danman31

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 01:00 PM) s***, ISU-OK St is under consideration for the ABC primetime game next Saturday. It's between them, OK-Nebraska and Kansas-Kansas State. When Oklahoma beats K-State, and if ISU beats Texas A&M and Oklahoma State beats Texas, it'd be a matchup of the two division leaders..... A man can dream. Seriously though, check this out. Who wins the north? 1. Kansas State 3-1 - @ OU, vs. KU, vs. Miz, @ Neb 2. Iowa State 2-2 - @ aTm, vs. OK St, vs. Colorado, @ Miz 3. Nebraska 1-2 - @ Bay, vs. OU, @ KU, vs. KSU, @ Colorado 4. Kansas 1-2 - @ TTU, vs. KSU, vs. Neb, @ Tex, vs. Miz 5. Colorado 1-2 - vs. Miz, vs. aTm, @ ISU, @ OkSt, vs. Neb 6. Mizzou 0-3 - @ CU, vs. Bay, @ KSU, vs. ISU, vs. KU Mizzou might very well win the North, despite being winless and in last right now. I said 5-3 was going to win it for someone. Long term, I think it's more important for Nebraska to continue to struggle because they are the only program of the 6 capable of being strong every year. Kansas is probably going to have a dropoff after Reesing and co. leave and even this year they've already lost @ Colorado. Mizzou can still have a strong year in a rebuilding year, but I don't know how realistic it is to think they can pump out 8+ win seasons every year. Like you said, it's up in the air. The first place team (K State) could easily lose out and the last place team (Mizzou) could win out.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 08:42 AM) I think the key for Mitchell will be to keep it conservative, and make sure he doesn't try to move up too quickly. Being a two sport guy, they need to resist the urge to push him too hard. Get the kid his ABs and give him the best chance to succeed at each level. Yeah, he's probably a guy that will get AFL treatment in a year or 2. Still, he's not that raw. The guy won CWS MVP and did fine at low A straight out of college. He can start at high-A. Remember Josh Fields, another 2 sport player, spent his first full season in Birmingham.

Dear most of USA, I'm sorry Mizzou couldn't make it a game for more than 5 minutes. Sincerely, A depressed Mizzou fan (We were 1 game away from the title game in '07!).

If Florida moves down because of last week, I want Alabama to be #3 this week.

They didn't give grades, it was actually a pretty blah piece. Just named best tools, which is pretty much been discussed here. They love Ryan Buch though. Best fastball they mentioned him, Taylor Thompson (91-93 sinker) and Kyle Bellamy (for sink and movement). "RHP Ryan Buch (8) was inconsistent all spring and in the summer after signing, but his fastball touched 97 mph in instructional league in short stints." And this, "Buch's curve can also be a plus pitch when he repeats his mechanics." They also said David Holmberg has a 'good feel for his change' and they called his curve a plus pitch.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 24, 2009 -> 03:09 PM) That was a huge game for both teams, as they were both 4-3 (1-2) coming into it. Indiana has games at Iowa, Wisconsin, at Penn State, and Purdue left. They'll have to win two of them just to become bowl eligible, and that will be a very difficult task. On the other hand, Northwestern is now only one win from being bowl eligible and still have Illinois on the schedule (although their other games are Wisconsin, Penn State, and at Iowa, and 6-6 doesn't automatically get you into a bowl). Exactly, but a lot of numbers based projections have a low number of bowl eligible teams this year so any big conference bowl eligible team is likely to get a bowl. The Big Ten has 7 bowls, maybe 8 if Penn State gets a 2nd BCS bid. I don't see 6 not being enough.

Northwestern came back from 28-3 down to beat Indiana 29-28. Bill Lynch coached the game away with some poor clock management. I had a chance to go to that game, oh well. Good win just because they came from way behind.

Iowa f***ING State! 9-7 over the Huskers and the North is WIDE open. 8 turnovers for Nebraska.

7 run 9th to tie for Javelinas, but they lost 8-7. Santos got the loss.

You forgot Detroit. Also, what makes you think the Thunder will be 9th? That's a big jump, even for a team with a lot of young talent unless you talking a big drop off from Phoenix.

QUOTE (CSF @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 08:43 PM) Onto news not involving the height of CJ Retherford; both he and Danks are in the lineup (2nd & 3rd respectively). And they both grounded out in their first at-bats. Still no Viciedo. Here's the live box. Currently in the 5th, both Sox guys 0-2.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 07:34 PM) The Bulls are in NBA no man's land. Good enough to make the playoffs. Not good enough to win. Not bad enough to add impact players through the draft. Unless something crazy happens and Gar Foreman and Paxson can pull a Danny Ainge, they are pretty much screwed. Isn't the upcoming free agent class supposed to be the Bulls chance for that? Isn't Derrick Rose supposed to become an impact player? I'm not saying the Bulls are set for the future, but there are opportunities for them and they just had the top pick in the draft a year ago.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 11:27 AM) If you know a fastball is coming, you can hit it as a major league baseball player, well unless your name is Josh Fields. 2 of the 3 HR gave up in AFL start 2 were hanging curves. His slider hits 90, he has sick stuff. I'm not saying he can't miss, but he's certainly more than a fastball.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 05:54 PM) Strictly on the season, Bulls beat 38-44. Barely miss playoffs. Deng is dung. Salmons barely misses the all-star game, Rose makes all-star team, people call for VDN's head, and Bulls look to dump Tyrus at least at the break. I have a hard time thinking the Bulls will have 1-2 All-Stars and not make the playoffs in the East.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 02:31 AM) I'll go for the whole thing. Tie-breaker b/w Toronto and Washington for the 8th spot. I thought it was weird to see that many teams with winning records, but your records are extremely far from possible. Every division has a combined winning record. The entire league is 206 games over .500. Take several wins from every one and you are getting closer.

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 01:01 AM) didnt know they wear the big league jerseys - why not the Peoria team jersey? Yeah, that's interesting. Probably to make it easier for fans and scouts. The atmosphere sounded like a weekday college game, very weird for pros, even if it is fall ball.

Luol Deng has a solid season, making up for the loss of Ben Gordon and the Bulls finish around .500 to get in the playoffs.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Oct 22, 2009 -> 01:12 AM) I think many people will have to turn the closed captioning on their tv's. I don't think CC technology is that good yet. I'm gonna have to fire up the DVR for this s***. Gonna be hilarious.

The connection not being made here is that BABIP itself will correlate to average, but the predictor is batted ball data. If a guy has a high line drive rate and a low batting average, you could say he will bounce back next year.

FutureSox AFL Update

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 04:21 PM) I'd rather look a little more in-depth in to his numbers because career numbers can be skewed by 100 ab's at too low of a level. When he's played a good chunk of a season, he's done so in: 2005, 2006, and 2009. In 2007 he was up in teh bigs for 1/2 a season at age 23 and hit .229. 2005, 21 year old in high-A, .370 OBP, .286 batting. 2006, 22 year old in AA, .346 OBP, .278 batting. 2009, 25 year old in AAA, .370 OBP, .300 batting. He started off being kinda young at every level, got an early callup but didn't do all that much, and spent 2008 hurt. A big issue appears to be strikeouts (sounds familiar). He appears to average right around 1 walk/10 PA's, which is pretty good, but he strikes out 2 times every 10 PA's or so. Full season his numbers would average 100-120 K's if they held steady from the minors to the bigs. Pods k'd 74 times last year in 537 AB's, in the weak PCL De Aza K'd 53 times in 267 AB's. He puts the ball in play a little more and he could be a solid player. Those K's will kill his OBP in the bigs though if he can't do that. I'm not saying he will have a .360 OBP in the Majors, but if injury problems got in the way of development he could be a .330-.340 OBP guy which would make him a damn good utility guy.

I split this from the AFL thread to keep that thread a little cleaner and neater. Continue arguing over which utility 2nd baseman you want starting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 03:56 PM) If the guy can catch a baseball, run the bases, hit for an OK average, and bunt people over, he can be the 5th OF on my Sox team as far as I am concerned. I don't know about the bunting, but it seems pretty reasonable he can do the rest. He has a .362 career OBP in the minors. He could be Scott Podsednik with defense minus some of the bat.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 03:42 PM) 2010 De Aza = 2008 Quentin??? That would be saaWEET!! For Quentin the Sox gave up a top prospect (Chris Carter) who is still regarded as one. De Aza was free. Consider that.

There's some ability here. This is a lot like the Nix move from a year ago.