sircaffey

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 12, 2008 -> 10:45 AM) Ah yes, the ol Apples and oranges discussion. Lets bring in the names of every failed pitcher as an example since they are all first round talents that were at one point one of the top prospects in the country. If you had to pick a siamese twin for Homer Bailey, Alan Embree would be it.

QUOTE (MO2005 @ Dec 11, 2008 -> 07:33 PM) This team definitely needs one or two starters! I was o.k. with trading Vazquez, but I have to admit it throws off our whole rotation. But if you look at out division, the only rotation that scares me a little is Cleveland. They still got Carmona, Westbrook back after injury, of course Lee, and now add Wood to their bullpen. I agree on Cleveland. I could see their rotation being the best in the division next year. I like Laffey and really like the pick-up of Anthony Reyes.

QUOTE (Jimmywins1 @ Dec 7, 2008 -> 08:31 PM) So if this is true, do you think Bailey goes in as a lock for #4, or is he battling with Marquez, Poreda and Richard? Bailey's gotta be a lock. He's better than all of them.

I like it.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 7, 2008 -> 12:57 PM) I'll sit back and wait for the stat posters to reveal his mediocre zone ratings, etc. He had poor range considering his athletic ability, and struggled with routine plays after the ASB. Prior to the ASB, I thought he was a potential Gold Glove candidate. I can't split up his halves, but his overall +/- was -8 which sucks, good for 27th. His range factor was 4.99 however, which was better than such players as Roberts and Pedroia.

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ Dec 6, 2008 -> 05:10 PM) I'm not comparing anything. I'm wondering why JD's paying one bit of attention to anything on the basepaths when he's got a two strike count. If it was that distracting to have a runner in motion, then technically the hit and run would never work. I love JD, but I think it's a total BS excuse. That's just the way your body works. You can't shut off your peripheral vision. Even if you're focused on your computer screen, if things around you start moving unexpectedly, it's going to take away from your focus on the computer screen. That's why golfers get so bent out of shape from camera clicks. Much like a hit and run, if that golfer knew the camera click was coming it wouldn't be such a problem.

I don't know why, but it always makes me laugh when people try to compare their amateur experience to the top level of professional sports.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 6, 2008 -> 01:44 PM) Besides average, how is that really any different than what Fields did in 2007? In only 100 games. Cantu in no way makes us better. Much better off just sticking with Fields. It's different because like you said he didnt play a full season and showed a scary in-ability to hit RHP (.213/.284/.393). He's also not shown the ability to hit a good fastball yet. I don't think for a second management would be comfortable going with Fields at 3B next season which is probably why Betemit was acquired and are at least kicking the tires on Cantu.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 6, 2008 -> 01:00 PM) ONE of the things that make him valuable is his contract. Another thing that makes him valuable is, well, he's pretty f***in' good. I think it's ridiculous and naive to think that you can just easily replace him. Look at what happened to the Mets when Wagner went down. I'm not against trading anybody for the right package. But it better be a good one. If not, you simply don't trade him. Simple as that. The Mets' bullpen sucked outside of Wagner. That's an unfair comparison. Thornton, Linebrink, and Dotel are all better than anyone else the Mets had.

Personally, I love Alcides Escobar. He's a legit leadoff type hitter. He may be a year away from truly being that, but I still want him. I'd rather have him over Hart. The Brewers will have to move Hardy or Escobar. Either one I'd take over Hart. And move Ramirez to CF.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 02:37 PM) It's nice to think that, but that assumes that the Marlins scouts aren't better than yours. If the Marlins know your system better than yours, then while they're dumping expensive contracts, say something like Josh Beckett, they also find guys like Hanley Ramirez who wind up tearing up the league. Hanley was not a find. Everyone knew he was a top notch prospect. In fact, BA rated him Boston's #1 prospect in 2003, 2004, and 2005. It's safe to say you won't need to give up that type of prospect for Cantu.

I don't think you can use the phrase "buying high" when it comes to dealing with the Marlins. They trade to dump salary and take less talent in return. If anything, when the Marlins want to dump salary, it's always buying low. If you can buy Marlins-price for Cantu now and he replicates last season, you have a somewhat valuable trading chip next year when Viciedo may be ready to step in. Take advantage of the fact most teams are dumping payroll this year. I would like a Cantu deal if it was meant to be a 1 year stop gap for Viciedo.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 02:06 PM) Disagree. His play, offensively, was inconsistent. The majority of the season he was very subpar. he was not one of the best in the game in 2008. Note also the "smartest" comment - OC acted like a spoiled child, which is the opposite of what KW was looking for. Certaintly, OC wasn't some horrible player. But he didn't exactly live up to expectations either. Exactly. OC hasn't been one of the best SS in the game for years. If you look at his numbers and consider he's lost some on defense, there's no reason why he should be a clear cut favorite over anyone anymore. It's entirely possible that Getz and Lillibridge can outproduce him. It's not all resentment coming out of KW's mouth when he says OC would be a backup. .281/.334/.371 last year was the definition of average, and he's only going to get worse. I don't think it's a stretch to say we can get that type of season out of Getz/Lillibridge, with the potential to do even better.

Dye to Tampa for Edwin Jackson and Desmond Jennings Abreu signed for 2 yrs, $20 mil +vesting option for 2011

If I were KW, I'd tell him we're going young up the middle with Alexei and Brent up the middle. You're welcome back but you'd be splitting time, and likely are not going to get much more than 300 AB.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 06:49 PM) Well, then we should trade away Thome, Dye, AJ and Konerko because they're MORE likely to get injured...and Vazquez, Buehrle and especially Jenks because they too are injury risks. You take away the legs of Hanley Ramirez or Jose Reyes, they're going to be dramatically less effective as hitters and fielders as well. Nobody can play well with injuries. However, when you have a younger/speedier/more athletic team, the odds are in your favor, and having one fast player on your team go down won't cripple your entire line-up. This is more how the Angels and Rays attack other teams. Actually, the Red Sox with Ellsbury are fairly similar...although I'm sure we could have another LONG debate/thread comparing Ellsbury to Taveras too. Yes, all players don't play great with injuries, but some can't play at all with them. That's Willy T. I'm not specifically talking about injuries that put you on the DL. You use your legs in everything you do. Over the course of an 162 game season, your legs are not going to be 100% a lot of the time even if they aren't "injured." If Willy's legs are even 85% he's absolutely worthless. So when you say speed doesn't slump, that's completely false because Willy will go through periods where his legs are dead. He's not a machine.

QUOTE (KevinM @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 06:32 PM) Okay, so we'll pick apart the rest of his full seasons in the league. Yep, terrible. Okay. Speed does slump, especially when you don't get on base at a decent rate. Guess what? All facets of the game are susceptible to slumps; do you get your baseball ideology from the Grinder Rules campaign? Not only that, but one tweak of the groin sends Taveras from a modestly acceptable player to nothing. We saw what being bothered by a leg injury did to Podsednik in 2006. Taveras is only effective at 100%. Over an 162 game season, even more with playoffs, that is quite the risk. Having 100% of your effectiveness based on your legs is a recipe for disaster.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 06:02 PM) So you think there's no mental aspect of baseball then or what? The thread I made showed that statistically he has become absolutely horrible deep in the count, specifically on 3-2 when he should feel like he has control of the situation. His poor numbers there indicate something mental. Being in a winning environment where tons of fans cheer his strengths is probably going to be better for him that 25 people in the crowd or whatever in Colorado who don't about anything he does because the team is garbage. He needs to take his mind off the numbers he's playing for in Colorado and just react naturally like he did when he came up as a rookie. If he does that, the numbers say he'll be a very good player, because every other part of his game has actually improved. What are you talking about? COL averaged 33,127 fans in 2008. CHW averaged 30,877 fans in 2008. And when Willy played in HOU in 2005 and 2006 the average attendance was 34,000+ and 37,000+ respectively. I guess we really don't want Willy now because he'd be playing in front of even fewer people.

QUOTE (Shadows @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 04:06 PM) Thats just flat out wrong Wily T is FAR from being on of the worst in the league at the plate Ok let me rephrase. Willy Taveras is one of the least dangerous hitters in the league. No one fears him at the plate. He's a hitter that you intentionally walk someone to face.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 03:48 PM) Three steps faster...there's a big difference psychologically. Opposing teams would never be afraid of Cabrera coming up to bat. They might be of Pods, Carlos Gomez/Denard Span, Taveras, etc. Opposing teams are afraid of Wily T at the plate? At the plate, Wily T is one of the worst in the league. They may be afraid of Wily T on the basepaths, but he doesn't get there much.

QUOTE (Shadows @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 03:11 PM) Not at all However, instead of a single making it 1st and 2nd.. it could make it 1st and 3rd Instead of a double making it 2nd and 3rd, it could give us that extra run Orlando isn't exactly slow. Trading him out for a worse hitter who doesn't walk that is a step faster isn't going to fix the problem. I just see no way Taveras fixes the problem atop of the order. He may end up being the best option, but he's not the solution (nor an improvement, imo).

QUOTE (Shadows @ Nov 29, 2008 -> 01:18 PM) Do you just choose to ignore anything besides last season? The year before (In Colorado by the way) he hit .320 with a .367 OBP and a .382 slugging percentage Can we please drop the he had a bad season last year so he must be garbage crap? In 97 games. His 3 full seasons are much worse. The .047 difference between his AVE and OBP is scary to me. Podsednik at least was able to take a walk and have the difference between his AVE and OBP .060-.070. I'm fine with Wily coming here to bat 9th, but if he's here, he's leading off. I don't trust Willy's bat enough to reach a .330 OBP. I'd expect an OBP near .320.

Easy there buddy.

QUOTE (knightni @ Nov 23, 2008 -> 01:38 PM) DeJesus is not a table setter. What makes Iwamura one?

Martinez also injured his hamstring on multiple occasions this past season. In 75 AB so far in winter ball, Martinez is putting up a .360/.402/.587 line with 4 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 14 SO, 5 BB, 4 SB, 1 CS...Get him.