Cheech Tremendous

Is the PTC still even around? Good ol' JN News is a mainstay of this thread. And I'll be pissed if there's some dude named Kamala working the indy scene! I laughed at that too, but I sometiems feel bad for JN News. I didn't want to drag him back into this thread. It's funny to read the comments suggesting that now Smackdown is off UPN they can go to NBC or move to a better night. Apparently they don't realize that the only reason they are on network tv in the first place is because the 5th place network needed to fill time cheap on a death night for ratings. They aren't going to suddenly move up in the world.

He's still going... I'm going to be really pissed if I see a Cheech Tremendous working the indy scene.

After he was drafted, he totally changes his mechanics in an effort to avoid a possible future injury (he had a major jerking motion). No one has said for sure whether this was a Red Sox management call or something from the Boras camp, although there have been accusations from both sides. After a confusing 2006 season where he worked as a starter, long reliever and closer at multiple levels, they put him on a strict 50 inning limit last year and stated from Spring Training that he would not be called up from AAA under any circumstances. He had a disastrous first half, but regained some of his form towards the end of the season. His old mechanics and devastating slider returned in September, but then he was shut down with a minor injury and later had surgery to correct sleep apnea. He's sort of a huge question mark right now, but should compete for a bullpen spot. It's really a make or break season for him.

The Stat Mongers select: Derrek Lee, 1B

You sort of have it right. He clarified the situation with a few posts on the Sons of Sam Horn message board last night. In mid-January he started experiencing problems with his shoulder (after he signed a new deal and passed his physical). He went to see his doctor. The doctor recommended shoulder surgery and it was his opinion that the surgery would allow him to return this year. The Red Sox medical staff examined the same shoulder and determined that surgery wasn't necessary and that if he did have said surgery, it would end his season. They argued that by having the surgery that they didn't support, he'd be in violation of his contract and they'd void it. To solve the situation, they went to an arbitrator (the head of the Mets medical staff) and he sided with the Red Sox' position. Therefore, he'll try to rehab the shoulder and return around the All-Star break. He'll still likely need surgery at some point.

Dandy's an early front-runner for 2008 TSM MVP.

The Sox wouldn't give the Orioles anything as valuable as Adam Jones though, so what's the point? The O's have a sucker on the line with Seattle. No need to screw it up now.

Cost overruns on the new Yankee Stadium have pushed the estimated pricetag to $1.38 billion.

In his latest column Chad Ford makes it sound like the Marion-Shaq trade was less about acquiring Shaq and more about getting rid of Marion. It at least implies that Nash and Stoudemire may have had a say in the trade, feeling that the team's chemistry was negatively impacted by Shawn's presence.

Exactly. How many playoff series have the Lakers won since they traded Shaq? That's what I thought.

PECOTA doesn't envision Lester or Buchholz cracking 130 IP this season (both with ERAs over 4.00). Even with their respective pedigrees, the transition to major league batters will not be easy. Combine that with Wakefield being concerned about his creaky shoulder and this team is suddenly looking at filling 200 or 300 innings. This could quickly end up like 2006 instead of 2007. Can a projection system honestly predict innings pitched? Especially with Lester's missed time being due to a non-baseball ailment. You'd be surprised at how accurate it can be. It might not know what we do about Lester and Buchholz and their respective situations, but it does know what hundreds of other pitchers in similar situations have done. PECOTA can easily miss on one given player, but its accuracy across a body of players is amazing. I'd rather take the 70% accuracy of the mean projection than the guesswork of the average Sox fan.

All from the Boston Globe.

PECOTA doesn't envision Lester or Buchholz cracking 130 IP this season (both with ERAs over 4.00). Even with their respective pedigrees, the transition to major league batters will not be easy. Combine that with Wakefield being concerned about his creaky shoulder and this team is suddenly looking at filling 200 or 300 innings. This could quickly end up like 2006 instead of 2007.

I never actually considered that topic to be a meta-thread. A mega-thread maybe, but there wasn't anything advanced going on there.

Branch/Engram/Hackett/Burleson isn't a bad receiving corps, if you ask me. It's the lack of a running game that's hurting their offense more than anything.

Louisville, Kentucky is almost smack in the middle of the Ohio river basin (sometimes known as the Ohio Valley). It has nothing to do with the state of Ohio really.

It's not necessarily a lame duck situation. Holmgren has already stated that he's stepping down at the end of the season. They are trying to foster an envionment where they can smoothly transition to the next coach without disrupting the current situation. Mora Jr. was acutally a hot commodity this offseason. He'd probably be the coach in Washington (DC) right now had Seattle not made a move to lock him up. Look at similar situations with Jim Caldwell, Jason Garrett and Steve Spagnuolo. All were top candidates for coaching positions this offseason. The teams they coached for re-upped them with the tacit understanding that they'd be the next head coach whenever a change was made. It's the new rage in the NFL. EDIT: I guess VX more or less wrote the exact same thing one post above.

I know who can be Eugene.

My contributions to the socket are vast. It's an honest mistake.

I think Oakland would want Ellsbury or Lowrie/Masterson/+ and both of those packages seem like way too much to give up for Blanton. Technically, they have a rotation of Beckett/Dice-K/Lester/Wake/Buchholz, so the need for another starter doesn't seem like a big deal. But once you factor in Wake's health (or lack thereof), innings limits on Lester and Buchholz and a spot starter group that includes Tavarez, Snyder and Hansack, well things don't look so rosey. I'm not ready to jump off a roof, but things just got more interesting in the AL East, and for this Sox fan, that's not a good thing.

That's really impressive. Think about how little they actually invest out of pocket into OVW and compare that to how much money some of these guys have made for the company. The return on investment is outstanding.

I guess it's time to call Minnesota. Oh wait, my bad. Rotoworld is speculating that they may take a look at Kyle Lohse or Bartolo Colon as a 5th starter because of innings limits on Lester and Buchholz. Uggh... that would not be a good thing.

OVW produced Cena, Batista and Orton. Even if they only produced one of those guys, I'd consider the whole thing a success.

Boston Herald now says that Schilling might have a torn labrum or rotator cuff and could miss the entire 2008 season. The Sox have already looked into voiding the contract that he signed in November. Wow, that whole pitching depth problem sure solved itself quickly.