Bored

1995 Carolina/Jacksonville Expansion Draft 1999 Cleveland Expansion Draft 2002 Houston Expansion Draft The 1995 link doesn't have who was made available to draft, just who was picked.

Probably the Saturday before the first week which would be the 23rd.

The worst offensive season by a rightfielder has stood for over 100 years as Jack Dunn in 1902 had an OPS+ of 56 (.211/.256/.249). But for this modern exercise, 1999 was officially The Year of the Shitty Hitting Outfielder as players from that season have topped the list at each outfield spot. Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Rightfielder Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+) 1. Derek Bell, 1999 - Houston Astros 66 OPS+ (.236/.306/.350) 2t. Cory Snyder, 1989 - Cleveland Indians 70 2t. Mike Hershberger, 1964 - Chicago White Sox 70 4. Felix Jose, 1993 - Kansas City Royals 71 5. Mike Hershberger, 1965 - Kansas City A's 72 6. Dave May, 1974 - Milwaukee Brewers 73 7t. Tony Womack, 1999 - Arizona Diamondbacks 77 7t. Hosken Powell, 1980 - Minnesota Twins 77 9t. Jeromy Burnitz, 2002 - New York Mets 80 9t. Steve Finley, 1990 - Baltimore Orioles 80 9t. Glenn Wilson, 1987 - Philadelphia Phillies 80 12. Dave Martinez, 2000 - Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Chicago White Sox/Texas Rangers/Toronto Blue Jays 81 13t. Alex Ochoa, 2001 - Cincinnati Reds/Colorado Rockies 82 13t. Jose Guillen, 1997 - Pittsburgh Pirates 82 13t. Darnell Coles, 1989 - Seattle Mariners 82 13t. Bob Bailor, 1978 - Toronto Blue Jays 82 17. Mark Kotsay, 1999 - Florida Marlins 83 18t. Randy Winn, 2006 - San Francisco Giants 84 18t. Alexis Rios, 2005 - Toronto Blue Jays 84 18t. Juan Encarnacion, 2004 - Los Angeles Dodgers/Florida Marlins 84 18t. Roger Cedeno, 2003 - New York Mets 84 18t. Jose Guillen, 1998 - Pittsburgh Pirates 84 18t. Rob Deer, 1993 - Detroit Tigers/Boston Red Sox 84 18t. Ron Fairly, 1967 - Los Angeles Dodgers 84 25t. Danny Bautista, 2004 - Arizona Diamondbacks 85 25t. Brian Jordan, 2000 - Atlanta Braves 85 25t. Pat Kelly, 1970 - Kansas City Royals 85 25t. Gino Cimoli, 1963 - Kansas City A's 85

Just a couple of more days before sign ups are closed with still three holdovers unaccounted for but thankfully three people waiting to take their spots. I've received responses from all the bowl winners about name changes. CanadianChris and phoenixrising both elected to keep their bowl names while Cuban Linx decided not to tarnish the sacred legacy of the Bored Bowl by not adding a sponsor. For the rest of them here are the new bowl games. Gamestop.com Early Reservation Bowl (UTBroward) Don't Taze Me Bowl! (Vitamin X) K-Mart Blue Light Special Bowl (Hawk 34) Main Loon Restaurant China Bowl (JHawk) I Used To Fuck Guys Like You In Prison Football Classic (Edwin MacPhisto) Sugar Cereal Bowl presented by Count Chocula (AboveAverage484) Conference alignments and the meaningless preseason Top 10 will be posted on Sunday.

And rounding out my defense now. Sam Mills, Linebacker New Orleans Saints 1986-1994 Carolina Panthers 1995-1997 5-time Pro Bowl Selection 1st Team All-Pro at age 36 in 1996

The Rockies put a waiver claim on Livan Hernandez. I bet Ed Wade is pissed he didn't fall to the Astros.

They aren't even close to breaking ground on it. The owner Lew Wolff said this last week: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10052866?source=most_emailed I honestly haven't been paying that close of attention to it mainly due to my indifference to the whole project but the hold up has apparently been the Environmental Impact Report and the slumping real estate market. At this point 2012 is the earliest the stadium would open, if at all, and even that could get pushed back. If the deal falls through in the next couple of years look for the team to get sold and probably to someone who will take them out of the Bay Area unless a miracle happens.

I still say drafting lineman by group would have been lame. For my next pick, don't put any 5'10" corners on this mother fucker. Harold Carmichael, Wide Receiver Philadelphia Eagles 1971-1983 Dallas Cowboys 1984 4-time Pro Bowl Selection 1970's All-Decade Team 590 rec, 8985 yards, 79 td

Forget my prediction the A's are going to finish with 90+ losses, they might lose 100 games. Can they win ten more games this year? I'm not so sure anymore. And it's time to start auditioning new closers for next year as Huston Street officially blows. God damn they should have taken whatever they could have got for him at the deadline.

I actually had meant to make mention of Jones but forgot to. He's no where close to qualifying for the batting title at the moment and in order to do so he would to play in every game the rest of the year and average 5.39 plate appearances a game to get to 502 for the season. But I figured it'd be interesting to see where Andruw ranks all-time with centerfielders with a minimum of 227 plate appearances (total he has going into today) and here's the results: Cnt Player **OPS+** PA Year Age Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+--------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Andruw Jones 32 227 2008 31 LAD NL 69 199 20 32 8 1 2 13 26 0 73 1 0 1 5 0 1 .161 .260 .241 .501 *8/D 2 George Wright 33 393 1985 26 TEX AL 109 363 21 69 13 0 2 18 25 5 49 0 3 2 9 4 7 .190 .241 .242 .483 *98/D 3 John Shelby 35 371 1989 31 LAD NL 108 345 28 63 11 1 1 12 25 5 92 0 0 1 6 10 7 .183 .237 .229 .466 *8 4 Ty Cline 38 240 1965 26 MLN NL 123 220 27 42 5 3 0 10 16 2 50 0 4 0 1 2 2 .191 .246 .241 .487 879/3 5 Gary Woods 39 239 1977 22 TOR AL 60 227 21 49 9 1 0 17 7 0 38 2 3 0 5 5 4 .216 .246 .264 .510 *8 6 Marvell Wynne 43 363 1985 25 PIT NL 103 337 21 69 6 3 2 18 18 2 48 1 7 0 8 10 5 .205 .247 .258 .505 *8 7 Brett Butler 44 268 1982 25 ATL NL 89 240 35 52 2 0 0 7 25 0 35 0 3 0 1 21 8 .217 .291 .225 .516 *8 8 Mel Almada 44 267 1939 26 TOT ML 81 246 28 56 6 1 1 10 19 0 25 0 2 0 4 3 0 .228 .283 .272 .555 *8/7 9 Wally Mattick 44 238 1913 26 CHW AL 71 207 15 39 8 1 0 11 18 0 16 0 13 0 0 3 0 .188 .253 .237 .490 *8/7 10 Corey Patterson 45 229 2008 28 CIN NL 85 216 30 42 9 1 7 17 8 0 29 1 3 1 1 11 5 .194 .226 .343 .569 *8 Funny to also see Corey Patterson on that list for this year as well. Andruw Jones is truly having a historically bad season.

The worst offensive season by a centerfielder since 1901 was Alex Metzler in 1930 with an OPS+ of 56 (.236/.313/.302). The player on the top of this particular list came very close to breaking that record in 1999 (the year of shitting hitting outfielders?) and also made my Worst Hitters since 1986 list. Interesting thing about this list is that most of these punchless performances have happened in the last 20 years. Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Centerfielder Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+) 1. Darren Lewis, 1999 - Boston Red Sox 57 OPS+ (.240/.311/.309) 2. Gary Pettis, 1988 - Detroit Tigers 61 3. Marquis Grissom, 2000 - Milwaukee Brewers 63 4. Darren Lewis, 1995 - San Francisco Giants/Cincinnati Reds 64 5t. Endy Chavez, 2003 - Montreal Expos 65 5t. Brian Hunter, 1998 - Detroit Tigers 65 5t. Chuck Carr, 1994 - Florida Marlins 65 5t. Brian McRrae, 1992 - Kansas City Royals 65 5t. Bill Virdon, 1964 - Pittsburgh Pirates 65 10. Peter Bergeron, 2000 - Montreal Expos 67 11t. Juan Pierre, 2002 - Colorado Rockies 68 11t. Gerald Williams, 1997 - Milwaukee Brewers 68 11t. Omar Moreno, 1982 - Pittsburgh Pirates 68 11t. Bill Virdon, 1962 - Pittsburgh Pirates 68 15t. Tom Goodwin, 2000 - Colorado Rockies/Los Angeles Dodgers 69 15t. Tom Goodwin, 1997 - Kansas City Royals/Texas Rangers 69 15t. Eric Yelding, 1990 - Houston Astros 69 18t. Tom Goodwin, 1996 - Kansas City Royals 70 18t. Darren Lewis, 1993 - San Francisco Giants 70 18t. Rick Manning, 1979 - Cleveland Indians 70 18t. Jim Piersall, 1962 - Washington Senators 70 22t. Doug Glanville, 2001 - Philadelphia Phillies 71 22t. Doug Glanville, 2000 - Philadelphia Phillies 71 22t. Chris Singleton, 2000 - Chicago White Sox 71 22t. Bob Dernier, 1985 - Chicago Cubs 71 22t. Rick Manning, 1983 - Cleveland Indians/Milwaukee Brewers 71

ESPN/FOX/TBS Games to Poison Our Youth MONDAY Astros (Brian Moehler) at Cubs (Ryan Dempster), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Yankees (Sidney Ponson) at Rangers (Tommy Hunter), 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY Cardinals at Cubs, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Yankees at Angels, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Red Sox at White Sox, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, TBS Cardinals at Cubs, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

The worst offensive season but a leftfielder since 1901 was...wait...just nine years ago!? Speed can kill but it can also keep a guy in the line up who really shouldn't be anything more than a designated pinch runner. Top 25 Worst Offenisve Leftfielder Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+) 1. Brian Hunter, 1999 - Detroit Tigers/Seattle Mariners 48 OPS+ (.232/.280/.301) 2. Vince Coleman, 1994 - Kansas City Royals 59 3. Vince Coleman, 1986 - St. Louis Cardinals 62 4. Bill Sample, 1984 - Texas Rangers 68 5t. Billy Hatcher, 1989 - Houston Astros/Pittsburgh Pirates 70 5t. Dan Meyer, 1975 - Detroit Tigers 70 7t. Scott Podsednik, 2006 - Chicago White Sox 75 7t. Luis Polonia, 1993 - California Angels 75 9t. Tommy Harper, 1974 - Boston Red Sox 76 9t. Don Buford, 1972 - Baltimore Orioles 76 11t. Rickey Henderson, 2000 - New York Mets/Seattle Mariners 77 11t. Jeffrey Leonard, 1988 - San Francisco Giants/Milwaukee Brewers 77 11t. Ron LeFlore, 1981 - Chicago White Sox 77 14t. Terrence Long, 2003 - Oakland A's 78 14t. Roger Cedeno, 2002 - New York Mets 78 14t. Ricky Ledee, 2000 - New York Yankees/Cleveland Indians/Texas Rangers 78 14t. Gary Ward, 1987 - New York Yankees 78 18t. Reed Johnson, 2004 - Toronto Blue Jays 79 18t. Lou Piniella, 1973 - Kansas City Royals 79 20t. Dan Gladden, 1991 - Minnesota Twins 80 20t. Tito Francona, 1963 - Cleveland Indians 80 22t. Carl Crawford, 2003 - Tampa Bay Devil Rays 81 22t. Troy O'Leary, 2000 - Boston Red Sox 81 22t. Lou Brock, 1977 - St. Louis Cardinals 81 22t. Jim Gilliam, 1958 - Los Angeles Dodgers 81

There is no doubt in my mind the A's will end the year with 90+ losses. They might be the worst team in the American League right now.

We know we're close to the season now, the Coaches Poll is out and Georgia officially has the bullseye on their back. Also assuming he's still a voter, Steve Spurrier ends his long tradition of voting Duke #25 on his preseason ballot. 1. Georgia (22) 0-0 1438 3 2. USC (14) 0-0 1430 2 3. Ohio State (14) 0-0 1392 4 4. Oklahoma (3) 0-0 1329 8 5. Florida (5) 0-0 1293 16 6. LSU (3) 0-0 1163 1 7. Missouri 0-0 1143 5 8. West Virginia 0-0 1008 6 9. Clemson 0-0 999 22 10. Texas 0-0 979 10 11. Auburn 0-0 888 14 12. Wisconsin 0-0 747 21 13. Kansas 0-0 714 7 14. Texas Tech 0-0 644 23 15. Virginia Tech 0-0 568 9 16. Arizona State 0-0 560 13 17. Brigham Young 0-0 547 14 18. Tennessee 0-0 506 12 19. Illinois 0-0 422 18 20. Oregon 0-0 399 24 21. South Florida 0-0 350 NR 22. Penn State 0-0 313 25 23. Wake Forest 0-0 203 NR 24. Michigan 0-0 112 19 25. Fresno State 0-0 91 NR Others Receiving Votes Alabama 83, South Carolina 64, Utah 60, Rutgers 53, Florida State 53, Boston College 47, California 41, Pittsburgh 34, Boise State 25, Oregon State 23, Nebraska 17, Cincinnati 13, Virginia 12, Connecticut 9, Michigan State 9, Mississippi State 6, Kentucky 5, Notre Dame 5, TCU 5, Maryland 4, Texas A&M 3, UCLA 3, North Carolina 3, Louisville 2, Georgia Tech 2, UCF 2, Tulsa 1, Oklahoma State 1, Arizona 1, Colorado 1.

Pitchers in general have a poor track record of health. Despite his decline in performance though, I don't think Barry Zito has missed a career start. Hudson's career record is 146-77, I'd be thrilled if any pitching prospect put that record up. And Dan Haren, Joe Blanton and Justin Duchscherer are still healthy. Also add that since 2000, Hudson's first full season in the Majors, the only pitcher to throw more innings than Hudson is Livan Hernandez.

If Harden is still healthy come October, then Billy Beane really fucked up.

The worst offensive season by a shortstop of all-time was Jim Levey in 1933 with an OPS+ of 24 (.195/.237/.240). Jim was a teammate of Art Scharein on the St. Louis Browns that year who my three readers will remember that he had the worst offensive ever by a third baseman that year thus teaming up for the undisputed, worst hitting left side of an infield in MLB history. Congratulations guys. Now on to more modern players and the player at the top of this list takes both #1 and #2 spots in back-to-back seasons which is quite the achievement. In case you were wondering, he was considered a great defensive shortstop but me thinks he probably still played more than he should have. Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Shortstop Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+) 1. Hal Lanier, 1968 - San Francisco Giants 38 OPS+ (.206/.222/.239) 2. Hal Lanier, 1967 - San Francisco Giants 42 3. Alfredo Griffin, 1990 - Los Angeles Dodgers 43 4t. Neifi Perez, 2002 - Kansas City Royals 44 4t. Ivan DeJesus, 1981 - Chicago Cubs 44 4t. Tim Johnson, 1973 - Milwaukee Brewers 44 7. Hal Lanier, 1969 - San Francisco Giants 46 8t. Clint Barmes, 2006 - Colorado Rockies 47 8t. Mike Caruso, 1999 - Chicago White Sox 47 10. Ozzie Smith, 1979 - San Diego Padres 48 11t. Alfredo Griffin, 1981 - Toronto Blue Jays 49 11t. Marty Perez, 1972 - Atlanta Braves 49 13t. Craig Robinson, 1974 - Atlanta Braves 51 13t. Dick Schofield, 1965 - Pittsburgh Pirates/San Francisco Giants 51 15t. Angel Berroa, 2006 - Kansas City Royals 52 15t. Zoilo Versalles, 1967 - Minnesota Twins 52 17t. Rey Ordonez, 1998 - New York Mets 53 17t. Andres Thomas, 1989 - Atlanta Braves 53 17t. Glenn Hoffman, 1982 - Boston Red Sox 53 20t. Ronny Cedeno, 2006 - Chicago Cubs 54 20t. Gary DiSarcina, 1997 - Anaheim Angels 54 20t. Ozzie Guillen, 1986 - Chicago White Sox 54 20t. Alfredo Griffin, 1982 - Toronto Blue Jays 54 24t. Juan Uribe, 2002 - Colorado Rockies 55 24t. Kevin Stocker, 1995 - Philadelphia Phillies 55 24t. Curtis Wilkerson, 1984 - Texas Rangers 55 24t. Don Kessinger, 1967 - Chicago Cubs 55 24t. Ken Hamlin, 1960 - Kansas City A's 55

I posted a blog entry in a reply to this entry. Good job retard!

Claude Humphrey, Defensive End Atlanta Falcons 1968-1978 Philadelphia Eagles 1979-1981 6-time Pro Bowl Selection 2-time 1st Team All-Pro 1968 Defensive Rookie of the Year 126.5 Career Sacks

I'd say with Joe Torre as manager Kemp and Ethier will definately end up platooning with Pierre getting most of the starts in center. It's amazing that in the span of two years Andruw Jones has gone from potential future HOF to a fifth outfielder.

And the end of the Rivals.com Preseason countdown. 5. Missouri 4. Oklahoma 3. Ohio State 2. Georgia 1. USC (preview up tomorrow) Myself personally I think it will be Ohio State vs. Oklahoma in the MNC in a battle of schools who shit the bed the last two years in major bowl games. Georgia might be the best team in the country but Jesus tap-dancing Christ that schedule is brutal. And hey we're now less than a month away from the first game of the season!

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=966 It's Will Carroll, so take it with a grain of salt although it had crossed my mind that the only way the Red Sox would trade Ramirez midseason is if they were able to get a third team involved where they received a good corner outfielder in the process. Still doubt he's going anywhere. And the Pudge Rodriguez trade makes absolutely no sense for the Tigers. Doesn't help them now, doesn't help them later, and probably cost them a draft pick as it's very possible Rodriguez would be a Type-A free agent which Farnsworth will not be. Breaking news: Ed Wade keeps going for that championship! He just traded for LaTroy Hawkins. Seriously why haven't Astros fans killed him yet?

I say go for it (well in about 15 minutes when eight hours is up) as I did PM Fokai after making my original pick.

Out of the way quickly, the worst offensive single season by a third baseman was Art Scharein in 1933 who nearly matched the year with an OPS+ of 34. But we're only concerned with the last 50 years and that mark was set just last season! Why didn't ESPN cover this? Top 25 (or so) Worst Offensive Third Baseman Seasons since 1957 (per OPS+) 1. Nick Punto, 2007 - Minnesota Twins 52 OPS+ (.210/.291/.271) 2. Scott Brosius, 1997 - Oakland A's 53 3. Brooks Robinson, 1975 - Baltimore Orioles 58 4t. Damion Easley, 1994 - California Angels 59 4t. Clete Boyer, 1964 - New York Yankees 59 6t. Jose Hernandez, 2003 - Colorado Rockies/Chicago Cubs/Pittsburgh Pirates 60 6t. Vinny Castilla, 2002 - Atlanta Braves 60 6t. Aurelio Rodriguez, 1974 - Detroit Tigers 60 9t. Terry Pendleton, 1986 - St. Louis Cardinals 62 9t. Bubba Phillips, 1963 - Detroit Tigers 62 11. Aurelio Rodriguez, 1973 - Detroit Tigers 63 12. Terry Pendleton, 1985 - St. Louis Cardinals 66 13t. Tim Wallach, 1993 - Los Angeles Dodgers 67 13t. Aurelio Rodriguez, 1969 - California Angels 67 13t. Don Wert, 1968 - Detroit Tigers 67 16t. Terry Pendleton, 1996 - Florida Marlins/Atlanta Braves 68 16t. Hubie Brooks, 1983 - New York Mets 68 16t. John Kennedy, 1964 - Washington Senators 68 19t. Tim Hulett, 1986 - Chicago White Sox 69 19t. Manny Castillo, 1982 - Seattle Mariners 69 19t. Brooks Robinson, 1958 - Baltimore Orioles 69 22t. Jeff Cirillo, 2002 - Seattle Mariners 70 22t. Cal Ripken, 2001 - Baltimore Orioles 70 22t. Scott Brosius, 2000 - New York Yankees 70 25t. Geoff Blum, 2001 - Montreal Expos 71 25t. Ken Caminiti, 1990 - Houston Astros 71 25t. Aurelio Rodriguez, 1976 - Detroit Tigers 71