EVIL~! alkeiper

On a side note, I gotta say these signings are going MUCH quicker than they have in years past. Usually the big names don't drop until early December.

Three players in baseball history accumulated 150 Home Runs, stolen bases and doubles between the ages of 26-30. Soriano, Barry Bonds...and Howard Johnson. Johnson had a great season at the age of 30, and proceeded to hit .219 over 352 games before retiring. I doubt Soriano will do that bad, but that should indicate something.

I think that if you got away from the statistics and really made an honest appraisal of both players, you'd pick Pujols. The issue isn't that Pujols is an better player when you jump through statistical hoops. It's that voters got impressed with shiny things like home runs and RBIs and ignored pure hitting skill, baserunning and defense. Howard had nine more home runs than Pujols in a hitters' park. That's Howard's advantage. Ryan Howard struck out 131 more times than Albert Pujols. It's far from the worst award ever. Howard is #2 in the National League. It's just infuriating when writers bitch about players who don't "play the game right," and then ignore things that win ballgames.

Correct.

I can get ahold of a pdf file from Proquest. Here's a trivia question. Who drove in the winning run of that game?

They've already got Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Wade Miller. What more do you want?

Derek Jeter getting 10 yrs/$189 million is not absurd or anything. Not when you're looking at a Hall of Fame talent.

I'm positively elated that the Cubs signed Soriano. If nothing else, it ends the Phils' inane flirtation with him, and frees them to persue other options. There's a chance Soriano is the next Andre Dawson. He'll probably age well. The problem is whether 2006 was an out of context year, and I suspect it was. Even if it wasn't, it's not that hard to get corner outfield production. I hope the Cubs at least expect to make Soriano a center fielder for that money. And I have no problems with the Justin Speier contract. He was one of the top five relievers on the market.

I'm working Kmart this morning, so I'm curious to see what kind of line we have.

Since this time of the offseason is fairly slow for baseball, it's a good opportunity to reminisce. What I propose is to collect a list of classic games in Major League Baseball. We all know about the postseason games. What about the regular season games? Post whatever games come to mind and maybe we'll collect a list. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05170CHN1979.htm Ever get the feeling the wind is blowing out? The Phils led this one 21-9 at one point before the Cubs finally tied the game in the eighth inning. Both starters combined to last two thirds of an inning. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06080PHI1989.htm After the Pirates score 10 runs in the first, announcer Jim Rooker states "If we lose this, I'll walk home." Rooker conducted a 300 mile charity walk following the season. Steve Jeltz entered the season with one home run in 1,383 career at bats. He homered from both sides of the plate. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08210LAN1990.htm The Phils trailed 11-1 after 7 innings and 11-3 after 8, but scored 9 runs in the top of the ninth to win. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07040ATL1985.htm This game on July 4 started 90 minutes late due to rain. Another rain storm created another 41 minute delay in the third. The Mets led 7-4 in the eighth before the Braves plated four. The Mets tied the game in the ninth. The Mets scored two in the thirteenth on Howard Johnson's home run, but Terry Harper tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a two out, two run home run of his own. Eighteenth inning, the Mets score a run. Two quick outs in the bottom of the inning bring up Rick Camp, the Braves' pitcher. The Braves were out of pinch hitters and relievers. Coming into the 1985 season, Camp held an .062 career batting average with no home runs and five career RBIs. So naturally Camp homered to continue the game. The Mets responded by scoring five off an exhausted Camp in the next frame. The Braves scored two in the bottom, and had two runners on for Rick Camp, who struck out. The game ended at 3:55am. At 4:01, the Braves proceeded with their scheduled fireworks.

I would be very, very surprised if Riccardi is done spending at this point. According to Bluejays.com, they're very much in the market for mid-level pitching help. http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...sp&c_id=tor

Browsing through ebay, it seems the most anyone will pay is about $1,700. There are pages of listings from people who started their auctions at less than the list price, so quite a few PS3s are bidding BELOW retail right now. The highest prices that get real bidding action are around $900-1,000. There are just too many of these things on the secondary market.

There are a TON of BS rumors that come about this type of year. Remember that writers need to fill space in the absense of real news.

You never know. The Magglio Ordonez and Ivan Rodriguez contracts looked stupid a year or two ago, but the Tigers are laughing their way to the bank right now.

Those are in 78 and 81 games respectively, and contain sizeable platoon splits. There should not be a question that Frank Thomas is a much, much better hitter than either Hillenbrand or Hinske. The question is about his ability to stay healthy, and the Jays' need for offense over defense. On the second point, I pointed out that the Blue Jays had better pitching than hitting last season. They already have a 1-2 punch of Roy Halladay and AJ Burnett. Behind them are pitchers including Gustavo Chacin, Casey Janssen and Shawn Marcum. They've got one of the best closers in the league, and Brandon League should slide into the set-up role. The pitching on this team is not a big problem. I think the bottom line is that it is going to take a risk to win a postseason slot in that division. Thomas is a Hall of Fame caliber talent when healthy. It might be better to attract true talent than spread the money on lesser dregs, players who could easily be replaced by AAA players.

That Peavy deal isn't bad. Saltalamacchia may be one of the top 10-15 prospects in the game.

Shakazulu: Banned for being a gimmick poster, and an unfunny one at that.

The Blue Jays were 7th in runs scored but 5th in runs allowed. Plus, they have a opening for a designated hitter, with Shea Hillenbrand gone.

I should write OJ a letter about how if I were to theoretically steal a book, this is how I did it.

The Phils have signed Wes Helms for two years, $5.5 Million to fill their hole at third base. Helms signed for an everyday job. In any event, this is an absolute STEAL. Kudos to Pat Gillick.

It's not just the visuals. Listen to the lyrics of the song.

It's entirely random. Some sportswriter notes that a closer been clutch that year, writes a column, and a bandwagon is started. In most cases, the pitcher led the league in saves.

I don't know what happened to it. It was about time to change it anyway, so let's address it here. Does anyone have a suggestion for a new subtitle?

I doubt they'll sell out, but attendance will certainly boom. I'll go and enjoy the games, because you separate the team from the parent club, and the players are just the same type of guys you see elsewhere.

If the criticism of Wright is that he lasts four innings an outing, what do we say then about Chris Britton, who as a reliever pitched less innings? If you converted Wright to the 'pen he'd be a better pitcher than Britton. I think this is a good deal for the O's.