Kalapse

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 10:08 PM) He's been average or below in three of his last four years in Boston. Average to below average? No, not even close ('06 is his only truly bad year). As good as Halladay? No, not even close.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 07:43 AM) Don't you know, the AL East is only the Yankees & Red Sox. The Blue Jays and that pitcher named Roy don't count in the discussion. Thank you.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 12:30 AM) There's is some obvious slurpage going on, but it's a fantasy based site and Beckett has still been a pretty damn good fantasy pitcher over the past 4 seasons. He's going to get double digit wins and usually 15+, he strikes people out at a decent clip, doesn't walk people, puts up a respectable ERA, and puts up a good WHIP. He gives up more than his fair share of homers, but overall, he's a great fantasy pitcher. They do believe that Peavy is going to put up an ERA in the 3.50 range this season, and I just don't see that happening. They talk about his struggles on the road, but he pitches in Arizona and Colorado for a few starts each year, and in 2008 when he put up a 4.28 ERA on the road, he pitched at Arizona twice, at Colorado once, at St. Louis (4th best offense in the NL), at Yankee Stadium (not a great offense, but a good one), and at Wrigley (best offense in the NL). Not that is justifies how "poorly" he pitched, but those are 6 games he pitched on the road against good offenses or in hitters parks. And, other than 2008, he really hasn't been a poor pitcher on the road compared to how he pitched at Petco. Peavy's a damn good pitcher, and while I expect his ERA to rise this year due to pitching in the AL and pitching in more of a hitters park, I don' think it's going to rise astronomically. (not that I wouldn't take a 3.50 ERA, I just don't think they are being necessarily fair to Peavy) His name is Roy Halladay and he's been far and away the best starting pitcher in the AL East since Josh Beckett showed up in 2006. To say that they've been relative equals -- fantasy or not -- is just ridiculous.

See, this is where Rotoworld loses me: Name the obvious fallacy in this blurb.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 05:53 PM) http://twitter.com/OzzieGuillen/status/11390407209 It's hilarious he writes like he sounds. That's the ONLY thing that's entertaining about Ozzie's tweets.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 07:47 AM) You do know he's actually only 36, correct? Really? I don't know how old Mike Sweeney is? He's spent 300 games on the DL over the past 5 seasons alone including 2 knee surgeries in the past 3 years. He may have been on this earth for 36 years now but his body is significantly older than 36.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 11:37 PM) I thought todays episode was great, and I was expecting to be let down. But the ALT is getting really old. How can an episode be termed "great" if half of it is excruciatingly boring and utterly pointless? The on-the-island stuff was solid I guess but when I just don't give a s*** about the alt. story and it drags like it did today I can't bring myself to grade the episode any higher than a "meh".

The Mariners placed Ryan Garko on waivers and opted to keep 48 year old Mike Sweeney instead. Can't say I understand that move.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 06:45 PM) Sure it's fair. With the angle we have, judge low pitches is nearly impossible. I find it much more realistic because I can actually draw 1-2 walks a game and not strike out 9 times. I don't think it's that hard. Over time you should get a good feel for the break on various pitches, check what the pitcher has in his repertoire and look for that break out of his hand you should be able to tell right away about where the ball is going to land based on the ball's size. It's like a low fastball: you know it'll be above or below the knees based on how quickly it sinks out of his hand, if it starts out small and stays small it's likely below the knees, if it starts out normal and gets slightly larger as it approaches the plate then it's probably at or above the knees. Focus on the arc and growing size of the ball and it shouldn't bee too difficult. If you just use classic 1/4 you won't have any incentive to learn how to judge balls and strikes. Curveballs are best judged by how high they are out of the pitcher's hand, that's something you have to get a feel for pitcher to pitcher but it's usually pretty obvious if the ball will land in the zone, it'll start rather high and you do have a good amount of time to judge it. 12CV will have more arc and a SCV will come across the zone likely with a little less arc. If a changeup looks like it's going to land at the bottom of the zone then chances are it's going to fall below your knees. Same goes for forkballs, splitties and circle changes. Sliders will come out of the hand small and won't get much bigger as they approach. A sinker is basically just a hard circle change with less dip. Cutters and 2 seamers can be judged the same as a regular fastball.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 04:15 PM) Yeah, playing catcher is not worth it at all. Anyway, as for tips hitting. I always guess fastball LOW. That way if it's not a fastball, it's likely an offspeed pitch (Not to mention they throw fastball more than any other pitch). I guess low because I find pitches low the hardest to judge for a ball and strike. If it is up in the zone, I find it much easier to lay off balls and also, if its not low, I cheat up to increase my bat coverage. Another suggestion that helps a LOT is changing your "guess pitch" to Classic 1/4. This is very ideal. Basically, if you guess the correct location of the pitch, it shows exactly where the pitch is going. Since I guess low all the time, it helps me lay off those low balls. Without this Classic 1/4, I would strike out 10 times a game, but instead I only K like 3-4 times (against average pitchers) because I can judge pitches in/out/high a lot easier. Very beneficial! Classic 1/4 is borderline cheating. I'd be hitting around .700 if I used it. There's really no fun to hitting if you don't have to judge whether or not that low changeup is going to drop out of the zone or if that curve is high enough out of the pitcher's hand to land in the bottom of the zone.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 04:33 PM) Was so excited I made THIS!!! That reminds me: the rally seizure might have to make a return this year after a 3 year hiatus. It debuted in July of 2006 in the 19th inning of that marathon vs Boston and hasn't been seen since that season.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 04:22 PM) i really wish there were room for him. we could use a good defensive sub who can run the bases... Aside from maybe Pierre who is he going to sub for? Are you really going to remove Quentin in a close game for defensive purposes? I really don't think the marginal upgrade defensively is worth losing your best hitter for what could potentially be an extra inning game. Rios is a stud in the field and Jones could very well be even better, Pierre's arm is horrendous but his range is excellent. I'm not really seeing the value in a late inning OF defensive replacement.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 04:16 PM) Do you think Beane would do a straight swap of Teahen for Kouzmanoff? No. For 2 very basic reasons: 1.) Beane places a good deal of value on defensive ability and Kouzmanoff is a significantly better defender than Teahen and 2.) Kouzmanoff is under non-guaranteed team control for 3 more years where as you're locked into Teahen for the next 3 years for $14M guaranteed.

QUOTE (palehose23 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 02:11 PM) My point is that you can lose a 20K's game. Advantage Buehrle Except Wood didn't lose his. That's like saying a random Roy Halladay shutout is more impressive than Buehrle's no hitter from '07 because Buehrle still could have lost the game and Halladay could not. You have to compare the two outings specifically, not in general terms. The question isn't which is more impressive: a 20K game or a perfect game. It's what's more impressive: Kerry Wood's 20 k game from 1998 or Buehrle's perfect game from 2009.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 04:04 PM) It's pretty much a wash, their respective numbers are mostly the same. Teahen has been in the majors longer and has fewer homeruns. Except Kozmanoff if a very good defender at 3B. They have similar offensive upside (Kouz probably has him here though his walk rate is disturbing) but you pretty much know that Kouzmanoff is gonna pick it for you at the hot corner and there's a lot of value in having one less question mark on the defensive side. Kouzmanoff actually reminds me a lot of Crede, their offensive numbers are very similar (though Kevin's K rate is quite a bit higher) and they both give you quite a bit on the defensive side though Crede was the better defender (Kouzmanoff's defensive style is much less spectacular but very reliable).

Hudson, Lillibridge and De Aza were all be optioned to AAA and Greg Aquino, Leesman, Lucy and Threets were all reassigned to minor league camp. Your 2010 White Sox Opening Day roster: 1. Pierzynski 2. Konerko 3. Beckham 4. Teahen 5. Ramirez 6. Pierre 7. Rios 8. Quenin 9. Kotsay 10. Jones 11. Vizquel 12. Nix 13. Castro 14. Peavy 15. Buehrle 16. Floyd 17. Danks 18. Garcia 19. Jenks 20. Thornton 21. Putz 22. Pena 23. Williams 24. Linebrink 25. Santos I know, I know, shocking! What a bizarre spring, this is the exact same 25 man roster most everyone would have predicted in January. Don't know that I've ever seen that from the Sox before.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 10:30 PM) Five people in the top 20 are neither a mod or admin, though one (wite) has been in the past. Fathom is second, steff is eigth, wharris is eleventh, wite is fifteenth (has been a mod), and then you come in at eighteenth You and your f***ing stats.

I just love how Stone feels so comfortable proclaiming Matsui one of the game's best clutch hitters. This is the sort of thing that drives me insane during the baseball season.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 04:54 PM) Power. Power changes everything. Once you can leave the yard at a reasonable clip, you draw a ton more walks, and it makes the hitting process much much easier. That and speed. The faster you are the easier it is to pick up infield hits, beat out double plays and take that extra base on balls in the gap or hit slowly down the line.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 04:10 PM) 3-4 non-linear days of baseball at 3 different positions is better than 6-7 games straight a week of playing 1 position? And not to mention that they don't think Colvin is a very good OF, and said he probably can't play CF. So that leaves LF and RF, unless they want to have a weak CF out there. I find any way in which you have your 24-year-old top prospect completely skip AAA just for a bench role. Maybe it's because they don't consider him a top prospect? He's an incredibly underwhelming talent especially given where he was taken in the draft.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) As much s*** as Gammons' takes for his Red Sox love and Billy Beane worship, at least he knows his stuff, along with Ken Rosenthal. The quality of their pieces and the depth of their knowledge is far greater than the rest of the national media. Like Jon Heyman who's never said or written a single interesting thing that I've ever seen.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 03:19 PM) Your acting like that error to Orie (yes I still call it an error even though it was a hit) was later in the game. That happened in the top of the 3rd so Wood already knew that he gave one up long ago (Biggio's HBP was in the 6th). I would say that would seriously decrease the pressure of throwing goose eggs, and just going all out (in fact.. the runner was at 3B cause of the sac. bunt to 2B. and Wood balked moving him to 3B) Wood also had 18 K's into the 9th inning so he would have either tied or broken the record. There's not a doubt in my mind if he only had say.. 16 Ks he would not have pitched the 9th inning especially with his pitch count over 100 not to mention he was a young guy comming in not pitching that much stressful innings before. In essence, that game (along with the additional innings pitched afterward from AAA to the stressful innings and pitch count in the bigs) cost him his elbow later on during the season and 1999. He threw at least 115 pitches in 5 of his next 8 outings. His pitch count was only at 110 pitches going into the 9th and like you said, that hit came in the 3rd inning and he hit Biggio in the 6th so he was on an incredible role through 8 and it was only a 2 run game, he had a lot things going for him going into the 9th, not just K's. Given how long of a leash Riggleman had him on pitch count wise through that entire season I'm fairly certain Wood would have pitched the 9th regardless of how many K's he had, not that it really matters. As for the hit to Orie: I saw it again about a month ago and it's a play a thirdbaseman needs to make but it's a judgment call so it can go either way. It's all a matter of opinion.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) watched the Simpsons yesterday... boy that show has fallen so hard, it's bad You mean like 10 years ago, right? That show has been awful for quite a while now, they just stopped trying.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) They are both impressive, but I think wood's was more dominating. But at the same time theres no pressure on a 20 k game of giving up a dinky hit and it all being over. Sure there is, every baserunner increases your pitch count and the likelihood that you get pulled from the game. The only reason that Wood was even afforded the opportunity to go for 20 K's was because he only allowed 2 baserunners the entire game and was in turn able to keep his pitch count down. 3 extra baserunners along the way and he'd have been pushing 140 pitches by the end of the 9th something he didn't come close to doing until 2003 (he's only gone above 133 once in his career). Especially in a close NL game where you have the added element of having to hit, there's always the chance that you'll have to be lifted for a pinch hitter and it just makes the manager's decision easier if you have 115 pitches through 7. In '07 Jake Peavy had 16 K through 7 IP but had thrown 117 pitches thanks to the 5 baserunners he had allowed, he didn't come back out for the 8th.

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 29, 2010 -> 02:30 PM) How about their age and the point at their careers when they did it? That's a good point. It was the 5th start of Wood's career at age 21. Buehrle's perfect game came in his 313 career outing at age 30.