treebird

i think it's pretty obvious that that comparison isn't fair at all

tony batista is awful neifi perez + power - defense = worse than neifi perez

Has there ever been any discussion of adding writers whose primary medium is electronic to the BBWAA?

You may want to review Oakland's 2005 draft if you actually believe this. You might just open your mind about how close-minded their approach is. I don't think that Oakland's drafting 7 high schoolers of their first 20 picks in '05 had anything to do with being "open-minded." I think they finally looked at the mirror and saw how foolish taking 0 of 20 and 3 of 20 the prior two years was. That philosophy was really the silliest sports related philosophy I've ever heard. It speaks to arrogance that they ever did it in the first place. I think it was more about the fact that they needed to make sure the money they spent on draft picks translated to MLB success, or at least contribution, and saw college players at the time as being a better investment. 5 years later, or whatever, that may have changed, to the point that HS players might be more undervalued than before, and thusly a better investment. it's way more fun to just trash the a's for being different though.

Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm some people think it's in homage to Bill Pecota, but i've never actually read that it was for sure.

:x Ouch. Good. I'm sick of her wasting our time with that desperate quest for a gold. The Peyton Manning of women's figure skating, to be sure. more like the mark prior.

Was '99 when they lost 13 in a row to begin the season? I remember sliding down to front row seats behind the Cubs dugout right before the 11th loss in Shea screaming, "Today's the day Riggs! Get the boys up." And getting blank stairs from the Cub players. What a pathetic bunch. 1997 Thanks. I think?? yes, thanks is correct

Was '99 when they lost 13 in a row to begin the season? I remember sliding down to front row seats behind the Cubs dugout right before the 11th loss in Shea screaming, "Today's the day Riggs! Get the boys up." And getting blank stairs from the Cub players. What a pathetic bunch. 1997

I'm down with that. That'd be a fashion item, though, surely? Heck, I might even wear one of those. :) i made a tshirt with that picture on it so my mom could give it to a cardinal fan co-worker of hers.

i doubt that id be able to get all that excited about the team to get sad. if the cubs want to spend like crazy and win the world series and then sell off every decent player, fine by me.

completely agree. bill simmons always talks about the 5 year grace period or whatever, but if the cubs win, they have a permanent grace period

im not good enough to be in this league, i suspect

I don't think any of that is true. Allegedly, it happened at his home before he was going to the ballpark that day. If you have a link verifying that there were witnesses, please post. But I think you're dead wrong. i'm with vance, im almost certain that's wrong.

da treeman is in

YESYESYES process, not results.

this is like when a movie studio has a movie that they know is bad but has high expectations from the public before it's released, so they refuse to let critics do advance screenings, so that people don't know how bad it is before it gets out to the public.

I had Chavez last year. He got off to a horrendously slow start, but had a decent 2nd half. Yep, he was hitting .190/.264/.268 through May 15th. The rest of the year he hit .292/.348/.524, pretty much in line with what he hit 2000-03. 2004's walk spike doesn't look like it's for real. it doesnt really add much to the conversation, but if you watched a's games on a regualr basis last year, you'd swear that he stuck with that first line for the whole season. "OH GOD CHAVEZ IS UP WITH THE BASES LOADED"

i think the point someone made earlier about how cuban is very interested in statistical analysis in basketball and would likely be more of a saber-type in baseball is pretty notable though. plus, even if the new owner isn't any good, it's not like im hugely concerned about the team getting worse. at least there'd be a CHANCE of new ownership changing directions.

Maybe, but that is often where people let impressions take over reality. People who watch Jeter everyday claim he's one of the greatest with the glove. But nearly every other source puts him in the middle of the pack at best, and quite often in the bottom half. I'd like to see somebody break down video from every ball put in play. Take all the plays that went between the 2B and 3B, time every ball from the time it leaves the bat to the time it hits the OF grass (or is fielded), measure the distance from where the SS was. There has to be a way to translate that into seeing who really were the better fielders and which guys that may look flashy actually don't get to as many balls as they should. That'd take a lot of time though, and I'm not sure if it would work. this isnt really fair though. the shortstop might be able to see what pitch the pitcher is going to throw, or have a good handle on the batter's scouting report and adjust accordingly. i think bill james wrote about this is one of his old abstracts. i think he referred to it as "invisible range." Don't all shortstops have the opportunity to do that though? yeah, but i think it's safe to assume that some shortstops are better at it than others. therefore, measuring only how far the player had to go to get the ball would overrate a player with great visible range but poor invisible range, and underrate a player with great invisible range but poor visible range I don't understand how that's bad though. Shouldn't the person with the superior positioning be rewarded? either im wording this wrong or you're misunderstanding me. i am saying that the person with superior positioning should be rewarded. read it again, and if you still get the same thing, we'll just agree that im too dumb to explain this but that we share the same point of view.

Maybe, but that is often where people let impressions take over reality. People who watch Jeter everyday claim he's one of the greatest with the glove. But nearly every other source puts him in the middle of the pack at best, and quite often in the bottom half. I'd like to see somebody break down video from every ball put in play. Take all the plays that went between the 2B and 3B, time every ball from the time it leaves the bat to the time it hits the OF grass (or is fielded), measure the distance from where the SS was. There has to be a way to translate that into seeing who really were the better fielders and which guys that may look flashy actually don't get to as many balls as they should. That'd take a lot of time though, and I'm not sure if it would work. this isnt really fair though. the shortstop might be able to see what pitch the pitcher is going to throw, or have a good handle on the batter's scouting report and adjust accordingly. i think bill james wrote about this is one of his old abstracts. i think he referred to it as "invisible range." Don't all shortstops have the opportunity to do that though? yeah, but i think it's safe to assume that some shortstops are better at it than others. therefore, measuring only how far the player had to go to get the ball would overrate a player with great visible range but poor invisible range, and underrate a player with great invisible range but poor visible range

Maybe, but that is often where people let impressions take over reality. People who watch Jeter everyday claim he's one of the greatest with the glove. But nearly every other source puts him in the middle of the pack at best, and quite often in the bottom half. I'd like to see somebody break down video from every ball put in play. Take all the plays that went between the 2B and 3B, time every ball from the time it leaves the bat to the time it hits the OF grass (or is fielded), measure the distance from where the SS was. There has to be a way to translate that into seeing who really were the better fielders and which guys that may look flashy actually don't get to as many balls as they should. That'd take a lot of time though, and I'm not sure if it would work. this isnt really fair though. the shortstop might be able to see what pitch the pitcher is going to throw, or have a good handle on the batter's scouting report and adjust accordingly. i think bill james wrote about this is one of his old abstracts. i think he referred to it as "invisible range."

QUOTED4TRUTH

I'm not worried about Cedeno not having good OBP. He should have anywhere from .350 to .380 OBP. Murton can match or even surpass that, but his higher SLG% is better suited for driving in runs. cedeno should have a .350 obp? what?

i hope the cardinals decide to lock up marquis long-term, last year he allowed 29 hr's and had a stellar 100/69 k/bb ratio

With a guy like Wuertz/Nova slated for use in the sixth inning Dusty shouldn't have to overuse are starters. I can't really remember a pen with more talent in the last years off the top of my head that the Cubs had. Ohman/Eyre/Williamson/Wuertz are all 7,8 inning guys on other clubs. Ohman and Williamson could be closers for some clubs when healthy. Williamson could be a setup/closer, but I don't think Ohman could be. Ohman is rather a lefty specialist/loogy. He's not particularly good against righties. Welcome to the forum! However, I can't agree about Ohman. He had 82 PA against lefties and 78 against righties. He was incredible against lefties, holding them to a .593 OPS against. However, right handers hit about like Nefi against him, with a .695 OPS against. He's clearly better against lefties. But nobody hits him hard at all. WOW i never realized that. my opinion of will just went way up.