tlpc4

Colby, How does that work? Does the team contact the player in the weeks leading up to the draft to get permission or is it somehow done on draft day?

As far as plate discipline...what do you define as plate discipline? Is it the ability to draw a walk or the abilty to not chase bad pitches. Where I am going with this is that I think it is pretty common for players to learn to take pitches. Last year, guys like Brady Clark and Keith Ginter were guys that drew 4 pitch walks all the time. They also would take 3 pitch strike outs. They both drew walks but I didn't feel they had good plate discipline. They took pitches and guessed on pitches. They drew walks and struck out. Typically players that don't hit for a high average fit this profile. Their not stupid, they concentrate on drawing walks because they know they need to suppliment their enemic OBP brought on by a low batting average(just my opinion). So what am I saying? I think players can learn to take pitches. In fact, the manager can take the bat out of their hands to force them to take pitches. I think some players have good plate discipline and have a keen eye for which pitches are strikes, which pitches are balls, which pitches they can hit, which pitches they can't hit, which pitches are fastballs, and which pitches are curves, etc. This type of batting skill is not something easily learned. Hitting for average is similar to plate discipline. It is not something you easily learned. Also, it is common to hear that walks are less streaky. I would like to see the statistical theory on that. Just looking at Overbay: Mar and April 22hits 18walks May 21hits 17walks June 21hits 8 walks I think everything about baseball is very streaky.

The main part I disagree with is this: That's a fact, not my "opinion." I think you provide a compelling argument. But it is not fact, and that is my main problem. Your analysis, while it appears to be quite statistically sound, makes many assumptions that I question. This made me a little sensitive to the "this is fact so your opinion doesn't count" vibe I got from your response. I happen to question whether OPS is the way you judge if Player A is more valuable. It ignores defense, it ignores pressuring the defense with speed, it ignores situational hitting, and it ignores being a leader. I believe these things can be very important. Finally, I think there are some compelling statistics that suggest that OPS is a good messure of being productive..especially for middle of the lineup guys. How do you use that? I think you have to look at what makes OPS and determine how to find guys that could develop into high OPS guys. My theory is that getting hits is the easiest way to have a high OPS. If you can maintain a .300 batting average you have a huge advantage over players that have to rely on walks and/or homeruns. A hit raises your OBP and your SLG. So when looking at young players in the minors or in their first couple years...I consider batting average to be very important.

A fact or a theory? A fact is that you believe the theory that a player with a higher OPS is better than a player with a lower OPS. A fact is that you believe the theory that OBP is more important than SLG. The changing knowledge of baseball stats is the result of refutations or the falsification of a theory. bad sabermetrics attempts to end the discussion by saying that I have studied the issue and this is the answer. -bill james

I think the yellow card idea would be nice. It gets the point across without having to "craft" a writen response. I think it would help to keep some of the ugly admin work out of the posting threads. I think the true benefit would be taking the base functionality that you get in a Major League or Minor League type threads and extending it to create customized experiences for things like the Game Threads and The Daily Link Reports. I think with some thought you could use the basic framework and create a Gamecast like experience where users could visually see two distinct threads...play by play and commentary for any particular game. With some deft portlet'esqe design...users could even watch all six "gamecasts" on one page and jump in to comment on the hot game of the night.

By the way...at the risk of sounding like a kiss butt...I love your posts DHonks. You are one of the select few posters I will go out of my ways to read even when the topics aren't very interesting to me. I enjoy your level-headed analysis of all subjects. And finding out you are an owner of a bar just adds to your legendary status in mind. Keep up the good work.

I think it is the right move in a 4-2 game to leave in Brady. He is near the top of MLB in hits. If Krynzel would have PH with the score 7-2...I would have given Brady the rest. I guess you could question PH Krynzel early so you can't use him as a defensive replacement with a solid lead...but you hate to risk having to PH him in the 9th against the best pitchers like last night too much.

I'm here. Go Billy I guess I will have one more Manhattan for the stairs.

That is an interesting comparison. The main reason I have a gripe with Harris is he was suppose to be the clubhouse "cop" and 2002 was a horrible year of the clubhouse police blotter. Between fights between players and players appearing to not care, it was one of the most abysmal season I can remember. I like Cirillo more because "I" have more respect for him then Lenny Harris or certainly Trent Durrington and I guess I made the mistake of assuming a bunch of 25 year old guys would feel the same way. Maybe not! As a side note, if it is close, I think you bring in the fan favorite as long as you make him the 25th man on the roster instead of the starting SS. Particularly in the Brewers situation, Cirillo should never see any extended playing time because if they end up needing a long term replacement they will probably bring up Weeks or Fielder.

cirillo is a good hitter. Is there an over under on when the first "Jeff Cirillo is a professional hitter." comment will come from Sutton. xis, I guess I would rather have Cirillo than Durrington or even the guy that I first heard called a "professional hitter"....Lenny Harris

Here is an interesting article on Nick Grunenwald . link Good to see someone from my alma mater getting some draft consideration.

Thanks Colby, sorry for the duplication

I think what needs to be further defined is what is a Grade C draft and what is a A draft. To do that you need to keep in mind that there are only 25 men in the majors and that getting 2 to 3 players a draft nets out to 10 to 15 players over 5 years which is a significant overhaul of a roster. More important than quanity is quality. Drafting a Hall of Famer is a huge upgrade and needs to be judged accordingly. Here is a stab at some guidelines. I am looking for some input on how you would change them. A 1 Hall of Famer(Yount, Molitor) or Perenial All-Star(Sheets) 2 Solid starters who occasianally have All-Star seasons(Jenkins) Several(5 or more) marginal to solid starters(Ginter, Helms, Santos) B 1 Solid starters who occasianally has an All-Star seasons plus one or more marginal to solid starters. C 2 marginal to solid starters D 1 marginal to solid starters F Nothing

Great job gang! I am having some problems with the leaderboard. When it first loads it looks accurate but when I made changes to the options it started giving me All time stats rather than from this year. I think the issue is that the Season drop down is not appearing and it is probably defaulting to All Years. Minor stuff. Once again great work.

I think it is a weak comment by endaround. Melvin said that players need to accomplish a certain number of goals to advance. I bet less than half of the goals would show up in the stats. Pitching inside, getting ahead of hitters, maintaining a consistent arm action; those are things that coaches and scouts look for. Stats are a result that can be skewed by luck or circumstance. Large sample sizes came minimize these issues but not 85 innings