vance_the_cubs_fan

What stats do ruin is the idiotic notions by some of what makes a good baseball player.

It appears that if you get MLB.tv, it also comes with gameday audio. That may not be too bad as it gives you both the radio and tv games.

If the CBA allows for such a maneuver, what would be the basis for their greivance? The article doesn't say. My guess is that arbitration must be entered into with good faith. The PA could argue he's only being released because he won his hearing. They might argue if the Padres didn't want to take the risk of losing arbitration they should never have offered. I'm not sure of the nuiances of the CBA, but my guess is it would revolve around a "good faith" clause. I don't buy the good faith argument. Clearly the CBA has an out clause for exactly this situation. It is not like Walker is going to walk away empty handed. He is going to get 1/6 of his salary without having to do a thing. How would you feel if your boss fired you for getting a raise and decided to give you two months salary when he fired you? Walker's agent should have informed him this was a possibility of happening before he accepted arbitration. His union gave away that right, and they can't be upset about it now just because it might possibly be used. I would feel bad about it (your analogy of getting fired, but I would have to accept it if it was in my contract, and I can't see how their challenge will result in anything but possibly eliminating that in the next CBA. The process of arbitration is agreed upon by both parties, on good faith that the result of the hearing will be abided to. Releasing Walker after he won an arbitration case is not bargining in good faith. I agree. If the Padres didn't want Walker, they didn't have to offer him arbitration. By offering, the Padres hurt his chances of signing since he was a Type A FA. Walker accepted because teams were not wanting to meet the draft pick price of signing him. The Padres took the risk also knowing the consequences. Whether or not the grievance has a legal standing, I don't know. I don't know the nuiances of the CBA nor am I lawyer capable of commenting on them. However, I can clearly see if Walker is released as early as March 15 where he could argue that arbitration was not entered in good faith.

I decided to blog on this.

I think it's awesome that LSU is going to have two players go in the top ten and three in the first round.

Well, I don't think Santo is the greatest. Schmidt has that title by a long way. But, I could easily place Santo in the top five and maybe top four. Top three seems like a stretch. Based on the numbers, I'd probably go Schmidt, Brett, Matthews, Boggs, and then Santo. Some might argue that Robinson's defense places him right above Santo. Add to that the fact that Santo did this with Diabetes. He might have been right there with Schmidt if he hadnt had to battle that too. While that may be true, I don't think that really should be accounted for. Many players have physical ailments or injuries or what not that affect them. While I think that is a testament to his strength and courage and surely makes him an admirable person, I prefer the HOF to be based on what they accomplished on its on merits. That being said, Santo belongs based on those things alone.

Well, I don't think Santo is the greatest. Schmidt has that title by a long way. But, I could easily place Santo in the top five and maybe top four. Top three seems like a stretch. Based on the numbers, I'd probably go Schmidt, Brett, Matthews, Boggs, and then Santo. Some might argue that Robinson's defense places him right above Santo.

If you'd like some facts to go with your letters, emails, and phone calls- here are some. Right now the HOF lists 13 players that have been inducted primarily as 3B. Three of those were inducted from the Negro Leagues. If Santo were added to the other ten, there would be eleven third basemen in the HOF. So, how would he rank among these other greats? In other words, I wanted to answer the question if Santo would lower the quality of player in the HOF. Here's what I came up with. Santo's 342 homeruns would rank him third among HOF thirdbasemen behind only 500 HR club members Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews. Santo's 1331 RBI would rank him fourth among the current HOF third sackers. His .277 BA might be one of the knocks on him as six of the ten HOF third basemen have hit over 300. However, there still would be four HOF thirdbasemen with lower batting averages. Santo has five Gold Gloves. Only two HOF thirdbasemen (Schmidt and Robinson) have more, and six have none. Santo's 954 Fielding % ranks him at sixth would be middle of the pack. Santo scored 1138 runs which places him in the middle of the pack at fifth. His 362 OBP would rank him sixth and his 464 SLG would rank him fourth. Finally, his OPS+ of 125 would rank him fifth. There's not a single category that would rank him in the lower third. Most metrics place him squarely in the middle of the pack among HOF thirdbasemen. I don't think there should be a doubt he belongs.

Link.

If the CBA allows for such a maneuver, what would be the basis for their greivance? The article doesn't say. My guess is that arbitration must be entered into with good faith. The PA could argue he's only being released because he won his hearing. They might argue if the Padres didn't want to take the risk of losing arbitration they should never have offered. I'm not sure of the nuiances of the CBA, but my guess is it would revolve around a "good faith" clause.

LaRon Landry ran a 4.35 40 and also impressed with his vertical jump. He's likely a solid top ten pick and will probably be the first safety chosen. So much for my hope he'd fall to Dallas at 22.

It appears that many expect the Players Association to file a grievance if Walker is released. Link.

so we just need some old people to die. particularly the ones not voting for Santo. We need the ones that are voting for him to keep living awhile longer.

Or 5 new guys get induced in the next vote! It seems to me these guys like to feel they are in an inclusive club and the fewer in that club the better it makes them look. I agree that most of the HOF feel like they don't want anyone new in there. My guess is there is a significant group that won't vote anyone. So, it's going to take new additons that will vote for Santo or others for this process ever to elect anyone. This is the third vote for the newly constructed VC. It's failed to elect anyone. My feeling is to either disband the VC and simply state that if someone is not enshrined by the BBWAA then they aren't in or come up with a better way of doing the VC. I'm sure these discussions will be had by the HOF.

Looking at the vote total, five more people voted Santo this time than last time. Considering we know that Sandberg likely is one of those. He's not picking up any "new" votes from people who previously voted against him. I think it could be safe to say that until there's some turn-over, Santo doesn't have much of a chance unless they revise the process.

Five minutes.....

keeping my fingers crossed.

When is the deadline to submit your list? If you have to do it right now, I'd choose Zambrano, Hill, Lilly. If you can wait until the last day of spring training, then wait and monitor how Prior holds up this spring.

Has anyone gotten one yet? I'm interested in the hotel information.

Bruce has a nice article on Santo's wait today. Link.

Last night, the Mavs became the first team in NBA history to record three winning streaks of 12 or more games in a season. They also extended their home winning streak to 20 games. Re-Dirk-ulous!

BIN is probably the best way to go. I'm probably going to be listing my Friday and Saturday Sox tickets as well. I just haven't decided if I'm going to break them into 3 pairs, one pair and one group of four, or sell the entire six together.

Ask John Thomson about Floyd's defense. :lol:

Right now, there's a glut of tickets out on Ebay for games like that. People bought and are now trying to turn a quick profit. Buyers feel like they have some choice and aren't desperate either. If you can afford to wait, you might can get more closer to the date. It's always a risk. Sometimes you can make a quick sale on Ebay by setting a reasonable BIN price. Bidders might go ahead and buy rather than wait out an auction.

Bringing it to the game will be just fine! Thanks man. I'll get the tickets out to you as soon as I recieve them from the Rangers.