Cheech Tremendous

Nah, he'd have to use a computer. That's not Joe's cup of tea.

FYI, Baseball Prospectus is doing a chat today at 1PM to offer explanation of many of BP's advanced stats, as well as sabermetrics in general. So if you've ever been confused or disinterested in my or anyone else's nerd stats, it's a chance to learn why these things are important and how they can be managed and interpreted simply without a degree in mathematics.

This isn't the WWE folder. We have some (not many) standards around here to keep up. It's not a good idea to go over the top ballistic for your team without anything worthwhile to offer. By the way, we all know how to say Joba's name. It's TSM, not the BBWAA.

Well played, sir.

Czech's a good guy to respond to in these discussions. The presence of performance enhancing drugs is unfortunate. The problem is that Bonds is hardly alone in their use. He is singled out because of his accomplishments, but their are many other players in the game who took advantage of PEDs, everyone's favorite players possibly among them. MLB needs to do what they can to eliminate PEDs, but I've never been quite comfortable vilifying the players that used them in the past. Fans need to remember that the home run record is just a number. It says nothing more than that Barry Bonds hit 755 home runs in Major League Baseball games. It does not make Bonds the greatest home run hitter of all time, more than Hank Aaron had the honor before. And World's Worst Poster, it is hardly a stretch to ask whether Barry Bonds is the greatest player of all time. Yea actually it is a stretch, unless you live in Bonds' dream world where he is perfectly clean. And even if you did, Ruth's numbers are still inarguably better, and if you want to point to Bonds' speed and defense in his pre-roid career, I'll point to Ruth being a high-end pitcher earlier in his. Good dig though, especially since you really did absolutely nothing to support your claim. Actually, in the book Baseball Between the Numbers they do an in-depth comparison on the careers of Ruth and Bonds, adjusting for era, ballparks, etc. They weight all of their contributions on the field, including their offense, defense and Ruth's pitching. They conclude that they are damn near equal in their accomplishments with maybe the slightest of an edge to Ruth. It is not a stretch by any means to consider Bonds the greatest player of all time. In addition to his home runs record, it will be hard for anyone to touch his 7 MVPs, single season walk record and career walk record. He's had a brilliant career unmatched by anyone in his era. We may suspect steroids (and do have some proof) but that is no reason to disqualify all that he has accomplished in his briliant career.

Good thing we have frostdude here to put this momentous occasion into perspective.

I don't trust Keith Law as a scout at all, but Lincecum has one of the scariest deliveries I've seen. He's a longshot for staying healty as a starting pitcher.

I know it almost sounds ridiculous in its simplicity, but couldn't WWE send its writers on a retreat somewhere for 7-10 days to let them re-think the direction of the company? Just totally get them away from the office, the road, the internet, and their families and get them thinking about how to turn things around. Hand them a roster and tell them to return when they've got ideas for everybody, have outlined two to three major angles and 6-12 months of storylines. Do the same thing with the production crew so that we get a different look for the shows.

Nope, just Wilson Betemit. On a side note, what prompts a person to ask on a message board when they could check live box scores from four or five websites? I don't know but I bet it's the same type of person that comes to a message board to give updates after every inning of the ballgame their watching even though I'm perfectly capable of looking at the scores on my desktop.

Too late? They're two games back in the Wild Card race. They'll be in the playoff picture by the end of next week. PECOTA says they have a 48% chance of making the playoffs as of today. They are going to be a nightmare to deal with in the postseason.

I'm with you. I had some mild chuckles along the way, but it just felt like a more recent episode drawn out over an hour and a half.

Adam Jones and Justin Upton were both called up today by their respective organizations. These are two of the best outfield prospects in the the game right now and it should a lot of fun watching what they can do over the last two months of the season. Jones should play an immediate role in the Mariners pennant race as he absolutely decimated AAA pitching this year. He's an upgrade over Jose Guillen. Justin Upton gets the honor of drawing endless comparisons to Ken Griffey Jr. but he might still be a little raw to expect immediate production.

The Nets seem to be going through the same issues that the Sacramento Kings have in recent years. They got so close to to a title, but then the window closed and no one in the organization realizes it or wants to admit it. They start making nothing moves in hopes that the core group can spark that one last run. Meanwhile they should be starting the rebuilding process and cashing in on their tradeable assets before they lose all value.

By the way, happy birthday Ripper! As for the Nets, I think they'll be exactly what they were last year... a 40-45 win team that looks great when they are on and totally disapointing when they aren't. Mikki Moore was nothing more than a role player who put together a couple of nice months. Losing him won't mean much. Getting Krstic back will help, but I think his presence on the team was overstated because they underachieved after his injury. They should have just pulled the trigger on the O'Neil trade. I see them being in the playoffs, somewhere between 6th and 8th.

With the exception of Mania, those are some terrible buyrates. Those are as damning as Monday's 2.5 rating.

Cleveland v. Miami, LA Lakers v. Phoenix and Seattle v. Portland are going to be this year's Christmas Day games, according to Marc Stein.

I picked them to finish sixth, but that's mostly because I fully expect Boston to surpass them in the Atlantic. I went on to say in a later post that they'll be very, very good. I expect them to be a real contender in th east this year. I know Marc Stein picked them to win the conference.

You've got me totally confused. He turned face at WM XIII and that got one of the most amazing, unique reactions ever. He turned back heel at WM X-7 and the rabid crowd in Houston went nuts. The pseudo-trun during the Invasion? Crowd went batshit. What other turn are you talking about?

I've never been a big fan of Bret outside the ring, but it doesn't specifically pertain to Montreal. He, along with many other wrestlers of his generation, have a hard time separating themselves from the character they play on television. He doesn't seem to realize that it's a worked sport and he accomplished what he did because he was booked to do so. Bret has always seemed overly concerned with protecting his legacy and refusing to let bygones be bygones. He just seems too self-absorbed for my liking, but your mileage may vary.

JD Drew has been out of the Boston lineup the past few days to be with his family. Although the team hasn't disclosed specific details, his son had some sort of extensive surgery yesterday that lasted more than 7 hours. I don't want to start any rampant speculation, but if there are health issues affecting his son it might explain some of his erratic play this year.

Eh, it's been done.

Did I hear that Doug Gottlieb is the choice to take over for Dan Patrick? Please don't let it be so.

Tool: Aenima Lateralus 10,000 Days Undertow Opiate

He's alright, but Cheech is just a nickname that stuck in high school. I should change my user name because it really holds no significance anymore.

Al already covered it. He was just an extremely ugly baseball player. Like ugly's not even a strong enough word to describe him. There's a funny little anecdote about him in Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract.