So I was looking up who the former great Royals 3B (because I'm stupid and don't know sports prior to 2005- and the answer is George Brett) and I came across the roster for the 1980 All-Star. In it there were five pitchers for the A.L. (seems really low right?). One of the pitchers was Tommy John (He had success prior to people copying his surgery. huh?!).
Anyway, two other pitchers on the roster was Steve Stone and Ed Farmer. This was also the year Steve Stone was the Cy Young award. Also, also, Steve Stone is Jewish. Sweet, a Chicago pitcher who's Jewish, a Cy Young winner, and a great analyst. Haha, take that LA and New York!
I don't know, I think it's interesting that 27 years before being in the broadcast booth together, they were teammates in the 1980 All Star team
Can 2 legends get some respect please
cubsfan4ever is planning on writing a farewell post on the passing of two of the most synonymous names with bulls basketball, Johnny 'Red' Kerr and Norm Van Lier. In the mean time, I have a gripe to settle with ESPN. How is it that I didn't hear a single peep from the worldwide leader in sports regarding the passing of two individuals who have been around the game of basketball for 40 years. I've been watching ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNNEWS since their passing and have not seen or heard one word about it. They couldn't even write a short message about their passing on the scroll bar? Seriously? I then went to espn.com and couldnt find anything about them on the front page or the NBA page. At last resort I used the aweful espn search menu and found one mention of their passing, and it was a link to the waddle and silvy radio show out of Chicago.
Mike Wilbon did give the two legends a few seconds on PTI, but that was only due to his love and allegiance to the city of Chicago. I'm just flabergasted how this crazy and sad occurance could have flown under the radar at the ESPN headquarters.
Mike Wilbon did give the two legends a few seconds on PTI, but that was only due to his love and allegiance to the city of Chicago. I'm just flabergasted how this crazy and sad occurance could have flown under the radar at the ESPN headquarters.
Why Do People Hate Alex Gordon?
Alex Gordon is one of many players to come out of the fabled 2005 draft -- along with Ellsbury, Zimmerman, Braun, Tulo, Garza (who the Cubs passed up), Upton Jr., Maybin, Buchholz, Jeff Clements and Lance Broadway.
Gordon was brought up to the majors after only one full season in the minors in 2006, where he posted a .325/.427/.588 line with 72 BB, 29 HR and 22 SB (3 CS) at AA. Undeniably spectacular numbers. However, in 285 games and over 2x the number of ABs he had in the minors, Gordon has posted a combined line of .253/.332/.421, with 107 BB, 31 HR and 23 SB.
I wouldn't give up on Gordon just yet, however. He turns 25 this year and took large steps forward last season. He cut his GB/FB ratio down from .86 to .66, increasing both his LD% annd FB% by shaving down his GB% by almost 5 points. His ISO increased to .174, while his BB% increased to a very patient 11.8%. Alex Gordon has yet to "raw home run power" in the majors -- he's posted 8.5% and 8.9% HR/FB percentages so far -- and he might never turn out to be a 30+ HR hitter, but that doesn't make him useless.
As of 208, Alex Gordon is a soon-to-be 25 year old 3B who plays average defense, walks a lot, already smacks 35 doubles a season. He also hits 15+ home runs too. So while Alex Gordon may not be a fantasy commodity, he is still quite valuable in real terms.
Gordon was brought up to the majors after only one full season in the minors in 2006, where he posted a .325/.427/.588 line with 72 BB, 29 HR and 22 SB (3 CS) at AA. Undeniably spectacular numbers. However, in 285 games and over 2x the number of ABs he had in the minors, Gordon has posted a combined line of .253/.332/.421, with 107 BB, 31 HR and 23 SB.
I wouldn't give up on Gordon just yet, however. He turns 25 this year and took large steps forward last season. He cut his GB/FB ratio down from .86 to .66, increasing both his LD% annd FB% by shaving down his GB% by almost 5 points. His ISO increased to .174, while his BB% increased to a very patient 11.8%. Alex Gordon has yet to "raw home run power" in the majors -- he's posted 8.5% and 8.9% HR/FB percentages so far -- and he might never turn out to be a 30+ HR hitter, but that doesn't make him useless.
As of 208, Alex Gordon is a soon-to-be 25 year old 3B who plays average defense, walks a lot, already smacks 35 doubles a season. He also hits 15+ home runs too. So while Alex Gordon may not be a fantasy commodity, he is still quite valuable in real terms.
Best Football Free Agents
As much as I normally hate ESPN, I think they got something right in this article. I think this article is actually a fine piece of reporting and analysis and I wish they do this more often
NFL free agency officially began this morning at 12:01 a.m. ET
While some top players like Albert Haynesworth, DeAngelo Hall and Jeff Saturday have already been signed, there are many other unrestricted free agents worth serious looks.
Attention general managers: Here are 20 available players you should consider signing.
Jason Brown, C, Ravens
This guy knows how to win. A good offense hinges on getting the ball into the hands of your playmakers, and Brown has excelled at getting the ball to the quarterback his entire career.
Ray Lewis, LB, Ravens
Quite simply, he's the best leader in sports, alongside Derek Jeter. (I have them tied because Lewis and Jeter have led their teams to an equal number of championships this millennium.)
Heath Evans, RB, Patriots
Is Heath Evans an elite NFL running back? Not at all. But he's a big back who can give your team half of one those running back tandems with a cool nickname like "Thunder 'N' Lightning" or "Bash and Dash" or "Big Guy And … Smaller Guy." Your dumber fans eat that kind of stuff up!
Chris Canty, DE, Cowboys
The 4-3 is out. The 3-4 is in. Canty is an ideal end for the 3-4, making him the must-have acquisition this offseason for all hipster GMs.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, WR, Bengals
Houshmandzadeh is the best wideout available. He has the hands of Larry Fitzgerald, the toughness of Hines Ward and the hair of your prettiest cheerleader.
Khalif Barnes, OT, Jaguars
Barnes is a solid player. And that's quite a compliment for someone who plays for the Jaguars. Place him on a team in a major market, and his status would suddenly go from "solid" to "superstar."
Jonathan Vilma, LB, Saints
Vilma is a linebacker with great instincts, exhibited by the fact that he instinctively knew to play his best football in a contract year.
Manny Ramirez, OF, Dodgers
He probably already has offers on the table from Jerry Jones, Al Davis and Daniel Snyder. It's worth throwing your hat into the ring to drive up the price.
Jimmy Kennedy, DT, Vikings
Kennedy is one of those hulking defensive linemen who frees up linebackers to make plays. Although, in Kennedy's case, it's not because he's occupying blockers. It's because he's just not making any of the plays himself.
Ronald Bartell, CB, Rams
I know absolutely nothing about this guy. But I do know that every good team needs some no-name players who don't need to have the spotlight. So this Ronald Bartell guy is an option there.
Moran Norris, FB, Lions
The fullback position is being used less and less in the NFL, but Moran Norris is a good, smart player. Some fans are already demanding his acquisition.
Nate Washington, WR, Steelers
In four years in the NFL, Washington has two Super Bowl rings. It takes only a basic understanding of statistics to realize he's worth signing to a two- or four-year contract.
Grey Ruegamer, G, Giants
Ruegamer can play guard or center, bolstering depth along the offensive line. And if there's a loose ball to be had in a pileup, you know he's the kind of guy that will do anything to get it.
Rodney Harrison, S, Patriots
A string of injuries means he is probably no longer an every-down player, but he can still provide great value as a situational cheap-shotter.
Hunter Smith, P, Colts
Smith is a solid punter. Plus, signing him gives your team a shot at bringing in his cousin, standout Giants receiver Harris Smith.
Derrick Brooks, LB, Buccaneers
The Buccaneers are apparently being contracted. You might as well sign their best player now before he is placed into the dispersal draft.
Richie Incognito, OT, Rams
Incognito can provide depth to your offensive line at a relatively cheap price, which is perfect in this poor economy. Better yet, he still has prime advertising space available.
Bart Scott, LB, Ravens
Scott is a quality player who was overshadowed in Baltimore -- mainly because it was difficult to spot him on the field with Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis shimmying and dancing in front of the cameras after every one of Scott's tackles.
Kyle Boller, QB, Ravens
Want to light a fire under your quarterback so he improves before next season? Tell him you signed Kyle Boller to push him in camp. There's nothing like a threat of complete and total humiliation to motivate someone.
Rex Grossman, QB, Bears
Kyle Boller AND Rex Grossman? Your current quarterback will be working so hard, you'll have to kick him out of the film room.
David "MVP" Eckstein Is A Crappy Arguer
I have no problem with arguing. This is a sports blog and it's expected that we all share our sports opinion on different topics. And as expected, we're not all going to agree on the opinions we have. And that's perfectly fine. It's fine that in a post we express something and then someone disagrees with that opinion in the comments. But there is most certainly a right way and a wrong day to comment. Eckstein does this the wrong way.
If you've never heard of logical fallacies, a fallacy is an argument which may convince others but is not logically sound. Note that the truth of the conclusions of an argument does not determine whether the argument is a fallacy - it is the argument which is incorrect. Using basic LSAT terms, in every argument there is a conclusion, evidence, and an assumption. The conclusion is the final statement of fact (i.e. Kevin Youkilis will be better than Carlos Pena next year), the evidence is data to prove the conclusion (i.e. Carlos Pena has been injury prone recently therefore he won't produce like he can. Also, Youk has improved every year he has been in the majors), and the assumption is what bridges the evidence and the conclusion and this is often unstated (i.e. Using what a player had done in the past is a good way to measure how the player has done in the future). This is the right way to make an argument. This is also something that myself, The "Bright" One, and Cubsfan4evr have done often.
But not David "MVP" Eckstein.
He uses logical fallacies often to destroy evidences and create assumption in order to prove a conclusion. And this is bullshit. The reason fallacies are bad is because they destroy credibility to arguments and blur truth from being known.
Two recent fallacies Ecketin has committed recently, The Red Herring and Ad Hominem.
The Red Herring fallacy is where a person takes a trivial point of an argument and argues that trivial point in order to create a contradictory conclusion to the original arguers main conclusion(done in "Random White Sox Notes")
The Ad Hominem fallacy is where a person attacks the arguer instead of the argument. Politicians do this all the time, like calling Obama a Muslim. (done in "Boston Red Sox v. Tampa Bay Rays)
These are just two examples and I'm sure more have been done. Frankly, I'm sick of it. Eckstein uses blinders when reading posts and uses fallacies to win arguments. Eckstein, you try to defeat the arguer instead of trying to win the argument and I'm calling you out on it.
By Eckstein always using fallacies, it beings down the credibility of this blog. You're actions and words affect the other three authors.
Please stop doing this. I have no problem with arguing against what everyone says but stop doing what you normally do to win almost every argument I've seen you enter.
Also, please stop putting your name as a label for every post. It's arrogant and annoying. I've asked you to stop this once before and if you continue, then I'm going to start putting your name as a label for all my posts.
Now despite my harsh tone and words, I mean no disrespect to Eckstein personally. This sole focus of this post is aimed at the specific actions that you, Eckstein, do in relation to your arguing skills and post labels, and that's it.
Thank you and have a great day.
If you've never heard of logical fallacies, a fallacy is an argument which may convince others but is not logically sound. Note that the truth of the conclusions of an argument does not determine whether the argument is a fallacy - it is the argument which is incorrect. Using basic LSAT terms, in every argument there is a conclusion, evidence, and an assumption. The conclusion is the final statement of fact (i.e. Kevin Youkilis will be better than Carlos Pena next year), the evidence is data to prove the conclusion (i.e. Carlos Pena has been injury prone recently therefore he won't produce like he can. Also, Youk has improved every year he has been in the majors), and the assumption is what bridges the evidence and the conclusion and this is often unstated (i.e. Using what a player had done in the past is a good way to measure how the player has done in the future). This is the right way to make an argument. This is also something that myself, The "Bright" One, and Cubsfan4evr have done often.
But not David "MVP" Eckstein.
He uses logical fallacies often to destroy evidences and create assumption in order to prove a conclusion. And this is bullshit. The reason fallacies are bad is because they destroy credibility to arguments and blur truth from being known.
Two recent fallacies Ecketin has committed recently, The Red Herring and Ad Hominem.
The Red Herring fallacy is where a person takes a trivial point of an argument and argues that trivial point in order to create a contradictory conclusion to the original arguers main conclusion(done in "Random White Sox Notes")
The Ad Hominem fallacy is where a person attacks the arguer instead of the argument. Politicians do this all the time, like calling Obama a Muslim. (done in "Boston Red Sox v. Tampa Bay Rays)
These are just two examples and I'm sure more have been done. Frankly, I'm sick of it. Eckstein uses blinders when reading posts and uses fallacies to win arguments. Eckstein, you try to defeat the arguer instead of trying to win the argument and I'm calling you out on it.
By Eckstein always using fallacies, it beings down the credibility of this blog. You're actions and words affect the other three authors.
Please stop doing this. I have no problem with arguing against what everyone says but stop doing what you normally do to win almost every argument I've seen you enter.
Also, please stop putting your name as a label for every post. It's arrogant and annoying. I've asked you to stop this once before and if you continue, then I'm going to start putting your name as a label for all my posts.
Now despite my harsh tone and words, I mean no disrespect to Eckstein personally. This sole focus of this post is aimed at the specific actions that you, Eckstein, do in relation to your arguing skills and post labels, and that's it.
Thank you and have a great day.
The Hawk Harrelson Drinking Game
Not only does this site clearly need more White Sox related posts but with baseball season rapidly approaching, myself and White Sox fan all over the world need a nice drinking game to deal with the team not winning games next year and dealing with Hawk Harrelson, um, speaking. Here's one I found online (although I had to modify it because the original one was written in '06):
WHEN TO TAKE A DRINK
* Everytime Hawk says "Can 'O Corn"
* Everytime Hawk says "Cinch it up and hunker down"
* Everytime Hawk says "In between" as in "AJ is in between right now, and has no
idea what to expect."
* Everytime Hawk mentions that the opposing pitcher is getting a strike zone
much larger than the current White Sox hurler.
* Everytime Brian Anderson strikes out.
* Everytime Steve Stone asks Hawk a question, and is answered with silence.
* Everytime Hawk says "Thats a hang wiffum right there."
* Everytime Jermaine Dye makes a spectacular catch going back on a ball in right
field.
* Everytime AJ Pierzynski swings at a first pitch.
* Everytime a White Sox pitcher sets the opponents down 1-2-3.
* Everytime the White Sox turn a double play.
* Everytime Hawk says "C'mon stretch! Get back there!"
* Everytime Hawk says "Maddabattacola." Ya, I'm not sure what the hell that's
from either, but it means a shattered bat.
* Everytime Alexei Rameriz gets a walk.
* Everytime Hawk makes a reference to how he invented the batting glove.
WHEN TO TAKE A SHOT
* Everytime the White Sox hit a home run.
* Everytime Hawk mentions Yaz or Catfish Hunter.
* Everytime Jim Thome takes advantage of the infield shift and pokes a single
into left field.
* Everytime Ozzie gets ejected.
* Everytime Bartolo Colon gives up at least 3 runs in an inning.
* Everytime the Sox fail to execute a bunt.
* Everytime Bobby Jenks gets a save.
* Everytime Toby Hall or Chris Getz get a hit.
* Everytime a White Sox steals a base.
WHEN TO CHUG AN ENTIRE BEER
* Everytime the White Sox hit a grand slam.
* Everytime a White Sox pitcher strikes out the side.
* Everytime the White Sox win.
WARNING: I am not responsible for any cases of alcohol poisoning. Also, if played correctly(and by correctly I mean you're taking a shot of whiskey, not Pucker; if you're drinking Pucker go watch a Cubs game, Sally) you probably won't remember much that happens after the 4th inning.
DISCLAIMER: I also don't realistically expect anyone to do this because it's probably extremely unsafe and this is meant for entertainment value only. I am not really advocating people do this. Seriously guys, if you're drinking, do it responsibly.
If you have any other suggestions to add to the list, tell me in the comments section. If not, drink up and Go Sox
WHEN TO TAKE A DRINK
* Everytime Hawk says "Can 'O Corn"
* Everytime Hawk says "Cinch it up and hunker down"
* Everytime Hawk says "In between" as in "AJ is in between right now, and has no
idea what to expect."
* Everytime Hawk mentions that the opposing pitcher is getting a strike zone
much larger than the current White Sox hurler.
* Everytime Brian Anderson strikes out.
* Everytime Steve Stone asks Hawk a question, and is answered with silence.
* Everytime Hawk says "Thats a hang wiffum right there."
* Everytime Jermaine Dye makes a spectacular catch going back on a ball in right
field.
* Everytime AJ Pierzynski swings at a first pitch.
* Everytime a White Sox pitcher sets the opponents down 1-2-3.
* Everytime the White Sox turn a double play.
* Everytime Hawk says "C'mon stretch! Get back there!"
* Everytime Hawk says "Maddabattacola." Ya, I'm not sure what the hell that's
from either, but it means a shattered bat.
* Everytime Alexei Rameriz gets a walk.
* Everytime Hawk makes a reference to how he invented the batting glove.
WHEN TO TAKE A SHOT
* Everytime the White Sox hit a home run.
* Everytime Hawk mentions Yaz or Catfish Hunter.
* Everytime Jim Thome takes advantage of the infield shift and pokes a single
into left field.
* Everytime Ozzie gets ejected.
* Everytime Bartolo Colon gives up at least 3 runs in an inning.
* Everytime the Sox fail to execute a bunt.
* Everytime Bobby Jenks gets a save.
* Everytime Toby Hall or Chris Getz get a hit.
* Everytime a White Sox steals a base.
WHEN TO CHUG AN ENTIRE BEER
* Everytime the White Sox hit a grand slam.
* Everytime a White Sox pitcher strikes out the side.
* Everytime the White Sox win.
WARNING: I am not responsible for any cases of alcohol poisoning. Also, if played correctly(and by correctly I mean you're taking a shot of whiskey, not Pucker; if you're drinking Pucker go watch a Cubs game, Sally) you probably won't remember much that happens after the 4th inning.
DISCLAIMER: I also don't realistically expect anyone to do this because it's probably extremely unsafe and this is meant for entertainment value only. I am not really advocating people do this. Seriously guys, if you're drinking, do it responsibly.
If you have any other suggestions to add to the list, tell me in the comments section. If not, drink up and Go Sox
Random White Sox Notes
1) I was looking at the WBC roster to see if any White Sox were on it. There was one- Matt Thorton. Really!? I mean, I like him as a lefty in the bullpen, but as one of the best the U.S. has to offer, this seems kind of silly. Was there no one else, that the U.S. had to go to their 176,875,897,657,000 choice in Thorton?
2) When typing up my "White Sox Announcer" post, I started to type in "Chicago White Sox" into my label for the post. When starting to type out "Chicago" the "Chicago Cubs" "Chicago Bears" and "Chicago Bulls" are pulled up as possible suggestions. But not "Chicago White Sox". My post was the first post to ever have the label of "Chicago White Sox" What the fuck guys!? Seriously, have have multiple A Rod, Jeter, Yankees, and Boston posts but I was the first one, after like 200 posts, to talk about the White Sox!? Come on guys, who are we, ESPN?
3) When looking at Eckstein's "Best Free Agency Team" post I noticed that Ray Durham was on this list. He can walk and has decent power. His career OPS+ is 104. His OPS+ last year: 112. Um, hey Kenny Williams, GO OUT AND FUCKING SIGN RAY DURHAM NOW. RIGHT NOW THE STARTING 2B IS SHITTY ROOKIE CHRIS GETZ WHO DIDN'T WALK ONCE LAST YEAR. GO OUT AND FUCKING SIGN DURHAM RIGHT NOW YOU BLACK ASSHOLE (that last part is a Cartman reference, not me being a racist)
4)The White Sox really won't be as bad as people think. Yes, they have an offense that doesn't walk but it's got pop and power. The team has an above average rotation and bullpen as well. While the team may be predicted to be third or fourth in the division, I think this expectation is a good thing because I think the team can exceed those expectations. I mean come on guys, did you forget this team WON the division last year?
2) When typing up my "White Sox Announcer" post, I started to type in "Chicago White Sox" into my label for the post. When starting to type out "Chicago" the "Chicago Cubs" "Chicago Bears" and "Chicago Bulls" are pulled up as possible suggestions. But not "Chicago White Sox". My post was the first post to ever have the label of "Chicago White Sox" What the fuck guys!? Seriously, have have multiple A Rod, Jeter, Yankees, and Boston posts but I was the first one, after like 200 posts, to talk about the White Sox!? Come on guys, who are we, ESPN?
3) When looking at Eckstein's "Best Free Agency Team" post I noticed that Ray Durham was on this list. He can walk and has decent power. His career OPS+ is 104. His OPS+ last year: 112. Um, hey Kenny Williams, GO OUT AND FUCKING SIGN RAY DURHAM NOW. RIGHT NOW THE STARTING 2B IS SHITTY ROOKIE CHRIS GETZ WHO DIDN'T WALK ONCE LAST YEAR. GO OUT AND FUCKING SIGN DURHAM RIGHT NOW YOU BLACK ASSHOLE (that last part is a Cartman reference, not me being a racist)
4)The White Sox really won't be as bad as people think. Yes, they have an offense that doesn't walk but it's got pop and power. The team has an above average rotation and bullpen as well. While the team may be predicted to be third or fourth in the division, I think this expectation is a good thing because I think the team can exceed those expectations. I mean come on guys, did you forget this team WON the division last year?
The White Sox Announcer Swap
Last year, it was really tough watching White Sox games. The team was above average last year and made the playoffs. But what made them so hard to watch was actually the announcing (so I guess it was hard to listen to Sox games while watching them???). Anyway, the TV announcers were Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson (a man who's more useful as a center for drinking games than he is for announcing) and Darrin "DJ" Jackson (a man who is so boring that I'd rather watch a chick flick than listen to). If I could, I would turn the TV on mute and listen 670 The Score with Steve Stone and Ed "Farmio" Farmer. Two guys who really know their shit about baseball and had such a good rapport that it made games fun to listen to. After the White Sox lost in the playoffs, the team fired DJ. And they replaced him with the radio 'Color Guy', Steve Stone. With an open vacancy next to Farmio, who does 670 hire? That's right Darrin Jackson.
Now I don't know how to feel about this swap. Now I love Steve Stone and he's one of my favorite baseball analysts but he's now seated beside Hawk, a man who's the play-by-play announcer yet often doesn't speak and when he does, it's about how excited he is that the Sox are doing well or he's pissed at a bad call. And I can't really turn to the radio because I'll have a great play-by-play guy in Farmio and a boring mo fo in DJ. The radio had two A's and TV had two C's. Now each has one A and C. What to do!
Hopefully Farmio and Hawk can switch soon.
Although, I don't think this is going to matter this year because the Sox are gonna suck next year. Shit.
Now I don't know how to feel about this swap. Now I love Steve Stone and he's one of my favorite baseball analysts but he's now seated beside Hawk, a man who's the play-by-play announcer yet often doesn't speak and when he does, it's about how excited he is that the Sox are doing well or he's pissed at a bad call. And I can't really turn to the radio because I'll have a great play-by-play guy in Farmio and a boring mo fo in DJ. The radio had two A's and TV had two C's. Now each has one A and C. What to do!
Hopefully Farmio and Hawk can switch soon.
Although, I don't think this is going to matter this year because the Sox are gonna suck next year. Shit.
My Unsigned Free Agent Team
Here is a 25-man roster I constructed using players without jobs at the moment:
C - Pudge Rodriguez
C - Johnny Estrada (backups could be worse)
1B - Sean Casey
2B - Ray Durham
SS - Orlando Cabrera
3B - Nomar Garciaparra
INF - Richie Sexson (meh...)
INF - Mark Grudzielanek (late game defensive replacement)
OF - Jim Edmonds
OF - Manny Ramirez
OF - Kenny Lofton
OF - Moises Alou (productive, when healthy -- all 15 games of it)
OF - Jay Payton (late game defensive replacement)
DH - Frank The Tank Thomas
SP - Pedro Martinez
SP - Curt Schilling
SP - Kenny Rogers
SP - Jon Lieber
SP - Orlando Hernandez
SP - Paul Byrd (much worse #6 starters exist)
CL - Juan Cruz
RP - Joe Beimel
RP - Will Ohman
RP - Dennys Reyes
RP - Chad Cordero
DL - Ben Sheets, Mark Mulder
You know, while I wouldn't expect this team to make the playoffs, I could easily say its a better team than anything The Royals and Pirates plan to trot out on opening day.
C - Pudge Rodriguez
C - Johnny Estrada (backups could be worse)
1B - Sean Casey
2B - Ray Durham
SS - Orlando Cabrera
3B - Nomar Garciaparra
INF - Richie Sexson (meh...)
INF - Mark Grudzielanek (late game defensive replacement)
OF - Jim Edmonds
OF - Manny Ramirez
OF - Kenny Lofton
OF - Moises Alou (productive, when healthy -- all 15 games of it)
OF - Jay Payton (late game defensive replacement)
DH - Frank The Tank Thomas
SP - Pedro Martinez
SP - Curt Schilling
SP - Kenny Rogers
SP - Jon Lieber
SP - Orlando Hernandez
SP - Paul Byrd (much worse #6 starters exist)
CL - Juan Cruz
RP - Joe Beimel
RP - Will Ohman
RP - Dennys Reyes
RP - Chad Cordero
DL - Ben Sheets, Mark Mulder
You know, while I wouldn't expect this team to make the playoffs, I could easily say its a better team than anything The Royals and Pirates plan to trot out on opening day.
Official WBC Rosters
World Baseball Classic rosters are officially set. Grady Sizemore's already out of the mix with a strained groin and will be replaced by Shane Victorino. Click the links below to see who is on what team.
Australia
Canada
China
Chinese Taipei
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Italy
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Netherlands
Panama
Puerto Rico
South Africa
USA
Venezuela
If I was Cubs management, I would very angry that Ted Lilly, who has thrown career highs in IP in back to back years, and Carlos Zambrano, the dehydration prone workhorse who finally broke down late last season, are on the finalized rosters.
Australia
Canada
China
Chinese Taipei
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Italy
Japan
Korea
Mexico
Netherlands
Panama
Puerto Rico
South Africa
USA
Venezuela
If I was Cubs management, I would very angry that Ted Lilly, who has thrown career highs in IP in back to back years, and Carlos Zambrano, the dehydration prone workhorse who finally broke down late last season, are on the finalized rosters.
Ummm...what?
According to Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun, the Cardinals and Orioles are planning on "sharing players" this season through a lease and lend program.
If that isn't the weirdest fucking thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is. How would this work?
Dave Trembley: "Hey Tony, we're playing the Yankees today. Could we borrow Pujols for a few hours?"
La Russa: "Sure Dave, just return him with a full tank of gas."
And WHO in the fuck would the Cardinals want to borrow? Brian Roberts? There is not much other "major league ready" talent on that team...
If that isn't the weirdest fucking thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is. How would this work?
Dave Trembley: "Hey Tony, we're playing the Yankees today. Could we borrow Pujols for a few hours?"
La Russa: "Sure Dave, just return him with a full tank of gas."
And WHO in the fuck would the Cardinals want to borrow? Brian Roberts? There is not much other "major league ready" talent on that team...
Manny's New Offer
According to various sources over on MLTradeRumors, Manny Ramirez has been offered a new two-year, $45 million contract that pays Ramirez $25 million 2009 with a $20 million PLAYER option for 2010 that automatically vests in Manny gets injured anytime during the 2009 season. Like with AJ Burnett's contract in Toronto, Manny will basically be able to opt out if he thinks there is more money on the free market, while guaranteeing himself some nice money if he gets injured or just plain sucks. I do not see any upside with this contract for the Dodgers, who are only bidding against themselves at this point.
The Dodgers probably should have just signed Dunn or Abreu (or both at the cost they went) and let Manny just fend for himself on the open market. After the way he acted in 2008, Manny cost himself big. I see no reason to reward him other than the Dodgers are desperate. The question is just how desperate are they?
The Dodgers probably should have just signed Dunn or Abreu (or both at the cost they went) and let Manny just fend for himself on the open market. After the way he acted in 2008, Manny cost himself big. I see no reason to reward him other than the Dodgers are desperate. The question is just how desperate are they?
The Eastern Seaboard Propaganda Network Showed Love To Illinois/ Mt. Rushmore of Sports
So ESPN is running a time filler called the Mt. Rushmore of Sports. In it they allow fans to vote for the top four athletes associated with that state. This includes ALL sports and not just the major four. Sidenote: further proof that fans are retarded, Tim Tebow is on the Florida Mt. Rushmore. For the past week, ESPN ran the top five states that had the most votes and then revealed the top state. At first I was pissed because New York, California, Pennsylvania, and Alabama were all presented and ESPN wasn't going to show love to ANY Midwest state. But lucky me, Illinois was the fifth state presented.
I was happy with that. I was happy that my home state got some ESPN love. But to my surprise, Illinois was voted the best state Mt. Rushmore! While this is so extremely trivial, I'm just happy whenever ESPN devotes significant time to Chi-town.
Here's the four players Illinois picked:
-Michael Jordan: The greatest basketball player of all time
-Walter Peyton: One of the greatest football players of all time and the second greatest RB (next to the great Jim Brown)
-Ernie Banks: Two time NL MVP and has the most HR for a SS (or maybe a NL SS)
-Mike Ditka: One of, if not, THE greatest TE ever and a great coach
Notables left off the list:
-Red Grange: One of the greatest LB of all time. Played for Illinois football AND Da Bears
-George Halas: Mother fucker just invented football
-Bobby Hull: One of the greatest LW ever
-Jackie-Jorner Kearse: Great track star and Olympian
-Brian Urlacher: Say what you want about him now but mother fucker has been great
-Any from the 1985 Bears defense
Me personally, I would have replayed Banks and Da Coach with Hull and Halas (seriously, after all George Halas has done for football and for the Bears, how was he not even considered?)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
ESPN's First Take did a question of what would the Mt. Rushmore of Sports look like for fictional characters. Here's what mine would look like:
Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins): Bull Durham
Rocky Balboa (Sly Stallone): Rocky
Norman Dale (Gene Hackman): Hoosiers
Irv Blitzer (John Candy): Cool Runnings
What's yours?
I was happy with that. I was happy that my home state got some ESPN love. But to my surprise, Illinois was voted the best state Mt. Rushmore! While this is so extremely trivial, I'm just happy whenever ESPN devotes significant time to Chi-town.
Here's the four players Illinois picked:
-Michael Jordan: The greatest basketball player of all time
-Walter Peyton: One of the greatest football players of all time and the second greatest RB (next to the great Jim Brown)
-Ernie Banks: Two time NL MVP and has the most HR for a SS (or maybe a NL SS)
-Mike Ditka: One of, if not, THE greatest TE ever and a great coach
Notables left off the list:
-Red Grange: One of the greatest LB of all time. Played for Illinois football AND Da Bears
-George Halas: Mother fucker just invented football
-Bobby Hull: One of the greatest LW ever
-Jackie-Jorner Kearse: Great track star and Olympian
-Brian Urlacher: Say what you want about him now but mother fucker has been great
-Any from the 1985 Bears defense
Me personally, I would have replayed Banks and Da Coach with Hull and Halas (seriously, after all George Halas has done for football and for the Bears, how was he not even considered?)
_______________________________________________________________________________________
ESPN's First Take did a question of what would the Mt. Rushmore of Sports look like for fictional characters. Here's what mine would look like:
Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins): Bull Durham
Rocky Balboa (Sly Stallone): Rocky
Norman Dale (Gene Hackman): Hoosiers
Irv Blitzer (John Candy): Cool Runnings
What's yours?
Who THE FUCK Are You? Who who, who who?
So right now there are two sports commercials that have "famous athletes" in them, yet I just don't know who they are.
Commercial One: This is a commercial for the WBC. In it are Jeter, A Rod, Ichiro, and someone else. Are four players talk about former teams they've played on like the names of minor league teams and such. And then at the very end they say "Now I play for America" and Ichiro 'says' "Now I play for Japan. And the repeat." Who is the fourth baseball player, the one who says he will play for Mexico?
Commercial Two: This is a commercial for Sobe drinks and originally aired during the Super Bowl. In it are three football players- two black and one white- and they're just dancing around seemingly pretending to be ballerinas. They are against a white back drop and little CGI lizards are dancing around as well. In the end, one of the football's face turns into a lizard. It was speculated that the players where Ray Lewis, Justin Tuck, and Aarom Kampman, but to be honest, it's not 100% sure to me.
Please tell me who these players are!
Commercial One: This is a commercial for the WBC. In it are Jeter, A Rod, Ichiro, and someone else. Are four players talk about former teams they've played on like the names of minor league teams and such. And then at the very end they say "Now I play for America" and Ichiro 'says' "Now I play for Japan. And the repeat." Who is the fourth baseball player, the one who says he will play for Mexico?
Commercial Two: This is a commercial for Sobe drinks and originally aired during the Super Bowl. In it are three football players- two black and one white- and they're just dancing around seemingly pretending to be ballerinas. They are against a white back drop and little CGI lizards are dancing around as well. In the end, one of the football's face turns into a lizard. It was speculated that the players where Ray Lewis, Justin Tuck, and Aarom Kampman, but to be honest, it's not 100% sure to me.
Please tell me who these players are!
The Yankees HAVE Improved. Shit.
This post is in relation to David "MVP" Eckstein's December 24th, 2008 post entitled "The 2008 Yankees" and his viewpoint on this in posts after this blog. His contention is that the free-agent signings the Yankees now have do not improve the team all that much from the departures the team had.
First point: Mark Tiexeira replacing Jason Giambi. Looking the the offensive numbers one sees that actually this is not the biggest improvement. Last year, Giambi had this stat line: .373/.502/.875 with 32 HRs. Tex's stat line is predicted to be this: .404/.564/ .969 with with 39 HRs. While there is a difference between the HR and OBS, in reality, this disparity is not as big as public perception make it out to be. But here's the thing, Tex is a gold glove defender and is only like 29 years old. Giambi was an old fuck who couldn't move that well. So the Yankees do get an improvement both offensively and defensively which could tack on at least one more win to their 88/89 win season last year.
Second point: Nick Swisher replaced Bobby Abreu. This is a valid point. Bobby Abreu walked a shit ton (.371 OBS last year) and has decent power and still probably better at walking, hitting for power, and defense. So I'll give Ecksetin that here is not an improvement. But in the Yankees defense, it was never meant to be and they could have done a lot worse.
Third Point: AJ Burnett replaces Mike Mussina. Last year, Mussina had one of his best years getting 20 wins, having a 3.74 ERA, and having a 4.84 K/BB ratio. This is getting replaced with this projected stat line: 15 wins, 3.98 ERA, and 2.71 K/BB with about 10 less IP. Again, this is not an improvement and again, another valid point. But here's the thing, Mussina was the ace of the staff last year and Burnett's only the 2nd guy in the rotation and he's NOT the ace.
Fourth Point: CC Sabathia was worked too hard during the end of the year and this will manifest itself with poor performance while Sabathia is in pinstripes. Again, I can take this as a valid point considering how shitty did Sabathia in like his first maybe 7 starts? I don't but in the beginning he did shit. However, after this, he was amazing. Sabathia pitched well before he went to Milwaukee and amazing once he got there. There's no reason that the vast majority of the season that CC can't be great. Here's his projected stat line: 19 wins, 3.33 ERA, 231 K, 4.44 K/BB ratio, and in 243 innings. You're gonna tell me that's not an improvement for a team?
MY REBUTTAL
The thing that Eckstein overlooks is that the improvements of this team come from more than just off-season free agent signings, they come internally as well. He's other areas where the Yankees with improve.
Xavier Nady: This guy is a damn fine baseball player and a player that helps with their offensive woes. In recent years with Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon were the outfield, the Yanks didn't really have an outfield because these players were oft injured. With Nady (and Swisher) the Yankees finally have depth and talent in the outfield. And this year, Nady will be on the team for an entire year to help this club instead of just half of one.
A-Rod: Remember, this is from a purely objective, on-the-field basis. Last year, A Rod had a down here (if that's possible for him considering he was 2nd in OPS in the AL last year). And this year, he's expected to "rebound". He is projected to get 44 HRs as opposed to his 35 last year and have an OPS 17 points higher than it was last year. His performance should improve thus helping this offense.
Chien-Ming Wang: Wang only pitched 95 innings last year. This was because of a freak injury when Wang was rounding home after playing some NL team. Wang should log significant innings this year and there's no reason to think he can't pitch throughout a 162 game season, something he didn't do last year.
Joba Chamberlian: This year he'll be in the rotation all year. Last year, he started off in the bullpen, then went down to AAA, then was in the starting rotation, and then back in the bullpen. This year, he'll be in the rotation. For sure. Chamberlian needed AAA help and some experience to fully get into the groove of being a full time starter, and watching him last year, he seemed to get it. With a year under his belt and seemingly developed, Chamberlian should be much better than he was last year.
A rotation of Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, Chamberlian and Pettitte is still better than a 2008 rotation that included Mussina, Pettitte, Darrell Rasner with Chamberlian, Wang, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, and Carl Pavano getting significant starting time as well.
Now I'm not saying in this post that the Yankees will make the playoffs or anything like that. I am however saying that David "MVP" Eckstein is, hmmm how to word this nicely wrong?, to think the Yankees can't or won't be better than their 2008 counterparts.
First point: Mark Tiexeira replacing Jason Giambi. Looking the the offensive numbers one sees that actually this is not the biggest improvement. Last year, Giambi had this stat line: .373/.502/.875 with 32 HRs. Tex's stat line is predicted to be this: .404/.564/ .969 with with 39 HRs. While there is a difference between the HR and OBS, in reality, this disparity is not as big as public perception make it out to be. But here's the thing, Tex is a gold glove defender and is only like 29 years old. Giambi was an old fuck who couldn't move that well. So the Yankees do get an improvement both offensively and defensively which could tack on at least one more win to their 88/89 win season last year.
Second point: Nick Swisher replaced Bobby Abreu. This is a valid point. Bobby Abreu walked a shit ton (.371 OBS last year) and has decent power and still probably better at walking, hitting for power, and defense. So I'll give Ecksetin that here is not an improvement. But in the Yankees defense, it was never meant to be and they could have done a lot worse.
Third Point: AJ Burnett replaces Mike Mussina. Last year, Mussina had one of his best years getting 20 wins, having a 3.74 ERA, and having a 4.84 K/BB ratio. This is getting replaced with this projected stat line: 15 wins, 3.98 ERA, and 2.71 K/BB with about 10 less IP. Again, this is not an improvement and again, another valid point. But here's the thing, Mussina was the ace of the staff last year and Burnett's only the 2nd guy in the rotation and he's NOT the ace.
Fourth Point: CC Sabathia was worked too hard during the end of the year and this will manifest itself with poor performance while Sabathia is in pinstripes. Again, I can take this as a valid point considering how shitty did Sabathia in like his first maybe 7 starts? I don't but in the beginning he did shit. However, after this, he was amazing. Sabathia pitched well before he went to Milwaukee and amazing once he got there. There's no reason that the vast majority of the season that CC can't be great. Here's his projected stat line: 19 wins, 3.33 ERA, 231 K, 4.44 K/BB ratio, and in 243 innings. You're gonna tell me that's not an improvement for a team?
MY REBUTTAL
The thing that Eckstein overlooks is that the improvements of this team come from more than just off-season free agent signings, they come internally as well. He's other areas where the Yankees with improve.
Xavier Nady: This guy is a damn fine baseball player and a player that helps with their offensive woes. In recent years with Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon were the outfield, the Yanks didn't really have an outfield because these players were oft injured. With Nady (and Swisher) the Yankees finally have depth and talent in the outfield. And this year, Nady will be on the team for an entire year to help this club instead of just half of one.
A-Rod: Remember, this is from a purely objective, on-the-field basis. Last year, A Rod had a down here (if that's possible for him considering he was 2nd in OPS in the AL last year). And this year, he's expected to "rebound". He is projected to get 44 HRs as opposed to his 35 last year and have an OPS 17 points higher than it was last year. His performance should improve thus helping this offense.
Chien-Ming Wang: Wang only pitched 95 innings last year. This was because of a freak injury when Wang was rounding home after playing some NL team. Wang should log significant innings this year and there's no reason to think he can't pitch throughout a 162 game season, something he didn't do last year.
Joba Chamberlian: This year he'll be in the rotation all year. Last year, he started off in the bullpen, then went down to AAA, then was in the starting rotation, and then back in the bullpen. This year, he'll be in the rotation. For sure. Chamberlian needed AAA help and some experience to fully get into the groove of being a full time starter, and watching him last year, he seemed to get it. With a year under his belt and seemingly developed, Chamberlian should be much better than he was last year.
A rotation of Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, Chamberlian and Pettitte is still better than a 2008 rotation that included Mussina, Pettitte, Darrell Rasner with Chamberlian, Wang, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, and Carl Pavano getting significant starting time as well.
Now I'm not saying in this post that the Yankees will make the playoffs or anything like that. I am however saying that David "MVP" Eckstein is, hmmm how to word this nicely wrong?, to think the Yankees can't or won't be better than their 2008 counterparts.
What Does Derek Jeter Do When He's Not Playing Baseball?
He teams up with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Kevin Garnett to fuck your shit up with the power of Gatorade, Monty Python style.
Who Called It?
Earlier in the week, I predicted that Jim Bowden would probably be further investigated in connection with the alleged Latin player signing bonus skimming scandal. According to SportsIllustrated.com, the investigation has been ongoing and many (including those over at the Chicago Tribune) are speculating that the future of Bowden's job is in serious jeopardy.
Best Actoroids
If Mickey Rourke wins an Oscar for best actor tonight, he will once and for all prove the performance enhancing abilities of steroids.
Odalis Perez Is A Little Bitch
Odalis Perez, who once stopped his O's 45's charity program (in which he bought 45 tickets for inner-city school children to attend Dodger games) because they demoted him to the minors for sucking at baseball, is now M.I.A. at spring training after complaining earlier this week that he didn't think the Nationals showed him enough "appreciation" during off-season contract negotiations. Quote Perez:
In other news, I'm gone on a trip for 2.5 days and Izzy, Hudson, Crede, Garrett Anderson and Kris Benson get signed? I guess my absence is good for Free Agents (hey, mathematically speaking, it's no less an illogical conclusion of causation than high Batting Averages and small ball result in wins).
ALSO, on the topic of steroids, I must quote myself from speaking on the radio earlier today: "sure, PED's may be immoral, illegal and dangerous, but there is something boring about an MVP who can't even hit 20 HRs."
Also also, I'm watching the Oscars and must say that Steve Martin and Tina Fey are hilarious. Maybe they should host.
"I thought it best and I prefer to sit in my house if the Nationals do not show more appreciation for my work. Appreciate my work means to increase the value of the contract and guarantee it. I will not accept any minor league contracts with no safeguards. I instructed my agent to report my position to the Nationals...I will play in the World Classic for the Dominican Republic and show everybody that I'm in great shape. I hope to find a team that values me, otherwise I'll go home."Perez has not answered anyone's -- not the media nor the National's -- phone calls. What a little bitch he is.
In other news, I'm gone on a trip for 2.5 days and Izzy, Hudson, Crede, Garrett Anderson and Kris Benson get signed? I guess my absence is good for Free Agents (hey, mathematically speaking, it's no less an illogical conclusion of causation than high Batting Averages and small ball result in wins).
ALSO, on the topic of steroids, I must quote myself from speaking on the radio earlier today: "sure, PED's may be immoral, illegal and dangerous, but there is something boring about an MVP who can't even hit 20 HRs."
Also also, I'm watching the Oscars and must say that Steve Martin and Tina Fey are hilarious. Maybe they should host.
Boston Red Sox v. Tampa Bay Rays
Originally I was going to start this post off by saying the Yankees would win the division and this post was dedicated to who would win the AL Wild Card but with no bullpen and no pitching depth and injury risks to Chien-Minh Wang, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett, I'd actually say this division is up for grabs. While I still think the Yankees are going to to win the division, here's my "Wild Card" prediction by match ups. A Yankees/Red Sox match up has already been done so I'm going to do Rays/Red Sox
Catcher
Dioneer Navarro v Jason Varitek.
An old washed up player who has trouble getting his OBS over .300 in recent days versus an young up and coming stud. Maybe if this was Veritek a few years ago, I'd go with him, but this is not the Veritek of old, this is the Veritek who is 36/37 years old
Winner: Rays
First Base
Carlos Pena v Kevin Youkilis
Since Kevin "The Greek God of Walks" Youkilis' rookie season, he has never had an OBS under .381. However Pena is no stranger to walking either having an OBS the past two years of .411 and .377. Pena has also had more HRs than Youkilis of last dinging 46 two years ago and 31 last year versus Youk's 16 two years ago and 29 last year. But Youk has had more plate appearance than Pena, who is the past twp years has maxed out at 490 ABs. Youk is also getting better and better as the years roll on, was 4th in the AL in OBS last year, and is much younger than Pena who seems to be inconsistent and showing his age. It's because of this that Youk wins over Pena, but not by much.
Winner: Red Sox
Second Base
Akinori Iwamura v Dustin Pedroia
Iwamura, in his two seasons in MLB has had an OBS of .359 and .349. Pedroia, in his essentially two seasons have had a OBS of .380 and .376. Pedroia has a better career OPS+, SLG, HR, and SB%.
Winner: Red Sox
Shortstop:
Jason Bartlett v Jed Lowrie
In five season, Bartlett's career OPS+ is 85. I actually am not quite sure how to read defensive stats on baseballreference.com, but because he's a former Twins, and from what I've heard, he's a darn good defender. Lowrie only has a handful of starts under his belt, but his minor league numbers shows he has plate discipline but little to no power. I also don't know anything about his defense but I assume because he's a Red Sox it's pretty good. This match up is pretty bad but I'm going to give it to Lowrie because I think he can get on base in the pros
Winner: Red Sox
Third Base
Evan Longoria v Mike Lowell
I don't even need to look up the players stats to know just how awesome Longoria is and just how average Lowell is
Winner: Rays
Left Field
Carl Crawford v Jason Bay
Crawford has a career OBS+ of 101 but is a damn fine base stealer. Unfortunately his career OBS is .330 and he's injury prone. Bay has a career OPS+ of 131, can hit 30+ HRs a year. Bay walks and has power, what more do you want out of a player?
Winner: Red Sox
Center Field
B.J. Upton v Jacoby Ellsbury
More are young guys known for stealing bases. Upton has a better OBS than Ellsbury. But Ellsbury steals more bases and (although limited sample size) at a better rate. Upton has more power capabilities hitting 24 two years ago but last year only had 9. In his four season, Upton's OPS+ is above 100 versus Ellsbuy's which is not. Therefore, I give the edge to Upton. Plus, BJ stands for Bossman Junior
Winner: Rays
Right Field
Matt Joyce v J.D. Drew
Joyce is young and has some pop but doesn't have the best plate discipline. J.D. can walk and has power but is old and can be inconsistent. However, Drew has proven to be awesome and healthy and he was that last year. I think Joyce will be better than Drew soon, but not next year.
Winner: Red Sox
DH
Pat Burrell v Big Papi
Ortiz' career OPS+ is 138 versus Burrell's 119. Ortiz has has seasons of 40-50 HRs and Burrell has never gotten above 33 in the past 6 years. However Ortiz seems to be on the decline, doesn't have Manny hitting behind him, and now is facing steroid allegations. But Burrell isn't without his faults either having streaks of amazingness and streaks of shittiness giving him just above average total numbers. If Burrell could consistently hold his career numbers I'd give him this one but it's just so hard to.
Winner: Red Sox
Bullpen
Dan Wheeler v Jonathan Papelbon
Troy Pervical v Hideki Okajima
The best closer in the game and one of the leagues best set up man versus two old guys. No question
Winner: Red Sox
Rotation
James Shields v Josh Beckett
Beckett's career ERA+ is 116 versus Shields 114. Shields ERA+ is rising every year versus Beckett who can be amazing (2007- 145)or just his normal self (2008- 115). Josh Beckett can be amazing but Shields is younger and will probably be better than Beckett NEXT year.
Winner: Rays
Scott Kazmir v Jon Lester
Both are about the same age but Kazmir has two more years on Lester. Both essentially have the same ERA+. Kazmir edges Lester is K/BB ratio because he can strike out guys but Lester seems to be getting better and better every year and able to (unlike Kazmir) able to be a big game pitcher. It's for this that I barely give the edge to Lester
Winner: Red Sox
Matt Garza v Dice-K
Both essentially have been in the league the same amount of time and essentially have the same K/BB ratio. Dice-K strikes out a lot of guys but also walks a lot of guys. Garza steadily have had an ERA+ of 118 the past two year versus the streaky Dice-K- because in his first year he had an ERA+ of 108 but 159 last year! Dice-K is in his prime but Garza is younger. Because Dice-K can strike guys out and because he IS in his prime and has shown to be great (4th in Cy Young voting last year) and can be GREAT, I'm going to give this one to Dice-K, but another really close one
Winner: Red Sox
Andy Sonnanstine v Brad Penny
Penny has actually sucked in his overall stint in LA and Sonnanstine is young and should only get better. But last year is ERA was mid 4.00 with a 102 ERA+. But because he is younger and Penny last year SUUUUUCCKKKKEEDDD, the young guy beats the old dude.
Winner: Rays
David Price v John Smoltz
I question if both can finish the season next year. Last year in the playoffs Price was sick and his stuff looked amazing. On the other hand, when Smoltz was healthy, he was one of the best pitchers in the game. Smoltz actually doesn't have to pitch everyday and will be on a need by/ if-he-can-pitch basis. When he can't pitch, Tim Wakefield will pitch for him in that case Price will have the edge. But Price is too much of a wild card for me to pick him right now.
Winner: Red Sox
Totals:
Red Sox: 10
Rays: 5
I think the Red Sox have better players overall, are more experienced, have one of the best bullpen's in baseball, a deep rotation, a strong organization, a deep farm system, and a great GM that I have a hard time believing that the Red Sox won't make the playoffs
Catcher
Dioneer Navarro v Jason Varitek.
An old washed up player who has trouble getting his OBS over .300 in recent days versus an young up and coming stud. Maybe if this was Veritek a few years ago, I'd go with him, but this is not the Veritek of old, this is the Veritek who is 36/37 years old
Winner: Rays
First Base
Carlos Pena v Kevin Youkilis
Since Kevin "The Greek God of Walks" Youkilis' rookie season, he has never had an OBS under .381. However Pena is no stranger to walking either having an OBS the past two years of .411 and .377. Pena has also had more HRs than Youkilis of last dinging 46 two years ago and 31 last year versus Youk's 16 two years ago and 29 last year. But Youk has had more plate appearance than Pena, who is the past twp years has maxed out at 490 ABs. Youk is also getting better and better as the years roll on, was 4th in the AL in OBS last year, and is much younger than Pena who seems to be inconsistent and showing his age. It's because of this that Youk wins over Pena, but not by much.
Winner: Red Sox
Second Base
Akinori Iwamura v Dustin Pedroia
Iwamura, in his two seasons in MLB has had an OBS of .359 and .349. Pedroia, in his essentially two seasons have had a OBS of .380 and .376. Pedroia has a better career OPS+, SLG, HR, and SB%.
Winner: Red Sox
Shortstop:
Jason Bartlett v Jed Lowrie
In five season, Bartlett's career OPS+ is 85. I actually am not quite sure how to read defensive stats on baseballreference.com, but because he's a former Twins, and from what I've heard, he's a darn good defender. Lowrie only has a handful of starts under his belt, but his minor league numbers shows he has plate discipline but little to no power. I also don't know anything about his defense but I assume because he's a Red Sox it's pretty good. This match up is pretty bad but I'm going to give it to Lowrie because I think he can get on base in the pros
Winner: Red Sox
Third Base
Evan Longoria v Mike Lowell
I don't even need to look up the players stats to know just how awesome Longoria is and just how average Lowell is
Winner: Rays
Left Field
Carl Crawford v Jason Bay
Crawford has a career OBS+ of 101 but is a damn fine base stealer. Unfortunately his career OBS is .330 and he's injury prone. Bay has a career OPS+ of 131, can hit 30+ HRs a year. Bay walks and has power, what more do you want out of a player?
Winner: Red Sox
Center Field
B.J. Upton v Jacoby Ellsbury
More are young guys known for stealing bases. Upton has a better OBS than Ellsbury. But Ellsbury steals more bases and (although limited sample size) at a better rate. Upton has more power capabilities hitting 24 two years ago but last year only had 9. In his four season, Upton's OPS+ is above 100 versus Ellsbuy's which is not. Therefore, I give the edge to Upton. Plus, BJ stands for Bossman Junior
Winner: Rays
Right Field
Matt Joyce v J.D. Drew
Joyce is young and has some pop but doesn't have the best plate discipline. J.D. can walk and has power but is old and can be inconsistent. However, Drew has proven to be awesome and healthy and he was that last year. I think Joyce will be better than Drew soon, but not next year.
Winner: Red Sox
DH
Pat Burrell v Big Papi
Ortiz' career OPS+ is 138 versus Burrell's 119. Ortiz has has seasons of 40-50 HRs and Burrell has never gotten above 33 in the past 6 years. However Ortiz seems to be on the decline, doesn't have Manny hitting behind him, and now is facing steroid allegations. But Burrell isn't without his faults either having streaks of amazingness and streaks of shittiness giving him just above average total numbers. If Burrell could consistently hold his career numbers I'd give him this one but it's just so hard to.
Winner: Red Sox
Bullpen
Dan Wheeler v Jonathan Papelbon
Troy Pervical v Hideki Okajima
The best closer in the game and one of the leagues best set up man versus two old guys. No question
Winner: Red Sox
Rotation
James Shields v Josh Beckett
Beckett's career ERA+ is 116 versus Shields 114. Shields ERA+ is rising every year versus Beckett who can be amazing (2007- 145)or just his normal self (2008- 115). Josh Beckett can be amazing but Shields is younger and will probably be better than Beckett NEXT year.
Winner: Rays
Scott Kazmir v Jon Lester
Both are about the same age but Kazmir has two more years on Lester. Both essentially have the same ERA+. Kazmir edges Lester is K/BB ratio because he can strike out guys but Lester seems to be getting better and better every year and able to (unlike Kazmir) able to be a big game pitcher. It's for this that I barely give the edge to Lester
Winner: Red Sox
Matt Garza v Dice-K
Both essentially have been in the league the same amount of time and essentially have the same K/BB ratio. Dice-K strikes out a lot of guys but also walks a lot of guys. Garza steadily have had an ERA+ of 118 the past two year versus the streaky Dice-K- because in his first year he had an ERA+ of 108 but 159 last year! Dice-K is in his prime but Garza is younger. Because Dice-K can strike guys out and because he IS in his prime and has shown to be great (4th in Cy Young voting last year) and can be GREAT, I'm going to give this one to Dice-K, but another really close one
Winner: Red Sox
Andy Sonnanstine v Brad Penny
Penny has actually sucked in his overall stint in LA and Sonnanstine is young and should only get better. But last year is ERA was mid 4.00 with a 102 ERA+. But because he is younger and Penny last year SUUUUUCCKKKKEEDDD, the young guy beats the old dude.
Winner: Rays
David Price v John Smoltz
I question if both can finish the season next year. Last year in the playoffs Price was sick and his stuff looked amazing. On the other hand, when Smoltz was healthy, he was one of the best pitchers in the game. Smoltz actually doesn't have to pitch everyday and will be on a need by/ if-he-can-pitch basis. When he can't pitch, Tim Wakefield will pitch for him in that case Price will have the edge. But Price is too much of a wild card for me to pick him right now.
Winner: Red Sox
Totals:
Red Sox: 10
Rays: 5
I think the Red Sox have better players overall, are more experienced, have one of the best bullpen's in baseball, a deep rotation, a strong organization, a deep farm system, and a great GM that I have a hard time believing that the Red Sox won't make the playoffs
Where's Part II?
A few months ago, The "Bright" One had a post called "Why I Hate College Basketball, Part I". But then never came out with a Part II. What's the deal? How can you have 'Part I' in your title and not have a sequel. That's like coming out with Kill Bill, Part I and then not finishing your story! You can't imply you're going to have multiple parts and then not finish! Didn't your English teachers ever tell you, that when you create an outline you can't have an "a" without a "b" and you can't have a "1" without a "2". I have been anxiously awaiting "Why I Hate College Basketball, Part II"
Although I can create MY own Part II- Illinois and Big Ten basketball. Last week, Illinois played Penn State IN Champaign. Illinois LOST, 38-33. What the hell!? There are 40 minutes in a game! How can both teams score less points than minutes? I mean, fuck, a field goal is either 2 or three points. How can a team make less than 20 FGs!? How do you hold your opponent to under 40 and lose? I've seen football games score more points! Hell, today, Illinois scored 32 points in the first half! Fuck, I hate Big Ten basketball. It's so fucking boring to watch!
Although I can create MY own Part II- Illinois and Big Ten basketball. Last week, Illinois played Penn State IN Champaign. Illinois LOST, 38-33. What the hell!? There are 40 minutes in a game! How can both teams score less points than minutes? I mean, fuck, a field goal is either 2 or three points. How can a team make less than 20 FGs!? How do you hold your opponent to under 40 and lose? I've seen football games score more points! Hell, today, Illinois scored 32 points in the first half! Fuck, I hate Big Ten basketball. It's so fucking boring to watch!
Clutchios
They call this cereal Clutchio's.
(Derek Jeter cried)
(Also, Wheaties aren't the "breakfast of champions." Sterioids are)
obafemi ayanbadejo
In the spirit of messed up names, I present to you obafemi ayanbadejo. In the pic, he's posing next to his brother Brandon. It just looks like a mirror image to me. Anywho, the name is bitchin, I would kill embryonic stem cells to have it.
This one goes out to Eckstein and Sexy Rexy
The Oakland Raiders love giving away money. Al David is recession proof fo shizzle. After wasting money on jerkwads last year in the form of Deangelo Hall and Javon Walker, one of whom has an anger issue while the other doesn't have a knee, Davis decided to break the bank on our favorite cover corner Nnamdi Asomugha. At least this guy doesn't appear to have any personal issues that will prevent him from actually playing, meaning he should receive every penny of him new 3yr $45 million dollar contract. This seems absurd, even for the senile Raiders organization. The biggest contracts i've ever seen for a corner has been 7yr $70 million. Deangelo Hall got it last year and Nate Clements got it from the 49ers. So what has Asomugha done to earn a 5 million dollar raise? I understand that he has been a standout corner the past 2 years, even though he admitted to being scared to death when he moved from the safety position, and team rarely throw in his direction, but $15 million a year. Seriously? It's almost as crazy as the New York Islanders giving their goalie, Rick DiPietro, at 15 year extension.
I only mention this story because Eckstein referenced Nnamdi Asomugha in a post making fun of his name. Yes, you are reading 5 year olds playing with a keyboard. Also, he does happen to be one of Sexy Rexy's favorite d-backs.
The Dominican Republic Is Not To Be Trusted
UPDATE: Apparently, the Dominican official who brokered the deal between Gonzalez and the Nationals's assistant GM, Jose Rijo, were childhood friends. Rijo and Nationals GM Jim Bowden were investigated last season in connection with an alledged bonus skimming scandal among Dominican players. While no one has been implicated with federal fraud charges yet, this scandal may reopen questioning.
The Dominican Republic is to lying about names and ages to baseball teams what Texas and Oakland is to steroids use among power hitters.
First, there was Miguel Tejada, aka Miguel Tejada, who claimed he was two years younger than he really was when he signed with the A's in 1995 (although he plays like he's at least a decade older at this point in his career).
Then there was Santiago Casilla, aka Jairo Garcia, who falsified documents to pretend to be THREE years younger than he really was.
Now there is Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo, aka Esmailyn Gonzalez, who claims he is 19, but is actually 23!
If I was a baseball, I'd start investigating my players a little closer...
Also, Miguel Tejada is a huge lying douche (age, name, steroids).
**********************************
The Dominican Republic is to lying about names and ages to baseball teams what Texas and Oakland is to steroids use among power hitters.
First, there was Miguel Tejada, aka Miguel Tejada, who claimed he was two years younger than he really was when he signed with the A's in 1995 (although he plays like he's at least a decade older at this point in his career).
Then there was Santiago Casilla, aka Jairo Garcia, who falsified documents to pretend to be THREE years younger than he really was.
Now there is Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo, aka Esmailyn Gonzalez, who claims he is 19, but is actually 23!
If I was a baseball, I'd start investigating my players a little closer...
Also, Miguel Tejada is a huge lying douche (age, name, steroids).
Really Boston Red Sox? Really!?
Here's an article I found on yahoosports.com. Normally I wouldn't care about anything related to what yahoosports.com opinion is ON sports because it's normally so bad but this was is just an AP article ON yahoosports.com so it's OK
Boston owner John Henry renews salary cap callReally!? You, of all owners want to eliminate team spending!? From the team that spent $50 million dollars just to talk to Dice-K? From the team that spent the fourth most out of any team in baseball last year? From the team that normally is the #2 highest spending team? From the team that's smart enough to know it's not about how much money you spend but how wisely you spent it? From a team that HAS wisely spent money on good players? From the team that has Bill James on their payroll? From the team that just saw the Tampa Bay Rays win their division and just saw the New York Yankees miss the playoffs? This team is calling for a salary cap? Really!? Wow. Good luck with that chief.
By HOWARD ULMAN, AP Sports Writer
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP)—Boston Red Sox owner John Henry is renewing his call for a baseball salary cap.
He says he thinks all owners would support an “enlightened” salary cap to improve competitive balance and that players might agree. He did not give details.
Henry’s call came Wednesday at spring training after the New York Yankees signed three free agents for a total of $423.5 million during the offseason. The Red Sox gave out much shorter and cheaper deals.
Exactly five years earlier, Henry called for a salary cap when the Yankees obtained Alex Rodriguez in a trade with Texas after the Red Sox failed to complete a trade for him.
At that time, he advocated a cap to deal with a team that he said has far more resources than any other team.
Bad Baseball
I know this topic was slightly referenced in Baseball Prospectus' book BEHIND THE NUMBERS, but I'm going to accenuate it anyway. Sabermetrically speaking, do you know how bad of a shortstop Ozzie Guillen was? His career WPA (very similar to WARP) was -21.51. That's among the worst in the history of baseball. Very few players have been so bad and given over 7000 PA's.
There is a worse player, however, and his name is Neifi Perez's. Over the course of 11 seasons, Perez accumulated a -26.26 WPA in 5500 PA's. In fact, from 2002-2007 alone, Neifi Perez's production was so poor that it resulted in negative wins, costing four major league teams a total of $400,000 against replacement player production values. This, of course, is BEFORE you consider that he was paid $14.4 million over that same time period of time. So when it's all said and done, Neifi Perez cost almost $15 million in lost money. That's thievery, my friend.
There is a worse player, however, and his name is Neifi Perez's. Over the course of 11 seasons, Perez accumulated a -26.26 WPA in 5500 PA's. In fact, from 2002-2007 alone, Neifi Perez's production was so poor that it resulted in negative wins, costing four major league teams a total of $400,000 against replacement player production values. This, of course, is BEFORE you consider that he was paid $14.4 million over that same time period of time. So when it's all said and done, Neifi Perez cost almost $15 million in lost money. That's thievery, my friend.
Blackhawks need Ilya Kovalchuk
Nearly 2/3 through the season, the blackhawks have established themselves as a top 4 team in the western conference and should contend for the western conference finals. However, the last 6 or so weeks, a weakness has arisen within this young and talented team. That weakness is the lack of consistent scoring from the forward positions. Sharp, Kane, Versteeg, among others on the 3rd and 4th lines have gone extremely cold. Kane has tallied one goal in his last 21 games, Sharp 4 in his last 21, and Versteeg 3 in the past 15. The only consistent forward for the group has been Havlet and Toews has been hot since being voted as an All-Star starter.
The Chicago defense is definitely the strong suite of the Blackhawks. As i recently heard from the Fighting Illini hockey coach, forwards are a dime a dozen. This may not be completely true given the talent of NHL forwards, but finding good defensemen is no easy task. But by bringing in a playoff proven defenseman in Brian Campbell, along with the development of home grown stars like keith and Seabrooke, the Chicago blue line is set for years to come.
To truly complete in this year's as well as future playoffs, this team needs a stud offensemen who puts fear into the opponents eyes the way Ovechkin, Thornton, Staal, and Nash do just to name a few. The best option on the market is the uber talented Ilya Kovalchuk. He has been exiled playing for the Atlanta Thrashers his entire career, constantly finishing at the bottom of the standings. The team has always been strapped for money, unable to hold on to talent around him in the form of danny heatley and marian hossa. With rumors swirling that the franchise may need to fold, or move to another city, this would be the ideal time for the blackhawks to swoon in and steal kovalchuk away. We can give up Khabibulin, who's contract expires at the end of the season, and aquire a premier scorer. The past 4 seasons, Kovalchuk has tallied 41, 52, 42, and 52 goals respectively. Already with 29 goals this year, he would join the team as the top scorer. He's still only 25 years old and I think Dale Tallon should continue his string of good decisions find a way to bring Kovalchuk to the United Center. I mean he only has 8 goals in his past 5 games.
The Chicago defense is definitely the strong suite of the Blackhawks. As i recently heard from the Fighting Illini hockey coach, forwards are a dime a dozen. This may not be completely true given the talent of NHL forwards, but finding good defensemen is no easy task. But by bringing in a playoff proven defenseman in Brian Campbell, along with the development of home grown stars like keith and Seabrooke, the Chicago blue line is set for years to come.
To truly complete in this year's as well as future playoffs, this team needs a stud offensemen who puts fear into the opponents eyes the way Ovechkin, Thornton, Staal, and Nash do just to name a few. The best option on the market is the uber talented Ilya Kovalchuk. He has been exiled playing for the Atlanta Thrashers his entire career, constantly finishing at the bottom of the standings. The team has always been strapped for money, unable to hold on to talent around him in the form of danny heatley and marian hossa. With rumors swirling that the franchise may need to fold, or move to another city, this would be the ideal time for the blackhawks to swoon in and steal kovalchuk away. We can give up Khabibulin, who's contract expires at the end of the season, and aquire a premier scorer. The past 4 seasons, Kovalchuk has tallied 41, 52, 42, and 52 goals respectively. Already with 29 goals this year, he would join the team as the top scorer. He's still only 25 years old and I think Dale Tallon should continue his string of good decisions find a way to bring Kovalchuk to the United Center. I mean he only has 8 goals in his past 5 games.
My reaction to the Arod press conference
I recall watching the Andy Pettitte's news conference a year ago from the same uniform, location, tent. His statements and answers were very genuine and true emotion and regret could be seen and heard from Roger Clemens' little buddy. Seriously, it felt like Pettitte was just a scared little boy hoping him mommy didn't find out he was out past curfew, so he simply fessed up and went to his room.
The opening statement from Arod was just humorous. I can imagine all his Yankee teammates and journalist in attendance trying too keep in their laughs and giggles as Alex read his statement. I'm going to assume that Arod knows how to read, though with 500 million dollars you probably don't need to, so I'm guessing that was the first time Arod even looked at that statement prior to presenting it to the world. The way his sentence structure was all choppy, and tenses out of order, and lack of flow to the whole thing made Sammy's "me no speeky english" seem eloquent. BTW, Arod hired Sammy's lawyer from the congressional hearing, and Sammy made a comeback so he must be good. Then to cap it all off, Arod proclaimed "and to my teammates" which clearly(wink wink) overwhelmed him with emotion, as he went silent for 2 minutes, scrunching his face in agony, leaning back in his chair, taking a sip of water, before finally getting out a "thank you". For being such a great baseball player, this guy just cant get out of his own way outside the baseball diamond.
I doubt anyone bought Arod's story, outside of Buster Olney who just seems like he's trying to protect the players and the game. Arod seamlessly avoided answering the majority of the questions, going to the same excuse over and over of him being young, stupid, and naive. He clearly forgot to throw in oblivious. Baseball is seriously lacking a Cal Ripken Jr. type leader to represent and stand up for today's players. Jeter seems like a good choice, but is too quiet and protective of his image to open up too much. Schilling wants to be the voice of the players, but the players just want him to shut up. Baseball is the perfect game, yet has been smeared with controversy throughout it's existence. Nothing in the universe is perfect all the time, so lets just accept the past for what it was, learn from it, and move on.
Arod is still one of my favorite players in the game. I remember him winning the batting title at the age of 21, his three 50 homer seasons, 40-40 season, his gold glove SS play(although he made 2 errors his first game as a Ranger). He never came across as the most intimidating batter to face, considering my brain seizes every time Pujols come to the plate. Still, it is undeniable to me the greatness of Alex Rodriguez, and I dont think it should be to the Hall of Fame as well.
The opening statement from Arod was just humorous. I can imagine all his Yankee teammates and journalist in attendance trying too keep in their laughs and giggles as Alex read his statement. I'm going to assume that Arod knows how to read, though with 500 million dollars you probably don't need to, so I'm guessing that was the first time Arod even looked at that statement prior to presenting it to the world. The way his sentence structure was all choppy, and tenses out of order, and lack of flow to the whole thing made Sammy's "me no speeky english" seem eloquent. BTW, Arod hired Sammy's lawyer from the congressional hearing, and Sammy made a comeback so he must be good. Then to cap it all off, Arod proclaimed "and to my teammates" which clearly(wink wink) overwhelmed him with emotion, as he went silent for 2 minutes, scrunching his face in agony, leaning back in his chair, taking a sip of water, before finally getting out a "thank you". For being such a great baseball player, this guy just cant get out of his own way outside the baseball diamond.
I doubt anyone bought Arod's story, outside of Buster Olney who just seems like he's trying to protect the players and the game. Arod seamlessly avoided answering the majority of the questions, going to the same excuse over and over of him being young, stupid, and naive. He clearly forgot to throw in oblivious. Baseball is seriously lacking a Cal Ripken Jr. type leader to represent and stand up for today's players. Jeter seems like a good choice, but is too quiet and protective of his image to open up too much. Schilling wants to be the voice of the players, but the players just want him to shut up. Baseball is the perfect game, yet has been smeared with controversy throughout it's existence. Nothing in the universe is perfect all the time, so lets just accept the past for what it was, learn from it, and move on.
Arod is still one of my favorite players in the game. I remember him winning the batting title at the age of 21, his three 50 homer seasons, 40-40 season, his gold glove SS play(although he made 2 errors his first game as a Ranger). He never came across as the most intimidating batter to face, considering my brain seizes every time Pujols come to the plate. Still, it is undeniable to me the greatness of Alex Rodriguez, and I dont think it should be to the Hall of Fame as well.
Join My Fantasy League!
Right now I only have us four authors, my brother, David "MVP" Ecketein's and my "friend" that we know through our former RA and someone that goes by the name "CLEE's club" that is also in David MVP's league and I'm not quite sure who. I know you guys said you have friends that would like to join and I have sent invites to them. Please tell them to join the league!
Also, if you are a reader who loves free roto fantasy baseball and are serious about please join my yahoo league. The ID# is 77463 and the password is illinois. Please join!
Also, if you are a reader who loves free roto fantasy baseball and are serious about please join my yahoo league. The ID# is 77463 and the password is illinois. Please join!
Six Free Fantasy Baseball Resources
For some great information and resources to help you draft great in 09:
1. Fangraphs.com -- This website is functional, sortable, useful, statistically encompassing and most importantly, free. If you don't want pay, but want a comparable resource to Baseball Prospectus (which offers a season-long package for $20), this is your website. Everything from the basica sabermetrics -- BABIP, FB/GB, K/9, etc. -- to the advanced - FIP (similar to DIPS), Value Wins (similar to WARP, but based on position), UZR/150 (advanced range stat) -- is available at your fingertips. Fangraphs is complete with a glossary of terms and formulas to help explain their calculations and how to utilize the data effectively.
2. MockDraftCentral.com & ESPN.com's Mock Auction -- The best way to be prepared for something is to have done it in advance. You may want certain players this year, but unless you do a large enough sample size of mock drafts to verify you can get the player at the price and round you value him at, your strategy will fall short of effective. MDC offers free accounts which offer limited access to useful data such as real-time draft reports that analyze who goes where cumulatively (ie, A-Rod's average draft pick position is currently 2.78), while premium accounts give you it all (for $3/month). Despite the 3 drafts per week limits placed on free accounts at MDC, you can draft as many times as you want if you take over AI positions. ESPN.com offers a comparable, but inferior service that is more subject to have draft ditcher mid-mock and also features inferior rankings (based on experts, rather than real-time valuation by drafters)
3. RotoAuthority.com -- Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com puts together useful fantasy information on a daily basis that is free and much better than 90% of the shit written by Y! Sports and ESPN.
4. Google.com -- As ridiculous as this suggestion may sound, I am dead serious when I say "google shit." Do you want to know what the statistically average sustainable level of BABIP for a player is? Do you want to know how to calculate a specific player's future BABIP? If a "power hitter" has a GB/FB of 1.8, will he hit 25 home runs? Google that shit! You'll probably find an answer somewhere. If not, leave a question a forum at Fangraph or some other sabermetrics and fantasyball inclined site and you'll likely find an answer soon.
The answers to those questions, by the way, are:
1) .300
2) LD%+.120, if you want a quick estimate of current BABIP against a player's sustainable BABIP -- ldBABIP, however, can only really analyze past/current measures of BABIP and does not predict future BABIP very well. Look up xBABIP on fangraphs for something more in-depth and predictive.
3) 98% of the time, the answer is no. Expect him to top out around 10-15. Check out this article for more information on BABIP and GB rates.
5. Statistical Resource Guides -- Unsure of which stats consistently correlate highly from season to season? Curious about which scoring categories are more scarce than others? Are you looking for a crash course is basic statistical evaluation of fantasy players? This resource guide to hitters and this one for pitchers should be helpful, courtesy of MVN outsider.
6. My top 12 players list for 2009. Here is who I think should be taken (in order) in round 1 of every mock draft. You'd be wise to agree with me.
1. Hanley Ramirez (SS)
2. Alex Rodriguez (3B)
3. Albert Pujols (1B)
4. Jose Reyes (SS)
5. David Wright (3B)
6. Miguel Cabrera (1B) -- played 14 games at 3B in 2008. Make sure he qualifies at 3B in your league BEFORE you draft him as your 3B
7. Grady Sizemore (OF)
8. Ryan Braun (OF)
9. Ryan Howard (1B)
10. Jimmy Rollins (SS)
11. Chase Utley (2B)
12. Ian Kinsler (2B)
Happy Drafting!
1. Fangraphs.com -- This website is functional, sortable, useful, statistically encompassing and most importantly, free. If you don't want pay, but want a comparable resource to Baseball Prospectus (which offers a season-long package for $20), this is your website. Everything from the basica sabermetrics -- BABIP, FB/GB, K/9, etc. -- to the advanced - FIP (similar to DIPS), Value Wins (similar to WARP, but based on position), UZR/150 (advanced range stat) -- is available at your fingertips. Fangraphs is complete with a glossary of terms and formulas to help explain their calculations and how to utilize the data effectively.
2. MockDraftCentral.com & ESPN.com's Mock Auction -- The best way to be prepared for something is to have done it in advance. You may want certain players this year, but unless you do a large enough sample size of mock drafts to verify you can get the player at the price and round you value him at, your strategy will fall short of effective. MDC offers free accounts which offer limited access to useful data such as real-time draft reports that analyze who goes where cumulatively (ie, A-Rod's average draft pick position is currently 2.78), while premium accounts give you it all (for $3/month). Despite the 3 drafts per week limits placed on free accounts at MDC, you can draft as many times as you want if you take over AI positions. ESPN.com offers a comparable, but inferior service that is more subject to have draft ditcher mid-mock and also features inferior rankings (based on experts, rather than real-time valuation by drafters)
3. RotoAuthority.com -- Tim Dierkes of MLBTradeRumors.com puts together useful fantasy information on a daily basis that is free and much better than 90% of the shit written by Y! Sports and ESPN.
4. Google.com -- As ridiculous as this suggestion may sound, I am dead serious when I say "google shit." Do you want to know what the statistically average sustainable level of BABIP for a player is? Do you want to know how to calculate a specific player's future BABIP? If a "power hitter" has a GB/FB of 1.8, will he hit 25 home runs? Google that shit! You'll probably find an answer somewhere. If not, leave a question a forum at Fangraph or some other sabermetrics and fantasyball inclined site and you'll likely find an answer soon.
The answers to those questions, by the way, are:
1) .300
2) LD%+.120, if you want a quick estimate of current BABIP against a player's sustainable BABIP -- ldBABIP, however, can only really analyze past/current measures of BABIP and does not predict future BABIP very well. Look up xBABIP on fangraphs for something more in-depth and predictive.
3) 98% of the time, the answer is no. Expect him to top out around 10-15. Check out this article for more information on BABIP and GB rates.
5. Statistical Resource Guides -- Unsure of which stats consistently correlate highly from season to season? Curious about which scoring categories are more scarce than others? Are you looking for a crash course is basic statistical evaluation of fantasy players? This resource guide to hitters and this one for pitchers should be helpful, courtesy of MVN outsider.
6. My top 12 players list for 2009. Here is who I think should be taken (in order) in round 1 of every mock draft. You'd be wise to agree with me.
1. Hanley Ramirez (SS)
2. Alex Rodriguez (3B)
3. Albert Pujols (1B)
4. Jose Reyes (SS)
5. David Wright (3B)
6. Miguel Cabrera (1B) -- played 14 games at 3B in 2008. Make sure he qualifies at 3B in your league BEFORE you draft him as your 3B
7. Grady Sizemore (OF)
8. Ryan Braun (OF)
9. Ryan Howard (1B)
10. Jimmy Rollins (SS)
11. Chase Utley (2B)
12. Ian Kinsler (2B)
Happy Drafting!
What happened to Fred Huebner?
Fred Huebner used to be on 670am The Score radio station. Back in December I realized that he wasn’t on during his regular shift of giving the updates during the day. I don’t listen to the radio regularly during the day with school and stuff, so I didn’t think much of it figuring he was on vacation or something. Over the past few months when I occasionally turn into 670 The Score and hear an updates I don’t hear Fred. This has prompted me to look into it and I learned that Fred is no longer with The Score.
Fred started with 670am The Score over 16 years ago with the Score in April of 1992. He started as a producer for the weekend shows, then moved to an update guy, and spent 9 years with the morning show. He spent 5 years as a co-host with Mike Murphy and then 4 years as the update guy or sidekick for The Mike North Show. He was on in the mornings for The Score more then anyone else. He outlived two morning’s host. The replacement’s for Mike North brought in their guy for the updates guy. This bumped Fred to doing updates a shift later during the afternoon. I guess on December 5th was Fred’s last day on the Score.
Does anyone know what happened to Fred? I do not believe he currently has a job so that makes me believe The Score decided it was time to move on.
Fred started with 670am The Score over 16 years ago with the Score in April of 1992. He started as a producer for the weekend shows, then moved to an update guy, and spent 9 years with the morning show. He spent 5 years as a co-host with Mike Murphy and then 4 years as the update guy or sidekick for The Mike North Show. He was on in the mornings for The Score more then anyone else. He outlived two morning’s host. The replacement’s for Mike North brought in their guy for the updates guy. This bumped Fred to doing updates a shift later during the afternoon. I guess on December 5th was Fred’s last day on the Score.
Does anyone know what happened to Fred? I do not believe he currently has a job so that makes me believe The Score decided it was time to move on.
There's No Such Thing As Bear Fighting, Right?
Just throwing this out there, would Michael Vick be a fit for the Chicago Bears? Personally speaking, this Bears offense is not going to be anything special in the next 3 years, so why not take a chance on Michael Vick. He has the rocket arm, though his accuracy rivals the sex cannon. It's unlikely a large market team such as Chicago is would sign a recently incarcerated felon, but winning should be more of a priority than media relations.
The Bears organization seems to be sticking behind Kyle Orton, proclaiming him the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. Yes, Kyle did play reasonably well last year, but his 2008 season was very similar to Grossman's 2006 campaign, without the massive extremes of course. The first half of the season was solid, with 10TD versus 4int. However, the second half was a disaster. Yes, he did have a high ankle sprain, much like Patrick Kane back on New Year's Eve which he has yet to recover from, but if it was that a problem they should have put in, eek, the sex cannon. Ortons's final 8 games featured a 1:1 TD/int ratio, a low 50's% completion percentage, and averaging about 170 yards per game. It didn't help to have Ron Turner calling plays or having Devin Hester as the only wide receiver option or a weak defense that gave up 90 yard drives like they were going through the I-Pass lane. Orton is not the option!
If Jerry Angelo doesn't have the stones to go after Vick, Jeff Garcia would give the Bears a better chance to compete next year. I believe Derrek Anderson would be an upgrade and expect him to rebound next year for whatever team he is on. Obviously, the QB isnt the sole problem child on the Bears roster, but let's not forget about it due to all the other deficiencies this team has.
Who do you want starting for the Bears at QB?
The Bears organization seems to be sticking behind Kyle Orton, proclaiming him the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. Yes, Kyle did play reasonably well last year, but his 2008 season was very similar to Grossman's 2006 campaign, without the massive extremes of course. The first half of the season was solid, with 10TD versus 4int. However, the second half was a disaster. Yes, he did have a high ankle sprain, much like Patrick Kane back on New Year's Eve which he has yet to recover from, but if it was that a problem they should have put in, eek, the sex cannon. Ortons's final 8 games featured a 1:1 TD/int ratio, a low 50's% completion percentage, and averaging about 170 yards per game. It didn't help to have Ron Turner calling plays or having Devin Hester as the only wide receiver option or a weak defense that gave up 90 yard drives like they were going through the I-Pass lane. Orton is not the option!
If Jerry Angelo doesn't have the stones to go after Vick, Jeff Garcia would give the Bears a better chance to compete next year. I believe Derrek Anderson would be an upgrade and expect him to rebound next year for whatever team he is on. Obviously, the QB isnt the sole problem child on the Bears roster, but let's not forget about it due to all the other deficiencies this team has.
Who do you want starting for the Bears at QB?
NBA All Star Break
The NBA All Star break is upon us! Friday is the start of all star festivities with the Rookie challenge. Saturday is the Shooting Stars, Skills Challenge, Three Point shootout, and the Slam Dunk Contest. Sunday is the 58th NBA all star game.
The Bulls have one player in the Rookie challenge with Derrick Rose playing for the rookies. The other players for the rookie team are: Michael Beasley, Rudy Fernandez, Marc Gasol, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, O.J. Mayo, Greg Oden, Derrick Rose, and Russell Westbrook. Last year the sophomore team beat the rookie team. I think this year’s sophomore team (made of many of the same players as last year’s rookie team) will loose again. This year’s rookies have a lot more talent than the sophomore class so we will see how they will stack up. The sophomore team is made up of: Aaron Brooks, Wilson Chandler, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Al Horford, Luis Scola, Al Thornton, Rodney Stuckey, and Thaddeus Young. Who do you think will win?
Saturday is the Shooting Stars contest which is made up of teams representing a few different cities. These teams are made up of a current NBA player, WNBA player, and a retired NBA player. In the past Chicago has had a team representing them. This year they do not! Does anyone know why we don’t have representation? Last year the Chicago team made it to the semifinals where they lost. The four teams this year are San Antonio, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
The Skills challenge is made up of four point guards who show off their ball handling ability. The Chicago Bulls will have Derrick Rose playing. He is competing against Devin Harris, Tony Parker, and Mo Williams (replacing injured Jameer Nelson). This should be fun to watch, but I feel like last year’s competitor’s was probably a stronger group of Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Dwyane Wade, and Deron Williams. Who do you think will win? My money is on Rose, but I am biased.
The three point shootout is made up of six players. Jason Kapono tries to become the first players to win the 3-point shootout since Craig Hodges did it from 1990 to 1992. I think Kapono will win it for the third consecutive time. Rashard Lewis and ex-bull Roger Mason Jr. may make it hard for him. Who do you think will win?
The Slam dunk contest is made up of four players and two of them won it before. Dwight Howard won it last year and is going to defend his title. Nate Robinson won it in 2006. Nate Robinson is the shortest of the competitors’ at 5-9. This makes all of his dunk’s look better because he has to get more elevation and jump higher. The others are 6-11 and Howard is the tallest at 6-11 so he makes it look so easy. I think Howard will win it again, but J.R. Smith will make things interesting. Who do you think will win?
The Bulls have no one in the NBA all star game. I would like to see the east win it. Who do you thin will win?
The Bulls have one player in the Rookie challenge with Derrick Rose playing for the rookies. The other players for the rookie team are: Michael Beasley, Rudy Fernandez, Marc Gasol, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, O.J. Mayo, Greg Oden, Derrick Rose, and Russell Westbrook. Last year the sophomore team beat the rookie team. I think this year’s sophomore team (made of many of the same players as last year’s rookie team) will loose again. This year’s rookies have a lot more talent than the sophomore class so we will see how they will stack up. The sophomore team is made up of: Aaron Brooks, Wilson Chandler, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Al Horford, Luis Scola, Al Thornton, Rodney Stuckey, and Thaddeus Young. Who do you think will win?
Saturday is the Shooting Stars contest which is made up of teams representing a few different cities. These teams are made up of a current NBA player, WNBA player, and a retired NBA player. In the past Chicago has had a team representing them. This year they do not! Does anyone know why we don’t have representation? Last year the Chicago team made it to the semifinals where they lost. The four teams this year are San Antonio, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.
The Skills challenge is made up of four point guards who show off their ball handling ability. The Chicago Bulls will have Derrick Rose playing. He is competing against Devin Harris, Tony Parker, and Mo Williams (replacing injured Jameer Nelson). This should be fun to watch, but I feel like last year’s competitor’s was probably a stronger group of Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Dwyane Wade, and Deron Williams. Who do you think will win? My money is on Rose, but I am biased.
The three point shootout is made up of six players. Jason Kapono tries to become the first players to win the 3-point shootout since Craig Hodges did it from 1990 to 1992. I think Kapono will win it for the third consecutive time. Rashard Lewis and ex-bull Roger Mason Jr. may make it hard for him. Who do you think will win?
The Slam dunk contest is made up of four players and two of them won it before. Dwight Howard won it last year and is going to defend his title. Nate Robinson won it in 2006. Nate Robinson is the shortest of the competitors’ at 5-9. This makes all of his dunk’s look better because he has to get more elevation and jump higher. The others are 6-11 and Howard is the tallest at 6-11 so he makes it look so easy. I think Howard will win it again, but J.R. Smith will make things interesting. Who do you think will win?
The Bulls have no one in the NBA all star game. I would like to see the east win it. Who do you thin will win?
Cubs Spring Training is here!
The Chicago Cubs start spring training today! I have waited for this day since the season abruptly ended. Pitchers and catchers report today. A few players came early arriving yesterday including: Ken Kadokura, Chad Gaudin, Kevin Gregg, Jeff Samardzija, Neal Cotts, Kevin Hart, Randy Wells, Geovany Soto, Koyie Hill, Jake Fox, and Wellington Castillo. All of the pitcher’s that came early have something to prove by battling for a spot in the bullpen or hoping to be a starter, except Kevin Gregg who should be the setup man for closer Carlso Marmol. Now with spring training here we should slowly start learning more about the 2009 Chicago Cubs. Between me and some of the other obsessed Cubs fans here on this blog, we should have complete coverage of the Chicago Cubs! So stay tuned for a lot of Cubs coverage.
Bobby Crosby's Offense "McGwire-itized"
According to MLB.com, Bobby Crosby spent the winter "improving his game" by learning to hit better with none other than former Athletic Mark McGwire. Or, as Crosby puts it:
Crosby's career ISO: .141
McGwire's career ISO: .325
"While trying to explain the changes he'd made in both his stance and swing, [Bobby] Crosby essentially said his approach has been McGwire-itized"Guess that mean's he's on steroids now.
[Crosby's new] stance now features a version of McGwire's distinctive crouch, the swing resembling the compact stoke that helped McGwire hit 583 home runs.Only 528 more dingers to go!
Crosby's career ISO: .141
McGwire's career ISO: .325
Fantasy Baseball Anyone?
Baseball Season starts In April, but Fantasy baseball registration starts soon. Fantasy baseball is my favorite fantasy sport so I can’t wait to start drafting! Were looking to form some leagues so if you like fantasy baseball and take it seriously, please let us know.
The Cubs Graveyard
Following up on my theory that all washed up Cubs end up in Baltimore or Cincinnati, The "Bright" One and I decided to assemble a 25-man roster of ex-Cubs who have been on either the Reds or O's in just the last five years (2004 and on).
C - Robert Machado (O)
C - Paul Bako (R)
1B - Rafael Palmeiro (O)
2B - Freddie Bynum (O)
SS - Cesar Izturis (O)
3B - Alex Cintron (O)
OF - Felix Pie (O)
OF - Sammy Sosa (O)
OF - Jerry Harriston Jr. (O/R)
OF - Corey Patterson (O/R)
OF - Gary Matthews Jr. (O)
OF - Jacque Jones (R)
INF - Daryle Ward (R)
INF - Brendan Harris (O)
SP - Rich Hill (O)
SP - Steve Trachsel (O)
SP - Kyle Lohse (R)
SP - Todd Van Poppel (R)
RP - LaTroy Hawkins (O)
RP - Rocky Cherry (O)
RP - Phil Norton (R)
RP - Jon Leicester (O)
RP - Kent Mercker (O)
CL - David Weathers (R)
So far, we've got a 24 man roster short 1 SP. Bonus points if anyone can find a SP prospect the Cubs either dealt out or was released and then signed by the O's/Reds.
C - Robert Machado (O)
C - Paul Bako (R)
1B - Rafael Palmeiro (O)
2B - Freddie Bynum (O)
SS - Cesar Izturis (O)
3B - Alex Cintron (O)
OF - Felix Pie (O)
OF - Sammy Sosa (O)
OF - Jerry Harriston Jr. (O/R)
OF - Corey Patterson (O/R)
OF - Gary Matthews Jr. (O)
OF - Jacque Jones (R)
INF - Daryle Ward (R)
INF - Brendan Harris (O)
SP - Rich Hill (O)
SP - Steve Trachsel (O)
SP - Kyle Lohse (R)
SP - Todd Van Poppel (R)
RP - LaTroy Hawkins (O)
RP - Rocky Cherry (O)
RP - Phil Norton (R)
RP - Jon Leicester (O)
RP - Kent Mercker (O)
CL - David Weathers (R)
So far, we've got a 24 man roster short 1 SP. Bonus points if anyone can find a SP prospect the Cubs either dealt out or was released and then signed by the O's/Reds.
The Worst Time of the Year
Right now, baseball season hasn't started yet and the Super Bowl has recently ended. That means there's no football and no baseball. That also means no fantasy sports! Ugh, What am I going to watch now!? I think I'm going to actually have to start doing my homework. Shit.
Baker likes ex-Cubs
Dusty Baker went to Cincinnati last year. This was his first managerial job after parting ways with the Cubs. He decided to bring some of the ex-Cubs who we didn’t miss in Chicago. For his first season he brought Corey Patterson Paul Bako, and Jerry Hariston Jr.
Corey Patterson signed a minor league contract and made the club out of spring training where he batted 293 with a 341 OBP in 14 games and 41 at-bats. He always plays a gold glove center field. Dusty Baker was so impressed he made him the everyday center fielder where he rewarded Dusty for making a good decision by batting .205 with a .238 OBP, 17 doubles, 10 homeruns, and 14 stolen bases in a whopping 366 at bats over 135 games. Why did he get so much playing time with those numbers when some of the young outfielder they have could have been playing?
Dusty didn’t have a good option at catcher. He had David Ross, Javier Valentin (who can rake), and ex-Cub Paul Bako (now curr ent Cub). He gave the majority of the playing time to………….the ex-Cub in Paul Bako. Bako led all Reds in as-bats with 299 in 99 games while batting .217 with 6 homeruns, 30 runs scored, and 35 RBI’s. David Ross got the next most playing time at catcher in 52 games and 134 at-bats with three homeruns, 13 RBI’s, and batted .231. Javier Valentin played in 94 games with 194 at-bats while being the biggest threat at the plate with his .256 average, but he is a terrible defensive catcher. David Ross and Paul Bako are both pretty similar as defensive catcher’s, but Dusty choose to play his former Cub Bako!
Jerry Hariston did have a good year so I can’t fault Dusty on playing him. I can only fault him for not playing him more. Hariston can play centerfield and he should have played him over Patterson! Hariston batted 326 with 6 homers and 36 RBI’s in 261 at-bats.
This year they decided to bring two ex-Cubs in Jacque Jones and Darlye Ward. Jones was released twice last year by the Tigers and Marlins. He batted a combined .147/.239/.207 in 134 plate appearances for both clubs. Jones had laser eye surgery and played winter ball. I guess they think he can rebound since he can see the ball. Ward is a decent bat off the bench who had a down year last year. He batted 216/.319/.402 in 119 plate appearances for the Cubs last season. Signing Ward isn’t as bad as thinking Jones has anything left in the tank. The sad thing is there are many better free agents still available. We will see how these moves pay off!
Corey Patterson signed a minor league contract and made the club out of spring training where he batted 293 with a 341 OBP in 14 games and 41 at-bats. He always plays a gold glove center field. Dusty Baker was so impressed he made him the everyday center fielder where he rewarded Dusty for making a good decision by batting .205 with a .238 OBP, 17 doubles, 10 homeruns, and 14 stolen bases in a whopping 366 at bats over 135 games. Why did he get so much playing time with those numbers when some of the young outfielder they have could have been playing?
Dusty didn’t have a good option at catcher. He had David Ross, Javier Valentin (who can rake), and ex-Cub Paul Bako (now curr ent Cub). He gave the majority of the playing time to………….the ex-Cub in Paul Bako. Bako led all Reds in as-bats with 299 in 99 games while batting .217 with 6 homeruns, 30 runs scored, and 35 RBI’s. David Ross got the next most playing time at catcher in 52 games and 134 at-bats with three homeruns, 13 RBI’s, and batted .231. Javier Valentin played in 94 games with 194 at-bats while being the biggest threat at the plate with his .256 average, but he is a terrible defensive catcher. David Ross and Paul Bako are both pretty similar as defensive catcher’s, but Dusty choose to play his former Cub Bako!
Jerry Hariston did have a good year so I can’t fault Dusty on playing him. I can only fault him for not playing him more. Hariston can play centerfield and he should have played him over Patterson! Hariston batted 326 with 6 homers and 36 RBI’s in 261 at-bats.
This year they decided to bring two ex-Cubs in Jacque Jones and Darlye Ward. Jones was released twice last year by the Tigers and Marlins. He batted a combined .147/.239/.207 in 134 plate appearances for both clubs. Jones had laser eye surgery and played winter ball. I guess they think he can rebound since he can see the ball. Ward is a decent bat off the bench who had a down year last year. He batted 216/.319/.402 in 119 plate appearances for the Cubs last season. Signing Ward isn’t as bad as thinking Jones has anything left in the tank. The sad thing is there are many better free agents still available. We will see how these moves pay off!
Is Kurt Warner a Hall of Famer?
This was a question I had to hear all the time during the two weeks ESPN had to air something football before the 2009 Super Bowl. I never bothered to really investigate for myself, until now. Here's some of Warner's stats:
4th all time in Passer Rating
5th all time in YPA
40th all time in TDs
79th all time in INT
3rd all time in Adj YD/Pass Attempt
3rd all time in Net YD/Pass Attempt
3rd all time in Passes Completed Per Game
2nd all time in Pass Completion %
38th all time in YRDS
10th all time in Pass Attempt/Game
3rd all time in Pass Completed/Game
4 Pro Bowls and Twice Stating
2 MVPs
3 SB appearance (2 different teams. Rams and Cardinals)
1 SB Win/ MVP
So is he a Hall of Famer? Abso-fucking-lutely! In fact, Kurt Warner is one of the greatest of all time! Besides for the "fantasy stats" in which Favre is #1, Warner beats Favre in essentially all other stats, especially in the important ones like YPA, Comp %, and Passer Rating. Also Warner's 1.60 TD/INT ratio is better than Favre's 1.50. In fact, it is my opinion that Warner is better than Favre. Who the fuck is so retarded to make this debate of whether or not he's in the HOF; He's not even borderline, he should be a fucking lock! Oh right, it's ESPN. Stupid fucking ESPN.
4th all time in Passer Rating
5th all time in YPA
40th all time in TDs
79th all time in INT
3rd all time in Adj YD/Pass Attempt
3rd all time in Net YD/Pass Attempt
3rd all time in Passes Completed Per Game
2nd all time in Pass Completion %
38th all time in YRDS
10th all time in Pass Attempt/Game
3rd all time in Pass Completed/Game
4 Pro Bowls and Twice Stating
2 MVPs
3 SB appearance (2 different teams. Rams and Cardinals)
1 SB Win/ MVP
So is he a Hall of Famer? Abso-fucking-lutely! In fact, Kurt Warner is one of the greatest of all time! Besides for the "fantasy stats" in which Favre is #1, Warner beats Favre in essentially all other stats, especially in the important ones like YPA, Comp %, and Passer Rating. Also Warner's 1.60 TD/INT ratio is better than Favre's 1.50. In fact, it is my opinion that Warner is better than Favre. Who the fuck is so retarded to make this debate of whether or not he's in the HOF; He's not even borderline, he should be a fucking lock! Oh right, it's ESPN. Stupid fucking ESPN.
Why Is Brett Favre Not Considered The Best Ever?
Yes, I realize Brett Favre "retired" which means he's going to come back soon, if not next year and thus skew his stats, but as of right now Brett holds the #1 spot in most statistical categories. Yet, when you ask essentially all sports analysts, they do not put Brett is the best QB of all time. What? If Brett is statistically the best ever, they why is not considered the best ever? If a baseball player had the best BA, OBS, SLG, HR, and (thus) OPS of all time, then he would be considered the best ever (assuming no steroids of course). But why is is not the same in football?
The main reason analysts give is that Brett only went to two Superbowls and only won one. Even though he has three MVPs (only one of two players to do this), his lone Superbowl win hurts his "all-time" ranking. My problem with this reasoning is that the QB is not the only factor in determining Superbowl winning teams. There are such things as a defense and linemen. So while Brett certainly helped his team win playoffs games and regular season games, it's NOT all on him to win Superbowls.
Brett is an extremely mobile quarterback who has the ability to make something out of nothing, the ability to throw the accurate long ball and the accurate short pass. He is an iron man and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet (so I've heard). So let's take a look at his stats, all of them, to see maybe why he's not the best ever.
Favre is first all time in YDS, TD, Games Started, WINS, Pass Attempts, Pass Completions, and of course INT. Being first in YRDS, TD, Pass Completions and Games Started should give a guy the best all time label right there right? I mean, yes we threw a lot on INTS as well, but still being first in all those other stats should give him the best QB ever.
Here's some other stats Brett has done well in. He's 9th all time YDS/Game, 4th all time is Pass Att/Game, 5th all time in playoff games started and 5th all time in Passes Completed/ Game. He has been to 10 pro bowls and three times was the first string. He also has 3 consecutive MVPs, something no one else has.
But it's when you take a look at some more stats that you start to see the entire Brett Favre picture: Favre is 78th all time in YPA, 190th in YDS/Completion, 26th in Net YPA, 17th in Pass Completion Percentage, 23rd in Adj Net YPA, and 20th in Passer Rating. I also remember reading an article on ESPN.com a few years ago saying Brett has just an above average DVOA. He has was also 2nd all time in fumbles lost and 5th all time is SACKS. It's these statistics here that you see Brett was really only a mediocre QB who ended up playing a shit ton of games. And THIS is why Favre eneded up being #1 in all those other statistics.
Now I still have massive respect for Brett Favre and I think he is most certainly top ten if not top five greatest QBs of all time. But I say this despite his Superbowls (or lack thereof).
My main problem I guess is ESPN telling us that Brett is Numero Uno in all these "Major Categories" yet still saying he's not number one of all time. It's like saying a player is the best in standard fantasy leagues therefore he's the best of all time. It also means my analogy in the beginning is a little bit off. What I guess was meant to say was that, "Imagine a baseball player has the best BA, SB, HR, RBI, and R of all time, is he the best ever" That's essentially what ESPN is saying about Brett Favre and it's a false comparison to make and is extremely misleading. And of course not true.
So like many of my articles before, fuck you ESPN and you're reasoning!
The main reason analysts give is that Brett only went to two Superbowls and only won one. Even though he has three MVPs (only one of two players to do this), his lone Superbowl win hurts his "all-time" ranking. My problem with this reasoning is that the QB is not the only factor in determining Superbowl winning teams. There are such things as a defense and linemen. So while Brett certainly helped his team win playoffs games and regular season games, it's NOT all on him to win Superbowls.
Brett is an extremely mobile quarterback who has the ability to make something out of nothing, the ability to throw the accurate long ball and the accurate short pass. He is an iron man and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet (so I've heard). So let's take a look at his stats, all of them, to see maybe why he's not the best ever.
Favre is first all time in YDS, TD, Games Started, WINS, Pass Attempts, Pass Completions, and of course INT. Being first in YRDS, TD, Pass Completions and Games Started should give a guy the best all time label right there right? I mean, yes we threw a lot on INTS as well, but still being first in all those other stats should give him the best QB ever.
Here's some other stats Brett has done well in. He's 9th all time YDS/Game, 4th all time is Pass Att/Game, 5th all time in playoff games started and 5th all time in Passes Completed/ Game. He has been to 10 pro bowls and three times was the first string. He also has 3 consecutive MVPs, something no one else has.
But it's when you take a look at some more stats that you start to see the entire Brett Favre picture: Favre is 78th all time in YPA, 190th in YDS/Completion, 26th in Net YPA, 17th in Pass Completion Percentage, 23rd in Adj Net YPA, and 20th in Passer Rating. I also remember reading an article on ESPN.com a few years ago saying Brett has just an above average DVOA. He has was also 2nd all time in fumbles lost and 5th all time is SACKS. It's these statistics here that you see Brett was really only a mediocre QB who ended up playing a shit ton of games. And THIS is why Favre eneded up being #1 in all those other statistics.
Now I still have massive respect for Brett Favre and I think he is most certainly top ten if not top five greatest QBs of all time. But I say this despite his Superbowls (or lack thereof).
My main problem I guess is ESPN telling us that Brett is Numero Uno in all these "Major Categories" yet still saying he's not number one of all time. It's like saying a player is the best in standard fantasy leagues therefore he's the best of all time. It also means my analogy in the beginning is a little bit off. What I guess was meant to say was that, "Imagine a baseball player has the best BA, SB, HR, RBI, and R of all time, is he the best ever" That's essentially what ESPN is saying about Brett Favre and it's a false comparison to make and is extremely misleading. And of course not true.
So like many of my articles before, fuck you ESPN and you're reasoning!
The Washington Monopoly
EDIT: The Nationals also signed Corey Patterson to a minor league deal.
___________
Is it me, or are the Washington Nationals trying to corner the OF market and gain tons of trade leverage in 2009? They already had a glutton of OFs going into the offseason with Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, Austin Kearns, Willie Harris and Wily Mo Pena.
Then they traded for Josh Willingham, giving them six players for four available positions. The Nationals weren't done yet. They also made a failed run Milton Bradley.
Now, with spring training on the horizon, the Nationals have inked Adam Dunn to a two-year deal. While I'm sure Dunn will probably play first instead of left, minimizing his defensive damage, you have to wonder if the Nationals are just trying to stockpile "bargain players" -- ie, Ray Durham for $500,000 -- at this point in the game to use as trade chips for prospects come midseason.
Then again, maybe this is all just part of the government's bailout plan for the unemployable.
___________
Is it me, or are the Washington Nationals trying to corner the OF market and gain tons of trade leverage in 2009? They already had a glutton of OFs going into the offseason with Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, Austin Kearns, Willie Harris and Wily Mo Pena.
Then they traded for Josh Willingham, giving them six players for four available positions. The Nationals weren't done yet. They also made a failed run Milton Bradley.
Now, with spring training on the horizon, the Nationals have inked Adam Dunn to a two-year deal. While I'm sure Dunn will probably play first instead of left, minimizing his defensive damage, you have to wonder if the Nationals are just trying to stockpile "bargain players" -- ie, Ray Durham for $500,000 -- at this point in the game to use as trade chips for prospects come midseason.
Then again, maybe this is all just part of the government's bailout plan for the unemployable.
Favre is retiring...Seriously this time...Stop laughing
It's official, the melodrama that is the Brett Favre retirement watch is back on. Just when you thought ESPN would give you a 2 week break from football between the super bowl and the combine, Favre decided to ruin it for everyone. Every sports show will now debate whether Favre is serious this time, whether he's gonna back out at the last second, will he go back to the packers, the bears, the lions. Tre Wingo is the happiest person in the world right now.
Honestly speaking, I do think this is the end of the road for 3-time NFl MVP. 3 of the last 4 years have been pretty dismal, with QB ratings in the 70's, excluding the magical 2007 packers team. His consecutive games streak will live on, his legacy in tact, his gunslinger reputation preceding him.
ESPN Jerks Off A-Rod
Not only is this the name of my fantasy baseball league two/three years ago but I can not turn on any ESPN channel without "extensive" coverage of A-Rod and his steroids scandal. I understand this is absolutely huge news that one of the greatest baseball players ever took steroids but seriously, there's other fucking news going on!? Jesus fucking Christ, I'm sick and tired and hearing every sports journalist saying teh exact fucking thing.
Also, as of now, I'm saying A-Rod is a Hall of Famer. I appreciate his immediate admittance of his usage and think about this: baseball said everyone in like the early 2000's must take a steroid test just to see how widespread steroid usage was. This was supposed to be confidential and just was supposed to be for research purpose only. So why was there a baseball player's name attached to a fucking pee test!? What assholes.
Also, A-Rod, why the FUCK, being as good as you were, feel the need to take 'roids!? You would have been fucking amazing no matter what! You are also an asshole and you let me down.
Albert Pujols, you better be fucking clean you Hispanic asshole!
Also, as of now, I'm saying A-Rod is a Hall of Famer. I appreciate his immediate admittance of his usage and think about this: baseball said everyone in like the early 2000's must take a steroid test just to see how widespread steroid usage was. This was supposed to be confidential and just was supposed to be for research purpose only. So why was there a baseball player's name attached to a fucking pee test!? What assholes.
Also, A-Rod, why the FUCK, being as good as you were, feel the need to take 'roids!? You would have been fucking amazing no matter what! You are also an asshole and you let me down.
Albert Pujols, you better be fucking clean you Hispanic asshole!
I guess we can cancel the baseball season now
Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus has come out with his win-loss predictions for the upcoming season. Considering he was dead on the money in predicting electoral college votes during the national election, I think we can simply bypass the regular season and jump straight into the division series. Looks like it will be the Braves sweeping the Cubs this year
American League, ranked by projected 2009 record
| East | W | L | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ||||
| Boston Red Sox | 98 | 64 | 864 | 684 | .269 | .347 | .433 | ||||
| New York Yankees | 97 | 65 | 838 | 674 | .267 | .341 | .424 | ||||
| Tampa Bay Rays | 92 | 70 | 838 | 715 | .256 | .338 | .421 | ||||
| Toronto Blue Jays | 81 | 81 | 730 | 692 | .254 | .319 | .403 | ||||
| Baltimore Orioles | 76 | 86 | 858 | 898 | .269 | .338 | .435 | ||||
| Central | W | L | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ||||
| Cleveland Indians | 84 | 78 | 824 | 819 | .260 | .337 | .423 | ||||
| Minnesota Twins | 79 | 83 | 769 | 802 | .266 | .329 | .397 | ||||
| Detroit Tigers | 78 | 84 | 796 | 844 | .259 | .329 | .425 | ||||
| Kansas City Royals | 75 | 87 | 747 | 813 | .263 | .323 | .407 | ||||
| Chicago White Sox | 74 | 88 | 763 | 839 | .250 | .319 | .419 | ||||
| West | W | L | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ||||
| Oakland Athletics | 82 | 80 | 799 | 798 | .251 | .335 | .410 | ||||
| Los Angeles Angels | 79 | 83 | 738 | 758 | .258 | .319 | .403 | ||||
| Texas Rangers | 73 | 89 | 812 | 912 | .263 | .328 | .432 | ||||
| Seattle Mariners | 70 | 92 | 725 | 835 | .260 | .318 | .403 |
National League, ranked by projected 2009 record
| East | W | L | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ||||||
| New York Mets | 93 | 69 | 833 | 713 | .264 | .339 | .417 | ||||||
| Atlanta Braves | 88 | 74 | 818 | 742 | .271 | .342 | .416 | ||||||
| Philadelphia Phillies | 88 | 74 | 837 | 756 | .264 | .337 | .431 | ||||||
| Washington Nationals | 77 | 85 | 780 | 808 | .261 | .335 | .410 | ||||||
| Florida Marlins | 74 | 88 | 767 | 819 | .253 | .325 | .423 | ||||||
| Central | W | L | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ||||||
| Chicago Cubs | 95 | 67 | 865 | 751 | .271 | .346 | .433 | ||||||
| Milwaukee Brewers | 83 | 79 | 822 | 808 | .260 | .334 | .434 | ||||||
| St. Louis Cardinals | 80 | 82 | 776 | 784 | .257 | .330 | .420 | ||||||
| Cincinnati Reds | 79 | 83 | 779 | 798 | .263 | .329 | .416 | ||||||
| Houston Astros | 66 | 96 | 708 | 851 | .256 | .318 | .404 | ||||||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 65 | 97 | 719 | 887 | .255 | .321 | .406 | ||||||
| West | W | L | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ||||||
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 90 | 72 | 816 | 733 | .261 | .334 | .432 | ||||||
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 84 | 78 | 760 | 741 | .265 | .331 | .397 | ||||||
| San Francisco Giants | 79 | 83 | 703 | 718 | .262 | .319 | .399 | ||||||
| Colorado Rockies | 78 | 84 | 827 | 862 | .266 | .340 | .431 | ||||||
| San Diego Padres | 74 | 88 | 706 | 763 | .251 | .324 | .399 |
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