Cheech Tremendous

I could be wrong on this, but doesn't service time in September not count? You know what... I have no idea. I just assumed that it did. You have to be on the 40-man to be eligible for a September call-up. Any idea why it wouldn't count? There were other statistics cited, including the 2 late-inning RBIs, the GIDPs and the fact that his WPA number this year is a measly .69. That's just ridiculously low for a guy who hits as well as he does. Whether or not A-Rod is clutch is irrelevant. He's arguably been the worst pressure performer in baseball this year and that's had a negative impact on this team's record. That has to be factored in to any argument that tries to assess value.

Travis Snider is a wonderful prospect, but he's also a 20-year old who's just barely managing an .800 OPS in his first year above A-ball. Why would the Jays think he's ready? Why even start his service clock now? Doesn't seem like the right move to me, but maybe they know something we don't.

Fun fact: Dandy's a homosexual I was actually able to snag a picture of Dandy and myself at his birthday party last year. Man we had a lot of fun.

Even after all the mod changes and what not I'm glad to see that my "What's New At Circuit City?" subheading has survived. I wonder how many people in the folder actually get that joke.

No way. Pujols should win the thing going away. Pujols has the best avg, obp, and slg. He plays GG defense and he's keeping a mediocre team in playoff contention. Those other guys are having good years, but nothing even approaching Pujols.

I was tyring to say that I would take him over Quentin for MVP, not if I was building a team. Don't get me wrong, Quentin's great. It's just that in terms of a Most Valuable Player, I'd give the edge to Youks. The offensive numbers are almost identical, but Youkilis plays GG defense at first (which is harder than Left) and subs when needed at third. To me that has a tiny bit more value.

Why would you discount Kevin Youkilis? He's basically right there with Quentin in OBP, OPS and VORP, plays for a better team and contributes Gold Glove defense. I'd take him over Quentin any day. What a shock. A Red Sox fan that thinks his team's player is better than other players. Mark that down as a first. Oh, whatever. I've always been level-headed when it comes to this stuff. I would have taken Sabathia over Beckett for the Cy last year. A-Rod was the MVP over Ortiz in '05. I hardly prop up my guys. Youkilis would probably get my MVP vote right now, but I could still go Quentin, Sizemore, Lee or A-Rod depending on how September goes.

Why would you discount Kevin Youkilis? He's basically right there with Quentin in OBP, OPS and VORP, plays for a better team and contributes Gold Glove defense. I'd take him over Quentin any day.

There goes someone's credibility.

Protection? Are you guys serious? Protection is a myth. Quentin is a shitty leftfielder who hits a bunch of homers in a bandbox. Same with Hamilton. I'd have them in my top 5, but they aren't doing more to help their team win than Grady Sizemore or Kevin Youkilis. Besides, if you're trying to find the Most Valuable Indian it's Cliff Lee... and it's not particularly close.

I wouldn't say easy. Quentin, Youkilis, Mauer, Morneau, Hamilton, Pedroia, A-Rod and Cliff Lee can all make a compelling case for MVP. This is as wide open a race as I can remember. In horrific news for Boston fans, Josh Beckett is going to see Dr. James Andrews tomorrow about his ulnar nerve (Tommy John alert!). He's been complaining of numbness and tingling and has been scratched from three consecutive starts. Oy vey.

So has anyone even noticed that the Cleveland Indians have won 10 games in a row? BPro basically gives them no shot to make the playoffs, but if if you squint hard enough you could maybe see them making some noise down the stretch.

Looks like he took a page out of the Bill Plaschke handbook.

So I've never been one to believe in the "myth" of clutch. I think that it's ridiculous to suggest that players have an ability to turn it on when the stakes are higher. Anyways, I've recently heard complaints again that A-Rod is not clutch. I went and checked some numbers on him and found results that were so absurd that I had to share them. - This year only A-Rod only has 2 RBI in the 8th and 9th innings. Put another way, A-Rod averages an RBI about every 5 plate appearances in innings 1-7. He averages one RBI per 93 plate appearances in the 8th and 9th. - In 372 plate appearances defined as "low" or "medium" leverage, A-Rod has 4 GIDPs. In 108 hi-lev situations he has 9 GIDPs. - He has an OPS of .282 with the bases loaded. - Finally, fangraphs.com has a statistic called clutch that measures the difference in performance from normal to pressure situations. Rodriguez is dead last in all of MLB this year. I'm not sure what any of this means, especially in light of him being the best clutch player in 2007. I doubt it has any predictive value. Small sample sizes abound, but one has to wonder how someone this great can be so utterly abysmal in any situationthat is remotely tough.

This has to be a little depressing for Yankees fans.

Actually I took off after I resigned as wrestling mod. Those were mutually exclusive decisions. Anyways, good luck to Venk.

Never seen Harpoon before and this area is a haven for IPAs.

Yahoo Sports reporting that Mark Kotsay has been traded to the Red Sox for a minor league pitcher. Neither team has confirmed the deal. Link With Drew heading to the DL, the team had to make a move. Can't keep running out both Ellsbury and Crisp everyday. Kotsay's not going to give a lot, but he's a stop-gap for the rest of the season.

Hopefully he'll last longer than I did.

Hey, I'll be there too. Didn't realize we had another Oregonian in our ranks.

I'm an IPA man myself, and Stone's offering is one of the best available. Hoppy as hell, but imminently drinkable.

How did Venkman become a wrestling mod?

Sarcasm aside, right field may be one of the only spots on the field where they don't have a capable minor leaguer they can plug in. As recently as last year they had two. Since then David Murphy was traded to Texas in the Gagne trade and Moss was sent off to Siberia for Jason Bay. They've got a couple of guys who can fill in at left while Ellsbury covers right, but nothing that can come close to replacing Drew's bat.

Well the JD Drew haters have something new to feast on, as Mr. Drew is potentially out for the season with a herniated disc in his back. No formal announcement has been made, but things have been getting progressively worse for him all week after sitting out the past 3 games. This really sucks. I wish we had a capable bat to replace him in right field. Someone like Brian Giles might be nice.

Boston Globe reporting that the Celtics have signed Darius Miles. I don't know how much you can expect a player to contribute after missing two years with a knee injury. Oh, and he has a ten game PED suspension to serve at the start of the season. This is bad news if you're a Trailblazers fan. If Miles appears in 10 games this season he goes back on to the team's salary cap. That could take them out of the running for a big free agent acquisition down the road.