This is probably a moot point right now - seeing as Hall is no longer an outfielder - but I was doing some graphing this morning and I had a question.

Here's a graph of Bill Hall in the outfield last year:

Compared to, say, Jim Edmonds:

 

Color-coding indicates frequency of plays made at that location - blue means a lot of plays, red means fewer plays.

(If you're curious - I'm looking at Edmonds for obvious reasons; Hall had similar RZR/OOZ numbers in a similar amount of opportunities and so I thought it might be an interesting one-on-one comparison.)

The larger number of blue "clusters" in the Hall graph indicates (to me, at least) a larger number of starting positions for Hall than Edmonds. Does that match up well with your experience watching Hall last season?

Let's start a little project here. We have a few hitters (Soriano and Ramirez come to mind) that like to appreciate their work at the plate a little more than some might appreciate.

So let's start a thread here (I'll keep a link to it available as much as I can, so that it doesn't get lost - if you need a link to it later, just ask me) to keep track of just how often Cubs players sit there and admire a hit that isn't a home run. Then at the end of the season, we can take a look at how often it happens, and what the "cost" is to the team in runs/wins/etc.

I'll start us off, with an example of how to specify it:

04/11/2008 @ Philadelphia - Aramis Ramirez gazes at a fly ball in the ninth inning; ends up with a double to deep center off So Taguchi

Your participation in this project is greatly appreciated, and you have my thanks in advance. Have I missed any plays so far this season?

You were warned.

The Baltimore Sun is still talking about a Gallagher/Outfielder for Roberts trade.

We're the "most likely landing spot" for Roberts. It seems like MacPhail would like to get a deal done before spring training if a deal gets done at all.

Side note: oh for the love of God just make it stop. Thank you.

Not kidding.

Pujols had a press conference a few days ago during the Cardinals Fan Fest. Mostly it was a conversation about steroids and journalistic ethics. But then there's this:

Pujols said he decided against offseason surgery on his right elbow, a trouble spot for several years, because he would have had to miss a significant portion if not all the 2008 season. Pujols still is unable to straighten his arm, but team doctors concluded that because he plays first base, an operation can be postponed.

He said his elbow bothered him the second half of last season, and said if that happens again he wouldn't try to soldier through it.

"If the same problem is happening this year, I don't think I'm to play the whole year the same way," Pujols said. "I sacrificed my body."

That can't be entirely good news for the Cardinals.

The New York Times is reporting that the FBI looked into allegations that Canseco tried to extort Magglio Ordonez into financing a movie project in exchange for not being named in Canseco's upcoming book.

Yep. "Vindicated," all right. Canseco is pretty much setting flame to any good will he may have had after "Juiced" came out. This is what it looks like to watch a man put the last of his credibility up for wholesale.