Balta1701

QUOTE(fathom @ May 8, 2007 -> 08:36 PM) He missed one start! Flat out, KW lied when he said he wouldn't trade Garcia unless it improved this team for 2007. He failed! Dude, do you know how many times I've been lied to by KW? Hell, I'm at the point where if he denies mentionning of a trade, I expect something to go down ASAP, and vice-versa.

11 pitches, 11 strikes for Boof in the first inning.

4 pitches, 2 outs for Boof. There's not a ton of things I miss about Podsednik...but compared with Erstad and Ozuna, that's sure one of them.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ May 8, 2007 -> 04:39 PM) Where are the tobacco related deaths on that chart? Or are we supposed to assume that smoking is the only contributing factor in there? I also see a downward trend to levels in 1983 with the white and blacks. You are correct, you do see a downward trend in the more recent years. This is almost entirely because of the greater political and market-based emphasis on getting people to stop smoking in the 90's, from nicotine patches to vastly higher cigarette taxes to the tobacco settlements. There is probably a little bit of air pollution reduction thrown on top of that.

QUOTE(briguy27 @ May 8, 2007 -> 04:15 PM) whats the latest on thome? Going to start taking some swings in the next couple days. Will probably hit in a minor league game or two later this week if everything goes well. Best case scenario is he's back next week sometime.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ May 8, 2007 -> 04:11 PM) If second hand smoke is so vicious, how could anyone survive the 1940's-1970's where everybody smoked everywhere? If workers in bars are working under such terrible conditions how is possibly for people to spend so much time in the industry? Shouldn't it be impossible for someone to be a bartender for 30+ years if the conditions are so bad? Lung and Bronchus Cancer U.S. Death Rates† by Race and Ethnicity, U.S., 1969–2003‡ My grandfather died of Emphysema. That's only lung cancer there, and that graph shows something like 600,000 dead people per decade. According to data from the state of California: being a bartender in the 80's gave a higher incidence of lung cancer than a huge majority of jobs in this state, including firefighters, miners, cooks, etc. Being a bartender shows a highly elevated death rate over what one would have expected, largely due to a highly elevated rate of deaths by lung cancer compared with other jobs. Like many of these sorts of data, there will always be a distribution. There will be some people who smoke for 40 years and die from something else, and there will be people who smoke for a few years and wind up with cancer. Saying that they should all be dead is simply not how things work. The data clearly shows a highly elevated risk for those working in those professions. Working as a bartender appears to roughly double, if not more than that, the risk of lung cancer.

This is the single most powerful enemy the Islamic world has ever faced.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ May 8, 2007 -> 02:32 PM) no way I take ahead of a whole lot proven All-Star caliber players until he has a bit more of a track record. Brian McCann (coming into this season) Minor League, 5 seasons: .275 .334 .462 796, 36 home runs, 1082 at bats. Highest OPS = 835. Major League, 2 seasons: 317 .376 .523 899, 29 home runs, 622 at bats. Highest OPS = 960.

Link with video.

Thanks a ton for 05.

Give em Jell, Havy.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:43 AM) No, they didn't get ripped up and down for flying to their debates, they got ripped up and down for yelling at me about my SUV and telling me I have to change MY lifestyle without changing their own. And then they try to change their lifestyle...and get ripped for it.

SI has attempted to rank the 15 most intimidating pitchers of all time.

Rep Ted Poe, R-Texas (2nd district).

.304 .354 .446 .800, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 13 SO, 4 bb, 3 HBP .308 .345 .654 .999, 4 Hr, 12 RBI, 9 SO, 1 BB, 2 HBP That's Rowand in 2006...in April and May. The only big difference...the walks. He was actually striking out less last year.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 8, 2007 -> 10:31 AM) That would be amazing, but I'd be thrilled if he's anything more than a 4th/5th starter in the next 4 years. The one thing I don't think will happen with Gio is wind up as a 4/5 starter. I think either Gio will wind up bieng a top of the rotation type guy or gio will wind up struggling with injuries.

Link Applause.

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 8, 2007 -> 04:21 AM) Small steps by everyone makes more of an impact than nitpicking a few people. Let's all applaud Bush, on vacation he rides a horse. I believe the environmental impact on a horse is better than any hybrid. Methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 7, 2007 -> 10:55 PM) Dumb argument. Getting to the playoffs is all about the GM and all that, once you get there, it's purely a matter of luck. There is no scientific way to win in the playoffs, basically you have to get hot and you have to get lucky. To blame moneyball for that is simply nonsense. You know what? I would say there is actually an argument against this, although I'm a bit too busy to prove it. It could be argued that exactly the things which give moneyball in terms of its OBP/OPS focus an advantage in the regular season could wind up counting as disadvantages during the postseason. Moneyball, in its original form focusing on the undervaluing of OBP, focused a lot of effort on guys who could pile up the walks and therefore work to high OBP's and high pitch counts. Against average pitching staffs, this seems like exactly what you'd want to do. Against a moderate to poor pitcher, if you go up there looking to take pitches every at bat, you're going to wind up on base all the time. But in the playoffs, the caliber of opponent goes up dramatically. You're no longer facing the pitching staffs of the Royals, the Mariners, etc. You're no longer seeing #5 starters except out of the bullpen. You're no longer seeing pitchers making their ML debuts or pitching staffs who are struggling. You go from facing random pitchers to seeing Johan 2x in a 5 game series. Its entirely possible that the value formulation could and in fact should change somewhat when you raise the caliber of opponent. If your team suddenly starts facing pitchers who just don't walk people, and your team is geared around the walk, bloop, blast mentality, and you have no ability to manufacture runs in other ways, you could find your former advantage turned into a disadvantage. This isn't necessarily why the A's haven't won, I'm sure there's data that could either back it up or argue against it, but it's at least worth considering.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ May 7, 2007 -> 05:22 PM) What type of ERA and record does Buehrle need to qualify as a Type A FA? I'm assuming it's not going to be a 4.99 ERA, but what are the criteria for this classification? Some complicatd SABR formula with quartiles and VORP correlation coefficients? Well, that's sort of hard to say, I don't see the rules posted anywhere obvious, and it depends a lot on what the other folks do and how many people actually hit the market. Be glad he's not hitting the market 2 years from now, when Garland hits, along with I believe guys like Santana, Peavy, Sheets, and a couple others IIRC. For reference, Eric Gagne was a type A FA last year after having pitched 16 innings the previous 2 years. For starting pitchers, Jeff Suppan and Woody Williams qualified as type A last year, Chan Ho Park was in the type B class, etc.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ May 7, 2007 -> 04:53 PM) In Charlotte, helping Brian Anderson find his swing. Thank God.

I can't stay at the PC for long, but at least Charlie has had a good start to this game.

QUOTE(GreenSox @ May 7, 2007 -> 04:44 PM) As for a fire sale, people don't pay much for rents of, say, Dye. We could probably move a starter or reliever for something decent. BUt what we really neeed are a couple of bats. We've got good pitching and good defense. And I think our pitching remains the best in the Central, overall, and I therefore think we'll remain in the race, albeit on the fringes. Well, it sort of depends on a couple things, first, what are we asking for, and second, how are the folks performing. If Mark Buehrle keeps up his potential All-Star first half again, and looks solid, and someone like the Mets take another blow to their rotation, then its all going to be a question of price. Or if Dye starts hitting and the Dodgers/Angels finally decide how desperate they are for an OF bat, then it all depends on the price. If we're locked in on a young potential #1 starting pitcher for either of those guys, we're not going to get it. If we're locked in on a top 10 prospect in baseball, we're not getting it. But if we target someone a step back from that, or a couple players who could fill in and who aren't pitchers, then it becomes more possible. The Dodgers have soured somewhat on Billingsly, the Mets have soured somewhat on Milledge, a ton of the Angels' guys not named Brandon Wood have been let downs. If I'm in KW's chair, the simple question you have to weigh when thinking about a sell-off, if your record winds up in the place where you should, is...is the talent I'm getting back better than what I would get with 2 high draft picks?

When's the last time we had a series with the Twinkies where Santana didn't pitch?

QUOTE(BearSox @ May 6, 2007 -> 10:19 AM) Was he trying to throw a splitter? Does he have a splitter? That is the only way I think you could dislocate your knuckle. It must be directly related to the force at which he's whipping that fastball up there. How many other test cases do we have for people regularly throwing 102?