Gene Honda Civic

He's done nothing for us. I'd rather have Daubach out there.

Agreed -- He may give us a few more wins in the 5th spot this season, but at this point I'd rather see Diaz go every 5th, because @ 23 he still has a lot to learn as a pitcher, and a better chance to be a contributer to this team next season.

well played everyone.

Good thing the only Valentine in the bigs is in Cincy

since there's people actually watching this game... Is it just me, or did Kerry wood steal Julian Tavarez's hat for tonights game?

Nah, I just Highlighted my own mistake... I like to show my own fallabilty... It keeps me humble

I miss Fred Russell

It doesn't go by AB's, other wise Barry Bonds wouldn't be eligible.... Aaron's AB's > Barry AB's It goes by PA's per team game.... 3.1 PA's per team game to be exact. In other words you have to make 502 PA's on the season to be eligible... Rowand has 409 in 130 games or 3.14 PA's per game -- HE IS ELIBLE.

We recently had an entire season like that... http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHW/1998.shtml And we ended up winnnig the division two years later becuase of it... Sirotka, Baldwin, Parque, Howry, Foulke -- Those guys learned to pitch that season... They all were better the next season for it... and year after that they had the offensive support to go along with their improved play.

I have yet to chime in on the subject, but I was out last night with a cub fan, and I remembered a conversation we had at about the same time last season. We were arguing who had the better players at each position. And I was championing Joe Crede over Arimas Ramirez. At the time that didn't seam like a stretch. Crede was hitting well in the second half of his first full season, and Arimas was on his way to leading the majors in errors. To me it seemed an Obvious decision. Crede would project to improve. Ramirez already had 4 full seasons of lackluster play in the majors. Crede was better at that point last season, and he would be even better in the next season. Well next season is here, and I've seen nothing from Crede that resembles improvement. In fact, he looks worse in almost every phase of the game. Meanwhile Ramirez is anchor in the Cubs line-up, and his play at third base is vastly improved. There's two lessons to be learned from this. 1) You can't always assume improvement. (the Caruso Lessson) and 2) You can't always give up on a player too soon. (Ramirez Lesson) It's a tough dichotomy; you can't assume improvement, but you don't wanna give up before that improvement comes. So I guess my view has changed slightly, from ship him out at all costs, to keep him while he's cheap, but don't hurt your team in the process. If Joe has to ride the pine, so be it. Platoon, fine. Joe can't hit LHP anyways.

I imagine him hitting in the .285 area for most of his career, Power increasing for the next couple, and RBI total to go up according to his movement into an RBI slot in the order. The one area that I hope to see improvement on is in his ability to take walks. .285/.335/.525 -- 25HR's 80RBI's would be a good projection for him next season -- Though .285/.350/.540 -- 30HR's 90RBI's would be a good projection for a couple of seasons down the road. It's not like he's jon Garland who has 3 good starts in a row, and we're now expecting him to dominate. Aarons put it together for over a year now. That's something you can project. I don't think he'll ever be among the league leaders in BA again, but when you play a solid centerfield and put up solid power numbers, and come as cheaply as Aaron will for the next three seasons, that shouldn't be an issue. I don't see who you can get to patrol centerfield who would be better than Aaron. Edmonds is the only player who provides better defense and power. There's a few that are better defensively, but they are locked up in deals. Plus Aaron's value is diminished when he's moved to another position. His production is well above that of the average Centerfielder, but it's not as far above the average production of a rightfielder. It would have to be a significant upgrade defensively for me to move Aaron anywhere. Here's a question for you; You said "or take a chance on Aaron", who would you rather have in his place, and how do you propose to get him here?

Huge difference between E-Lo and Arow. E-low -- Everyone could see that one coming. 5.6ERA in September last season -- Career ERA in the 5's -- He had the single flukiest season of any pitcher in the history of baseball. He did this at AGE 30, passed the usual age for decline in pitchers. Arow -- Without this season -- Career AVG= 275 (he could go 0-50, and still not fall to a .275AVG)-- You can see it in his approach. He just tries to hit everything hard... He doesn't care where it goes (read: he's not trying to hit HR's) just wants to put the ball in play hard. Aaron has posted a OPS he never even approached in the Minors, but he did hit HR's and put up a .281 career AVG in the minors. His "Fluke" season comes at the age 26/27, just before the peak for most hitters. Sure he may never reach these lofty hieghts again. But he's got a FAR better chance of posting simillar numbers for a few more years.

Good luck finding another board with the freedoms you have on this one.

You are wrong.. Before the season I predicted .285 20 HR's 75RBI -- He might not make the RBI total, but that has more to do with his spot in the order, and the loss of Frank and Maggs. Can you imagine what his numbers would be if he was hitting in front of Frank? I get chills just thinking about it. He had a .345AVG/900OPS entering this season from the #2 spot. Here's his up to date numbers since coming back from Charlotte last season, shaking off the effects of the Motocross accident. 461 AB's -- 26 HR's 40(2B) .318AVG .583SLG -- OPS about 930(I can't figue it easily without looking at boxscores) He's done it for a full season. I wouldn't go giving him a multi-year deal yet, but I expect him to produce at around this rate for the next 5 years or so (barring injury) He's still got 3 years of Arbitration left. Next season I would expect 25HR's, 90RBI, and a .295/.885OPS for a full season.. That's on the low side... Considering he hasn't truly taken advantage of the "Coors field of the midwest" -- HOME: .309 / .944 AWAY: .333 / .975

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/ytz37/Sept.jpg -- 1024x768 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/ytz37/Sept800.gif -- 800x600 There's some October on there too... Last Wallpaper for the season (barring some miracle by the sox down the stretch)

Yanks and Cubs get shutout by a combined 30 runs -- Y....ESSS.

I was not all that outraged when we traded Reed, but the more I look at the deficiencies of this club, the more I would love to be pencilling him into the #2 hole for every game the rest of the season.

Frankly Zero, with as much of a crapshoot as the MLB draft is, I still dont want to lose. I do think the young guys should see more PT, but I'm not gonna root for a draft choice, only 15% of 1st rounders actually contribute meaningfully. And how many years do you have to wait to see that draft choice pan out. The sox can hang their hat on being the only team since 1990 without a top 10 draft pick. But I'd be happy with never getting one.

What happened? I missed it.

My sister and her roommate when they came back from school -- Each had laptops -- Both so loaded with useless s*** that loaded on startup that they couldn't run more than 1 program at a time. -- Took me about 4 hours each to disinfect each of those computers.

Drew drops FSU plans to negotiate with D-Backs

I can't easily do that -- But using the All-star game as a split is pretty easy. The Sox rank last in baseball in getting on base((H+BB+HBP)/G) since the break. Our OBP is better than some because of the other teams over that stretch because of SH/SF/DP's --- With Frank and Maggs the sox ranked in the upper 3rd in OBP or the (H+BB+HBP)/G stat that studes was talking about. We know OBP type players help because when Frank and Maggs went down we lost. How good does the OBP have to be -- It's hard to put that into quantifiable terms, but I would put it this way. You'd like to increase your OBP without sacrificing SLG-- In other words increase OPS, of the players you're replacing, without sacrificing power.

That's what made my jaw hit the floor -- I couldn't belive we're that clutch, but I guess we are.. Here's where we rank in baseball in RISP situations. BA - #2 - (trailing only Boston) OBP - #3 - (trailing only Boston, and the Bonds inflated Giants) SLG - #1 OPS - #1

I just did a little more research. Only the Yankees hit more HR's with men on base. (51 to our 50) The yankees, Sox, and Rangers all had a simillar rate of HR/H with men in scoring postion, but because the Sox have far fewer AB's with men in scoring position, they have the best ratio of HR's per AB w/ RISP.