Didn't have enough time for a full preview, so here's just a few quick words on the DBacks offense and the pitching matchups.
Aaron Hill, Paul Goldschmidt, and Jason Kubel have led the DBacks offense this year. Notably missing from that list is Justin Upton,who has been scuffling and only has a .311 wOBA. The DBacks have been known for defying their peripherals over the past few years, and this year is no exception. The DBacks offense is third in the NL, they've had the second best pitching, and the third best defense. And somehow they're a game below .500. Go figure.
Pitching Matchups
Friday: Jeff Samardzija, RHP (4.04, 3.21, 3.39, 3.90) vs Joe Saunders, LOL (3.44, 4.00, 3.46, 4.60) 8:40 PM CT
Saunders continues his tradition of carrying a decent looking ERA with cruddy peripherals. In many ways he's a perfect fit for this team, which has shown a penchant for outperforming its numbers.
Samardzija learned from his start against the Twins and remembered that his stuff works best when he tries to make hitters *not* hit the ball. So let's do that again, please.
Saturday: Paul Maholm, LHP (4.88, 4.66, 4.28, 4.14) vs Ian Kennedy, RHP (4.13, 3.68, 3.90, 3.71), 8:10 PM CT
You pretty much know what to expect from a Maholm start at this point. He's remarkably consistent, generally hovering around 6IP, 5 K, 3 R, double digit grounders in all of his starts. He's a solid piece to have on the back end of a contending team, but we haven't heard a peep of any trade interest on him.
Kennedy's stellar 2011 came out of nowhere, but things have regressed for him this year. He's merely a good pitcher, instead of an incredible one.
Sunday: Matt Garza, RHP (4.07, 4.05, 3.50, 3.69) vs Wade Miley, RHP (2.30, 2.83, 3.73, 4.19), 2:10 PM CT
I have no idea who this Miley guy is. Must be my third coast bias. He's started eleven games and has been stellar, mostly due to a walk rate anomaly (1.86 BB/9) and 3.8% HR/FB. He's projected to be a decent pitcher.
Garza gave up a few more HRs to the White Sox, but wanted the win enough to see the Cubs prevail. The big worry when the Cubs picked up Garza was his HR rate, and while his sudden Transformation into a ground ball pitcher has helped to reduce that he was bound for some regression on last year. He probably just wishes it didn't swing even further the other way (laughing).
Stupid West Coast games!
West siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide…
I believe Jeff Francoeur is a very good human being.
Verdict reached
About to head home from lab, but Gameday says Collmenter is pitching instead of Saunders, yet Sveum didn’t change the lineup…weird.
@ mb21:
Come on, justice!
Guilty on 45 of 48 counts, per NY Times.
Faith in humankind —————> somewhat restored
Bail revoked. This piece of shit is never leaving prison. Fucking A.
Hope the tickle monster enjoys his 442 year stay… he better hope they have him in some solitary ward.
@ PFD:
Being out of gen pop didn’t save Dahmer or that child-raping priest. Sandusky is a trophy kill. Some sociopathic motherfucker is going to come for him.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
I hope whoever it is allows Sandusky time to play in the showers with the crew first.
@ BubbaBiscuit:
Maybe the Ticklemonster gets introduced to the Tossed Salad Man.
I’m going to go get righteously intoxicated. MO out, fuckfaces!
Is this the same Lincecum that was good at baseball? Or did he change places with the kid from Dazed & Confused?
@ BubbaBiscuit:
The kid from Dazed & Confused did get the final out before he had to run off to avoid the bullies if I’m not mistaken. I’m sure the Giants would rather have that kid right now.
I’m also very disturbed that Sandusky’s nickname is “Tickle Monster”.
I’m thinking that this is more the kind of performance that we can expect from Samardzija on average.
@ josh:
Excellent K/BB ratio, but gets creamed anyway?
@ josh:
I think this is a little better than we should expect.
(dying laughing) this Breslow guy learned he’d been traded on twitter.
I thought Collmentor was a starter. He had a good season last year.
@ ACT:
Yeah, like 4-5 innings, gives up 3+ runs
Kirk Gibson walks like he’s drunk or has no cartilage in his knees
@ josh:
He started four games at the beginning of the season and got shelled so now he’s taking the bullpen test. Except today Joe Saunders broke so he got an emergency start.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, I heard about Saunders, the surprise was that Collmentor was in the pen.
Nothing like a start against the Cubs to get a guy back in his groove.
@ josh:
It kinda sucks that the Cubs couldn’t change the lineup card in time.
The Cubs still used an all-righty lineup against Collmenter (including batting Baker cleanup).
edit: RC beat me to it.
@ BubbaBiscuit:
What are you talking about? He had a quality start!
@ ACT:
Baker cleanup is ridiculous even against lefties. or maybe it’s smart. Either way, I hate it.
@ josh:
As I’ve said before, I don’t know if he’s better than LaHair against southpaws, but I’d rather see LaHair anyway. Baker is just boring.
Jose Bautista just restored order to the universe by tying the ML lead in homers.
@ mb21:
What about Hamburger? How did he get his news?
@ ACT:
Exactly.
@ ACT:
I like Jose. No particular reason. Some players you just like. Some just rub you the wrong way.
And you know what? Beer and I think that’s just fine.
LaHair would probably strike out a ton if he played against lefties regularly, but if they hung a pitch, he could still crush it. I’d rather see Baker play third base, anyway. The Cubs have a much greater positional need there (and Stewart is a lefty).
@ josh:
I just love how he came completely out of nowhere to be the best power hitter in the game. It makes you wonder what other replacement-level players could turn into superstars if they just adjusted their swings.
GAME MOTHER FUCKIN COCKS!!!!!!!!
As of yesterday, Jose’s BABIP sat at .193. To put that in perspective, NL pitchers (as hitters) have a BABIP of .219.
Re: MLB and blackouts…
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb%E2%80%99s-blackout-problem-keeps-sport-in-dark-ages.html
@ ACT:
For sure, that was exciting. Going from like 15 per season to 50 was amazing. Then followed that up with a season where he hit 10 fewer homers, but still improved his hitting. When someone defies the projections that severely, that’s exciting.
@ josh:
According to b-ref, he was below replacement for his career before 2010. Maybe Valbuena could be the next Pujols!
@ ACT:
…but Pujols was not left-handed.
@ ACT:
Holy crap. He’s due to come roaring back. Although, he’s already been worth a couple of fWAR, even with his typically crappy defense.
@ ACT:
I don’t know what the hell happened to him, but if that’s steroid, he needs to share, and otherwise, hitting coaches should be studying him like crazy.
His BABIP was super low in his 54-homer year. I guess that’s because he was hitting so many homers?
@ ACT:
Just looking at his walk rate, it looks like that improved over the years. Perhaps a guy can learn patience.
@ josh:
Possibly. Some of his would-be doubles went over the fence. Also, flyballs have a lower BABIP.
Bubbles=====> Happiest person in this thread
This is a save situation.
The save is a dumb stat.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/22/australians-are-the-best-and-bob-is-in-fact-your-uncle/
@ GW:
I had an uncle named Bob. He died. :C
I’d just like to reiterate from Mish’s post on the previous thread that Mark Cuban’s dissection of Skip Bayless was AWESOME. If you didn’t watch it, you should. It’s in green.
It’s embarrassing to the rest of us Skips that Skip Bayless shares our name.
reasons like today bubbles supports the death penalty.
Jello again.
Did you guys see Bautista’s home run against Strasburg on the 13th? It was just incredible.
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22249299&c_id=mlb
Look how late he swung at that pitch up and inside. And then how far the ball went. That was just a fucking monster of a hit.
When Bautista swings, it looks like he’s trying to assault the ball. I love that.
Recalcitrant Blogger Nate wrote:
And yet he manages to strike out under 15% of the time. It’s pretty unbelievable.
Looked like Timmaaaaayy! settled in after that horrible 1st.
@ Doogolas:
And that’s a stat he’s improved over his career. So it IS possible, Mr. Castro.
Can someone toss Samardzjia back in the transmogrification box and turn him into whoever that good pitcher was?
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
A 6K 2BB outing is bad now? Not really his fault he got BABIP-owned.
@ Doogolas:
5 IP, 7 H, 5 R. No way to polish that up with some milquetoast BABiP claim.
And the way F7 lives with his 4-seamer up in the zone, I think he is, in point of fact, at least partly responsible for getting BABiP’d to death.
I just don’t buy that BABiP is all luck. If a pitcher is consistently putting a pitch with not a lot of movement in a hittable zone, he’s going to give up more hits.
Also, F7′s last 5 starts: 26 IP, 35 H, 21 R, 3 HR, 12 BB, 27 K.
3.70FIP. His worst stretch of the year is a whole 4WAR pitcher. We should all jump off a cliff.
And calling him an exception because of a high BABIP over the course of 3 months seems a bit crazy. And despite how much he supposedly lives up in the zone he’s getting 48% groundballs and has never had BABIP issues in the past. To this point his career BABIP is now .296. Which is very normal, it’s much more likely that BABIP is playing catchup on him for the luck he had in previous seasons than it is he’s just a big exception to the rule.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
That was more than evident when tracking on Gameday. He was throwing batting practice out there.
@ Doogolas:
I never said jump off a cliff. But it’s an undeniable fact that hitters aren’t being fooled by him of late, and he needs to make an adjustment.
Also, it’s only the 4-seamer that he really gets up in the zone. He manages to keep his other stuff down, and when that sinker is on, he can be devastating. I think that one pitch has helped him generate a lot of ground balls, but when he’s not locating it, he gets in trouble.
@ Mobile Rice:
He’s been playing with fire with that 4-seamer all year long. When he also loses command of the sinker, he’s in trouble.
F7′s Brooks card: http://brooksbaseball.net/player_cards/player_card.php?player=502188
Look at the 4 seamer in all the plots; it comes in up in the zone, and on the inner third. He’s getting the sinker up, too, but he gets that so far in, especially to RHB, that it’s not hurting him as much.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Hanging pitches (especially straight fastballs) = more line drives = increased BABIP.
Unless line drives go over fence, in which case it doesn’t count towards BABIP, but he seems less prone to giving up homers than before.
I think BABIP should be divided into the kind where it’s just pure bad luck and a category where it’s the pitcher’s fault for serving up a meatball, but that’s probably too subjective. Last night F7 deserved to get smacked all over the place considering where his pitches were in the zone. Although the 3-0 pitch that Kubel smacked for an oppo-shot was probably ball four, but in a spot where Kubel could extend the bat on it.
@ Doogolas:
Look at Pujols’ strikeout rates. He’s currently at 11.1%, and that’s the highest it’s been since his rookie year.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, looking at the Brooks plots from last night, it’s clear he didn’t help himself, but the Twins also just hammered a couple good pitches.
I don’t think the F7 experiment has failed per se…it just needs a lot of refinement.
@ Rice Cube:
He’s been a lot better than expected, and at least good enough to be in a rotation, albeit toward the bottom.
ACT wrote:
So, good improvement, yes. Miraculous transformation, no.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, that’s where I’m at, too. It’s time for him to show he can make the adjustment, because it seems the league is beginning to make theirs. Like Dooglas points out, even during this “slump,” F7 has still been a valuable pitcher, but there’s certainly room for improvement.
@ ACT:
Yeah, he’s certainly been the surprise of the season so far.
He needs to have better fastball location and that will set up for his slider and splitter. That splitter is evil, but it’s useless if he can’t set it up with the primary pitches.
I also think F7 is a very hard worker and he obviously did something this past offseason to improve his performance, so he’ll do everything he can to adjust. If he doesn’t improve, it’s not due to lack of effort; it’s just that he’s not that good. But I think there’s flashes of evidence that suggest he could be that good.
Tangent…
I’ve noticed that the LeBron James joke meme has shifted from “no rings” to “one ring”.
@ Rice Cube:
I think this is right. Here’s hoping he can put it all together.
@ Rice Cube:
I thought the LeBron James meme was that Sports History ended?
@ Suburban kid:
I thought that was just something stupid Al wrote.
@ Rice Cube:
It amazes me that there are current athletes that are unpunished wifebeaters and rapists, and for some reason LeBron James is the target of the haters because he’s arrogant. Baffling.
@ Rice Cube:
I don’t know from memes.
i watched the boise game last night and Candelario is very big, looks strong and had a very nice swing. Badler was saying he has a shot at being top 100 next year
@ dylanj:
That’s outstanding. Excited about he and Baez.
@ Rice Cube:
I don’t see how the F7 experiment can be considered anything other than an unmitigated success at this point. At this time last year, he was a barely rosterable middle man, and he now seems like a #2/3 in the rotation-type. Can’t ask for much more than that.
if you ever want to use my milb account to watch an archive you can mo. just email for the info
@ GW:
I agree that the pilot studies have been promising though.
I think, like most of the experiments I have left to do, it needs some optimization
brett jackson hit a HR, walked twice and of course struck out twice as well. 101 k’s in 269 ab’s.
vogelbach made his debut and went 2-4 with a 2B
@ Rice Cube:
Not everybody can be Clayton Kershaw. If someone had told me in 2011 that he was about to turn into yovani gallardo, i would have (dying laughing)’ed all over my faget-stat packed spreadsheets.
@ GW:
I think that’s right. I just like front-line starter F7 a lot more than back of the rotation F7. (dying laughing) But it’s certainly working so far.
@ dylanj:
That double had to be ground rule. No way that kid legs out anything.
@ dylanj:
They track IPs like MLB.tv, no?
So I was checking out the white sox top prospects list to see who Kenny Williams is about to give up in the inevitable fleecing by the bosox for youk, and I noticed that their BA writeup was done by none other than phil rogers. (dying laughing) wtf?
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2012/2612801.html
@ GW:
Jordan Danks is probably their best prospect, but otherwise that farm system is a dungheap.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
yeah, looks pretty bleak. nice to see danks break out this year, though, even if he is pretty old.
so the royals called up this guy. he’s not just good, he’s francisley good.
Sandusky juror on the jury being told Sandusky had molested his adopted son after they returned their verdict:
@ GW:
Also, the Pennsylvania AG has announced that investigation into the Sandusky scandal is not over.
Blue Jays scored a run without a hit or an error. (in fact, neither team has a hit through 3).
Scratch that last part; Miami just got a hit in the bottom of the third.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/06/22/bernstein-justice-done-but-more-to-do/
@ ACT:
That’s as impressively rare as the cubs scoring runs without the help of an error (dying laughing)
Dylan, how didn’t you mention Vitters’ OPS being .821 and officially higher than Brett Jackson’s by .001 on the year? C’mon Josh, keep kicking ass.
Note: I say that relating to him since May, where he put up an .880+OPS and then so far in June is at .917. Obviously an .821 is merely “nice” in the PCL.
It appears the Astros are making the new CBA their bitch by being the only team able to go cheap enough on one pick to pay well over slot for the other picks. Is this going to be the new system, #1 pick is a cheaper 1st round talent so the team can load up on their other picks and the #2 pick is actually the best player in the draft?
BubbaBiscuit wrote:
It’ll probably depend, in a draft like this one, probably. There were a bunch of guys all roughly of equal value. So take the cheapest then get a bunch of tough signs. But if there’s a Stras or Harper type consensus #1 then obviously nobody is gonna pass on that.
sveum spouting some nonsense on his silly lineup last night.
@ GW:
Considering the platoon split over Collmenter’s career I too will have to call bullshit.
Wow, the Phillies have less than a 10% chance of making the playoffs, according to BaPro’s odds generator. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/odds/
@ ACT:
Don’t they know Ryan Howard is clutch?
@ Doogolas:
He’s a MVP candidate
WTF is Sveum talking about? Politicians give less convoluted answers than that.
GW wrote:
Agreed. Samardzija has been about 27 times better than I expected. He hasn’t been all that good and probably not even better than average, but still. It’s Jeff fucking Samardzija. The guy was arguably the worst pitcher in professional baseball at any point in his career until midseason last year. I still this his future, if he has one, is in the bullpen, but so far I’m awfully happy with what the Cubs have gotten from F7 even if we looked at rWAR (.1) only. I was figuring -1 WAR at this point so he’s been a full win plus better than I expected using rWAR.
Not sure if this has been pointed out here, but the Rockies started using their 4-man rotation last night.
Rice Cube wrote:
The results have been more impressive than I think any reasonable person expected no matter the metric you use. Even if you use the ERA it’s still a full run better than expected. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes, but I’ll be surprised if he ever proves he can be anything more than a number 5 starter.
@ mb21:
Didn’t they resolve to limit their pitchers to 75 pitches or so? Outman threw 92.
@ ACT:
I saw them play here in Philly on Thurs and Francis was pulled after 76 pitches. It was the end of an inning, but he had only given up 1 run in 5 innings.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/conversations/_/id/8089029/jamie-moyer-released-baltimore-orioles-per-request
Looks like Jamie’s career is over.
@ ACT:
He was just hanging around until he was assured of putting the HR Allowed mark out of reach.
Also “crafty lefthander” = “shitty, aging LHP” in BBWAA parlance.
Victoria’s Secret MLB clothing
Here, you can all buy your main bitch something: http://www.victoriassecret.com/pink/chicago-cubs?pageAt=all
That Cubs thong. Yeah, that’s the last thing I want my wife wearing.
@ mb21:
That looks terrible.
I’m surprised they were able to fit “Cubs” on that little fabric.
That’s the most dick-wilting lingerie I have ever seen.
@ Rice Cube:
I’m surprised that anybody anywhere would ever want to wear a Cubs thong.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Agreed. I like some of the shorts, but those fucking thongs are hideous. It could make a beautiful woman look ugly. (dying laughing)
I guess just one.
http://www.victoriassecret.com/pink/chicago-cubs/chicago-cubs-athletic-short-victorias-secret-pink?ProductID=61694&CatalogueType=OLS
Maybe not. I looked at the bigger image and I doubt I would. (dying laughing)
Sveum on possible callup of Rizzo: http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/70649552/Sports/Video-Cubs-manager-Sveum-on-the-imminent-call-up-of-Rizzo
“When you have somebody that has that much hype and not much ability, it’s always good to have somebody hitting behind them.”
Adam Dunn is on pace for 260 strikeouts.
As recently as 2003, Bobby Bonds had the single-season strikeout record. Now he’s 11th.
Funny gifs? Hello?
I’d like to see LaHair try to do what Soriano and Cardenas just did (dying laughing)
@ Steve Swisher:
Neal Cotts just struck out Brett Jackson to end the I-Cubs game. That’s another three K’s for Jackson for those counting.
Maholm!
So, pitchers in this game are hitting .500/.750/2.000.
@ ACT:
That’s what they’re giving up to the opposing offenses too it seems.
@ Rice Cube:
If today’s game is any indication, the Cubs need to get Maholm off the mound and into the everyday lineup.
Aggressive baserunning eh.
Fucking Marmol.
/every Cub fan
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22534085&c_id=mlb
Proof that Paul Maholm actually tried to do something good tonight.
Hey, there’s another OF Cuban Guy
This guy would’ve probably been better than Jorge Soler. Where/when do we get to see Soler play?
@ mb21:
Jesus fucking Christ. It seems the Cubs have sanctioned the use of CUBBIES in their merch.
Unless I’m totally blind, I have not seen officially branded swag with that word before. Might as well change the name of the team to MLB’s Main Bitch.
I like watching this guy hit. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22539549&c_id=mlb
@ ACT:
Same. That wild slashing motion that always seems to make contact is fun to see.
@ Suburban kid:
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it on official merch before but I’m not positive. Either way it’s pretty sad.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
For me, I can’t say that yet. That case was the “easy” one. The challenge for humanity will come when the administration is put on trial.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0624-anthony-rizzo-cubs-chicago–20120624,0,6809614.story
hobbit speculating that callup will be tuesday.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=17460
Cubs back in the driver’s seat for the #1 pick. This is a year!
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8088760/penn-state-nittany-lions-jerry-sandusky-lawyers-wanted-resign-judge-said-no
@ Berselius:
They should have resigned before they took the case.
@ ACT:
Ha haaaaaaaaaa…
@ ACT:
(dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
RC, does optimization of the experiment require running up mountains?
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/13374435-573/starter-jeff-samardzija-is-having-one-hill-of-a-time.html
(dying laughing)
Nice!
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/jonathan-papelbon-offers-5-000-bounty-walk-off-141755892–mlb.html
@ Rice Cube:
Hey, Paps earned that vulture win.
Noted by Brett today:
@ GW:
Cubs beat reporter Nick Cafardo reports six teams have been talking to the Cubs about Garza.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/24/matt-garza-already-drawing-interest-from-six-teams/
including the Royals, of all teams
@ GW:
The Royals are only five or six games out of first which is probably close enough to pretend that they can contend.
This might rate as one of the dumber things I’ve posted, and I’m sorry if the discussion has already been…discussed, but isn’t BA with RISP kind of the dumbest stat ever? I keep seeing it in performance write ups and hearing it from announcers, but it seems if we can dismiss BA as a metric that is too clumsy to use in meaningful analysis and if small sample sizes increase the necessary sodium content of information, then there just isn’t any reason to keep using this in evaluating performance. An I crazy on this?
@ Bottleasmoke:
No. It is a pretty dumb stat. Maybe even dumber than Wins (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
Too bad it’s no longer possible to get Kila Ka’aihue. I love spelling that name.
@ Bottleasmoke:
Agreed with what Berselius said. I have little use for batting average in general and really couldn’t care less about it. If I never heard it again I’d not lose any valuable piece of information. Batting average with RISP and that nonsense is just stupid. The only thing worse than batting average is breaking it down into smaller samples (L/R, H/A, L10,20,30, etc). Since I don’t care what so and so’s batting average is, I sure as hell don’t care what his average is against lefties and righties, at home and away, over the last 10, 20 or 30 games, etc. I’d like batting average to be retired. Teams can fly a flag above their stadiums reading AVG and we can never again discuss it.
That’s a bit crazy. Batting average is extremely important. Not on its own, but the fact that it pretty much powers everything else is important. Not to mention the fact that two players like this:
.400OBP with a .500SLG are not created equal. If one hits .300 and one hits .220 chances are the .300 hitter is more valuable because hits are worth more than walks.
@ Doogolas:
I thought that’s why wOBA was invented.
Mb and B- thanks, sometimes I think these things, but I also had to take Stats for Poets 3x while at Mizzou. So why is so much emphasis placed on L/R splits, especially late in games? When dealing with relief pitching the samples are especially small, even over the careers of long time players. Why do managers even care if Pujols is 7/25 with 4 HRs or whatever off of joe Shablotnick?
In his second outing in a row, Aroldis gave up a 2-run homers and took the loss/blown save. He did strike out 2 in one inning, though.
Youk —> changing Sox (maybe)
@ Doogolas:
But why is it important if we have wOBA or other similar metrics? Even if we use wOBA, breaking it down into smaller samples is mostly pointless. L/R, H/A are important, but it takes so many PA to get an idea of the true talent in those situations. wOBA with runners on or bases empty means nothing with regards to true talent.
@ Rice Cube:
Officially official per Heyman and Bowden.
@ Bottleasmoke:
Because they don’t know what they’re doing. If some batter has a wOBA of .200 against a pitcher in like 300 plate appearances then maybe we could say he’s just not seeing that pitcher well. But basing it on 25 PA or whatever they do is pointless. They’re just playing a hunch for the most part and over time they’d be better off just playing the best hitter.
Platoon splits (L/R) do matter though. Lefties hit righties better than righties do.
Some time with RHP Joe Zeller of Single A Peoria
Who knew that the Cubs would harbor one of only two minor-league knuckleballers?
I’m impressed that KW didn’t send back another Daniel Hudson type in the Youk trade, unless I’m underrating Zach Stewart (dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
Don’t think he has anymore of those types, at least not in the minors.
Official Trade Here
Boston fans everywhere are crying over that return. How does Youk stack up to Garza in trade value? Both are having down years.
We really should have traded Garza and Soto while the value was high in the off-season. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.
I’m guessing this move works out about as well as when KW acquired David Wells, Griffey, both Alomars and Everett at the end of their careers.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
At least Everett was entertaining.
@ mb21:
I’m surprised the Tea Party hasn’t tried to run that whackjob for office.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Same thing for Luke Scott.
Cubs are “on pace” for 54 wins. (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
I’m pretty sure 54 is close to average age of the White Sox roster. (dying laughing)
RA’s knuckler is filthy.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
The White Sox aren’t particularly old. Old teams: Yanks, Phils, Rangers.
Who is the 45 YO that plays for Toronto?
@ ACT:
Hard to catch, though.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Omar Vizquel.
When I hear comments like this:
And I think about the way Soriano has been treated this year despite working hard enough to noticeably have improved his defense and is turning in a perfectly serviceable year at the plate, and I wonder if it’s not within the realm off possibility that he retires after this season.
@ ACT:
(dying laughing), holy shit
Cliff Lee’s prospects of ending his winless ways today don’t look good.
@ ACT:
NOT AN ACE
But seriously, how badly must Lee want to go kick every offensive player in the junk after his starts?
He just needs to offer a bounty of $5000 tomthenperson who makes the pitcher walk off.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Did you see the Murray Chass piece on Cliff Lee? (scroll to bottom): http://www.murraychass.com/?p=4920
So, Alvin is stealing from Ivy Chat Chuck.
http://www.obstructedview.net/aside/looks-like-alvin-plagiarized-ivy-chat-chuck.html
@ ACT:
I’m pretty sure I’m dumber for having read that.
Lee was taken out of the game and his team is behind. Not good.
Matt Harrison hurt his back in the Rangers game. I hope Theo and Jed are hammering Jon Daniels’ phone right now.
Cliff Lee is now 0-4.
@ ACT:
Murray Chass is in the parking lot pissing on his tires.
Dickey’s magic is all rubbed off.
Dickey Limp In Disappointing Performance
Mets Can’t Pick Up Dickey, Fall to Yanks
Yanks Pound Dickey, End Streak
The way CC is going, RA might win this one yet (hence proving his Cy Young worthiness).
Dickey Magic No Trouble for Strong Yanks
And, just as I type that, CC is removed from the game.
It’s tied now; RA is no longer a loser (for now) and CC no longer an ace.
Also, all players should go by 2 initials. It makes typing so much faster.
Dickey Hit Hard
Missed the last two games. Are the Cubs in first place now?
Yanks Slap Dickey Around
josh wrote:
Yes. They won 40 in two days.
@ mb21:
I knew I’d miss something exciting!!