HarleyQuinn

Dusty Baker watching Mark Prior and his Cubs team completely melt down before his eyes in the infamous "Bartman" game and not coming out until AFTER the Marlins scored on a double to tie the game at 3-3. Even more maddening is that Dusty sent out his pitching coach before he himself came out to yank a clearly rattled Prior. Come in and calm Prior after a bad wild pitch walk? Silly... Come in and calm Prior after a misplayed what should've been inning ending double play? Why do that... And then he called for an IBB to load the bases, next guy hit a sac fly, and called for a 2nd IBB to AGAIN load the bases after yanking Prior with a 3-3 score.

I'm excited to see when Lars Anderson gets a chance with the Sox, although they're a bit log jammed at 1B at the moment. I'm surprised at how much depth the Sox have in terms of players ready to make the jump over the next few seasons. Not sure how "top end" some of the following names may be. 1B Lars Anderson C George Kottaras OF Jeff Corsaletti (Could be moved in a deal as well but has hit .285 in 4 minor league seasons with an 0.824 OPS) SP David Pauley (Could be converted to a reliever as well) SP Mike Bowden SP Clay Buchholz MR Daniel Bard MR Justin Masterson (Pitched in 36 games with Boston last season with a 3.16 ERA)

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/plaindealer....xml&coll=2 Gotta love the argument about Batting Average. Grady Sizemore 2006: .290/.375/.533 (0.908) with 190 H and 78 BB vs. 153 K 2007: .277/.390/.462 (0.852) with 174 H and 101 BB vs. 155 K. Note that he also had 27 fewer AB. He only had 16 fewer hits but balanced that out with 23 more walks. 2008: .268/.374/.502 (0.876) with 170 H and 98 BB vs. 130 K. Note that he had 6 more AB than 2007 but cut his K's down by 25. 4 more hits in 2007 bumps his BA to .285 and give him 6 and he gets up to a "normal" .287. Give him 10 hits in 2008 and he has a .284 BA instead. Also he had a .339 BABIP in 2006, .333 BABIP in 2007, and .290 BABIP in 2008. Looks like just got unlucky in 2008 for the most part.

May as well jump on this guy now... great backup/situational guy to utilize and quite possibly my favorite non-RS player during the 90's. Ken Griffey Jr.

Just found this from Jerry Manuel's initial address. Everything I've read seems to agree that the "optimal" lineup can help add 3-5 W over the course of a season and if you see good lineups from the past, the leadoff hitters have all had pop (1996/1997 Baltimore with Brady Anderson/Robby Alomar, the 2000's Red Sox with Damon). *Luis Castillo may bat leadoff for the Mets. Potentially, Carlos Beltran could bat second and Jose Reyes third. It may make more sense to bat Carlos Delgado fourth and David Wright fifth in that scenario, since otherwise the Mets would be stacking a ton of lefties at the bottom of the order. Beltran for his career has his best numbers in the 2 hole (.293/.379/.549). My ideal lineup. For the most part, you'd be getting Reyes/Beltran/Wright the most at bats over the course of the season and having Castillo possibly "lead" off an inning from the 9 spot makes up for the outs that the pitcher would accrue (LaRussa In Past). You don't really have to worry about the LOOGY as much if you can replace Schneider with RH Ramon Castro off the bench. You also still get the "base threat" with Reyes, Beltran, and even Wright at the top of the order. 1: SH Jose Reyes 2: SH Carlos Beltran 3: RH David Wright 4: LH Carlos Delgado 5: RH Fernando Tatis 6: LH Ryan Church/LH Daniel Murphy 7: LH Brian Schneider 8: Pitcher 9: SH Luis Castillo

Maybe not but the guy did have a 3 year stretch of 24, 31, and 41 HR starting 2 years after he left Detroit. All done in an extreme pitcher's park as well (95, 91, and 89).

SP Jesse Litsch

Randy Smith in Detroit has a good case too given the stars he let go... Team Record: 411-560 (42.3%) from 1996-2001 Randy Smith (1996-2002) - Just Some Highlights of his Tenure. Gone 6 games into 2002 Season - Trades David Wells for C.J. Nitkowski and 2 other players - Trades Chad Curtis for Joey Eischen and a nobody - Trades Cecil Fielder for Ruben Sierra and a nobody in July. Trades Ruben Sierra for 2 nobodies in October of that same year - Trades Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima, and 2 others to Houston. Big names he gets back are Doug Brocail and Brian Hunter - Trades Phil Nevin and Matt Walbeck to Anaheim. Nevin eventually lands in San Diego. - Trades Dave Roberts and Tim Worrell to Cleveland for Geronimo Berroa. Roberts eventually goes to Los Angeles. Worrell eventually lands in San Francisco. - Trades Luis Gonzalez to Arizona for Karim Garcia. - Trades a slew of guys including Frank Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, and Gabe Kapler to Texas mainly for Juan Gonzalez. Juan plays one season.

In Red Sox lore, I'll go with Ed Barrow (1918-1920 Boston Red Sox)/Hugh Duffy (1921-1922). Both were managers but had influential say with Frazee. This is about as good a decimation of a great team as one can do. Barrow arguably raped the Red Sox for his WS wins. Ed Barrow (Note: Joined the Yankees in 1921 for their 1920's run of dominance...) - Team wins World Series in 1918 with 75-51 record. - Sends Babe Ruth to the Yankees in January of 1920 for $100,000 - 1919 Season: Trades Amos Strunk to the Athletics for Braggo Roth and Red Shannon. Roth plays half the season with the Sox. Shannon plays half the year and is gone. - Before the 1919 season, trades Dutch Leonard, Ernie Shore, and Duffy Lewis to the Yankees for $15,000 and 4 players, the best arguably being Frank Gilhooey at the time. Hugh Duffy - Before the 1921 Season, trades Harry Hooper to the White Sox for Shano Collins and Neimo Lebold. Shano was 35 and never put up an OPS+ of more than 94 and 85. Nemo only played 2 seasons and had OPS+ of 94 and 76. - Before the 1921 Season, trades Wally Schang, Waite Hoyt, and 2 others to the Yankees for 4 players including Muddy Ruel and Del Pratt. Muddy plays 2 seasons with OPS+ of 82 and 67 and leaves. Pratt was 33 and played 2 good seasons before going to Detroit. - Before the 1922 Season, trades Sam Jones, Joe Bush, and Everett Scott to the Yankees for 4 players including Roger Peckinpaugh and Rip Collins. Roger doesn't even play a game with Boston. Rip goes 14-11 and bolts after only 1 season. Of note: Herb Pennock was traded to the Yankees before the 1923 Season for 3 guys and $50,000. So the Yankees took from the Red Sox: Babe Ruth, Dutch Leonard (Sent to Detroit by NYY for $), Ernie Shore, Duffy Lewis, Wally Schang, Waite Hoyt, Sam Jones, Joe Bush, and Herb Pennock in a little over 5 years really (1919-1923).

I liked this episode more than last week's (which felt too much like a Fox show rather than a JW show). Not sure how I feel about Alpha as the possible big bad of the season but I'm intrigued to see where the cop storyline goes and whether that somehow ends up involving a bigger reaching entity. There's already avenues being built concerning Boyd/Laurence, Victor/Paul, and possibly Echo/Sierra/Adelle. Also we're only two episodes in. The premise is weak and I still want to see a bit more of Amy Acker but I think it's coming along. They seem to be building up the side characters enough that by the mid-mark of the season, we'll start seeing more interactions and getting a bit more invested with them. Episode 3 doesn't look like it'll be fantastic (although it's written by the woman who helped write Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog) but I'm glad to see Jane Espenson and Tim Minear on the writing staff as both are usually solid and Minear created Drive.

Agreed although I always get a kick out of seeing things like OBP or SLG listed just because I was naive as to how "available" it was in terms of mainstream featuring during the past. Both stats were well known at least in the early 90's (See videogames and I remember Dennis Martinez's perfect game featured OBP in the at bats). One thing I hate is that they show the "highlights" of the game immediately, then show the game. Just seems... wasteful and pointless. If you're going to watch the game, why do you need to see highlights first?

What's unfortunate too is that the guy played the last two seasons in the GCL at ages 21 and 22 (as opposed to 17 and 18). If he had been truthful about his age, the Nationals may have started him possibly in Low A but instead, he's wasted 2 seasons in the GCL and could still wind up in Low A at age 23 as opposed to being in Single A or High A at this point in time. He was originally the youngest hitter in 2007 on his team as opposed to being tied for oldest with Angel De Castro (of players with more than 50 AB). In 2008, there were only 4 players on his team who were 21 or 22 years old when he was supposedly 18. Given the history with players like Miguel Tejada, I'm curious if some teams shy away from taking DR players due to the fact that they can select HS players around the same age (17-18) without worrying that this 17 year old kid they've grabbed could really be 19, 20, or 21 years old instead.

I could use a guy for holds... and this guy has a great K/9. RP Rafael Perez

What if they made the floor 75% of whatever the cap figure is? Even at a $75 Million floor (which would not be implemented due to outcry), only 17 teams topped that total last season, with 2 other teams apart by only $2 Million. That would still leave at least 11 teams needing to raise at least $6 Million to meet the floor. From the way it looks last season, it seems that a $100 Million Cap and $60 Million floor would be around the ideal. Only 6 teams were under $60 Million and 2 of those teams (KC at 58 and Washington at 54) were close. Florida was the large outlier at $22 Million but the other teams (Pittsburgh, Oakland, Tampa Bay) all spent at least $43 Million. 25 Man Roster at 100 Million = Average $4 Million per player salary. Only 9 teams exceeded that figure last season. 25 Man Roster at 60 Million = Average $2.4 Million per player salary. Only 10 teams underperformed that level with San Diego, Texas, and Arizona all in the $2.3 range.

How would a salary cap help the lower tier teams that spend $30-$50 Million a season into spending more money? For all that's said about the Yankees, Sox, Mets, etc. spending a ton of money, there's no incentive for a mid to small market to spend a lot even with the salary cap in place. Would the smaller teams have a chance at big ticket free agents? Yes, but they only have so much money to spend as it is so how does overpaying for Player A with the cap in place offset what's going on now where they sign Players B, C, and D with that money instead? If there were a cap of $100 Million and a floor of $45-50 Million, as a team owner I'd still spend closer to the 45-50 range.

OF Jeremy Hermida

It did come off as a "place setter" type episode, although Joss arguably has a knack for mediocre premiere episodes of seasons/shows (either due to script or executives) dating back to Buffy. I like it well enough but I hope it turns out more like Buffy or Firefly, where the "main" premise is almost a background part and the focal development becomes more about the characters, their individual situations, and relationships. There was some early development there (intrigued by the contrast Echo and Sierra had in the opening episode and whether that'll continue) and I have a feeling it'll turn out to be more like Firefly, in that it'll be a solid enough 1st season but still get axed. As far as I know, it's scheduled for 13 episodes and Joss has admitted that the second half of the season is where it starts to ramp up (which fits his other first season series'). Not the biggest fan of Eliza as lead, see Tru Calling, but I'll continue watching.

SP Joe Saunders

Mixing an oldie with a goodie for your team name. Willy Aybar... It's A Trap!

Thought this was a fascinating read. Warning: LONG but again, just fascinating. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine...;pagewanted=all

Yeah, Brown's inconsistency is why he may drop to the 4th-5th round at best. Rhett Bomar should be a late 1st/early 2nd round pick but could fall to the late 2nd depending on where the other "top" quarterbacks go. Rhett has a rocket of an arm and is really polished for an FCS quarterback (think Flacco except Bomar had a chance to play against tough I-A talent initially). I highly doubt he'd slip past the 3rd round.

cockfag... and I'm harsh? Please

So she's thin skinned? Man... that almost is pathetic. What a cunt. That should work according to you.

Yeah, 'cause a tripped girl banning people left/right has nothing to do with the stuff at hand... It's all just fun and games but a girl does it and gets called out? Ooooh... TSM hates women.

Seriously? Man... this is lame. I mean, I heard all this raving about you and this is all you can muster? "Insubordination will not be tolerated at forums.thesmartmarks.com"? That's it? Oof... no wonder you've been banned on more fingers than I can count. Where's the zip and pizazz? I'll give you a 2/10.