almagest

Even Lawrie's worst season (this year), is better than every Beckham season except 2009. Also, is younger, and has two fewer seasons in MLB.

Well, that was some game 6, eh?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 04:07 PM) If we aren't making fun of each other, what will we post about?Wildly implausible trades and lineups

Stop it you guys I'm getting excited. Two hours from now we're gonna see a tweet from someone important and it's gonna say how Abreu's going to the new expansion Montreal Expos Deux or something and I'm gonna blame all of you.

Having a platoon of Saltalamacchia and the better of Flowers/Phegley is fine with me.

I grew up there. Gonna talk to my parents, see if they know anything about it.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 03:47 PM) Remember the 08 playoffs? Dude should just shut up.Yeah, he made Cabrera look like a fool, though.

Seth Smith with a 2 run homer. 6-3 A's. Woo!

Tied after Peralta single. 3-3.

Tigers rallying. 3-1 after Hunter single, Fielder single, Victor Martinez double. Runners on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 11:56 AM) Do you look at the numbers? Gillaspie more than held his own against right handed pitching and actually provided positive value this year, albeit a small amount. The White Sox got negative overall production out of 1B, and Konerko was among the worst players in the majors. 1B is by far the biggest hole on this team. Yes, 3B can be upgraded upon, as can a lot of positions, but if you get someone in who provides value of 3.0 WAR at 1B and you limit Dunn's ABs against LHP pitching, you are already talking about adding 6 wins to the team. Personally, I think the position Semien needs to play this year is 2B. I'm done with Beckham. Holy crap Gillaspie was BAD against LHP - .159/.197/.254/.451. RHP was significantly better - .261/.324/.414/.738. Not great, but acceptable if Keppinger/Semien can provide ~ the same output against LHP. Probably Semien, as Keppinger couldn't hit from either side of the plate last year. Those numbers against LHP were in only 66 PAs, though, so it seems like Ventura knew not to expect much from him.

I'm thinking DeAza was one of the guys Konerko was talking about when he said players couldn't wait for the season to end. The team was good last year, and DeAza didn't make these mistakes. Team sucks, he makes dumb mistakes. It's not an acceptable excuse, really, but I can understand not being focused on the game when most of the guys hitting behind you suck and can't drive you in.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Sep 17, 2013 -> 10:12 PM) Anyone know the details for the refund tickets if you had tickets last Sunday? At the box office they told me had to be used this year. On the broadcast they said have to be used next April. Couldn't find specific details online so im confused. I also have tickets from the Toronto makeup date. Believe those can be used the last four home dates. Gonna use them for the last game, hopefully to send off Paulie. Here you go

Even if he only reaches his floor, I'd still like to see them make an effort to sign him, because we have nothing else at first base for a while, except Dunn and possibly Viciedo.

I had it done in May of last year. Went from unable to function without my glasses, to 20/15 vision. Biggest downside is my eyes are extremely dry - getting better, but it was really bad for about 6 months after the operation. I've always had dry eyes, though, so YMMV. The surgery is incredibly quick, but pretty frightening. You basically can't move at all during the procedure. Overall, I would do it again. Having great vision without contacts or glasses is worth it to me, without a doubt.

This happens a lot, as NPB is roughly equivalent to AAAA. Lots of AAAA players (like Matt Murton, Tuffy Rhodes, Balentien) that struggle here go over there and have a career. Fun as hell to watch, though. They invent all sorts of crazy cheers for their players. If you can catch a game on Justin.tv (they're usually on at like 4 AM though) I highly recommend it.

This isn't MLB, but I found the translations of a couple NPB player fight songs. Both play(ed) for the Yomiuri Giants, and are amazing: Hirokazu Ibata, #6: Sprint with the speed of light Dramatically dash across the diamond Enchant us, Ibata Tony Blanco, #42: Sparkling blue light into the stands A single strike to break your enemies Gods advancing together with us down the straight path Together with the dragons, make your challenge Here and now, show it to us Let your dark blue fighting spirit boil over A single hit to cower your enemies Far and away, let it be free

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 20, 2013 -> 11:40 AM) Except that all research on batting order over the last five year has concluded that high contact rates out of the 3-hole have been extremely overrated historically, and that the 2, 4, and 5 spots actually benefit much more from the "traditional" 3 hole profile, which just happens to be ENTIRELY consistent with RV's use of the 2 spot, having put Kevin Youkilis there last year and having a rotating cast of the hottest contact hitters (Gillaspie, Beckham, Ramirez) in the 2 spot all of this year. Your speculation about management's attitude toward Dunn is just that -- speculation. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. There's just as much "evidence" to go against it. For all of the hate against him, I feel like Ventura has done a good job at constructing the lineup. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to work with.

"We'll go to the seventh trailing by eight." Even Hawk is used to us losing.

League adjusted to Phegley.

My grade for this thread:

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jul 29, 2013 -> 11:44 AM) She's never exactly been known for her hitting. Even in softball. Most people simply don't realize how difficult it is to hit a softball coming in that fast at that short of a distance. They just see this little blond girl pitching to guys that they've seen hit baseballs 400+ feet. Pitting her against RJ they would say, "of course he's going to strike her out. Look what he did to major league hitters." It's not quite the same thing. Also based on the study I'm not sure a few days would be enough time. It might take them weeks/months and maybe even years. You have to remember that she was really good at making other professional softball players with many years of experience whiff at her pitches as well. I think a better comparison would be a great fast-pitch hitter and Randy Johnson Chris Sale.

How could Keppinger slug over .500 against anyone, ever? Even with a metal bat? Or in 12" softball? All he seems to do is poke singles into right field on outside fastballs, or hit weak grounders.

The Soriano deal is terrible. Instead of overpaying for slightly above league average production, they're overpaying for this production for another team. All they have to show for it is a low-end pitching prospect, and Junior Lake. I guess I understand the need to get rid of Soriano, but please don't refer to this as a "win" for the Cubs by any stretch.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 25, 2013 -> 02:35 PM) To be fair, gameday has the slider coming in at 92 mph. Fastball was 98-99 and up, though. Slider was down and 92.