chumforsharks

I think he's referring to lack of power and rbi.....both ridiculous notions to judge a lead-off hitter on. RFerry probably doesn't like Castillo either if that's how he's judging things.....because Luis power numbers are close to Pierre's. In fact, Pierre has a higher SLG % for his career than Luis does.

He might be Mr. Finger Blisters....but he also is a World Series MVP! How many of those did Cal Ripken win? Oh, ZERO! Beckett will be aided by being out of the extreme heat of Florida and will contend for the Cy Young Award this season. You only wish the Orioles could have gotten a pitcher like him. You're going to have a hard time staying out of the basement yourselves. If the Marlins traded you Willis AND Cabrera......you still would be no better than the 4th place team you'll probably be anyway. Have fun going 72-90......and least the Marlins will have an excuse.....the O's will have none.

TSwift, while I agree with you to some degree I have to point out a flaw in your logic. You say three teams have Sabermetrics GM's and none of them have won the World Series. True enough. However, that doesn't show that they're not actually better at evaluating talent than the other teams. There are 30 big league teams, so there is, in theory, a 1/10 chance every year that a team run by a Sabermetric GM will win the World Series. So, the fact that they haven't won doesn't prove anything at all. It could have happened just by chance. OPS is a pretty lame stat. It definately favors power hitters because SLG % are generally way higher than OB %. OPS is a good stat for the big boppers like the Miggys, Mannys, and Pujols of the world. OBP is more important for the Louies and JPs of the world. It's all about using the particular statistic intelligently. Can't have it both ways.....either it's a good way to evaluate all hitters or it isn't.

Back to OPS for a second.........Rich Aurilia had a higher OPS than Luis Castillo in 2005.....so who's the better hitter? I think Castillo is, but the numbers say Aurilia is because he has more power. That's why I think OPS is lame.

Bill James does work for the Red Sox.

The only more than meets the eye is how absolutely loaded the Angels are in middle infield depth.....from the majors all the way down to AA. They might have had to trade a little more than Kensing.......who's worth absolutely nothing.

OPS is a pretty lame stat. It definately favors power hitters because SLG % are generally way higher than OB %.

Willis and Cabrera are gonna be Marlins until they get $10 million in arbitration...then they are gone unless a new stadium deal is done. The sky is the limit with Willis. I don't buy into the Nomo business, because Willis is throwing alot harder now than when he came up and is actually getting stronger. I don't think he'll win 20 games again for a while, because the rest of the team is really weak.....but his numbers will stay strong. Miguel Cabrera is a young Manny Ramirez. The ball jumps off his bat with a swing that looks so smooth it seems effortless. The Orioles don't have enough to get either of them.

Preston Wilson makes more than 350,000 bucks.....so don't worry the Marlins aren't interested.

First time I saw Vargas he reminded me exactly of Pettitte....right down to the wind-up and follow through. I hope he winds up as good as Pettitte.

Just having some fun that's all. I think he'll have a hard time beating Reese out, because Reese can flash that leather.

So your expectations aren't that high......you just want him to be Craig Biggio?

I paid $27.95 plus tax for the Baseball America Prospect Handbook that ranked Uggla as the Marlins 29th best prospect. Your welfare check came this week I assume? That's a funny one. I'll then assume you make more money than me........so how far over 80,000 a year do you make? Actually I hope you guys are all right about Uggla. Maybe he is the next Jeff Kent or Ryne Sandberg......we'll see soon enough. The job is open.....all Uggla has to do is beat out a player that was out all of last season.

That is absurd. Don't you remember how Pierre got into the Yankees heads?

Every scouting report and story on Uggla says he has a long way to go to just be average as a fielder......Pokey Reese I last saw in 2004 when he was helping the Red Sox win a World Series as a defensive replacement, sometimes starter. I don't think Reese will hit over .250, but his defense will be very good.....he has won a couple Gold Gloves. "Every" scouting report and story? I'm sure you wouldn't mind publishing them here. Otherwise I'll assume you're just making up more stuff as is your want. I'm dieing to see these scouting reports you have access to. Here's the Year End All-Star team for the 2005 Southern League. Uggla was voted best second baseman AND utility player (he played three positions last season). It's an interesting list with a bunch of now familiar faces including Hermida. The Southern League is probably the premier AA+ level league in minor league baseball. Check it out. http://www.southernleague.com/nm/publish/news_71.shtml How he could be the best second baseman in the Southern League and still have "a long way to go to just be average as a fielder" is beyond me. Is he Luis Castillo in his prime? Nope. Is he going to leave fans in the seats breathless? Probably not. But does he have a chance to become a respectable major league second baseman, absolutely. He also performed well in the post season AFL where he hit .304, had an OBP of .390 and hit seven home runs. Maybe the scouting reports you have didn't indicate how well he performed in 2005, but it's hard to miss, if you really have an interest in looking. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/mil..._pbp&pid=462564 I paid $27.95 plus tax for the Baseball America Prospect Handbook that ranked Uggla as the Marlins 29th best prospect. It also says that at his best...he'll be a utility player. If you want to read the whole scouting report......go buy the book.