caulfield12

Renteria is waiting on Furcal and Cabrera dominoes to fall first...probably the NL again. Most likely, LA (they won't pay to bring back Furcal), SF, Minnesota is a possibility here, the Mets, the Cardinals...but probably an NL team. If we signed Renteria, he wouldn't be hitting leadoff...so who would our leadoff hitter be again? Brian Anderson? Owens? Getz? Ramirez? I would rank them in order (assuming KW won't pay for either Ibanez or Dunn)... 1. Rivera 2. Griffey (because he's used to the AL and is already familiar with our clubhouse and Ozzie/KW) 3. Giles

Ummmm, no...Willie Harris has never shown any type of propensity or consistent capability of stealing bases...ever. A more relevant comparison would be Chone Figgins and Harris. Why does everyone love Figgins and hate Taveras? Because he can play a lot of positions? Well, geez, he can't play any of them very well. He's getting older and losing some of his burst...and yet, some are still willing to trade Paul Konerko for him.

Well, Dunn and Ibanez are two possible exceptions...both could play LF for one year, then replace Thome. Viciedo SHOULD be in the picture at LF/RF or 3B by 2010 for sure, if not earlier. Say no to Abreu, by the way.

Milkman, he has made MANY worse moves than that, and has never been close to getting fired. Please save the hyperbole. When Paul Konerko was acquired, the concern throughout baseball was about his "degenerative hip condition," which is why the Dodgers were willing to part with him, as well as the Reds. Hasn't that turned out pretty well for the White Sox? Baldelli might turn out okay, just like Jon Lester did. I know, different medical situations/conditions. Second, any Baldelli signing would be for lower numbers than Uribe would make and would include lots of incentives. Low risk deal, high possible reward.

Kind of interesting....I took Taveras, Owens, Anderson, and Baldelli and compared them. Taveras 8 (power), 98 (speed), 56 (contact), 27 (patience) Owens 9, 95, 71, 50 Anderson 85, 60, 31, 49 Baldelli 76, 80, 36, 9 According to that, Owens would be the best leadoff hitter. Who knows, maybe KW will agree with Baseball Cube.

Well, Anderson/Baldelli, to most Sox message board posters at least, would be superior to Taveras alone...I think. The only problem is BA couldn't hit leadoff, so it would have to be Getz or Ramirez (at this point).

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Note to KW...if the Reds can do it, so we can we (of course, Ramirez and Viciedo are both Latin Americans...but we are traditionally talking DR and Venezuela) "The structure is there," he said. "Look at what they've done in Latin America." The Reds invested nearly $5 million in three 16-year-olds, outfielders Juan Duran, Yorman Rodriguez and left-handed pitcher Ismael Guillon. You don't do that unless you're interested in the long-term security of the club. Fans get caught up in the day-to-day transactions on the big-league level. Rightfully so - you're not going to buy tickets to see Duran, Rodriguez and Guillon play in the Dominican. And all three are at least four years from helping the Reds win a game. quote from the article

Cuban, I really don't see us going "bargain" with the possible exception of the 5th starter's spot. I doubt it will be Randy Johnson, FWIW. As far as OF, Baldelli and Edmonds are the only CFers on that list. Is it possible KW goes after either one OVER Anderson and Owens? I'm sure it's at least a 25% chance that he would go after one or the other, especially Baldelli.

UF is still #6 in Sagarin's rankings today, and not really anywhere close to #5 Utah. How sure ARE we that the computers will jump UF up after playing a 13th game? And how sure are we that if they don't, even a #1 ranking from the humans would be enough to keep UF #2 ahead of the Big 12 South runner-up? I would like someone somewhere to run through this with more than just a "Florida and Alabama in a semi-final" bit of "analysis." This is a great point that I'm not sure I would have considered otherwise, and that most people are overlooking in their rush to deem Alabama-Florida the winner-take-all primer for the mythical championship. That's certainly true for Alabama if it finishes 13-0, and I assume it's true for Florida in the human polls if the Gators take the mighty SEC at 12-1. But the computers? That's not so certain. My concerned e-mailer is right: Florida's highest rank in any of the six computer polls is third (Richard Billingsley); after that UF is fouth, sixth, sixth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Compare that with Texas: There is at least three positions difference between the Horns and Gators in every computer poll except Richard Billingsley's. So how much is beating Alabama -- which, again, comes into the game ranked behind Texas and Oklahoma in the computer average -- worth? The humans are all but guaranteed to vote Florida into the championship with a win Saturday, any kind of win. But will it worth enough in the computer polls (I'm thinking at least two positions per computer) to close that very wide gap with Texas? That's a shaky guess. Chaos is not Missouri upsetting Oklahoma; in fact, that's very clean: Texas will play the SEC champion, whoever it is. Chaos is Florida beating Alabama, and still missing out because the computers are set on an OU-Texas rematch. from yahoosports.com

A nice $10 million dollar "golden parachute." Think he'll feel embarassed or ashamed to take any of that money in this economy? Not a chance. But he will forever be remembered as a "paper tiger" and a villain now...not a genius or mastermind.

Mulder, Duchscherer, Pedro Martinez, Colon, Randy Johnson, Freddy Garcia...those are more typical KW "value" moves. http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archi...astros_a_1.html (for JR and KW to read) Finally, look to see if KW makes a play for Daniel Cabrera if the Orioles don't offer him salary arbitration before Dec. 12th.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...&id=3725295 Interesting article...some names we might be taking a look at include: LHP Randy Johnson SS/2B/UTIL Felipe Lopez (Betemit's presence would seem to prevent a move, not to mention Beckham) SS (2B?) Omar Vizquel OF Juan Rivera (someone mentioned him in the last couple of days) OF Rocco Baldelli OF Jim Edmonds

Be Bold: Kenny Williams Keeps the "Good Guys" in Contention...on the Baseball America homepage currently. Anything interesting there to report? Sorry, I'm not a BA subscriber...

Finally, nobody else in the land beat OSU in Stillwater. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news...o&type=lgns

With 5 common opponents (plus the head-to-head), Oklahoma is + 138 and Texas is + 100 in scoring differential. That's almost 1 touchdown per game in favor of OU. Add to that the fact that in playing those 5 common opponents, OU has only one home game and 4 road games, while texas had 3 home games and 2 road games, I think the decision is clear ---- OU is the better team over the season and the better team right now. Also factor in Ryan Renolds getting hurt in the OU/UT game and 9 or 11 points added to the OSU game score if OU gets the fumble recovery on the first possession of the 2nd half. That Missouri loss AT home to Kansas doesn't look so good...for Texas. And OU beat KS. Yet another argument. You can argue in circles all you want...but even those picking UT to go feel that OU is the better team right now, along with Florida.

Then Danks and Floyd and Quentin and Ramirez are also anomalies. Look at Sandy Koufax...he struggled for a long time and then the lights just came on one day, or Randy Johnson. Nolan Ryan? Everyone knew they had the stuff..it was just a matter of execution and putting it all together. You have to be willing to believe that pitchers don't "progress" as they get older, especially a pitcher who started his major league career with on-the-job training in his teens. Granted, he could end up like Jon Garland and just be a decent or "average" 4/5 starter...but Garland doesn't have nearly the type of stuff that Jackson has. Or how do you explain someone like Matt Thornton's career path? Bobby Jenks? If there weren't "anomalies," and everything was predictable, there would be no need to even play the games...they could all be simulated and predicted with 100% accuracy.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 11:12 PM) OU. Those ethics apparently went out the window with the paid players "working" at the car dealership. Well, Kirk Ferentz is one of the most principled (and loved by most Hawkeye fans) and respected coaches in the college game today and look at the off-field problems that have developed over the last 18 months. Even Ferentz was accused of helping to facilitate a cover-up in a campus rape case. When you have so many huge egos, so many boosters with huge egos that want to get close to the program...you just can't control and monitor every single thing each player does 24 hours per day (well, the Internet now can do that, with all the digicams and cell phone cameras out there). Look at all the things that have gone down with the PSU football program over the past five years, is Paterno now a "corrupt" coach? I don't think so. It's just symptomatic of the times we live in. Bomar made a mistake, obviously, but there's a big leap to "lack of institutional" control compared to when Buster Rhymes was running around with an Uzi or AK-47 on campus...or the Brian Bosworth years.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Nov 30, 2008 -> 12:48 AM) I don't want this man on the team next year. Once again, WHO do you want, and what are you willing to give up to get him? (And not one of those "five for one" trades with five random second and third tier AA and AAA suspects like Broadway, McCulloch and Logan) Yeah, in a fantasy world, we can trade Dye for Matt Kemp or Jenks for Nate McLouth, but that's not reality by any stretch of the imagination.

QUOTE (KevinM @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 11:50 PM) http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~mbodell/battingOrder2001.html http://books.google.com/books?id=uxdvwQdXb...7&ct=result Of course, there is a difference between the optimal lineup and the worst lineup possible, but the difference between lineup a vs. c is minimal. But minimal is the difference of 10-15 wins or losses every season...the little things. If you have the wrong batter behind a slow runner, then it takes 2-3 hits to score him instead of just one. That's just one of many reasons why batting order is important. Or if you have a leadoff hitter getting into scoring position via the steal, not every batter in the line-up has an equal ability to bunt, hit to the opposite side to advance him or hit a sacrifice fly. I'm sure research would argue that you could just take ANY reliever in the bullpen and stick him out there in the 9th inning. That any major league pitcher should be able to protect 1-3 run leads at a minimum of 66% of the time. It looks that way on paper, until you see so many pitchers thrust into the closer's role fail miserably. That same pitcher (say Linebrink, Dotel or Thornton), might have the greatest looking statistics in the world, but when you see him out there protecting a one run lead, you know he doesn't have a chance. He's already defeated mentally.

"Perhaps it’s possible that Jackson simply focuses better in important situations, allowing him to pitch better with runners on base. I am skeptical of this proposition in general, but I allow that it’s possible.. " Well, I don't think this guy has ever seen Javier Vazquez or Mark Buerhle pitch, because there's a difference between pitchers who can get out of jams, pitch around errors and leave the bases loaded and those who can't. I'm sure there is absolutely nothing in Gavin Floyd's or Danks' stats that would have predicted their success this year in leaving runners stranded. Simply, the author doesn't really allow for the proposition that a pitcher might gain more confidence and "bear down" in situation where a mistake means multiple runs for the opposition. Success builds upon success. Confidence changes the arsenal of a pitcher, look no farther than Cliff Lee or Jon Danks for confirmation. From watching Mark Buehrle throughout his entire career, I don't buy this argument. And it would be VERY VERY difficult to prove statistically. It's just a supposition or theory. I prefer to trust me "eyes" from watching the games, rather than what the stats will say the next day.

What study is this? Please show a link or resource to this "research." Doesn't it make sense to you that you want your top four hitters to get more at-bats than your 7-8-9 hitters? That batting in the earlier spots in the order will give them an additional 50-75 opportunities per season, maybe even 100 for a leadoff hitter. Why doesn't Ichiro hit 9th for the Mariners then, if it doesn't matter? Why do managers have a L-R-L run or a R-L-R run to keep opposing managers from sticking with a lefty reliever or specialist for too long late in the games? I'm kind of speechless here. I'm glad you aren't/weren't a manager, we might have had Mark Johnson leading off, followed by Royce Clayton. What next? There should be no such thing as starting pitchers? Every starter should be designed for one inning each game and pitch 6-7 times per week???

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 11:03 PM) Sometimes life just sucks. Tech 11-1, ranked in the top 7, won't be in a BCS game. A program built on cheating is going to be playing for the national title game. Joy. Are you referring to Oklahoma or Alabama here? I'm confused. Say what you want about OU's past under Switzer or Kelvin Sampson, Stoops is regarded as a highly ethical (if not overcontrolling) head coach.

QUOTE (Shadows @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 10:58 PM) Impossible IMO Once Florida beats Alabama in the SEC Title Game, they are going to pass up whoever doesn't go to the BIG 12 title game anyways.. And if Alabama wins, its gonna be whoever wins the Big 12 title game unless that team loses to Missouri which could leave the door open for the team who DIDN'T make the Big 12 title game.. Instead of making this a ridiculous scenario, lets just hop the computers get it right and we end up seeing Florida VS Oklahoma in what should be a fantastic game to watch.. BUT, BUT, BUT if Alabama does manage to somehow beat Florida...OU/TX barely win or lose against Missouri...then that opens up the door for arguments from Utah, USC and the team that didn't play (OU/TX) in the B12 championship (no, I won't enter Boise State or any Big 10 team into discussion). Of course, OSU getting ripped by UO makes the USC loss to them even more damaging...

UT's opponents overall record is 85-59 with 4 ranked (or were ranked) opponents. Tech's opponents record is 80-63 with 4 ranked opponents (or were ranked) OU's opponents record is 80-64 with 6 ranked opponents (Cincy wasnt but is now). You do the math. They also beat #16 Kansas 45-31. Their average over the last five games is 62.4 points per game. ONCE AGAIN, THEIR AVERAGE OVER THEIR LAST FIVE B12 GAMES is 62.4 POINTS PER GAME.