Over the Monster: FanPosts

Econ Paper Help

2013-05-24T03:14:42Z

I am in a Sports Economics class now and I am writing a paper examining whether closers are overpaid. Could people help me out by answering a Yes/No question about tv viewership with closers?

And for the sake of argument, let's say that the scenario is either your team is ahead or you don't care about the teams (you're probably less likely to watch if your team is down and their prime time closer is coming on).

I am in a Sports Economics class now and I am writing a paper examining whether closers are overpaid. Could people help me out by answering a Yes/No question about tv viewership with closers?

Poll

If you are watching a baseball game on television and the game is tight going into the ninth, are you more likely to watch the game if a really good closer is coming on to pitch as opposed to just some reliever?

2013 MLB Draft Book now available

2013-05-21T23:51:33Z

Go here to get it.

This years' MLB Draft Book costs whatever you wish to donate to helping me improve my coverage next year. $0.01 is the minimum just to run the transaction. Donate and I'll email you the book in PDF form. It is 101 pages of Prospect info. Those that donate will likely get a discount on next years book or additional information that the rest will not get or both.

Almost all of this information is available on Minor League Ball or on my blog but I compiled it to have in one place for easy access.

If you don't like PayPal and don't want a discount next year, you can download a lower quality version here.

Go here to get it.

Almost all of this information is available on Minor League Ball or on my blog but I compiled it to have in one place for easy access.

If you don't like PayPal and don't want a discount next year, you can download a lower quality version here.

What To Do With Jacoby Ellsbury?

2013-05-21T04:36:13Z

I am seriously wondering what one does with Jacoby Ellsbury. It is very hard to pull for the guy when he is the lead off hitter and he can not get on base. Should Farrell bat him in the lower third of the order? Should they try and trade him for whatever he might be worth? Or just stick it out?

I understand that it is still relatively early in the season, but, from what I can see he is way off at the plate and I am noticing a bit of a problem with him throwing from the outfield. Has anyone else noticed the double pumps and looks of uncertainty when he throws back into the infield, especially when runners are on base?

OTM Fantasy Thread: Week #8

2013-05-20T09:48:43Z

Voting has now closed in the long saga of whether or not to change the Keeper rules for OTM1-3/S. I'm sure we are all eagerly awaiting the results from the election count, via Returning Officer BobZupic and deputy AlohaSox. Judging by the number of comments in the last thread, anyway! Will it be another tie? Do we really know what we want? Like, ever?

Also, news broke yesterday with Ian Kinsler's placement on the 15-day DL that top prospect Jurickson Profar would be making his 2013 MLB debut for the Rangers on Monday night. Is he here to stay? Will this start the floodgates of top prospects (Oscar Taveras, Zack Wheeler, Gerrit Cole, Wil Myers) being called up to the Bigs? Will Rick's OTMD team start scoring points as a result? Or will Profar take some time to adjust to MLB pitching, and find his way back to Triple-A as soon as Kinsler is ready to come back? Place your bets now...

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

League Leaders:

OTM1: Sologub's Petty Demons (6-1, 2153.5)
OTM2: The Laser Show (6-0, 2232)
OTM3: White Coat Syndrome (6-1, 2289)
OTMD: Shaun (Marcum) of the Dead (6-1, 2166.5); Average Dynasty (6-1, 2158.5)
OTMS: Erudite Penguins (6-1, 2110.3)
Mirabelli: Honolulu Menehune (39-25-6)

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

Please, remember to unrec previous Fantasy fanposts!

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

League Leaders:

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

Please, remember to unrec previous Fantasy fanposts!

OTM May Open Thread 2

2013-05-18T23:03:08Z

It's that time again, the old thread has had its two weeks of fame, and now from the ashes like the mythological phoenix, the sequel shall rise.

In the last thread, our last conversation was about why Outofleftfield, who I think we all can agree is totally awesome and not virtual-punchworthy has had some issues with other people elsewhere on the internet.

Banned topics as always: Religion, Politics, Sean O's testicles, negative comments about Chase Headley.

Enjoy!

It's that time again, the old thread has had its two weeks of fame, and now from the ashes like the mythological phoenix, the sequel shall rise.

Banned topics as always: Religion, Politics, Sean O's testicles, negative comments about Chase Headley.

Enjoy!

Robot Behind The Plate

2013-05-17T23:56:58Z

I hope I am posting this in the right section this time. To me ,it is a thread starter and not just a comment. After watching Joe West last night retaliate against the R.S. with horrendous,intentional ball calling I am compelled to speak. I saw this kind of thing go on way too often last year as well. It just seems not right that an umpire can control the outcome of a game because of their inappropriate use of power. In pro tennis as in pro football,a team has a certain number of challenges they can use. If they are correct with a challenge the ruling is overturned and no challenge deduction is instituted. I know that baseball is considering using instant replay etc for some rulings. The umpire behind the plate must also be accountable. If after a certain amount of calls are overturned on an umpire,a team should be able to request a new ball caller for that game. At the end of the season,umpires should be graded, discipline action including loss of job should be available to weed out poor umpires. This is exactly what pro tennis has resorted to.

OTM Fantasy: Week #7

2013-05-13T15:37:51Z

The first six weeks are done, and we're now starting, maybe, to get an idea of which teams are strong and which teams are weak, with the team rankings by total points scored starting to more closely reflect the win-loss records.

In terms of players, we're also pretty much leaving the "small sample size" period of the season, and it might be time to recognise that some players are just different players this year. Is R.A. Dickey the new Tim Wakefield? Is Josh Hamilton the new Marlon Byrd? In fact, are the 2013 Angels the new 2012 Marlins, with one young talented outfielder not making up for a bunch of underperforming highly-paid stars?

The excuses are running out, and fast...

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

Please, remember to unrec previous Fantasy fanposts: several old threads still have multiple recs, so if one of them is yours, it's time to let it go :)

The excuses are running out, and fast...

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

Please, remember to unrec previous Fantasy fanposts: several old threads still have multiple recs, so if one of them is yours, it's time to let it go :)

Will Pedro's 2000 season ever be topped?

2013-05-11T04:02:44Z

Found this excellent blog post by Circle Change at nyyfans.com from 2005. All credit goes to him for compiling the info. It is definitely worth a few minutes to reflect on how tremendous that season was. Here is the link to the post as well: http://forums.nyyfans.com/showthread.php/82757-Will-Pedro-s-2000-season-ever-be-topped

Will Pedro's 2000 season ever be topped?

I don’t exactly remember who said it, which thread it was even in or when I even read it, but I do remember copy and pasting something from a discussion in one of the many Pedro threads around the internet that described him in his prime in a way I thought was unique, interesting and possibly even factual.

At his peak? I can say without hesitation that I believe that Pedro '99-'00 was the best there ever was and the best there ever will be. I think that no one has ever had as good a two year period as those two Pedro years, and I'm not just talking about pitchers. I don't think anyone's ever been as good at anything as Pedro was at throwing a baseball. I'm talking Einstein's '21 season, Churchill's '41-45 campaign, and Hendrix's '67-68

Pedro’s ‘99-00 was better. While I understand the concept of that with pitching, quality is in large part of a function of quantity, I feel that a lot of people don’t place enough value on the quality of Pedro’s work and just how significantly he was able to distance himself from his contemporaries.

Just look at the type of pitcher he was to display such mind numbing dominance. Before his shoulder injury in 2001, I don’t think it would be stretching reality to state Pedro had the best repertoire of any pitcher... ever. Most of the better pitchers in the game’s history implemented two overwhelming pitches in their arsenal that could consistently get hitters out in dominant fashion. For instance, Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax had their fastball and curve, Gibson and Carlton had their fastball and slider, Clemens had/his fastball and splitter, etc.

Pedro on the other hand, featured three dominant out-pitches: a 95-98 mph four-seam fastball which he could spot anywhere in the zone with precise pin-point location and would literally "explode" on hitters as it reached the plate. If there was ever such a thing as a "rising fastball", Pedro’s was the perfect example of such. He would combine an overpowering fastball with an even more lethal pitch than any of the aforementioned - a change-up, thrown with exactly the same arm motion and arm angle as the fastball, only it would arrive at the plate 16-20 mph slower than heater, making hitters swing and miss by embarrassing margins. Pedro also had the ability to move the change across the K-Zone as it broke downward in what can only accurately be described as screwball-action movement on it, earning it the name of being a "Bugs Bunny" change-up. Although significantly less impressive than the other two main pitches, Pedro also had one of the better curves in the game, frequently making hitters look as if they were just seeing their first as 12-year old little leaguers. You knew he had three unearthly pitches that he would thrown in any count to any hitter in any game situation, and throw it for a strike. You could watch a Pedro start and make a guessing game out of trying to guess which pitch was coming next – was it the overpowering heater, the paralyzing change or the wicked breaking ball? Each was just as likely as the next, especially on those rare three-ball counts, and that’s one of the reasons he was so special and fun to watch.

One must also considered the era in which Pedro pitched and note the immensely ridiculous advantages pitchers such as Walter Johnson, Mordecai Brown and Christy Mathewson had in their favor in the dead ball era as well as those such as Gibson and Koufax, who pitched in the 1960s.

- They didn’t face lineups with a DH
- They pitched off a mound 5" to 8" higher
- Pitched with an expanded strike zone
- Pitched in larger ballparks
- Poor visibility in the CF batter’s eye
- Faced hitters who never worked out or touched a weight
- No body armor worn by hitters
- No batting machines for hitters
- No laser eye surgery for hitters
- The ability to pitch inside without repercussions

And here’s Pedro Martinez: a 5'10", 165 lb pitcher built like a bat boy, absolutely and throughly dominating hitters despite having every possible disadvantage thrown his way the likes of Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson never encountered. And yet, he's also besting them in raw, unadjusted numbers.

In 2000....

The AL ERA was an incomprehensibly inflated 4.92. Pedro’s ERA? 1.74. He’s the only starting pitcher in the history of baseball dating back to 1880 that ever posted an ERA more than three runs lower than the league average mark.

[HTML]ERA YEAR DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE
1 Pedro Martinez 2000 3.18 1.74 4.92
2 Pedro Martinez 1999 2.80 2.07 4.87
3 Greg Maddux 1994 2.66 1.56 4.22
4 Greg Maddux 1995 2.55 1.63 4.18
5 Amos Rusie 1894 2.54 2.78 5.32
6 Roger Clemens 1997 2.53 2.05 4.57
7 Dazzy Vance 1930 2.36 2.61 4.97
8 Kevin Brown 1996 2.33 1.89 4.22
9 Lefty Grove 1931 2.32 2.06 4.38
10 Al Maul 1895 2.32 2.45 4.78 [/HTML]

The second-best ERA in the league belonged to Roger Clemens at 3.70 - a difference of nearly two whole runs. Clemens was closer to the worst ERA in the league than he was to the best.

Only four times in MLB history has an ERA-leading pitcher posted an average more than a run better than the runner-up, and Pedro is the owner of two of those seasons. The other being 1999 of course, when he posted a 2.07 ERA to David Cone’s 3.44. The other two were Dazzy Vance in 1930 and Greg Maddux in 1994.

His Adjusted ERA+ of 285 is the best in the modern era of post-1900 baseball and second to only Tim Keefe’s 294 in 1880. And about Keefe’s 1880 season: At the time, the mound was just 45' from home plate and it took eight - that’s right, eight - balls to walk a single batter. Keefe also only pitched 105 innings in 1880, which all but eliminates him from the discussion anyway.

Pedro allowed just 6.64 hits and walks per nine innings, setting an MLB record. The second best all-time? Guy Hecker’s 6.92... in 1882. They’re the only two pitchers in history to have a rate below seven. What's more? Pedro allowed more than 4 fewer (H+BB) than second-place Mike Mussina.

His WHIP (essentially the same stat as the above) of 0.737 also tops the all-time list.

[HTML]WHIP YEAR RATE
1 Pedro Martinez 2000 .737
2 Guy Hecker 1882 .769
3 Walter Johnson 1913 .780
4 Addie Joss 1908 .801
5 Greg Maddux 1995 .811
6 Charlie Sweeney 1884 .817
7 Ed Walsh 1910 .820
8 Christy Mathewson 1909 .828
9 George Bradley 1880 .837
Christy Mathewson 1908 .837 [/HTML]

He allowed a mere 5.31 hits per 9 innings, which ties him for third best on the all-time single season list. However, when adjusted for performance against the league, he clearly comes out on top, with a rate 4.35 hits better than the average pitcher.

[HTML]HITS/9 IP YEAR DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE
1 Pedro Martinez 2000 4.35 5.31 9.66
2 Nolan Ryan 1991 3.61 5.31 8.92
3 Tommy Byrne 1949 3.28 5.74 9.02
4 Randy Johnson 1997 3.27 6.21 9.48
5 Hideo Nomo 1995 3.23 5.83 9.06
6 Nolan Ryan 1977 3.20 5.96 9.16
7 Pedro Martinez 1997 3.08 5.89 8.97
8 Herb Score 1956 3.07 5.86 8.92
9 Roger Clemens 1994 2.98 6.54 9.52
10 Roger Clemens 1998 2.97 6.48 9.45 [/HTML]

Some post-1900 MLB records set by Pedro (min. 200 IP for sake of credibility)

[HTML]BATTING AVERAGE AGAINST YEAR RATE
1 Pedro Martinez 2000 .167
2 Luis Tiant 1968 .168
3 Nolan Ryan 1972 .171
4 Ed Reulbach 1906 .175
5 Sandy Koufax 1965 .179
6 Dutch Leonard 1914 .180
7 Dave McNally 1968 .182
8 Pedro Martinez 1997 .184
Bob Gibson 1968 .184
10 Carl Lundgren 1907 .185[/HTML]

[HTML]ON-BASE AVERAGE AGAINST YEAR RATE
1 Pedro Martinez 2000 .213
2 Greg Maddux 1995 .224
3 Sandy Koufax 1965 .227
4 Pete Alexander 1915 .228
5 Sandy Koufax 1963 .230
6 Juan Marichal 1966 .230
7 Dave McNally 1968 .232
8 Bob Gibson 1968 .233
9 Luis Tiant 1968 .233
10 Babe Adams 1919 .235[/HTML]

The following is an interesting figure brought up by fellow NYYF poster beaker23 in a different thread, who had his own compilation of a number that measured strikeouts per base runner. He concluded that only 36 times in MLB history since 1885 has there been a pitcher with a K/BR above 1 in a single-season.

In 2000, Pedro struck out 284 batters while allowing just 128 hits and 32 walks for a total of 160 base runners (not including HBP) for a ML record rate of 1.78 K’s per BR. For good measure, he also has the second and fifth best. 2001 isn’t included because of limited IP.

[HTML]STRIKEOUTS/BASE RUNNER YEAR RATE
1 Pedro Martinez 2000 1.78
2 Pedro Martinez 1999 1.59
3 Randy Johnson 2001 1.48
4 Randy Johnson 1998 1.40
5 Pedro Martinez 1997 1.36[/HTML]

Other fun numbers:

Pedro struck out 284 batters in just 217 innings for a rate of 11.78 K’s per 9 IP, while the average pitcher whiffed a mere 6.27.

He walked only 32, which means he struck out roughly 8.8 batters per 1 walk issued – an American League record.

He had fifteen games in which he struck out 10 or more batters, and struck out 15 or more three times.

On August 2, he pitched 9 IP, 5 H, 2 ER against the Seattle Mariners and his ERA rose from 1.38 to 1.42. How dominant do you have to be when you pitch a complete game, 2-run gem and your ERA rises?

When he was on the mound, no pitcher in the AL went deeper into their outings on average than Pedro, would regularly pitch into the eighth inning at 7.5 IPS.

American Leaguers had a .472 OPS against him.

.
.
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All of the above are just facts and numbers anybody out there can find on their own if they look around. However, I won’t take credit for the following in-depth look at Pedro’s 2000 season by Allan Wood (some of the above was featured in his article as well), who writes the blog Joy Of Sox and is the author of a book on Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox.

A closer look into Martinez's 2000 season:

He went 41 innings without issuing a walk (August 2, 7th inning to September 4, 2nd inning). What if a walk was eight balls now [as it was in 1880 when Tim Keefe had the only season that could rival Pedro's 2000 -- the plate was 45 feet from the mound]-- could Pedro go the entire season without passing a batter?

On June 14, after twelve starts, his ERA was 0.99. Let me say that again: Martinez’s was 0.99 -- in mid-June! Up to that point, he had allowed 10 earned runs in 91.2 innings. His ERA never rose above 1.81 (September 14) and he finished at 1.74.

Martinez faced only three batters in 112 of his 217 innings. He faced 3 or 4 batters in 179 innings -- 82.5% And he faced five or fewer batters in 206 of 217 innings -- a mind-boggling 94.9%. His other 11 innings were: 6 batters six times, 7 batters 3 times, eight batters once and nine batters once.

Martinez registered at least one strikeout in more than 80% of his innings (177 of 217). He struck out the side 10% of the time (22 of 217). He never went more than two innings without at least one strikeout in an inning. A string of two K-less innings happened only four times:

April 4: 6th and 7th innings
May 17: 6th and 7th innings
June 8: 4th and 5th innings
August 2: 2nd and 3rd innings

Working in a league where the average team scored 5.3 runs per game, Martinez allowed more than 3 earned runs only twice in 29 starts (June 25 and August 24). He allowed 2 runs or less in 21 starts and 1 run or less in 17 starts, and no runs in 10 starts.

Here are the numbers on his six losses:

0-6, 2.44 ERA -- 48 IP, 30 H, 13 R, 8 BB, 60 K

In these six games, while Pedro was on the mound, his teammates scored a total of 4 runs -- an average of 0.75 runs per nine innings.

American Leaguers hit .167, 60 points lower than second-place Tim Hudson (.227).

American Leaguers had a .213 on-base average, 78 points lower than second-place Mike Mussina (.291).

American Leaguers had a .259 slugging percentage, 121 points lower than second-place Bartolo Colon (.380).

Left-handed hitters had a .150 batting average, 56 points lower than second-place Roger Clemens (.206).

Right-handed hitters had a .184 batting average, 26 points lower than second-place Orlando Hernandez (.210).

With men on base, batters hit .160, 21 points lower than second-place Jeff Nelson - a relief pitcher (.181).

His ERA at home was 1.84 -- second-place Mike Mussina’s home ERA was 2.90.

His ERA on the road was 1.66 -- second-place David Wells’s road ERA was 3.24. Only seven pitchers had a road ERA under 4.00.

He allowed 1.33 walks per nine innings -- only David Wells allowed less, 1.21. But Wells allowed more hits than any other major league pitcher, 266.

Sources:

Baseball-Reference

Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia

MLB Historical Stats

Retrosheet

Sons of Sam Horn

Umpire Tracking Project

2013-05-09T14:33:04Z

via yourkillinmesmalls.files.wordpress.com

I'm seeing umpires getting calls wrong over and over. Video replay could overturn most of these with about a 15 second review. My contention is that Selig does not want this because he wants to control when calls are missed, not for the reasons he says such as "no demand for it", it slows the game down, etc. What I would like to do is be able to track these missed calls for a sample of teams over the course of a season to see if it really just balances out for every team or what types of calls they are getting wrong for different teams. I think this would be a very interesting project and something we could all learn from.

There's not a ton of missed calls, I would say roughly two per week in games your team plays, so this wouldn't take much time at all if you're already watching the games and noticing these things. I will provide all data and analysis at the end of the season.

What I would request here is if 2-3 people who are already watching all Red Sox games could just make a log of incorrect calls (not balls/strikes unless it's really egregious) either for or against the Red Sox, and just include the game situation (inning, outs, runners on, etc.) and the umpires involved (who got the call wrong, who could have intervened, etc.). These have to be calls where it is evident from replay that the call was wrong or it is a call that is very rare and inconclusive on replays (passing a runner on bases, interference on a run-down, etc.). These wrong and rare will be considered differently in the final analysis.

Ideally I would like to be able to do this for all 30 teams over a full season, but at least I am going to try to get 5 teams this year, then maybe expand to 30 next year.

This would be an example of what I'm looking for:

OAK at CLE

5/8 - Rosales bats in top 9th with 2 outs, bases empty, OAK trails 4-3. Rosales hits HR about 2 feet above yellow line off railing to tie the game, ball bounces back onto field, initially ruled a double. Umpires use video replay, determine inconclusive.

Umpires involved: HP--John Tumpane. 1B--Paul Nauert. 2B--Angel Hernandez. 3B--Doug Eddings.

Other examples of incorrect calls would include: all safe/out calls, fair/foul calls down the line, tagging/re-tagging bases on fly balls, bases awarded when the pitch did not hit the batter (i.e. Jeter faking his hand hurting from pitch), balks, etc. As a rule of thumb, if you're unsure, mark it down.

OTM Fantasy: Week #6

2013-05-06T17:47:59Z

Believe it or not we are already 5 weeks into the Fantasy season with 16 more regular season match-ups to go in the OTM1-3 Leagues and 14 to go in OTMD (I'm not sure how OTMS is doing their playoffs). Still plenty of time to pull back into it and of course plenty of time to fall on your faces!

Please remember to unrec older Fanposts

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

Please remember to unrec older Fanposts

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

Weak Links

2013-05-05T15:34:00Z

It becomes obvious when we play a top team that Salty,Middlebrooks,Drew and Gomes are our weak links. The top teams just do not have as many weaknesses. Plans do need to begin in addressing these areas. When these weaknesses continue to plague the team momentum eventually gets halted. Salty can't hit or field.Middlebrooks has lost any edge he had. Drew can field-can't hit. Gomes has more heart than talent.

OTM Fantasy Week 5: Weekend Edition

2013-05-04T17:26:16Z

Other Thread was 920+ posts and slogging. Time for an updated one

Please unrec previous threads and also VOTE on our issues. Let your voice be heard. If you are just coming in each site should have a poll on keepers for next year.

Good luck this weekend (unless you are LC (OTM1) or pwangsta (OTMD))

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

Other Thread was 920+ posts and slogging. Time for an updated one

Please unrec previous threads and also VOTE on our issues. Let your voice be heard. If you are just coming in each site should have a poll on keepers for next year.

Good luck this weekend (unless you are LC (OTM1) or pwangsta (OTMD))

League Links

OTM1: Wakefield
OTM2: Varitek
OTM3: Drew
OTMD: Pedro (Dynasty)
OTMS: Bill James (Saber)
Yahoo!: Mirabelli

Projections Spreadsheets

Batters
Pitchers
brogshan's ZiPS
Consensus Top 100 Hitters

OTM May Open Thread

2013-05-04T15:32:55Z

Okay, let's pretend that didn't happen.

The beard thread has dropped off the board, so it's time for a new one.

Banned topics are as always: Sean O's Testicles, Religion, Politics, Badmouthing Chase Headley.

I'm kind of proud of us for having a decent discussion on politics last night, but I have a feeling if we open it up on the Open Thread things will get nasty pretty quick, especially if the WEEIs start showing up here.

Have fun everyone, I'm off to the best BBQ restaurant in the state of Michigan.

Go Sox.

Okay, let's pretend that didn't happen.

The beard thread has dropped off the board, so it's time for a new one.

Banned topics are as always: Sean O's Testicles, Religion, Politics, Badmouthing Chase Headley.

Have fun everyone, I'm off to the best BBQ restaurant in the state of Michigan.

Go Sox.

Who to Draft? Throwing Up Scenarios

2013-05-04T14:33:05Z

I'm very excited for the draft coming up, but I want to pose to you with the 7th pick and faced with these four players, which pick the Red Sox should make.

Jon Denney

Clint Frazier

Ryan Stanek

Brandon Shipley

Or you can always suggest someone else.

In my opinion, Clint Frazier is the best because of how toolsy he is, even if he wouldn't produce for the Sox at Fenway for another 3 to 5 years at best. He seems like the best bet to turn into quick minor league currency to be dealt within 1 to 3 years, baring no prospect can be traded within a year of signing. This is no genius analysis, obviously Clint Frazier is a favorite of many scouts. However, he will demand a high amount of our slot money, so many may opt for either two of the college pitchers. Lets hear your opinions.

I'm very excited for the draft coming up, but I want to pose to you with the 7th pick and faced with these four players, which pick the Red Sox should make.

Jon Denney

Clint Frazier

Ryan Stanek

Brandon Shipley

Or you can always suggest someone else.

The Hair of Clay Buchholz

2013-05-03T02:09:35Z

While watching the Royals game on the Saturday after the cancellation of the Friday game due to the Boston Marathon incident, I noticed that Clay Buchholz' long hair in the back was wet looking in the very first inning. I thought this was strange since he couldn't have worked up a sweat yet at that point, and it wasn't raining in Boston.

I kept watching him, and in between pitches to the Royals, he rubbed his fingers of his pitching hand through his long, stringy, wet hair in the back of his head. Every pitch, he would do this.

So the question I have is: what did Clay Buchholz put in the back of his hair to make wet looking, and why did he keep rubbing the fingers of his pitching hand through it? My speculation is that it was some kind of oil or vaseline/grease-type substance that made his off-speed pitches (change, curve, slider, etc.) move better on a cold day.

This is clearly an unfair advantage for Buchholz against batters and vs. other pitchers, and I believe it might explain some of his gaudy 2013 numbers so far. Buchholz is cheating and I'm glad he is being exposed.

FYI, Jack Morris and other Toronto announcers are now accusing Buchholz of cheating, and it is on ESPN:
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/26942/morris-knows-buchholz-threw-spitter