EVIL~! alkeiper

So, Im guessing the Jays will be rivals with the Phillies? I could see that. Base a rivalry off the 1993 WS.. Fun Fact: The Phillies were known as the Blue Jays in 1943-44.

4:1 says they are going to ask Giambi to move back to left field. Even better, apparently they plan on asking Giambi to accept a minors assignment. It is nice to see the Yankees' brilliant plan involves placing a hitter with a .386 OBP on the bench while Tony Womack plays left field. And I'm beginning to gather the impression that Vicente Padilla SUCKS. I'd honestly have Tony Womack, whos able to actually make CONTACT with the ball, then Jason Giambi. I don't care about his walks, hes absolutely pathetic at the bat right now. So it is better to have a hitter who makes contact and outs?

4:1 says they are going to ask Giambi to move back to left field. Even better, apparently they plan on asking Giambi to accept a minors assignment. It is nice to see the Yankees' brilliant plan involves placing a hitter with a .386 OBP on the bench while Tony Womack plays left field. And I'm beginning to gather the impression that Vicente Padilla SUCKS.

Not in today's environment, but it is impossible to tell what baseball will look like in thr future. No one stole bases in the 1950s before Maury Wills came along.

4:1 says they are going to ask Giambi to move back to left field.

Fair point, but there are literally hundreds of similar tales. Dizzy Dean, Smokey Joe Wood, Lon Warneke, Bucky Walters, Billy McCool, I could go on. I do know that there is no way Koufax would have pitched as many innings a season as he did if he pitched today. Forgive me if I pass on the task of rating all the pitchers. Perhaps I might tackle the task in the future. As for living pitchers, let's see. Clemens has a career record of 330-165, more than any living pitcher. Seven Cy Young awards, more than any other pitcher. His career winning percentage is fifth among living pitchers. Clemens is third among living pitchers in ERA+, behind Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. He is second all-time in strikeouts behind only Nolan Ryan. I agree with ESPN on this one. Clemens is the greatest living pitcher, especially now that Warren Spahn has passed on.

I don't think so. Koufax had a four year run where he was a fantastic pitcher. Now, if you set your standards specifically as a pitcher's four best consecutive years, the answer might be Koufax. But that is the only way he ranks as the very best. Koufax's best ERA+ (ERA, adjusted for park and the league average) was 190. That is very, very good. But what about Walter Johnson, who went 69-19 over two years with ERA+'s of 240 and 259? (As an aside, here is another misconception. The Senators had some very good years with Johnson, even if they fell short of the pennant until 1924.) Pedro Martinez had a four year run where he produced ERA+'s of 221, 160, 245 and 285, although Koufax pitched many more innings. There are just two many pitchers with similar peak quality who smoke Koufax in career numbers. Not to say Koufax was not a great pitcher, but he is not the best. He was legitimately outstanding during his peak.

Because Lyle Overbay has a strained groin, and Ned Yost did not want to use him unless absolutely necessary. Once Manuel placed Cormier on the mound, Yost had a better situation to use Magruder, and not risk further injury with Overbay. And I am fairly certain a pitcher must face at least one batter.

I happened to catch it on the radio on the way home from the Red Barons game, so I know what you are talking about. For those who did not see it, the Brewers announced Lyle Overbay as a pinch hitter. The Phillies brought in Rheal Cormier, so the Brewers sent up Chris Magruder instead. This is perfectly acceptable. The catch is that Magruder is substituting for Overbay, who is then ineligible for the remainer of the game, since he was announced as a substitute and then replaced.

Babe Ruth missed half the season with a mysterious stomach ailment. Some speculate is might have been venerial disease, but whatever the cause, it was essentially Ruth's lost season. The lineup did feature a few strong hitters, but also featured four very bad hitters in Benny Bengough, Aaron Ward, Joe Dugan and Pee-Wee Wanniger.

Here is a misconception by itself. The Yankees actually had the best winning percentage in baseball in the 1980s.

You are SO banned.

Gonzalez is a minor league journeyman. He missed two years in 2000-01, then returned to post good marks primarily as a relief pitcher for AAA Oklahoma in 2002. Tampa Bay gave him an extended shot at the big leagues in 2003, and he posted a 3.91 ERA with unspectacular peripherals. Last season he bombed in Tampa, posting a 6.97 ERA with an abysmal K rate. His numbers were not too spectacular this season in Pawtucket. 24 IP, 14 Ks, 6 BBs, and a 3.00 ERA. But in two starts in Boston, he has 13 strikeouts in 10 innings, with just three walks. The outburst puzzles me, to be quite honest. I doubt he is more than rotation filler in the long run.

Both, apparently. And for the record, since Abreu is no longer engaged, my girlfriend has permission to sleep with him.

In 30 years with the designated hitter, only one player has gotten even halfway to Ripken, and that was Steve Garvey. DHs tend not to be the most durable players. The record post-1900 is .426, by Napolean Lajoie in 1901. Here is a fun statistic. Of the top 50 pitchers in single season complete games, 2 were older than 29. Taylor himself was done by his mid-30s. Those complete game statistics are gaudy, but completely futile. Nowadays, it is simply good strategy to use dominant relievers and pinch hitters late in ballgames. Pitching has not become bad. The environment has changed. Eight hitters in baseball logged 200 hits last year. Right now only Juan Pierre, Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter and Darin Erstad rank among the top 100 in single season hits. It is not easier to get 200 hits than it was in the 1920s and '30s, when hitting was even more potent than it is now. The only player who has even a remote shot at the all time hits record is Albert Pujols, and his odds are about 50:1. I doubt it. If you look at the records for hits, batting average and the like, you notice they are populated by players from before the turn of the century, or the early 20th Century. As baseball evolves, it becomes more difficult to produce an extreme performance. So records tend towards the mean over time.

Certainly Sutton benefitted from Dodger Stadium, but it is not the sole cause of Sutton's HOF worthiness. Check out Sutton's career splits. Unfortunately these do not include Sutton's first three seasons, but I think having 90% of them demonstrates the point. Home: 333 starts, 2446.3 IP, 213 HR, 578 BB, 1674 Ks, 2.83 ERA, 149-101. Away: 327 starts, 2170 IP, 216 HR, 597 BB, 1360 Ks, 3.77 ERA, 141-113. Slight changes in the peripherals stats and a gap in ERA, as we might expect from having a good home park. However, the Win/Loss record is almost exactly the same. Sutton gave up more runs on the road, and his team scored more runs on the road. Here, the park factor creates a different environment, but it does not make Sutton any less effective a pitcher.

We would get about a post a week in our emails from someone who hit "report" instead of "quote" and didn't realize it. I don't think that is why the admins removed it however.

That makes him not a greatest of the great pitcher. I fail to see how it makes him an undeserving Hall of Famer. Sutton won 324 major league games. From that point, he needs some fairly negative things to take away the Hall. His winning percentage of .559 is acceptable. He pitched well in the postseason. He is actually seventh all time in strikeouts, and was fifth when he retired. Did he reach 300 wins by hanging on past his prime? Well, in 1986 when he passed the 300 win plateau, his ERA was 3.74, better than the league average. He started 34 games for a team that won the American League West, and almost made the World Series. I just don't see how you can make a logical argument completely dismissing Sutton from the Hall.

Division winners advance, two playoff rounds, single elimination best of seven.

How is Don Sutton a travesty?

Ryan was a great pitcher, no question. He was overrated and not quite as good as greats such as Tom Seaver or Roger Clemens, but he was good enough to pitch WELL into his mid 40s. There are cases where a player is overrated to the point where we go overboard disputing them. Ryan is not top 10, but he is likely somewhere in the top 25.

Manuel's infatuation for pinch hitting Jose Offerman for Marlon Byrd is really starting to piss me off. Here is a fun fact. Byrd and Offerman both have four hits this season. It took Byrd 8 at bats to get them, and Offerman 23. Offerman hit .256 in limited at bats last year, and somehow that qualifies him as a proven pinch hitter? The man has not been a credible threat at the plate since 1999. Byrd hit .303 in 2003. He had an off-year last year. This year, he has done everything he can to prove that was a fluke. They sent him to Scranton, and he responded by hitting three home runs in 19 at bats. They bring him up, and not only is he 4 for 8, but he is the one player on that team who can play a legitimate center field. I've watched Marlon Byrd play in Scranton for two many years. It has been almost three years since he graciously took time to sign my baseball cap. I want him to succeed, and at this point, if Charlie Manuel are going to fuck around and use washed up slap hitters to pinch hit for him, trade him. Send him to a place where a team can place him in center field, and leave him the fuck alone so he can just play baseball.

Well, it actually came in 1923. Here is another. Ruth's HR binge occured after the Black Sox scandal. He actually hit his 54 home runs in 1920, and the scandal did not hit the papers in earnest until September of that season.

Odd to see that both the Athletics and Indians have scored 108 runs this season. Given that the Athletics are really much better than what they're producing, I think they need a spark of some sort. The team will turn around. They are still just 4 games back, with five months to play. As for pathetic offenses, how about the Colorado Rockies? 14th in the league in runs scored is inexcusable when you play in Coors.

As far as substitutions go, just entering the lineups became such a chore that it pretty much sapped my enthusiasm. I'm comfortable just letting the computer handle the micro-management, which is not the ideal solution, but remember I am not making any special moves with my team. As for individual teams, if you find me via AIM I should be able to accomodate you. I can't possibly re-print all the reports for all twenty teams, since I would need to run those individually. Remember, if you have OOTP, I have the league file and you can have fun with it on your own, if you wish.