rivals.com and scout.com have PSU 6th. let's go to work!

I used to set up the 4th of July fireworks festival in that field.

yes, yes it is. Too bad I'm at work. and too bad every sports site I go to has all of PSU's recruits still listed as "verbal" Scout.com has a live updating page. I'll post a link. Most of the LOIs were in when I last checked. Link: http://pennstate.scout.com/3/FOSFlashNews.html Edit: According to rivals.com, they've all signed.

yes, yes it is. Too bad I'm at work.

Nice analysis, but I think some of Maddux's more obscene numbers may be due to his advanced age. It seemed to me, and I could be wrong, that he left a lot of balls up in the zone last year. He also missed in the strike zone too (as did Prior). Overall, I think his numbers are pretty reflective of his actual performance. I hope for some rebound this year, but I am not optimistic. At this point he is a six inning pitcher. We just have to hope he keeps his ERA around 4. When Maddux hung em last year, he really hung em. A lot of solid contact. Very un-Maddux

The Anaheim Devil Ducks The Tampa Bay Mighty Rays done and done.

Is VORP normalized to position, or is defense included, or both? Why does Cedeno get more VORP with lower rate stats over fewer PAs? Nice, another SCer! Welcome!

Heeeeeere's Neifi... .263/.295/.358 in 407 PA, 1.7 VORP I'd take a .032 IsoD out of Neifi.

He would have made 2.75M so his 3.65M is a nice increase (he asked for 4M). That doesn't include his signing or performance bonus. He was slated to make around 3.5+, depending on the exactitudes of the performance bonuses and distribution of the signing bonus. So he had his agent to a little extra paperwork and now he can buy a nice new Aston Martin with the difference. good for him.

I always roam around the ballpark until the 2nd inning, asking if anyone's ready to sell me a ticket for 5 bucks yet. usually works.

Stop calling me Shirley.

Count me in. PM me if anything comes to fruition. Ok, I'm off to make a thread in social about it. here's the thread