Jake

The thing about the amnesty that f***s you is that it happens after everyone has spent their money. He would have gotten himself paid if he became available July 1

I believe Jon Rauch entered a season as #4 when I last looked at BA's history

Saw this the other day and I think it exemplifies exactly why advanced statistics are a worthwhile venture. Quote is attributed to Bill James - "a muddy truth is better than a tidy lie"

Any other Sox on there?

I'd be a lot more open to it if I didn't have to play him in CF, which is apparently the demand that's causing him to want to be traded

FWIW, we put Mitchell in AA before he had gotten over the A+ hump and then put him in AAA before he got over the AA hump. We put him in a really tough position, developmentally speaking. There was no good reason to believe he'd do well in AAA based on anything he'd done before when we put him there.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 07:42 PM) Well what state are you in again? OH

We easily would have traded Danks for Eaton, so probably

I have to tell you, I'm looking in a different location for apartments and I never saw a single one that didn't require the deposit alongside the application with the only way of getting it back being a rejected application.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 12:38 PM) I always wonder how much Deng's wrist (and the fact that he did not opt for surgery) impacted his wrist. I bet his wrist had a lot of influence over his wrist

I think there is confirmation bias at play if you think the overturned replay calls are wrong as often as they are right

Indiana was supposed to be an amazingly well-run unit until s*** like this started to happen http://deadspin.com/report-pacers-had-fist...me-1-1566493478

Micah isn't ready. He's had a nice developmental trajectory thus far that has involved him drawing lots of walks at levels which he is ready for

I don't think I want Lance in my team's locker room if last year is any indication of what that's like

That's stupid. So you have to vote for someone for the HoF even when you don't believe anyone deserves it? That's a great way to get undeserving guys in there

I think it's going fabulously well. It was really iffy, inconsistent, and time consuming at the beginning of the year, but it has really improved since the first month or so of the year. The only thing I'd like to see changed, though I don't know exactly what to do about it, is the awkward period of time in which the manager waits for a signal from the dugout.

Also dealt with hamstring injury this year

Kevin Love is NOT a top 5 player in the NBA. Get real, damn

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 11:19 AM) I remember reading multiple different times over the years that you could find an "injury" for pretty much anyone who has pitching for an amount of time. With all of the ligaments and tendons and muscles, that there was always technically something wrong with any pitcher. True? No? Well, yes and no. Injury? not exactly. Abnormalities? Yes. Almost all professional ballplayers show some abnormality on an MRI. Houston is arguing that this is a meaningful one and more than what one would expect. I don't know if they are right.

I think Mirotic will definitely struggle with strong post players that are going to throw their weight around against him. He'll probably also be relatively unproductive on the glass. I wouldn't expect Mirotic to easily defend the 3, either. But that's okay - nobody really expects him to be great at those things. The key is whether his offensive game is in a place where it will make up for his other shortcomings right off the bat. This is the same question as McDermott. They're both going to put the ball in the basket, but will they be able to do it enough as rookies to make up for the things they almost certainly won't do well. QUOTE (LDF @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 11:01 AM) here is a question to those who are more knowledgeable than I with re to snell. is he really a prospect to play or is the bulls stuck with him b/c he was a 1 rounder? I am trying to read up on sports site and I can't get a good feel for his potential. I think the jury is out on Snell. He's pretty athletic and has a nice jumpshot. He's shown flashes of more rounded scoring ability as well, but has always lacked the killer instinct that a scorer needs. Defensively, he looked at least solid last year and he has the athletic skillset and size to be a very valuable defender. I don't think he's there yet defensively, but there's definitely reason to be optimistic for him to become at least a defense-oriented roleplayer. The questions are whether he will get that jumpshot to fall enough (I think shot selection was an issue last season) and if he can get aggressive and confident enough to contribute more than three pointers on offense. I think a reasonable expectation for Snell is that he'll be a good end-of-rotation player, if that makes sense. He should definitely be the type that provides value as a 20-25 minute, 7th or 8th best guy. There's upside for better than that, like becoming a sixth man on a very good team or a journeyman starter. His downside as a journeyman 5-10 minute per game player is also still looming.

Interesting how this is working out. Sounds like Aiken's camp is now openly talking to the media, which is interesting. Tough to say without info or medical training whether HOU is BS'ing. Is there any means by which Aiken's camp can contest the idea that the physical is failed?

Whether on our team or elsewhere, he would be well-served to learn how to play 2B and LF

This is an interesting idea and while I'm not sure I could stomach it, it would make a lot of sense to get a feel for what the market for him would be. The key would be taking my most trusted evaluators' opinions on Gillaspie to heart and if they think this won't last, then he gawn.

I like the team. They're fun to watch, for me. Should be a lot more fun this year

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 14, 2014 -> 08:44 AM) i just want to fast forward past speculation. this thread is gonna be such an argumentative downer until the season starts In what way will the season make it stop being an argumentative downer? We could win 70 games and the complaint would be that we're a regular season team only