Edgy MD

Tommy Hanson: Concussion, Probable for start of season Arodys Vizcaino: Elbow, Out until at least late March Tim Hudson: Back, Out until at least late April Peter Moylan: Shoulder, Out until at least early May You hate to root for injuries, but that looks like a real pinch in the pitching staff.

The Phillies are suddenly not only good like the Yankees, and expensive like the Yankees, but really old like the Yankees. Anyhow, Dontrelle Willis won't be adding to those years this season, as he was released this morning.

Hey! Guess who has a really awful theme song? hw2HtRQ2U8Y Points for going for the "Miami sound"? I guess. If you like that sort of thing.

The Phillies have enough pitching to make the playoffs with a below-average offense. We kind of need Thome to not only go down, but to land on Halladay when he does.

metirish wrote: The worst of the worst..... http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=P5Te and the best http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=axMR Pretty funny to see Tony Armas, Jr. among the worst hitters. What would his dad say?

Not really. I mean, hopefully more of a crackdown than a meltdown, but yeah. You don't need the backups to play as well as the frontups, but it's not too much to ask either group to execute like professionals.

Francisco: 9.00 ERA Rauch: 10.80 ERA Ramirez: 9.82 ERA Byrdak: Hurt and Likely Bruised. Bullpen Overhall: Not Looking Good So Far.

Can't drive home from the bowling alley.

Now 9-0. Forfeit score. Can't anybody here flay this game?

Baseball would be a far more interesting game with 16-man rosters. Specialization allows people only to be exposed in doing what they're best at. It makes players less human and less relatable, and makes the game far too tedious in the reflexive substitution of players to protect them from doing what they don't excel at and do all the time. It's part of what makes extra-inning games so interesting. As the bench grows thinner, players are pulled out of their comfort zones. The portly redheaded pinchhitter has to play the outfield, the last reliever has to throw five innings instead of one or two, the LOOGy is suddenly up at the plate with this unfamiliar stick in his hand, and the backup catcher is warming in the pen. It's good stuff, if they're not bunting every third batter.

Tigers on the maul, up 4-0 in the third. OE: 5-0 on an error by Murphy. Time for Terry to late these guys know that they are the change they long for.

I'm a little confused. When the notion was introduced that BABiP was highly variable, it was made clear that this was highly true of pitchers, but hardly so of batters. Ergo, Rey Ord��ez and Tony Gwynn could consistently put the ball in play at similar rates but consistently have very different results. It seems that the adherence to this notion is fading. Tejada, to his credit, was pretty consistently hitting the ball on the nose last year, and not merely finding the hole with poorly struck grounders. (That's my impression, anywick, and I'm bracing for somebody to slap down his line drive rate to show me different.)

You're encouraged to get good at the skills that are going to get you to the bigs. If you're a pitcher who spends a lot time in the cage and taking extra batting practice, maybe your coach will say, "There's a guy willing to do any small thing to help his team win --- maybe I can even get him some at-bats on days when he's not pitching." But I think it's far more likely that he'd say, "There's a guy who's demonstrably not committed to working on his talent because he'd rather spend his time putzing around in the cage." And I think the manager who is finding at-bats for his A-Level pitchers on their days off will be viewed askance by the organization, who'll think he's somehow not committed to their program, subverting the organization by working their players on the development track (hitting) which the scouts and brass in their wisdom decided was not for them, while taking at-bats from players the organization has decided should be advancing as batters. Hard to go against the culture of the organization or the industry and stay alive. I'm sure we all see it in our work.

I guess it's two more counting Bobby Valentine and Terry Collins. That's great work. We could add to it with a roster of ex-Mets who've played in Korea and/or China.

Jackson, cfBoesch, rfCabrera, 3b Fielder, 1bYoung, dhAvila, cPeralta, ss Raburn, 2bDirks, lf Verlander, spTorres, cfMurphy, 2bBay, lfDavis, 1bDuda, rfSatin, 3bThole, cJohnson, dhCede�o, ss Santana, sp I lied about that Tiger lineup. Santiago, ssInge, 2bThomas, cfFielder, 1bYoung, lfAvila, cDirks dh,Worth, 3bBerry, rf Porcello, spTorres, cfMurphy, 2bBay, lfDavis, 1bDuda, rfSatin, 3bThole, cJohnson, dhCede�o, ss Santana, sp The Bengals are 9-1 this spring, the Mets 3-8.

Cede�o back. Tejada not in lineup, but taking infield practice. Number one starters locking up. Jackson, cfBoesch, rfCabrera, 3b Fielder, 1bYoung, dhAvila, cPeralta, ss Raburn, 2bDirks, lf Verlander, spTorres, cfMurphy, 2bBay, lfDavis, 1bDuda, rfSatin, 3bThole, cJohnson, dhCede�o, ss Santana, sp Mets going pretty much first string where they're healthy enough to do so.

Rusty Staub likely would have made the Hall of Fame given the chance to spend 1981-1983 on an American League team.

Centerfield Depth Chart Andres Torres [crossout]Scott Hairston[/crossout] Adam Loewen Jason Bay [crossout]Kirk Neiuwenheis[/crossout] Mike Baxter Ronny Cede�o Matt Den Dekker Raul Reyes Lorenzo Scott Mookie Wilson <--- New Guy, just arrived at camp today Jonathan Malo Darrell Ceciliani Sean Ratliff Mike Piazza Nancy Pelosi Nelson Mandela That guy in your office who walks kind of funny Snooki Vic Sage

Well, if a key to this happening is the alleged advocacy of the MLBPA, shouldn't the reality of the salary impact be a big deal?

His walk rate was .076. The previous year, it was .083. I like the sound of that music.

Edgy DC wrote: If the union position is that the DH means more $$ for players, it just doesn't hold up.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Wright says he "primarily simulated baseball movements" So... he pretended to pretend to play baseball? Why should he be any different?

Wright says he "primarily simulated baseball movements" in the gym with trainers yesterday. Sounds pretty close to... resuming baseball activities.

If the union position is that the DH means more $$ for players, it just doesn't hold up. Last year the typical American League team outspent it's typical National League counterpart, on average, $85,987,839 to $80,038,371. But that was with two market setting NL teams sitting out the offseason and under existential threats. The National League team actually had the higher median total salary, $86,250,012.50 to $85,707,319.