EVIL~! alkeiper

If this had any chance to nullify the trade, it would've been all over the news by now. All it does is effect Soriano's chances at career totals. It won't effect the Rangers at all, except to not expect a big jump in production.

Bah Rob, you beat me to it. There actually IS a rumor that the Yanks are interested in El Duque. It'd be a minor league deal, less than a million. So there's no real risk involved. He is 38 however. Jorge DePaula. 10-11 last season with a 4.35 ERA. 57 walks and 125 Ks for AAA Columbus. Actually, the Yankees are playing the D'backs in the regular season, June 15-17, at Arizona. No games vs. the Marlins.

GOLD. I have no problem with the Yankees having Jackie's number retired along with their own. After all, Robinson did play in New York City. A lot of old time Yankee fans have fond rememberances of the days of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Not all fans carried their alligences to Los Angeles. It's a credit to the Yankees to carry the flag of days past, when three teams ruled the city.

They play in Milwaukee, famous for their ballpark bratwursts.

I'm not sure about joining this league, as I have a few I'm already committed to. I will make a suggestion about the draft. I'm running a league where each person picks a time (ie 1000-1015) where they'll be online. They make a pick at the assigned time. That way, the draft time is structured. That might be worth looking at here.

Lets set the time machine for 50 years ago....... Next..... How is the competitive balance any different than previous eras, particularly when the reserve clause kept salaries in check?

Name the last time Kim got a significant out in Yankee Stadium. Fun fact #1: Kim has never given up an earned run in Yankee Stadium in the regular season. Fun fact #2: A bad postseason outing at the age of 22 is not indicitive of a player's entire career. What he's done the last three years is a better indicator than mystique and aura.

These two are different from the snkt league.

A new twist, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution claims Maddux is on the verge of signing with the Chicago Cubs.

Of course you're welcome for these leagues. Not a problem. These will certainly be more challenging, and I hope those that sign up will devote the attention it deserves.

I'd put Sheffield much higher, around 3rd. He's got a great OBP, and he's better served with more good hitters behind him.

That's correct. He is from Philly.

I was just about to post that. I'm sure there are several people looking to start fantasy baseball leagues, and of course I am no exception. This year I want to try something different for myself. I'm going to start two separate leagues, one AL only and one NL only. I'm putting my baseball knowledge on the line. I'll have further details when I get them set up.

Try taking his home numbers, adjusting them, and leave the road numbers where they are. Then add them together. Otherwise he gets credit for 81 games he didn't play in Pac Bell, but gets that boost anyway.

Somewhat, but five steals in five tries indicates some skill. And he still plays center field, which requires mobility. The point is, he's no Jeremy Giambi.

I doubt the Sixers would trade Dalembert. He's that rare combination of good and cheap. I could see trading Korver though. He's damned good at shooting the three, but I don't know if his all-around skills would let him start.

Do you consider home/road splits before making those adjustments?

Unconventional = # of game winning HRs hit while on a gimpy leg

First, I haven't seen a lot of evidence to indicate "protection" really effects a player's overall statistics. If pitchers pitch around a player due to lack of hitting behind him, that's reflected in the OBP. As Rob said, it really only effects RBI. As for the Bill James comment, that's just ignorant. Bill James and sabermetrics is NOT about arcane stats, as most believe. Its about finding relevant statistics, and how they help us better understand the game. As for the book, its really good, even for non-stat freaks. The majority of the book is a record of current player's career stats, kind of what you'd see in a Sporting News Register. Then there's leaderboards, platoon splits, park factors, and a few other things. My favorite is the career assessments, which estimates how likely a hitter is to reach a certain milestone. For example, Bonds has a 52% chance to pass Aaron's HR mark.

Because part of his competition is Jay Mariotti.

Jeter, A-Rod and Bernie Williams are all capable runners. You don't really need the stolen base to win ballgames, especially in this era. Earl Weaver would benefit any team, provided he still has his facilities. The amazing thing about Weaver is that, with the exception of his comeback year in '86, he never had a losing record. And he HATED the sacrifice bunt. He understood the stupidity of giving the other team a free out. If you can track it down, Weaver On Strategy is an excellent book.

One thing that bugged me in the article that hasn't been mentioned yet, is Platschke saying stat guys can't measure who has heart and who doesn't and that's roughly why the A's haven't won a playoff series. That's nonsense. If guys with "heart," or clutch hitting, or whatever are so good in the crunch, why don't they hit like that all the time? Are they loafing the rest of the season? Besides, its not like the old system was working anyway.

Raul Mondesi isn't bad, but the problem is that he's blocking Craig Wilson, who can play, and is cheap.

He's coming off one, non-pitching related injury. The Red Sox don't play in a park built to favor left handed pitchers. Try Byung Hyun "A career K rate of over one an inning and only 25" Kim. And to criticize Tim Wakefield for one pitch is kind of silly, isn't it? By that logic, the Yankees suck, because they couldn't hit in the Series, and therefore they're incapable of hitting at all. The real problem with the Yankees is that they have NO appreciable starting help outside of their rotation. Meanwhile the Red Sox aren't sunk if they have a rash of injuries.

Here's the trap you fall into. A-Rod faced the Sox 31 times total last season. That's too small of a sample size to make an accurate assessment. The more data you have, the better off you are. A lot of this is more random than any kind of ability.