TooLiveBrew

[soriano's] contract is a definiite albatross since he doesn't hit when he bats lower in the line-up. He's put up a .268/.312/.513/.825 line over 626 PA as a #5 hitter, so I can't agree with this. Imho Soriano's a prototypical #5 or #6 hitter, but his ego thinks he's a leadoff man. Fortunately for us, even Piniella isn't hard-headed enough to get Soriano to drop the primadonna act.

Low K's and high BB's greatly influence BABIP. That's why guys like Pujols and Fielder have BABIP's around .290 even though they hit balls hard. Pujols's career BABIP is .320, though - and the funny part is that it's precisely why you describe... he's a ridiculous balance of high BB & low SO totals.

Low K's and high BB's greatly influence BABIP. That's why guys like Pujols and Fielder have BABIP's around .290 even though they hit balls hard. Pujols's career BABIP is .320, though - and the funny part is that it's precisely why you describe... he's a ridiculous balance of high BB & low SO totals.

Wait, I just did a double take on that. We're suppose to assume a guy who's never played a game in the big leagues yet is going to have an OPS over .800? ... Let us not forget his "slightly" above average BABIP in the big leagues last year at .474. Confused here... clarify?

Fans keep mentioning that Prince is "tight" with Rickie Weeks and Tony Gwynn Jr. While they are friends, I think this was mostly exaggerated by the media based on obvious stereotypes. I've spoken with Prince's wife at a game in Toronto, and I know for a fact that Corey Hart is Prince's closest friend/teammate. But they're all black, so they all hang out together! Great point, Pudster - thanks for sharing that conversation. I think it's pretty clear just from watching them play day in & day out that for the most part, this team has incredible chemistry. We've got some great personalities on the team, and a great balance of them, too.

Soriano > Weeks Not so fast, cowboy. As homer mentioned, as leadoff hitters, Weeks >>> Soriano. Heck, overall this season I fully expect Rickie to make it a coin-flip (or better!) Seeing Theriot bat second makes me smile. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif - Seconded! On second thought (of seconding)... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif Pinella has set his starting lineup 2.5 months before opening day and before spring training? Anyone ask him his rotation for the playoffs yet? Exactly my thought(s) when I first saw this thread. This is a totally meaningless announcement imho. Fukudome DeRosa Lee Ramirez Soriano Soto Pie Theriot Let's just hope Sweet, sweet Lou doesn't see this thread! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

He sounded more in favor of Villanueva out of the bullpen I feel sick. Suggested lineup included Cameron second Woo[t]hoo! Now I feel better. Thanks for the info, greeg. I'm sure it was a sweet event to attend.

Luckily for him it's not very tough to pitch in the AL East. But, you know, he fields his position better than any other CP candidate they have, sooo...

I don't mean that first comment to be snide, I haven't heard every comment they've made I remember at least one of the situations to which sbryl refers... from the Melvin/Attanasio/Yost brewers.com chat. The part where they mentioned Villy a bit stuck out to me like a sore thumb - I was surprised how much it sounded like they were leaning toward having Villy in the 'pen again (at least to start) this season.

Not from what I've seen. In fact, that'd look about fair. The IGTs are/were full of plenty examples to the contrary. It feels pointless to go back over Yost, we just seem stuck at this point in the argument. You can give me evidence to back up that theory, I can say it makes no sense to bat the weakest hitter on the team any more than you have to. Original claim was that it was "crazy" to bat a P 8th. It's hardly crazy. ------------------------------------------ http://www.brewerfan.net/images/icons/lock.gifLocked and superseded by a new designated Yost thread: Is 2008 Yost's last shot? --1992casey ------------------------------------------

She turned me into a newt! ... I got better. __________________________________________ We did do the nose... and the hat, too. But she's a WITCH! BURN THE WITCH!

Put Prince in NY/Bos/LA & he's a first-tier star in MLB by the ASB. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I think you could easily find people who think Cabrera should be playing Fielder's position as well. Agreed - one reason why I thought of him.

Am I wrong to be suspicious of a guy adding 25-30 lbs. of muscle in roughly 5 months' time?

Thanks, igor - I'd been wondering how well he translated. I had a feeling that BB rate would play quite well, no matter what league adjustments were made.

One of the comments on that pic pointed out that 'she must've taken a few spills that day due to the peeling skin on her legs,' fwiw.

With Todd Greene in mind, this is the best pic I've seen of that play, esp. since it captures Koskie trying to score behind Prince - http://images.yuku.com/image/x-png/d83258699d85a315292e98e32e534bdad85fa73.x-png And this is the 'should've know it'd happen eventually' clue we had back from Huntsville... http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/32615d95883528e6c30add286d45366bce347f9.pjpg

I'm sure Todd Greene has a pretty technical idea of how fat and squishy Prince is or isn't. http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/sports/brew/img/may06/xbruise504.jpg He would know, but he doesn't remember

He's short and he weighs a lot. Come one--some things are just common sense. I knew it would be this well-researched. [Fielder] certainly isn't a beer belly type of guy like say a David Wells. He is probably carrying some extra weight but I doubt he'd qualify as obese or fat from a technical standpoint. Bingo.

Also, I'd say the hindsight posts probably outnumbered the foresight posts about 20-1. So I'll stick by my "every now and then". I think your recollection is heavily skewed. 20-1 is hardly fair. You've kind of made my point for me. You can give me evidence to back up that theory, I can say it makes no sense to bat the weakest hitter on the team any more than you have to. I don't see how Ennder made your point for you, he pretty much refuted it 100%. Because you choose to ignore evidence and cite your gut doesn't mean Ennder's indirectly supporting your claim. The argument about Ned is equally subjective because it's so difficult to quantify a "correct" move, determine how the outcome would have changed and determine what kind of effect there would be on wins and losses. Now this I can get on-board with, big-time.

Fielder is fat. What analysis have you done beyond watching some games to arrive at that concrete conclusion?

Someone should edit in an asterisk following your post total, Buc. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

If noses can count toward increasing that %, I think Howard 'wins' going away...

He's replacing Jacque Jones and Cliff Floyd, so it's not a stretch to think he's better than them. We do know he's better defensively. We certainly don't "know" that he's better defensively - Jones was not bad at all. He's likely better than Floyd with the leather, though. I don't see how he's replacing both Jones & Floyd, either. It's not like they were platoon-partners. It could be argued both Soriano and Lee underachieved last year. Sure they're both over 30, but still capable of monster years Lee underachieved, perhaps. Soriano? I can't see how you could make that argument convincingly. All he did was miss time - the rest of his year is pretty much in line with career norms. Zambrano's certainly capable of better numbers. Agreed, but his numbers have been gradually moving in the wrong direction (& obv. continued to do so in '07) Their pen remains solid and deep with few question marks. Marmol's stuff is electric. The pen is most likely better than ours, to be sure. Marmol has crazy stuff, but he apparently doesn't have good control over it. As Ennder will remind us, his BB/9 rate in the second half was over 5 - Turnbow territory (and you could say the same about TBow's stuff - electric). We'll see if he can regain a nominal amount of control, but he's BB'd guys since the minors. Look, they're not unbeatable but I think nationally they are seen as clear favorites. That's fine - I find it hard to believe that national pundits know nearly as much as we do about both the Cubs & Brewers. it all comes down to the health of Ben Sheets in my mind, and even with no arm problems he misses games and that bothers me more than anything. I'd have to study this more - at first glance I think I agree with you, but I don't know how much not having him (hypothetically at this point) for 8-ish starts would/wouldn't affect the overal W-L... especially since the SP depth this year is even better than last year's.

The fact that he is four years younger than Howard, gets more extra-base hits, and strikes out far less I believe gives Prince the advantage. I think you're onto it right there. What I'd add is Howard had a BABIP in 2006 (58 HR season) of .363. His line that year was .313/.425/.659/1.084. He came back to earth in 2007, with a .336 BABIP... .268/.392/.584/.976. His K rate grew significantly, his BA/OBP/SLG/OPS dropped, all of which should have been expected to some degree with such a high BABIP. (That example is a good comparative tool for what to expect from Braun in 2008, fwiw) Prince hits for a much better BA, and I think that's reflected in his higher total of XBHs & his K rate. Fielder should BB more than 100 times in 2008, and his Ks probably won't grow much - if any. I really think we'll see a 100 BB/120 SO season from Prince this coming year. EDIT: Also of note is that, out of Howard's BBs, a significant portion have been IBBs - 2006 - 108 BB/37 IBB 2007 - 107 BB/35 IBB To compare, last season saw Prince with 90 BB/14 IBB. Basically, Prince drew BBs at almost the same rate Howard did, with less than half the IBBs. One last thing on Howard is that his eye at the plate/ability to draw so many BBs came almost out of nowhere. His BB/SO rate at MLB has been much better than it was in the minors. Prince had at least provided some evidence in the minors for expecting that he would reach the kind of BB/SO level he's at now.

Especially if on that team he'll just be another player (cough Yanks & RSox). The list of teams on which Fielder is 'just another player' in MLB is zero.