After watching Rickie struggle to light the fire for the Crew this season in the lead-off slot I started to jump on the "send him down" bandwagon.  Luckily I caught myself and decided to actually go look at his stats and see how he ranked against the other lead-off guys in the NL. 

Continue reading this post »

CNN/SI, never one known for overly intelligent reporting has this article listing the Top 50 toughest "old school" guys.

What is wrong, is that there isn't a baseball player in the Top 25. You can't tell me there are some old school ballplayer tough guys in the Top 25. If nothing else think of the cacthers who sit back there all season blocking balls in the dirt and then getting run over like Soto did early last week (man that was sweet).

As futher evidence of the idiocy of their rankings, note that Bill Jean King (I thought it was tough GUYS, well maybe...) is ranked ahead of Lawrence Taylor!

The local authorities here in Atlanta may want to check the hand rolled "cigarettes" the guys at CNN are smoking.

Baseball Players ranked:

So a day of rest and then the Reds come to town bringing with them Francisco Cordero.  It will be interesting to see if the Brew Crew fans receive him with some class.  Obviously the best scenario would be three straight trips to the wood shed for the Reds and never give Cordero a reason to even get up in the Bullpen.  If he does take the mound it would be poetic to see Prince wake from his slumber with a long bomb off Cordero to win a game.   It appears he has had one SVO and converted it with 2 SO's.  I would be just fine with him leaving with the exact same stats!!!!

Regardless of your politics, George Will is a gem of a writer particualrily when it comes to his favorite pastime baseball.  Most of you stat heads will also appreciate that he is a Sabemetrics guy.  Take a moment to read this article which will be found on a website possbily frequented by our own Hebrew Hammer, I beleive you will find it entertaining, educational and possibly challenging.  A warning to you Sabr guys and gals here in the BCB, don't peek at the bottom of the aritcle as the answers are posted.

Enjoy!

John Donovan on CNNSI thinks the Cubs have the NL Central locked up.  Here is the link.  

He tries to soften his proclamation a couple of times,albeit poorly, leaving himself an out when he is wrong but it is clear he thinks the Cubs are the NL champs and the rest of the Central is weak and not getting better with their offseason moves. It is difficult to see why he thinks the simple acquisition of Fukudome makes the Cubs so much better despite the big questions they have on their pitching staff.  

At the end of the article he makes it clear he thinks The Stache was crazy to sign Gagne:  "As good as the Rowand signing may have been -- for Rowand, anyway -- how bad was the Brewers' decision to give Eric Gagne $10 million for one season of closing? He had a 6.57 ERA in 26 appearances in the second half of '07. Relief pitchers are hard to find on the free-agent market, sure. But that's ridiculous...."  Should be fun to email him this article next October after the Brew Crew wins the Central and Gagne plays an integral role in the teams'success.

This in from Jon Heyman on CNNSI.com at short while ago, sure hope it turns out to only be a rumor.  Too many opportunities for Gagne to explode at the wrong time.

"The Brewers and Astros are among teams bidding for Eric Gagne, who has to be a closer wherever he goes (he was almost perfect as a closer in Texas last year, then perfectly awful as a setup man in Boston). Perhaps he could return to Texas, too, where he thrived."