EVIL~! alkeiper

Looking over the Mariners, I am surprised at the payroll they get off the books this year. $24 Million worth of talent comes off the books.

Two fielding miscues have screwed John Smoltz out of out #3 so far.

That's an excellent idea.

Mike Hampton gave up his first HR to a lefty this season, to Jim Thome.

Playing against Andruw Jones is an exercise in frustration. You can't possibly hit anything in the air and expect a hit.

He was good enough to play in the majors by 2001, when he was just 21. But that's the problem with pitching prospects. Injuries weed out a lot of them before they reach the big leagues.

Pittsburgh's got a nice stadium, so that should be a good event.

Still in the Mariners' organization. Various arm injuries have kept him out of action entirely since 2000. A report from USA Today says he could begin playing again any time now. No clue on whether or not he has anything left.

The rule here is that high school pitchers are usually not prospects.

It helps to wait for your pitch. This game really emphasizes the importance of plate disapline.

Count me in the opposite camp. Athletes are paid more than most of us, but they are still human. They have levels of endurance, and they can only be pushed so far. And that the Cardinals broke written guidelines is an indication that they were pushing training too far.

They were generally efficient innings however. Halladay only walked 32 batters in those 266 IP. Pitcher Abuse Points ranks him all the way down at 43rd over last season, and only once did he top 122 pitches. I am not saying the workload hurt his arm, but there is no indication that the injury resulted from overuse.

Two out of three ain't bad. Being a writer though, that is glaring. I'll try and get Pete to fix it.

I figured I'd make a cheap plug for my column and generate some discussion while I'm at it. This week's column.

That was a ten inning game, and Halladay threw just 99 pitches. I don't know why the boxscore never updated through the tenth inning, but Halladay's 2003 Game Log shows the full stat line.

Batista has never played a game at first base. With his low OBP, he'd be an unacceptable first baseman at any price. He played 61 games at short in '97, 34 in '98, 141 in '99, and 20 in 2001. Career-wise, his Range Factors and Fielding percentage at short are above-average. I find it interesting that his most comparable player at 29 is Howard Johnson.

What's wrong with starting a new thread. Are threads really so scarce that we need to bump week old threads to accomidate discussion?

I'd say an injury to Carlos Delgado and the collapse of Josh Phelps hurt the team.

That is one of the unstated effects of Moneyball. Teams are more wary of players like Tony Batista, and more aware of the effects of a dismal OBP. Bored brought up Joe Crede. Crede and Batista are an interesting comparsion. Their basic stats are very similar. Both are batting .233, with twelve home runs. Batista leads in RBIs, 47 to 40. Beyond that however, Crede has more walks and doubles, giving him more OBP and slugging percentage. The only real benefit Batista could provide is the ability to play shortstop along with third base. That would make him useful in Houston, where he could backup Adam Everett and Morgan Ensberg, and take aim at the right field wall. However, I would not trade anything valuable for him.

Why's that? Well, it might explain to you the laws of probability and chance.

You could try opening up a math book.

That's a subjective argument. Alot of people reminisce about the great play of the 1980s, but was it really that great. There was sloppy play in those days, and I'd wager there were more silly turnovers. I think time has created warm, fuzzy memories of the 80s.

Andruw Jones, but that's from the perspective of a Phillies fan. When someone hits the ball to center against the Braves, I know its not landing.

High scoring is not the only indicator of the quality of play. Are the scores low because of poor offense, or good defense? It is hard to say. Theoretically, the better play becomes, the more scores drift southward, as it becomes harder to score points. Whether game scores are close is a better indicator of game quality.

For god sakes just shut the fuck up. You've singlehandedly managed to ruin all intelligent conversation on this forum for the sake of bitching about a first place team. Nobody gives a damn.