83Gator

There is more to command over pitching than just being able to throw the ball over the plate. A lot more. What makes you think that Prior has the best command of any 22 year old in baseball history? Those pitchers struck out a lot of people and didn't walk anybody. How do you define command? Did you ever see Seaver pitch? Did you see a 20 year old Gooden pitch? You do know they played baseball before 1986, don't you?

Prior has better command of his pitches than any other 22 year old in the history of baseball. I don't know about that. Tom Seaver as a 22 year old rookie had pretty good command. Dwight Gooden's command was also really good at an even younger age - he still had excellent command at 22 until he started really getting into drugs. Gooden was 20 when he had a season more dominating than anything Prior has done so far. Vida Blue only walked 88 in 312 IP as a 21 year old. Jim Hunter walked 69 in 234 IP as a 22 year old. Going back further, Walter Johnson walked 76 in 370 IP as a 22 year old. I didn't even look very hard to get those names; I'm probably missing some really obvious ones. So, I'd say Prior's command is comparable to some of the best of all time at that age but I wouldn't say it's the best. And while he's the most dominating young pitcher to come along in a while, Gooden was the most dominating young pitcher I've ever seen. But right now, if I could pick one guy in baseball to start a pitching staff, it would be Mark Prior.

Josh Beckett This season: 7-7 (misleading), 3.13 ERA, 115 IP, 108 Hits, 119 K's Career: 14-16 (very misleading), 3.50 ERA, 239 IP, 212 Hits, 249 K's Yea, more K's than IP and less hits than IP. No signs of current/future dominance there. You left out 98 BBs in 239 innings (3.7 per 9 Inn) and 0 complete games in his career in 44 starts. Prior walks 2.4 per 9 Inn and has 4 CG in the same number of starts. Prior WHIP: 1.04 Beckett WHIP: 1.38 Beckett may have comparable stuff but Prior is by far the more dominant and more effective pitcher right now.

Redskins Lions Steelers Browns Dolphins Panthers Packers Bills Chiefs Giants Cowboys 49ers Seahawks Titans Broncos Eagles Record: 11-5

what the rule on how many guys you can have in the bullpen now that its a 40 man roster, because its a 40 man roster you cant have 40 players eligable for one game right You can have 40 guys eligible for every game in September. And you can put them all in the bullpen if you like, assuming there are enough chairs. 40 guys on the ML roster doesn't happen though. You have some guys that aren't going to help you in the majors so you leave them in the minors for the minor league playoffs. Or maybe you don't want to bring somebody up and burn an option if they haven't been up before. I imagine it would cost a little money too, having to raise guys salaries to the major league minimum for a month and pay for travel costs (hotels, per diems, etc.)

Mike Redmond can occasionally play 3B. Mike Redmond has played 3B once in his career, an inning or two in an 11-run loss to the Rangers (he didn't start that game - Fox did). Redmond can be our designated 3B in 11-run losses. Hopefully we don't have any of those situations come up the rest of the year. Don Mattingly played more at 3B than Mike Redmond has and Mattingly was left-handed (and still is, I suppose).

It's all about the bling bling of the ring..... Actually, it's more about security and a level of comfort. I believe Mike Lowell will take less to sign here than elsewhere, especially now when his choice is between a 1 year deal through arbitration and a 4-year deal. You take a little less in the 4-year deal now because there's a risk you could get badly injured while playing under the 1-year arbitration deal. But you won't get the entire team to do that. And we won't commit long term to that many players. And forget Urbina. Looper will cost a third as much and will do just as good a job. I would imagine that Conine's contract would mean bye-bye to Castillo. I don't see how we can afford Lowell, Castillo, and $5 million for Conine (is that the number?).

Gator, I dont want to give him away from free, but Im unclear on the rules here. If we dont offer him arbitration what are our options? We can trade him because we still have his rights? I think we have to offer him arbitration to keep his rights but can still trade him at any time. Or we could trade him before the deadline to offer arbitration (December 7). It's like what happened with Atlanta and Millwood last year. The Braves didn't want to pay what they thought Millwood would get in arbitration. So they traded him to Philly. We all thought it was a terrible trade at the time but the Braves got Javy Lopez's replacement and the Phillies got the privilege to overpay Millwood for a year.

With an OPS only 55 points or so higher over 4 weeks he only actually gives us a few extra hits over Hollandsworth/Banks. I like OPS but I think your overplaying it in this case. The main problem with Hollandsworth was RBI. He has 18 in 216 ABs. That's pitiful. I know RBI is dependant on players being on base but Hollandsworth didn't produce runs when he was in there. Conine does produce runs. It's not that Conine is so great. He's an above average player. It's that Hollandsworth is so bad. Going from Lowell to an average player would cost you about 10 runs in a month. Going from Lowell to a bad player like Hollandsworth is going to cost you more like 15 runs, where dropping to an above-average player like Conine may only cost us about 5 runs. The difference between an above average player like Conine and a terrible player like Hollandsworth may be 5 or 6 games a year, or a game a month. That game could be the difference between the post-season and staying home. We overpaid. It's a big risk. We had to take it. And it puts us in a position to trade Lee for some prospects back and still use Conine to get production at 1B next year (why do you want to non-tender Lee??)

Probably Fox and Mordecai. It shouldn't matter a whole lot. Cabrera will be in there every day. If we have to worry about replacing Cabrera because of an injury, we're in even bigger trouble than we are now. McKeon hasn't played backups all year. You think he's going to start playing them in September when he has a chance to win the Wild Card?

Nope - 26 games left over the next 28 days, with 2 days off. If there are any rainouts between now and then, then there will be a double-header. Nobody schedules double-headers anymore.

This also means Lee will be non-tendered in the off-season. Why would we non-tender Lee and let him go for nothing? We can offer him arbitration and still trade him. Now with Conine we have a fill-in until Stokes is ready. So we should be able to recoup a prospect or two back when we trade Lee. We overpaid for Conine. We overpaid for Urbina. But that's what happens in these situations. We have a chance for the post-season and we have to go for it. We don't know when we'll be this close again. Besides, most can't-miss prospects manage to miss somewhere along the way to the majors. This is also a total vote of no-confidence to Todd Hollandsworth. What a mistake that turned out to be.

I think there are more OFs available than 3B, so we'll probably move Cabrera to the infield. Our organization doesn't have a ready 3B, other than Cabrera. Chris Donnels is not the answer. Our depth, such as it is, is in the OF with Hollandsworth, Banks, Gerald Williams, Chad Allen, and Abe Nunez. I think for today, we go with Banks in LF. And I think we should have Williams and Nunez on a plane to Fort Lauderdale. My preference is probably Conine, but can he still play LF? Does he still move well enough? Hollandsworth has been terrible as a starter all year. Banks has done a few nice things, but overall his numbers are pretty bad. Nunez would be interesting but that would mean we're depending on 3 rookies (Nunez, Cabrera, and Willis). 3 rookies does not give me warm fuzzies during a Wild Card chase. No matter what we do, we're not going to replace Lowell's production with his replacement. We have to hope whoever gets plugged in there just holds his own and the other guys (particularly Pudge, Lee, and Encarnacion) make up the difference.

why would LA claim Reggie? are they that unhappy with Burnitz? did one of their OF's go down last night? Maybe they did it just to block one of the other Wild Card contenders, like us, from getting him.

No, they can't. They can hit Vlad first inning, benches clear but no fight, warnings issued, and they move on. Yeah, they can. Rule 8.02(d) states: If, in the umpire's judgment, circumstances warrant, both teams may be officially "warned" prior to the game or at any time during the game.

1. Yes, they're getting enough funding. 2. Yes, they're getting enough publicity. Too much of is bad publicity though but it's not undeserved. 3. Not with NASA running the show. I doubt we could get back to the moon, let alone Mars. 4. Yes. I was watching Apollo 13 last night. Back in 1970, NASA engineers were able to bring home that spacecraft using things like socks and duct tape. Now NASA is too bureaucratic to check on the condition of the shuttle when the wing gets hit with flying debris. They didn't even give the engineers a chance get the crew home. The engineers are as good as ever and technology is much better than in 1970 but NASA is no longer competent to manage it. I'm all for government funding of space exploration but I think it's time to disband NASA and start over. It'll set us back 20 years but the space program will be stronger in the long run.

Can umpires warn both benches before the game starts? I think they can. If they do, and Redman hits somebody, he'll be ejected and possibly suspended. We can't afford to lose anybody else. As hard as it might be, we have to let this one go.

Wait a second... if Conine and Batista were put on waivers and they cleared them, they can be had without giving anyone in return, right? Those are the rules or am I mistaken? I think you're mistaken. They've cleared waivers so it means they can be traded. It doesn't mean anybody can just pluck them off the Orioles roster whenever they like. Here's how I think it works: The Orioles put Conine on waivers A team can claim Conine. If more that one team claims Conine, the AL team with the worse record is the claim that counts. If no AL team claims him, the NL team with the worse record who claimed him has the claim that counts. If a team has claimed Conine, the Orioles can let that team have Conine and the remainder of his contract. Or the Orioles can take Conine off waivers and keep him. If no team claims Conine, the Orioles retain his rights but they are now free to trade him even though the trading deadline has passed. BTW, Lowell would see a hand specialist tomorrow. The metacarpal bone below the ring finger might not be that broken... or so I hope. It seems like I am praying for a miracle. He might be in time for the playoffs, if there are any. I don't see how the news from the hand specialist can be any better than what we've gotten so far. I'm afraid it'll be much worse, that he'll need surgery and he won't even be available for the playoffs. But I share your sentiments.

I think it's going to be Lee. When McKeon juggled the lineup earlier in the week, he batted Lee cleanup. Lee batted cleanup to start the season. I think Lee will be the first guy they try now.

No, Sanders is. You're expecting Conine to adjust to the NL again in a month? Plus, they want Lee. Sanders is cheap, and is already in the NL. He's also been around, so adjusts well to new environments. Good point about Sanders knowing the NL pitchers. Bad point about the Orioles wanting Lee. How do you know that? They supposedly wanted Lee last month. How do you know they'd still insist on Lee? If they don't trade Conine before the end of the season, they won't be able to trade him in the off-season; he'll become a 10-5 player and can reject any deal so they'll be stuck with his contract. They may take a marginal prospect at this point.

We need to do something. Maybe we can bring up Gerald Williams to play LF. It would cost us any chance at the Wild Card but at least we wouldn't have to listen to Arnie talk about Williams' AAA stats anymore. Thats what i have been saying. Bring up Williams and put him in Left and put cabrera at 3rd. Its that simple...Um, you realize I was being sarcastic, don't you? Gerald Williams is hitting a combined .102 over the last 3 years against major league pitching. I think that counts a lot more than hitting .300 for the Isotopes. You're out of your mind if you think Gerald Williams can replace Mike Lowell's bat. If that's our solution, the season is probably over.

Conine would cost us DLee Conine would've cost us DLee a month ago. Maybe the price has come down. He's a 10-5 man this off-season so Baltimore won't be able to trade him after this month even if they wanted to. We need to do something. Maybe we can bring up Gerald Williams to play LF. It would cost us any chance at the Wild Card but at least we wouldn't have to listen to Arnie talk about Williams' AAA stats anymore.

Arnie, they why are you harping on him now? Why have you been harping on him for the last few weeks? Both on this board and the mlb board? The rosters don't expand until Monday. I'm with you 100% - bring him up Monday. He deserves that, even if just as a reward for being a pro and doing his job for the organization in the minors. But you've been wanting to bring him up for weeks now, and to do that we would've had to replace somebody. And, you didn't answer the question I asked - why the fascination with him? With the way McKeon plays the starters, do you think it really matters? And why do you keep harping on his minor league stats? What are your feelings on his major league stats? His major league batting average this millennium is .102.

Before yesterday's 3 for 4, he was hitting 300, with 20 doubles, 13 HR's, 521 SLG, 354 OBP. And 15 Stolen Bases. And he has Play-Off and Series experience. I particularly like he is good defense (all outfield positions) and still has his good legs. He can be valuable to us. Arnie, what is your fascination with Gerald Williams? He's had a nice year at AAA. He showed great professionalism when he was here and did a nice job when he was demoted, where a lot of guys would've sulked. But you keep quoting his AAA stats. Have you seen his major league stats for the last 3 years? Don't you think his major league stats should count as least as much as what he did against AAA pitching in a hitter's park in a hitter's league? I liked him when he was here. He played hard. He did his job in the field. But he just didn't hit at all and he hasn't hit in the last 3 years. I just don't see where Gerald Williams is going to make any difference to this team one way or another. Actually, he could - if he ended up playing a lot down the stretch our season is probably over; he can't replace any of our starting OFs on a regular basis.

The fact that the Marlins moved both Kevin Olsen and Tim Spooneybarger to the 60 Day DL this week isn't exactly comforting. Clearly Spooney's injury was way worse that has been said before. Olsen could even be back before him. You're reading too much into the 60-day DL moves. They don't have to stay on for another 60 days starting from this week. The moves were retroactive to when they first went on the DL a couple of months ago. The moves were mostly procedural - since they were already out about 60 days, moving them to the 60 day DL freed up roster spots on the 40-man roster for them to add people like Chad Fox and/or Lenny Harris. Spooney will be activated in a week. They'll probably move Almanza to the 60-day DL to clear a roster spot on the 40-man roster. You're right that Spooney's injury has taken longer than initially suspected but we've known that for awhile.