Vic Sage

the sinking feeling it gives me is to realize we lost Rottblatt, Valadius and Zvon, but we still have Steve Rogers and Cleon/Ashie. not a good trend for the Pool.

Gwreck wrote: I make no secret of my dislike for Bay but I think it's a defensible choice to leave him off in favor of Pridie: Bay's WAR: 0.6 Pridie's WAR: 0.6 okay, but even if you're going just by WAR, Hairston had 0.2, as did Pagan. So i don't think you were going just on WAR. I think you should just acknowledge that your inclusion of both Hairston and Pridie over Bay was simply a matter of your anger at Bay for his continued falling short of expectations and sucking up contract resources, and not really based on an objective assessment of which OFers contributed most to the Mets this year. And that's your prerogative, of course, but you should expect to be called on it.

HR grab, HR snatch, HR steal or if you like alliteration: homer haul-in, homer heist

well ok then. thanks for correcting the data. i think my point is still valid.

Gwreck wrote: Beltran Duda Hairston Pagan Pridie Pridie over Bay? Really? Isn't that just flaunting an agenda in the face of reality? Are you seriously suggesting that Pridie contributed more to the Mets OF this year, with his .390 OPS and 17TB in 200+ PA, then Bay did with a .700+OPS, 166TB in 500+PA? Even factoring in superior defense, there is no reasonable argument for either Pridie (OR Hairston for that matter) over Bay, except your pre-season expectations and the size of Bay's contract, neither of which have anything to do with assessing his actual production. Look, i'm not a Bay fan, and i'm disappointed in him, too, but this is an exercise in which we should all be using our own best judgment, not just beating dead horses.

Beltran Bay Pagan Duda Harris

Reyes Murphy Wright Turner Tejada (ranked in "total base" order, as it turns out, though that wasn't my initial intention)

Howard the Duck! and Ralph Bakshi's animated LORD OF THE RINGS... it ends right in the middle of the story, putting off the conclusion to a sequel that never got made.

F-Rod Acosta Beato Izzy Parnell

there were 3 hitters and 2 pitchers who played enough to make this list. As to their order: 1 - Duda Duda's overall offensive impact was more significant, imo, than Gee's IP. 2 - Gee Gee gets the 2nd slot over Turner's multi-positional mediocrity. 3 - Turner He carried the team early on (explaining his schaefer points) but faded after thumb injury; he was still a useful player overall. 4 - Beato up and down, but he showed flashes. 5 - Pridie well, he showed up.

Ceetar wrote: Dickey Capuano Pelfrey Niese Gee My vote was heavily swayed towards IP. The best thing some of these guys did was keep Misch off the board. I would agree in principal, that IP matters, but when the guy giving you those innings is also the worst starter on the staff by any statistical measurement you want to make, then you have to adjust, it seems to me. Yes, Pelf had more IP than Niese or Gee (Niese got hurt and Gee came up late), but not THAT much more (about 6 more starts, at average of just under 6 IP per start) and he was significantly worse during those innings than either of those guys, any way you look at it.

i think slots 1 & 5 are pretty clear; Dickey was the best SP we had this year, by just about any meaningful measure, and Pelfrey was the worst REGULAR starter. If, instead, you listed a guy in the 5th slot who had only a handful of starts because Pelfrey was just so awful, that's certainly your prerogative, but by that measure, I was the Mets' 5th best SPer, because i did way less damage than Pelfrey too. 2,3 and 4 are Capuano, Niese and Gee in some order, each of which is justifiable in one way or another. Niese had the best ERA and K/rate, but the highest WHIP. He started strong and weakened in the 2nd half before getting hurt. Gee was similar, starting strong and weakening, but with a better W-L record (for whatever that's worth), slightly better WHIP, tiny bit weaker ERA. He was harder to hit than Niese, but gave up more walks and had the worst K/rate and BB/K ratio. Capuano has the best WHIP, best k/rate and BB/K ratio, more IP and starts, though a slightly weaker ERA. I guess i'd go with Capuano, based on his ratios and his IP, and overall importance to the rotation, with Niese and Gee a toss-up, but i'll lean to Niese because of his superior ratios. I don't think Gee showed the kind of dominant stuff Niese did on occasion, and the stats bear that out. Gee was effective in spots, but his W-L was, IMO, was a function of randomness rather than ability. 1) DICKEY 2) CAPUANO 3) NIESE 4) GEE 5) PELFREY

i thought it was Okay, not great. i don't remember what my reservations/disappointments were exactly. Philip K Dick feature film adaptations to date: 2012 Total Recall (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale") (remake, currently filming) 2011 The Adjustment Bureau (short story "Adjustment Team") 2010 Radio Free Albemuth (novel) 2007 Next (novel "The Golden Man") 2006 A Scanner Darkly (novel) 2003 Paycheck (short story) 2002 Minority Report (short story) 2001 Impostor (short story) 1995 Screamers (short story "Second Variety") 1992 Barjo (novel, "Confessions of a Crap Artist") {French} 1990 Total Recall (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale") 1982 Blade Runner (novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?") Top Tier: BLADERUNNER TOTAL RECALL MINORITY REPORT 2nd Tier: ADJUSTMENT BUREAU A SCANNER DARKLY SCREAMERS IMPOSTER Bottom Tier: PAYCHECK NEXT RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH BARJO

Yeah! I'm not sure why the author of this poll even included it as an option when it is so unequivocally wrong sorry Monk, but you just don't have WP's panache.

bay and burnett are similar in age and contracts, but as has been said, there are values in Bay (on defense, vs LHP, as a baserunner) that, while surely not worth the price, contribute something to a team. But a pitcher who can't be relied on to get out of the 3rd inning? A mop-up guy/spot starter, middle-inning guy at best, but likely not even that. Pass.

Edgy DC wrote: Two forumites gave it a 10? Really? I mean, Citizen Kane, The Battleship Potemkin, Ran, and Moneyball? I liked it plenty, but I'm not about to go knocking on my neighbor's doors to tell them they've got to go see it. this. i remember a typically vitriolic exchange with willets about grading movies, especially recent movies, with such unequivocally high ratings. Ah, WP. a nemesis to remember.

the last video game i played was PONG, but i liked it. i think it depends on your affection for Michael Serra. i like his film persona. others hate him.

the only thing i would root for Texas to do is detach itself and sink into the gulf.

here's a reprint from a post i made at the old forum, after a yankee playoff loss (i forget against whom): to those who don't understand a Mets fan's joy in this Yankee loss... It is a blow against The Ubermensch. It is a strike back against the lockstep, jackbooted minions of the machine, pouring money into a bottomless, soulless maw while turning the crank that says, "win"... just "win", and nothing else will do. It is a victory for those who find nobility in the struggle alone, knowing ultimate victory is an illusion, out of one's control, except for the effort required to be ready should it come. It allows me to walk down the street now, without having to hear how the Yankees showed heart, and grit, and determination, in their miraculous 9th inning comebacks. As if they were somehow UNDERDOGS. If another franchise had managed those 2 consecutive 9th inning comebacks, they'd have a right to crow about it, whether they won the series or not. Great accomplishment, after all. But when your team's entire persona, raison d'etre, etc. is based ENTIRELY on how many "rings" they've got... well, the irony is Yankee fans will be loathe to mention those 2 comebacks because ULTIMATELY, the Yankees lost. And that is simply unacceptable in the land of Monument Park. Now, if you're a Red Sox fan, you can champion Fisk's homer as a moment of greatness, despite having dropped the `75 series to the Reds. Cuz Sox fans have learned, if nothing else, how to find value in baseball ASIDE from winning and losing. No Yankee fan can understand that idea. No Yankee fan can understand the sheer joy of being a true underdog, and fighting against enumerable odds to persevere. After all, what kind of personal character does it take to root for an indomitable winner? Where is the ennobling and humbling forge of loss in their lives? Yankee fans will never know the spiritual bliss of slaying a dragon. Because they cheer for the dragon. and today, the dragon is dead. and there shall be much rejoicing throughout the land. and i feel sorry for those who don't understand it.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I think Boomer & Carton is the best show they've had since M&MD broke up. Boomer is a rare ex-jock superstar who doesn't come off as a douche, an idiot, or a bore. You can tell he's proud of his achievements but can still take a joke. Carton is a bit of a third-rate Howard Stern but mostly harmless and plays well as the regular guy to Boomer's jock. Their show is really awful when it's just Carton, so there's something to the chemistry. Francessa is a bore most of the time anymore. This Albequerque call is the first interesting thing that's happened on his show all year. i like Boomer ok, but Carton is the single worst human being on radio. He actually drove me away from FAN in the morning. Not even Imus was able to do that till then. He is a living insult to all the other inarticulate, boorish, sexist, jock-sniffing triangle players in the world. i don't get the tolerance for him from people i otherwise respect.

The bard is dead (his liver finally exploded from an overdose of mead), but i'll step up for him, in his memory.

as someone who greeted the news of WFAN's inception as tidings of great joy, who waited up to listen to the first FAN broadcast (steve somers came on at midnight; i'm pretty sure that was their first broadcast), and who lived with it for all its ups and downs (including the a-hole from cleveland), i finally gave up on the network a few years ago, when Imus left and that schmuck Craig Carton made mornings unlistenable and Fatscessa lost his Mad Dog partner in the afternoons, who served to bite his ankle on occasion. i still listen to Mets games once in a while, but that's it. I'll listen to Mike & Mike in the morning on ESPN... not that they're brilliant, but they are both decent unloathsome creatures which is all one can even hope for anymore. And i just stay away from ALL sportstalk the rest of the day. There is just so much other sports news to access that its just not necessary to put up with the idiot callers and cretinous hosts any more. And my life is the better for it.

in a pinch, you could probably use that head as a flotation device.

But if Terry gets hit by a bus and Riggleman is promoted to manager, I'll have some concerns. i continue to have concerns if that bus doesn't show up.

patrick flood's humorous prognostications for 2012: http://www.patrickfloodblog.com/2011/10/05/things-that-will-happen-in-the-next-year/