Kalapse

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 03:03 PM) But how has Andruw Jones looked in his at bats? Much better than a .220 caliber hitter, correct? He's been labeling a lot of balls. I'm talking about scouting a dude, more or less. You guys are busy telling me that I need to take spring training results with a grain of salt, something I knew back in '83 when I was a kindergartener. But thanks for reminding me. And Balta, Beckham looks like he will eventually be a .300 hitter, but maybe we're jumping the gun a little bit with this "OMG HE'S OUR BEST HITTER DON'T TAKE THE BAT OUT OF HIS HANDS" crap. He picked up 17 hits during the spring, how many of those did you actually see? Seriously though, what can you really learn from like 25 to 30 PA? Would you trade big time prospects for a player if your scout advised you to do so based on him sitting in the stands for 5 games? If I was scouting Vernon Wells right now I'd have to say he's one of the best hitters in the game.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 03:04 PM) Dude is a singles hitter. The sarcasm done backfired. So what if he is a singles hitter? He looked like a .300 hitter during the spring and has done that before in his career. If he's going to hit .300 during the regular season that OPS will be up around .780 to .800 which would make him a pretty good 5 hole hitter.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:50 PM) Who gives a s*** about the stats. I'm just going off how certain players looked in their at bats. Hell of a concept, huh? Then why don't you want Mark Kotsay hitting 5th? He looked amazing last month and during September of last year.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) From what I saw of Andruw Jones throughout spring training, he's much better than just a .220 caliber hitter. A good 30 to 40 points better. I don't know how this is even arguable. I also don't know how Kalapse and Balta thought I was basing my opinion on the first three regular season games. I thought that y'all were much smarter than that. I'm smart enough to know that spring results are to be taken with a grain of salt seeing as how it's glorified batting practice and what? A 60 PA sample size, that's 2 weeks worth of games. I wouldn't base an opinion on a player through the first 2 weeks of the regular season let alone spring training.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:44 PM) Was spring training last year? Since when do spring stats mean a damn thing? Maybe we should hit Kotsay 3rd since he batted .382 in March. s*** Vernon Wells had an OPS just over .700 during the spring, his current OPS is around 2.500. It's pretty easy to launch in Arizona when you're seeing nothing but fastballs and awful offspeed pitches, the game changes a bit when you come north.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) 6. He had a HBP in there as well. Forgot he pinch hit.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) Whatever. From what I've seen of Andruw Jones this year, he's much better than just a .220 hitter. Not even debatable. All 6 plate appearances?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) IF Carlos really can't handle failure to the point where he can't sit on a bench and focus on his next at-bat, then he has a serious pyschological problem. . If anything this will give him even more time to go down to the batting cage and take some hacks. Well he is one of the few baseball players who has admitted to seeing a Sports Psychologist. You act like he'd be the first to no be able to handle the DH position, believe it or not a large portion of athletes have weak mental faculties. They're not robots. If Ozzie thinks it's a good idea I'm sure he'll go for it since he does know CQ infinitely better than any of us but on the surface I can see why it wouldn't work.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:17 PM) Jones was a better CF than Rios about five years ago, and it's highly unlikely that his age and weight/injury issues will help him get back to that point. Like Griffey, he's a corner OF/DH now. You don't have to go 5 years back, just 2007 when he was last in shape he was a super elite defender.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) I didn't realize you did a scientific study on this. I'd like to look at your detailed findings. Give me a break. There's a reason so many players refuse to move to DH and fight it well into their mid 30's even after they've received the last big contracts of their careers. It takes a special kind of hitter to be able to participate only 4 to 5 times throughout a game. Just do a google search on it and you'll see quote after quote about the DH position "taking them out of the game" or "giving them too much time to think about their ABs on the bench". It's f***ing baseball discussion; anecdotal evidence goes a long way.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 01:38 PM) This whole 'stewing' thing is being overplayed. We don't really know if it would adversely affect his at bats. It might be more stress relieving to hang out with the rest of the bench players and joke around in between at bats than to 'stew' out in the OF all alone. I have never heard a baseball player say this. I have, however heard many say the exact opposite.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) Until Jones proves that he's a better CFer than Rios (which I doubt is still the case), Rios should remain in CF. I agree Jones should first prove that he's the better centerfielder by not playing the position!

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:45 PM) Yes I think he's a good basestealer. I agree Oz's call was wrong cause it didn't work. But I understand the move completely. This series proved that we got some work to do; Cleveland by all accounts is a pretty mediocre team. You can make the correct decision and not have it pan out and you can make the wrong decision and have it work spectacularly. When you're struggling to find hits and you're not allowing your best pure hitter to take swings because you apparently have little faith in one of the best base stealers in the game to swipe a bag late you're making the wrong decision.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:35 PM) I'm saying you guys are right ... because it didn't work. But I think the bunt was the right call, even with Beckham. So you don't think Juan Pierre is a good basestealer?

QUOTE (hawkubes @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:32 PM) Im joining the conversation late, but I am gonna be sick to my stomach if Mark Teahen is in the starting lineup tomorrow. The guy's been brutal, and imo he cost us the game tonight At least he managed to get on base twice, only 2 other players on the team can say that. That begin said; his decision to field that bunt was f***ing brutal.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:25 PM) I still say it's a different ballgame in the bottom of the ninth, with nobody out and a man on first. Bunt 'em over and win the damn game. Good teams get it done. Cleveland even went to the bunt in the exact same situation. You need one run; you don't need a rally. Bottom of the ninth; bunt him over and win the damn game. The lowly Tribe got a clutch hit with man on second; why couldn't we??? Why exactly, can't Pierre steal second? You don't need to take the bat out of the hands of your best hitter when you have one of the "best basestealers in the game" at first base. It makes very little sense. Maybe we didn't get any clutch hits because our best hitter was neutered by small ball. And somehow I doubt Manny Acta would ask Grady Sizemore to bunt Asdrubel Cabrera over late in a ball game.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:17 PM) Bolt, if it was such a bad decision, then Oz should really be put on coals tonight by the media, maybe even disciplined by the owner. Instead, the move is completely understandable. Good teams get the single to win the game right there. We didn't. I agree there were other options, have Juan steal on the first pitch, then bunt him over or hit and run with Gordon. Obviously those would have been better options since the bunt didn't work in hindsight. Marco Scutaro, the Jays' leadoff hitter was on base 38% of the time last year. Aaron Hill had 1 sacrifice bunt in 734 PA in the 2 hole. The Jays scored 4.93 runs per game last year, good for 6th in the AL, they were .08 runs off of the #4 team. Do you know why Hill rarely bunted? Because he's a very good hitter and typically you don't take the bat out of the hands of very good hitters. If Ozzie wants Pierre on 2B then he should be stealing, not taking the bat out of the hands of the team's best hitter. Did I mention the worst offense in the AL also led the league in SH last year? Sure the Mariners only scored 3.95 runs per game but they had 56 sacrifice hits! That's gotta count for something, right?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 06:49 PM) For all the Kotsay sucks threads, I'm very surprised he only has 36% of the vote right now Given that he won't start again until Saturday or Sunday it'd be pretty silly to pick anybody but him IMO.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 06:38 PM) Tyler Colvin HR in first MLB AB. 19th AB. He had 17 last year and 1 on opening day

QUOTE (DaveBrown85 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 05:16 PM) well it says 53 but i dont get 53. You would think that if you get CSN you'd get CSN+ hopefully game time something good will happen. Do a search for baseball and check the 7:00 hour, you should be able to find the game that way.

QUOTE (DaveBrown85 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) i have comcast...what channel is CLTV...i had to get one of those stupid convertor boxes and now i dont have waht used to be CLTV For me it's 41 for CLTV and 285 for the CSN+ HD.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 04:33 PM) For those of you who were wondering what A's fans have to look forward to in the following decade look no further then Brett Anderson. He's going to be scary good. Dallas Braden looked really sharp yesterday.

Cinnamon Life and Cheerios.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:44 AM) David Ortiz. If Kotsay could give us 28 HR and a .794 OPS I'd take it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 08:52 AM) Vernon Wells is 5/7 with 3 HR and 6 RBI. It's funny because he'll have to keep up an absolutely torrid pace like nothing he's ever done before over the next 5 years to even approach earning that contract because he's killing them on defense. He's 31, There's 5 years, $96.5M left on that deal and he's no longer capable of playing CF, in fact he's awful out there but when you pay a guy $126M to play an elite CF for the next 7 years it doesn't look great to move him to a corner position 2 years into the deal.