iamshack

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 11:36 PM) Yeah the same guy who cried about the coin toss after the Twins lost the game. He is definitely a great professional. After all, being a sore loser is what it's all about. Right, because a f***ing coin toss is a great solution to determine which team gets home field advantage in the event of a tie. I can't imagine that has anything to do with why they changed that as the solution though.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 10, 2010 -> 06:54 AM) What I found facinating was that I thought Kristin Davis looked the best out of all the women in that movie, and shes the oldest. Why, again, do you find this fascinating?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 10, 2010 -> 07:52 AM) CST is just the hardest resistance workout. Plyo and possibly core syn are the other two toughies. Plyo takes the cake of all of them though. If anyone wants to start the program, I give them Plyo and tell them that if they can do half of it, they are golden. I had a friend who couldnt make it through the prayer sqauts. I think the first time I did it I made it til about the 32 minute mark. But if you are relatively athletic and not incredibly out of shape, the first week you make such incredible strides. I finished it the second week.

I'd be interested to see their saves broken down by what their team's run lead was when they came into the game. My guess is Nathan's opportunities have been tighter than Rivera's. Just a guess though.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 11:46 PM) just finished my week 10 CST. actually went a lot better - was able to up a lot of weight, and did - wait for it - 10 one armed pushups. Now granted i didn't go low at ALL and my arm was way out in front - basically an easiest of easy version (if there is such a thing) but nonetheless! and i will say that i LOVE the punches at the end, i can just see the veins in my shoulders/arms bulging with rippling muscley power. haha When are you going to start doing the airborne pushups, Reddy?

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 09:59 PM) We had a poster here who broke the Wilder scandal before it was made public. This poster claimed to be a newly hired player development person for the Sox, and he pointed to Silverio as one of the frauds Wilder orchestrated. I don't think he ever named Silverio specifically, but I believe he referred to Silverio by mocking the Phil Rogers hype that came out immediately after the kid was signed. I'm not sure if anyone knows whether this poster was 100% legit or not, but if not, he obviously had better sources than anyone I've ever seen post here, because he knew about something really big going on behind the scenes which your Joe Cowleys and Mark Gonzales' and so forth don't get into, and when he talked he certainly sounded like a scout. So whoever this person is/was, him talking about Silverio being a fraud shouldn't just be taken with a grain of salt IMO. I haven't seen a confirmation one way or the other on Silverio, but I'm personally not going to consider him a prospect until he proves he's a prospect. Even for his age, Silverio statistically has been a disaster when you consider the amount the Sox signed him for ($600K IIRC). I mean if you can only hit DSL pitching then you damn sure don't deserve $600K. That's big f***ing money for a prospect. I don't think it took someone in player development to tell that Rogers was nuts in his excitement about Silverio.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 10:00 PM) Why was this player never given a chance? He was in our system for a short while. Maybe someone here knows more about him... ...but from what I can tell, he hit well at every level but just hasnt gotten had a chance in the bigs. Lefty DH. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/M/Brian-Myrow.shtml Well, at 33, he should hit pretty well in the minor leagues.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 10:43 PM) LOL WTF -SILENCE- Q don't need no stinkin' walk-up music.

QUOTE (Tex @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 10:30 PM) I would just like to mention one thing. A friend of mine, + or - 50 by a couple three years just retired. He never earned more than $60,000 per year, never spent more than $25,000. That's right, he saved over *half* of his income every year. I will be working at least another 15 years to retire on less than he has. He built a sailboat and will soon be starting a circumnavigation of this planet with his wife. I hope he is good at building sailboats.

QUOTE (Hawkfan @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 09:28 PM) I hope AJ walks out to "I'm a thug" by Trik Daddy. He should come out to Little Bastard by the Ass Ponys

And just to add to that point, Tex, Joe Nathan is an absolute professional. Tough to wish ill-will on a guy that competes as hard and as well as he does.

I'm not as adept at these WAR figures as you guys are by any means, but I really can't stress enough that the true value in these closers is their stabilizing effect (or put more accurately, the DE-stabilizing effect an injury to one of them can have) on the rest of the pen. Not only are the Twins losing Nathan's production in the closer's spot, but his absence, unless they bring in someone externally, pushes up all the other arms in their pen into higher-leverage roles. Most likely, they take a hit in WAR figures from what they would have had with each member in their normal roles had Nathan not gotten injured. So say they lose Nathan at his 1.9 WAR and substitute their 2nd best reliever who produces a .6 WAR. Their third best reliever then posts a .5 WAR as the primary setup man instead of the 1.7 they might have gotten out of their original setup man. Then their fourth best reliever posts a -.6 WAR instead of the .8 WAR their third reliever would have posted, and etc., etc. The substitution for Nathan may cost them 1-2 wins, but cumulatively, the bump at every slot may cost them a total of 5.5 wins or something...

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 09:24 PM) Haven't gotten to a "Rest week" yet, but I bet the the name is deceiving. BTW is this your 1st or 2nd time through the program? Actually, the rest week is sort of boring. Last time I hit it it corresponded with my week off from work, and so I did some bike riding to compliment it. The Core workout is definitely tough though. This is my first time through it. So I am watching you go through basically the same things I did just 6 weeks ago...

Jonah Hill seems better suited to play Jeremy Brown than Paul DePodesta.

Q is even cooler now.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 09:00 PM) Actually finished plyo this week. Granted I made several of the exercises 20 seconds long instead of 30, but definitely an improvement from last week. That rock star jump is hard as hell. I love the sports exercises at the end. They really pumped me up to finish the workout strong. And if CST is the hardest workout like you say it is Rock, then I am dreading week 5 lol Great that you finished though! Congrats! The rock star I feel is sort of counterproductive (seems like an easy way to hurt yourself), but I do it anyways. CST is brutal, but Plyo is brutal in its own right. I am on my "rest" week between phase 2 and 3. Forgot how much "fun" Core is...

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 03:23 PM) Absolutely, credit Doug Laumann. He has done well in his 2 years back in charge as director of amateur scouting. I know I'd still take Smoak over Beckham, that's how good that draft class is. Really? Smoak was brutal at AAA last year....I will be interested to see how the Rangers handle him and Davis.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 02:23 PM) I'm starting a cycle of anti-biotics, does that count? Are they made of carbon fiber?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) If that draft got a do-over, where does Gordon go? He definitely doesn't get past the Reds, that's for sure.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 09:18 AM) Even this kid raked last spring. Oh, thank goodness for the small pleasures.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 12:53 PM) All I have to do is look back to two years ago when Jenks was out for a little while to see what that can do to a bullpen. I said that this was the guy that the Twins could least afford to lose, and I am going to stick by that until someone else proves they can close like Nathan for the Twins. To further your point, even if, say Mijares steps in and produces anything close to what Nathan has, then who steps in and takes Mijares' role? And on and on and on....

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 12:36 PM) Moving one person back in the pen is what kills pitching staffs. All of a sudden your weakest guy throws more innings and the pen gets overworked putting more pressure on the starting staff tiring it out as well. Not good. But all I could think when I heard the news was YES!!!!!!!!! Absolutely. There is a cummulative effect that occurs which can increase the strain on a bullpen exponentially with just one guy going down.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 12:13 PM) I’ve always been inclined to think it’s more of a mental thing. The closers position does carry a certain reputation, and I think depending on the ballclub you play for that reputation can get to you. I think that’s the reason why guys can succeed interchangeably in the role for the A’s, but suffocate under the pressure for a team like the Yankees. Certain games matter more for certain teams. Those expectations can be tough to live up to. That's pretty much the implication I was trying to make.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 11:04 AM) Losing Nathan allows them to shift a guy like Rauch or Guerrier into the closers spot, while letting another one of their 5th starter candidates to make the team. Rauch and Guerrier are by no means Nathan-esque, but they are pitchers who can be inserted into the role and trusted to produce at least league-average results out of the closers role. Their obligation will be to usually pitch one inning a performance, my understanding has always been that one inning shouldn't be too much to ask of any pitcher. Since his shift to the bullpen Nathan has averaged 63.375 innings per year, innings that can be assumed by other members of the pen. It’s unlikely the Twins will get equivalent production, but that’s not fatal. Nathan was a great pitcher, but greatness is not a requirement for the closer’s spot. Losing Nathan might cost them a couple solid performances in the 9th, but as a rule: a closer’s job varies in it’s important on a nightly basis, often with the more important innings falling to the set-up-man. The Twins will take a hit here, but that’s not enough to rule them out of the race. I hope that didn’t’ seem like a lecture, I just needed to put the case out their without leaving anything out. I agree with you for the most part. I think the one thing you are leaving out is the possibility of whomever they initially insert into the role failing. Not saying it should happen, but for whatever reason, some guys seem to handle the responsibility better than others.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 12:01 PM) I honestly thought this thread was going to be about steroids. How do you know this isn't all code for just that?