Rydawg

meh, I wouldn't mind trading Scott Olsen if a team values him enough to give up a good catcher/1B/3B prospect for him. I'm just not that sold on him as a pitcher, don't think he will ever be that good in the majors. IMO 2006 was the fluke year, and 2007 was the norm. He is too predictable as he only has two pitches: A good slider that he can't throw for strikes and a decent fastball. Major league hitters can sit back and wait for that fastball and just take the slider as a ball, it happened all of 2007. Whatever happened to the sophmore slump? Doesn't it make more sense that he suffered through a sophmore slump like so many major leaguers do, than to say 06' was the fluke? I think you are being way to critical of Olsen at this point. The kid does have alot of talent. Maybe not a #1, but he can certainly be a solid major leaguer. Being a jerk doesn't mean you can't play the game. UR so right. Look at Schilling. When you look at Curt and you look at Scott, they are so different. You can't compare the two. Schilling had the fastball, and all the mechanics needed to be a major league number one starter anywhere and on any team. Scott Olsen doesn't throw as hard, relies mostly on movement, and won't pan out if his attention is not 100% directed towards his coaches. Guys like Beckett, Schilling, P. Martinez, and power pitchers are in the big leagues and stick because they have great arms, but even they weren't so ignorant as to not listen to their managers. If we can get equal value, trade him at once. I was only referring to the "being a jerk doesn't mean you can't play the game." I consider Schilling to be a big jerk but he is still successful. Olsen is also a jerk. both are pitching in the major leagues. I didn't mean to compare their pitching. I was thinking more along the lines of Barry Bonds. What makes Schilling a jerk?

meh, I wouldn't mind trading Scott Olsen if a team values him enough to give up a good catcher/1B/3B prospect for him. I'm just not that sold on him as a pitcher, don't think he will ever be that good in the majors. IMO 2006 was the fluke year, and 2007 was the norm. He is too predictable as he only has two pitches: A good slider that he can't throw for strikes and a decent fastball. Major league hitters can sit back and wait for that fastball and just take the slider as a ball, it happened all of 2007. Whatever happened to the sophmore slump? Doesn't it make more sense that he suffered through a sophmore slump like so many major leaguers do, than to say 06' was the fluke? I think you are being way to critical of Olsen at this point. The kid does have alot of talent. Maybe not a #1, but he can certainly be a solid major leaguer. Being a jerk doesn't mean you can't play the game.

I love Olsens attitude and the way he plays the game. I really feel Cab's was the bad clubhouse presense. I think he came up, felt like he was the reason they won... and got a big head (much like Ray Emery of the Ottawa Senators). Olsen might have stood up for himself instead of being the cause of the problem. He plays with a lot of heart, and he is major league ready at minor league salary. Give him time to develop and he'll be Millers own Tom Glavine. Or John Smoltz. Or Millers Zito, or Hudsen, Or Mulder. Chris Or maybe he'll just think it's MILLER TIME. Or maybe he'll just be MILLERS BUD!

It is being said that the Marlins really want Moehler back as their veteran starter. I really think they should bring him back He sucks. Bring back Livan. Livan can get us deep into games and keep the bullpen fresh.

I would love to have Rolen here, but not his contract. Edit: I checked sportsline, and the rumor is legit, but I don't see it happening. it also mentions Helms, Nunez. If we get a stadium announcement soon, I think the Marlins could make a run at Rolen. I read somewhere that Loria would raise the payroll as soon as a stadium agreement is in place. With a stadium deal hopefully around the corner, the fish might be holding off on filling third base until then. If the deal falls through, I would then expect a Marte or Teahan type trade. This is all of course speculation on my part.

All that said none of the money pledged to the stadium BY LAW can't be used for any other purpose that building professional sports franchise venues. In fact the voters of Miami-Dade already voted on it and said so. Can't use it for school books or affordable housing or new roads regardless of what anyone tells you or what you see on TV. i bet doing next vote next thur if i heard right their going some vote no by county commissioners i donot know how many vote needed to pass it i remember last year when county commissioners voted for money for marlins their few no vote like rolle and other feel money could us in their area According to the Miami Herald article yesterday, they have confirmed that there are at least 7 of the 13 members in favor of the plan. That is already a majority. Furthermore, only 1 out the 10 commissioners that were spoken to was a sure no vote. I think those are pretty good odds.

I would bet they received it today or yesterday. I would be surprised if they invoked this parliamentary attack - this plan feeds basically everyone. As the package shifts from its 4-1 victory in Miami's City Commission on Thursday to the 13-member Miami-Dade County Commission next Tuesday, The Miami Herald has identified at least seven commissioners who are tentatively in favor. Of 10 commissioners reached by The Miami Herald, only Javier Souto committed to voting against the deal. He has been a vocal opponent of the tunnel and continued spending on the arts center. Well at least it looks as if we may have the votes. Hopefully they won't use that "4 day law". I am very optimistic, however, when it comes to the Marlins stadium you always have to apply Murphy's law.

Im still cautiously optimistic. I'll get really excited when the shovel hits the dirt. Thanks for the updates though 2003. So, if this goes through, what will be the quikest way for fans to get to the game who are coming from North Broward County that live near the FL Turnpike? I'm not an expert on directions but I believe the Turnpike connects to the 836. If so, take the turnpike South to 836 East. Take the 836 east to the NW 17th ave exit. Make right on 17th and you will be right there.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of prospect Lee Mitchell might or might not be? Looking over the minor league rosters, and going strictly off of stats, he seems to be the best in house choice from our system to fill the hole at 3b.

lol, ok, realistically speaking, Vandenhurk won't really be the ace , but considering the fact that any pitcher the Marlins would make their ace would be a 4th or 5th starter on any other team tells you that they'll lose 100 + This is dramatic. They won't lose 100, just how they didn't in 2006. The pitching is better and Hanley, Hermida, Hammer, Uggla, and Jacobs can all still hit baseballs. Plus a 3B and whatever Maybin brings if he starts for the team. The offense won't be dreadful. We're going to be OK. Don't worry. There is a very strong possibility they win more games next year if they fill out their last 3-4 roster spots with the right kind of players. We'll see what happens. 1. Joe Girardi was the skipper in '06. Feddi blows. I know he had a lot of injuries last year, but he did nothing to make me believe he is a good manager. He's got no fire 2.The pitching is better? Why, because we replaced Willis with a guy who has never pitched a full major league season? I dont know, I think the rotation, at this point, is about equal to last years. 3. Hanley, Hermida, Uggla and Jacobs can't replace all the runs that Miguel Cabrera created last year. Not nearly. I'd be SHOCKED if this team didn't lose 100+. Hey, I would love to be wrong... but I just can't see them winning more than 61 games I see it alot different than you do. 1) Girardi was a horrible in game manager. Not that Fredi has shown to be any better but Girardi did make many questionable decisions during games in 06'. Also, many blame Girardi for all of the arm injuries last season because he abused them in 06. I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with that arguement, but it is out there. As for the fire you speak of, it is highly over rated in my opinion. How many winning seasons did Lou Pinella have in Tampa? The answer is 0. No one can question Lou's fire. My point is that it's to soon to be so critical of Fredi. The jury is still out. 2) Miller can only be better in 08' than Willis was in 07'. A healthy Anibal Sanchez, and a healthy Ricky Nolasco have to be much better than the Barone's and BK Kims of last year. You also have to figure that Olsen will be closer to his 06' form than his 07' form. At least you would hope so considering all of his talent. You would also have to figure that RVH will be muched improved over his rookie season simply because of how much talent this kid has. You also have Gaby Hernandez, and Chris Volstad knocking on the major league door, which means some of our more talented youngsters should be ready some time in 08'. My point is that this years rotation could very well be much better than last years. At least the potential is there. 3) A full and healthy season from Hermida, Jacobs, and Ross will go a long way to replacing some of Cabs production. Remember that we had a hole in RF (Borchard) for over a month while Hermida was out. And even after Hermida was back it took him a while to get going. We should also be much improved in CF with Maybin (if ready) than all of the CF's we threw out there in 07'. The big question is how do we fix the hole at 3b? A decent acquisition (not Helms) would go along way to making up for the loss of Cabs. My point being that we don't need to replace Cabs with a 30 hr 100 rbi guy. But we can't have a hole either. All in all it's crapshoot, but there is reason to hope to be better than last year. Will we make the plays-offs? No. Can we be better? Yes.

Like I said, for you, it's Republican party first, US Military second. No big surprise there... That's because the Republican party is the party that supports our military.

Yeah, because god knows he has brass nuts to say Iraqi markets are safe, all this while wearing a bulletproof jacket and an armored guard around them. Real gutsy guy there. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone labeled him as an opinion poll chaser prior to him entering the race, I have no doubt he wouldn't be singing a different tune than he is now on the war. He thought he'd make his stand in the primaries against those accusations and now he's running a laughingstock of a campaign. Yeah, he never spent 5 years in an POW camp being tortured and turned down the opportunity to be released so he could stay with his men. Regardless of party, he's the only candidate who is worth a damn. You don't like his politics, that's cool, but you cannot ever question his incredibly massive brass testicals, the man is a bonafide American hero, can't say the same about any of the other candidates. I agree that he is an American Hero. But does that make him the best choice for President?

Dude, you need a girl friend. STATISTICAL IGNORANCE ALERT! B@tTin @vErAgE iz lyk Teh sh*t lOl WhiP hE sUx He"s 3-10, Fo GeT tHe 320 ErAAA,,,,,,,,he CanT WiN Da BIG GAMES!?!?! mY I'z TelL mE hE SUX HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 /end Statistical Ignorance Alert Awesome post Ensam. IDIOT ALERT!!! You need a life too. Dork! I'm sure you have fun playing with your calculator but try getting laid every once in a while. You might like it. I bet you've never even played the game and you're just some stat nerd.

With all the talks of Hermida's eyes, I was wonder what his PA/BB actually was. I mean, you hear all about the 2005 111 walk campain, but what about every other year? Bases on balls is one of those stats that stays real consistent for hitters throughout the years, afterall. Basically sharing this with how my thought process was going throughout it. Note: Format is Year-PA per BB/# of PA, BB over a 650 PA season based of PA per BB ratio Minors: 2002-9.4/203 69bb 2003-7.0/556 93bb 2004-9.4/393 69bb 2005-4.6/506 141bb Majors: 2005-7.8/47 83bb 2006-10.5/348 62bb 2007-8.0/255 81bb Nothing is static, his walk numbers are all over the place. Hell, you compare his high to his low in BB-over-650 PA and you're looking at a difference seventy-nine walks. Infact, looking at it, that 4.6 PA/BB year looks nothing more then a statistically anomaly. Is he going to be nothing more then a mid 7 to mid 8 PA/BB guy? (Which, by all means, is good. But you compare that to his 4.6 PA/BB campaign and you get dissapointed) Well, the initial problem with this is the massively low amount of sample size in major league PAs, expecially considering he was injured (though, his eyes weren't injured, but still physcological effects need to be taken into consideration.). Is his minor league PAs really worth looking at? Afterall, the whole point in the minors is to get better. So how about looking at a couple guys and seeing how their minor league numbers looked compared to their major league numbers. First guy that came to mind was Miguel Cabrera. Minors: 2000-10.9/250 59bb 2001-12.5/464 52bb 2002-14.3/544 45bb 2003-9.8/303 66bb Majors: 2003-9.8/346 66bb 2004-10.1/685 64bb 2005-10.7/685 60bb 2006-7.9/676 82bb 2007-9.4/431 69bb So his minors, he had two years close to his normal, and two years higher. Well, what about a high BB guy? First guy I could think of was Adam Dunn. So: Minors: 1998-6.9/151 94bb 1999-8.1/372 80bb 2000-5.4/538 120bb 2001-6.8/421 95bb Majors: 2001-7.5/286 87bb 2002-5.2/676 125bb 2003-6.3/469 103bb 2004-6.3/681 103bb 2005-5.9/671 110bb 2006-6.1/683 107bb 2007-7.4/424 87bb Well, he had one year off his normal amount in the minors, and the rest were pretty on par. So minors aren't exactly same as majors, but for the most part they're on par PA/BB wise but a bit on the high said. You take that in consideration, Hermida's only going to be about a mid 7 to mid 8 PA/BB guy. Well, then I decided to look at Bonds (not including BB over 650 PA, not doing the math for that): Minors: 85-8.0/295 86-5.6/186 Majors: 86-7.4/484 87-11.3/611 88-8.5/614 89-7.3/679 90-6.7/621 91-5.9/634 92-4.8/612 93-5.3/674 94-6.4/474 95-5.3/635 96-5.8/675 97-4.8/690 98-5.4/697 99-5.9/434 00-5.2/607 01-5.7/664 02-3.1/612 (start of massive IBB) 03-3.7/550 04-2.7/617 05-5.8/52 06-4.3/493 07-3.6/349 So, you take the IBB's in consideration and subtract from those, and bonds is a low to high 5 PA/BB guy throughout his career, though he was a lot higher in walks his first few years. His minors can't be taken too much into account (Low PA and only two years), but his first year was high, and his second year was in that range. But he didn't reach this range in the majors until his 6th year in the majors, when he was 27 years old. Does that mean that prime has to do with PA/BB guys? Afterall, Dunn and Cabrera are young. In which case, I would need to look at guys who were young, came in around 20 years old, and are now either retired or past their prime. Three gusy I could think of: Aaron, Griffey, A-Rod. A-rod 94-19.7/59 95-24.8/149 96-11.5/677 97-15.6/638 98-16.6/748 99-10.2/572 00-6.7/672 01-9.8/732 02-8.3/725 03-8.2/715 04-8.7/698 05-7.9/715 06-7.5/674 07-7.6/457 Griffey 89-11.5/506 90-10.5/666 91-8.9/633 92-14/617 93-7.2/691 94-8.8/493 95-6/314 96-8.2/638 97-9.3/704 98-9.5/720 99-7.8/706 00-6.7/631 01-9.4/417 02-8.3/232 03-7.4/201 04-7.9/348 05-10.3/555 06-12.1/472 07-6.3/415 Aaron 54-18/503 55-13.5/660 56-17.7/655 57-11.8/675 58-10.2/664 59-13.6/693 60-11.1/664 61-12/671 62-10.1/667 63-9.2/714 64-10.2/634 65-10.7/639 66-9.1/688 67-10.6/669 68-10.6/676 69-7.3/639 70-8.1/598 71-8.1/573 72-5.9/545 73-6.8/465 74-9.8/382 75-7.8/543 76-8.8/308 Griffey didn't really have a difference outside of statistic anomalies, Aaron didn't have a difference until his mid-30's, and A-Rod started having a drop at 24, and he didn't really hit his prime until 26. So doubt it's a prime thing However, what can be seen: Alex didn't reach his career norm until his 6th year, Griffey his 3rd, and Aaron his 4th. So conclusion: Not enough data on Hermida to conclude Not enough tests to compare properly Wait a few more years and see what happens. I realize by concluding nothing it becomes kind of "pointless" but I thought some people might want to look at the numbers. Dude, you need a girl friend.

I think it will look something like this: Willis Mitre Olsen Nolasco Sanchez/Van Dan Hurk/ Gaby If Sanchez is ready he will be in for sure. Also, we shouldn't forget about Jose Garcia. Although I must admit I don't know the extent of his injury and if he will be ready by next spring.

I really hope Treanor doesn't start everyday I'm probably one of the few, but he's just on a nice hot streak.... he should come back to Earth soon (imo of course) I'm with you. I think we will eventually need an upgrade at catcher, but Treanor is not it.

Heres my vote: Olivo>Treanor Not a knock on Matt or anything but I'll stick with Miguel Ditto

That's my whole point. This is not a stock that you are buying or a car that you are buying. This is a sport, a game. Something that you should just sit back and enjoy and be able to cheer for you favorite players. Baseball is not about all of those sabr numbers for most fans. Should Beinfest look at every stat when making a trade, or even drafting a player? Yes, that is his job. I'm just looking at it from a fans point of view. Yes, and some fans (read: the more intelligent and studious ones) know about advanced baseball statistics. Dude, don't take this personally, but you're an idiot (c wut i did der?) to even give someone crap about knowing about advanced baseball statistics or how they as a fan (and in the same breath as you described) want to enjoy the game and follow their team. There is a reason posters like Ramp, Swift, Juanky, bobbob, Godfather, etc. are known, respected, and well-read on here because they know a helluva lot about the game and why people like you will remain unknown and looked over. Some of us are beyond Fisher-Price baseball watching and emoticon laden message board posting. Gees what a pointless pot to stir. You're the idiot if you feel that you have to be respected and well know on a message board. I can care less what you are anyone else on this board thinks. Advanced baseball statistics or sabr stats are not used by the people who play the game. They are for geeks! Real baseball people don't need to look at those stats to realize a players worth. You think scouts use those numbers? You think most mlb players look at those stats? Please! I guess you need to look at numbers on a sheet of paper to explain to you what your eyes can't. Well I don't. I guess that makes me dumb. Oh, and not respected or well read on this board. So what???

kinda like how your batting average doesnt tell you anything about how good a hitter is right? Actually, yes. Exactly. Just because they are widely accepted stats doesn't mean they are good ones. It just means they are widely accepted. What is so hard to understand about that? Here's some pretty good explanations of why A) Batting Average is an awful way of telling how good a hitter is, and B ) there are many other stats that do a much better job (brought to you by our friends at FireJoeMorgan.com): BA (Batting Average) Hits divided by at-bats; also, perhaps the stat that makes Ken Tremendous' blood curdle the quickest. Okay, maybe that's wins. Batting average is the backbone of traditional hitting metrics, and amazingly, is still looked upon as a good way to determine whether someone is good at hitting baseballs. It is not a good way to determine this. Why? Well, you already know why. You know it intuitively, and you always have. Because a guy who hits .250 but clubs 40 HR and 40 doubles and walks 100 times a year is way way way more valuable to his team than a guy who hits .310 with 2 HR and 19 doubles and 15 walks. That?s kind of obvious, isn?t it? I agree. So why should we keep talking about batting average, ever? We shouldn?t? Okay, we won?t. But Tim McCarver will, and that?s why he should be selling cookware door-to-door instead of talking to the country about baseball every Saturday. In 2005, the MLB leader for BA was Derrek Lee, at .335 (Placido Polanco was 2nd). The median BA for players eligible for the batting title was about .280 last year, or what Raul Ibanez and Mark Kotsay were able to produce. (Incidentally, this sort of helps confirm my belief that Mark Kotsay is the perfect ?average? player. Maybe it?s his name.) Nick Swisher and Mike Lowell tied for last among eligible batters at .236. Because their batting averages were so low, both of these players were unable to recover, and never had a productive season in the Major Leagues again. EqA (Equivalent Average) I'll just quote Baseball Prospectus here: "A measure of total offensive value per out, with corrections for league offensive level, home park, and team pitching." EqA incorporates baserunning but not defense. EqA is derived from something called Raw EqA, which is calculated by (turn away, Rob Dibbles of the world) the following formula: (H + TB + 1.5*(BB + HBP + SB) + SH + SF) divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SH + SF + CS + SB) And you thought things weren't going to get that nerdy around here. EqA is basically like what you used to think BA was ? a true measure of how good a hitter is. EqA is purposely formulated to be on a similar scale to BA so it won't scare off the normal people. .260 is average ? which, as a point of comparison, is what Craig Counsell was able to sport in 2005. Guys like Albert Pujols and Travis Hafner can top .350. That's why Travis Hafner should be talked about ten times more than he is. Somehow, Alex Rodriguez was able to block out the back pages of the NY Post well enough to post a MLB-leading EqA of .350 in 2005. OBP (On-Base Percentage) 1. Read Moneyball. 2. OBP is the difference between Kevin Youkilis and Jeff Francoeur. 3. It's also the reason Adam Dunn is vastly underrated. 4. Very simply, OBP is a way to tell how good someone is at not making outs. It?s the total number of times a guy gets on base without being responsible for making an out (except for reaching on errors), divided by his plate appearances -- which are simply times a guy comes up to the plate and tries not to make an out. See why it?s valuable? (Plate appearances in this case are defined as At Bats + Walks + Sacrifice Flies.) In 2005, Todd Helton led all players with a .445 OBP (Giambi was 2nd). Adam Everett and Pudge Rodriguez tied for MLB-worsts of .290. That?s really bad. The league median among eligible batters in ?05 was .348 (Melvin Mora; Grady Sizemore; Rafael Furcal). And for historically ridiculous reference, in 2004, Barry Bonds? OBP was .604; in 2002, it was .581. VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) An offensive stat only, VORP attempts to calculate the number of runs a player is contributing above what a replacement-level player at the same position would if given the same percentage of team plate appearances. VORP is a counting stat, not a percentage stat ? so, for example, as of July 22, Andruw Jones has a VORP of 31.0. That means that he has created 31 more runs for his team than the average AAA call-up guy would have by this point in the season. It also turns out that every ten runs a player creates is worth roughly one win, so Andruw?s offense alone has earned the Braves three wins. (There are other stats, like Fielding Runs Above Average [FRAA] that do the same thing as VORP, for defense.) See WARP below for more. Old Baseball Men, this is another good one to bandy about if you're interested in tearing down a nerd's argument. Because it sounds funny. VORP. Please. What's that doing in baseball? Forget VORP, let's come up with a stat for the size of a guy's heart, am I right, people? We'll call it the Eckstein Quotient. No, wait, that sounds too nerdy. Eckstein Number. Nope. Still too smart. Eckstein Thing. How about just Thing? The highest Thing in the majors? You guessed it: David Eckstein. That's why they almost named it after him. Once again, Derrek Lee was your VORP leader in 2005 at 95.6. A-Rod, Pujols, Ortiz and Jason Bay rounded out the top 5 (Bay at 72.6). Corey Patterson was dead last at ?17.0. Mike Hampton, by the way, had a VORP of 5.2 (as a hitter), which was better than, like, Willy Tavares at 4.6. I'm too lazy to find something similar for errors, but basically, they (and FP) suck because they are basically a judgement call by the scorer, and they don't take into account things like the fact that Mike Lowell had a ridiculously good 1B playing with him for his entire Marlins career, or that if he doesn't try to get a ball that he could possibly make a play on (or possible make an error on), he doesn't get charged. Dude, don't take this personally, but get a life. It is so much easier to look at a players batting average than all of the crap you just posted. Lets say that I'm sitting at the stadium with my son and he tells me that a player is having a good season because he is hitting .300. The player only happens to have a few homeruns. Should I then tell him, "well actually son because of the Vorp, and Eqa, and the BS, he really isn't. Why complicate a simple game when a players batting average will let you know if he is having a good season? I will agree it's not the tell all stat, but it is a simple effective way. If you want a complicated game, try chess. And if you want something over simplified, play checkers. There's absolutely nothing wrong looking at ANYTHING in any walk of life and saying it doesn't tell a full story, but there's plenty wrong with ignoring other things because you don't want your head to hurt. When you buy stock, you don't just look at one half of the company's balance sheet. When you buy a car, you don't just look at horsepower. And I can keep going... That's my whole point. This is not a stock that you are buying or a car that you are buying. This is a sport, a game. Something that you should just sit back and enjoy and be able to cheer for you favorite players. Baseball is not about all of those sabr numbers for most fans. Should Beinfest look at every stat when making a trade, or even drafting a player? Yes, that is his job. I'm just looking at it from a fans point of view.

kinda like how your batting average doesnt tell you anything about how good a hitter is right? Actually, yes. Exactly. Just because they are widely accepted stats doesn't mean they are good ones. It just means they are widely accepted. What is so hard to understand about that? Here's some pretty good explanations of why A) Batting Average is an awful way of telling how good a hitter is, and B ) there are many other stats that do a much better job (brought to you by our friends at FireJoeMorgan.com): BA (Batting Average) Hits divided by at-bats; also, perhaps the stat that makes Ken Tremendous' blood curdle the quickest. Okay, maybe that's wins. Batting average is the backbone of traditional hitting metrics, and amazingly, is still looked upon as a good way to determine whether someone is good at hitting baseballs. It is not a good way to determine this. Why? Well, you already know why. You know it intuitively, and you always have. Because a guy who hits .250 but clubs 40 HR and 40 doubles and walks 100 times a year is way way way more valuable to his team than a guy who hits .310 with 2 HR and 19 doubles and 15 walks. That?s kind of obvious, isn?t it? I agree. So why should we keep talking about batting average, ever? We shouldn?t? Okay, we won?t. But Tim McCarver will, and that?s why he should be selling cookware door-to-door instead of talking to the country about baseball every Saturday. In 2005, the MLB leader for BA was Derrek Lee, at .335 (Placido Polanco was 2nd). The median BA for players eligible for the batting title was about .280 last year, or what Raul Ibanez and Mark Kotsay were able to produce. (Incidentally, this sort of helps confirm my belief that Mark Kotsay is the perfect ?average? player. Maybe it?s his name.) Nick Swisher and Mike Lowell tied for last among eligible batters at .236. Because their batting averages were so low, both of these players were unable to recover, and never had a productive season in the Major Leagues again. EqA (Equivalent Average) I'll just quote Baseball Prospectus here: "A measure of total offensive value per out, with corrections for league offensive level, home park, and team pitching." EqA incorporates baserunning but not defense. EqA is derived from something called Raw EqA, which is calculated by (turn away, Rob Dibbles of the world) the following formula: (H + TB + 1.5*(BB + HBP + SB) + SH + SF) divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SH + SF + CS + SB) And you thought things weren't going to get that nerdy around here. EqA is basically like what you used to think BA was ? a true measure of how good a hitter is. EqA is purposely formulated to be on a similar scale to BA so it won't scare off the normal people. .260 is average ? which, as a point of comparison, is what Craig Counsell was able to sport in 2005. Guys like Albert Pujols and Travis Hafner can top .350. That's why Travis Hafner should be talked about ten times more than he is. Somehow, Alex Rodriguez was able to block out the back pages of the NY Post well enough to post a MLB-leading EqA of .350 in 2005. OBP (On-Base Percentage) 1. Read Moneyball. 2. OBP is the difference between Kevin Youkilis and Jeff Francoeur. 3. It's also the reason Adam Dunn is vastly underrated. 4. Very simply, OBP is a way to tell how good someone is at not making outs. It?s the total number of times a guy gets on base without being responsible for making an out (except for reaching on errors), divided by his plate appearances -- which are simply times a guy comes up to the plate and tries not to make an out. See why it?s valuable? (Plate appearances in this case are defined as At Bats + Walks + Sacrifice Flies.) In 2005, Todd Helton led all players with a .445 OBP (Giambi was 2nd). Adam Everett and Pudge Rodriguez tied for MLB-worsts of .290. That?s really bad. The league median among eligible batters in ?05 was .348 (Melvin Mora; Grady Sizemore; Rafael Furcal). And for historically ridiculous reference, in 2004, Barry Bonds? OBP was .604; in 2002, it was .581. VORP (Value Over Replacement Player) An offensive stat only, VORP attempts to calculate the number of runs a player is contributing above what a replacement-level player at the same position would if given the same percentage of team plate appearances. VORP is a counting stat, not a percentage stat ? so, for example, as of July 22, Andruw Jones has a VORP of 31.0. That means that he has created 31 more runs for his team than the average AAA call-up guy would have by this point in the season. It also turns out that every ten runs a player creates is worth roughly one win, so Andruw?s offense alone has earned the Braves three wins. (There are other stats, like Fielding Runs Above Average [FRAA] that do the same thing as VORP, for defense.) See WARP below for more. Old Baseball Men, this is another good one to bandy about if you're interested in tearing down a nerd's argument. Because it sounds funny. VORP. Please. What's that doing in baseball? Forget VORP, let's come up with a stat for the size of a guy's heart, am I right, people? We'll call it the Eckstein Quotient. No, wait, that sounds too nerdy. Eckstein Number. Nope. Still too smart. Eckstein Thing. How about just Thing? The highest Thing in the majors? You guessed it: David Eckstein. That's why they almost named it after him. Once again, Derrek Lee was your VORP leader in 2005 at 95.6. A-Rod, Pujols, Ortiz and Jason Bay rounded out the top 5 (Bay at 72.6). Corey Patterson was dead last at ?17.0. Mike Hampton, by the way, had a VORP of 5.2 (as a hitter), which was better than, like, Willy Tavares at 4.6. I'm too lazy to find something similar for errors, but basically, they (and FP) suck because they are basically a judgement call by the scorer, and they don't take into account things like the fact that Mike Lowell had a ridiculously good 1B playing with him for his entire Marlins career, or that if he doesn't try to get a ball that he could possibly make a play on (or possible make an error on), he doesn't get charged. Dude, don't take this personally, but get a life. It is so much easier to look at a players batting average than all of the crap you just posted. Lets say that I'm sitting at the stadium with my son and he tells me that a player is having a good season because he is hitting .300. The player only happens to have a few homeruns. Should I then tell him, "well actually son because of the Vorp, and Eqa, and the BS, he really isn't. Why complicate a simple game when a players batting average will let you know if he is having a good season? I will agree it's not the tell all stat, but it is a simple effective way. If you want a complicated game, try chess.

He hasn't hurt his trade value. He's still valuable. He can still get us a bounty. That's why we trade him soon. Willis is an average pitcher who most people tremendously overvalue, believing that his rookie season and 2005 were true Dontrelle, and the more bad outings and bad years he has, the more people are going to realize that Dontrelle is really the plus 4 era pitcher he's been almost every year he's been in the majors, and the 20 win sub 3 ERA season was the fluke. I say let's make a major deal and get some serious returns before his stock plummets, which will happen before too long. How many seasons has Dontrelle had an ERA over 4? Once! and it was 4.02! You are entitled to your opinion, and have the right to trash whoever you want. Just don't make crap up! At the very least do some research.. 2003 Florida Marlins 14 6 3.30 2004 Florida Marlins 10 11 4.02 2005 Florida Marlins 22 10 2.63 2006 Florida Marlins 12 12 3.87 Look at those numbers. If Dontrelle would have been on a team with a good offense he would have easily won 15 games every season. Forget about Whip, bb/k and all of those other garbage numbers. Those are for saber geeks. In sports the ends justify the means. On top of all of that he is a work horse. :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol Sums up MB.com perfectly. Yeah, I guess you work for Espn, or Mlb or some other important sports news outlet. You sir are the end all when it come to baseball knowledge. The fact of the matter is that you are just another schmuck, like me giving his opinion on a website. The fact is that whip is a stat used to determine why a pitcher is either pitching well or poorly. It doesn't mean that you can't have a good ERA and have a high whip at the same time. If you have a high whip but a good ERA it means you get in trouble but you also get out of it. I don't care what your whip is as long as you have a decent ERA, win games, and get deep into games. As far as I'm concerned Whip is a fantasy stat. Go ahead and laugh and ridicule all you want since that's your m/o.

He hasn't hurt his trade value. He's still valuable. He can still get us a bounty. That's why we trade him soon. Willis is an average pitcher who most people tremendously overvalue, believing that his rookie season and 2005 were true Dontrelle, and the more bad outings and bad years he has, the more people are going to realize that Dontrelle is really the plus 4 era pitcher he's been almost every year he's been in the majors, and the 20 win sub 3 ERA season was the fluke. I say let's make a major deal and get some serious returns before his stock plummets, which will happen before too long. How many seasons has Dontrelle had an ERA over 4? Once! and it was 4.02! You are entitled to your opinion, and have the right to trash whoever you want. Just don't make crap up! At the very least do some research.. 2003 Florida Marlins 14 6 3.30 2004 Florida Marlins 10 11 4.02 2005 Florida Marlins 22 10 2.63 2006 Florida Marlins 12 12 3.87 Look at those numbers. If Dontrelle would have been on a team with a good offense he would have easily won 15 games every season. Forget about Whip, bb/k and all of those other garbage numbers. Those are for saber geeks. In sports the ends justify the means. On top of all of that he is a work horse.

Anything's better than Olivo in my mind. Yes sir. No Sir! Why? Because he had a good series in Kansas City? Please. 8 PB, 9/36 against base stealers, sub .230 average before the KC series. He sucks. So we throw out last seasons effort because of less than a half season? He is a streaky hitter, and his numbers will get better. I'm not saying he is the greatest catcher in the league. All I am saying is that he is the best we can afford until we develope someone better. Signing or trading for someone better will cost us too much. I'd rather save that money for CF. Olivo is not great, but he is also not as bad as some make him out to be. By the way, he also threw out 38% of base stealers last season. If you want to put up stats to back up how bad you think he is that is not one. This year merely confirms our suspicions about him last year. That he can't make consistent contact with the ball using his mitt or his glove and his only skill is throwing fast (which is only about 1% of skills used by catchers on defensive). What's wrong with giving him tell the end of the season before ripping him? Maybe he turns it around again this season. Even then, he is still the best we can afford until we develope someone ourselves, so why drive ourselves crazy picking at him? Same reason that Abercrombie is now in the minors. It's one thing to show promise. It's another thing to perform. Olivo hasn't performed. Worse - he has not shown to have corrected flaws in his game that were apparent last year. So, what, are to give him the rest of the year for? For him to hit a few homers or throw out some runners so we ignore his flaws? Or for him to correct the flaws that have been with him for much of his career? Look, I have said all along that Olivo is not a great catcher. However, we don't have anyone better and it would cost us too much to trade for an upgrade, or sign a free agent upgrade. For the money, and our circumstances, I think he is ok. Would I want Olivo as a starter on my team if I had a decent payroll? No. My point is that we have to be patient until we develope a young player such as Hayes, or maybe even Baker, although I'm not so sure about Baker. We just have to live with his flaws, and take comfort in his strengths, like hitting the occasional HR, and throwing out a few runners. Olivo is not the biggest problem this team has. Starting pitching has not lived up to the hype. Jake can't stay healthy, Hermida hasn't developed as fast as we would have hoped, and CF is still a mystery. Those are the main reasons we are still under .500.

Anything's better than Olivo in my mind. Yes sir. No Sir! Why? Because he had a good series in Kansas City? Please. 8 PB, 9/36 against base stealers, sub .230 average before the KC series. He sucks. So we throw out last seasons effort because of less than a half season? He is a streaky hitter, and his numbers will get better. I'm not saying he is the greatest catcher in the league. All I am saying is that he is the best we can afford until we develope someone better. Signing or trading for someone better will cost us too much. I'd rather save that money for CF. Olivo is not great, but he is also not as bad as some make him out to be. By the way, he also threw out 38% of base stealers last season. If you want to put up stats to back up how bad you think he is that is not one. This year merely confirms our suspicions about him last year. That he can't make consistent contact with the ball using his mitt or his glove and his only skill is throwing fast (which is only about 1% of skills used by catchers on defensive). What's wrong with giving him tell the end of the season before ripping him? Maybe he turns it around again this season. Even then, he is still the best we can afford until we develope someone ourselves, so why drive ourselves crazy picking at him?

Anything's better than Olivo in my mind. Yes sir. No Sir! Why? Because he had a good series in Kansas City? Please. 8 PB, 9/36 against base stealers, sub .230 average before the KC series. He sucks. So we throw out last seasons effort because of less than a half season? He is a streaky hitter, and his numbers will get better. I'm not saying he is the greatest catcher in the league. All I am saying is that he is the best we can afford until we develope someone better. Signing or trading for someone better will cost us too much. I'd rather save that money for CF. Olivo is not great, but he is also not as bad as some make him out to be. By the way, he also threw out 38% of base stealers last season. If you want to put up stats to back up how bad you think he is that is not one.