Youk Of The Nation

How did you get an internet connection there in 1950's Kansas?

Wow, when you bold it all like that it makes me seem really repetitive. I probably could have made my point with far fewer sentences!

You keep blaming specific players for season losses. First you insist that the entire postseason could have turned out differently in 2005 if not for Edgar Renteria and now you're trying to tell us that Varitek cost the Sox the division in 2008. No one player can be blamed for either of those seasons, or any season. Hundreds of things, large and small, have to come together in order for a team to win OR lose a season. Jason Varitek, or Francona playing Jason Varitek, did not cost the Sox the AL East in 2008 any more than any one player won the 2013 World Series for the Sox. Sean Casey is not Ted Williams. If you think Sean Casey would have been the difference maker that propelled the Sox past a Tampa Bay team that was playing out of their minds in 2008, you should take a look at ALL of the stats. Varitek's 2008 and career stats, Casey's career stats, the Sox and TB team stats for 2008, and any other stat you can think of. To assert with such iron that replacing Varitek would have won "a dozen or so games" is ridiculous. The great thing about baseball and sports in general is that you cannot predict anything past a certain point. If you could, there would be no reason to play the games. Looking back on a season and blaming a lack of a title on a single player is foolish. The Red Sox lost in 2008 because of a combination of mistakes by every player on the roster, and because they got beaten by a better team. It happens sometimes. For every dozen games you claim the Sox could have won if not for Tek, I could pull out a dozen games they could have won if a different player hadn't made a mistake. Should we say that the Sox should have alternated closers so as not to lose the games where Pap blew saves? Should they alternate every position to account for the games where Bay or Drew or Ortiz or Pedroia made the final out in a one-run game? Of course not. The best teams lose 60-70 games, the worst teams win 60-70. It's the certainty of playing a 162-game season. There is only one other certainty, and that is that you can't ever know what will happen, or what would have happened. By all means make a case against a team for losing a season, but don't heap the blame on one guy. When a team loses or wins, it's because of all of the guys on that team.

That was an incredibly vehement response to a throwaway post I only made as an excuse for an X-Files joke.

Mark Mulder signed a minor league deal with the Angels. I'm a little disappointed, I was hoping once he was gone long enough, he would officially retire and start doing color commentary in the Dodger's booth.

What I was trying to point out though, is that it was only a bad signing in hindsight. Some guys, you can see the warning signs. Injuries, defensive ineptitude, bad attitude...or you can just look at a signing and say "too many years" or "too much money" or "I think this guy might be the Antichrist"...but going into it, Renteria looked great. There was no way to predict he would be so poor defensively, because there was no sign of it prior to, or after, Boston.

In 2005, Orlando Cabrera hit .257, with 8HRs and 57 RBI. He had an OBP of .309 and a SLG of .365. His OPS+ was 81. Renteria hit .276, with 8HR and 70 RBI. He had a higher OBP and SLG and his OPS+ was 89. Now, those aren't huge differences, but two things stick out here: One, he was better offensively, if only a little. Meaning that O-Cab could quite possibly have lost that "one game" the Sox needed offensively like Renteria did defensively. Two, in 2004, the season prior, Renteria had a much, much better offensive season. This wasn't a guy signed to a stupidly obscene contract despite misgivings about injury or attitude, like Crawford or anyone else. This was a good signing on the face of it, and to pass on the starting shortstop for the previous year's NL Champions for a less-offensively talented guy in Cabrera would have been dumb. Did it turn out to be the wrong decision? Yes, but it happens. Renteria had 6 consecutive solid seasons offensively AND defensively leading up to 2005. There was no way to expect how poorly he played, and whether or not you think he is the reason the Sox didn't make it to the ALCS, you can hardly fault the FO for hiring him. Pitching was the main reason the Sox backslid after 2004. There were also plenty of guys the offensive shortcomings could be heaped on.

First of all, you meant 2005, not 2006. Second of all, I seriously doubt Orlando Cabrera instead of Edgar Renteria would have made the difference between winning the division that year. The 2005 team had other issues.

I look forward to the ceremonial first pitch from the Easter Bunny and the pregame speech by Bigfoot.

Oh, very nice.

You'd think a guy raised in a country where you have to fight off venomous snakes, spiders and octopuses and wrestle vicious animals just to get downstairs for breakfast every morning would be in great shape. Everything in Australia will murder you if you're not on top of your game.

I wonder how fans of the teams that Bob Walk and Eric Plunk pitched for dealt with the unfortunate surnames.

Rick Reilly had a very interesting article recently about Torre, Cox, and LaRussa getting in the HOF while a dozen players that they personally managed will likely be kept out due to PED use/suspicion.

I will make a sig bet with you that Johnson, McCann, and Ellsbury do not combine for 60+ HRs

Maybe you never got the PMs from him, but I'm sure you've seen the disgusting photos he's posted under a dozen different names. Severed heads, dead children, et cetera. He makes 'posts with good effort' only until his account has enough posts to allow him to post photos, then he turns into a psychotic douchebag.

You guys, I'm the only mod who posts regularly. Even so, I don't read every single post in every single thread. So if you think someone is Dutchy, please shoot me a PM so I can check the IP addresses. It takes like five seconds for me to check and say "Hm, yeah, it's him" and ban him...I'd rather not find out by having all of our inboxes crammed full of bat penises and dismembered corpses and side profile photos of Sarah Jessica Parker. Some things are too horrible to visit upon anyone. I meant what I said before about not PMing me whining every time someone makes a face at you or puts their hand on your side of the car, but many of you are much better at noticing these people are repeat offenders than I am. I can't check the IPs of every new user.

I don't get WAR either. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

Ending in two trips to the DL. One broken hip, and one puncture wound from the protruding broken hip.

Wait, there is a millionaire here? Mark, can I borrow 20 grand? I'll pay you back sometime after the rapture.

Has anyone mentioned that the Sox got Napoli yet?

Ellsbury hitting third?

I don't think anyone would take that bet. Has Ellsbury ever outperformed Cano in WAR other than 2011?

Yeah those stats definitely don't reflect a guy who has a much bigger advantage at home. Not like Helton's career stats.

I have watched a World Cup game before, when my brother and I had our own place and one of his friends insisted I try watching it. I was bored out of my skull after the first forty minutes of watching people run back and forth occasionally kicking the ball. It was mind-numbing. Soccer would be interesting to me if the field was a third of the size.