CWSGuy406

QUOTE(Friend of Nordhagen @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 09:39 PM) and some truly weird managing by Ned Yost killed them this weekend. Just this weekend? I'll try to sum it up the same way an avid Brewers' fan did over at BTF: The Brewers had an MVP candidate (Fielder), a ROTY shoe-in (Braun), another ROTY contender (Gallardo), one of the better closers in baseball this season, a team that's going to finish the season with 225 homers, and they STILL found a way to lose the worst division in baseball. Ned Yost's decision-making has been absolutely exposed, and it sickens me (when I glance at the Journal Sentinel) to see people defend him. He's brutal and makes some moves that are worse than ANYTHING Guillen has ever done. If there's solace to be had, it's that none of the young Brewers took any significant injuries and look absolutely scary going forward. Everyone knows about their offense -- all they really need is a better catcher and they'll be set -- but their pitching also should improve. Sheets/Gallardo/Villanueva should all be given rotation spots to start the season. Manny Parra is just about ready, and guys like Bush and Suppan make perfectly acceptable fifth starters. Even with the Cubs taking the division this year, the Brewers are the class of that division going forward.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 09:55 PM) I've been saying the same thing about them for a few months now. But you won't hear me mention much about them this week....I'll be more focused on who they play. In regards to who I want to see them play, it would go Mets, Padres, Phillies, and then DBacks. If the Cubs continue to get the long ball hitting and relief that they have been over the last few weeks, they'll be the team to beat in the NL. I take solace in knowing the following... -The Mets are a better offensive club. -The Padres, if they make the playoffs, have MUCH better pitching. Really, if the Padres get there, they have as good a shot as anybody -- three man rotation lets them go with Peavy - Young - Maddux against anyone with that phenomenal bullpen. -Even if the Cubs did win the NL, the AL is soooo much better it isn't even funny. And I know you can point to the Cardinals of last year, but I'd say that was more of a fluke. Say, for example, you matched up the AL's worst playoff contender -- the Yankees -- with the NL's best (pick one). It's no contest.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 09:20 PM) I agree on the defense, but their O is light years better than the Bears. Farve appears rejuvenated. They can win games in the 20's. I don't think the Bears can win a game where their opponent scores 20... Not without Hester doing something special, or a couple defensive scores. I don't doubt that their offense is better than the Bears' -- afterall, that isn't saying a lot -- but over the course of the season, I don't see them scoring as many points as they are now. Their WR/TE combination is thoroughly unimpressive and Brandon Jackson doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. At this moment in time, you're probably right. I was at the game last week and I can't remember the last time I felt so 'unsure' about a win. Let's see if that changes tonight. Turner will now have two above average tight ends at his disposal. I want to see more single-back sets with both Olsen and Clark on the field. I also want to see one of those two split the middle of the field a bit. I don't want to make Grossman out to be a great or even very good quarterback, but I'm amazed by how much Turner has suppressed the few qualities that Grossman did well at Florida, those being working (well) out of the shotgun and Sex Cannon's "f*** it, I'm going deep" mentality. Then again, I've been waiting for Turner to show some 'innovative-ness' or creativity since he got here, and it has yet to happen, so I don't know why I'm still waiting...

I don't know what's going to be worse this week -- seeing Cubby blue everywhere I look or seeing Fathom overrate them for the next seven days. The Bears really, really need to win tonight or it's going to be one looooooong week.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:48 PM) Hell of a pass right there by Farve to tie the record. That defense was f***ing horrible. The corneback played it like crap, and the safety took the worst angle possible. GB is decent, which is probably good enough in the NFC, but I'm still not that worried. Their defense is good but not as good as the Bears', and over the long haul I can't see their offense putting up a large amount of points.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:17 PM) Back injury for CJ. Bleh -- is it serious? My WR spot is extremely, EXTREMELY thin. One prolonged injury to a starter and I'm f***ed.

Nice curveball, Gavin. Filthy pitch to Jones.

A better offensive comp for Young is Fields. The lines they're putting up are freakishly identical (.239/.298/.477 vs .245/.301/.484). Of course, that doesn't take into account the massive difference in baserunning and defense, but it sure would've been nice to be able to pencil Young, Fields and Richar in for the next five years. And yes, the reason Vazquez pitched well this year is because the Sox sucked so he decided to turn it on. I'm glad we have so many Psych. majors on the board -- it's nice to know that if I'm ever having some issues upstairs, there will be plenty of people I can talk to here.

QUOTE(Sonik22 @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 06:42 PM) Westbrook owns! 37 fantasy pts. at half! W00t! I don't think I'll have to use any other players this week. And the good thing is the Lions should be passing for much of the 2nd half and I have Calvin Johnson who already has ~60 receiving yards. I also have Brady whose thrown for two TDs.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 11:54 PM) Exposed as what? I never thought they were anything special, but the way they're hitting homer and the relief pitching they're getting, they're not going to be an easy out come the playoffs. Funny how you don't mention how "good" their starting pitching has been the last month.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 04:07 AM) Brouwer sent to Rockford today That surprised me. Then again, the spot that is open looks to be on the third line. All the reviews with Skille so far have been that he's done a real nice job forechecking and defensively but has yet to flash his offensive skills. Perhaps Tallon and Savard feel more comfortable with a more defensive-minded player on the third line.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 08:21 PM) I want him so far away from this organization, it's not even funny. Just like with Timo Perez, if he's on the roster, I don't trust Ozzie to use him correctly. I agree but for another reason. We already have two pretty decent fourth OFers with Terrero and Owens. What role would Erstad play -- backup first baseman? If Mackowiak is a free agent, I'd hope the Sox would try to get him back here -- he clearly loved playing here (even this season) and you could probably grab him for right around what he made this season. Speaking of Mackowiak, apparently he's been playing the past couple months with a hernia that needs surgery. Speaking from experience, that takes a lot of guts -- when I had one poppin' out on me a couple years ago I didn't even think about doing anything extraordinarily athletic. Here's Rob trying to fight through it as a professional baseball player.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 10:49 AM) The stats say the opposite, from each of his stops in his 4 yrs in the minors. As he's moved up later in the year, he's struggled. It could be fatigue, as Danks needs his control to be effective. If he doesn't hit his spots, or walks guys, he gives up more runs. For Danks, his walks were up in the first half, and his K's up in the 2nd half. Yet he gave up a lot more hits in the 2nd half. This may be to the coaches telling him to not walk guys. Danks hasn't in the 2nd half. Yet the balls he's been throwing up there have been getting hit hard. He's been aggressive, going after hitters. but the results haven't been there. I don't know where to find the splits, but I'm 99% sure that during his minor league career, his tendency has been to struggle early and then adjust. Maybe later I will look for a post on SSS backing me up, as I seem to remember Cheat having a post or three about it.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 04:11 PM) Who are we referring to here? Erstad and Podsednik? Because I sure don't consider either of them fast. Owens is the only one I might count in that, but again, his numbers have been excellent the past few weeks. Pods and Owens. And I'm sorry, Owens is going to have to do it for a bit more than a "few weeks" before I start believin'.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 04:00 PM) Do we actually have any of those? I hope this is sarcastic, because we currently have two of them.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 03:22 AM) He claims he is smoking custom cigarettes. Is that reasonable? Not to be a narc, but I don't buy that -- I don't think I've ever seen a college kid talk about rolling tobacco. Sigh... Not to turn this into something bigger, but why again is smoking marijuana so looked down upon?

I will attend Common tomorrow night to complete my trio of rap in Milwaukee. Getting the tickets for $5, so I'm very juiced.

Kane!

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 02:36 AM) Keith, that would be quite the accomplishment if the Sox had a Top 20 player in the GCL, considering the rookie in the PIO and APPY leagues. Expect Poreda to rank at the top of the PIO league. So the article on BTF wasn't about the AFL? I just took "Arizona League" to mean AFL. //off-topic -- KANE!

The Yanks scored four in the ninth to tie up Toronto -- they're in extras now. That's awesome. --------------- On a separate note, I'm still a little angry that Boston didn't give into that Delcarmen/Pena for Dye deal. Pena has a 125 OPS+ in just over 100 at-bats for Washington and now that he'll be playing every day, he should put up numbers similar to his 2004 season in Cincy (.259/.316/.527).

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 02:19 AM) There is a new article up on Baseball America, which included this excerpt from an American League scouting director, talking about the 2008 draft class: "It definitely looks like it's light on players, period, at least in the upper echelon—the highest profile, top-of-the-board type of players," an AL scouting director said. "There's not very good college talent in that first, second, third pick range. If you're picking 25th, you might have a better chance at a decent college guy (whose value matches the pick), but the upper echelon of this class is not that good. "The same in the high school ranks. Once you start getting into that 20 to 40 range, there are some that are real good, but I don't think it's a good year to be picking in the top 10 for value, when you consider what you pay for those players. If you have to pay $1 million-plus, I don't see that many guys that you would want to give that money to." Figures... Just like the Hawks -- the year they FINALLY win the lottery, there's no consensus 'best player available'. BTW, 29th, did you catch the BA article about the Top 20 prospects heading to the AFL? Not one Sox player listed, IIRC, and I'd say 80% of the players were of Latin descent. Folks in the Sox organization should see that article and be embarrassed, really (if they aren't already).

This season is a f***ing joke. Kudos to Fields and Thome, but my God -- they haven't hit Santana in five years and NOW they bust out the bats? Sigh...

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 10:45 PM) We also get the story that he struggles at the beginning. DA is right here. Danks' minor league history was the complete opposite of what he did this year with the Sox. In the minors he struggled for the first couple months before adjusting and finishing strong. To Danks' credit he's always pitched in hitters' leagues or this year, a hitters park.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 09:10 PM) Lilly looked terrific on 3-days rest this week. And Zambrano has an ERA north of 6.00 in his last nine starts. It evens out. Even if he does turn it around, he's still nowhere near as good as Webb or Peavy. Speaking of the Padres, I don't understand how they haven't won more games (not that the 85 they're at now is something to gawk at, but still). They have the best one-two punch in the NL and their bullpen is phenomenal. Their lineup isn't great but doesn't feature any easy outs (okay -- Marcus Giles). They could be real tough in the playoffs, as their back-of-the-rotation won't be exposed. I could also see Milton Bradley doing some nasty (nasty meaning great) things in the playoffs, just as he's done ever since he's put on the Padre uniform (170 OPS+!).

Doesn't Runs Created account for stolen bases? If it does you can just go by that... ...or we can continue to use a stat that puts a SB and a walk on the same level, not to mention makes no adjustment for the fact that the reward of a stolen base is much less than the risk of a caught stealing.