Bored

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 Sauer, Jeromy Burnitz, Roger Maris, Cecil Fielder, Darryl Strawberry, Bob Allison, Danny Tartabull, Eric Davis, Dean Palmer, Jesse Barfield Year-by-Year Win Shars & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3) 1987: 0/0.0 1988: 7/3.4 1989: 8/2.0 1990: 6/1.7 1991: 13/7.0 1992: 16/6.8 1993: 22/7.7 1994: 13/7.7 1995: 16/5.0 1996: 22/6.3 1997: 19/8.0 1998: 8/2.4 1999: 8/1.8 2000: 16/4.3 2001: 0/0.3 Career Win Shares: 174 Career WARP3: 64.6 Would he get my vote? No. Buhner's trade for Ken Phelps is a part of pop culture thanks to Seinfeld but he certainly won't be part of the HOF. Very consistent peformer when he was a line-up but he had several injuries at various parts of his career and only played more than 100 games once during the final four years of his career. Even if he had been healthy it's unlikely he would have kept up a level of performance high enough to warrant HOF consideration. His Gold Glove in 1996 was a complete joke even by the very low standards of the Gold Glove awards.

nogoodnick didn't submit picks on time and checking his profile he hasn't be on the board in a week. If he does show up before Saturday's kick off I'll still let him submit partial picks. Not a big deal here as Cartman had that match-up locked up barring a collapse. Hopefully he'll show up for the bowls. Also I'll wait to post Cartman's picks until nogoodnick shows up or after Saturday's games start.

A report out of Baton Rouge says that the Rose Bowl will take LSU which pretty much sets the BCS bowls if true. BCS: Ohio State vs. USC/Michigan Rose: Michigan/USC vs. LSU Sugar: Florida/Arkansas vs. Notre Dame Orange: Wake Forest/Georgia Tech vs. Louisville/Rutgers Fiesta: Oklahoma/Nebraska vs. Boise State

Dante Bichette - Outfielder California Angels 1988-1990 Milwaukee Brewers 1991-1992 Colorado Rockies 1993-1999 Cincinnati Reds 2000 Boston Red Sox 2000-2001 Awards 1995 NL Silver Slugger - OF All-Star Selections: 4 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998) League Leader 1994: Games, At Bats 1995: SLG%, Homeruns, Hits, Total Bases, RBI, Runs Created 1998: Hits Career Ranks None of note Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Batting - 19 (112) (Average HOFer ≈ 27) Gray Ink: Batting - 81 (284) (Average HOFer ≈ 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 30.5 (275) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 82.0 (203) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Batters in the HOF: None Top 10 Similar Batters: Garret Anderson, Moises Alou, Shawn Green, Ted Kluszewski, Tony Oliva, Fred Lynn, George Hendrick, Tim Salmon, George Bell, Greg Luzinksi Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3) 1988: 1/0.3 1989: 2/1.2 1990: 7/3.1 1991: 7/3.8 1992: 8/3.8 1993: 19/6.3 1994: 13/5.8 1995: 23/5.8 1996: 20/4.1 1997: 15/4.0 1998: 17/6.2 1999: 15/3.0 2000: 14/3.9 2001: 7/2.3 Career Win Shares: 168 Career WARP3: 53.7 Would he get my vote? No. Bichette's numbers were heavily inflated by playing in Colorado and even if you took his counting stats at face value he still is no where close to a HOF. He's a good example of similarity scores not always being very reliable because they don't adjust to the era a player played in. Of his Top 10 similar batters only Garret Anderson has a lower career OPS+, who just happens to be his most similar batter, and Bichette was no where near is good as the likes of Tony Oliva and Fred Lynn.

UPDATED: Only waiting on nogoodnick now. WAC Championship Miami - Spaceman Spiff THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 410 Georgia Tech - iggymcfly THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 44 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 405 Big MAC Championship Minnesota - Vern Gagne THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 46 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 433 Kent State - JHawk THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 30 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 214 SE7 Championship South Carolina - Cuban Linx THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 42 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 375 Kentucky - Danville Wrestling THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 52 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 250 Big 8 Championship Texas - UTBroward THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 50 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 273 yds Oklahoma - Vampiro69 THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? 45 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State? 312

Texans - 17 points Baltimore St. Louis Washington N.Y. Giants New England Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Chicago Green Bay San Diego New Orleans Pittsburgh Houston Denver Philadelphia

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, Scott Spiezio, Tom Tresh, Jim Presley, Steve Buechele, Dave Hollins, Aaron Boone, Jim Tabor Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Leve (WARP3) 1991: 1/0.8 1992: 2/0.3 1993: 5/1.5 1994: 6/4.1 1995: 10/3.2 1996: 19/7.9 1997: 5/2.1 1998: 27/9.3 1999: 13/5.5 2000: 8/4.1 2001: 15/5.6 Career Win Shares: 111 Career WARP3: 44.3 Would he get my vote? No. Like Witt there is really no point in having Brosius on the ballot. Unlike Witt though you can figure out why he got through the nomination process, likely due to his World Series MVP in 1998. He was an excellent defensive third baseman but even if you had a Hall of Fame based soley on fielding he'd have no shot due to only being an everyday player for six years of his career, playing in more than 150 games just once.

All MAC invites went out today, making the title game irrelevent, including Ohio going to the GMAC Bowl which is their first bowl since the 1968 Tangerine Bowl. All Pac-10 invites went out as well with the only surprise being UCLA to the Emerald Bowl instead of Arizona State even though UCLA still needs to upset USC to get to 7 wins. Arizona and Washington State are officially now staying home for the bowl season.

Oh ya those paragons of virtue, baseball writers, are already lighting their torches. http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/n...orts-columnists Hehehehe, this is going to be fun.

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 Rangers 1986-1992, 1995-1998 Oakland Athletics 1992-1994 Florida Marlins 1995 St. Louis Cardinals 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1999 Cleveland Indians 2000 Arizona Diamondbacks 2001 Awards None League Leader None Career Ranks K: 69th K/9: 64th Hall of Fame Stats Gray Ink: Pitching - 33 (696) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 11.0 (696) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 7.0 (1050) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Pitchers in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Kevin Gross, Mike Moore, Jim Clancy, Steve Renko, Scott Erickson, Steve Trachsel, Bump Hadley, Tim Belcher, Floyd Bannister, Tom Candiotti Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3) 1986: 3/2.0 1987: 6/3.9 1988: 10/3.8 1989: 5/2.0 1990: 17/6.4 1991: 0/0.2 1992: 8/4.5 1993: 11/5.8 1994: 4/2.8 1995: 9/4.4 1996: 10/4.7 1997: 11/5.4 1998: 1/0.3 1999: 8/2.8 2000: 0/0.0 2001: 2/1.1 Career Win Shares: 102 Career WARP3: 49.9 Would He Get My Vote? No, shockingly as that might seem. Only had one good year in 1990 when he went 17-10 with a 3.36 ERA which was one of only four seasons that he had an ERA+ of 100 or better. Now any player who played at least 10 years can appear on the ballot but there is still a nomination process where a handful of players don't get on the ballot but there is always a few that make no sense as to why anyone would nominate them and Witt is definately one this year. If you're going to include Bobby Witt on the ballot why even bother with a nomination process? Not that it really matters in the end.

Nope, you had a 3-1 edge in the differing games.

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 the Right Choice 1980 A.L. George Brett 1989 A.L. Robin Yount 1999 N.L. Chipper Jones Writers Choice was Pefectly Acceptable (Writer's Pick/My Pick) 1985 N.L. Willie McGee/Dwight Gooden 1986 A.L. Roger Clemens/Don Mattingly 1988 N.L. Kirk Gibson/Will Clark 1991 A.L. Cal Ripken/Frank Thomas 1995 N.L. Barry Larkin/Greg Maddux 2003 A.L. Alex Rodriguez/Carlos Delgado Writers Made the Right & Wrong Choice (Writer's Picks/My Pick) 1979 N.L. Keith Hernandez & Willie Stargell/Keith Hernandez Bad Choices by the Writers (Writer's Pick/My Pick) 1979 A.L. Don Baylor/Fred Lynn 1987 A.L. George Bell/Alan Trammell 1991 N.L. Terry Pendleton/Barry Bonds 1998 N.L. Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire The Justin Morneau Achievement Awards (Writer's Pick/My Pick) 1960 N.L. Dick Groat/Eddie Mathews 1974 N.L. Steve Garvey/Joe Morgan 1981 A.L. Rollie Fingers/Dwight Evans 1984 A.L. Willie Hernandez/Cal Ripken 1987 N.L. Andre Dawson/Tim Raines 1992 A.L. Dennis Eckersley/Frank Thomas 1995 A.L. Mo Vaughn/Edgar Martinez 1996 A.L. Juan Gonzalez/Alex Rodriguez 1999 A.L. Ivan Rodriguez/Derek Jeter

New BCS Top 25 1. Ohio State 2. USC 3. Michigan 4. Florida 5. LSU 6. Louisville 7. Wisconsin 8. Boise State 9. Arkansas 10. Notre Dame 11. Auburn 12. Oklahoma 13. Rutgers 14. Virginia Tech 15. West Virginia 16. Tennessee 17. Wake Forest 18. California 19. Texas 20. Nebraska 21. BYU 22. Georgia Tech 23. Texas A&M 24. Oregon State 25. Hawaii

Thanks again to Hawk 34 for filling in for me while I was gone. Of course now this week everyone will send their picks by private message directly to me. For those who are not playing in the conference championship games remember to check next weekend for the bowl match-ups and I now have a fairly good idea of what they will be. Week 13 Deadline #2 Thursday, November 30th, 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST Week 13 Scoreboard Western Atlantic Conference Championship #2 Georgia Tech (iggymcfly) leads #1 Miami (Spaceman Spiff) 8-7 Southeastern Seven Conference Championship #5 South Carolina (Cuban Linx) leads #10 Kentucky (Danville Wrestling) 6-4 Pac-8 Conference Championship USC (Cartman) leads #8 Oregon (nogoodnick) 9-5 Big MAC Conference Championship #9 Minnesota (Vern Gagne) leads Kent State (JHawk) 8-6 Big 8 Conference Championship Oklahoma (Vampiro69) leads Texas (UTBroward) 4-2 Week 13 Games to Make Picks For #2 THURSDAY MAC Title: Central Michigan vs. Ohio FRIDAY C-USA Title: Houston vs. Southern Miss SATURDAY ACC Title: Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest SEC Title: Florida vs. Arkansas Rutgers at West Virginia Big XII Title: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma Oregon State at Hawaii Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Title Game? Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Hawaii's Colt Brennan have against Oregon State?

Edit: Edwin beat me to it. No it will be the Sun Bowl. Navy grabbed the Big East's spot in the Car Care Bowl. The Gator Bowl is very likely going to pass on the Big East and exercise their option to make the #2 choice in the Big XII especially now since Texas has fallen into their laps. Because of that the Sun Bowl's Big XII bid becomes a Big East bid. There will be a test on all of this later.

The Big East champ of course goes to a BCS bowl but no bowl is required to take them if they are available. The Rose Bowl has to take the Pac-10 and/or Big Ten champ if they are available. The Orange Bowl has to take the ACC champ if they are available. The Fiesta Bowl has to take the Big XII champ if they are available. The Sugar Bowl has to take the SEC champ if they are available. The Big East champ is like an automatic at large team, like Boise State this year. They have to go a BCS bowl but they can end up in any bowl.

BCS conference teams that are bowl eligible but not guarenteed a bowl: Alabama Arizona Kansas Oklahoma State Pittsburgh UCLA Washington State UCLA does have one more game but even assuming they lose to USC they are a near lock to be grabbed by the Hawaii Bowl over Wazzu and U of A. Alabama and Pittsburgh need a second team in the BCS from their conference to grab a their last conference bid which after this week it does appear it will be the SEC that picks up an at-large. The Texas Bowl is likely going to pick Oklahoma State over Kansas for the final Big XII spot. Note even for open bids (Poinsettia, Motor City) a 6-6 team can not be picked over a 7-5 team. Western Michigan and Middle Tennessee will be the benefits of this.

No. In recent years the Orange had to pick either the ACC or Big East champ but they were not required to pick both. This year the deal is they are required to take the ACC champ only. The Big East has no deal with any BCS bowl.

Helllloooo El Paso.

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 State, Arizona, Kansas, and Pittsburgh are all likely staying home while the MAC and Sun Belt will pick up extra bids. Poinsettia: TCU vs. Western Michigan Las Vegas: BYU vs. Oregon New Orleans: Troy vs. East Carolina PapaJohns.com Bowl: Tulsa vs. South Florida New Mexico: New Mexico vs. San Jose State Armed Forces: Utah vs. Rice Hawaii: Hawaii vs. UCLA Motor City: Central Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee Emerald: Arizona State vs. Florida State Independence: Kansas State vs. Alabama Texas: Rutgers vs. Oklahoma State Holiday: California vs. Texas A&M Music City: Kentucky vs. Maryland Sun: Oregon State vs. West Virginia Liberty: Houston vs. South Carolina Champs Sports: Wake Forest vs. Purdue Insight: Texas Tech vs. Minnesota Car Care: Clemson vs. Navy Alamo: Missouri vs. Iowa Chick-fil-A: Virginia Tech vs. Georgia MPC Computers: Nevada vs. Miami Gator: Boston College vs. Texas Outback: Penn State vs. Tennessee Cotton: Nebraska vs. Auburn Capital One: Wisconsin vs. Arkansas Rose: Michigan vs. LSU Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. Boise State Orange: Georgia Tech vs. Louisville Sugar: Florida vs. Notre Dame International: Cincinnati vs. Northern Illinois GMAC: Southern Miss vs. Ohio BCS: Ohio State vs. USC

This year you'd match-up Duke/FIU in that game in a battle of the only two winless teams in D-IA.

Yesssssss, still have a shot at a Rutgers/Wake Forest Orange Bowl. Speaking of surreal bowl match-ups, San Jose State might end up playing Miami on the blue turf in the MPC Computers Bowl although I think Nevada will probably end up being Boise State's replacement with the Spartans going to the New Mexico Bowl to play a road game against the Lobos.

Rice locked up it's first bowl bid since the 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl. San Jose State locked up it's first bowl bid since the 1990 California Rasin Bowl.

Thanks Hawk.

Damn what a shame West Virginia and Arkansas lost this weekend because if USC really turns this into a laugher Notre Dame might have lost their automatic spot in the BCS by dropping out of the Top 8.