CWSGuy406

QUOTE(qwerty @ Nov 19, 2005 -> 09:57 PM) http://www.protrade.com/insight/InsightArt...utfieldArm.html Scroll to the bottom for pierre. Qwerty, I'm not even worrying about their arms. I doubt either of their arms are very good -- Rowand has a strong arm, just no accuracy (like you said, he's killed a lot of worms this year, winding up and throwing the ball right into the ground). But it seems like people are thinking that because Pierre is faster, he's going to get to more balls. That isn't true. I can't find a defensive stat that puts Pierre as the better defender. Rowand leads in ZR (.939 to .882), Rate 2 (106 to 97), defensive Win Shares (7.6 to 2.9 -- that's a huge lead). I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I'd put money on Rowand having a better UZR (which assigns a run value to defense, ala +5, -10) than Pierre, too. I wouldn't do Rowand for Pierre straight up, much less Rowand and Marte for Pierre. That second trade is awful. I'll take Podsednik and his salary that's barely over $1 million, along with the fact that he'll be playing left field, over Pierre at a much inflated salary, and average defense.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Nov 19, 2005 -> 12:34 PM) 3] Pierre and Pods in the same OF wouldn't weaken the sox overall defense Sure it would. You'd be replacing Rowand with Pierre. Pierre is worse (I'm not sure how much worse, but it's fairly substantial) defensively than Rowand is. So, you're losing runs on defense. And, I don't see a whole lot of offense improvement from Pierre... He might have the edge, but I think he's giving it right back 'cause he isn't anywhere near the defender that Rowand is. But hey -- we'll have some more stolen bases. So that's good. Beck, you go ahead and find me a statistic that shows Pierre being a better defender than Rowand. Please, do so. Name six better defensive centerfielders.

QUOTE(DePloderer @ Nov 18, 2005 -> 09:36 PM) Your ALL wrong. You can not beat a bacon bap, smothered in red sauce. While we're at it , why can't you get a Pork Pie anywhere in the States? Pork pie! My gosh, thanks for showing a picture and providing a definition -- I've read Great Expectations twice (well, actually, am in the process of reading it the second time), and I always tried to picture in my mind what exactly a 'pork pie' was when Pip steals it for the convict. Amazing...

Some real, real encouraging signs tonight, as the Hawks win 5-2, stopping the eight game winning streak of the Flames. -Khabi is starting to play really well. He pretty much saved the team in the first period. Eight first period penalties; they score two goals, but it could have been more like four. Awesome game from Khabi tonight. -The BBC line looked spectacular. Some of the best passing I've seen in a while from a Blackhawk team on Bell's second goal; Calder, to Borque, to Bell who has an open net. -I love watching Aucoin and Seabrook on defense. Keith is growing on me (snicker), but the first two especially -- Aucoin is extremely physical, and seems like such a smart player. Towards the end of the game, he took down Iginla as Jerome tried driving to the net. Seabrook holds his own, too. If Barker is up here next year, our defense has the chance to be very, very good. -I'm hesitant to say this, but I'm taking a liking to Matt Barnaby. It's not that he does anything very well, it's just, he pisses people off. He's taken a couple dumb penalties now and then, but for the most part, he's done his job as a third liner. Get Ruutu healthy, and we can start rolling out two lines that can score (BBC and Ruutu/Arny/Vorobiev?). Back to tonight, though -- they played a pretty damn good team tonight, and played well. They're starting to play better. I'm encouraged (for now)...

He also got a no-trade clause? Did I hear/see that correctly? If so... :headshake

The Cubs need a shortstop and an outfielder. Right now, they have superstar Neifi (and Cedeno) at SS and an outfield of Murton-Patterson-Hairston. Ick. So, pretty much, they need to land one of Giles or Furcal. Or else, someone via the trade route -- and I doubt there are very many short-stops on Furcal's level available, so that narrows it down even more. Juan Pierre, maybe? Gosh, for Florida's sake, I'd love to see a Felix Pie for Juan Pierre type deal, or Pie/Hill for Pierre. Then, Kenny sneaks in, grabs Delgado for Rowand and Marte, and everybody (okay, not everybody, just me) is happy.

Cubs are also gonna lose a draft pick out of this. LOL. That's funny.

QUOTE(AirScott @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 04:57 PM) just a wee bit early to be handing out awards... How much do you want to bet that one of Ovechkin or Crosby win the ROTY (Calder)? These guys are two of the better forwards in the league, much less rookies... W/r/t OLN, they have a decent enough picture, and really, that's all I care about. I tend to zone out the announcers (I don't know why), but when I have listened to them, they've been okay. If you can see a game on OLN in HD, I recommend it -- I'd have to say that hockey is the best sport to watch on a HiDef TV.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 04:33 PM) Not having Valido on last year's list is an indictment enough, no? Borderline top 10 last year and he rated him behind Pedro, Ricks, Spidale, Gray, and Ulacia, all fringe prospects???? eeeek. He can't use level of play as an excuse, either, having rated Hernandez at #6, overzealously, IMO. He wasn't the only one talking up Hernandez before the season though, right? IIRC, Phil Rogers as well as the guys at Baseball America liked him quite a bit... Hernandez will start the year at Kanny I assume, right? I mean, eventually (he's only 19, though) he has to do something outside of Great Falls and Bristol.

When does your guys' winter break begin? I have tickets for the Preds on the 21st -- not exactly an elite game, but a divisional 'rival' nonetheless. I actually found two seats for the game on the 23rd against Detroit -- apparently they haven't sold out yet. Let me know, I'm sure even if they do sell that game out before we grab tix, we could find some on StubHub or whatever.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 02:47 AM) I didn't catch that game yesterday because i had class and practice, but i did see the highlights. Ovechkin's backhand was nasty. You're right, he's the front-runner right now. But you can't go wrong with Ovechkin or Crosby. I'm loving the NHL right now - at least what i can see of it with OLN and some highlights. The young guns are taking over, i love it. Are we going to meet up for a game this year? I've got tix to about six-seven more games this year (already), and there's always the student discount. Maybe the Pens game, or is it already sold out? A Wings game would be ideal, but I dunno about the ticket availability. BTW -- I think I've seen as many Pens game on Centre Ice as Hawks games. I can watch Crosby play all day...

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Nov 17, 2005 -> 02:38 AM) Thome's great but the Sox don't need the power bat. They need more speed. I pray KW doesn't give up pitching if this deal goes through. Let's not forget why the Sox won the WS. Yup -- let's not forget. Homeruns, pitching, and defense. I'm trying to think of games we won in the postseason without the aid of a homer. The World Series Game 4 clincher, obviously, any others? The Buehrle/Washburn game, maybe?

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 16, 2005 -> 06:39 PM) Wow. Nady is >>>>>Cameron. Tell me, exactly, how Cameron is worse than Nady?

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Nov 15, 2005 -> 12:54 AM) What about Juan Cruz? I also didn't think much of the Jason Dubois for Gerut for Lawton for Berg set of moves. In the end, it seemed pretty pointless to me.

Beane and Williams actually constructed very similar teams this year. Pitching and defense heavy, fairly weak offensively. They actually ranked #1 and #2 in Defensive Efficiency. Of course, I doubt they have the same 'principals', but the two teams were almost identical.

Jason -- It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, either, about Shea playing so neutral this year. Your theory/logic certainly makes sense. W/r/t Thomas, I'm not saying he's going to play again. But I think Piazza is going to ask for more guaranteed money than Frank will (maybe I'm wrong on that), and I think I'd rather have Frank on an incentive laden deal than Piazza with guaranteed cash. I'm sure some team will overpay for Piazza's services... Jackie -- I dunno, that may come to fruition, and maybe he just needs the 'days off' as a DH. But he hasn't been a really good hitter since 2003. Even if he does hit relatively well, I don't think it'll be much better than a .270/.350/.475 line. Don't get me wrong, that's an okay line -- I just think we can do a little better than that. Heck, if they're going to go on a route like that -- I'd much rather they go for Durazo. I think he'd come cheaper than Piazza (and Thomas for that matter), yet could still put up good numbers (provided, of course, he can bounce back from the TJ surgery). I think any Beane fan that tells you that he only looks at stats, and totally avoids tools, is a fool.

Wite, Jason -- I'm not buying the 'he played in Shea Stadium so his numbers are a little skewed' argument. First, bbr had Shea playing just below neutral (or, just a tiny bit as a pitcher's park) this year. If Shea Stadium was really taking away a bunch of homers from Piazza, he'd have a lot of doubles: he doesn't -- he had 23. With 19 homers. Next -- OPS+ accounts for that (park factors), and he still wasn't a very good hitter -- .251/.326/.452 is not the line you need out of a DH. Piazza, simply put, isn't a good option. At least with a healthy Thomas, you know you're going to get good production. The same can't be said (anymore) about Piazza.

Anyone notice how hard of a dip/decline Piazza is currently on? It's understandable -- he's a catcher, I'd assume that with all the moving they do behind the plate, their legs go pretty fast. Anyways, since and including 2000, his slugging %s have been -- 614, 573, 544, 483, 444, 452. His OPS+ are also on a steady decline -- 159, 150, 140, 124, 108, 103. He's barely a league average hitter now, and if I had to put money on it, I'd say that his numbers wouldn't be a whole lot better than last year, if at all. He'd be a slight upgrade over Carl Everett, but I'd rather just give Thomas another shot (or, platoon Gload and Anderson).

Well... he apparently has a long way to go. Wasn't particularly good this year at Winston Salem (actually, he was awful). Was he the one that struggled through injuries, or was that Lumsden (or, neither)? Anyways, he went 4-9 with a 6.73 ERA. His peripherals weren't very good, either. A K/BB ratio under two (79/42 in around 110 IP), while giving up ten homers. So... yeah. He's got some work to do. EDIT: Actually, I found something positive to latch onto. He had a GB/FB ratio of 1.42, which is somewhat encouraging...

QUOTE(beck72 @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 11:38 PM) What you're saying is it's ok to add a big salary like Giles but not Abreu? [though Giles should get a 3 yr $30 mill deal. Abreu would be locked up for 2 yrs at $28 mill. so it's a wash cash wise. But signing a 34 yr old to a 3 yr deal like Giles more than goes against your point that adding Abreu would hurt the sox. Bobby for two yrs would probably be more productive than a guy in his mid 30's playing for 3 yrs] It's basically a matter of preference. CAses could be made for either. But the sox could add abreu or Giles and it wouldn't effect the sox ability to keep Crede, Jon ,or AJ. No -- I think he's saying he'd rather give Giles a contract (which will probably be similar to that of Abreu's) than give up players along with the money for Abreu.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 07:04 PM) 21-0 Colts right now. 5:36 to go in the 2nd. Peyton 2 TDs, 157 Yds And both TD's to guys I started this week, Stokely and Clark! Really, though, I'm in a rut with my RBs. I started Benson this week, that looked like a good move, then he screws up his knee (I'm guessing torn ACL). I have Portis, he's somewhat reliable, but after that -- I have Rudi Johnson and Cadillac Williams. Williams is playing injured and isn't getting the bulk of the carries, and Johnson isn't doing a whole lot this year (seemingly).

Holy s***! What a play, Nate! That's funny... NFL.com's description of the play:

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 06:02 PM) I'd have to call you foolish. I ended up, with one minute to get the rosters in, swapped the Manning brothers -- Eli's ride the pine today. So far, good choice -- Peyton threw a TD to my TE, Dallas Clark, while Eli threw an INT. I just had a real good feeling about starting Hasslebeck, agaisnt St Louis, at home. I couldn't sit him...

QUOTE(3E8 @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 06:25 PM) Something else I thought was funny about that is if you go to baseball-reference.com's Bobby Abreu page, it shows that the most similar batter in baseball history to Bobby Abreu is...............Brian Giles. So I guess it's more like Bobby Abreu = Brian Giles. I was sort of thinking that myself. I know that Abreu is better than his 123 OPS+ this season, but they are very similar players -- other than the fact that Abreu steals some bases and Giles doesn't (upon review, Giles has averaged 11 SB's per 162 games). I'm still shaking my head at the fact that Abreu won a GG. Seriously -- what the hell are these voters looking at? He ranked second to last among NL qualified RFers in ZR (out of eight), his Rate2 was below average at 97 (IIRC, 100 is average), and his Fielding Win Shares seem to be okay, but not particularly great at 3.7. To go along with that, in Tango's 'Fans Scouting Report', he ranked below average. He seems to be like Timo Perez defensively -- all he has is a good arm (he's fast, but doesn't seem to get the best reads, too). JPhat -- besides stealing bases, what 'category' is Abreu light years ahead of Giles in besides stealing bases? It's not just the whole 'Abreu>>>>>>>>Giles' thing that made me shake my head, either -- he's said plenty of things in this thread that have made me want to pull a Jeckle (pounding head on keyboard).

QUOTE(Whitesoxfan56 @ Nov 12, 2005 -> 09:54 PM) Bobby Abreu>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Brian Giles Compair Giles and Abreu is not fair to Abreu... Bobby is a five tool player, Giles is on the downside of his carrer, Abreu would hit perfectly in the 3 hole for the Sox with his combination of Speed and power Giles -- 2005 OPS+ of 148, career average of 146. Abreu -- 2005 OPS+ of 123, career average of 138. But yeah, keep talking out of your ass. It's enjoyable for the rest of us.