RME JICO

I just thought it was funny coming from a site called "Baseball Analysts" since there was really no analysis done whatsoever, and they normally have decent articles every now and then. The other thing I found interesting was that the Odds makers have pretty decent predictions: I would say the only question mark would be the Cubs. The other teams are fairly realistic. What I get from the odds is that they feel that the Yanks, Sox, Mets, Cards, and Sawks all have the best chance of winning and making the playoffs. Based off most of the preseason predictions that I read, that would be almost 100% accurate.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 23, 2006 -> 02:54 AM) You can't, it wasn't meant to be taken literally. Just checking to make sure I was not on it.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 23, 2006 -> 02:13 AM) You mean the kind of person who posts nothing of substance but just enjoys seeing their screename every other post in every damn thread? Just check my ignore list it reads as a laundry list of people who enjoy posting nonsense. How do you check someone elses ignore list?

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2006/...rrational_1.php Stat-heads really don't like the Sox:

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines

He is over the hill, 27 is old, he is practically on Social Security.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 23, 2006 -> 01:18 AM) I'll guarantee this lapse in control is due to Jenks coming to camp out of shape. Some days he'll throw 96-97, others--such as today--92-93. He may not be fully ready by the beginning of the year, and that's a shame. He damn well better learn from this experience next offseason. This team can't afford to not rely on someone as valuabe as he is. I agree. Hopefully he can work it out over the next week or so.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Mar 23, 2006 -> 01:17 AM) Cool. First stop SI, next the world. The funny thing is most people were bashing SI for not having an actual World Series Cover, just the Special Edition one.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Mar 23, 2006 -> 01:07 AM) When was the site in ESPN The Magazine? And guys, Any Press is Good Press. I thought someone mentioned 2003 for ESPN Mag. The only problem with more random visitors is more trolls, but the Mods should take care of them.

I am not worried about Thome, he has 9 walks and 9 hits compared to 5 K's. The HR's will come. He is more worried about timing right now. I am concerned about Jenks, he seems to have lost a bit of his control. Cotts would do fine in the Closer role, but I think Jenks will come around. Either way you have to be a little concerned at this point in ST. Gooch really needs to break out of his funk. It almost seems like they are giving him one more shot to improve his hitting before bringing in Cintron, who has 2 more hits than Gooch in 26 less AB's during ST.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 22, 2006 -> 12:54 PM) nice. Usually they have been slower than everyone else for me. Might be faster since this was a pre-order.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 22, 2006 -> 12:34 PM) Shipped from where? Deep Discount DVD for $41.97 with free ship. I got the email today as well. http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemid=ANE074722

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 22, 2006 -> 06:32 AM) The Twinkies already picked up Ruben Sierra. Joey Belle is available though. Damn, the A's are going nowhere without Ruben.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/base...es.rowand.0653/

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 22, 2006 -> 06:50 AM) Hope is all we have. There's definately no record of success with either of these two guys. Based off the stats, the Sox won by luck last year, so these hope-ful guys will fit right in.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 22, 2006 -> 06:28 AM) One thing I can think of is that having a faster baserunner like Anderson batting ahead of Podsednik sounds better than Crede there. I know "base-clogging" is a stupid term but having a slow baserunner in front of Podsednik isn't really ideal. Crede did have 1 SB last year, so he has some speed. I see your point though, Pods would lap Crede after 2nd base.

At least the picture is getting a little clearer, but who could have imagined that Matt Thornton and Boone Logan were going to be the last two guys out of the bullpen even a month ago. I hope Thornton can find some control and Logan can continue his excellent pitching. We could always use a couple more success stories.

Now the A's need Ruben Sierra and Albert Belle.

Fields had a great Spring and I hope he rakes in AAA. Blakely didn't look too bad either.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 22, 2006 -> 05:25 AM) http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...t=.jsp&c_id=cws So it looks like the opening day lineup will be: Podsednik Uribe Thome Konerko Dye Iguchi Pierzynski Crede Anderson I thought they previously said that Crede would bat 9th to give Anderson some protection. I guess they feel that Anderson is swinging the bat well enough not to need it. Either way the lineup looks good, hopefully Gooch will break out of his funk.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 22, 2006 -> 01:57 AM) Would of been better if it was a link to tubgirl or lemonparty. Classic!

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Mar 21, 2006 -> 01:59 PM) RME JICO--you're my hero! I didn't even have to dig through the archives of THT's to prove my point. I thought those articles were very fair, they concluded that speed does make the pitcher a little more loose--to the tune of 2 runs a year--that's rather yawnworthy in my book. Give me two LF'ers, all things being equal, power hitting, contact hitting, arm, and I'll take the faster guy every time. Speed has a place in baseball no doubt. But its place is relatively unimportant compared to the other major American team sports. I had those articles bookmarked. Now in reality Pods was worth more to the team than just stealing bases. His speed allowed him to score on hits that others would not score or advance on. This analysis only covers when a Top 10 base stealer is on First base with Second base open. It doesn't mention when they are on second, or how far they advance on a hit and run or on a hit. This analysis basically said that base stealers do not disrupt the pitcher as much as you would think. That doesn't mean that Pods is not a factor on the basepaths.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Mar 21, 2006 -> 01:17 PM) You mean besides signing Beckett and Tavarez and acquiring Crisp and Pena? I don't know if I'd rank their offseason at #4, but they did strengthen their rotation significantly with Beckett and their 'pen with Tavarez. The loss of Damon was more than offset by Crisp and Pena. In addition to Damon, the Sawks lost Mueller, Millar, Bellhorn, Renteria, Olerud, and Mirabelli. They replaced those players with Crisp, Lowell, Snow, Gonzalez, and Pena. I would call that a slightly negative trade off, so the only real upgrades are Beckett and Tavarez.

QUOTE(Iwritecode @ Mar 21, 2006 -> 01:39 PM) What's the stat for # of hits given up because the pitcher was too worried about the guy on first and served a meatball over the middle of the plate? They did do an analysis of this in late January here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...ngibles-part-1/ and part 2 here: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...ngibles-part-2/ Basically the writer concluded that:

Now this is embarrassing: "Excuse me Mr. Umpire, my Leftfielder refuses to play in the Outfield like a little baby, and by the way, the Rangers screwed us"