MrRain422

What about a guy like Jeff Bagwell, for whom there is no evidence of steroid use at all, not even any real allegations, but still seems to be blocked from the HoF because some writers decided that he is suspicious simply for because of the era in which he played? The fact is, none of us have any idea who did or who didn't use steroids, or what effect, if any, PED use had on their game. In light of that, players who were the best players of their era should be inducted into the Hall.

I think the problem is that it's an awful song

And there won't be! Go Tigers!

The rule does stipulate that the umpire should call it "Immediately" when it is apparent that it is an infield fly, though I suppose one could argue when exactly it became apparent. I think that the rule was applied correctly by the wording of the rule, though contrary to the spirit of it. The shortstop was clearly camped underneath the play, making it applicable according to the definition in the rulebook. However, the whole point of the rule is to protect the hitting team from the infielder intentionally dropping the ball so as to get a double play by getting force outs against the run

I thought I understood the infield fly rule but now I'm not so sure.

You know Ahmadinejad can't do anything without the Ayatollah, right? Whether or not Ahmadinejad understands MAD means jackshit because he couldn't drop any hypothetical bombs anyway. He's a nutbar who is easily vilified in the west but he isn't actually very powerful at all.

All of these are fine explanations for why Cabrera may win the MVP, but none of them are compelling reasons why he should. The first point implies that playing well late in the season is more valuable than playing well early in the year, which is just nonsense -- every game counts the same in the standings. The second point isn't even really true (there are several stats that Cabrera does not have have better numbers at all, and some of those where Cabrera leads can easily be explained away by the month that Trout spent in the minors at the beginning of the year, as well as line-up construct

Actually the Tigers are well out of the wild card but can win the division. Also, you say that the Tigers are slow defensively as if Cabrera himself is not one of the culprits in that regard. I also think the Angels are below .500 without Trout, and (yes, small sample size) they were not very good before he was called up.

Does the fact that it is rare automatically make him more valuable though? Why do those 3 stat categories (two of which are outdated and very overrated in terms of assessing overall value) mean more than all the other stat categories? And doesn't defense matter at all?

What's the argument against Mike Trout winning? He is roughly the same as Cabrera with the bat this year, but with much better defense at a more important position. I'm a Tigers fan who would love to see Miggy win it, but clearly Trout has had a better season.

You can get a pretty decent 1 bedroom place in that range. Not in the neighborhood that you'll be working in. My wife and I just moved out of a 2 bedroom place in Logan Square that we paid $1230/month for, and that was to live right on the boulevard -- there were definitely some less expensive places in that neighborhood as well. Now we're in Uptown paying a little more for a nicer 2 bedroom place. There are some so-so neighborhoods where you could find a 2 bedroom place in your price range, and many areas where you could find a really nice 1 bedroom place for that. So long as you're close

I wouldn't really care if they did stop giving that award out, but so long as they are going to, I think Buck Showalter and Robin Ventura have pretty good cases to be made for them over Wash.

Comerica Park Tiger Stadium US Cellular Field Comiskey Park Wrigley Field Dodger Stadium Joe Robbie/Pro Player Stadium Three Rivers Stadium AT&T Park Camden Yards Fenway Park Riverfront Stadium Miller Park Coors Field Cleveland Municipal Stadium Sky Dome Minors: Buffalo Toledo (old park) West Michigan Lansing Mid-Michigan (Battle Creek) Indianapolis Schaumburg (independent minor league)

I don't think they'll move Profar. I think it's more likely that Profar stays at SS and Andrus moves over to 2B.

Indeed. Also surprising for when this happened on Johan's personal career arc.

A lot of those guys aren't even really big leaguers.

Good riddance to Inge. It's been years since he was good, and even then he wasn't that good. It's amazing to me that there are only 2 guys left on the team from the '06 World Series team, but there's no question that the team is better without Inge.

Very bold to pick the same guy to win both of these awards.

Oops. Dodgers should be in 4th. Will edit it back in. I think the Marlins are probably a little better than last year, but I still don't think it's enough to catch the Phillies or Braves, and I think the Nationals are a team on the rise. It's a tough division. I also think the Blue Jays will be a pretty good team, but in a good division a good team can still be way out of it.

The season starts in 2 days (for a couple of teams anyway) so I think it's prediction time. AL East Rays Yankees (WC) Red Sox (WC) Blue Jays Orioles AL Central Tigers Indians Royals White Sox Twins AL West Rangers Angels A's Mariners NL East Phillies Braves (WC) Nationals Marlins Mets NL Central Cardinals Reds (WC) Brewers Pirates Cubs Astros NL West Diamondbacks Giants Padres Dodgers Rockies Yankees beat Red Sox Reds beat Braves Rangers beat Yankees Rays beat Tigers Reds beat Phillies Cardinals beat Diamondbacks Rangers beat Rays Reds beat Cardinals Rangers beat Reds AL

This article explains pretty well what is actually known about the failed test and why it's being disputed http://deadspin.com/5867318/a-guide-to-the-medical-semantic-mess-of-ryan-brauns-ped-case

I'm sure the Brewers aren't happy with the big salary they'll be paying him, but it's only one year, they're better with him on the team than not (though certainly they'll be paying him a lot more than what he'll be contributing) and he could be a pretty valuable trade chip by midseason if it comes to it. Not the ideal result for the Brewers but they're far from screwed by it.

Also, park effects can make those traditional stats a little deceptive as well. For example, it's hard to contextualize Coors Field and compare the statistics compiled there to those in the Polo Grounds. They may as well have been playing the game on different planets.

Though the rules have generally stayed the same, the game has changed a whole lot since the mound was lowered. Steroids aside, there have been huge advances in what we know about nutrition and physical health, and the ever increasing strength and abilities of the players has dramatically changed how the game is played. Also, a lot of the traditional stats make less sense than they used too, both due to changes in how the game is played (errors made more sense as a way to evaluate fielders back when the stat was invented back in the late 1800s). Our understanding of the game has changed drama

There are two common formulas for WAR (Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference), and although neither is perfect, I think it's still pretty useful. Certainly isn't the be-all-and-end-all of evaluating a player, but it's a pretty nifty little shortcut to simplifying all of the many stats that should be considered and combining them into a single number that is easy to understand. The trickiest part is still evaluating defense (and this accounts for the differences between the two versions of WAR). I agree that it shouldn't be the only thing we look at, but I think its probably one of the most useful