scenario

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jun 7, 2009 -> 11:43 AM) for the love of christ you're making all these assessments based on an amazingly small SAMPLE SIZE. i know others have said this to you, but you obviously just don't care. Sample size matters, and you can't make any realistic judgments on a player after a third of a season's work. ^^^^^^^^^^^ Thank you. Plus, it's amazing to me what people either make up or assume to be true about players. Getz was a shortstop when he began college, who was moved to 2nd because one of the teams' best players was already at SS, and they wanted to get Getz's bat in the lineup. And when Getz graduated from college, the scouting reports on him clearly and strongly suggested that he would probably end up as a super-utility player because of his ability to play multiple positions.

Fields v. Getz: which one should play and which one should we let go? Small sample sizes used for prediction... No patience for developing young players... As soon as we have anything resembling depth the solution is to trade it away... Brilliant

Scranton @ Charlotte Knights won 3-1 Torres struggled with control over 5.2 innings, but only gave up one run. 4 reliefs pitchers did their job and finished it off, giving up only 2 hits. Lillibridge with 2 of the Knights 4 hits. Link with the save, striking out 2 of the 3 guys he faced, lowering his season ERA to 1.78. Montgomery @ Birmingham Harrell with an outstanding performance Barons win 6-1 Danks, Flowers, and Retherford with 2 hits apiece. Kinston @ Winston-Salem Shirek started and had a decent but unspectacular outing. No decision. W-S got a lead and hung on for a 7-6 win Gallagher and Sanchez with 3 hits each Paiml and Cruz with 2 each West Virginia over Kanny 4-3 in Game 1 of a doubleheader Nice outing again for Sauer who was not involved in the decision. Sauer's line: 6 innings, 2 runs on 5 hits, 4 K's and 0 BB's So, on the season in 40 innings pitched, he has 44 Ks and 1 BB Kanny over WV 14-5 in Game 2 Almost all of the Kanny offense came in one inning... 12 runs in the 6th Kuhn 4-5 in the game Escobar with 3 hits Leesman started, but didn't look good and wasn't involved in the decision Charlis Burdie got the win in 2 shutout innings of relief. Burdie's season ERA drops to 2.37

I love the progress Viciedo is making. But I'm firmly in the 'let's not rush him' camp. His batting average is up to .286, but his OBP is only .303 and OPS only .684??? There's a flashing warning sign in there somewhere. Plus he has 13 errors so far. But, he's been making good adjustments and improving quickly. So, I'm very excited about him... just not ready yet to see him in Chicago. I think that would be a mistake for both he and the Sox.

Goodnight. US Marshals is on. At least that has some suspense in it.

Boy, we really made Pavano work that inning, didn't we? 6 freaking pitches??

Poreda was scheduled to start last night's Baron rainout. I'm guessing he'll pitch.

I think Birmingham is going to play, aren't they? Edit: Nope. Postponed. Just saw it on the MiLB.com site.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) Stats have been used in baseball for a very, very, very long time - well before Bill James even busted his first nut thinking of new ways to turn them into pudding. Baseball has used statistics for a very long time. Badly. That is the point of the whole sabermetric 'thing'. QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) I have to ask you, what in the hell does a knowledge of pythagorean win blah blah blah have to do with being a better baseball executive? It only muddies waters. Why aren't you scoring more runs? Why are you allowing so many runs? Hmm, I know! Let's look at pythagorean bulls*** theory! Ahh, yes, here's my answer!!! Yikes. You are the king of the straw man argument aren't you? Bottom line is that good executives use good numbers to make good decisions. Bad numbers lead to bad decisions. Very simple. And for a long time baseball executives were using bad numbers to make decisions. Sabermetrics has advanced the science of baseball decision-making. That is not an opinion. That is a well-established fact. But, you can make up all the 'unique' arguments you want to try and disprove that if it will make your feel better...

Maybe they can pull a trade like this for him...

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 10:44 AM) I'm afraid this won't have the outcome you like. I'm not a zealot for the new stats. I think it might have been better if Bill James had been an accountant or sold tacos from a road side stand. The fact that many or most teams real wins might match fairly closely their Pythagorean wins does not move me. It doesn't take into consideration short term trends and various other anomalies and outliers. In the end, I want to know how a team really did. If a team has a substantial run differential and doesn't have the corresponding wins one might expect, or the opposite, a team with lots of close game wins and more wins than the formula would indicate, I'm not going to take the knee jerk reaction. Believe me, this is only part of my dislike of the whole sabermetrics thing. It will just make you mad at me, and I'd like to stay on mostly friendly terms here. I will continue to gag every time I hear the words "Pythagorean wins." I just do not approach baseball or any other sport that way. Ok... whatever. By the way, Bill James was an accountant... who is now fabulously rich because baseball people finally decided that his stupid numbers really matter. Baseball as a whole has lagged waaaaaaaaay behind other industries in learning how to appropriately use statistics to improve their business. Like living in the freakin' dark ages type of behind... kicking and screaming to avoid change and progress that is routinely being applied by other successful businesses. Most fans have been right there with them, confused by numbers, and longing for the good old days when numbers didn't matter. Sorry. That cat is out of the bag. You prefer to continue to think the world is flat? Be my guest.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 08:36 AM) Because judging a team based on run or point differential is stupid and shortsighted IMHO. So, the fact that it consistently predicts correctly is stupid and shortsighted to you and a bad reason to use it.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 11:49 PM) But back to Gordo, should be an interesting ride/career for the kid. Whether he's loved (which I'm sure it'll be) or hated if he bust. Are you kidding? If he turns out to be a bust, nobody will ever blame him. It will be the organizations fault for ruining him.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 10:43 PM) My softball team scored 10 in the bottom of the 7th to win on monday but you don't hear me bragging about it. We just did. And you scored 2 runs! I nominate you for player of the week!

Barons lose 3-1. A decent outing for McCulloch in the loss: 7 innings; 2 runs on 5 hits; 3 K's and 1BB The offense just couldn't get it going, as the Barons were held to 3 hits on the night... Except for John Shelby who went 2-4 including a double. Shelby is now hitting .358 (14/39) over his last 10 games.... including 4 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homeruns, and 10 RBIs. And he's been on base one or more times in 9 of those 10 games. Viciedo 1-4 got the only other hit during today's game.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 08:36 PM) I find the Pythagorean wins formula to be one of the more worthless of the newer Saber stats that many are in awe of. Why?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 08:17 PM) Don't forget about Tommy Hanson the best pitching prospect in baseball being called up too. Tommy Hanson has stud written all over him. But I think the Braves sense that the NL East is there for the taking. And their minor league system is sooooooo deep, and they need a lefty starter sooooooo bad... And with Lee one year from walking away from Cleveland (which has their 2009 white flag all but ready to fly)... There just seems like a marriage there IMO, if the parties can get together.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 06:33 PM) Man Jordan Schafer.. another guy who is going to be really good. Luckally he can play anywhere in the OF. He's really been struggling and just got sent to AAA. McClouth and then the Glavine move today... interesting. Guess Atlanta is serious about competing this year to make these types of in-season adjustments. It'll be interesting to see what else is coming. I wouldn't be surprised to see them make another deal for a starting pitcher... like Cliff Lee.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 08:00 PM) He's slaying AAA, making it his b****, owning it, whatever another saying is. He has nothing left to learn in the minors. Getz, Fields and Nix are all below-average players no matter how good they can look at times (yes, very rare, but it has happened), and Gordon can be an immediate .300 in our lineup, maybe more, who knows? The big leagues have a way of humbling people though. Tribe fans felt pretty much the same about LaPorta that we feel about Beckham. But after a cup of coffee in the bigs he was sent back to AAA with his tail between his legs. So let's not set expectations so high we destine Beckham to fail.

The Sox will cut him loose. It's the right thing for both the organization and for him. There are MLB teams with injuries right now who could use an experienced backup catcher. He'll hook on with somebody. Adios Abraham Phillip Miller.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 07:52 PM) I'm sorry, but Beckham has "it". What ever "it" is, Gordon has it. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ That. I saw him in a couple of games in the AFL. His presence was obvious. He just made things happen... on the plate and on the field.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) to me, the most overrated guys on that list are LaRussa, Leyland, and Piniella(and i like Piniella). Gardenhire the most underated. Funny thing is that if you go to each of the teams fan boards you will find at least one poster who thinks everything the manager does is stupid, how they totally mismanage the team, and deserve to be fired. And in general... Twins boards are absolutely brutal on Gardenhire. Tigers boards are even worse on Leyland. (How he's senile, forgotten how to manage, who his 'love children' are, etc.) LOL. Some fans just love to hate their teams' managers.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 01:33 PM) ... STILL waiting for someone to say something with a valid point. Using other managers in comparison is NOT a valid argument. Seriously, have any of you even finished puberty? Look... you obviously don't like the guy. Fine. Don't lower yourself to insulting people just because they don't agree with you.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 01:18 PM) Don't let the fact that the division sucked in 08 HORRIBLY skew your thinking. Seriously, the only defensive cases I hear for _________ are not only irrelevant but frankly pathetic. I mean, do people like you even pay ATTENTION to the games? ________ is such an atrocious in-game manager it's ridiculous. Fill-in the blank with name of manager of your choice and you have your typical manager slam post found on practically every baseball board on the Internet. Yawn. Reality check... the team has won 90 or more games in 3 of the last 4 years. In the bottom line, it's about winning games. And Ozzie's teams consistently outperform their Pythagorean projections. So, if it makes you feel better to rag on him, knock yourself out, but don't expect to influence alot of people to your point of view.