Gregory Pratt

Sure, he's fair enough but he's unique in that he's always struck out a ton but walked a ton and generally hit for much higher averages than most people who strike-out as much as he does. That's two, then, with Killebrew, who have had HOF careers.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Aug 7, 2008 -> 04:24 PM) I also disagree here. Fields is showing who he is. Going to hit bombs, but strikeout a ton. Thats fine, and alot of hitters make the HoF that way, but they also adjust. So far, Josh has shown his weaknesses, and not been able to make the necessary adjustments to compensate. Like who? I don't ask that to be snarky, but I can't think of anyone who is like Fields or, say, Ryan Howard, who was a low-average high-strikeout hitter who hit bombs and that's about it and made the Hall of Fame aside from Harmon Killebrew. This is just offhand, though. I think Adam Dunn is on his way, but he's got a long way to go before he can be considered seriously. Howard is "on his way" in terms of numbers, but I don't think he'll have the peak or the longevity to wind up being seriously considered. I guess that's not the point, though -- I wonder what other HOFers profile as high-strikeout low-average bombers and made the Hall.

59 PA versus lefties, adding his walks to his ABs. (2 walks.) 90 PA versus righties. .211 .237 .596 versus lefties .256 .289 .349 versus righties none of this tells me he has 25+ power or ability to swing the bat with enough power and contact. Statistics are very useful, and of course I am using my own eyes in addition.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 7, 2008 -> 12:09 PM) Anderson has 7 home runs in 143 at bats already this season. That's a 25 home run pace on a 500 at bat season. The stolen bases certainly aren't there, but it's easy to see Anderson still putting up 25+ dingers, he just has to keep up his current pace. There's the problem. People are often on pace for numbers that they may or may not be able to reach. Anderson has not hit a single homerun against a right-hander this year and playing everyday he'd see more righties than lefties. His split stats are a little weird. But I watch him and he still has an ugly swing and ugly approach. I guess that if he played a 500 at-bat season he'd come nowhere near 25 homeruns unless he somehow turned into a man who simply mashes lefties completely. His stats say fluke and so do my eyes, watching him. I see a guy who's run into some pitches against bad lefties and all his other numbers, especially against lefties, suck.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Aug 7, 2008 -> 11:55 AM) Most hits and RBIs of anyone not in HoF. All the players ahead of him on those lists are in, and many players behind him are in. And hits and RBIs are not obscure stats. So a Sox board is the only place fans could make that argument. He's a long shot, and if he had the same stats in 3 or 4 less years, he'd be a pretty solid pick. I don't think that's going to matter much. Raines has the highest stolen base percentage of all-time and he barely stayed on. I'd be surprised if Baines got the five percent necessary to stay on the ballot.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Aug 7, 2008 -> 11:52 AM) I actually think right now that Anderson has more upside than Young. and no I would not trade Young for Vazquez and I am not that high on Vazquez right now. Probably not. He doesn't have the raw power or speed tools, and they are similar defensively. Upside goes to Young. I don't think either player is worth having on a starting roster, though.

Whenever I have baseball Hall of Fame or history questions I take them to Baseball-Fever.com, and I recently took Harold there. It got merged into a different Harold Baines thread/poll, where the answer is overwhelmingly no. Take it for what it's worth, but most people don't think he was ever an elite player and the only reason we're having this discussion is that he platooned for a long time accumulating raw totals. Also that this is a Sox board. I suppose that Angels forums would have similar discussions in favor of someone like, say, Garrett Anderson. Every team has guys like this who aren't good enough for the Hall of Fame but are great franchise players.

Baines also accumulated much of his totals as a platoon player, especially in his later years. Hall of Very Good, but no more, sorry to say.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 11:18 PM) Because they players aren't built like that anymore. It starts in high school, sometimes before that. I really think if you took a group of talented kids(14-15) and started them on a tough regime of throwing every day, you could have players that start every other day or so. Work that way in the minors all the way up, it probably could work again. However, it will never happen. No organization could ever pull it off. Also: you can't take any hitters off today. Anyone can take you deep in these tiny parks and in this offense-friendly era. Back in the day, pitchers would save their very best, hardest pitches for the best hitters but you just can't save yourself now because you half-heart a pitch and it's likely to get smoked. The throw-every-day regimen is a strong reason too, though.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 12:29 PM) well all these congressional hearings have certainly gotten to the bottom of everything. I'm guessing exec privilege, congress puts them in contempt, court rules exec privilege isn't founded, congress has to sue, new president is in office, they don't want to live in the past, blah blah blah This Congress isn't worth a damn.

From the Washington Post: There is only one solution to this: call them before Congress, all of them, and especially Suskind, and tell him to play his tapes. If he doesn't have them, send him to prison; if he does, then everyone else has some serious questions to answer. But, of course, this Congress is terrible.

I believe the BBC calls their TV reporters "presenters" because all they do is present the news. But then again, what they do isn't "lazy" because they're working twelve hours a day at the station. "Journalists," however, are not "lazy" by any stretch.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 04:53 PM) Because the standard canned answer, much like the beginning of this thread, and the discourse it's taken, is total cynicism when it comes to what the Bush administration did or did not do. It's posted here all the time and it gets just plain old. Alpha is making my point much better then I did. All we see from most liberal folks is that Bush did everything he could to lie, manufacture, kill, torture, maim, rape, and totally screw over everyone and everything related to the Iraq war and the presentation of it to the American people. Hence, it's all a "CONSPIRACY" comment I made earlier, and the digging of rubbish to pile on top of GWB. (That's a conspiracy too, evidently). Journalists are a lazy bunch (in general - sometimes you have exceptions). They want to hit the limelight on very little corroborating evidence. But in the end, people believe what they WANT to believe anyway... and with the political drones we seem to have in this country now, it's sad. Really? Are we talking about TV broadcasters or actual print journalists? Because there's all the difference in the world. And, even on that, I'd note that almost all newspapers insist on at least two sources for news like this, and usually there's more. "Lazy" is not a term for journalists.

Alright, it was kind of cool to watch Griffey in my favorite team's uniform but the centerfield experiment really has to end. He just doesn't have the legs to field, and he can't hit fastballs anymore by most scouts' reckoning. There will be games when he gets lucky, but he doesn't need to be embarrassing himself by letting balls get by him for triples all day.

Ozzie's not a hothead. He's straight-forward.

I was with a great friend and had a blast. We never gave up on our team. What a game!

QUOTE (robinventura23 @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 10:20 AM) Great article, Greg!! BTW, I'm not short. Me neither.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 01:25 PM) I just graduated high school Pratt? Like three years ago. Re-read that passage.

I am always frustrated by the reactions people have to breaking news like this, or Roger Clemens as another example. Instead of discussing the merits of those allegations, people turn around and talk about how McNamee is a "felon" and can't be trusted, which misses the broader point that people don't turn on their friends unless they have to. Why did Richer take so long to talk to Suskind or a journalist about this? I don't know. But that it took years for a story about the deepest, darkest workings of the CIA to break is not an indictment against the news. As for the criticism that the media has been "digging" for years -- is that supposed to be a bad thing? Politicians should be investigated all day every day by numerous reporters. I mean, I don't see why there is so much resentment toward the media. And as for why Dan Rather has to make news stories up when stories like this are out there -- well, I'm not Rather's publicist, but just because one reporter got a story about something ultimately trivial does not mean anything about the merits of this story.

Johan Santana deserves much better than what he's gotten from his team this year.

QUOTE (SoxPride56 @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 12:40 PM) Do you guys think that Jr will start Tuesday at home? We are facing a lefty, but it is his first game home. From the Sox page: I hope he's playing tonight.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 11:44 AM) It is, but it's also the modern media frenzy, who are looking for anything, everything, to hang on GWB (or to manufacture news, whatever way you want to say it). I don't think this is a modern frenzy at all. I don't think this article, playing second-fiddle to the "hot bod mom with the missing tot" counts as a frenzy, and I think back to the days of yellow journalism, the muckrakers, etc. etc. and don't see anything at all "modern" about this. It's nothing new. Reporters report and investigate. That's their job. Always has been, always will be, and is now.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 11:21 AM) Ahh yes, everything's a conspiracy. My take is why does it take 5+ years for crap like this to come out? If it happened, it would have been out well before now. It often takes a full generation for secrets to come out, and so this period of time isn't such a stretch. Everyone in Washington has a vested interest in keeping their dirty laundry out of the public's eye. This is true in dealing with biographies of famous people, and even in our daily lives. It is especially true in government.

The Rangers and the Yankees played a great game last night. Real fun to watch.

Go Sox!