MDXS

Great minds think alike. So far it's unanimous on all three.

Looking forward to tomorrow's game. Everyone on the Angels was rocking the Derek Lowe face by the end of the game last night.

Jesus. Turns out it was Tommy Harper in 1973 with 54. Interesting note: Dom DiMaggio has the record for fewest stolen bases to lead the league - 15 in 1950.

Indeed! Good luck on Wednesday!

KQ beat AJ 10 times out of 16, that proves it's the better hand. Right?It's unlikely the the +16 is wholly attributable to luck. KRod alone is probably worth 2-4 by himself and there may be some specific team attributes that caused them to outperform, but at the end of the day, I'll take the team that's better at scoring more runs than the opponent. Either way it should be a fun series. Because of home field and the injury situation, I'll give a slight (like 52-48) edge to the Angels.EDIT: Or what Moneyball said. Heh, take your pick.

I agree with Moneyball in regards to the quality of team the Angels field. This is reinforced by some digging done by Eric Van at SoSH. Conclusion: the National League really sucks (and the Angels aren't that good).That said, I can't say that I'm feeling super confident about the postseason. I'd rather have home field advantage and I'd really like to have a healthy Drew, Beckett, and Lowell. Not going to get bent out of shape about it. Things are really good and I have some teams I'll be rooting for if things don't pan out. Still, number one on my wishlist is a Sox-Dodgers series. It'd be abso

Love him or hate him, Schilling's in the conversation. 19 starts, 11-2, 2.23 ERA, 133.1 IP, 120 K, 25 BBThat's more starts than Gibson and Koufax combined while putting up nearly as dominant numbers in a higher run environment.

Biggest reason is positional adjustments. .876 from above average defensive second baseman is significantly better than .908 from a first baseman. Morneau certainly belongs in the conversation, especially if the Twins make the playoffs...though I would possibly place Mauer ahead of Morneau.

Yeah, they do. ARod won it with the last place Rangers a few years ago, but he's the exception, not the rule. Playing for a contender is heavily weighted in the vote as well as performance down the stretch. That's why Morneau won in '06, why we're there's talk about Delgado this year, and why Pedroia stands as the front runner. He's hitting close to .400 with some pop since June 14th and a big reason why the Sox have been so successful after trading Manny.

Skip Bayless is a tool. Anytime he disagrees with you is a reassurance. I don't see how anyone could watch any of Daisuke's starts and come out thinking he was Cy Young of anything.Here's the argument for Sizemore: Yes, the average is low, but as a lead-off hitter, his job is to get on base. He walks a LOT. His top-20 or so OBP more than makes up for a .260 average. Once he's on base, he's extremely dangerous. He steals a lot of bases without being caught too often and from the anecdotal reports and data I've seen, he may just be the best baserunner in the AL right now. His power is tasty. His

Me too. Sizemore's been better, but in this case I'll probably be weighting the Playoff argument and WPA argument a little more heavily than usual. When it comes to Pedroia, I lose some rationality. Is this what...love...is...?Um...Anyway, I came to link to this article comparing Lee and Halladay. It pretty much backs up what Moneyball was saying.Also, I'm very thankful that no rogue Red Sox fans are making the Matsuzaka case. I worry that if Lee didn't have that pretty pretty record we'd be hearing it. We're better off without that kind of embarrassment.(I guess I'll be sticking to the kind o

Hey guys...checking in only to certainly pop out again. My thoughts:Blyleven: AbsolutelyAlomar: CertainlyRice: NoTommy John: Not quiteWills: No wayBonds: YesMcGwire: ProbablyPalmeiro: Probably not

...and Lowell. We've already got one World Series out of the deal. We'd obviously love to have him, but there's no real sting there.

Yeah, he has that reputation and reputation's the only thing he has going for him right now.In other news, I'm going to the game tomorrow. Been a while since I've been to Fenway. It's just easier to see them on the road....

Cool. Yeah, I don't want to give the impression that I'm pulling it out of my ass regarding their respective defense. I have seen a number of comparisons that I found compelling, I just didn't save them. Oh well...burden of proof's on me. Switching Omar and Ozzie is an interesting thought experiment and I think you're largely correct. There would be some visible differences. 1994 marked the beginning of the offensive explosion. Omar had 80% of his ABs after that. Smith was already part-timing it by then. If you switched them, and using OPS+ as a measurement stick, Ozzie's stats would likely lo

Baseball in the 80's was a lot different than baseball in the 90's. There's some overlap in their careers, but not at their peaks.Comparing Omar to other players at his position is essential to understanding his value as a player. When those other players move to less demanding positions, Omar certainly gains an edge in our considerations. On the whole though, if we're trying to figure out is Vizquel is a Hall of Famer, you must start by comparing him to his peers in position and his peers by era. ARod, Tejada, Nomar and the rest as the best place to start because they fit both categories.EDIT

To this I would say that people didn't appreciate Omar as much because he wasn't contributing as much. During his career, shortstop was more of an offensive position and because he wasn't a great hitter, did less to help his team win. I don't think his defense (which I tend to think is a little overstated and not in the same league as Ozzie) makes up for the offensive deficit. So to me, I don't want the 5th best (or so...) shortstop of the era, whose main qualifications come from sticking around, who was never dominant and never the best player on his team (and usually not second), getting ele

he's not? The players don't pay attention?Actually what likely happened is that most of them voted for Mauer. Since Mauer was voted in by the fans, the second highest vote getter got in, which is Varitek.

I did a Smith vs. Vizquel comparison here a little over a year ago:http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-foru...t&p=1955469I'd go about it a little differently now (less reliance on BP's fielding metrics for starters), but I think the conclusion is valid.EDIT: Since you edited yours...read my post and come back. Omar was WORSE in just about everything when you adjust for context...(postseason excepted...I didn't look at that)

Sounds good. I'm willing to leave the discussion here. They're both awesome ball players.I've got an EX 1941 Playball Vaughan. It's one of my favorite cards (that I own).

This Bostonian does not have Jeter in his top three. Or top 10. Wagner's far and away number one. ARod's ahead of Banks. So's Arky Vaughn. There's three. I'd put Ripken over Banks. Without digging too deep, what'd push Cal over the top is that he remained at short far longer than Banks, and when he moved positions it was to third and not to first. That switch seriously killed Banks' value.

You're mistaken. Career fielding percentage is not worth noting...especially considering the different positions they played. To quickly show how this is a non-starter, Ozzie Smith, who is as elite a fielder as you can be, has a career FP of .978 - the same as Mays. The difference between the two defensively (ignoring position, which is really, a huge deal) is that Mays got to far more balls than the average center fielder. Musial didn't. If Musial were a good fielder, they probably wouldn't have sent him down the defensive spectrum to First Base. Here's one data point:Musial Range Factor - Ou

In Mays vs. Musial, you can't forget that Mays is historically good at a much more critical defensive position. They're both superlative hitters. I think I'd prefer Mays' offense, with his baserunning being a sort of tiebreaker. Even if that's called even, it's the defense that gives Mays the win."Ernie Banks also gets no love in consideration for all time greats.. The numbers he put up, for his position, were unprecedented until ARod."The knock on Banks is that he didn't stick around at shortstop long enough. He was at first base by 31. While he was moving down the defensive spectrum, his off

Was that before or after Kevin Cash and Julio Lugo combined to get on base 8 times today? During maybe?

Down 5-0 in the 7th? No problem.Man, this team is great.