Balta1701

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ May 8, 2007 -> 02:32 PM) no way I take ahead of a whole lot proven All-Star caliber players until he has a bit more of a track record. Brian McCann (coming into this season) Minor League, 5 seasons: .275 .334 .462 796, 36 home runs, 1082 at bats. Highest OPS = 835. Major League, 2 seasons: 317 .376 .523 899, 29 home runs, 622 at bats. Highest OPS = 960.

Link with video.

Thanks a ton for 05.

Give em Jell, Havy.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:43 AM) No, they didn't get ripped up and down for flying to their debates, they got ripped up and down for yelling at me about my SUV and telling me I have to change MY lifestyle without changing their own. And then they try to change their lifestyle...and get ripped for it.

SI has attempted to rank the 15 most intimidating pitchers of all time.

Rep Ted Poe, R-Texas (2nd district).

.304 .354 .446 .800, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 13 SO, 4 bb, 3 HBP .308 .345 .654 .999, 4 Hr, 12 RBI, 9 SO, 1 BB, 2 HBP That's Rowand in 2006...in April and May. The only big difference...the walks. He was actually striking out less last year.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 8, 2007 -> 10:31 AM) That would be amazing, but I'd be thrilled if he's anything more than a 4th/5th starter in the next 4 years. The one thing I don't think will happen with Gio is wind up as a 4/5 starter. I think either Gio will wind up bieng a top of the rotation type guy or gio will wind up struggling with injuries.

Link Applause.

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 8, 2007 -> 04:21 AM) Small steps by everyone makes more of an impact than nitpicking a few people. Let's all applaud Bush, on vacation he rides a horse. I believe the environmental impact on a horse is better than any hybrid. Methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 7, 2007 -> 10:55 PM) Dumb argument. Getting to the playoffs is all about the GM and all that, once you get there, it's purely a matter of luck. There is no scientific way to win in the playoffs, basically you have to get hot and you have to get lucky. To blame moneyball for that is simply nonsense. You know what? I would say there is actually an argument against this, although I'm a bit too busy to prove it. It could be argued that exactly the things which give moneyball in terms of its OBP/OPS focus an advantage in the regular season could wind up counting as disadvantages during the postseason. Moneyball, in its original form focusing on the undervaluing of OBP, focused a lot of effort on guys who could pile up the walks and therefore work to high OBP's and high pitch counts. Against average pitching staffs, this seems like exactly what you'd want to do. Against a moderate to poor pitcher, if you go up there looking to take pitches every at bat, you're going to wind up on base all the time. But in the playoffs, the caliber of opponent goes up dramatically. You're no longer facing the pitching staffs of the Royals, the Mariners, etc. You're no longer seeing #5 starters except out of the bullpen. You're no longer seeing pitchers making their ML debuts or pitching staffs who are struggling. You go from facing random pitchers to seeing Johan 2x in a 5 game series. Its entirely possible that the value formulation could and in fact should change somewhat when you raise the caliber of opponent. If your team suddenly starts facing pitchers who just don't walk people, and your team is geared around the walk, bloop, blast mentality, and you have no ability to manufacture runs in other ways, you could find your former advantage turned into a disadvantage. This isn't necessarily why the A's haven't won, I'm sure there's data that could either back it up or argue against it, but it's at least worth considering.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ May 7, 2007 -> 05:22 PM) What type of ERA and record does Buehrle need to qualify as a Type A FA? I'm assuming it's not going to be a 4.99 ERA, but what are the criteria for this classification? Some complicatd SABR formula with quartiles and VORP correlation coefficients? Well, that's sort of hard to say, I don't see the rules posted anywhere obvious, and it depends a lot on what the other folks do and how many people actually hit the market. Be glad he's not hitting the market 2 years from now, when Garland hits, along with I believe guys like Santana, Peavy, Sheets, and a couple others IIRC. For reference, Eric Gagne was a type A FA last year after having pitched 16 innings the previous 2 years. For starting pitchers, Jeff Suppan and Woody Williams qualified as type A last year, Chan Ho Park was in the type B class, etc.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ May 7, 2007 -> 04:53 PM) In Charlotte, helping Brian Anderson find his swing. Thank God.

I can't stay at the PC for long, but at least Charlie has had a good start to this game.

QUOTE(GreenSox @ May 7, 2007 -> 04:44 PM) As for a fire sale, people don't pay much for rents of, say, Dye. We could probably move a starter or reliever for something decent. BUt what we really neeed are a couple of bats. We've got good pitching and good defense. And I think our pitching remains the best in the Central, overall, and I therefore think we'll remain in the race, albeit on the fringes. Well, it sort of depends on a couple things, first, what are we asking for, and second, how are the folks performing. If Mark Buehrle keeps up his potential All-Star first half again, and looks solid, and someone like the Mets take another blow to their rotation, then its all going to be a question of price. Or if Dye starts hitting and the Dodgers/Angels finally decide how desperate they are for an OF bat, then it all depends on the price. If we're locked in on a young potential #1 starting pitcher for either of those guys, we're not going to get it. If we're locked in on a top 10 prospect in baseball, we're not getting it. But if we target someone a step back from that, or a couple players who could fill in and who aren't pitchers, then it becomes more possible. The Dodgers have soured somewhat on Billingsly, the Mets have soured somewhat on Milledge, a ton of the Angels' guys not named Brandon Wood have been let downs. If I'm in KW's chair, the simple question you have to weigh when thinking about a sell-off, if your record winds up in the place where you should, is...is the talent I'm getting back better than what I would get with 2 high draft picks?

When's the last time we had a series with the Twinkies where Santana didn't pitch?

QUOTE(BearSox @ May 6, 2007 -> 10:19 AM) Was he trying to throw a splitter? Does he have a splitter? That is the only way I think you could dislocate your knuckle. It must be directly related to the force at which he's whipping that fastball up there. How many other test cases do we have for people regularly throwing 102?

QUOTE(fathom @ May 7, 2007 -> 02:05 PM) I don't think the Sox anticipate Pods being 100 pct healthy again this season. They know he has mental issues dealing with injuries. mental issues = groin injuries make him unable to run?

Indiana and California.

I count 28. 56% of the way there. Indiana Illinois Michigan Ohio Iowa South Dakota Wyoming Montana Idaho Nebraska Kansas Colorado Nevada Utah Arizona California Tennessee Kentucky Alabama Georgia Florida New Jersey Massachusetts Wisconsin Minnesota Maryland Virginia Missoura

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ May 7, 2007 -> 11:42 AM) If you really wanted to look for bias here, I'd want to know three things. One, how did they randomize their calls/contacts. Two, in larger scale polls or multi-poll results, what is the current percentage leaning for each party in the country. And three, if they leaner precentage doesn't match the current national percentages, then how did they weight the results of the non-party-specific polls. A couple different companies do record self-identified party identification numbers...in other words, you call up people at random and ask which way they're leaning. The trends in those numbers lately look godawful for the Republicans. This is the Pew poll, which is a totally different company than the Newsweek poll (and therefore a totally different sample) Rassmussen also tracks those numbers, and they have shown a very similar trend, although it looks like they don't push leaners as hard (Pew seems to have a much higher response rate). Rasmussen does show a significant erosion of people self-identifying as Republicans and a corresponding increase in independents. None of these prove that Newsweek did not use a biased sample of course, it's always possible that they're an outlier without more data. But on the question of how the party identification numbers are looking...well, let's just say there's probably a reason why the name "President Bush" was only mentionned 1 time during the entire Republican debate last week.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 7, 2007 -> 01:40 PM) On the Comcast pe-game yesterday that stated that he will be back in May and may go to a ML destination with Thome later this week. Hall, Podsednik, and Thome should all be producing for the White Sox June first. Unless something has changed I don't know about, I think Podsednik by June 1 seems like a big stretch.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ May 7, 2007 -> 09:56 AM) I hope he wins Honestly, so do I. Because I think it'd be a great thing for these gigantic media conglomerates to realize that there's a huge potential cost to putting people like this on the airwaves.

QUOTE(knightni @ May 6, 2007 -> 08:25 PM) Guess I was optomistic. 4.1IP 5R 4ER If one of our guys put up those numbers in his first outing, we'd be calling for him to be sent back down right away and wondering why we can't draft anyone quality.