danzig6767

I understand your point...all I was trying to say is that Suppan has a 4-ish ERA against National League competition, which is who he is going to make all but three of his starts against this season. One was vs a bad KC team at home with no DH,one was vs the Twins where he was flat out terrible regardless of the DH,and the other was at Detroit where he had a decent start given they have a great offense.Having to face a DH 6-7 times over three games isn't a worthy excuse for giving up 18 runs in 16 innings. As for labeling him a bust,i at least haven't done that.My only thought on Suppan is that so far,he hasn't pitched as well as i hoped for.He very well could repeat his past history and have a good second half.

I thought it was entertaining if you were willing to let go completely of reality and be entertained by it. If you thought about the movie at all during or after, it was most definitely a mess. I can't ever just completely let go of reality when watching a movie so all these over the top action thrillers like where one guy with a pistol manages to kill 14 guys with AK-47's,i just end up bored silly. My friend wanted to go see this and when i said no,he offered to pay and i still passed.Some good action in a movie is good and i don't expect everything to be perfectly believable,but why so many of these movies have to make it one rediculously unbelievable scene after another is something i don't get. They all follow the same formula. Flimsy plot Lots of explosions,chases,50 or more near death experiences avoided One liners Hero saves the day Maybe i'm just getting old,but i actually prefer using my brain if i'm going to watch and enjoy a movie instead of leaving it in the car.

I don't find Rachael Ray attractive,but i've watched her 40 dollar show a few times.The one i do like on the Cooking Channel is Throwdown.

Much like Dave Bush, whose overall numbers got totally skewed by one 6-run inning, Suppan's season numbers really got out of whack during that three-start interleague stretch. You can't cherry pick starts or pull out a bad inning and say without that so and so pitcher would then have this lower ERA instead. Look through the game logs of most starting pitchers over a season or even half a season and you usually will find a terrible start that inflates their ERA.If you pull that bad start out or a few bad starts out for all,you lower the ERA for every starting pitcher in the game.

As a Gm, melvin has to realize his window for opportunity to make the play-offs and world series is very small at best. Yea,this old team is due for a big decline the next few years.

As End pointed out, you'd be trading Graffy for himself, and throwing in a good SP for nothing. The only thing you'd pick up is a bit of speed, and Dean Taylor is not around to overpay for that. While i don't agree that Roberts isn't an upgrade over Graffy,i wouldn't give up Bush given i have hope Weeks will get better this year.I do wonder why though people so often use career stats when comparing players instead of the last few years of a player? If we were looking to trade for Sosa or Maddux,would it really be wise to use their career numbers over more recent history?Or say Carlos Guillen who is clearly better now than his career stats would indicate.Roberts career numbers are dragged down by quite a few at bats early in his career when he wasn't as good as a player as he is now.So why use stats that take into account over 1000 of his at bats when he was still developing as a player instead of focusing more on what a guy has done say the last three years?Whether it's an aging player on the decline or a guy in that 27-30 range who is quite a bit better now after early struggles in their career,why is their career numbers a great gauge of what they are now as a player?I see this alot on these boards and just don't get it. Say Weeks rebounds and had a very good next few seasons of .850-.900 OPS or more.If we were offered a trade for Rickie,when looking for equal value in return would you base Weeks value on what he did the latter few seasons after he finally put it together or use his lesser career numbers which included the trials and tribulations of a young kid learning to adjust to big league pitching?

I didn't know Balfour threw that hard,i was under the impression that he was more a 91-92ish pitcher that was more schooling AAA hiters via command over velocity. It must be kinda frustrating for him to stay in the minors given all the relief problems some teams have and knowing if he was in another organization he'd likely be called up by now and given a look in the majors.

I'd just like to add that Suppan had a 5.83 ERA before the breal last year, and a 2.39 ERA after the break last year. I sure hope that trend continues from his last few seasons because his he's pitched like crap since the end of April.I know he doesn't throw hard and is a command guy,but i don't care what any stat tries saying that he could be another "bad luck victim" because to many of his pitches are simply splitting the center of home plate. Hopefully he's one of those guys that generally needs to log innings before he gets consistant command and that's why the big splits after the break.If Suppan doesn't and Capuano follows his second half struggles trend,that spells big trouble given i'm not expecting much from Vargas either. I remember before the year that most figured the rotation would be the big strength and the bigger worry was if the offense had enough power.Now here we are with a rotation that's been pretty crappy for awhile besides Sheets and an offense leading the NL in slugging.

Well, no, but he's never been able to hit a breaking ball. He's a dead red hitter, and there's lots of them that have a lot of success. I don't remember it being this bad though.Rickie has been swinging at a ton of just horrible pitches and looks lost at the plate right now.In this really bad stretch it's amazing how often pitchers are throwing him the exact same sliders off the plate or in the dirt and he can't stop himself from swinging at them. In that last Washington game i told my buddy before his K's with runners on that Simontacchi was going to throw him almost nothg except sliders off the plate/in the dirt and Weeks would strikeout.Rickie must really be lost mentally at the plate because you would think that Weeks should have known the same thing and yet he couldn't stop himself from swinging at them.

I don't think the trade is unfair, but it barely improves the Crew, Huh? Griffey is third in the NL in homers and has a .964 OPS,i'd make this trade in a heartbeat if we had a franchise with more money to spend.

Balfour has been just ridiculous in AAA. He's pretty much making it necessary to call him up. Like everyone else i'd be all over the trade,but i wonder if it didn't happen,could Balfour maybe come up to the bigs and suprise folks by being pretty damn good?

I personally enjoy Jack's, although it is tough to find them 4 for $10 anymore...more like 3 for $9. I had a Jack's pizza a few weeks ago,man it was horrible IMO,cardboard with tomato sauce,cheese,and some tiny sausage pellets.After a few pieces i threw out the rest and got full on garlic bread. I understand if someone is low on cash buying those,but for me,saving a dollar or two isn't worth eating a pizza that tastes like it was 3 dollars.I watch for when Home Run pizzas are on sale from 7 dollars to 5ish and i buy three or so.Then i have top notch tasting frozen pizza on hand for whenever i want one and it's not overly expensive.Great crust,lots of cheese,and big hunks of real italian sausage,not micro sized pellets of bland sausage

Home Run frozen pizza is pretty much all i'll ever buy now.For anyone who has never tried it,you're missing out.Extremely tasty and reasonably priced. http://www.andrewstamm.com/PizzaClub/20060301_HomeRunInn_05.JPG

Arizona is 2 games back and 47-39,why would they be looking to trade Byrnes?

There's a fair basis for dumping on Weeks now, whatever the underlying cause. But I bet in a year, two tops, everybody will have been on Rickie's bandwagon from day one. I can only speak for myself,but i'm certainly not anywhere near ready to say Weeks will never become a top secondbaseman,i am worried about him somewhat though. More than anything is he really still struggles timing sliders/curves and it's been that way most of the time since he's been up in the bigs.Now i understand that this is a fairly common struggle for many young hitters,it's just he can look very ugly quite often even if the pitcher throws him the same slider three times in a row. I'm hoping with experience and health,even those hanging offspeed pitches that Weeks flails out will eventually start becoming laser beams into the gaps.I'm probably guilty of unfair expectation for Weeks,i thought he'd be a stud right away kinda as Fielder/Braun have even though alot of young hitters suffer with consistancy. I just see that quick bat and how the ball rockets off it when Weeks makes solid contact,i get frustrated seeing Rickie get struck out so often by those same down and away sliders.Weeks oozes talent and i simply want so bad for him to put it together,but it's hard for me as a novice to know if it's his wrists making him look so bad vs offspeed stuff or if he just doesn't recognize those pitches well.Combo of both?

I really think the Perfect Game is clouding a lot of opinions on him, and that's why its a great time to sell high and get a great return. The thing is though,Parra isn't some soft tosser that just happened to catch some breaks and throw a great game.He's a lefty that throws hard and has great stuff. Yea his health is a legit concern,but for myself at least,it's not mainly his perfect game that makes me leery of trading Parra.If he was some crafty thrower that gets by on fooling young minor leaguers like a Ben Hendrickson type,that would be a different story. Lefties who throw in the low to mid-90's,have command,and have good secondary pitches,can have outstanding big league careers.Parra certainy wouldn't be untouchable for me,but i doubt i'd trade him for a few month rental relief pitcher.

I think the Chinese govt is more concern with Yi's NBA playing time than money, no point having him rot on the bench. The concerns of Yi's marketing and earnings are from his handlers which are his CBA team owner, Nike and agents appointed by his handlers. Frankly, I do think Yi is being exploited by these people as a huge percentage of his earnings goes to them, as well as the profits generated from him. Yep I do believe Yi would prefer to play somewhere else,but not to the point of wasting a year of his NBA career.His handlers and Fagen in particular have different motives and that would be endorsement cash. In the end though,i think Yi will play in the NBA this year and likely with the Bucks.It's not as if Yi can be certain that if he sat out this season,that he'd get drafted next year by a team he wanted.

All i was saying Al is that Williams has limited options on the free agent market,as do most of the free agents because there are only a few teams with the cap space to make an offer. Now many teams have their mid level exception available which is locked into a 5/yr 33ish million dollar contract,but Mo really doesn't have any leverage to pit teams vs each other to and get into a semi-bidding war over him. If Mo wants anything more than that set MLE,he pretty much has to take any offer the Bucks make that is higher.Pretty much the only other team that had cap space to make an offer higher than the MLE for Mo and had a need at PG was Memphis and they drafted Conley. Granted Mo should be set for life if what he gets is around that mid level exception,he just became a free agent in a bad offseason where so few teams had cap space and it hurt his bargaining position to the degree where the Bucks likely have no real competitors to outbid them.His only reason to leave now would be location/lifestyle choice because all the teams that would still persue him can only offer the exact same 5yr/33 million dollar contract and i'd assume the Bucks will go a little bithigher.

The Chinese government is going to want Yi to play basketball this year to refine his skills and build some buzz for the 2008 Olympics which are being held in China. I'm pretty sure that Yi will be in the NBA next year and odds are very high it's with the Bucks.I just can't see him sitting out a full season and then enering the draft next year where he'll still have no control over who drafts him. Yi and his camp could sit him out and then next year a team they don't prefer drafts him,what's he going to do,sit out a second year?No way

I'm by no means giving up on Weeks,but he obviously needs to learn how to hit offspeed pitches if he ever wants to breakout like the other young guys on our team have. Even when pitchers hang sliders and curves,Weeks seems to struggle crushing those mistake pitches and instead swings right through them.If he was hitting those balls and they just weren't hit all that hard i could see blaming his wrists,but instead it looks to me that Weeks simply has trouble timing those sliders/curves and either misses or rolls them over. He is still young though,hopefully one day the light clicks on for him and those sliders/curves won't fool him so badly.

Mo is certainly an above average PG, and the 2nd best FA on the market right now. He'll make a fortune somewhere. Doubt it There are very few teams with the cap space to sign Mo for more than the MLE,which is about six million per season. Plus,not only are there few teams with the cap room to offer Mo a really big contract,he needs one that also needs a PG.Right now the only team i see with the cap room and PG need to offer more than the MLE for Mo is Memphis and rumor is getting a big man is a higher priority. Now there will be multiple teams willing to offer Mo their full MLE which would amount to a 5yr/33 million dollar deal.So my guess is the Bucks will offer something in the 5yr/35-40 million range and he'll accept.Barring a suprise team clearing cap room,Mo won't have a ton of other options.

Gwynn for Otsuka, I'm all for it, I'd even give a little more. A little? Texas may not even value Gwynn highly and Otsuka will be in fairly high demand.It's likely gonna take close to a blue chip prospect in return and that isn't Gwynn.

Cordero is good at his job,but i do wonder why he doesn't throw his fastball more than he does.He had little command of his slider most of that inning and in his other blown saves,yet he almost seems a bit scared to rely on his fastball more than he does. It's odd to me given he throws 95 and generally keeps it on the corners.

Everyone besides Inman would be available for the right trade.Obviously who for and if that player is just a rental would play a huge factor.

Using a scouting based approach I've seen with my own eyes that he's given up a ton of little bloop hits, misplayed balls that didn't go as errors, etc and I think they easily explain most of the struggles. Hall doesn't muff the double opening day and Bush gives up 3-4 fewer ER's, Bard gets his check swing called a strike and he gives up 4 fewer in SD, the bullpen stops a couple runs in the two early season games he was pulled with 2-3 runners on instead of letting them all in its a little better. The texas game saw two bloop singles, a bunt for a hit force him out etc. These things happen to every pitcher but it seems to be an epidemic in Bush's games this season and I highly doubt it keeps up. The check swing not called on Bard,is that really any different than your typical bad call by a home plate umpire that doesn't give a strike when it obviously was during a critical at bat with men on base?Should we start going back and removing runs from a pitchers ERA everytime a home plate umpire wrongly squeezes the pitcher,thus turning a strikeout into something worse afterwards?Pitchers around baseball get jobbed all the time by a strike not be called a strike,but their job is to suck it up and make a quality pitch the next time.If that pitcher hangs a curveball the next pitch that gets crushed for a three run bomb,i never sit back and feel extra bad for him because blown strike calls are such a common occurance. Only Bush is getting hurt much worse by defensive misplays?You seem to remember well when they did effect Bush,but unless you charted how misplays hurt each pitcher on the staff this year,nothing my eyes have seen has left me thinking man the defense is really killing Bush more than the other pitchers this season. Over the last three years hitters BAA and SLG go way up when runners are on base vs when the bases are empty.Why he struggles with this so much i have no idea,but seeing many of those hard hit balls off him in those situations since he's been here,the poor Bush is just an unlucky guy isn't selling with me. I like Bush as a pitcher and had high expectations for this year,but at some point in his career he needs to stop getting abused so often with runners on base.I'm not convinced a rabbits tail in his pants pocket or good luck dust is all he needs. With all that said,i'd bump Vargas from the rotation before Bush.I still have some hope that Bush can figure out his runners on issues.