Jay Buhner - Rightfielder
New York Yankees 1987-1988
Seattle Mariners 1988-2001
Awards
1996 AL Gold Glove - OF
All-Star Selections: 1 (1996)
League Leader
None of note
Career Ranks
AB per HR: 31st
Hall of Fame Stats
Gray Ink: Batting - 31 (733) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 25.8 (436) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 34.5 (502) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Hank Saue
Scott Brosius - Third Baseman
Oakland Athletics 1991-1997
New York Yankees 1998-2001
Awards
1998 World Series MVP
1999 AL Gold Glove - 3B
All-Star Selections: 1 (1998)
League Leader
None
Career Ranks
None of note
Hall of Fame Stats
HOF Standards: Batting - 12.6 (1349) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 19.0 (780) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Similar Batters in HOF: None
Top 10 Similar Batters: Ed Sprague, Bill Melton, Mike Pagliarulo, Sc
2007 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is out so as planned I'm going to do individual profiles on each player on the ballot. I'll go in the order of career Win Shares starting at the bottom. No player on this year's ballot is nearly bad as Gary DiSarcina being on last year's ballot and there are quite a few Hall of Very Good players making their first appearance on the ballot. But we start off with a very dubious addition to this year's ballot.
Bobby Witt - Starting Pitcher
Texas Ranger
This is a bit of a throw away entry but I had been wanting to rundown the 23 MVP redos I've done entries for. I have other redos that I've done (including the entire decade of the 80's) but haven't done entries for yet. What I decided to do is group the redos into categories in terms of how good or bad the choice was by the writers. Thought it would be a good time to do this after the writer's awful choice of Justin Morneau. I had Morneau 9th on my 2006 A.L. MVP mock ballot.
Writers Made th
Jumping the gun here a bit but things seem fairly clear to me. I am holding out hope the Rose Bowl has the good sense not to pick Notre Dame for a rematch against Michigan but I might be wrong on that. Obviously a lot things can change with the title games next week but at that point there will be no need for projections.
One thing I learned tonight, the rule where bowls can not take a 6-6 team over a 7-5 team to fill a conference bid also applies to at-large bids which means Washington St
The likely outcome of who will face Ohio State in the Fiest Bowl, part II is just depressing for me. Either we'll get a traditional Rose Bowl match-up, except not in the Rose Bowl, or we'll get the always lame rematch of a game already played. But now with only two weeks left in the season I can actually make an attempt to make my own projections that go beyond guessing. When it cames to the ACC though it will still be guess work as there is still way too much unresolved business in that confere
In my need to always find content after the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is released I plan on doing individual entries on each player on the ballot, even the ones that have no business being on it. The profiles will mainly just be useless information on each player and then a short opinion by me on whether or not I'd vote for them into the Hall of Fame. So as a test run I decided to do one on an active player and Gary Sheffield seemed like a good choice since he has recently been in the ne
December 30th - Meineke Car Care Bowl (Big East #3/Navy vs. ACC #6)
Navy vs. Clemson/Boston College/Miami
The mean 'ol Naval academy is stealing the Big East's bid here due to a conditional bid they had with this unfortunately named bowl. Clemson is likely to end up here after having what appeared to be promising Orange Bowl hopes just a couple of weeks ago.
December 30th - Alamo Bowl (Big XII #4 vs. Big Ten #4)
Texas A&M/Missouri/Nebraska vs. Purdue
Purdue will end up her
As I mentioned last week in my bowls entry I wasn't going to be doing any projections as there is still way too many games left to make any solid projections that go beyond guess work. If you want to try to predict how the ACC will shake out the rest of the way, be my guest. But I need content and even though I hate the current state of the bowl system, I love looking at potential match-ups. So in this entry I'm going to do what I've done a few times in the past in the College Football threads a
Even with the baseball season over I'm always looking for an excuse to do a redo and resident Astros fan vivalaultra gave me one while lamenting over the end of Jeff Bagwell's career in Houston:
Well god dammit I have to solve this quandry!
Jeff Bagwell finished second in the 1999 N.L. MVP voting but he wasn't even close to winning it. Chipper Jones had the best year of his career hitting .319 with 45 homeruns while helping the Braves to a league best 103 wins and would receive 29 of
MAC
Conference bids: Motor City, GMAC or MPC Computers, International
Locked up a bid: None
Near locks: Ohio
On the bubble: Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan
The MAC is very hard to figure out when it comes to bowl bids because outside of the MAC title game winner, no one is guarenteed a bowl. In the past the loser of the MAC title game has often been passed up for the MAC's other bowl bid. This year they
Let me say first off I hate the bowls. Okay scratch that I kind of like them but I hate the bastardized system we currently have that helps determine an undisputed champ about half of the time and in the process kills any tradition the bowl system still had. I'm an all or nothing guy when it comes to bowl games. Give me the Pac-10 champ against the Big Ten champ in the Rose, give me the SEC champ in the Sugar, and give me the Big XII champ in the Orange (not the fucking Fiesta) or don't give me
Well it's been a while since I did one of these. Once I finished the Game 5's I wanted to sit down and watch both Game 6's for 1975 and 1986 in one sitting. With all the other games I'd watch them half hour or an hour at a time but for obvious reasons I wanted to be able to watch those two games without interruption. Problem was I never found a chance to watch either game in it's entirety and ended up forgetting about it for a while but with the 20th anniversary of the Bill Buckner play being to
And finally the starting pitchers to complete this year's rankings. The list is made up of the top 120 pitchers in games started. Francisco Liriano did not make the cut while Roger Clemens and Jered Weaver were among the last five to make it. I factor in the same stats as I did for the relievers but I also include ERA+ for the starters.
As I mentioned in my 2006 awards entry I wasn't sure if I'd end up changing my selection the 3rd best pitcher in the A.L. I picked C.C. Sabathia for 3rd whe
Closer list is the Top 30 in saves, of course saves are not factored in the rankings. Same statistics taken into account as middle relievers but I also include Win Shares for closers.
2004 Top 3
1. Brad Lidge
2. Joe Nathan
3. Eric Gagne
2005 Top 3
1. Mariano Rivera
2. Billy Wagner
3. Todd Jones
2006 Closer Rankings
1. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox
2. B.J. Ryan, Blue Jays
3. Joe Nathan, Twins
4. J.J. Putz, Mariners
5. Francisco Rodriguez, Angels
6. Mariano Rive
Now moving on to pitchers, starting with the middle men. Now the previous two years I took the top 60 in relief apperances, not counting closers, to put the list together. This time around though I took the top 60 in that most meaningless of stats, Holds. But as worthless as it is at least helps identify who managers trusted to use when their team had a lead since the majority of managers have a phobia when it comes to using their best relievers when they are trailing or tied.
Now for middl
Considering that my favorite team in sports was just eliminated on a walk off homerun, I feel pretty good. Going into today I just wanted the A's to pull out one win and then let the Tigers celebrate at home on Sunday as I didn't really want the A's to get my hopes up by winning both games this weekend. Well don't worry about having my heartbroken now. But this series was effectively over after the 4th inning in Game 2 when Esteban Loaiza failed to get a shutdown inning after a Milton Bradley ho
2004 Top 3
1. Barry Bonds
2. Manny Ramirez
3. Adam Dunn
2005 Top 3
1. Manny Ramirez
2. Jason Bay
3. Miguel Cabrera
2006 Leftfielder Rankings
1. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
2. Alfonso Soriano, Nationals
3. Barry Bonds, Giants
4. Jason Bay, Pirates
5. Carlos Lee, Brewers/Rangers
6. Matt Holliday, Rockies
7. Raul Ibanez, Mariners
8. Carl Crawford, Devil Rays
9. Juan Rivera, Angels
10. Adam Dunn, Reds
11. Reed Johnson, Blue Jays
12. Pat Burrell, Phillies
2004 Top 3
1. Miguel Tejada
2. Carlos Guillen
3. Michael Young
2005 Top 3
1. Michael Young
2. Miguel Tejada
3. Derek Jeter
2006 Shortstop Rankings
1. Derek Jeter, Yankees
2. Jose Reyes, Mets
3. Carlos Guillen, Tigers
4. Rafael Furcal, Dodgers
5. Miguel Tejada, Orioles
6. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
7. Michael Young, Rangers
8. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
9. Bill Hall, Brewers
10. Orlando Cabrera, Angels
11. Edgar Renteria, Braves
12. Omar Vizquel, Giants
I already posted in the ALCS thread about the game, where I was probably on t.v. for a split second on the Inge homerun, so I'd like to throw in something for the blog. Ever since 9/11 the New York Yankees and I'm guessing the Mets as well play "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch and in the immediate aftermatch of 9/11 this was common across baseball. As time has passed the regular tradition of the 7th inning stretch has continued in most ballparks, including in Oakland. But since
2004 Top 3
1. Adrian Beltre
2. Scott Rolen
3. Melvin Mora
2005 Top 3
1. Alex Rodriguez
2. Morgan Ensberg
3. David Wright
2006 3rd Basemen Rankings
1. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins
2. David Wright, Mets
3. Garett Atkins, Rockies
4. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
5. Chipper Jones, Braves
6. Aramis Ramirez, Cubs
7. Freddy Sanchez, Pirates
8. Scott Rolen, Cardinals
9. Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals
10. Mark Teahen, Royals
11. Joe Crede, White Sox
12. Troy Glaus, Blue J
No College Football Wrap Up today as I was out of town yesterday and missed the majority of the games, not that any of my "insights" ever require watching the games. On to the next rankings...
2004 Top 3
1. Mark Loretta
2. Jeff Kent
3. Ray Durham
2005 Top 3
1. Brian Roberts
2. Jeff Kent
3. Chase Utley
2006 2nd Basemen Rankings
1. Chase Utley, Phillies
2. Ray Durham, Giants
3. Dan Uggla, Marlins
4. Robinson Cano, Yankees
5. Jeff Kent, Dodgers
6. Orlando H
