HarleyQuinn

I've put up a couple weeks that ordinarily would've won me 5-3 or 6-2 but instead I had to face juggernauts so I'm 70-78 IIRC. Blah. My keepers are most likely: Tim Duncan, Emeka Okafor, and Tony Parker although Nate Robinson's play may force a look.

Offensively I think it's been a rather interesting decade for catchers... Yeah, most are somewhat poor (Brad Ausmus for example) offensively but there are a quite a few guys with 90 or higher OPS+ for their career. Jason Varitek: .267/.350/.447 with a 103 OPS+ in 11 seasons Jorge Posada: .277/.381/.479 with a 124 OPS+ in 13 seasons Victor Martinez: .301/.373/.473 with a 123 OPS+ in 6 seasons Ivan Rodriguez: .303/.340/.479 with a 111 OPS+ in 17 seasons Joe Mauer: .313/.394/.459 with a 125 OPS+ in 4 seasons Jason Kendall: .297/.375/.394 with a 100 OPS+ in 12 seasons Paul Lo Duca: .288/.338/.414 with a 99 OPS+ in 10 seasons Brian McCann: .296/.351/.491 with a 116 OPS+ in 3 seasons Josh Bard: .275/.341/.415 with a 102 OPS+ in 6 seasons (126 in past 2 years) Then you have guys coming up or entering the league like: Kurt Suzuki, Mike Napoli, Russell Martin, Kenji Johjima, Carlos Ruiz, and many others. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Catcher revolution continue offensively.

Here's a fascinating article on Brian Bannister and his embracing sabremetric thinking: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Alu7...o&type=lgns - Still, Bannister’s interest prompted Mike Fast to run a detailed series of analyses on Bannister with Pitch f/x, the two-camera system that tracks a ball from the pitcher’s hand to the catcher’s glove and details its speed to the tenth of a mile per hour and movement to the inch. - “I find Pitch f/x to be more useful than video,” Bannister said, “because you’re actually seeing what the pitches are doing late in the zone, and that’s what it’s all about. Everybody can throw a fastball, but if one guy’s explodes in the last 10 feet and the other’s goes dead straight, there’s a huge difference, even if they’re both throwing 95 mph. That’s where the magic lies: in tweaking your pitches in order to get the most out of your ability.” - He’s got all kinds of theories. Bannister would like to sit down with James, who lives about 30 miles down the road in Lawrence, Kan., or with McCracken, and ask them whether curveball pitchers tend to have lower BABIPs. He looks at the league leaders every year – Orlando Hernandez and Chris Young and A.J. Burnett and Barry Zito last year, Young and Josh Beckett and Pedro Martinez and Matt Cain the year before – and sees a wicked hook as the common thread. - For Bannister, that just doesn’t suffice. He wants to see which of his pitches get hit for home runs – the count, the situation, the speed, the break. He wants to know that in 0-2 counts, hitters are 3 for 53 against him in his major-league career, and, accordingly, he wants to figure out what pitches best get him to that count. He wants to increase his strikeout rate from 4.2 per nine innings – the sixth-lowest in the major leagues last year – to at least 5.5 and learn to do so with the same pitches he currently employs.

Cowboy13012 is on the clock while The Coat Is My Father can make his selection at anytime.

I think it'd be a bit more optimal to let Cueto get some time in AAA before calling him up to settle into the rotation. He was only 21 last year and pitched 83 innings (22 in AAA) b/w AA and AAA while pitching 161.1 in total from High A to AAA. I have to admit I'm high on Volquez though despite his 'rocky' stats. 23 last year and at AAA he went 6-1 with a 1.41 ERA (51.0 IP) along with 66 K and 0 HRA. That's pretty impressive regardless of who you are. Even with his ERA in Texas, his rate stats were still solid (7.68 K/9, 3.97 BB/9, and 1.05 HR/9).

theSperm/Walter Sickert is now on the clock as 24 hours have elapsed. StevieKick can make his pick whenever.

The Gotham Harlequins select 3B Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Man... I just don't understand how swinging at pitches could help Dunn or Votto anymore? Dunn's hit 40+ HR the past 4 seasons and struck out at least 160+ times in the past 4 seasons. How is swinging at more pitches gonna help with the tradeoff of Dunn's batting average rising with his walks falling and strikeouts presumably rising as well? Votto's hit .307 in 1170 plate appearances between AA and AAA. How is not swinging and taking pitches possibly hurting him? He's drawn 148 walks while making such contact anyway. Granted, Dusty was never the greatest contact guy (surprise! 7 seasons at .280 or higher) nor did he walk a ton (Although he did have 4 seasons with 60+ walks and a career 0.347 OBP) but what is his agenda against getting on base? If he wants 'speed' on the base paths so badly, Votto would be his ideal player. He walks (hiss) but also has speed to boot (41 steals in 58 chances b/w AA and AAA for a success rate of 71%). It also amazes me that guys like Dusty Baker (0.347 OBP career) and Joe Morgan especially (0.392 OBP with a career BB/K ratio of 1.84) rail against sabremetric thinking so much. If anybody should understand the importance of getting on base, it should be Joe Morgan who had 8 seasons with 100+ walks. I also love how they target the guys like Adam Dunn. Do they expect Dunn to hit .300 and swipe 20-25 bases a season or something??

... Fucking embedding. God... I've been on a 90's nostalgia kick thanks to this thread. More late 90's fun. Probably my favorite song of 1997... and I still dig it for whatever reason. Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy Smash Mouth - All Star

To get on the football side of things... The Education of a Coach by David Halberstram. Just a brilliantly insightful look at Bill Belichick but more at his history (including his father, growing up with Ernie Adams, his ordeals as an assistant coach with Detroit, etc.) Really a fascinating read for Patriots and Belichick fans but I think even non-fans would find it interesting.

Here's a question for you, Bored. How are players who had limited at bats (i.e. a guy with 114 AB hitting .283/.375/.411) treated? Like, if you draft such a player and play him for 400+ AB, will he put up comparable numbers over the season or will they be drastically different (i.e. .259/.341/.376)?

Cordero was taken in Round 6 by MJ Styles.

Only the original albums are up for grabs.

RHR selects via PM... Seeing as though I am a huge fan, I picked Darkness first for personal reasons. But now that THREE of his albums have been picked, I had to pick this one, too. For all the non-Bruce fans (especially those who hate the BOSS persona) this is the album that is used for the "I don't like Springsteen, but..." Every song is a moving song. With Highway Patrolman, State Trooper, and Johnny 99...Bruce went from being RAWK to being a real artist. Even the cover is amazing and stipped of all pretention. NEBRASKA. My next pick.

Think twice about that. When I had a tooth pulled, I just wanted to bury my head for the rest of the day. I've already had the bottom two pulled so I've been through the experience before. I don't remember it being that bad afterwards (I distinctly remember getting home and spitting blood into the sink and thinking it was the coolest thing ever). If I really feel shitty, I'll just pre-rank my players the night before just in case.

Either day works fine. I'll be having my upper wisdom teeth (at least one anyway) yanked on Wednesday so I'll be sure to provide much hilarity on draft day.

The Gotham Harlequins select RP Juan Cruz Arizona Diamondbacks. Via PM... Krankor selects 3B Dallas McPherson Florida Marlins.

via PM... Cartman selects OF Nate McLouth Pittsburgh Pirates. Now am I up or am I still waiting on St. D?

nevermind.

You rented those but not the All American family classic: I'll admit to watching this repeatedly when it was on Showtime a couple years back

I'd be fine with shortening it to 6-8 hours. I know there's a handful of us (including yours truly) who are constantly hovering over the thread. If you're worried about your pick being sniped, you could always PM it to somebody outside of the draft who hangs around the board frequently (or PM somebody like Al)

... While I dig the choice, I gotta nix it, Ravenbomb. It's pretty much implied that this is a music draft but I'll be sure to clarify in the 1st page.

I call dibs on Fenway, obviously.

Mighty Morphing Power Rangers Tiny Toon Adventures The Tick Big Bad Beetleborgs Eerie, Indiana

theSperm (or whatever his/her name is this week) is still on the clock but the 24 hour limit had expired, thus Stevie Kick could pick.