Phil Rogers' time machine

[Quality Start Machine]

Phil is a talentless hack - but he's a productive talentless hack.

Speaking of Granderson, I still wish the Cubs had found a way to trade for him last winter -- but I can see why Hendry considered Starlin Castro far too high of a price to pay. Granderson's all-around play remains a pleasure to watch. He hit only .247 in his first season with the Yankees, which he considered a disappointment, but it was a productive .247 (OPS: 792) and his work with hitting coach Kevin Long helped him become more of a factor against left-handed pitchers (.234/.646 OPS, compared to .253/.866 against right-handed pitchers).

Sounds like a variation on Yellon's theory of Not the Best Player, but the Right Player®Also, a .646 OPS is only "more of a factor" in the same sense that getting punched in the taint five times is better than getting punched in the taint six times.

I see that on a t-shirt* worn by Visor Guy in front of the foul pole within a couple years.


*Proceeds go to to Darwin Barney's battle for anal fistula

Why is Darwin Barney battling FOR anal fistulas? Has he been bought out by Big Fistula?

Anal fistulas might be painful enough to make you forget Darwin Barney.

[Brownie]

How do you know something won't happen? When Phil Rogers cites Barry Rozner:

1. I'm not sure why, but it's amazing to me that so many people talk about the White Sox without considering their payroll budget. Or maybe the problem lies with me because I look at the numbers as hard and fast, and then find myself surprised when Jerry Reinsdorf and Ken Williams throw money at guys like Albert Belle, Alex Rios, Jake Peavy, Edwin Jackson and Manny Ramirez.

Anyway, I bring this up because I'm hearing a lot of Paul Konerko talk, and on talk radio this morning heard my friend Barry Rozner say that if the Sox don't sign Konerko they might shift their focus to landing another prominent free agent, specifically Carl Crawford.

If only Phil Rogers can start citing Rozner citing an Alex Kaseberg joke.

[R-V]

Phil is worried that mean internet bullies like Yeti gave the Cy Young to Felix:

I wonder how much of it was bullying on the Internet. There were a lot of columns written in September saying no one should be stupid enough not to vote for Felix. Maybe that's what happened, but I hope not.

[Yeti]

Phil is worried that mean internet bullies like Yeti gave the Cy Young to Felix:

I wonder how much of it was bullying on the Internet. There were a lot of columns written in September saying no one should be stupid enough not to vote for Felix. Maybe that's what happened, but I hope not.

I was really ready to be butthurt but that Cy Young voting. Luckily, the sportswriters did the right thing.

[Brownie]

Surely somebody else out there would like to have Jeter, even at an admittedly elevated price. I thought the Tigers might get involved, as they have a ton of free-agent flexibility and would be applauded for adding the Michigan native, but they just re-signed Jhonny Peralta. The White Sox and Cubs don't appear to have a need, given the 2010 performances of Alexei Ramirez and Starlin Castro.

What about the St. Louis Cardinals? What about using Jeter to bring the Pujols negotiations to a head? Here's a two-prong approach: Make a sincere offer to Pujols (essentially the best the Cardinals can/will make) and see if he is going to stay beyond 2011. If the answer is no, then bid to pry Jeter away from the Yankees. If you are successful, you chase an NL pennant with Pujols and Jeter next year and then build contenders around Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Jeter. The 2011 payroll would be bloated unless the Jeter deal was backloaded but that money could be repaid by not reinvesting all of the Pujols money the next few years. Would there be a better way to defuse the backlash from losing Pujols? 

Build a team beyond 2011 with Derek Jeter?

[Bort]

Surely somebody else out there would like to have Jeter, even at an admittedly elevated price. I thought the Tigers might get involved, as they have a ton of free-agent flexibility and would be applauded for adding the Michigan native, but they just re-signed Jhonny Peralta. The White Sox and Cubs don't appear to have a need, given the 2010 performances of Alexei Ramirez and Starlin Castro.

What about the St. Louis Cardinals? What about using Jeter to bring the Pujols negotiations to a head? Here's a two-prong approach: Make a sincere offer to Pujols (essentially the best the Cardinals can/will make) and see if he is going to stay beyond 2011. If the answer is no, then bid to pry Jeter away from the Yankees. If you are successful, you chase an NL pennant with Pujols and Jeter next year and then build contenders around Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Jeter. The 2011 payroll would be bloated unless the Jeter deal was backloaded but that money could be repaid by not reinvesting all of the Pujols money the next few years. Would there be a better way to defuse the backlash from losing Pujols? 

Build a team beyond 2011 with Derek Jeter?

I, for one, support this level of duncitude.

[Brownie]

How about this for Major League Dumb:

The Rangers have spent the spring dealing with the question of whether to start Neftali Feliz or leave him as their closer. The Cubs' Opening Day starter is going to be Ryan Dempster, who once was their closer. So it got me thinking: What about Carlos Marmol?

Could the Cubs' closer ever be transformed into a starter?

I doubt that Mike Quade or Marmol would ever try to fix something that's not broken, but down the road it's something that a team in transition should be open to at least considering. Marmol is without question the Cubs' best pitcher -- just ask the hitters who have batted .150 off him the last three seasons -- and the Cubs have at least two other possible closers on their 25-man roster in Kerry Wood and Andrew Cashner. Chris Carpenter, who will open the season at Triple-A, also has closer potential.
Cashner is likely to open the season in the starting rotation but he spent much of his college career as a closer at TCU. He has front-of-the-rotation stuff but figures to take some lumps as he works to get established. There are scouts who believe his fastball/slider combination -- like Marmol's -- could play well in the bullpen.

And who knows with Wood? He's been great this spring and figures to be solid as a set-up man. If his health holds up, it wouldn't be a reach to move him back into the closer's role he filled in 2008, when the Cubs won 97 games.

How about Marmol as a starter? He doesn't fit the mind's eye in that role, as he goes a million-miles-an-hour in the ninth inning. But he put together a long track record as a starter in the Cubs' farm system before making his big-league debut in 2006, when he started 13 games for a Dusty Baker team that used 15 starters.

Marmol wasn't effective in that role, turning in a 6.08 ERA while walking 59 in 77 innings. A converted catcher, he had been a full-time starter since 2004 and never had a problem handling the workload. His work in the big-league bullpen suggests that he could be a 200-inning starter, if he was ever called upon.

[Quality Start Machine]

If you're going to be a starter in the Major Leagues with 2 pitches, those two pitches better be Sandy Koufax's fastball and curve*.

*also applicable for Nolan Ryan

[Slaky]

How about this for Major League Dumb:

The Rangers have spent the spring dealing with the question of whether to start Neftali Feliz or leave him as their closer. The Cubs' Opening Day starter is going to be Ryan Dempster, who once was their closer. So it got me thinking: What about Carlos Marmol?

Could the Cubs' closer ever be transformed into a starter?

I doubt that Mike Quade or Marmol would ever try to fix something that's not broken, but down the road it's something that a team in transition should be open to at least considering. Marmol is without question the Cubs' best pitcher -- just ask the hitters who have batted .150 off him the last three seasons -- and the Cubs have at least two other possible closers on their 25-man roster in Kerry Wood and Andrew Cashner. Chris Carpenter, who will open the season at Triple-A, also has closer potential.
Cashner is likely to open the season in the starting rotation but he spent much of his college career as a closer at TCU. He has front-of-the-rotation stuff but figures to take some lumps as he works to get established. There are scouts who believe his fastball/slider combination -- like Marmol's -- could play well in the bullpen.

And who knows with Wood? He's been great this spring and figures to be solid as a set-up man. If his health holds up, it wouldn't be a reach to move him back into the closer's role he filled in 2008, when the Cubs won 97 games.

How about Marmol as a starter? He doesn't fit the mind's eye in that role, as he goes a million-miles-an-hour in the ninth inning. But he put together a long track record as a starter in the Cubs' farm system before making his big-league debut in 2006, when he started 13 games for a Dusty Baker team that used 15 starters.

Marmol wasn't effective in that role, turning in a 6.08 ERA while walking 59 in 77 innings. A converted catcher, he had been a full-time starter since 2004 and never had a problem handling the workload. His work in the big-league bullpen suggests that he could be a 200-inning starter, if he was ever called upon.

I want to fully understand why he is allowed, nay paid American dollars, to spew his uninformed opinions in a major (arguably) publication on a sport he clearly has never watched. It blows my fucking mind.

[CBStew]

How about this for Major League Dumb:

The Rangers have spent the spring dealing with the question of whether to start Neftali Feliz or leave him as their closer. The Cubs' Opening Day starter is going to be Ryan Dempster, who once was their closer. So it got me thinking: What about Carlos Marmol?

Could the Cubs' closer ever be transformed into a starter?

I doubt that Mike Quade or Marmol would ever try to fix something that's not broken, but down the road it's something that a team in transition should be open to at least considering. Marmol is without question the Cubs' best pitcher -- just ask the hitters who have batted .150 off him the last three seasons -- and the Cubs have at least two other possible closers on their 25-man roster in Kerry Wood and Andrew Cashner. Chris Carpenter, who will open the season at Triple-A, also has closer potential.
Cashner is likely to open the season in the starting rotation but he spent much of his college career as a closer at TCU. He has front-of-the-rotation stuff but figures to take some lumps as he works to get established. There are scouts who believe his fastball/slider combination -- like Marmol's -- could play well in the bullpen.

And who knows with Wood? He's been great this spring and figures to be solid as a set-up man. If his health holds up, it wouldn't be a reach to move him back into the closer's role he filled in 2008, when the Cubs won 97 games.

How about Marmol as a starter? He doesn't fit the mind's eye in that role, as he goes a million-miles-an-hour in the ninth inning. But he put together a long track record as a starter in the Cubs' farm system before making his big-league debut in 2006, when he started 13 games for a Dusty Baker team that used 15 starters.

Marmol wasn't effective in that role, turning in a 6.08 ERA while walking 59 in 77 innings. A converted catcher, he had been a full-time starter since 2004 and never had a problem handling the workload. His work in the big-league bullpen suggests that he could be a 200-inning starter, if he was ever called upon.

I want to fully understand why he is allowed, nay paid American dollars, to spew his uninformed opinions in a major (arguably) publication on a sport he clearly has never watched. It blows my fucking mind.

This article makes sense to me.  He asks "Why not use Marmol as a starter?"  And then tells us that when Marmol was tried in that role  the minors he was a complete disaster.    Apparently that is why not.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Where the hell is SKO?

http://www.desipio.com/?p=3485

But like Cyndi Lauper says, if you want to rock and roll, you have to let your freak flag fly. And sometimes — like peace — you have to give Quade a chance.

Phil just broke my mind.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

BTW... What mouthbreather site linked to Andy's post?

The comments on it are quite thoughtful.

[PenPho]

BTW... What mouthbreather site linked to Andy's post?

The comments on it are quite thoughtful.

I'm assuming it's all of Huey's meatball friends.

[Internet Apex]

Oh my god.

[Armchair_QB]

But like Cyndi Lauper says, if you want to rock and roll, you have to let your freak flag fly. And sometimes — like peace — you have to give Quade a chance.

What.

The.

Fuck?