EVIL~! alkeiper

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but generally it was not uncommon $10-15 years ago to charge exhorbitantly high prices on VHS releases. This ensured that the only people who could comfortably afford them were video rental outlets.

After averaging 98 wins over the last four seasons, the Mariners crashed, losing 99 games. The infield tanked, as John Olerud, Bret Boone, Rich Aurilia and Scott Speizio combined to hit .240. Edgar Martinez ran out of gas, posting a .263/.342/.385 mark in his final season. On the pitching side, Jamie Moyer allowed 44 home runs, boosting his ERA by two runs. The bullpen lost Rafael Soriano and Eddie Guardado to injuries, and Shigetoshi Hasegawa could not maintain his current level. This season, the Mariners should expect significant improvement from the offense. Jeremy Reed is a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate. He provides outfield depth for the M's. Reed's arrival enables Raul Ibanez to slide into the DH slot, where he should platoon with minor league vet Bucky Jacobsen. Richie Sexson, assuming he's healthy, replaces John Olerud at first base. Olerud lost his ability to hit for power, while Sexson should post a slugging percentage above .500. The black hole at third base that has suffered through Scott Speizio and Jeff Cirillo will see a true superstar, Adrian Beltre, man the position. The Mariners have never had a truly good third baseman, so Beltre is a welcome change. Jose Lopez should improve on a subpar rookie campaign, and Pokey Reese will provide insurance there. Indications are that Lopez will move to second base when Boone departs. Miguel Olivo gives the Mariners an offensive force there the M's have missed since Dan Wilson stopped hitting. The pitching is less promising, but since the Mariners finished seventh in runs allowed, it is not a huge problem. The M's hope Jamie Moyer is not quite finished, and can rebound. Soriano, Guardado, and Joel Pineiro need to rebound from injuries. Some improvement is likely from Gil Meche. On the prospect side, Shin-Soo Choo looks like a legitimate leadoff prospect. Choo carries plate discipline and speed to burn. I keep hearing they have some pitcher in the minors, but I haven't checked, to be honest.

I wanted to bump this up, in support of Ron Santo.

"Here's your taco mister. Oops, it fell in the fryer. I'll get it out. Oww! Owww! Owwww! Owwwwww!"

Eh, last year I had Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Johan Santana, Ben Sheets, and Oliver Perez in a SIXTEEN team league. You guys sucked!

Baseball Prospectus projects Calvin Pickering as the fourth best player in the AL Central, behind Johan Santana, Travis Hafner, and Carlos Guillen. That's quite lofty. I don't know how good Pickering is, but he deserves an honest chance.

Alphabetical, but it doesn't matter much.

Satchel played three different decades, but he was certainly good enough to play in the Majors in the 20s and 30s. 12-10, 3.07 ERA is one of the best seasons ever for a 45 year old pitcher. And for those wondering, Minoso and Paige played those games in their 50s in order to qualify for a pension fund.

Give him another six hours. 9pm-9am is an awkward time for some posters, particularly if they rely on internet connections at school.

I live too far away from Florida. And I would never jeer opposing fans. I'm more likely to discuss their team's top prospects.

I don't believe so either. While well-intentioned, this system is flawed.

Well, a couple teams are gone, so their players fall back into the pool. I also had about three players on my team who are easily upper round picks, but my team was too stacked.

• Dick Allen (1963-77) • Bobby Bonds (1968-81) • Ken Boyer (1955-69) • Rocky Colavito (1955-68) • Wes Ferrell (1927-41) • Curt Flood (1956-69, 71) • Joe Gordon (1938-50) • Gil Hodges (1943, 1947-63) • Elston Howard (1955-68) • Jim Kaat (1959-83) • Mickey Lolich (1963-79) • Sparky Lyle (1967-82) • Marty Marion (1940-50, 52-53) • Roger Maris (1957-68) • Carl Mays (1915-29) • Minnie Minoso (1949, 1951-64, 76, 80) • Thurman Munson (1969-79) • Don Newcombe (1949-51, 54-60) • Tony Oliva (1962-76) • Vada Pinson (1958-75) • Ron Santo (1960-74) • Luis Tiant (1964-82) • Joe Torre (1960-77) • Smoky Joe Wood (1908-15, 1917-1922) • Maury Wills (1959-72) Of the above, I think Minoso, Allen, and Santo deserve the Hall. Torre, Boyer and Gordon have strong cases as well.

Keeper Selection: 1 - iggmcfly 2 - Will Scarlet 3 - bravesfan 4 - Cena's Writer 5 - Vern Gagne Just to make this clear here.

I highly doubt they would be that stupid. Unless they want another Ryan Anderson/Gil Meche on their hands. They already fucked up 2 top notch pitchers, they better be careful with this one. If Meche was overused, the statistical record is silent on it. Ditto Ryan Anderson. Anderson barely threw 5 innings a start in AAA in 2004. Given his injuries, I don't see how any team could have prevented them. Hernandez is special. He's every bit as good as Doc Gooden was, the difference being that Seattle will probably not ask Hernandez to throw 277 innings when he's 20. I can't wait to see him.

And if you project what Hamilton did in 129 games to 162 games, you get this: 276 hits in 683 AB, 241 runs, 31 doubles, 19 triples, 5 homers, 109 RBI, 158 walks If you take what the Phillies did in 129 games and project it to 162 games, you get 1435 runs. If you take what they did in 129 games and put it in 162 games, the runs per game average drops from 8.86 to 7.06 per game. If anybody is going to approach that record, they will have to get on base a lot and have a strong offense to knock them in. More importantly, you need opposing defenses who make 4x more errors than they do today.

I'm just taking these from Baseball Prospectus. If you feel a player will garner more at bats, we can simply run some basic algebra. Divide home runs by projected at bats (creating a rate stat), and multiply by your own projected At bats. A 162 season would likely net Morneau around 575 ABs. HRs/ABs*575= 32 HRs Adjust as needed.

.282/.351/.513. 25 HRs. He's rated below the elites, but above the Jason Giambi/Carlos Pena level of first basemen.

Hairston's buried on the depth chart.

I've stated this before, the biggest improvement is that they will stop throwing out pitchers with 6+ ERAs every third, fourth and fifth day.

Like he needed validation? I thought the only obstacle Lamar faced were the tears of laughter he must have had.

My projections allotted 371 ABs for Mauer, and 448 ABs for Morneau. Mauer's projection is already in the I-Rod/Posada range.

Obviously they're a better team, but they took a bad route to get there. Still, the D'backs do have some decent prospects in the system, so there is hope for the future.

With Spring Training games starting this week, and just over a month to go for the season, I thought we'd try a daily topic, covering each team in the span of a month. First up is the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Here's a question. What was the draw at Wrestlemanis VIII? Sid/Hogan, Savage/Flair, or a combination of both?