Baseball's back

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:41 pm

In this case Hillenbrand started the sniping - here a just a few of the quotes I was able to find quickly -

Before the deal - The first one is from the Toronto Star -

Hillenbrand, who departed Boston on bad terms with GM Theo Epstein, challenging him to "Trade me now, faggot" on a call-in show a month before the May '03 deal, works extremely hard at his on-field craft, but can sometimes seem prickly.

"I'm not going out quietly, I'll tell you that much," Hillenbrand said yesterday. "They think we're stupid."

"But if you tell me that Bill Mueller is going to be the first one off the bench and he's going to give you a day off, would you sign him to two years for $4.5 million? And they're talking about cutting costs and saving money. I'm not stupid."

"Why not sign me to a multiyear [contract]? Sign me now so I don't have to go to arbitration." What happens if I go out and have an All-Star year this year and go to arbitration? You have to pay me more."

After the deal -

"How is it going to be playing in a nice ballpark? How is it going to be to park my car in a parking lot? How is it going to be to go to a clubhouse and just play baseball without all the outside distractions and playing in a market like Boston?"

"There’s no distraction that can contend with playing in Boston."

"It’s nice to meet reporters who are decent people."

"It’s a nice mixture of veterans and new players [playing for Arizona] ... veterans rooting you on. I haven’t seen that in Boston."

''They will never win as long as the media and the fans are the way they are. Boston will never win. They will never bring a championship here until the fans and the media change, and the media is not gonna change because it sells. It sells more than a world championship. That's the only reason why the fans keep coming out, because of that.''

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:21 pm

Boy With A Problem wrote:In this case Hillenbrand started the sniping - here a just a few of the quotes I was able to find quickly -

Before the deal - The first one is from the Toronto Star -

Hillenbrand, who departed Boston on bad terms with GM Theo Epstein, challenging him to "Trade me now, faggot" on a call-in show a month before the May '03 deal, works extremely hard at his on-field craft, but can sometimes seem prickly.

"I'm not going out quietly, I'll tell you that much," Hillenbrand said yesterday. "They think we're stupid."

"But if you tell me that Bill Mueller is going to be the first one off the bench and he's going to give you a day off, would you sign him to two years for $4.5 million? And they're talking about cutting costs and saving money. I'm not stupid."

"Why not sign me to a multiyear [contract]? Sign me now so I don't have to go to arbitration." What happens if I go out and have an All-Star year this year and go to arbitration? You have to pay me more."

After the deal -

"How is it going to be playing in a nice ballpark? How is it going to be to park my car in a parking lot? How is it going to be to go to a clubhouse and just play baseball without all the outside distractions and playing in a market like Boston?"

"There’s no distraction that can contend with playing in Boston."

"It’s nice to meet reporters who are decent people."

"It’s a nice mixture of veterans and new players [playing for Arizona] ... veterans rooting you on. I haven’t seen that in Boston."

''They will never win as long as the media and the fans are the way they are. Boston will never win. They will never bring a championship here until the fans and the media change, and the media is not gonna change because it sells. It sells more than a world championship. That's the only reason why the fans keep coming out, because of that.''

OK, so he's a jerk. And couldn't have been more wrong about Boston, Epstein, etc.

Still a decent ballplayer.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:44 pm

Torii Hunter going apeshit in Kansas City. 2 for 2, 2 runs, HR, 3 RBI and a SB through four innings. Keep it going, my man. I love weekday baseball.

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 2:13 pm

I have absolutely STELLAR pitching, don't I?

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:28 pm

Manny's back! Not that he ever left...

What an awesome resolution to a sour situation, pinch-hitting a base hit in the 8th to sweep the series with those Twinkies. Great series it was, too-- some amazing stuff, all exciting games.

And how great was Gabe Kapler?

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:38 am

Big bump...

My Clowntime boys go in the tank at the end of the season and oily slick closes in on first place.

I posted this on the Yahoo! fantasy b-ball forum, but I'm not sure if they'll limit the word count of your responses, so I'll post it here as well, where you can respond at length if you wish...

As we near the close of the season, with a tight race at the top that I feel I will eventually lose (any team with the repulsive Jeff Kent in it really doesn't deserve a championship, does it?), I would like other players' thoughts, suggestions on how we can improve this thing if we do it again next year. So a few questions for all of you:

1) Are you happy with the Yahoo! functionality or should we explore other options?

2) Would you like to do a live draft if we decide to do this again next season? That would give you more control over the players who end up on your team from the very beginning.

3) Would you be interested in increasing the number of statistical categories that are tracked? This would include things like walks, slugging percentage and maybe even fielding stats such as errors (which would make Manny Ramirez much less attractive). We have the capability to add categories at the beginning of the season.

4) As the first player to run out of innings for my pitching staff, it may seem selfish of me to ask, but is there any interest in increasing the number of innings allowed for next season? This is also an option.

5) Finally, any other thoughts?

Thanks again to all of you for playing - with the exception of deadbeat non-board member Tom

- and I hope you all have an appetite to try it again next year.

P.S. A full list of the stat categories and other options can be seen here (scroll down):

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/baseball/ ... es-13.html

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 4:13 pm

Okay, I'll go first.

1. I like it, but being a newcomer to this type of thing, I'm not at all familiar with other systems or options.

2. A live draft would be fine with me, but I'm worried about what kind of time would be required, and would everyone playing be available. Frankly, the automatic draft was okay with me, even though I feel like I got terrible starting pitchers, but you know, you could do worse with a live draft.

3. I looked at that list of stats options and got dizzy. Jesus. Don't make me do that. Maybe add one or two more categories, like walks or errors (and don't be too hard on Manny, he actually ran to make a play here and there!), but let us not go overboard.

4. As I'm about to run out of pitcher innings very soon, obviously YES! However, I'll cop to the fact that I didn't know the rule existed, so it is my own dirty fault. That'll teach me to read the directions, instead of trying to wing it. I would have done things differently had I figured it out sooner.

5. I got off to a slow start, being a rookie who refuses to read instructions and all (it took me about 3 weeks to really figure it out), but I'm probably gonna kick all y'all's asses next year, and I will not get suckered into letting Yhency Brazilnuts anywhere near my team! So look out.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 4:36 pm

Thanks goody. I agree with you on the live draft (especially with UK-based players involved), but I want to make sure that the playing field is as level as possible from Day 1 if possible.

As for additional stat categories being added, I wasn't contemplating going overboard, but I am a big believer in the power of the walk. It could be interesting to have a defensive category as well.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 5:26 pm

1. I quite like the format. As a relative Baseball rookie I wouldn't be interested in anything more complicated.

2. I wouldn't be interested in a live draft. I relied totally on the Yahoo rankings for the draft this time. Next season, if we get more time, I would like to adjust the rankings to my liking.

3. I agree with g2s, maybe a couple more but nothing too complicated.

4. I thought the maximum number of innings is about right. It's an added thing to manage rather than just slinging in pitchers left right and centre. Goody, was you who some bum advice from mr slick? I know he advised someone to stock up on starting pitchers tee hee.

5. I would prefer a weekly roster, the daily thing is too much of a bind. Not sure if it can be done but i would like an automatic sub thing (i.e if my catcher is left on the bench and I have another catcher on my (fantasy) bench I would like to see him promoted to to fantasy starter), although the weekly roster would negate the need for this somewhat.

I've enjoyed it and am still hoping to finish in the top six.

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Sun Aug 28, 2005 6:51 pm

so lacklustre wrote: .

Goody, was you who some bum advice from mr slick? I know he advised someone to stock up on starting pitchers tee hee.

Indeed, it was I, but the thing about advice is that you gotta be smart enough to know whether or not to take it! So Slick is not entirely at fault here. 'Specially since he's probably gonna run out of innings before I do. And because it's his ass I'm gonna kick first thing next year.

Sam, I agree about adding a BB category. Maybe not so much for pitchers, because that is ultimately reflected in the WHIP, but for hitters, I think it would be a good one to add.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:35 pm

so lacklustre wrote:1. I quite like the format. As a relative Baseball rookie I wouldn't be interested in anything more complicated.

2. I wouldn't be interested in a live draft. I relied totally on the Yahoo rankings for the draft this time. Next season, if we get more time, I would like to adjust the rankings to my liking.

3. I agree with g2s, maybe a couple more but nothing too complicated.

4. I thought the maximum number of innings is about right. It's an added thing to manage rather than just slinging in pitchers left right and centre. Goody, was you who some bum advice from mr slick? I know he advised someone to stock up on starting pitchers tee hee.

5. I would prefer a weekly roster, the daily thing is too much of a bind. Not sure if it can be done but i would like an automatic sub thing (i.e if my catcher is left on the bench and I have another catcher on my (fantasy) bench I would like to see him promoted to to fantasy starter), although the weekly roster would negate the need for this somewhat.

I've enjoyed it and am still hoping to finish in the top six.

Thanks so lack. I'm not sure that the last one is an option, at least not with Yahoo!, but I'll investigate it. I agree that it would be nice to have some sort of autopick option when you're on vacation. Because of the number of games, frequent injuries and pitching rotation, fantasy baseball does require more regular attention than other fantasy leagues - maybe not daily, but certainly more than once a week.

Sounds like the live draft is not a popular idea, so I'll deep-six that one. Assuming that we do get the league off the ground again next season, walks and errors will probably be the only new wrinkles.

Now let's see if I can hang on with 4-5 teams nipping at my heels.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 4:40 pm

bwap may have some thoughts, but he's disinternetted at the moment.

How does walks work? Is it for the batter or against the pitcher? What about obp, is that similar. Sorry but I don't understand all the stats yet!!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 4:51 pm

so lacklustre wrote:bwap may have some thoughts, but he's disinternetted at the moment.

How does walks work? Is it for the batter or against the pitcher? What about obp, is that similar. Sorry but I don't understand all the stats yet!!

I was thinking about just adding a walks stat for hitters, though we could do it for pitchers as well. It would be bases on balls receieved for hitters and walks surrendered by pitchers (both intentional and not intentional). Errors would just be the total number of errors committed by each team - the fewer the better.

OBP is on-base percentage - how many times you get on base per at bats, not including sacrifices or errors. It is computed like this:

1. Add up all plate appearances. This is every time you come to bat.

2. Subtract sacrifice bunts and sacrifice flies. The number you get is your total at bats.

3. Add up all the times you reached base safely, which should include hits, walks and the number of times you reached base by a hit by pitch. This total does not include the times you reached base because of an error or a fielder's choice.

4. Divide the times you reached base safely by your total at bats.

5. Round to the third decimal place. For example, .41051 is .411

IMO if we include walks that's good enough - we don't need OBP. Power hitters like Bonds, Vlad Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, etc. are walked so frequently that their batting averages often don't reflect how valuable they really are to their teams (and in relation to other players).

Most stat-heads think that on-base percentage is a much better measure of a batter's worth than batting average. Then there are the real hardcore stat-mongers, who compute things like VORP (value over replacement player) and win shares. Even I don't fully understand those.

If you want something that will really make your brain hurt, look here:

http://www.stathead.com/bbeng/woolner/vorpdescnew.htm

Even more whacked-out stats can be found here (these are part of Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system, which must have been invented by some math PhD):

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/gloss ... egory=true

It sort of makes you pine for the purity of soccer stats, doesn't it?

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Wed Aug 31, 2005 11:17 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Big bump...

My Clowntime boys go in the tank at the end of the season and oily slick closes in on first place.

I posted this on the Yahoo! fantasy b-ball forum, but I'm not sure if they'll limit the word count of your responses, so I'll post it here as well, where you can respond at length if you wish...

As we near the close of the season, with a tight race at the top that I feel I will eventually lose (any team with the repulsive Jeff Kent in it really doesn't deserve a championship, does it?), I would like other players' thoughts, suggestions on how we can improve this thing if we do it again next year. So a few questions for all of you:

1) Are you happy with the Yahoo! functionality or should we explore other options?

2) Would you like to do a live draft if we decide to do this again next season? That would give you more control over the players who end up on your team from the very beginning.

3) Would you be interested in increasing the number of statistical categories that are tracked? This would include things like walks, slugging percentage and maybe even fielding stats such as errors (which would make Manny Ramirez much less attractive). We have the capability to add categories at the beginning of the season.

4) As the first player to run out of innings for my pitching staff, it may seem selfish of me to ask, but is there any interest in increasing the number of innings allowed for next season? This is also an option.

5) Finally, any other thoughts?

Thanks again to all of you for playing - with the exception of deadbeat non-board member Tom - and I hope you all have an appetite to try it again next year.

P.S. A full list of the stat categories and other options can be seen here (scroll down):

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/baseball/ ... es-13.html

1. yahoo is fine
2. autodraft
3. i'd like to add 1 more hitting catagory--walks, hits or slugging percentage and 1 more pitching catagory--losses, appearances (to make middle relievers more than useless), or innings pitched. i wouldn't want a fielding catagory as i believe it would be practically inconsequential.
4. 1250 for innings is fine; i just didn't know all the rules either.
5. other thoughts might be to make sure we have folks who really want to do it as a couple have disappeared. i wouldn't want it to be a weekly lineup. i just think that would be less fun. you can set your team up 7 days out and when i've screwed it up with vacation, so what, it is just a board game. (a board game i am desperate to win as i undertake transaction number 653 to try to make yet another fractional improvement

)

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:59 pm

Another exciting finish in the American League - Sox win the first game of their series with the Yanks tonight. Two games left, and everything to play for. Am I right in assuming that no matter what happens tomorrow, it won't be settled until Sunday?

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:09 am

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Another exciting finish in the American League - Sox win the first game of their series with the Yanks tonight. Two games left, and everything to play for. Am I right in assuming that no matter what happens tomorrow, it won't be settled until Sunday?

Yup-- thus my comment about you missing THE game! But hey, sometimes real life is more valuable

. Boy was I happy to see Jason Varitek hit that game-changing homer. I love catchers, and him in particular.

I haven't even checked to see who won the wildcard-relevant Cleveland-Chicago game yet... when I went to bed, Cleveland had pushed the game into extra innings with the score 1-1 in the 11th.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:49 am

selfmademug wrote:Yup-- thus my comment about you missing THE game! But hey, sometimes real life is more valuable

Well, I'm not really a Red Sox fan, though nearly everyone else in my family is (how my sister and brother became San Francisco Giants fans is a long and ugly story). I have a soft spot for the Sox, but the Dodgers are my team, and they were out of it by May I think. At first, I thought you were referring to Liverpool-Chelsea. I am kind of broken up about missing that. I expect the Sox to get at least the wild card spot.

BTW, the Pale Hose beat The Tribe 3-2, so it was an even better night for your boys.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:20 am

Who Shot Sam? wrote: BTW, the Pale Hose beat The Tribe 3-2, so it was an even better night for your boys.

Indeed! I predict a Yankee win this afternoon and no nails left to bite by the end of tomorrow! I wouldn't be disaapointed to be wrong and have the Sox sweep, however...

Boston is just BUZZING today. It's different now that they've won a World Series (more recently than in the past 80 or so years, that is) because people are daring to be hopeful in a way they wouldn't have a few years ago. EVERYONE seems to be wearing Sox gear, it seems (me included, natch). Boston is a small enough city for such an event to entirely take it over-- it's like a palpable thrum all throughout the city, you know? Well, it could all be gone Sunday but who cares, I'll take this perfect weekend and be satisfied.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:25 am

selfmademug wrote:Boston is just BUZZING today. It's different now that they've won a World Series (more recently than in the past 80 or so years, that is) because people are daring to be hopeful in a way they wouldn't have a few years ago. EVERYONE seems to be wearing Sox gear, it seems (me included, natch). Boston is a small enough city for such an event to entirely take it over-- it's like a palpable thrum all throughout the city, you know? Well, it could all be gone Sunday but who cares, I'll take this perfect weekend and be satisfied.

And great weather to boot, from the looks of it. There's nothing better than New England in October.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:29 am

Yep. The weather is perfect. Just perfect. Great day for Storm King tomorrow, too!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:43 am

I love it! Not far from the truth either, if the Sox fans I know are anything to go by.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 4:20 pm

selfmademug wrote:I predict a Yankee win this afternoon.

Well you got that right, despite the fact that Manny went deep twice. But the Indians lost again, so the worst you can do if you lose tomorrow is a play-off with Cleveland. Am I right?

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 5:04 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:the Indians lost again, so the worst you can do if you lose tomorrow is a play-off with Cleveland. Am I right?

Yep, that's what they tell me! I must say I'd misunderstood the role that head-to-head games play (as opposed to straight numbers), and thought the Sox would still have a shot at AL East tomorrow (in this scenario) but as it is the Yanks are in. Well, it didn't stop us last year!

I've got beer and hot dogs (natural casing, to be steamed of course, and served with onions and spicy mustard) for the handful of work pals I've got coming over tomorrow, though it looks like Monday will be the decider, as you point out. Well, if it don't go past Monday it will at least give me more time for sleep in the crisp October nights to come...

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:01 pm

Wild card was good enough last year, it'll be good enough this year! Beating the Yanks 10-1 felt damn nice too, even if the 2nd half of the game was a gimme-- believe me, the Yanks were tryin' damn hard until the score got to about 7-1. Let the rout continue!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 4:01 pm

Sox getting smacked around as I drove home from dropping my daughter off at ballet class. Gonna take a lot to come baack from 5-0.