Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

by Allen Chace on Apr 3, 2007 12:43 AM EDT in Open Thread

Well, good to have our one loss of the season out of the way. Let's remember what we have to look forward to:

In the short-term: Beckett and Matsuzaka.

In the long-term: 161 more chances to win (or lose...).

Pre-Summer Reading.

Excellent piece by Sean Smith at THT about the NEW and IMPROVED Zone Rating system, whose data will be available on THT this season. Anyone have a guess as to who brings up the rear based on the new system?
That's it, actually. Post your favorite articles in the comments.

Are you serious?

The Rockies extended Dan O'Dowd and Clint Hurdle. Any thoughts on this move? I've been less than thrilled with the non-scouting related work from O'Dowd recently (Was Jennings really expendable in this division?). Ambivalent towards Hurdle. Some comments can be found in this entry at Purple Row.
As of this writing, Sammy Sosa is still 12 short of 600. Anyone think he'll make it?
Schilling did in fact recap his outing at his website. Interesting read. Makes his outing seem...something.
Cubs were sold for $8.2B. If I were Sam Zell, I might've waited to see how this Soriano/Lilly/Sweet Lou thing ended up first.

Query.

Going to see a Sox game this season? Home? Road? Going to see another MLB team? Let us know your plans so OTM writers and readers can stalk you this summer.

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Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

The tribune company was sold for $8.2 bil. The cubs have not yet been sold, but will be up for bidding at the end of the season and are expected to get around $600 mil

Get your Yankees Suck - Japanese shirts now: http://www.cafepress.com/yankeessuckjap

by jsnvaritek33 on Apr 3, 2007 2:38 AM EDT 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

Ah, thanks for the correction on that. The ESPN scroll on it was misleading at best.

"Interesting. No wait, the other thing. Tedious." -Bender Bending Rodriguez.

by Allen Chace on Apr 3, 2007 8:51 AM EDT up 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

"The waiting is the hardest part"?

Interesting hardball times article. Surprised to see Orlando so low. It's frustrating they don't include Julio. Oh well.

Just my two cents. Keep the change.

by tommy.otm on Apr 3, 2007 12:30 PM EDT 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

With his time missed beginning of the season and bouncing around in LA, probably not enough data. Not surprised about O-Cab, unfortunately. IIRC, he doesn't score high on many fielding metrics as it is.

Spot on with the Tom Petty. Hate the off-days in April.

"Interesting. No wait, the other thing. Tedious." -Bender Bending Rodriguez.

by Allen Chace on Apr 3, 2007 12:34 PM EDT up 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

I was sure it was, "Even the losers get lucky sometimes ..."

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by rcb on Apr 3, 2007 7:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

ha. i forgot about that tune.

Just my two cents. Keep the change.

by tommy.otm on Apr 3, 2007 10:54 PM EDT up 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

In regard to O'Dowd and Hurdle, I think they've both done decent if not spectacular jobs; Hurdle is apparently very good at working with the team's younger player, but at the same time he's not a very good tactical manager (they bunt too much).

With O'Dowd, I think you have to give him some credit for the young talent in the organization, but I wonder how much was just getting a bit lucky; Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday defied expectations enourmously to get where they are today.

That said, the line-up is good, but they find themselves in a situation akin the Orioles and Rangers teams of recent memory; they need to bring in pitching, or their line-up could be wasted.

This probably means "wait 'til next year," but in the NL that could mean contending for a while this year. What's confusing to me is the Jennings trade, as it seems like a bit of a challenge trade. Was it really worth giving up Jennings' 50.8 VORP? Could they have contended this year with him?

"Your best? Losers always whine about 'giving it their best.' Winners go home and fuck the prom queen." "Carla was the prom queen."

by Saberrox on Apr 3, 2007 1:03 PM EDT 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

Not sure Jennings was expendable. Sure, Taveras will give them well above-average D in CF, plus cheap stolen bases if you're in a fantasy league that cares about such things. He's not really the answer offensively.

Maybe O'Dowd chose to sell high, thinking Jennings is much more 2003-2005 than pre-2003 and 2006. We'll get to see this season if he was right about that.

The tough thing with the Rockies is that with the occupational hazards (go ahead and add X-amount to that ERA), it's unlikely pitchers will go there for their actual market value. Someone who is generally good at keeping the ball in the park, (Chien-Ming Wang, John Lackey, etc.) even if they were available, would have to be offered $2-5M more per season (rough estimate).

The flip side is that hitters should want to play in Colorado. This is where O'Dowd's drafts can be called into question, because IIRC, he hasn't been doing a good job of finding the best pitchers available and drafting them, because that's the absolute best way for Colorado to get pitching, obviously.

Francis and Fuentes are the only pitchers from the organization's own loins with some consistent success out there. Should they have drafted Daniel Bard last season? Pick a top-flight pitching prospect, and if Colorado had a shot at them, they should've taken it.

"Interesting. No wait, the other thing. Tedious." -Bender Bending Rodriguez.

by Allen Chace on Apr 3, 2007 2:06 PM EDT up 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

I liked the Jennings trade from Colorado's standpoint. I think the 'Stros got screwed.

Colorado received Willy Taveras and pitchers Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh.

I think Taylor Buchholz will be a decent pitcher and Hirsh is a top prospect. I don't think much of Taveras right now, but he's young and could mature. At least he swipes bags.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Apr 3, 2007 2:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

Re: Daily Dos(e), 4/03/07, Tom Petty Said It Best.

Sure, they got the most talent in the deal. But getting rid of Jennings is a lesser version of what the White Sox did getting rid of Garcia: Hamstringing yourself in a winnable division.

5 average starters who weren't spectacular got the Cardinals to the WS in 2004. Not saying either of these guys are spectacular aces, not by any means. I think the top teams in the Central split enough games with each other that it will be the toughest division, but they might not have any team with over 90 wins. Similar situation in the NL West. Who doesn't have a shot? All of them have serious questions, with the LAD possibly having the best insurance policies.

"Interesting. No wait, the other thing. Tedious." -Bender Bending Rodriguez.

by Allen Chace on Apr 3, 2007 2:40 PM EDT up 0 recs

QoTD

I'll be in N America in August and as a thirtieth birthday present to myself will probably make a stop at Fenway. Or if I travel in mid-September I'll take in a game in Toronto vs the Sox.

Anyone been to the Rogers Centre to watch a game? Looks pretty crummy on TV.

Why not us again?

by britsoxfan on Apr 4, 2007 8:17 AM EDT 0 recs