Jordan4life_2007

http://www.312sports.com/component/content...wood-or-buehrle Just came across this article from a few days ago. Pretty good read. All bias aside and I have to easily go with Wood's. I've seen that game 3 times since it happened and I come away more impressed each time. His curve that day was something to behold.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) 1) Have you won this award before? Committee members love to take the easy route and just give the award to a player who already won it before. It is a safe pick for them because they think it justifies their pick if that person has already won it previously. 2) Do you have a nice fielding percentage? F% is the easiest fielding stat for a casual fan to understand. The committee feels if they award it to someone who has a great F%, then most fans can agree with it because it's the only stat they look at for fielding. The more knowledgeable fans who use things like UZR150, RngR, or even Range Factor and Zone Rating know the obvious faults in using F%. 3) Do you put up good offensive numbers? Most of you are probably saying, "What the hell do offensive stats have to do with a gold glove". My answer to this is "Exactly". If you are a good offensive player, then there is a much higher chance that you are a somewhat popular player, and less likely to be questioned if he wins the gold glove. If you are a pitcher winning the award, then you are probably a good pitcher as well. The committee does not want to give a gold glove to a guy who hits .220 with 3 home runs and a .280 OBP. But if you think about it, if this player is just an offensive liability, then he is more than likely plays pretty good defense or else he would not be in the league. 4) Do you make flashy plays? Home runs are sexy, and so are flashy plays. Without naming anyone specific, there is a certain player who makes Webgems a lot because of his flashy plays. Most people remember a player's defense for the special plays they make in the field. Because this certain player makes a lot of these cool looking plays, people get the false sense that he is a great defensive player. This, however, is not true at all. All the defensive metrics prove that he is historically below average on defense, with an occasional good season sprinkled in here and there, yet he continues to win gold gloves. This then gives people the reassurance that "Wow, he really MUST be a great defensive player if he makes all the those great plays and then wins a gold glove". This just fuels the problem, and loops back into the previous 3 points I talked about. There you have it. The secret formula for handing out gold gloves. These 4 ideas are also ranked of importance on this list. #1 is the most heavily weighted factor in their decision, while #4 is the last thing considered. All 4 are important to their decision, but some less so than others. Times when a Gold Glove Award IS deserved: Now, this is not 100% in all cases, but more often than not, when a player wins the gold glove for the first or second time, he is generally deserving of this award. Winning the award for the first time means that factor #1 is completely void, thus making the chances that the award is deserved much, much higher. However, after a player wins 2 or 3 times, the award generally becomes automatic again, given that that player does not have a really bad year, or a different player has an exceptional year and falls into categories #2, #3, and #4. Refer back to this note next fall when the gold gloves are handed out again, and you will not be surprised. Officially gave up on the GG after "Death to all things flying" didn't win one. They mean absolutely nothing to me.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 02:34 PM) My god.. is Sean Marshall that bad? Seems like he's always being dicked around by that organization. I can understand not getting Samardzija a shot who I see as a future BP guy anyway, but Marshall is much better than both of those guys. He was horrible in 9 starts last year. ERA was over 5. Decent in relief. But good god that bullpen of theirs looks brutal. Their two best pitchers, Marmol and Grabow, sported BB/9 rates of 7.91 and 4.98.

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 02:20 PM) I think I just heard that the Cubs just traded Theriot for a PTBNL. I read that Andres Blanco was traded. Oh, and Pinella named Tom Gorzelanny and Carlos Silva to their starting rotation. All I have to say is ha ha ha and ha. Edit: Can somebody help me out here? Who the hell is Justin Berg, James Russell and Esmailin Caridad? All 3 are slated to open the season in the Cubs bullpen.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Mar 27, 2010 -> 12:17 PM) Id never call McCarthy mighty, not too mention Texas now has B-Mac, Feliz, Hunter, Hurley, and Harrison on their AAA roster, thats a pretty sick staff. Forgot Holland too Feliz? He's not going to sniff AAA. Hunter and Harrison are also on the opening day roster.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 11:35 PM) Except Hanley's only an average defender at this point where there really isn't a single thing that Chase Utley isn't very good at. Utley is one of the best pure baserunners in baseball regardless of speed. Just keeping it real simple: over the past 3 years Chase is 46 for 49 in SB attempts (96%) and has been picked off only once and it was a POCS. He was also #2 in BP's Equivalent Base Running Runs which measures the number of runs contributed by a player's advancement on the bases. Over the last 3 years Chase is actually a 6.0 in speed score where as Hanley is a 6.1. Over the past 3 years Chase Utley leads all players at all positions in UZR/150 at 17.6, #2 is Ryan Zimmerman at 14.6. Over the past 3 years he's 7th in baseball in wOBA behind Pujols, Chipper, a guy who played the majority of his games at Coors, a known roider, Teixeira and Hanley and he's only 0.005 points behind Hanley. Holliday and Manny?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 11:20 PM) No, my prediction is the same as yours except he hits a home run to center like he did a million times in a Sox uniform. You would say the same thing about Crede, Uribe, Rowand, Anderson, Fields, Getz, Pods, Pasqua, Karkovice, Grebeck, ect.

I'm sticking with my original 5.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 10:45 PM) I would argue Hanley Ramirez, who is phenomenal, but I get what your saying and agreed. Hanley would be the only legitimate argument. But Utley plays a superb 2B, and should have at least 3 GG awards by now (lmao@Hudson getting it last year). That puts him a tick above Hanley in my mind.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 01:26 PM) For the young pups out there... http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vanslan01.shtml I feel older than dirt all of a sudden. I loved watching those early 90's Pirate teams.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 09:34 PM) Especially playing at a position like 2B. Hopefully he hits like I think he will and get the Chase Utley of the AL love. (though of course we all know there is only 1 Chase Utley) I think Utley is underrated if you ask me. There's still a lot of dopes out there that think Ryan Howard is the Phillies best player. And he doesn't get the recognition Pedroia gets. Other than Pujols, there isn't a better all-around in baseball, IMO.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 05:18 PM) 92 The offense isn't going to be great and everyone is pretty aware of that (especially if Teahan keeps batting below .100). I think that whether or not this team makes the playoffs depends on our bullpen, especially Bobby Jenks. With our offense being bad, and our pitching staff being so good, a lot of the games we win will be very close, so the bullpen will have to hold close leads and Jenks will have to be able to close out games. I'm fairly certain Teahen won't hit under .100 when the real games start.

Beckham slugged .700 against changeups? Man, it amazes me the statistical information that is available today. I'm a little worried about all the national recognition/love Beckham has been getting. I guess I'm just not used to one of our guys getting so much hype.

Pierre gets on base at a .350 clip. Quentin/Rios perform to their capabilities, past history. Alexei avoids another slow start. Teahen sports a .775 (.800 would be wonderful) OPS at 3B. And this offense is good enough (considering our pitching) even without adding a big bat. Chances of all these things happening? I'd say 40-50%. I'm going with an even 90 wins.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 02:04 PM) Heyward is going to be a beast. I wish the exhibition games against the Braves were televised here. He's one of the reasons I'm getting the Extra Innings package. Along with guys like Justin Upton, Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Clayton Kershaw and David Price.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 10:28 AM) Jason Heyward makes the Braves. He is more than 2 years younger than me and can't even drink yet. I'm officially starting to feel really, really old. Finally, a young stud who's not being held back for that extra year of cost control. Heyward is all that and then some. Can you imagine if the Braves still had Feliz and Andrus? A 90's-like run would be on the horizon.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 09:59 AM) Jeter did take 2 years off from stealing the GG in '07 and '08. Personally, I think Elvis Andrus is about to go on a long run of GG wins. If Franklin Gutierrez and Chase Utley can't win one then no future deserving candidate is exempt from getting totally screwed outta winning this "prestigious" award.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 06:51 AM) you can't remember because as time goes on it distorts our memories of the past....some of those guys aren't going to pan out ....some will excel....some will become solid major league pitchers....my best guess is that 2-3 maybe 4 of those guys go on to become HOFers... i mean if you look back at the early part of this decade you had .....oswalt, peavy, sabathia, santana, buehrle, zambrano, prior, beckett, burnett, zito, mulder, webb yes the young pitching is impressive...but in 5-10 years we will think differently about alot of those names than we do now Where's the fun in predicting future injuries, poor performance? Yeah, it's probably inevitable. But I'm just going by a combination of what I see right now and what's soon to be on the way. Those names you threw out from earlier last decade were, and in some cases still are, very good. I still don't think it's as deep a crop as what we've seen the last 2-3 years.

You guys are really getting me more and more interested in this program. I workout everyday. But it seems like this program could take me to another level. So, like, how much does this cost? And what equipment do I need?

As I was reading through one of my 17 fantasy baseball magazines the other day, I came to a revelation: This league is LOADED with dominating young pitching. Baseball has been my #1 sport for going on 19 years, and I can't think of a period in that time that there was so much talented young pitching out there; guys dominating at such early ages. Tim Lincecum: 25 Felix Hernandez: :23 Clayton Kershaw: 22 Tommie Hanson: 23 Ubaldo Jiminez: 26 Josh Johnson: 26 Matt Cain: 25 Cole Hamels: 26 (I know he had a down year in '09. But can't forget '07 and '08). Jon Lester : 26 Yovani Gallardo: 24 Zack Greinke: 26 John Danks: 24 Jair Jurrjens: 24 Young studs like David Price, Wade Davis, Brett Anderson, Neftali Feliz (I think he ends up in the rotation), Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer have already shown terrific flashes of their talent/potential. Then we've got Stephen Strasburg and Aroldis Chapman on the way. This is going to be fun.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:41 PM) Diamondbacks will win the WC (dark horse/Reds surprise but fall just short) Mariners will win the AL West. White Sox will win the central when KW trades for a bat by the deadline Royals will finish higher than the Indians this year. Rockies will win the NL West. Diamondbacks win the W.S. in an upset. Teahen will explode (.850+ OPS) I will not hate Juan Pierre as much as I expect. Tony Pena becomes our new 8th inning guy with Thornton. Dan Hudson (who we won't trade) will take over the 5th spot over Freddy by mid-season (either by Freddy sucking or injury) Hard to envision acquiring an impact bat without Hudson somehow being involved (not to mention not having Mitchell as a trade chip).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 07:14 PM) Glad to see the Bulls want to make the playoffs... Keep on losing. I'd rather have a shot, even if it's a small one, at a top 5 pick.

Demarcus Cousins is frighteningly good.

NCAA tournament > Sex

QUOTE (SockMe @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:21 PM) Red Sox White Sox Rangers Yankees for the AL Phillies Cardinals Giants Mets for the NL as for the White Sox individual and team stuff: Mark Teahen will get out of his funk and people will swallow their words. The Andrew Jones signing will be a steal Omar Visquel will help Alexei become an elite SS Bobby Jenks traded by July What funk? The season hasn't started yet. And you're obviously entitled to your opinion, but how could anybody pick the Mets to win anything with that rotation sans Santana?