metsmarathon

]The Marlins Maniacs are a fourth promotional team the organization has. The Maniacs are more of an energy squad that will help initiate fan interaction. For instance, they may get a "wave" started by the crowd. wow! how wacky!

slowing down is about waiting for the right pitch and swinging the bat with controlled quickness and not not swinging hard at all.

well, we also prolly wouldn't have gotten oliver perez... not sure how that fits into the whole prediction scheme.

goodness, too many of those are awful. the phillies and nationals ones, however, made me chuckle. ]PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES Pro: Would give the home fans a player they could all feel comfortable booing. Con: No con. WASHINGTON NATIONALS Pro: Won't have to travel for congressional hearings. Con: "C'mon, bro" defense already used by Paul Lo Duca. though bonds doesn't do congressional hearings...

really...?

i would suggest htat if you graphed these, sosa's jump would look much more like a step change than bernie's slope

yay, pecota updates! hitter 90% mean 10% MORP wells 5.9 1.5 -0.7 $2.23 M lohse 5.5 2.4 -0.7 $4.45 M garcia 4.9 2.5 0.0 $5.15 M ortiz 1.7 0.5 -1.8 $0.60 M milton 3.1 1.0 -2.2 $1.13 M sele 2.2 0.7 -0.5 $1.13 M lopez 4.0 1.7 -0.9 $2.88 M benitez 2.7 0.9 -0.8 $1.38 M rhodes - - - - mesa 1.2 0.5 -1.4 $0.70 M alfonseca 2.1 0.6 -0.6 $1.03 M quite the sorry bunch, and still no julio franco. shocker, no? also, no arthur rhodes card (yet).

i'm not sure if the "minor league contracts" should count the same as actually predicting a team. i'll let the group decide. i'd at least give half credit, but for today's tallying, will give full. lunchbucket is the big beneficiary of the minor league contracts, as they give him the lead! Player old new edgy cougar Grimm smg nymr sharpie DocTee mm mgim attgig 1. Armando Benitez (FLA) RP FLA TOR PHI DET CIN FLA KCR PHI CHC STL HOU 2. Kris Benson (BAL) SP BAL phi STL PHI PHI BAL PIT CIN COL WAS KCR SFG 3. Barry Bonds (SFG) LF SFG CHW WAS NYY OAK Ret TEX TEX TEX Ret OAK 4. Milton Bradley (SDP) LF SDP TEX TEX WAS BAL SDP SDP SDP SDP BAL TEX SDP 5. Mike Cameron (SDP) CF SDP MIL BOS HOU SEA MIN PHI ATL NYY MIN SDP SDP 6. Luis Castillo (NYM) 2B NYM NYM NYM NYM NYM NYM NYM NYM NYM NYM NYM SDP 7. Ramon Castro (NYM) C NYM NYM CHC NYM NYM NYM NYM COL COL COL NYM NYM 8. Roger Clemens (NYY) SP NYY Ret Ret uns Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 9. Bartolo Colon (LAA) SP LAA bos CIN LAA SFG NYM LAA WAS TEX SDP LAA NYM 10. Francisco Cordero (MIL) RP MIL CIN STL NYY MIL MIL MIL MIL MIL HOU MIL BAL 11. David Eckstein (STL) SS STL TOR STL STL CHC STL STL BAL BAL TBR STL HOU 12. Pedro Feliz (SFG) 3B SFG PHI NYY KCR SFG uns NYY MIN SFG NYY SFG PHI 13. Cliff Floyd (CHC) RF CHC TBR FLA FLA FLA uns SFG FLA Ret TBR FLA KCR 14. Josh Fogg (COL) SP COL CIN NYM CIN COL COL COL COL COL PHI COL TBR 15. Eric Gagne (BOS) RP BOS MIL NYY NYM LAD PIT NYM TEX CIN SFG LAD BAL 16. Freddy Garcia (PHI) SP PHI BAL NYM TBR KCR CLE NYM CIN ARI PHI BAL 17. Tom Glavine (NYM) SP NYM ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL ATL 18. Livan Hernandez (ARI) SP ARI MIN NYM FLA CHW WAS TEX SEA SEA LAA NYM PIT 19. Torii Hunter (MIN) CF MIN LAA ARI NYY CHC NYY NYY TEX TEX SFG TEX BAL 20. Geoff Jenkins (MIL) LF MIL PHI HOU ARI ATL SDP SFG LAD SFG ATL BAL MIL 21. Jason Jennings (HOU) SP HOU TEX MIL NYM HOU COL --- CIN NYM COL NYM ATL 22. Andruw Jones (ATL) CF ATL LAD LAD HOU SDP LAD ATL BOS CHW LAA STL MIN 23. Paul Lo Duca (NYM) C NYM WAS WAS SFG COL NYM COL CHC NYM NYM NYM COL 24. Kenny Lofton (CLE) CF CLE ATL CLE HOU ATL Ret CLE ATL LAD CLE ATL 25. Kyle Lohse (PHI) SP PHI CHC PHI PHI MIN PIT MIL PHI SEA CIN ATL 26. Kazuo Matsui (COL) 2B COL HOU COL COL COL COL SFG CHC COL CHW HOU COL 27. Andy Pettitte (NYY) SP NYY NYY PHI HOU NYY NYY NYY NYY TEX LAD NYY NYY 28. Odaliz Perez (KCR) SP KCR was SEA mnl LAD ATL NYM LAA KCR PHI KCR ARI 29. Mike Piazza (OAK) DH OAK SEA OAK LAA MIN TEX MIN LAA OAK BAL TEX 30. Jorge Posada (NYY) C NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYM NYY COL NYY NYY NYY 31. Mariano Rivera (NYY) RP NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY NYY PHI 32. JC Romero (PHI) RP PHI PHI NYM PHI NYM BOS LAD PHI SEA MIL NYY PHI 33. Alex Rodriguez (NYY) 3B NYY NYY CHC NYM LAD FLA CHC LAD CHC NYM LAA LAD 34. Aaron Rowand (PHI) CF PHI SFG PHI HOU PHI PHI CLE SDP NYY ATL CHW ATL 35. Carlos Silva (MIN) SP MIN SEA KCR NYM HOU MIN MIN NYM COL STL MIN BAL 36. Sammy Sosa (TEX) DH TEX KCR mnl uns TEX Ret TBR CHW Ret TBR TBR 37. Yorvit Torrealba (COL) C COL COL NYM COL NYM COL NYY NYM NYW NYM COL HOU 38. Steve Trachsel (BAL) SP BAL bal SDP mnl uns BAL TBR CIN COL PIT KCR ATL 39. Luis Vizcaino (NYY) RP NYY COL JAP PHI NYY TOR NYY PIT LAD SFG NYY PIT 40. Kerry Wood (CHC) RP CHC CHC LAD TEX NYY NYY CHC CHC NYM NYM CHC MIN Total Correct --- 32 7 11 7 9 6 7 3 5 10 6 8 players remain, and we all (basically) agree on one of them - clemens. that means that we have the first dropout - doctee. and it appears that i will be the next. i'm eliminated from outright victory, and can at best tie. everyone else still has a chance, i think.

as i look at the other logos, i'm starting to think that maybe the logo isn't all bad... i mean, the crossed bats, the banners, the stuffy lettering, the appearance of ornate embroidery, etc, all look kindof dated and unimaginative, old-timey and not in a good way. the wrigley logo is great, in that it has none of this. the safeco logo is good too, but looks more a product of its times. and i actually dig the tropicana logo, if only because it adheres so well to its corporate origins. and i think i like that it looks different from just about every logo that's been put out for every college, professional, and overly funded amateur sports team in the past 10-15 years. oe: petco and dodger stadium have that logo-factory look to them.

i think a more interesting logo would have used the orange to form basepaths around the diamond, with attendant bases at the corners, perhaps with the red arc positioned so as to imply the top arc of the pitchers' mound... another logo could follow the same idea of rainbow as mound, giving more of a birds-eye perspective of the diamond, with field scratched out again in the blue field with orange basepaths. or, perhaps this would be a better application of 'field' diagonally in the first base path... ? yeah... i like the idea of the last one... not sure really where to put 'field' but the whole citi-pitcher's mound -perspective view thing i like.

G-Fafif wrote: Sayeth official press release: ]The logo features Citi's own globally recognized emblem enclosed in a royal-blue diamond. Extending from one side of the diamond is an orange banner with the word "field," written in a font reminiscent of that used at the old Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. The former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers was in many ways an inspiration for the new stadium's design. Field, also written as it might appear on a sign for an Airport Parking Field, which you might find in a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. is that the right blue and orange? and, what, no black?! how will we trick the kiddies into buying stadium-logo merchandise?

baseball prospectus predicts for the players listed... (wins above replacement based on pecota weighted means) hitter 90% mean 10% MORP bonds 5.0 3.2 1.9 $6.65 M sosa 3.6 1.6 0.0 $3.00 M piazza 2.8 1.5 -0.2 $2.40 M green 3.7 2.0 -0.4 $2.75 M stewart 4.3 2.7 -0.2 $4.00 M wilson 2.0 0.9 -0.6 $0.95 M sanders 1.6 1.2 0.0 $1.80 M lofton 3.6 2.5 0.6 $3.75 M white 0.8 0.3 -0.7 $0.50 M patterson 4.4 3.3 0.8 $5.68 M klesko 3.2 1.9 0.1 $3.18 M franco - - - - baseball prospectus does not yet seem to have the pitchers' pecota cards up, nor do i know if julio franco has intentionally not been predicted, or if they just haven't gotten to him yet. based on the above, bonds, patterson, and stewart are the best free agents still out there, of those fk listed. i don't think just anybody can give you 3 warp coming out of the minors, but with twice the at bats, lastings milledge would have, fwiw. ]MORP Marginal Value Above Replacement Player, as introduced in this article. MORP is modelled based on the actual behavior of recent free agent markets, and accounts for non-linearity in the market price of baseball talent (e.g. teams are willing to pay more for one 6-win player than two 3-win players). As listed in a player's PECOTA card, a player's MORP includes the major league minimum salary of $380,000 for 2007. Further, in a player's Five-Year Forecast, we assume salary inflation of 8% per year through 2010 (EXCEPTION: a player's Peak MORP does *not* include the minimum salary or the inflation adjustment.) For 2007, a player's MORP is estimated as follows: 1200000*(WARP^1.5) + 380000

Triple Dee wrote: ="Nymr83"]why isn't Sosa a hall of famer? and if your answer is "steroids," why ARE Bonds and Clemens and who knows how many other from this era who were suspected but never caught like Sosa going to get in? I think you'll find there's a new criteria when assessing entry; "the extent to which they misled the public balanced against a guestimate of their ability without PEDs" On this criteria, Bonds is in, Clemens is 50-50 and Sosa, Palmeiro are out without looking at it, i'd say that if clemens were truly in the twilight of his career when he left boston for toronto, and had simply continued with a steady decline of very good drawing down to average starting pitcher, he'd still have put together enough of a hall of fame-y career that he didn't need the ped's to get in. to be considered one of the best ever? yep. but to get in the hall, i think he'd have a shot. basically, i don't think his career would look any worse than glavine's, and would prolly look even better. but that's without looking at it. i could be very much wrong. also... who knows how they're gonna vote for pitchers once this current crop of 300-winners and nearly 300 winners passes us by. (and clemens' greatness - albeit due to ped use - has pushed the discussion off for a few years at least) of the pitchers whose age alone does not put them way over hte hill, only pedro is a lock for the hall, and i don't know who's next. but that's a conversation for another thread, i think...

what up with fmart's bracelet thingy? that's gotta get annoying when you swing the bat... no?

i'd be much more concerned if our batters weren't able to get any hits off of any pitcher's first batting practice session.

Rockin' Doc wrote: "Thank you. I'm very happy to be here. This place seems much friendlier than the only other Mets forum I've posted to. Since it appears I'm the new acquisition for the 2009 season, you can think of me as the Johan Santana of CPF ~DDD" I guess we're not as elitist as people have accused ous of being in the past. Welcome aboard DDD, it's nice to have you with us. no, we're still elitists. we're just friendly elitists.

for his career, dunn has an ops of 0.939 at home, and 0.881 on the road. yearparkmulti-yr BPFsingle yr BPFhOPSrOPS2001CF105980.8501.0272002CF1041100.8960.8142003GABP95970.8880.7402004GABP98930.9900.9252005GABP1001031.0570.8052006GABP1041050.8640.8472007GABP1041030.9650.915 his home/road splits don't always track the park factor. in 03 and 04, when GABP played as more of a pitchers park, he still hit better there than on the road. and the huge difference between his 05 splits seem to be more an exception than the rule. but i could be wrong. or maybe he just doesn't hit better when he wakes up in a hotel...?

that's beautiful! america needs better architecture in general.

1) will we need to get 10 quality starts out of pelfrey? 2) will met fans develop a kinship with pirate fans over oliver perez's maddening penchant for inconsistency 3) how much will endy chavez get over exposed this year? 4) will either brian schneider or ramon castro command the majority of the playing time at catcher? 5) will we soon think of luis castillo only that "at least he helped us get johan...'"?

we just need to pick up that nice fellow down in atlanta... he hasn't signed long term with them yet has he? i think good hitting first basemen are often available enough that you don't really need to specifically develop one. or, rather, focus on developing one. its better to develop outfielders and infielders, and if one of them can't hack the position but has a great bat, you move him over to first. it reduces the likliehood of developing a truly outstanding fielding 1bman, but... i guess... so...?

baseball prospectus' pecota weighted mean has him at 0.265/0.344/0.471, which is a slight upgrade from last season's 0.258/0.333/0.448 it also predicts for him about 75% of the playing time, or 521 plate appearances, down from last year's 607. his runs, rbi, and hr per plate appearance are at slightly better rates than last year, though his overall predicted totals for those stats drop due to the reduction in playing time.

AG/DC wrote: I think it would be better to do it blindfolded. You're wasting focus trying to keep your eyes closed when instinct says to open them. yup

Frayed Knot wrote: Yanx moved to CBS 880 from ABC 770 a couple years back. I believe ABC still does some "minor" sports (Seton Hall hoops I think) but I'm not sure whether they'd want to blow a hole in their evening talkers' lineup (Mark Levin, Bob Grant and blondie Laura whatshername would be most affected) on an every night basis like they'd have to do for baseball. The weak signal problem was one side-effect to the Knicks/Rangers (and Jets) move to 1050. The quickly found out that there are a ton of "dead" areas where that signal doesn't carry well (the main reason why the fledgling WFAN got outta there quickly when 660 became available). That frequency now has signed up smaller stations on the east end of LI, for instance, to reach previously unreachable fans. If 1050 could prove to that they can cover a wider area they would kill to have baseball. 1050 needs to do something about that damned toronto chum station... friggin oldies is all i friggin get! um, or enlist help that i can receive in NW jersey.

i would rather it not be treated as news...

1. new york (a) 2. boston 3. atlanta 4. oakland 5. minnesota 6. st. louis 7. seattle 8. anaheim 9. houston 10. los angeles 11. chicago (a) 12. san diego 13. san francisco 14. new york (n) 15. arizona 16. toronto 17. cleveland 18. detroit 19. florida 20. chicago (n) 21. texas 22. cincinnati 23. philadelphia 24. colorado 25. milwaukee 26. baltimore 27. montreal 28. pittsburgh 29. kansas city 30. tampa bay