Eminor3rd

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 08:54 AM) With the dearth of talent in the majors at the major league level at the position of SS, Alexei is a hugely valuable commodity. People are looking WAY too much at his batting stats instead of the whole package. He a valuable commodity, but he's not a commodity worth Pederson + Urias + more. You can hold him if you want, but if you think that he'll be better than our farm guys in his age 34 season, you're gambling. And even if you're confident he WILL be better, you have to admit he likely won't be MUCH better. And the return doesn't have to be Pederson or garbage. There are plenty of solid B type prospects that would be very nice to have.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 20, 2014 -> 06:28 PM) This is a good new wrinkle - what's more relevant: the accumulation of runs lost on the bases or the runs lost per time spent on base? PK isn't quite the worst when you're looking at a per-baserunning situation. The correct denominator is an interesting question. I'm thinking total bases. Because if you just go by games or PA, you have to factor OBP somehow. Bengie Molina becomes even more impressively bad when you realize that he accumulated all that negative value against a .307 OBP. So, UBR/TB? There's almost certainly a more sophisticated and accurate way to do it, but that might be a good shorthand.

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 06:01 AM) If Hanley wrist is broken, dodgers might then be interested in Alexi. Prospects galore in that system That would be a very interesting situation since he's a pending FA that everyone assumed they'd extend.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 20, 2014 -> 05:36 PM) I actually think it's a very valid question - is Konerko the worst baserunner of all time or just one of the worst? Well, he's the worst. UBR is a counting stat, though. If you really wanted to find the worst, you'd have to divide it by games or something.

I forgot about him.

Hawk Harrelson: "That serves a double-edged purpose there."

I heard they just cancelled the post-game show. The advertisers will not be happy.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 04:40 PM) Before he got hurt a couple years ago, if someone asked me to name the best *current* athlete in the world that I had ever seen compete I probably would have said UFC Bantamweight Champ Dominick Cruz, and probably no one would have agreed with me. In fact he's white, how could a white guy be the best athlete in the world? It's a fact that the mind and body are one and act on each other all of the time, and I think the mind is way too often overlooked as a key component of an athlete. That's one of the reasons people seem to s*** on baseball players as athletes because they can't appreciate the level of extreme control your mind must have over your body to barrell up a 96mph fastball in a fraction of a second really after you pick it up or to spot a fastball off the mound or locate a sharp breaking ball roughly where you need to throw it. Also, the extreme level of control you must have over your mind in pressure situations or to get through a slump, this is the kind of thing that takes a player like a Tyrus Thomas with an athletic ceiling of a superstar and b****slaps him down to inconsistent role player. What I like about combat sports is that just like baseball you have to think, react, control your mind *and* body, and you only have a fraction of time and space to operate, and if you f*** up then you are the one that gets KTFOd or at least put in a very bad spot, and none of your training partners or coaches or teammates can do anything to help you. The thing about Cruz was that cardio-wise he was off the charts, he maintained the type of pace that would be very rare even for terrific endurance athletes. I'll never be a great athlete but I'm a runner, because there's such a mental aspect there that is so badass to get under control, and when you see a guy like that just go go go beyond anything you could ever do it's inspiring. And the way he would just f*** with his opponents, he'd always be in range but they couldn't hit him, he could take them down but they couldn't get him down, he could land knees, kicks, punches forward and back, everything was in combos, always was new and interesting and impossible for the opponent to figure out. He could fight everywhere, and get the better of it everywhere. He was very explosive athletically, but probably not super fast in a straight line race, and strong in terms of leverage and body control but probably not weight lifter strong, so he definitely wouldn't put up numbers in some NFL combine or something. But I'd probably have to throw a guy like that out there in the convo as "best athlete" because the areas in which he is truly elite are far more functional in real life (and impressive to me personally) than short-burst superhuman acts or doing the same things over and over and mastering them. A fighter needs to always be ready to instantly react to a thousand different possibilities and the consequences of an "error" or whatever come at his own peril. All that said, I would undoubtedly say that the most game-changing athlete in any sport is LeBron in basketball. I imagine he's probably more head and shoulders above his peers than anyone else is in any other sport, but part of that I think just simply has to do with height and how the game scales up. You could be an amazing athlete in every stat that matters but if you're under 6' you're probably not going to play in the NBA. There have of course been exceptions but those are really too few to consider seriously. And I'm inclined to agree with Hawk whenever he talks about a short player, "anybody can play this game." And that's one of the things that is great about baseball, because the skills of the small guys make their statures a positive and when those skills are in abundance they become a weapon for a manager that the opposition just can't match. An excellent argument. You're so obviously NOT drunk The thing about LeBron and height: that's exactly it, except it's amazing because most guys that are that big are lumbering, uncoordinated, and injury-prone. The COST of raw size is typically very steep, but it just doesn't seem to apply to him. He's like a scaled-up point guard. It defies physics -- his bodily infrastructure should be suffering for the stress of his mass at the speeds he is able to move. QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 04:42 PM) It's amazing how quickly threads can turn into something irrelevant to the original topic It is a common characteristic of a conversation.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 07:59 PM) Hawk must be watching a different Gordon Beckham than everyone else. Sad to see him overpowered by Feldman's 89 mph fastball. Hawk hasn't been watching the same GAME as us since about 2007.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 03:58 PM) Dan Hayes ‏@DanHayesCSN 9m Alexei Ramirez in lineup, hitting 2nd. Said before All-Star Game he was worried about how his back would respond. Felt great. #WhiteSox Read: "Teams should be interested in trading for Alexei still"

I love the "overall best athlete" debate. I have a friend who argues with me constantly about it. We both agree that the best individual is probably LeBron, but we disagree in the aggregate. I say it's NFL Wide Receivers, he says it's NBA Small Forwards. Both of us think that strength is a big part of the equation, much moreso than those who think soccer players are the best.

I'm still surprised that Davidson has fallen so far in everyone's eyes. But these guys are as legit as it gets outside of an actual team, so I'm willing to admit that I'm the crazy one.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 12:48 PM) Braves are releasing Uggla. I think they like La Stella, though.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 10:36 AM) Wait, so Ubaldo Jimenez isnt working out? Shhhhhh!

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 11:18 AM) Sale for Machado & Bundy I honestly don't think I'd make that deal.

Deck seems a lot like Axelrod at this point. Seems like we'd have claimed him if we didn't just get Wang.

DeWayne Weiss lol

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 07:50 AM) This doesn't really seem like a good defense of Kemp being a good fielder. It basically says that he doesn't read the ball well and has a slow first step. Any defensive value he's really accrued in his career has come from his athleticism and a good arm. The arm might not fade, but the athleticism surely will. He's basically the anti-Jim Edmonds. Either way, there's way, way too much risk involved with Matt Kemp to even be thinking about this. The only way I'd consider it is some sort of 1 for 1 swap with John Danks with the Dodgers picking up money in years 4 and 5 of the deal, and even then I'd be hesitant. Lol, I know. It says he's awful. Sorry, I should have been clear that I was posting this link to corroborate Feeky's claim that I was wrong.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 05:55 PM) No chance is he a better defensive left-fielder than De Aza. He's been in left most of this year and been horrendous. As if on cue: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/matt-kemps-...affs-nightmare/

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 11:04 AM) Has anyone ever seen him smile? He's got heavy, burdened eyes.

I think the trade deadline is pretty quiet. Abreu is def ROY now that Tanaka is down.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 01:22 PM) Viciedo would fit right in with KC. Undisciplined hitter who doesn't draw walks. And he'd be a total disaster in the vast outfield there. Talk to your people in Kansas. Let's get this done. Can we still get Chris Getz back? I think he retired.

QUOTE (venom4789 @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 02:29 PM) I personally hate keith law. I hope no one is wasting their money on insider. It's like $3 a month and it gives you access to way more than Keith Law.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 17, 2014 -> 01:12 PM) Actually, he's still getting better, across the board, so this is premature. While he's definitely regarded as one of the best in the game currently, his ABSOLUTE ceiling is the best-of-his-generation, IMO. Kershaw is the guy with the best possibility of achieving that status, but does Clayton, or anyone, have more raw talent than Sale? I don't think so. All of this is beside the point I was making. Yeah, okay, maybe he develops a way to shoot lasers out of his eyes that distract the batter and he throw 9 straight no-hitters or whatever. He's a consensus top 4 pitcher in the Majors, that's about as high a "ceiling" as anyone has ever layed on a prospect.