cobaincola

There was Wade Miller in FA but the Sox got him cheap 672496[/snapback] Wade Miller must have really wanted to go to the Red Sox because they got him really cheap. It is hard to believe that another team wouldnt have offered him more. 672688[/snapback] I think it was because he has serious injury concerns... Anyone know if he is going to be even healthy to start out the season?

3 problems: 1) OPS isn't a good measurement of a lead-off hiter or even a #2 guy... 2) Team speed isn't taken into account, stolen bases, etc. that obviously contribute to the amount of runs a team can score. 3) OPS needs to be adjusted for park anyhow.

Mays Mantle Cobb ...... Everyone else

.044 is a pretty healthy gap. 672484[/snapback] Williams OPS+ is only 6 points ahead, and bonds will probably be ahead of him by the end of his career. Plus if you tae Bonds seasons with OPS of .900 or higher: 14 seasons with OPS of 1.000 or higher: 12 seasons with OPS of 1.100 or higher: 6 seasons with OPS of 1.200 or higher: 4 seasons with OPS of 1.300 or higher: 3 seasons with OPS of 1.400 or higher: 1 seasons with OPS+ of 150 or higher: 14 seasons with OPS+ of 175 or higher: 10 seasons with OPS+ of 200 or higher: 6 seasons with OPS+ of 225 or higher: 4 seasons with OPS+ of 250 or higher: 3 seasons with OPS+ of 275 or higher: 1 Williams seasons with OPS of .900 or higher: 13 seasons with OPS of 1.000 or higher: 13 seasons with OPS of 1.100 or higher: 8 seasons with OPS of 1.200 or higher: 2 seasons with OPS of 1.300 or higher: 0 seasons with OPS of 1.400 or higher: 0 seasons with OPS+ of 150 or higher: 13 seasons with OPS+ of 175 or higher: 9 seasons with OPS+ of 200 or higher: 6 seasons with OPS+ of 225 or higher: 1 seasons with OPS+ of 250 or higher: 0 seasons with OPS+ of 275 or higher: 0 Plus, Bonds played 17 full seasons while Williams only played 13, so if you take away Bonds four worst seasons, Bonds percentage/ average/ ratio numbers are much better 672492[/snapback] LMAO...take away Bonds four worst seasons? That's idiotic...why don't you take out instead his best seasons because he was on roids and why don't you factor in the prime years Williams missed because he was at war and despite that he still the league in Win Shares 7 times! Your homerism is out of this world...take out his 4 worst seasons...lol...is that suppose to give any indication of their authentic talents??

Stat Comparison of Bonds and Williams...the only ones who matter in this thing. Bonds: Avg: .300 Hits: 2730 HRs: 703 Awards: 7 MVPs, 13 Time All-Star, 8 GGs, Williams: Avg: .344 Hits: 2654 HRs: 521 Awards: 2 MVPs, 2 Triple Crowns, 17 Time All Star The things I take into account when comparing these two are the facts that Williams was out the 43-45 seasons due to his service in WW2. He would have put up massive numbers in those years and would probably have 3,000+ hits along with 600+ HRs. He also hada strong media bias against him and he could have had arguably 3 more MVPs (such as not winning it his first Triple Crown year). His OB% is first all time, his slugging 2nd, and his OPS 2nd. Bonds has had some amazing seasons and was a better defensive player. However, the Steroid scandal looms large in my opinion (No seasons over 46s and then 73, Wha?) and? that is enough for me to give Williams the nod. 671791[/snapback] Bonds doesn't have a strong media bias against him? What about defense? Williams was a s***ty defensive LFer, and Bonds, well the 8 gold gloves speak for themselves. Not to mention over 500 steals. Williams was a slightly better hitter. BOnds was a much better fielder and baserunner. 672466[/snapback] Williams was a much much better hitter than pre-Roids Bonds. Bonds was a better fielder, but not that great of a margin, he's one of the most over-rated defensive OFers, Bill James has them both as C rated OFers. Bonds was obviously a much better base-running, but it doesn't close the gap for hitting. Pre Roids, Bonds had 2 40+ Win Share season...Williams had 5 Williams led the league in Win Shares 7 times and only ended up with 2 MVP awards, among those seasons the 47 season where Williams had 44 Win Shares and DiMaggio 30, yet he still lost out to Joe and in 42 where Williams lost to Joe Gordon despite having 15 more WS.

The only incarnation of God ever on this planet in human form was executed 1,972 years ago. Please, stfu calling Barry Bonds god. He is nothing of the sort. 672472[/snapback] Bonds is being (metaphorically) crucified because he's the best. The difference Bonds and Jesus is, Bonds actually exists. 672478[/snapback] Q: What are the two differences between a 5 year old and Barry Bonds? A: Barry has a higher voice and smaller balls. 672485[/snapback] LOL

Pine Sol

A-Rod might up being the best 3b man and best SS ever. His defense on third is good, helped Jeter win a gold glove and will only improve...he might pick up some gold gloves of his own at third.

Is Blood Sugar Sex Magik the best selling album of the best band of all time? :blink: Was it on the charts for 15 years? :blink: Does it have arguably the best song of all time? :blink: No, no, and no. :whistle 670641[/snapback] Well if you want to go by mass appeal then you must think that Shania Twain's Come on Over is a better album than anything by the Beatles, Metallica, The Doors, and Hendrix... Some people are voting based on musical talent others on mass appeal...others on a mix of things and others yet because they just like the album... It's a bit hypocritical to not have a definition for what 'best' means and then to criticize someone's reasons for voting for who they did.

Barry. this is a no brainer. roids and all. 670410[/snapback] But without roids what is he? 670433[/snapback] with or without, he's still the best. Who won player of the decade in the 90's? How did he do last year? Exactly. 670458[/snapback] Griffey. 670473[/snapback] Griffey was a better fielder and played a more demanding defensive position but that's all he had on Bonds.

Barry. this is a no brainer. roids and all. 670410[/snapback] But without roids what is he? 670433[/snapback] with or without, he's still the best. Who won player of the decade in the 90's? How did he do last year? Exactly. 670458[/snapback] Without roids he couldn't hold Williams' jock as a hitter. All-around game is a different matter. Even without roids, Bonds is one of the two best LFers of all time.

Funny...that was the exact same contract the White Sox offered him and he rejected opting to test the FA market. The Tigers are a desperate team, they need to get rid of those memories from 2003 when they were the worst team in recent MLB history. They'll overpay to do that.

People are getting too elitist...all the classic rock blowhards need to relax, there was great music after Led Zeppelin No one defined what 'best' meant. Musically there have been artists who shouldn't have advanced to the point they did in other polls including Elvis and Marley. There's alot more to being great including music diversity, band influence, originality, lyrics, mass appeal...etc Flea and Frusciante are incredible musicians, Flea is easily in the discussion of greatest bassists ever. That album was one of its kind, incredibly revolutionary.

Thanks Pudge!

Williams and Mr. Roid Head

Just wanted to clarify something that many people are confused about. When delgado did not stand for God Bless america, he was NOT protesting the war in Iraq. His sole protest was the weapons testing that the US was undergoing in that little island off Puerto rico. Thats it. 669646[/snapback] Or at least reserach what you post please. No wonder you are such a mis-guided person when it comes to a lot of issues, you have a hard time grasping simple news stories like these. 669656[/snapback] Wow... Even IF the guy made a slip-up that is some ridiculous pent up teenage angst there... What a sad little man.

It's a no brainer, #2...Division titles are easier to come by, you only have to compete against a handful of other teams. I don't want the Fish to entertain a Sox-long drought (either) or a Cub-long drought

Beltran Pujols Guerrero Helton A-Rod Ramirez Bonds Santana Tejada Abreu Thome Cabrera

It's one thing to take a negative stance and at the very least have some evidence to back you up. This is a sloppy written piece...with no substance. I love how the 'mathematics show' that a team can't win if a large part of its payroll is consumed by one player... Wow...I wonder what kind of math that is.

Canibus Lost Boyz Cypress Hill A Tribe called Quest The Fugees Jurassic 5

Nice, but Atlanta also lost Wright and Ortiz The Braves got worse offensively, worse in the bullpen, and a rotation that could be very good or could collapse with so much riding on Smoltz's transition to a dominant starter at his age, Horacio Ramirez who doesn't have overpowering stuff and was gone 2/3 - 3/4 of the season last year and John Thomson who had a career year last year. I like Philly. They have a good offense, an incredible pen and a potentially good staff. I'd predict: 1. Florida 2. Atlanta 3. Philly 4. New York 5. Washington

Same here... Everyone is penciling him in to be dominant, somehow regain what he used to have. But many years have passed, including several years without starting and TJ surgery... He's no guarantee. The Braves rotation is shaky after Hudson. It can be potentially good, but it could blow up in their face. I'm sure the reason they made the conversion was financial and nothing else.

throw in some numbers pierre .335 240h 120r 50sb castillo .305 195h 110r 35sb cabrera .315 115r 43 hr 135 rbi delgado .285 100r 35hr 125rbi 100+waLKS lowell .290 80r 32 hr 105rbi loduca .280 70r 14hr 80rbi conine .280 80r 20hr 85 rbi gonzales .260 65r 20hr 80rbi it all depends on mike lowell,if mike does real well delgado will see better pitches.All i know is cabrera will be an mvp what does CDL stands for? our #3,4,5 hitters LOL Cabrera Delgado Lowell 668654[/snapback] pierre .345 235h 115r 60sb castillo .305 190h 110r 40sb cabrera .320 110r 46 hr 140 rbi delgado .285 100r 38hr 125rbi 100+waLKS lowell .294 85r 32 hr 104rbi loduca .290 70r 12hr 85rbi conine .276 80r 15hr 78 rbi gonzales .255 65r 23hr 87rbi 668671[/snapback] That lineup is a masterpiece... Lowell will have an insane number of RBIs...he's an RBI machine and with Delgado in front he's going to get alot of chances to knock people in especially because he isn't one to strike out all that often. Pierre and Castillo followed by two potential 40 homer bats...couldn't have asked for anything better.

You have a valid point. When I read the ESPN article on most durable pitchers I wasn't pleased to see that Ismael was the pitchers with the fewest IP per start and Pavs as the pitchers with the second highest IP per start. Especially because we also have Leiter. However, bullpen does matter. Our bullpen was very thin last year and it was in part disguised because of Pavano but as the season progressed it was taxed more and more because Benitez went down and because we replaced Penny with Valdez. With that said we have a much deeper pen at the moment. Burnett will also be able to go out longer now that he is comfortably back from TJ surgery. He also missed alot of time last year as did Beckett. Our rotation shouldn't drop off too much. If Beckett and Burnett stay healthy it will be better than it was last year because we have that bullpen depth that could help out pitchers like Valdez and Leiter. Plus, I think most imporantly it's more logical to look at whether or not Leiter and Valdez have a historical problem with pitching that few of IP per start. It may have been a fluke last year.

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