Jake

I would have loved to sign Hanley at that price for the corner OF

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Nov 25, 2014 -> 07:40 PM) This isn't necessarily correct. As far as we know Carroll has not been waived, he's in purgatory for the next 10 days by the end of which the Sox must release or trade him they may also place him on waivers within 7 days with the intention of outrighting him to Charlotte. It's a minor distinction but possibly an important one, designating a player for assignment simply buys a team time when they need to immediately clear a spot on the 40 man roster, nothing more, the other options come after the DFA. If the Sox feel he has some value and may be claimed on waivers they have 7 days to find a trade partner before waiving him. Suppose we execute a trade that opens up spots on the roster before those deadlines pass. Could we add him back to the roster without risking him to waivers?

To summarize PFF's findings for yesterday, the defense played fabulously well and the offense was dreadful - in case your eyes didn't tell you that. Overall, PFF's grades indicate that we have a league average offense and a league average defense. Maybe more excitingly, the Bucs took our crown as league's worst special teams

I love Anderson and I was mostly thinking of the guys who might play in Chicago next year, though I will add he's far less sure to be a MIF than anyone else being discussed.

Seems like there was a key breakdown in communication in which 911 operator did not lead cops to believe there was any doubt whether the gun was real.

Semien is 100%, without a doubt, the best MIF prospect in our system.

Seems like the problem with Kemp is that he played atrociously, unfathomably bad defense last year. Like, Adam Dunn kind of numbers in the advanced fielding metrics

We have gone after contract year guys before, but we had always heard that we demanded opportunity to negotiate an extension in advance. I'm trying to think whether we've ever really managed it before, though

I wonder if we can play Mirotic at 3 on occasion. Maybe have Taj guard the 3 in those situations.

I'd like to throw the Blazers a second rounder to get Meyers Leonard. I'd like to see what he could do under a coach like Thibs

The Circus Trip never fails to totally suck

Melky Cabrera wRC+ by season: 2006, 130 games - 98 wRC+ 2007, 150 games - 89 wRC+ 2008, 129 games - 68 wRC+ 2009, 154 games - 94 wRC+ 2010, 147 games - 77 wRC+ 2011, 155 games - 118 wRC+ 2012, 113 games - 151 wRC+ 2013, 88 games - 86 wRC+ 2014, 139 games - 125 wRC+ So, he was a rich man's Gordon Beckham for about 5 seasons. Then he becomes Alejandro De Aza. Then, well, we know what happened in 2012. Then he plays like s***. Then he plays pretty well last year. I think we can toss out 2012, since he was unambiguously on steroids. This definitely casts doubt on what was going on with his improvement in 2011, but who knows about that. He had an injury-riddled, crap season in 2013 after the steroid suspension. He played well last year, with an ISO at a level he has only had previously in 2011 and 2012. To me, you're taking a big risk on a guy like that. Either way, there's no sense in freaking out about us getting LaRoche as if that has any real bearing on a possible Cabrera acquisition. I particularly don't want to give up a draft pick to sign Melky Cabrera, and we didn't have to do that with LaRoche.

At this point, they're just letting Aldridge hack away on defense

Quite the overreaction to the Dunleavy foul. Was a bad foul, but not remotely dirty. He hit the dude's arms for Christ's sake

Yeah, Mirotic is looking really promising - and most importantly, confident. Big contrast with McDermott when it comes to confidence. Portland is having one of those nights so far. They're just making everything, regardless of how well they are defended.

I'm not going to talk a bunch of s*** about LBJ, but Kyrie sucks.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 03:59 PM) There are more variables than size and strength in the power equation. Speed of the bat is more important than either of the other two in the physics of a swing. With the increase pitch velocity, you need to swing even faster to make up the difference. Personally, I think the increased pitch velocity is mostly from the pitchers trying to throw harder all the time. With the decreased expectation of innings pitched and analytics, pitchers throw harder more often. There is absolutely no correlation between muscle strength and pitch velocity. The PEDs allowed the pitchers to maintain thier pitching within games but moreso allowed relievers to recover faster and pitch more often. Of course changes in the ball and size of the ball parks made a difference as well. I think the Internet and greater interest in international scouting has made it easier to find pitchers who throw hard as well. Mix that with modern health practices that make pitchers throw only when well-rested, and that's probably a good reason for the velocity increases.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 18, 2014 -> 11:12 AM) Thanks for this. Isn't .18 seconds a lot in the NFL though. I know when talking about 40 times there's a big difference between a 4.40 and a 4.58. Real surprised he was pressured more last year. Though he is throwing a lot more quick passes which could make that % drop quite a bit. When trying to do anything other than those quick passes it seems like there's always pressure. I say that the difference in time isn't super meaningful because so many different things influence that time. Not just protection, but play calling, decision-making, etc

There's always something odd when a guy was never very good, then got really good, then got busted for roids, then kept being good.

DeMarcus Cousins is extremely unlikable

Jimmy averaged 13 points on 39% shooting last year. This year, he has scored at least 14 points in every game and has had only one game in which he shot below 44%.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 21, 2014 -> 12:58 AM) One ref says and one the other says charging. In their defense, charging was the right call. BTW, Jimmy Butler is god

Aaron Brooks is easily my favorite "tiny backup point guard that scores" so far. Best all-around game IMO. He even plays pretty good defense, especially 1-on-1 with smaller guards

Some yucky officiating going on. Kings are dangerous, but they aren't that good

To me, Quintana is one of the top 10 or 20 most valuable players in baseball when considering salary/contract. He'd be a triple figure guy if he reached the free agent market right now. If we consider a trade, it better be insanely advantageous for our on-field product. And while I like the targeting of Bruce in principle, there are some weird trends with his numbers. Walk rate has gone down for 5 straight seasons, K rate has gone up for 6 straight seasons. Defense seems to be falling off. Looking more and more like this other former Cincy LHB that I know