Vic Sage

Edgy MD wrote: Indeed. Good work. It'll certainly take a few more games to suss out, but it looks like what Terry has done is he's installed three platoons. POSvs. LHvs. RH2bFloresJohnson3bUribeMagadancfLagaresNieuwenhuis Not sure that's how I've played it, but I can't argue with this. At least for now. They'll certainly be sharing time but it doesn't have to be strictly L/R platoon, since neither Johnson nor Uribe have much of a platoon differential. It may depend more on matchups and on whose hot. Nieuhy and Legares, on the other hand, have significant differentials (as do Murphy and Duda) so that may be a more traditional platoon, at least until Captain Kirk cools off.

d'Kong76 wrote: Happy Craneiversary! I can't recall, how long have we been here? I think I started posting on the mofo in '97 or '98? Let's reminisce! A good starting point question... what year was the bleacher's meet up? Anyone still have a picture of the half-eaten hot dog? Show us the plan!!! I think that bleacher game was the same day as a staged reading of my play, which was why i couldn't join you. The reading was August 9, 2001. Also, some of you joined me some months earlier for my 40th birthday at a Brooklyn Cyclones game (Shinjo played; he was rehabbing an injury).

A great Chabon novella in the same vein... The story never actually names Holmes as the character its about, but its pretty clear.

Dozier is deserving of a slot over Altuve, but Kipness is (arguably) having the best year of any 2bman in the AL. Meanwhile Boegarts may be the best SS in the AL and he's not even on the roster, much less starting, because the KC ballot stuffing put Escobar in.

i'm just seeing how the voting correlates (or doesn't) with this year's production; i'm not advocating anything, or saying that WAR is the end all and be all of such matters. I do think the KC ballot-stuffing is the kind of thing that discredits the process.

Based on WAR, the KC ballot-stuffing resulted in Perez ©, Escobar (SS), and Gordon (LF) all starting over players having better years (Vogt, JDMartinez), and keeping better players off the ballot entirely (McCann, Boegarts). Adding insult to injury is the manager picking Herrera as a reliever over Dave Robertson. AL player that should be voted in on the final man ballot: Boegarts NL player that should be voted in on the final man ballot: Kershaw

I took a look at the WAR of each of the players chosen for the All-Star team and compared them with the top 2 WAR at each position, in each league (The first player was the one elected, the one in bold had the highest WAR, the names in italics were not selected at all): AL/C - S. Perez [1.2] / Vogt [2.6], R.Martin [2.5] (McCann [2.3]) NL/C - Posey [3.4] / Grandal [2.4], Y.Molina [1.5] (Cervelli [2.0]) AL/1B - [crossout]M.Cabrera[/crossout] [3.3] / Pujols [2.4], Fielder [1.9], Texiera [1.7] NL/1B - Goldshmidt [4.7] / Rizzo [3.7], A.Gonzalez [2.5] (Votto [2.8]) AL/2B - Altuve [2.2] / Kipness [4.8], Holt [ 2.5] (Dozier [3.1], Forsythe [2.6]) NL/2B - Gordon [2.8] / Panik [3.0], LeMahieu [1.3] (Espinosa [2.2]) AL/SS - A.Escobar [1.8] / J.Iglesias [1.6] (Boegarts [2.3], Miller [1.8]) NL/SS - Peralta [1.9]/ Crawford [2.9] (Hechavarria [ 2.2]) AL/3B - Donaldson [4.8] / Machado [4.0] NL/3B - Frazier [4.0] / Bryant [3.5], Arenado [2.9] (JTurner [3.0]) AL/OF - Trout [4.8], Cain [3.4], Gordon [2.9] / JDMartinez [3.5], A.Jones [2.5] (Kiermeier [3.1]) NL/OF - Harper [5.6][crossout], Stanton [3.8][/crossout] McCutcheon [3.3], Holliday [1.1] / Pederson [3.2], Pollack [3.2], Upton [1.9] (Blackmon [2.6]) AL/DH - Bautista [2.6] (Betts [2.9], Cespedes [2.8]) NL/DH - (JTurner [3.0], Votto [2.8], Blackmon [2.6]) AL/SP - Sale [3.7], Archer [3.4], Keuchel [3.2], Price [3.0], Gray [3.0], Felix hernandez [1.9] (Kluber [3.5], Bucholz [3.1]) NL/SP - Sherzer[ 4.7], Burnett [2.9], Grienke [2.8], Cole [2.7], deGrom [2.7], S.Miller [2.2], Bumgarner [2.1], Wacha [2.0] (Kershaw [3.1], Arrieta [2.9], Cueto [2.6]) AL/RP - Betances [1.8], Perkins [1.1], Britton [1.1], W.Davis [1.1], O'Day [0.6], K.Herrera [0.4], Boxberger [0.3] (Robertson [1.2], C.Allen [1.2], Osuna [1.2]) NL/RP - Chapman [1.4], Rosenthal [1.2], F-Rod [0.7], Papelbon [0.5], Melancon [0.5] (Ramos [1.2], Grilli [1.1], Storen [1.0], Famiglia [0.6], Kimbrel [0.6])

we are in an era of run scarcity, post-'roids. Each run, therefore, is worth more, just as they were in the old-timey "small ball" era when 1-run strategies were developed. So, while i've never been a big fan of giving up outs or giving away ABs, those type of strategies are at least justifiable now. And it's a particularly valuable approach when you have a dominant pitching staff, where 1 or 2 runs can win a game. A team without power can't passively wait for an XBH in order to have a "big inning". So "eh" on your "eh", and i raise you an "eh."

in that order? yuck!

Lefty Specialist wrote: No Conforto. He's still adjusting to AA pitching. Simply not ready yet. he's got a .964 OPS in AA over 100 ABs and is going to the all-star game. I wish our current outfielders were so unready.

Oh by the way now that we've named Tejada the starting shortstop his game is back in the shitter. 6 for his last 40 shocking. lets see Comforto. He dominated in A ball, and now in AA. He spent his low minor years in college. Lets get him up here.

So far this season, Starlin Castro is the lowest ranked SS in the NL based on WAR and next to last in all of baseball (Flores is at +0.9 WAR; Castro is at -0.4). Plus, he reportedly has some dog in him, and isn't exactly beloved. So no thanks on Castro.

Lefty Specialist wrote: If only we could have hacked into Adam Wainwright's arm. if only we could have hacked it off.

The official scorer giveth, and Thor taketh away.

He's the DeGrominator!

depends on the 9-year old, but i'd say generally no. Intense, gory violence.

Cash? Oh, that's a player the Wilpons have been trying to get for a while now.

i had hopes for Kirk as a platoon OF/PH guy who could help on occasion. I agree that his boom/bust hitting style is probably not ideal for a bench player, but he didn't walk enough to be a "3 true outcomes" Rob Deer-type OFer, so he didn't deserve regular ABs. I wish him well in Disney Land.

Really? Nobody has seen this?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Ceetar wrote: Centerfield wrote: He cannot. I stopped arguing with him last winter when he refused to acknowledge that having the ability to spend more on payroll is an advantage for a team. I only argue to pass the time. I used to debate but you guys rarely respond with facts or logic so it never works. THIS!!

actually i didn't mean ROAD WARRIOR II, I meant MAD MAX II: THE ROAD WARRIOR.

Saw the sneak last night. I was dreading this retread of one of my favorite film series, but George Miller rediscovered the energy and intensity of ROAD WARRIOR II and electrified it with a hot shot of adrenalin and steroids.

screw AAA. He can draw walks so that apparently makes him a useful major league RFer right now.

So if the Mets had Stargell and Aaron and Bench and Morgan and Seaver and Carlton in their primes on the same team, it'd be OK with you if my mother was their starting shortstop, right? i don't know... how good is your mom? Can she throw the ball accurately to first? sign her up! As for Grandy: He's got a .690 OPS at a key offensive position, eating up $15m of extremely limited resources, and hasn't been good since 2012. He doesn't run anymore and he's a RFer that can't throw. Frankly, I don't think his suckitude is really up for debate. Sure, you can twist yourself into a knot talking about how he's not THE problem because, you know, he draws walks, but he's certainly A problem. The only issue is what can the Mets do about it... the answer is not much. A team with resources might look to dump him and eat his contract, getting what they can for him, and trade one of their pitchers for an OFer that can... um... hit, but i don't see the Mets doing that. Instead, we'll talk about Flores and Murphy and Cuddyer, which is fine, because they all suck too, but as to CF's cogent point: why does Grandy get a pass? Because he's a nice guy who draws walks. Well aint' that just peachy? Sure, i'd be happy if he'd marry my daughter, but get him the fuck out of RF already.

Surprised someone's thinking about a shortstop reload and doesn't look to the teams whose season is getting away from them � specifically the Brewers and Jean Segura. OE: Man, the Rangers stink too. And they were looking at a three-way logjam at short going into this season before Profar went down. The article DID mention Segura: "Other options may include Jean Segura and Deven Marrero, assuming the Brewers and Red Sox are willing to deal them." Lets bring up Matt Reynolds. He can hit the ball and he can throw to first.