EVIL~! alkeiper

As for Alex Rodriguez, it is important to remember that Win Shares gives him a fair deal of credit for his fielding abilities.

It has to be to survive their pitching.

The Hardball Times keeps a record of Bill James' Win Shares statistic for the current season. I have explained Win Shares previously, and while it is not the only metric out there, it is reasonably good. In any case, it provides a decent picture of accomplishments from each player. So how would Win Shares see the postseason voting at this point? Here are the leaders, with statistics tabulated as of September 9th: AL MVP 1. Gary Sheffield, NYY 2. Hideki Matsui, NYY 3. Alex Rodriguez, NYY 4. Manny Ramirez, Bos 5. Carlos Guillen, Det 6. Miguel Tejada, Balt 7. Johan Santana, Min 8. Vladimir Guerrero, Ana 9. Ichiro Suzuki, Sea 10. Johnny Damon, Bos AL Cy Young 1. Johan Santana, Min 2. Curt Schilling, Bos 3. Mark Mulder, Oak Win Shares ranks Pedro Martinez ahead of Mulder in total Win Shares, but I feel the Cy Young should be tabulated solely on a pitcher's accomplishments on the mound. Otherwise I would have to cast a vote for Brooks Kieschnick. AL Rookie of the Year 1. Bobby Crosby, Oak 2. Shingo Takatsu, CWS 3. Daniel Cabrera, Balt Before anyone asks, Lew Ford is not eligible for the Rookie of the Year award. The race for third place is desperately close, as Zach Greinke trails Cabrera by 1/10th of a Win Share. NL MVP 1. Barry Bonds, SF 2. Scott Rolen, StL 3. Albert Pujols, StL 4. Jim Edmonds, StL 5. Mark Loretta, SD 6. Adrian Beltre, LA 7. Bobby Abreu, Phi 8. Sean Casey, Cin 9. J.D. Drew, Atl 10. Todd Helton, Col The top eight all rank above AL leader Gary Sheffield in Win Shares. NL Cy Young 1. Randy Johnson, Ari 2. Ben Sheets, Mil 3. Jason Schmidt, SF NL Rookie of the Year 1. Khalil Greene, SD 2. Jason Bay, Pit 3. Kazuo Matsui, NYM Now onto Gold Gloves. These are fun, because baseball writers rarely look over statistics before choosing them, and tradional fielding statistics are highly unreliable anyway. And perceptions of fielding tend to linger after natural ability has declined. So you get a few players you would not have otherwise expected. Win Shares does not consider the fielding contributions of the pitcher worth measuring. AL Gold Gloves C Damian Miller, Oak 1B Mark Teixeira, Tex 2B Luis Rivas, Min SS Christian Guzman, Min 3B Alex Rodriguez, NYY OF Johnny Damon, Bos OF Mark Kotsay, Oak OF Torii Hunter, Min Shortstop almost provided the ultimate WTF moment, as Derek Jeter, the bane of statheads everywhere, ranks second amongst AL shortstops in Win Shares as a fielder. NL Gold Gloves C Brian Schneider, Mon 1B Todd Helton, Col 2B Mark Loretta, SD SS Jack Wilson, Pit 3B Scott Rolen, StL OF Andruw Jones, Atl OF Jim Edmonds, StL OF Corey Patterson, ChC Win Shares sees Brian Schneider as the most valuable defensive player in baseball. Who knew? It is worth noting that Carlos Beltran's combined totals for both leagues would edge out Corey Patterson.

Tony Saunders was the #1 pick in the Expansion draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. At the time, he looked like a decent prospect, probably comparable to a young Matt Clement, or maybe Victor Zambrano. Lots of strikeouts, but he struggled with control. To say Saunders disappeared or faded away is an understatement. Saunders suffered one of the most horrific injuries in the history of baseball. On May 26, 1999, Saunders broke his humerus bone in the act of throwing a pitch. For those of you who remember Dravecky's injury, it is the same thing. Saunders did attempted a comeback, but suffered the same injury and was forced into retirement. Here is an article from the St. Petersburg Times shorty after the second injury.... http://www.sptimes.com/News/082700/Sports/...d_knowing.shtml

The scary thing is I could name all those teams from memory. I've always disagreed. Of course the ultimate goal is to win the World Series. But upsets happen, and there are some memorable teams that did not win the World Series. I look at the sum of all achievements. Of course winning the World Series is the biggest accomplishment, but it is not the only accomplishment. I think it is ultimately about the journey. The 1950 Phillies were swept in four games in the World Series. But they also won one of the greatest pennant races of all time, and that is a memorable achievement. We remember the 1975 Red Sox for taking the Big Red Machine to the limit. Or for something more recent, the 2002 Oakland A's winning 20 games in a row. Of course they did not win the big prize, but that does not mean these teams achieved things worth remembering.

The Mets' left field ballboy just pulled a Bartman and blocked Burrell from catching a foul fly.

How about Summer Catch? Any movie with Freddie Prinze Jr. in it can't be good.

This hasn't received any notice, but Carlos Beltran is on the verge of a 40/40 season. Only three other players (Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez) have accomplished this feat. Beltran is currently sitting at 38 HRs and 36 SBs.

Ryan Howard hit his first career home run for the Philadelphia Phillies. Mets lead 6-5 in the seventh.

I think this is an acceptable topic for the Sports forum. I stopped collecting several years ago. The card industry has become too money-driven, and there's no fun in it anymore. When I was young they had cello packs you could buy and get about 40 cards for $1.50. Nowadays its $2-4 (or more) or eight or ten cards. I still have the cards I had as a kid though. I did, however, find an Ozzie Smith rookie card a few weeks ago on Ebay for just $12. Easily the greatest card purchase I have ever made.

Sosa's under contract for eight figures next season. There is no way the Cubs can get rid of him. And it's not like he's a liability. Is he an All-Star caliber player at this point? Of course not. But he is still an average player, and average players are productive.

Umm, at what point did Cubs fans on this board say the wild card was well in hand? Over the last three months, we have seen several Cubs threads, started by Cubs fans, such as "Sammy Sosa is getting to be a liability," "Kyle Farnsworth is more of a liability than Sosa," "Dusty Baker is an idiot," "Which Cubs Go?," and so on. This thread is really just flaming and/or mocking, so I'm closing it.

On another subject, a month or two ago we debated whether Johan Santana deserved the Cy Young award. Santana has won his last ten decisions. He leads the AL in strikeouts and ERA by a sizeable margin. He also leads the AL in Component ERA, and DIPS ERA. And now he's second in wins behind Curt Schilling. Is there any doubt at this point that Santana is the front-runner for Cy Young?

But how long is the Unit sticking around? And I'm not sure Vazquez is the only player the D'backs wanted, but I don't have a source on that. Schilling and Johnson are great pitchers, no doubt, but they have clocks attached, and Vazquez really looked good before this season. Its easy to judge these things in hindsight, but if you had asked me in April, I wouldn't be sure. And keep in mind the Yankees do need to think long term. It is still likely Vazquez will be better three years from now than either Johnson or Schilling.

Woah. Not many people look as good as Curt Schilling ever I think you took a major leap by saying that getting Vazquez was just as good as getting Schilling. Schilling may be going to the Hall of Fame. Well, look at what their situations were headed into the season. Vazquez was a young, ace-quality starter, while Schilling was an ace-quality starter, but aging, and coming off an injury. You say that as if Schilling "ace quality" is the same as Vazquez. Vazquez was good. Schilling was a devastating pitcher that we knew turned it up 100 notches in big game situations. We went against getting a great pitcher so we could get a guy that was not quite the poor man's Schilling. If Schilling defines the limits of an ace, we'd have only 3-4 aces in the entire league. The way I see it, anyone who strikes out more than a batter an inning, doesn't walk many guys, and posts an ERA 50% better than the league average is an ace quality starter.

My playoff matchup is pure dominance. 33 Ks, 0.93 ERA, 0.86 WHIP. My opponent is winning the walks category by one, but Shawn Estes should take care of that problem for him tonight. In an unprecedented move, I am benching the Big Unit tonight. The only category he can really add on to at this point is strikeouts, and I'm up by 26 in that category. Next week I've got the Chicago White Sux. I'll need my A-game, but I have a plan. I will pitch ONLY Johan Santana and Randy Johnson. No matter what relievers he throws out there, they can't beat those two.

Woah. Not many people look as good as Curt Schilling ever I think you took a major leap by saying that getting Vazquez was just as good as getting Schilling. Schilling may be going to the Hall of Fame. Well, look at what their situations were headed into the season. Vazquez was a young, ace-quality starter, while Schilling was an ace-quality starter, but aging, and coming off an injury. The flaw in both starters was their HR rates. Schilling is of course having a much superior season, but hindsight is 20/20.

Wells has 17 walks on the season. As for Vazquez, I agree that he has pitched poorly this season. But he looked extremely good before the trade. Nearly 5:1 K/BB Ratio, and a 3.24 ERA in a tough pitcher's environment. The only major concern was his workload. He looked just as good as say Curt Schilling headed into this season. But he hasn't given up less than three runs in a start since June. He's been absolutely abysmal his last four or so starts. This is just a theory, but its very possible there is something physically wrong with him, but given the pressure the pitching staff is under, he feels he can't reveal it and disappoint the team. That's just a theory, but its worth considering.

I would think Patterson would be the one to move, wouldn't he?

At this point, I think it is very possible that Javier Vazquez is suffering from a hidden injury.

I don't believe in ditching players or keeping them for that matter, based on what kind of off-the-field press criticism they have received. Particularly the spat with the announce crew. I think the statistics speak for themselves. Alou should be gone. He's a free agent, and somewhere around 38. I'm certain the Cubs can get equal or better production for cheaper. Sosa they need to keep, as he is still under contract, his trade value is limited if existant at all, and he is still productive at least. Mercker should probably go. Farnsworth depends on the cash. Otherwise, I'd watch the market and adjust as needed.

Some have posted in it already, but there is a new thread for this weekend's games.

I'm not a participater as much as I just read them. I do miss Rob Neyer's columns though.

In another desperate grap at money, ESPN has made their MLB chats "insider" as well. What a load of crap. 75% of the time, the analysts don't have a better answer then I could have provided (the other 25% is Neyer). The next time the labor contract comes up, I don't want to hear a fucking word about how athletes are greedy.

MLB.com has some very good radio programs for the baseball fan.