Funketown

Roenicke, Roenecke I still spell his name wrong probably ~50% of the time. FWIW, hockeydb.com spells Nyjer's name "Nyger" http://hockeydb.com/ihdb/...s/pdisplay.php?pid=67848

What about just giving teams two additional subs for each of a few extra time periods? Perhaps a fifteen minute intermission after each 30 minutes of extra time? I agree that at some point you have to stop standard extra time play. I'd like to see at least 60 minutes of extra time rather than 30, but after 60+ minutes of extra time I do think player health starts to become a concern, especially in hot weather. I do wonder about something like deciding the game with corners or set plays. That could be interesting.

Is this serious? I'd never heard of that or even thought of it. Huh. I love the 6:40 starts because that means the game starts at 9:40 here rather than 10:10. So I get to watch 3-4 innings rather than 1-2. Go Crew!

If the interview is real then I think it's the interview. If the interview is fake (which it most likely is) I think the urinal surfing is more entertaining.

I can't imagine this is real, but I'm still posting it at every single social media outlet I have an account on (okay, only one). Today I learned that the 2006 Cardinals were one of the greatest teams ever.

Bullocks. I just posted this same thread to see you beat me to it. Anyways, I'll put my thoughts here and delete the old one: 1) Rickie Weeks: I really started following the team in 2004, so Weeks has been with the team almost the entire time I've been a fan. To watch him progress from a poor fielder to a competent fielder to a solid defensive player has been quite the journey. He hits for power, he hits for average, he has a great eye at the plate, he can fly like the wind, he makes flashy plays, and he has a blast. He has become an extremely good ballplayer, and I think we're all happy to have him around. 2) Nyjer Morgan: What else can I say? He fields well, he bunts for hits, he flies down the baseline, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. Just a fun little juggernaut. 3) John Axford: He came from nowhere to become one of the more dominant relievers in the majors. He's just a nasty pitcher.

Okay, I'm done with this. I tried to show you that if you don't focus on just a few numbers your pattern can't be found. Oh, and my numbers are from baseball-reference.com. I didn't just pull this data out of a hat. I'm not arguing with your comments because of preconceived notions. I'm saying you're using worthless data to try to prove something that simply cannot be inferred based on your evidence. That's not confirmation bias. Edit: Oh, and from 2008-2010, Greinke gave up .41 earned runs per nine innings. The Royals gave up .40. I guess that's irrelevant though, because my preconceived notions are preventing me from seeing the fact that Greinke did not, in fact, give up significantly more unearned runs per nine innings than the rest of the Royals staff.

Personally I feel like it makes the wins much more enjoyable and the losses more painful. As much as I hate watching Betancourt this season, I've enjoyed watching Weeks. Overall I'm relatively satisfied with how the team has performed, as they've pretty much played up to expectations. I think a lot of the negativity just stems from the fact that generally more passionate arguments on this message board come from players that aren't living up to expectations.

I'm not the one who's guilty of having a confirmation bias . I'm not disagreeing with you because my preconceived notions differ from yours. You're looking for a pattern where there very well may not be one. If we assume a some random distribution of unearned runs over the course of a few seasons, we're going to see some pitchers give up more and some give up less. There just isn't enough information out there to reach your conclusions. In his career, Greinke has given up .36 unearned runs per 9 innings. Chen has given up .45 unearned runs per 9 innings. The league average for (ERA-RA) in the NL is 0.36 this year. Last year it was 0.37. The year before it was 0.33. In his career, Greinke has given up an average number of unearned runs per nine innings, despite his defense sucking during his career. When meaningful data is used, it's pretty difficult to reach your conclusion.

I've actually thought about this as well recently and here's part of my theory of why I find it so frustrating: We all know this team's window is only 1-2 years, and we all see the depleted farm system. This is the last hurrah for Fielder, and ultimately feels like the last chance for what was an incredibly talented farm system. We waited so many years for this team to be competitive and now the club might only make the playoffs once with that class of players. Most seasons there is a silver lining. In 2008, it was that Sheets and CC were leaving but Yovani was coming back and Prince would improve after a poor season, not to mention the glorious draft picks we thought we'd receive for Sheets and CC. I personally don't believe this is a single season window so long as Melvin can fill holes at SS, 3B, and 1B with the cash saved on Prince. Ultimately, I think we realize that there are most likely some dark days in the future for the Brewers. I just think that as fans, we really want something to show for this team.

It's not a perfect analogy but it's part of my point that defensive performance is not under the pitcher's control and it should not be factored into how we evaluate their performance. Unearned runs happen so randomly and infrequently that to try and find a pattern as to which pitchers are more susceptible to giving up the most unearned runs is foolish. You're looking at an extremely small portion of the picture and trying to explain it to a level that we just can't understand.

I've really started enjoying soccer since the 2010 World Cup, but I pretty much agree with the criticism of the penalty shootout. It just doesn't seem like a logical way to conclude the biggest matches on the world stage. I would rather see them give each team another substitute for each of two 30 (15+15) minute golden-goal extra time periods. Heck, give them two subs for each period. I don't like penalty shootouts, even when my team wins. FWIW, the International Ice Hockey Federation only plays a 10 minute OT period, 4 v 4, before going into a shootout to decide games in the Olympics and the World Championships. I hate that as well, but it's more understandable given that during the Olympics players are on break from the NHL. I'd still like to see the World Championships decided with sudden death until the games finish. I know there has been a lot of criticism for the US in the penalty kicks, especially Carli Lloyd who lofted her kick over the net, and I think a lot of it is unwarranted. I don't think people who don't watch much soccer understand that it's not that uncommon for players to miss the net; the difference between a perfect strike and putting it over can be as little as striking the ball a centimeter higher or lower. In the Men's World Cup, Ghana had a chance to advance on a penalty kick awarded in a tie game in the ~120th minute. I believe it was Jonathan Mensah or Asamoah Gyan who took the kick, and the ball sailed over the Uruguayan keeper and the net. Nicholas Anelka put a ball off the post in a shootout in the Champions League final a few years ago. It's not unprecedented for these things to occur and I feel horrible for Carli Lloyd about that missed penalty.

Bernman, when evaluating a pitcher we should attempt to take defensive variables out of the equation, not add more in. It's not Greinke's fault he played on the Royals, who made the 5th most errors in the majors from 2008-2010. Marcum, meanwhile, played on the Blue Jays, who made the 5th least errors in the majors over that time. Should we also blame Greinke for only winning 16 games in 2009? I mean, it must be his fault that the Royals couldn't hit either, no?

1. Yuniesky Betancourt, "Batter Nine You Sucky": I really don't know whether or not he is a lazy ballplayer, but his entire game reeks of a player who just doesn't listen or put effort into his game. Everybody here is probably putting him here for the same reasons(s)(s) I am. 2. Mark Kotsay: I can't stand players who seem to get by only on the adage that they are "good clubhouse guys, grizzled veterans, or professional ballplayers". He doesn't hit any better than Carlos Gomez and he's worse in the field than Ryan Braun. 3. Josh Wilson: He's a AAA ballplayer who is playing in the majors. He's not good in the field and his bat is hardly better than YuBet's. He is the definition of replacement level, that "mythical" player that can be, and has been, acquired for nothing more than a bag of balls. 4. Casey McGehee: I cheer for Casey McGehee, and I really like the guy. He was always tough to watch in the field (which was only compounded by the praise he often received from announcers), but now he seems to have completely lost it at the plate as well. On the flip side, my favorite players to watch are (1) Rickie Weeks, (2) Nyjer Morgan, and (3) John Axford. Honorable mentions go to Mark DiFelice and Zack Greinke.

A year ago when Casey would hit two singles we wouldn't bat an eyelash. Man do I miss the Casey McGehee from 2009-2010. I do believe that by July 31st either McGehee or Betancourt will lose their starting position. Perhaps my beliefs cannot be rationalized though.

In terms of predictive value, 33 AB's is really no more useful than 10 AB's. Why should we focus on what a player has done in the past week rather than the past three years? Any reasonable projection has Gomez hitting nearly as well as Kotsay, some have Gomez hitting better. He also doesn't let line drives go through his legs in the outfield like Kotsay (that's line drives, plural).

One month. Way to random to have any meaning whatsoever other than trivia.Not a month, barely more than a week for an everyday player. Carlos Gomez's wOBA is .303, Kotsay's is .295. Neither are good offensively, but Kotsay is one of the worst defending outfielders in the league while Gomez is one of the best. Gomez is also hitting .300/.300/.900/1.200 this month. I guess he's "hot" as well, no?

It would be more fitting for him to sell Ice Cold Beer, Blow Pops, or Suckers.

On the "up" side, if he gets more than three at-bats, it should mean the Brewers weren't no-hit by a AA callup. That scraping noise you hear is me at the bottom of the barrel. Unless the guy walks 8 batters. It would take the perfect game out of question though.

Now send us that bum Castro for Yuniesky and we'll call it even.

Right now I'd lean towards offering arby, but the relief market is extremely strong this winter. Of course if there are more players available that means more teams have holes to fill, but K-Rod is certainly not the prized pig of this relief class (/insert comment about Cordero being an unprized pig). What's a reasonable guess for K-Rod in this offseason if he throws 3.00 ERA ball the rest of the year? If he's a type A I don't know that he'll get more than 2/12 or so. I really don't think it's that unlikely for him to accept.

I don't know how much Saito has left in the tank, but I really don't feel like people realize how dominant he has been over his career. Take a gander at this: 304.1 IP, 11.00 K/9, 2.78 BB/9, 2.22 ERA, 2.64 FIP. He's a nasty pitcher. You could make a legitimate argument that Saito is still as good a pitcher as K-Rod. My money is on K-Rod being better from here on out, but I don't think K-Rod would win the grievance (heck, how often do players actually win this type of grievance?).

He's making $11.5 million this season, and I believe 20% is the maximum wage cut a player can receive through arbitration. That would put him at about $9.25 million. Realistically K-Rod should be worth $5-7 million over the course of the season, so paying him $10 million wouldn't be a disaster, more of a mild annoyance.

I saw that on Baseball-Ref too (per 162 games) and thought it was way low. I'm not sure how they calculate that but if you look at their careers Niekro actually averaged more like 60-70 more innings per season than Pedro.

Pedro threw an average of 162 innings per season over 18 years. Niekro threw an average of 225 innings per season over 24 years. Good pitchers accumulate more value when they throw more innings.