Jake

Hey Anaheim.. SUCK ITTTTTT

Sometimes you sign a guy not for it to be a good deal, but because you want him on your team. Imagine if Mike Trout became a free agent -- you wouldn't give him $40M a year because he'll necessarily be "worth" it, but because you're better off with him for $40 than nothing for $0. Some guys in some situations are just priceless

It is times like these when Rock and bucket are always absent.... I need a hotline I can call

The whole "Ricketts family in $700M of debt, haven't even started investing in Wrigley renovations" bit makes me skeptical of it all. Nothing will surprise me, of course

I still feel like Cubs don't actually have anything close to the money to sign Tanaka and are just making a bunch of noise to get their fans interested and think they're trying.

QUOTE (Downtown518 @ Jan 17, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) Jesse Sanchez ‏@JesseSanchezMLB Source tells me clubs have not heard back from Tanaka & nobody knows where they stand. Most had about 60 mins to make a case. No visits. https://twitter.com/JesseSanchezMLB/status/...225081196171265 This sounds more credible than anything else I've heard.

Sacramento currently has the 8th worst record in the league and has been playing better since the Gay trade. We have a shot at getting that pick this year

I would say that the difference between fWAR and bWAR is that bWAR tries to measure on-field results while fWAR tries to measure onfield talent. As usual, pitchers are the best way to look at this. fWAR rewards a pitcher for doing "pitching things" well -- striking people out, not walking people -- while bWAR rewards a pitcher for earned run prevention, which can be strongly influenced by luck, defensive talent, ballpark, etc. Throughout each measure, you can see how fWAR is about trying to find what a player added in a vacuum; that is, what would have happened if you took that player's efforts and put them in a different context. There's good conversation to this effect in the UZR primer. Does a player's batting average really tell you what happened? Is it a very useful representation of what he contributed to his team? Or is there a better way to do it, with less doubt about luck and the value of one event versus another? IMO, bWAR is not quite like batting average in its archaic-ness but it certainly is not worried about influences on production that are outside of the player's efforts, like luck.

for comparison, DRS: http://www.fangraphs.com/library/defense/drs/ For those wondering, fWAR uses DRS for catchers. A few other notes: DRS does not do adjustments for handedness of batter (and thus fielder position), ballpark (affects outfielders)

Another important difference between bWAR and fWAR - defense. bWAR uses Total Zone while FanGraphs uses UZR EDIT: Baseball-Reference switched to DRS from TZ, look to next post for information on DRS http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fangraphs-uzr-primer/

Just unlocked, rooted, and flashed a ROM on my One earlier this week. I feel all grown up now. I agree that there are not a lot of beginner's resources and you'll have to get a minimum of adequacy with command prompt unless a kind developer has created a tool for your device

I'll add this resource to kick things off: The FanGraphs Glossary -- the real gems here are the full explanations of how each component of WAR is calculated for hitters and pitchers, which is also where you'll learn the most about things like wOBA and wRC+

This is why people want it to be called climate change. It won't always be warmer where you are, but it will always be more extreme

The dude used to throw 100mph. I'll be happy to give it a whirl if he can throw in the 90s again

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 14, 2014 -> 12:23 PM) Surkamp's minor and major league numbers are both very similar to Axelrod's. He won the pitching triple crown in AA. Axe has never done anything like that

I've been watching My Strange Addiction non-stop. I love it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 14, 2014 -> 06:52 PM) YOU AND BALTA ARE NOW FRIENDS!

If GarPax are really trying to run Thibs out of town, they only have one choice: trade for JR Smith

I think Bobby is a really good person. After reading that story, I wish I could be at Soxfest just to shake his hand and let him know that we'll always be fans of his. Sounds like he has a ways to go in his return attempt, but if I'm the Sox I'd have no problem offering him resources to help with his rehab process with the understanding that he has a spot with us when he's ready.

You don't see a lot of 1Bmen as top prospects. And, ironically, if he is on one of these lists he'll be harmed by both his age (will be 27 soon) and lack of MiLB experience, which of course calls into question the wisdom of including him on such a list.

I'm surprised there are that many fans tuned into the rumor mill on this, especially Sox fans

The lottery was supposed to stop the worst few teams from tanking. Instead, 15-20 teams each year are tanking to get even the most miniscule shot at a top 5 pick. This is why the lottery has to go.

Need pitching, but sign Edwin Jackson and trade Garza, Dempster while trying to trade Samardzija

From what Rock was saying, 140 might be our self-imposed ceiling It has also been suggested that Reinsdorf may have been present by way of telephone

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jan 14, 2014 -> 10:20 AM) Honestly he is or should be closer to the 12th option than the 8th. We got 1. Sale 2. Q 3. Johnson 4. Danks 5. Rienzo 6. Paulino 7. Surkamp 8. Chris Bassitt Should all definitely get a shot above him. I would think Beck and Snodgress then too assuming they're ready. Then beyond then I'd rather see Leesman. So he's battling Zach Stewart way down there on my list. Paulino, at least to start the year, won't be available as he recovers from injury. Bassitt probably wouldn't get called up for a spot start or two over Axe since he is still in need of development. The beauty of Axe is that he ought to get you some innings and you don't give a s*** about his development -- getting hammered in the majors doesn't mean anything when it happens to him. And, as we know, under the right circumstances you'll get some chance to win.