Cheech Tremendous

Verlander, Bonderman, Miller, Zumaya, Jurrjens. I'm iffy on Zumaya. His K rate is tremendous but he's never truly harnessed his control at any level. I'd agree with this as well. Miller probably has the potential to be better than Bonderman, but I could go either way with those two. Where would you slot Porcello in? Obviously, TINSTAAP, but he's got the pure stuff to be a no. 1 starter someday.

Did anyone see the match against Lawler? Sid looked like my grandfather. He has no business being near a wrestling ring anymore.

I'm not sure how much this explains about Gagne's recent struggles, but it is something. It's not like switching teams would make you change your mechanics or pitch set-up. It'll be interesting to see what happens going forward.

You were 7 years old when I started coming here (well, sort of here, but that's another story). Holy shit.

Running a match three straight times on PPV is not a good idea. I don't care how much the Wrestlemania name sells, that feud would be dead from a drawing standpoint by the time Mania rolled around.

and Erik Bedard.. and Jeremy Guthrie and (to some recent extent) Steve Trachsel 11 runs given up to the freaking D-Rays in the 9th. They might as well just start calling Single A Ball guys up from down here after Sept 1 since Im sure there are a few Shorebirds pitchers who could pitch better than any pitcher in the bullpen. Remember when the Orioles spent the whole offseason signing bullpen guys to exhorbitant contracts? That was funny.

I don't think Yost is all that bad. Consider that Jeff Suppan hasn't been very good this year, making this start an aberration, and Scott Linebrink is their vaunted setup man (why, he must be, they gave up like three prospects for him), and it doesn't seem like the worst move in the world. Cubs just got hot. Yost is probably on the hot seat, though, but honestly, who are they going to bring into bumfucking Milwaukee that's gonna impress people and say "well, HE'S the missing piece of the puzzle"? The ghost of the Joe McCarthy that didn't disgrace Wisconsin? Come on. Yost isn't the reason Derrick Turnbow and Francisco Cordero are more prone to meltdowns than nuclear power plants operated by Homer Simpson. Man, was that a Dennis Miller line or what.

The White Sox caught a perfect storm of regression to the mean this year. In 2005 their pitchers greatly outperformed their true talent level. I remember Baseball Prospectus even invented a new stat to measure "Luck" because of the persistent way the team overachieved. In 2006, the pitching came back to earth, but they upgraded their hitting and got career years from several unlikely suspects. Between the two year's performances, it was hard to see the underlying issues that affected this team. Now this year the pitching and hitting are back to expected levels, complete with regression attributable to their advancing age as a team. The biggest problem in their way for the future is Kenny Williams as GM. He's been notoriously bad in the past and his moves this year are suspect. Unfortunately he's treating this season as a fluke rather than recognizing that it was the previous two years that were flukes. Trading Jermaine Dye, Mark Buehrle, and either Thome or Konerko could have given them strong pieces to rebuild with. Now their stuck for the most part with the team they have. The minor league system is empty and they are not a desirable place for high priced free agents. I'm sorry, but signing Aaron Rowand and hoping the nostalgic fever of 2005 carries them through the end of the decade is not a rationale plan.

I can see drafting a QB first when's he's a special talent that you can rebuild the franchise around (Manning, Palmer). However, Russell is not that type of quarterback. He has a big arm and a nice Fiesta Bowl appearance on his resume and... well, that's about it. I don't think he solves any of the Raiders innumerable problems.

Kennedy v. HHH Edge v. Taker Cena v. Batista

So they retain his rights for a full calendar year, right? I'd just let him sit at home and watch his stock fall while he does absolutely nothing for months on end. At some point, another team might try to trade for him or he'll cave in and sign with Raiders. I'm still baffled that they chose him 1st overall, especially with no deal in place.

I remember picking them to finish fourth in the preseason predictions thread and getting outrage from a couple of posters. I didn't think they'd be this bad, or even 72-90 bad. That team is just a disaster and the worst part is there's little to no help on the way. Come to think of it, I need to revisit my original predictions to see how I've done. I don't think I missed the boat on anyone, with the possible exception being Seatte.

I'm usually against starting rookie QBs in the first year, but this might be one of those exceptions. Quinn is the best starting quarterback that the Browns have right now so there isn't any real reason to keep him on the bench. You don't start a season with the intention of being bad. You have to start the players that give you the best chance to win. Quinn started three years at Notre Dame playing a pro style offense. His learning curve is not as steep as most young QBs (like say for instance, Jamarcus Russell). Of course, you don't want to get the kid to get shell-shocked, but he seems like the kind of confident, cocky type that won't fall apart with a few bad performances.

I believe there's been some work to suggest that a starting pitcher's most recent performances have more predictive value than career norms, at least in the short run. Doesn't mean that Mussina is cooked for good, but it might not be a good idea to keep throwing him out there every five days when he's been getting hit this hard.

Of course not! The man makes a good point.

Wow. I just don't know what can be said about any of this. You don't even have the most basic understanding of this case, do you?

So the baseball postseason is only interesting when it involves teams that are "culturally relevant"? I just want to see good baseball. The Dodgers aren't very good at baseball. What does an established fanbase have to do with anything? The Cardinals have one of the most established fanbases in professional sports and they won the most boring World Series I've seen in my entire lifetime.

The Cardinals won the World Series last year. The Cardinals won the World Series last year. The Cardinals won the World Series last year. Doesn't matter how crappy you look on paper, you make the playoffs and you can win the whole thing. The Tigers and Cards were the two worst teams in the playoffs last year.

They should have just drafted Brady Quinn.

Which really makes me wonder why they felt they needed Eric Gagne in the first place. 1. Papelbon has never made it through an entire season as a reliever. His shoulder is still an active concern. 2. Okakima is going to surpass his career high in innings and is 32. 3. Manny Delcarmen is in his first full season as a reliever and has been inconsistent at times 4. Donnelly needed Tommy John. Timlin is 41 and injury prone with decining K rates. 5. He came very cheaply and is still expected to be a Type A in the offseason (netting two picks).

The Red Sox have allowed the fewest runs in the majors this year despite playing in the best hitter's park not named Coors Field. The pitching and defense is just scary good. As long as the offense continues to do their part, this team has a good shot of winning it all.

I'm intigued by a possible Czech-DOAM feud.

That very well could be the case. The thing about relief pitchers is they are inherently flawed. That's why they've been relegated to relief duty. Their skills never translated into the ability to start games and succeed. In the small samples that they pitch, it's easy to get a bad impression because one mistake can often cost them the game.

The Mets' relievers have the third best ERA in the National League, just 0.01 behind LA for second. San Diego is way out in front, but they play in a ballpark where all offense goes to die. I don't know how you can say the Mets have a bad bullpen, especially when they have 5 relievers with an ERA+ over 100. Billy Wagner is probably the best reliever in the NL. Heilman might be the best set-up man. You're totally off base here with this argument. Batters are hitting .059/.111/.059 this year when Heilman goes up 0-2 in the count. That's an amazing .170 OPS.

It's a nice story and all, but Lester isn't ready to pitch in the majors. The fifth starter isn't going to be very important down the stretch because of the way the schedule lines up. If there's a problem, I'd rather have Buchholz up if Tavarez shits the bed.