Rex Hudler

FWIW, Joshua is the hitting coach for the AA Cubs at West Tenn.

A relief pitchers whip needs to be below 1.2, and era below 3, to even be CONSIDERED good. Biddle is just in a different role. He is NOT pitching any better than he was with the sox. He is in the NL, facing lesser hitters, when he is completely rested. Starting pitchers ERAs shoudl always be higher, because when they pitch into the 6th, 7th, 8th innings, theyre pitching tired. Bmr, you are full of s***. The above words are YOURS. All you are doing is spouting off stats, YOUR stats, but stats nonetheless. The whole point of this discussion was that Biddle has been doing a nice job so far this year and that is true and the numbers support it. If you want to play Kreskin and say that Biddle sucks and won't do well in the future, then fine. But don't act like you know more than everybody else and use current numbers to prove your point, when your use of those numbers is flawed. Admit you were wrong and move on.

For fun, let's break Biddle down a bit farther.... April 10 - Gives up 1 meaningless run in a 7-0 game. Expos win 7-1. April 17 - Biddle cames in and gets out of a jam in the 8th. Game tied at 8. Comes back out and absolutely blows in the 9th, allowing 6 runs, 5 earned. Five of his 14 walks were given up here. Definitely his worst outing. April 19 - Got two outs, but gave up two hits and was removed in favor of a lefty/lefty matchup. Joey Eischen gives up a hit and a run scores, charged to Rocky. Expos lose 8-7. Another bad outing, yet he did not give up the hit that scored the lead run. May 7 - 1st blown save... Gives up two runs to tie the game in the 9th. Stays in and pitches a scoreless 10th and Expos win in the bottom half, giving Rock a win. Obviously not a good outing in blowing the save, but give him credit for tossing a scoreless 10th to keep his team in position to WIN, which they did and is the ultimate goal. May 12 - Gave up one run in a save situation. ONLY time all year he has done so. Entered with a 4-2 lead and got the save as the Expos won 4-3. End result correct. May 14 - Gave up one run in a non-save situation. Entered with score 6-2 and Expos win 6-3. No save, but another win. Other than those six games, his other 17 have been exactly what you want. One could argue that only 3 of those appearances were actually bad outings. I'll take a guy that gets the job done 20 out of 23 times any day!

OK, Bmr, I try to be nice, but if you are going to spout off crap, then I'll have to expose you on it. Next time want to accuse others of not knowing anythign, get your own head our of your fantasy ass and back up what you say. You say Biddle sucks because he has an ERA over 4.00. That is as assinine of a generalization as your criticism of his number of saves. If you understand numbers, you should know that numbers can be derived from different circumstances and that the same number for two different pitchers can be quite different based on how the number was obtained. You are correct that saves are not a tell-all stat. However, as a closer, they are extrememly important. The bottom line is winning games and if a guy gives up a run yet still gets the save, then the ultimate goal of a win has still been accomplished. However, things with Biddle are not as you say. Only ONCE has he given up a run while earning the save, the very situation you lead us to believe happens every time he pitches. In 23 appearances, he has given up earned runs in six outings. Biddle currently has an ERA of 4.07. He has had one horrible outing which has made it that high. Take away his one outing against the Braves and his ERA is 2.35. In 23 appearances, he has given up earned runs in six outings. Not Smoltz-like, but nowhere near horrible. His WHIP you refer to so sacredly is 1.32, not far above your own benchmark of 1.20 even WITH the s***ty outing. Take out the s***ty outing and his WHIP is 1.09. I'd think it is quite fair to say that aside from one bad day, he has been pitching very well, even by YOUR benchmarks. And yes, I do understand that all games count. But in the real world of baseball and not your fantasy world, I'd much rather have a guy have one really s***ty day and be solid over 22 of 23 outings, than to be mediocre over them all, as you want to profess Biddle to be. Your focus is so narrow that you don't have a f***ing clue about wins and losses and how performances affect real baseball and not your stats. Don't talk down to me about knowing baseball because I have forgotten more than you will ever know. So stick to your fantasy world or back up your mouth with info that matters in the real world of baseball when you speak. I don't claim to know everything but I can certainly call you out when you are barking up a tree you have no business climbing. No one here said Biddle was among the elite 5 closers. No one said he was perfect No one is putting him on the same pedestal of Gagne, Wagner or Smoltz. But he has been pretty damned solid and definitely better than Koch to this point. But if you cannot be knowledgable enough enough to look into the numbers rather than just on your fantasy stat sheets, then it is time for you to learn a little more about the game itself.

Hopefully it is not Greg Walker. I have heard nothing but bad things about him. I like Baines , what do you think Rex? I know nothing about Baines other than what he did while he played. Don't know his personality or anything about him really.

Hopefully it is not Greg Walker. I have heard nothing but bad things about him.

No, i just conjured all of that up while listening on the radio. A good imagination will allow you to fill in the gaps nicely.

There should have been an error on Rios there. The runner had held up and would not have scored if not for the s***ty throw. And FWIW the leadoff single by Jones was on a pretty damned good pitch.

Stick Rios in RF and he rewards you by missing the cutoff man. Great play by paulie!

Jose is not moving to CF. They aren't going to shake up the lineup at 3 positions and add Miles to the 40-man roster. If Harris goes on the DL, Rowand will likely come back up.

Yes, Wiley is no longer on the 40-man. He is in W-S building up innings. Expect him to be in AA or AAA (more likely) fairly soon.

Are you talking about Stumm?? How the hell could the Sox have "overworked" him when he has never thrown more than 66 innings? Stumm has had some very bad luck and the Sox have had nothing to do with it. And FWIW, coaches say his stuff is electric and that when healthy, he is unbelievable. let's hope he can stay healthy the rest of the year and beyond. Then we'll see what happens.

Why the hell would Miles get called up when an OF is the one that got hurt?

Not only a very weird idea, but a very bad one. In addition to the fact that JP would definitely be worse than ARow in CF, he is no longer on the 40-man roster, so for that reason alone, it will not happen.

He was definitely called up in either june or July of 2000, the year of the pitcher in Birmingham. Off topic, I know. But for those with shaky memories.... Biddle 11-6 2.57 Buehrle 8-4 2.28 Fogg 11-7 2.57 Ginter 11-8 2.25 Rauch 5-1 2.25 There were probably others too, but that's all I could think of off the top of my head. not a bad rotation, huh? note: Rauch came up when Buehrle was promoted to Chicago. Don't remember who our 5th starter was that year.

Mark pitched out of the bullpen the whole ST in 2001 until the last week before camp broke. No one would step up and take the 5th spot in the rotation so they stuck Buehrle in there for a start. I believe he got a 2nd start and JM liked what he saw and stuck MB in the rotation late and unexpectedly. He was definitely called up in either june or July of 2000, the year of the pitcher in Birmingham.

Agreed. I still believe in him. But it is time for Sox fans to realize it isn't JUST a lack of run support and bad defense. Granted those never help.

I don't see that trade happening straight up. Especially since Marrero got hurt. If it was straight up, then hell yeah, pull the trigger. I just don't see it though.

Let's not kid ourselves about Mark this season. Yes the Sox have not supported him well. No they have not played good defense behind him. And yes I acknowledge that in those circumstances, one pitches differently. I am a Mark Buehrle fan and yes, he does deserve better than 2-7. But I don't think it is fair to say that he should be 7-2 either. He just hasn't pitched that well. The evidence..... 23 BB in 61.2 IP. Only 25 K (1 in every 2.68 innings) 73 Hits allowed in 61.2 IP 8 HR allowed 3 HBP Each of these ratios are up from 2002. He walked 1 batter for every 3.85 innings in 2002. Gave up less hits than innings pitched last year. Only hit 3 batters all year. He did allow a ton of home runs last year though (24). Yes, his record would be better if he had better support, but an ace has to step up and perform with his teams needs it. It would be nice to get 10 runs/game like David Wells gets, but that is not reality for most pitchers.

I just have a hard time seeing them allow a guy address the media as the GM if he has already resigned. He supposedly came back to Chicago to quell the potential fued between Manuel and Thomas (although it apparently wasn't a big issue). You would think a GM on the way out would have stayed in NC. You gotta think something has happened. Someone changed their mind... Cooler heads prevailed.... Or something like that.

One hour and 38 minute rain delay.....

I agree 100%. I was speaking in generalities, not referring specifically to last night's incident. I did not see it, but if it occurred as described, then there is no doubt that is one of those times that things need to be handled on the field. The key is knowing when that time is and when it is not. My feeling is that most players don't have a clue in that regard, which is what causes leagues and umpires to intervene as they do.

I agree. I believe that they have lost some of the ability to know whether an HBP is an accident or a message. I agree that no retailiation is necessary on a true accident. Basically, I just don't think these guys have a clue anymore. Guys charge the mound after they get clipped with a 70mph curveball. The glare at the pitcher and look all pissed when they get hit on the toe with a curveball in the dirt of by a fastball that nips their jersey while they are leaning way over the plate. We wouldn't have to have warnings from umpires and so many ejections if these guys had a clue anymore. There are ways to take care of things on the field and there is a place for that. There is a time when it is necessary to drill a guy. But the problem is, no one seems to know when that time is anymore. Whatever happened to hustling down to first, gritting your teeth and not letting the pitcher know it hurt? Now it is a big production, much of which is unnecessary.

That wasn't meant to be negative toward the Sox......

The Sox sure could use a closer having such a horrible year!