EVIL~! alkeiper

None, it's just stuff.

The problem is that the Twins don't have to move, they can wait until free agency and take the draft picks.

1976 vs. 2008 The Phillies have not seen many good teams over their history. Their greatest team is probably the 1976 squad. That team won 101 games, one of only two Phillies teams to do so. Unfortunately that Phillies team ran into a buzzsaw called the Big Red Machine, and thus failed to win the National League pennant. A Phillies player recently surmised that the Phils could win 100 games next season. If that happens, the 2008 Phillies could rank as the greatest in franchise history. So how do they stack up against the 1976 team? I thought it might be fun to take a look. Catcher: Bob Boone vs. Carlos Ruiz Bob Boone in the late '70s was a good defensive catcher who added some offensive contributions as well. Boone in 1976 saw his first good season at the plate, and he would follow up with three more. Carlos Ruiz is merely adequate at this point in his career. Boone made the All-Star team in '76 Advantage: 1976 First Base: Dick Allen vs. Ryan Howard Allen was perhaps one of the most controversial baseball players of all time. An elite talent who constantly feuded with teammates and the press. Howard is immensely likeable. Allen suffered injuries late in his career and missed some time. Ryan Howard is about two seasons away from becoming the team's franchise first baseman. Advantage: 2008 Second Base: Dave Cash vs. Chase Utley Of course the nod goes to Chase Utley, so let me say a few words in favor of Cash. He spent three years with the Phillies, hit for good averages but no power. The raw numbers are unimpressive. Cash however made the All-Star team all three years. Of the twelve NL second baseman, he was second or third along with Davey Lopes. (Joe Morgan of course ranks first.) So when we pass over Cash, remember that he was a very good player. Advantage: 2008 Shortstop: Larry F. Bowa vs. Jimmy Rollins Larry Bowa got by on gamesmanship. He had some fielding ability and was a good baserunner. He could not hit much, even relative to a typical National League shortstop. Somehow Bowa received MVP votes for his efforts. Jimmy Rollins of course just won the MVP. Can't argue with that. Advantage: 2008 Third Base: Mike Schmidt vs. Wes Helms Next. Advantage: 1976 Left Field: Greg Luzinski vs. Pat Burrell This is a real interesting comparison. Both were power sluggers with little to offer in either speed or fielding. Burrell is a better athlete. Luzinski at this point was in the midst of a run of four consecutive top-ten MVP finishes. Burrell has one top-ten to his credit. Advantage: 1976 Center Field: Garry Maddox vs. Shane Victorino Maddox won eight gold gloves in a row beginning in 1975. In '76, he hit .330 with 29 stolen bases. For a '70s center fielder, that is a superstar. Victorino can field with the best of them. Maddox's OPS+'s at this point however were much higher. Another clear edge. Advantage: 1976 Right Field: Jay Johnstone vs. Jayson Werth Play Jay every day! Johnstone was a fourth outfielder who played so well that he forced himself into a starting role. Werth did much the same thing last season. Johnstone's ability to stay healthy gives him the edge here. You may remember him by the way from his role in Naked Gun. He is the batter Leslie Nielsen calls out in dramatic fashion. Advantage: 1976 Bench: Tim McCarver/Bobby Tolan/Ollie Brown/Jerry Martin/Tom Hutton vs. Chris Coste/Greg Dobbs/Eric Bruntlett/T.J. Bohn/Chris Snelling Bobby Tolan and “Downtown” Ollie Brown were mainly hitters. Tolan and Tom Hutton filled in for first baseman Dick Allen when necessary. Jerry Martin was a fifth outfielder type, while Tim McCarver covered catching duties. McCarver sat behind the plate when Steve Carlton pitched. The '76 club rarely used a utility infielder. The 2008 bench looks unimpressive at the moment. The problem with the modern bench is that the increased pitching staffs have eliminated roles for extra hitters. Advantage: 1976 Ace Starter: Steve Carlton vs. Cole Hamels Is Carlton over Hamels really that clear? Carlton from 1974-76 went 51-34, with ERA+ figures of 117, 105 and 114. Hamels over the last two years put up a 115 and 134. Carlton would explode into an all-time great in 1977, winning the first of three more Cy Young awards. In 1976 though, Carlton was not at that level. Cole Hamels is clearly a better pitcher. The only question is how much credit do you give Carlton for durability? Thirteen pitchers compiled more innings than Carlton over that 1974-76 stretch, so he was not an anomaly of his time. Advantage: 2008 Rotation: Jim Kaat/Jim Lonborg/Larry Christenson/Tom Underwood vs. Brett Myers/Jamie Moyer/Kyle Kendrick/Adam Eaton Myers put up ERA+'s of 118 and 120 before moving into the bullpen for 2007. Jim Kaat won 20 games in both 1974 and '75 with superior ERAs. He fell off in 1976. Lonborg vs. Moyer is interesting, both had mixes of good and bad seasons. Lonborg from 1974-76 went 43-29. Moyer over the last three years is 38-33, but that includes a 6-12 stretch with a bad Mariners club last year. Christenson and Kyle Kendrick were both 22 year old starters. Christenson pitched 168.7 innings, gave up 8 home runs, 42 walks and 54 strikeouts. Kendrick pitched 121 innings, 16 home runs, 25 walks and 49 strikeouts. Kendrick had a much better ERA. Tom Underwood was another 22 year old. He had some up and down seasons but none as bad as Eaton's 2007. Really, this one is too close to call for my comfort. Advantage: Push. Bullpen: Ron Reed/Gene Garber/Tug McGraw/Ron Schueler/Wayne Twitchell vs. Brad Lidge/Tom Gordon/J.C. Romero/Ryan Madson/Francisco Rosario Lidge at his peak is an elite pitcher, but neither of his last two seasons tops Ron Reed in 1976-77. Garber had a better season in '76 than Gordon last year, but Gordon's established performance gives him the edge there. McGraw over Romero is not as clear-cut as you might think. McGraw's ERA+ from 1972-76: 197, 94, 86, 126, 143. Romero from 2003-07: 91, 135, 128, 68, 243. Ron Schueler was a mediocre pitcher enjoying a fluke year, Madson is better. Ditto Wayne Twitchell. One reliever pitched a single additional game for the '76 club. The 2008 team looks bad due to lack of depth, but the '76 Phillies literally had nothing. Advantage: 2008 The 1976 Phillies won 101 again in 1977. If the 2008 club is to match up with that standard, they have their work cut out for them. The 1976 club had more hitting depth, the 2008 Phils have deeper pitching and a historically good infield. I hope the Phillies can make a run at 100 wins though. The team has lacked an all-time great season, and this is a great shot with their entire core firmly in their prime.

They often try putting Taker last in these type of matches, and it always bombs. See Summerslam '94. The womens' match was a decent outing just because they had Candice Michelle lying on the mat surrounded by clumps of her own hair. That really made Beth look badass.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obit_knievel

Wow, that's bad. That's like "WCW bad." I don't think it's bad. It's an obvious typo, someone wrote up a list, sent it to the production people and things got messed up. If you have some people who aren't hardcore wrestling fans (and let's face it, WWE Corporate is a conglomerate and not everyone needs to be a fan), it's easy to think that Guerrera/Guerrero is a mixup on someone's part. They had Juvy and Fuerza Guerrera on the menus as well. How many people are going to catch on that it's two different names?

The Nats' press conference is at 3pm eastern. Let's see if they can get through it without breaking out in laughter.

Excuse me a moment while a compose myself to properly evaluate the Milledge trade. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Glad that's out of the way. I can't believe the Mets are this stupid. Ryan Church placed 15th in OPS+ among 32 left fielders in MLB last year. Brian Schneider is a 31 year old catcher who can't hit. And the Mets just traded one of their top young players for that? And within their division? Utterly insane. And as another poster pointed out, the Nationals will in turn hand their catching job over to a guy they plucked from the Mets in the Rule V draft. For the Mets' catching situation, I expect them to non-tender Estrada. That deal was a backup plan and really served to get rid of Guillermo Mota. No harm there. The Nationals could be fun to watch next season. They have three regulars (Jesus Flores, Lastings Milledge and Ryan Zimmerman) who are 23 years old. Wily Mo Pena is 26 and should finally get regular playing time. And the club moves into their new ballpark.

Too bad Mole wasn't there to provide superior customer service. And one dumb middle-aged lady is a person, people is plural.

Todd Stottlemyre's best starts. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/9ftK

FINALS Colorado 7 San Diego 6 WP: Manuel Corpas LP: Trevor Hoffman Trailing 4-3 heading into the ninth, the Padres scored three off Manny Corpas to take a 6-4 lead. Not to be outdone, the Rockies scored three off of Trevor Hoffman for the win. Brad Hawpe drove in two RBIs with a two-out, bases loaded single. A do-or-die at bat to end a championship tournament? Works for me. Lineup: 07 Padres B.Giles RF M.Giles 2B M.Cameron CF Gonzalez 1B Greene SS Bradley LF Kouzmanoff 3B Bard C Young P Lineup: 07 Rockies Taveras CF Matsui 2B Holliday LF Helton 1B Atkins 3B Hawpe RF Tulowitzki SS Torrealba C Cook P Inn. 1: 07 Padres [Starter] Cook B.Giles 6-3 . . . M.Giles K . . . M.Cameron 8 . . . Inn. 1: 07 Rockies [Starter] Young Taveras 1B . . X Matsui BB . X X Holliday BB X X X Helton 4-6-3 DP X . . 1 Atkins 8 X . . Inn. 2: 07 Padres Gonzalez K . . . Greene 1B . . X Bradley 8 . . X Kouzmanoff 2B . X . 1 Bard 3UN X . . Inn. 2: 07 Rockies Hawpe 7 . . . Tulowitzki 1B . . X Torrealba 9 . . X Cook K . . X Inn. 3: 07 Padres Young 7 . . . B.Giles 9 . . . M.Giles 7 . . . Inn. 3: 07 Rockies Taveras BB . . X *SB:Taveras SB . X . Matsui 8 . . . X@3:Taveras 8-5 DP . . . Holliday BB . . X Helton E-6 . X X WP X X . Atkins K X X . Inn. 4: 07 Padres M.Cameron K . . . Gonzalez 3-1 . . . Greene BB . . X Bradley 9 . . X Inn. 4: 07 Rockies Hawpe K . . . Tulowitzki 6 . . . Torrealba 5 . . . Inn. 5: 07 Padres Kouzmanoff 6-3 . . . Bard 9 . . . Young 5-3 . . . Inn. 5: 07 Rockies Cook K . . . Taveras 6-3 . . . Matsui 1B . . X Holliday 8 . . X Inn. 6: 07 Padres B.Giles 1-3 . . . M.Giles 1B . . X M.Cameron BB . X X Gonzalez K . X X Greene 8 . X X Inn. 6: 07 Rockies Helton 6-3 . . . Atkins K . . . Hawpe 1B . . X Tulowitzki 1-3 . X . Inn. 7: 07 Padres Bradley 9 . . . Kouzmanoff 7 . . . Bard 3-1 . . . Inn. 7: 07 Rockies Torrealba BB . . X Cook 2-4 FO . . X Taveras 2B X X . [Relief] Meredith Matsui E-1 X . X 1 Holliday 2B . X . 2 Helton 1-3 . X . Atkins 8 . X . Inn. 8: 07 Padres *EX:Meredith (for PH) *PH:Hairston HR . . . 1 B.Giles 2B . X . [Relief] Fuentes M.Giles 8 . X . M.Cameron 1B . . X 1 Gonzalez 4-6-3 DP . . . Inn. 8: 07 Rockies [Relief] Bell Hawpe 8 . . . Tulowitzki 1B . . X Torrealba 6-4-3 DP . . . Inn. 9: 07 Padres [Relief] Corpas Greene HR . . . 1 Bradley 1B . . X Kouzmanoff 5-3 SAC . X . Bard 2B . X . 1 *EX:Bell (for PH) *PH:Blum 9 . X . B.Giles 2B . X . 1 WP X . . M.Giles K X . . Inn. 9: 07 Rockies [Relief] Hoffman *EX:Corpas (for PH) *PH:Spilborghs 9 . . . Taveras 1B . . X Matsui 1B X . X Holliday BB X X X Helton 1B X X X 1 Atkins K X X X Hawpe 1B . X X 2

Let me address the +/- fielding statistics. There is NO subjectivity involved in the statistic. Baseball Info Solutions employs a team of stringers to watch every Major League Baseball game during the season. When a ball is hit they mark the ball's trajectory (fly, liner, etc.), velocity and direction. From there, either a fielder made a play or he did not. At this point, all we're doing is counting events. What the plus/minus system does is take a player's success rate at fielding balls hit to various points of the field, and compare them to the league average. If a particular ball is fielded successfully 75% of the time and a fielder completes it more often, that's a point in his favor. Simple as that, and as objective as any other statistical system. My only quibble with the system is that I think the scores themselves are not necessarily indicative of any value in regards to runs scored. A third baseman missing a ball to his right is a double, one to his left is a single. An outfielder missing a ball in front of him is a single, behind him a double/triple, etc. And I think all fielding systems miss opportunity costs. Specifically, a missed play also brings another batter to the plate. I do this exact process on the minor league level for Baseball Info Solutions, and I can tell you it's not terribly complicated or involved.

Heard that on XM. That would be mind-bogglingly stupid from the Angels' viewpoint. Wood will probably be as good as Tejada within two seasons.

Masterson I really don't know much about, other than that his stats indicate a groundball pitcher with control. Kind of a better version of Kyle Kendrick. Lowrie I like a lot. Good fielder, excellent plate discipline, makes contact, has pop. Lester is the subject of debate within smarter circles. Without seeing him myself I really can't add to the discussion. That he can handle himself in the bigs at a young age is a good sign. Coco Crisp isn't really all that good a player. He had two good years in Cleveland. He hasn't been good at the plate the last two years, and he really wasn't all that heralded in the minors. Good range but for most teams he's better served as a fourth outfielder.

I really like Kennedy, to be honest. He struck out more than a batter an inning last year, only gave up seven home runs. I saw him personally pitch for Trenton in Reading and he was impressive. One thing I never see mentioned, he has great hair. Melky Cabrera has a solid understanding of the strike zone, but lacks power. He is really stretched in center field so his hitting has to improve remarkably for him to be an asset in the future. Jose Tabata again, good hitting talent. Very young for his level. Again he needs to develop some power yet, as he is already moved to right field. The big problem there is that he is so far from the Majors that a lot can happen. Allan Horne again, good peripherals. His scouting reports indicate he'd be better served as a relief pitcher. He only has two good pitches. What concerns me with the Yankees' pitchers is that they all have little pro experience. It is possible that their numbers will fall as hitters learn to adjust to their raw stuff.

The Rays will contend for the division title by 2010, mark it down. I seriously think they sniff .500 this year.

Yeah, that's obviously written for a saber audience. The fact is, advanced stats or not, Tim Raines was the second greatest leadoff hitter in the history of baseball. It's not his fault that the best of all time was one of his contemporaries. Raines was an OBP machine and a monster on the basepaths. The general fanbase can understand that, right? I hope so. Here is a general indication of the kind of threat Raines was. In his rookie season Raines stole 71 bases. That would lead the league today. He did it in 88 games! It's a different game now, though. He wouldn't steal 71 in today's carpet-free National League. He would if Josh Bard was behind the plate.

Shit. Sorry. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/gbRw

Yeah, that's obviously written for a saber audience. The fact is, advanced stats or not, Tim Raines was the second greatest leadoff hitter in the history of baseball. It's not his fault that the best of all time was one of his contemporaries. Raines was an OBP machine and a monster on the basepaths. The general fanbase can understand that, right? I hope so. Here is a general indication of the kind of threat Raines was. In his rookie season Raines stole 71 bases. That would lead the league today. He did it in 88 games!

Good numbers but the problem is making the general public make sense of it all.

I don't know quite what to make of this, but here is all 187 batters who played full seasons at the age of 21.

It's just talk. Who the hell would play shortstop? 90% of these trade rumors are made up, yet we go through this every year.

Again, to my knowledge Young has never been in legal trouble. His brother Dmitri got in trouble for domestic assault. Teammate Elijah Dukes is a basket case. But the bat throwing incident is the only black mark on Delmon's record as of yet. I can question his plate discipline, but I don't see any special reason to question his makeup.

For the Rays: I think Bartlett is an upgrade over Harris, honestly. Harris gives you some more power. Bartlett provides speed and defense. With lefty Kazmir on the mound, Bartlett could be a boon for the Rays. Matt Garza is an elite young pitcher. His numbers last year over two levels include 175 IP, 162 strikeouts, 63 walks, 13 home runs allowed, and a 3.65 ERA. As a 23 year old. He immediately becomes the Rays' number two starter. Eduardo Morlan looks like a future closer in the making. Giving away an elite talent like Delmon Young is an interesting move. I think the Rays have enough elite young talent that they can make the move. For the Twins: Delmon Young is an elite talent. It'll be interesting to see how the Twins align their outfield. The sensible plan would seem to be Cuddyer-Pridie-Young. A possibility though is that the Twins attempt to move Michael Cuddyer back to third base to shore up their infield. Alexi Casilla becomes their best option at shortstop, Brendan Harris sliding over to second base. Rotation at this point looks like Santana-Bonser-Baker-Slowey, with Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing and even Francisco Liriano figuring into the final slot. I LOVE this offseason!

Hell, I think Kowalski was around 48 years old at the time of the match. Remember it was the early 50s when he famously severed Yukon Eric's ear in a match.