Magnetic Curses

he's getting "unlucky" a disproportionate amount of time, most good baserunners don't get so "unlucky". and when does someone cross that line and cease being "unlucky" and start being a poor baserunner? it would seem that pierre is consistently unlucky, and i don't want someone so eager to run himself into an out on my team.

If the Cards expect that Monday "deadline" to be a promise, they're really, really dumb. Setting a deadline the day Winter Meetings begin is a pretty obvious negotiation move. As a life-long Arkansan, I really appreciate you talking crap about me and the other citizens of the state. well then, petition your congressperson to raise the age of consent from 14 to something reasonable. joking, joking. but not about the age of consent being 14.

Corey himself could easily make up a huge chunk of that improved OBP. He was at .329 and .320 the two years prior to 2005. Making upgrades from 2005 to 2006 is more than just trying to get better numbers than what you got in 2005. Making changes has to be about getting better numbers than what you can expect from the guys you already have in 2006. I don't think Corey will have a .254 OPB in 2006. I would not be at all surprised to see him with a career high .330 in 2006. Not that I expect him to be that high, or that I wouldn't trade him for Bradley, but keeping Corey should not be forgotten as an option. if we're keeping corey in center, it better mean that we have dunn and furcal.

Anyone know anything about these guys? don't know. and after this, i think hendry has gotten out of the pierre sweepstakes.

Getting rid of him doesn't automatically solve it either. I think what is being expressed is that there is more than one option. If you have to keep Corey in order to make deals that create bigger improvement elsewhere, it's not a terrible option. Obviously replacing Corey with a great OBP helps, but if you then go small in RF, that improvement can be negated, or at least partially offset, rather quickly. i think replacing corey makes the most sense because CF is the most glaring OBP hole in the lineup, even burnitz's .320-something is an improvement compared to corey's sub .300. Bradley makes the most sense because he'd probably come cheaper than pierre and sports a much better IsoD. If we get the chance to improve our OBP by .060-.070 points in CF, I say go for it. Dunn would be just as big of an upgrade in right, but seems less likely. it's not that i dislike corey, it's just that CF would be the easiest position to upgrade OBP-wise. don't get me wrong, we need a RF as well, and since hendry has neglected to add one to the roster as of yet, i assume that we will trade for someone capable in right to start the year, i hope.

He's 100% right. He already said he didn't want to go into a detailed post saying how wrong that is, that's not childish or arrogant. Runs and RBI are terrible to use since they are entirely dependent on your teammates, and partially your spot in the order. HR are nice, but using them to make a point about how one player is better than the other isn't effective. Numbers like SLG(which Sulley posted) do a much better job. Same with SB. They're useful to show how often a player is effective at their percentage, but SB% is much better. Plus, those numbers together show you nothing about the most important parts of hitting, getting on base, and how often they get past first base by themselves. The only numbers you can compare in this situation are career statistics. SLG is almost the same. Bradley obviously edges him out in OPS because Patterson can't take a walk. SB%? Advantage Patterson. I never said Patterson was better - or even equal. I said we should MAYBE focus on SS and RF to get impact players there, since Bradleys marginally better statistics combined with his self-destructive personality and injury-risk might not make much of a difference. Basically what I was getting at this: Keep Patterson if you can get someone like Dunn in RF and lock up Furcal at SS. Read all my posts and you'll find that is the case. keeping patterson doesn't begin to address this team's OBP problem. If we get dunn, it helps, but if we get dunn AND bradley, the OBP problem is a thing of the past. there is no bigger problem to address than OBP, none. if we have Bradley's OBP next season in CF and dunn's in right, with furcal's .350 at SS, this is a division champ we're talking about.

i don't think that there's any doubt that the cards win because they're good, but you can't deny that all of thier fans are basically hillbillies. :P Get a brain moran. :lol: :lol:

i must come to burnett's defense here, he's only had one injury. although i'd take a healthy wood over him any day. I thought I read that Burnett had 2 TJS's? 2001: 173.1 IP 2002: 204.1 IP 2003: 23 IP 2004: 120 IP 2005: 209 IP these numbers only leave room for one surgery.

i didn't really mention any sabr stats, and any arrogance in my tone is purely inferred, not implied. but for the record, you don't have to be Bob's Keeper to realize that corey, at this time, would be far less productive than bradley. My point is to lose Walker in order to bring in baseball Satan, for a decent statistical upgrade is not worth all effort, when Hendry can focus his time with other teams and greater statistical upgrades. Maybe they're not considered sabermetric stats - but you get what I mean. To say that my statistical comparisons are worthless, and yours (based on injury and suspension shortened seasons) are totally valid, comes off as arrogant or at the very least - childish. saying that they're worthless is accurate, though it may have sounded a bit harsh, so i apologize for that. as i've stated, both players have roughly the same amount of PA's over their careers to base a decent comparison of numbers upon. if walker nets us a CF of the caliber of bradley, i say do it, although I don't know why the dodgers would take walker, they seem set on the infield if they're making a run at furcal. and vance is right, bradley is not baseball satan, there's already been one ty cobb.

i must come to burnett's defense here, he's only had one injury. although i'd take a healthy wood over him any day.

i don't think that there's any doubt that the cards win because they're good, but you can't deny that all of thier fans are basically hillbillies. :P

i didn't really mention any sabr stats, and any arrogance in my tone is purely inferred, not implied. but for the record, you don't have to be Bob's Keeper to realize that corey, at this time, would be far less productive than bradley. and just to clarify, bradley has had 2135 PA over his career, patterson 2306. I'd say it's easy to compare their career numbers from those sample sizes.

http://www.anytimecostumes.com/Merchant2/graphics/bodyparts/00173287.jpg Three of a surgeon's best friends, an old guy, and Vicente Padilla? Yikes. Besides you already have one Wood. Do you really need two? when did prior have surgery? and has burnett had more than one injury in his career?

patterson has never put up close to .321/.421/.501/.922, so how are corey's best numbers superior? Patterson's HR, RBI, R and SB numbers are all even or better. Since Bradley has only played more than 101 games in a season (141 in 2004) his one season with an impressive OBP holds very little water with me. He is more of an injury risk than Patterson, he's kind of a jerk and very statistically sporadic. You just can't expect him to have a good OBP. I'm not saying Patterson is a better baseball player, but I am saying since their numbers are close, then why go through all of the trouble to get a headache for one year? a. I don't really want to explain to you why the stats you mention are practically worthless when comparing players. but you get the picture. b. bradley has a career IsoD of .081, which means he'll put up an impressive OBP more than likely. so yes, compared to patterson, i can almost guarantee that he'll have a better OBP. c. their numbers aren't close. patterson: .252/.293/.414/.707 bradley .269/.350/.426/.776 Bradley even bests corey in SLG, which is supposedly patterson's strength, and a much more telling stat than HRs or RBIs. d. don't care if he's a jerk, we won 10 more games with jerks in 2004 than we did with angels in 2005. e. the only salient point you can make about bradley is that he's an injury risk, but then again, this team would have been in better shape had corey been more of an injury risk last season. anything we get is an upgrade, even pierre at this point.

patterson has never put up close to .321/.421/.501/.922, so how are corey's best numbers superior?

Sorry, it was a blog not really an article. Yes, Pierre slumped to .276 last season, but that still was just eight points lower than Furcal’s batting average during what was considered a superlative year for the Braves’ catalyst. And Pierre’s lifetime mark is .305 as the leadoff guy. He steals bases, and he rarely is caught (267 out of 363 attempts). He makes contact more often than not (never more than 52 strikeouts in a season). Since Pierre’s first full year in the majors with the Colorado Rockies in 2001, he hasn’t played less than 152 games in a season. He has spent each of his three seasons with the Marlins playing every game, including every inning during the 2004 season. “In all of the decades I’ve been in the game, I’ve only had two workaholics — Tony Gwynn and Juan Pierre,” said McKeon, still employed by the Marlins. It.'s hard to call Furcal's 2005 "superlative" considering his very poor (.254/.310) first half, in which he was fighting an injury. In the second half, Furcal put up a .322/.394/.474 line. Saying Pierre is rarely caught is just flat out wrong, and Furcal's success rate is considerably higher. And AVG isn't the issue, OBP is. Whoever wrote that was really fluffing Pierre. rarely caught. interesting. 73.5% is not a good percentage and actually has a negative effect on his team's ability to score runs. it makes pierre a poor baserunner, despite his speed. we don't need another poor baserunning, non-walking, slap-hitting leadoff hitter. and the idea of jacque jones makes me want to puke.

what a joke of a response. the fact remains that he has dropped significantly on everyone's lists and has a LOOOONG way to go. in short, carlwell is a project. what are you talking about? i repeat, he played on the best illini team in history as a freshman. i can see the conversation now: lou: "sorry nick, i know you're averaging 20 points and are the heart of this team, but we're going to sit you so that marcus won't be a flop in the eyes of illiniguy". nick: "okay coach, anything for illiniguy's perception of marcus. i understand that his criteria for being a flop precludes you from starting me." this is one of the most ridiculous phrases that i've ever seen on this board. the illini lost the game because nobody blocked out sean higgins, period. whatever, he gave his time to the illini, he got out at the beginning of the sanctions. i can't fault him. maybe if he had gone to syracuse he could have sat behind derrick coleman while the flyin' illini came back to beat them in the regional final, i really don't care. he had a great sophomore season and he rode that to a lot of money. are you kidding me? HRF couldn't spell cat either, half the kids who you think of as illinois heroes were boxes of rocks, that doesn't separate them from marcus at all. luther head choked his girlfriend because she wouldn't watch roots with him, yet i think of his him as possibly a top 3 all-time player in illinois history. we won't even mention the incident with the open dorm room. heh, "master of everything illinois"? no, i just know more than you, which isn't hard.

i can't freaking believe it. i retract all of my previous statements. weber needs to sell rose the way self sold collins--think about the backcourt you could play in, pooh. it could blow dee-deron out of the water. yep looks like weber can recruit. :roll: Still gonna be a mid major though. If we can add Rose and Mbwakbe too this class to go with who we already have in the fold I think we will be a better aoll around team than we were last year. Sulley just remember that BAM is 80 and 8 or something in his two plus years here, I think we would have to all agree that is beyond most of ourwildest expectations. don't roll your eyes at me, i'm well aware of weber's successes. (sorry rocket) i've forgotten more about illini basketball than most know. i didn't just spend some time at the IB, glean some rumors and names, and call myself a fan. and you never answered my last post to you for some reason. it's not beyond my wildest expectations because his team had it's shelves stocked by bill, who can recruit a little bit. i'm pleased with weber's recruiting of gordon but he's got a ways to go. If he gets rose then he gets my respect as a recruiter.

i can't freaking believe it. i retract all of my previous statements. weber needs to sell rose the way self sold collins--think about the backcourt you could play in, pooh. it could blow dee-deron out of the water.

because our organization steers clear of guys who get on base, as a rule. hendry won't sign him because we might win with him, which would make his previous philosophy look worthless. GM's like hendry don't all of the sudden change their "conventional" ways for ways that are proven better, they just go out after guys who "can catch the ball", pitch one inning of relief, bunt, and/or steal bases and call it a day. if we make any trades, they won't be for abreu, who actually steals bases well. Oh, I see. So Hendry did *not* acquire Matt Lawton for the stretch drive last year? K, got it. Silly me...I thought he did grab Lawton (along with his impressive OBP). probably got him because of his speed. obp was purely coincidental. hendry is a tools-first, numbers-last type of guy, which mirrors the cubs organizational philosophy.

Only if he uncovers McGwire's hidden steroid stash. i think it's pretty much a given that he already did.

The Astros and Dodgers should have been scared in 2004, when the Cards averaged over 5 runs per game in the playoffs against them. The Padres should have been scared in 2005, when the Cards averaged 7 runs per game against them in the playoffs. To say "they don't scare anybody" is just foolish. this whole conversation backs up my claim that the team that gets hot the latest wins the series, not necessarily the best. the cards were undenaibly the best team in the majors this year, the sox had the hottest bats in the playoffs for some reason. the playoffs are a complete crapshoot.

i think we have a reason to be bitter, but i'm not going to sit here and tell you self's a bad coach, he's not, and he has fantastic vision for what he wants a team to be. do i hope that self loses? every single game. he spurned the illini, a team on the brink of a national title run, loaded with talent and ready to serve, for a team that had just graduated it's top 2 players as well as jettisoned it's AD. what's worse is that he didn't have the ties to KU like roy did to UNC. it stings like a SOB and it's still fresh, to tell U of I fans to not be spiteful is foolish. professionally and objectively, self did nothing wrong and i can't fault him for his choice. personally, i hate his guts and i hope he chokes on the bucknell highlights. i don't think that you can begrudge me my spite.

i'd like more than a .064 IsoD, although that is quite a large number on this team, and i think that it's very possible. giles nearly doubles burnitz's IsoD, with .122, as does abreu's .119, or dunn's mind-boggling .140. any of these three would be acceptable replacements for burnitz, and they all are realistic. and that's forgetting about wilkerson's .103, which would also do the trick.

i'm not sure where you get that kruger didn't like head, but self didn't like head because he was lazy and undisciplined, not because he wasn't a tremendous talent. as a matter of fact, i have. and it only takes one loss to take you out of the tourney, purely ignoring the fact that collins plays in the CHICAGO PUBLIC LEAGUE which is absolutely stocked with talent and only sends one team "down state". you KNOW that UCONN "begged" frazier? i thought that was just an IB rumor that couldn't be substantiated, i'd like to know your source on this one. frazier and smith have both contributed against mid major level talent in which weber has gotten them pt because he can afford to. when big ten season comes, i'll believe them when i see them, although i think national recruiting services missed the boat on smith, who will be a great college player. frazier, i'm not sold on at all. i thought we were talking recruiting, not in-game abilities, because i will take weber over almost any coach in the country based on in-game performance, he definitely leaves self in the dust in that department. the problem is recruiting. weber will be unable to maintain a high level of competition if he doesn't get the top 50 recruits. carlwell may be the most overrated player to come out of illinois this year and semrau was ranked waaaaaaay to high in the first place, which is why he fell out of the top 50, not because he chose to focus on "being a team player". you don't recruit role players, or, at least great recruiters don't. do you even remember marcus liberty? he played at illinois for 2 seasons, his first was the 88-89 season, largely regarded as the best team illinois has ever had. in his sophomore year, he averaged 17.8 ppg and 7.1 rpg- he decided to enter the draft after which. so, of the two seasons he played at illinois, he was a bench player on a great team during one and a star on a good team during the other. how was he a "flop"?