Kalapse

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 28, 2010 -> 11:56 AM) He wasn't bad last year though .278/.327/.390/.717 is bad, especially for a first baseman. His wOBA was only 0.008 points higher than Omar Vizquel's.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 11:47 PM) What game was this? And give me Pedro's game 5 masterpiece against arguably the most devestating offense of the modern era in '99 over any single-game performance ever. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SD...200107180.shtml

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 09:24 PM) Yea Wood easily should have had a no-hitter. I was stunned that wasn't an error. I would still say Buehrle's perfect game was much more impressive though. It's a freaking perfect game for christ sake. If it wasn't for the catch, Buehrle actually had every other hitter not hit (or no ball was really hit hard at all) him well that whole game. TB's offense was one of the best as well. Someone mentioned Buehrle's no-hitter against Texas. That was impressive too with Texas' offense. (they had Tex at that time too) But Mark needed alot of help defensively that game. That Astros team finished with the highest runs/game and OPS+ in the NL in '98 and the only baserunners were a guy who was hit 285 times in his career doing what he does best and a pretty weak grounder to third. Only 8 times did the Astros put the ball in play that day, that's f***ing dominance.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 08:24 PM) He hit a batter too. Can't remember who. Yeah, shockingly it was Biggio.

Mark my words: this will not end well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 07:59 PM) There have been something like 15 perfect games and one 20 strikeout game in baseball history. You can make a pretty good case for Wood. Actually, there have been 5 20+ K games, 4 of them in 9 innings (the other was 16 IP), 2 by Clemens, 1 by Wood and 1 by Johnson. Wood's outing was exponentially more impressive than Buehrle's. Not only did Wood K 20 in that game but the only baserunner came off a fairly routine groundball to third that Kevin Orie couldn't corral, it really should have been an error. Not only that but he had to go through Craig Biggio, Derek Bell, Moises Alou and Jeff Bagwell to get it done. It's arguably the most dominant performance in baseball history.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 05:45 PM) Torri does make nice catches though. It's not his range that's bad, it's his arm. That's why his UZR is usually mediocre. UZR doesn't take into account a player's arm.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) Feliz? He's not going to sniff AAA. Hunter and Harrison are also on the opening day roster. Right now it looks like Feliz will begin the year in the Rangers' pen.

From Merkin 4 minutes ago, take from it what you like:

Only 1 full time 2 hole hitter cracked 100 RBI last year and he was hitting behind Marco Scutaro and his .380 OBP.

Except Hanley's only an average defender at this point where there really isn't a single thing that Chase Utley isn't very good at. Utley is one of the best pure baserunners in baseball regardless of speed. Just keeping it real simple: over the past 3 years Chase is 46 for 49 in SB attempts (96%) and has been picked off only once and it was a POCS. He was also #2 in BP's Equivalent Base Running Runs which measures the number of runs contributed by a player's advancement on the bases. Over the last 3 years Chase is actually a 6.0 in speed score where as Hanley is a 6.1. Over the past 3 years Chase Utley leads all players at all positions in UZR/150 at 17.6, #2 is Ryan Zimmerman at 14.6. Over the past 3 years he's 7th in baseball in wOBA behind Pujols, Chipper, a guy who played the majority of his games at Coors, a known roider, Teixeira and Hanley and he's only 0.005 points behind Hanley.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 06:51 PM) Beckham slugged .700 against changeups? Man, it amazes me the statistical information that is available today. I'm a little worried about all the national recognition/love Beckham has been getting. I guess I'm just not used to one of our guys getting so much hype. It just lends credence to all the "National Star" talk of the offseason, there's little doubt in my mind that if he does live up to potential he's going to be a pretty big name in the game.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:27 PM) Uh, let me think about that. NO. It means you also work on your pitch location and you do try to get guys out and not just throw fastballs. Dear god, they work on everything. Some guys just throw pitches in one section of the zone for 2 innings trying to put all their pitches where they want them to go. Some guys throw only 1 pitch for an entire outing trying to work on location and arm slot (the Maddux special). Like the Wikipedia article said: it's practice and that's exactly what they're doing, practicing throwing a baseball at a glove in a variety of ways. You can believe whatever you want I suppose but if you ever get the opportunity to speak to a major league veteran who's been through plenty of spring trainings they tell you just this; you don't always worry about getting guys out because in the end it doesn't matter, all that matters is that their mechanics ans stamina are in order for opening day, a lot of times this entails not worrying about the count or what pitch a particular batter hits well but being able to repeat your mechanics and find your proper arm slot on a 33 degree day in mid April. So players don't use entire spring outings to work on a single pitch, throwing it for greater than 80% of their total pitches yet the best starter on the Sox's staff did just that a week ago. Right.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:20 PM) Spring training From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to audition for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many college students. Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in mid February and running until just before the season opening day (and often right at the end of spring training, some teams will play spring training games on the same day other teams have opening day of the season), traditionally the first week of April. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training first because pitchers benefit from a longer training period due to the exhaustive nature of the position. A week or two later, the position players arrive and team practice begins. I think I get it, when you practice as a pitcher you don't throw batting practice with only a week left before the Regular Season. No one in our starting rotation is auditioning for anything, these are veteran starters trying to get their arms and brains prepped for regular season games not minor leaguers battling for their baseball lives. That's why Jake Peavy is throwing nothing but fastballs against the Royals. Practice time = working on mechanics and getting a feel for competitive baseball not battling to get people out in meaningless games. If Peavy's comments about his outing against the Royals didn't convince you that spring games are basically glorified side sessions then nothing will I suppose.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:18 PM) It's this offense that is worrying me. You should have been worried about the offense before spring training even started and even if you do put stock into Spring performance; 2 of the biggest question marks in the lineup have been our 2 most productive players.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:09 PM) Is it just me or is the whole starting rotation like pitching batting practice this week? I swear everytime I see the box score this week they are getting shelled. You just really don't get Spring Training now do you?

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 01:40 PM) Ugh, but god, say he is batting capably, moving Q to DH and then Andruw to CF just screams injury. It also screams Q losing his mind on the bench with his only respite from the disparaging voice in his head being the 4 or 5 PA he'd get per game. He'd be bat s*** crazy by week 3 of the experiment. It also leaves Juan Pierre and his league-worst arm in left field which does not please me in the least but then again if you move Pierre to DH who becomes the starting LF? Quentin? He was a pretty awful defender out there and we are kind of banking on him going back to his plus defender days with a move back to his natural position of RF. Rios? He's an elite defensive RF with a plus bordering on elite arm, seems as though that would be wasted in LF especially with Quentin and his mediocre arm in right field. Jones? If he really is the best defensive CF on the team why would you put him in a corner OF position? And besides; I don't think Ozzie would do that to him anyway, he's not going to put a 14 year vet with 10 GG to his name in a position other than the one that he was playing super elite defense at only 3 years ago. I suppose what would really happen would be a rotating OF with Pierre and Quentin getting the majority of the games at DH, Jones picking up a few as well and the 4 of them rotating between OF spots depending upon personnel. I also agree that he's a tremendous injury risk especially playing a near full time role in the outfield. That's why I wouldn't even attempt it for the first month or 2, rushing him out there would just be asking for trouble. Yeesh, this would just open up a whole new can of worms.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 01:21 PM) stop making me nauseous Well, it depends. I don't like the idea of rushing him out there, giving him 4-5 starts in the outfield a week right away, there's just too many factors working against him right now. But if he's eased into the role a bit there's good reason to believe that he could still be an above average defender in center even if he's not able to move as he used to. As qwerty said a few days ago he was never the fastest CF in the game yet he was the best and arguably the best ever, his defensive prowess was largely due to his immaculate reads this isn't something that fades with declining physical ability and CF at the Cell isn't exactly cavernous, not a ton of ground to cover out there. It's crazy to think of but since Rowand left in '05 this team has struggled to find a player that could give them above average defense and decent offensive production in CF and right now we might have 2 guys that fit the bill.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 01:13 PM) Quite bold considering if Jenks went on the DL Santos would have to jump Thornton, Putz and Pena. Mine: Carlos Quentin becomes a permanent DH by June (Jones full-time in RF) Rios makes the AL All-Star team Buehrle has a 2006-type year (meaning not so good) Gavin Floyd finishes in the top 5 of the Cy Young There's a 100x better shot that Jones becomes the starting CF and Rios shifts to right.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 01:08 PM) Izturis should have won it IMO. Eh, only 107 games started at the position and I know it doesn't sound right but Cesar Izturis doesn't hit AT ALL, so he really only needs to focus on his defense and not worry about what he does at the plate. Meanwhile, not only is Andrus amazing in 140 games started at the position but he's also putting up decent offensive production at age 20/21 while dealing with the fastest non-artificial infield in baseball.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 12:56 PM) If Franklin Gutierrez and Chase Utley can't win one then no future deserving candidate is exempt from getting totally screwed outta winning this "prestigious" award. Well, 1 of the 2 years Jeter didn't win the GG it went to Michael Young who had a -5.4 UZR/150 that season. In the 5 years that Young spent at SS he never had a positive UZR. Still, the way people around the league talk about Andrus, I think he's gonna start getting some love very soon. You didn't really here opposing managers talk up Franklyn Gutierrez last year and it showed in the voting where as now they won't shut the f*** up about Andrus, unfortunately I can't say the same for any of the other elite players that have been snubbed at other positions.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 11:43 AM) Good pitchers can still give up lots of homers. Bert Blyleven is a perfect example. Bert Blyleven between ages 22 and 34 put up a HR/9 of 0.60 (his HR/9 was under 1.0 each year) that would have been the 9th best in baseball last season and it was the 11th best out of the 65 pitchers who threw at least 1500 IP between '73 and '85. If you want an example I guess you could go with Buehrle though it's not a great one. Of the players in the last 40 years to throw at least 1500 Innings and post a 120+ career ERA+ (24 pitchers) Buehrle has the highest HR/9 at 1.03. Of the starters to work at least 1000 IP and have a career ERA+ of at least 110 since 1970 only 7 of them have a HR/9 of 1.0 or greater and only 3 guys are at 1.10 or higher: El Duke at 1.21, Radke at 1.20 and Bartolo Colon at 1.11. Lucky for Gavin his ERA+ isn't horrible since he became a full time start in '07: 1.17 and it was down quite a bit last year from the year before.

Jeter did take 2 years off from stealing the GG in '07 and '08. Personally, I think Elvis Andrus is about to go on a long run of GG wins.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 09:40 AM) What happens if you exclude 2006-2007? 20th highest HR/9 out of 77 with at least 300 IP.

83 wins