Benjamin Grimm

The article confused me... no mention, at all (!?!) of Derek Jeter??

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Rubin is destroying Ollie on his blog. Killing him! ="Adam Rubin"]"I only threw like six innings in 19 days, that's not easy coming back here because I'm behind these guys," Perez said. "They have more than 15 innings. I have two more starts and I have to prepare and get ready." Right, because who could've expected a $36 million pitcher to be responsible enough to make sure he got in enough work without Jerry and Warthen having to babysit him?

I just realized, now that spring training is almost over, I've been paying very little attention. And I still don't feel any tingle of anticipation about the season getting started. Am I losing interest? I don't think so, but I guess I'll find out over the next few months.

I'm sorry they didn't sign somebody better.

Caesar's Club sounds like a salad. Or maybe a sandwich.

This should be the "Too Much Information" thread.

Or this one:

I remember Flender! Actually, I think the first name is "Julio."

Wait... hasn't he already been "vindicated?"

Jeremy Reed, fielding a single in right, lets it past him and the batter gets four bases. (I guess that makes it a three-base error.) SEVEN-nothing Astros in the 5th.

Pelfrey's having a rough fifth. He just gave up a bases-loaded double. It's 5-0 now and Feliciano is replacing Pelfrey.

="metirish":uvg678hi]Wow , I'm not so sure Rodriguez is suited for the unique pressure of playing in NY.[/quote:uvg678hi] Playing in the same city as Derek Jeter should make things easier for him. And it will make his food taste better too.

I guess I'm the only one watching this on the MLB Network, and I'm barely paying attention, but Pudge Rodriguez just homered off Pelfrey. It was a solo shot. Astros lead the Mets 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth. The Astros announcers report that Hall-of-Famer George Kell has died.

He's right. There should be more four-out saves, not fewer. If the situation calls for your best reliever to get you out of a jam with two outs in the eighth, then you should absolutely use him.

="smg58":3i5xg2vu]Could somebody explain to me why you're more likely to get hurt in a WBC game than in a spring training game?[/quote:3i5xg2vu] The theory is that, in a game that "counts" the player is more likely to push himself than in a spring training exhibition game. metsmarathon Mar 23 2009 02:16 PM ="G-Fafif"]]"There is a time in life to put the best interests of the game ahead of your provincial, self-interests." I get the good of the country, good of the team, good of the game, et al, but I'm a baseball fan because I have provincial self-interest in baseball. Anything left over after that stems from the provincial self-interest. Bud's overseen some positive developments in his job. But he gets on my nerves. but that statement is not spoken to you, the fan. it is spoken to the owners, who bud feels should look at the bigger picture - widening the scope and draw of major league baseball - which is intended to increase business and revenues for the league, and all teams. the health of the league as a whole should be in the interest of each owner. incur a slight risk this year in exchange for a greater reward in subsequent years. metsmarathon Mar 23 2009 02:18 PM ="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":2z0lbidl]="metsmarathon":2z0lbidl]i'm surprised nobody (to my knowledge) has looked at how the participants in the last WBC fared in-season vs their prior and subsequent years. i mean, there's all this hullabaloo about how the WBC simply sheds the players in it, and how its gotta be just awful for them, and how much it surely will ruin their season and the hopes of their paying fans. yet there's been no objective attempt that i've seen to prove or disprove it.[/quote:2z0lbidl] A little more follow-up on the question, courtesy of the Times' Dan Rosencheck/PECOTA. (In brief: over an admittedly tiny sample size-- we'll have better numbers after this year, naturally-- pitchers seem to deteriorate a bit, while hitters seem to show a marginal increase in giddy-up.) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/sports/baseball/22score.html?_r=2&sq="Nate%20Silver"%20AND%20"World%20Baseball%20Classic"&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1237825385-LcX8RqYR39YBg+bH8EnSYw[/quote:2z0lbidl] i read that too. the one thing that it skipped over was how did pecota do for those players in other year, or how did pecota do for other players in the wbc year? does pecota tend to undervalue hitters and overvalue pitchers? probably not, on the whole, but the article left it unsaid. metirish Mar 23 2009 02:19 PM One day when the WBC is a big deal and MLB Network is the exclusive carrier the owners will love it. Edgy DC Mar 23 2009 02:22 PM All that about Johnson is true. Plus add to this ="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":o8pqbeb3]He was let go in Baltimore because Angelos disliked him personally, not because he was ineffective-- despite early exits, his Orioles made the playoffs in both years he managed them, and he took the AL Manager of the Year award the day he was fired.[/quote:o8pqbeb3] the fact that his Orioles were screwed over as the eventual World Series champs and their Beacon benefited from cheating. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Mar 23 2009 02:44 PM The really oversimplified answer is that PECOTA relies on fitting a given player's past stats to the performance of comparables (fetched using the Bill James concept of similarity scores); it then bases the future perf forecast on the historical performance of these comparables (like a "prediction of best fit"). [it's the current statistical crux of Baseball Prospectus' annual season previews-- damn good, oughta-be-required reading.] It tends to be a bit conservative-- wins aren't nearly as evenly distributed as its models predict-- but generally VERY good at predicting both individual and team-- via guessing at depth chart/playing time for the coming year-- performance (for instance, forecasting the Rays' rise last year, minus a handful of wins). Not only that, but the margin of error-- which was best last year among major projection systems like Marcel, CHONE and Vlad (and Vegas betting odds)-- has decreased steadily in every year between its inception in 2003 and today. In short, I heart PECOTA. metsmarathon Mar 23 2009 03:04 PM oh, i do too. but as far as using it to compare the WBC participants expected outcomes versus their actual outcomes leaves me wanting a control group.

="Edgy DC":1kgsf6wz]He's the pitchman for Jae Rock Lee, and he don't need anybody to show him how that's done.[/quote:1kgsf6wz] A featured classic: http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/4000/f1_t4071.shtml Edgy DC Mar 23 2009 12:22 PM Wright passed the two-year mark without jumping on Oprah's couch. At least, you know, not on camera. Edgy DC Mar 26 2009 10:18 PM Allen Barra trying to cope with reality. Trying and failing. http://www.observer.com/2009/time-honesty-about-great-derek-jeter#comment_form dinosaur jesus Mar 26 2009 11:25 PM "Let�s go ahead and say it: no major league team has ever won a pennant with a 35-year-old shortstop." Feel free to say it, but that won't make it true. Major league teams that have won a pennant with a 35-year-old shortstop: Giants, 1905 (Bill Dahlen, 35) White Sox, 1906 (George Davis, 35) Pirates, 1909 (Honus Wagner, 35) Cardinals, 1928 (Rabbit Maranville, 36) Tigers, 1945 (Skeeter Webb, 35) Yankees, 1952 (Phil Rizzuto, 35) Yankees, 1953 (Phil Rizzuto, 36) Dodgers, 1955 (Pee Wee Reese, 36) Dodgers, 1956 (Pee Wee Reese, 37) Braves, 1999 (Walt Weiss, 35, splitting time with Ozzie Guillen, 35) Edgy DC Mar 26 2009 11:50 PM I came up with Rizzuto, Rizzuto, Wagner, and Weiss. Good job. Please send. The problem isn't so much being 35, as that 35 will force you to confront what should have been addressed years ago. You've been oversold. Thing is that he's been an excellent pleyer. G-Fafif Mar 27 2009 05:29 AM Boy, how I'd love to not see Walt Weiss on that list. ]Unfortunately, sportswriters outside New York Jeter may need a bit more. Most baseball analysts I know agree that Jeter should or could have won MVP awards in 1998, 1999, and 2006. That he didn�t probably reflects the rest of the country�s resentment that New York players receive so much national attention (or at any rate, are said to). Yes, it was all anti-New York bias, not the possibility that Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez and Joe Mauer helped push less loaded teams over the top and got credit for their accomplishments therein. How come "baseball analysts" are absolutely brilliant and "sportswriters" are a bunch of dumb clucks? Jeter doesn't get enough appreciation from sportswriters? On what planet? Edgy DC Mar 27 2009 06:48 AM Yeah, it's mainstream bias. I've got friends from Pittsburgh and Milwaukee who believed all that intangible shit. And then I schoolded 'em. If the US won the World Baseball Classic, Jeter would have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

I agree. It's just nuts.

I can't remember... which team paid him the $8 million to not pitch in 2008?

See, hanging out with Jeter has been good for David.

="OlerudOwned":2sy2hrv6]Her shows on Nickelodeon were insipid, even for kids shows.[/quote:2sy2hrv6] Yeah. I could tell they were grooming her to be the next Carol Burnett, but her talent wasn't equal to the task. Fman99 Mar 22 2009 02:15 PM ="seawolf17"]Who's looking at her boots? I was. Oh, wait, that said boots. Nevermind. PS I'd do everything to her. Ruined! metsmarathon Mar 22 2009 02:48 PM i dunno.. amanda bynes never really did anything for me... she's just too damned twig-like. metsguyinmichigan Mar 22 2009 02:49 PM Just got back from taking my son and his two buddies to see "Watchman." I'm agreeing with Murphy. GYC Mar 22 2009 09:11 PM This is making me develop a man crush on Murphy.

Not me. That won't happen until I actually see that I'll be able to go a couple of times per year. I don't have any bad feelings about the place, but I also don't have any connection to it either. At least, not yet.

I wonder, though, how does "The Lord of the Rings" change anybody's life?

My first thought: But she's just a kid! But I looked it up and Amanda will be 23 in a couple of weeks. So she's an appropriate age for Daniel Murphy. To me, she IS a kid. But so is Daniel Murphy. (She is awfully cute though.)

I'm having doubts as to whether I'll get there in 2009. I just pretended to be a ticket buyer for seats for a weekend game in May. No Promenade seats seem to be available. They instead redirect me to 100 level seats in left field, which seem okay, and at not-too-awful a price. But That's six weeks from now. My standard approach has been to wait until three or four days before to buy tickets. (I want to see what the weather will be.) I don't think I'll have that luxury anymore.

I just don't get it. Why is he so deified?