ORS

I wouldn't say it "tells" you he's throwing cookies in an attempt to throw more strikes, that's just what you assume. A quick look at First Strike % at fangraphs makes the possibility that this is the case smaller. He threw 60% first strikes last year, this year it is 55%. If he's intentionally throwing strikes at the risk of being over the middle, more of his misses will be over the plate, and he'd have a higher FS%. Orel Hershiser spoke about the effect of a longer season during one of his (Lester's) starts. He talked about not being stretched out and comfortable early in a season after playing deep into October and logging more innings than before. Then he went on to explain how command was the first thing he struggled with when he felt tight. It was like the Verducci Effect, but with credible reasoning and explanations for performance that made sense. Getting hit harder, and throwing less first strikes, suggests to me that he's missing location more. If he's setting up outside and misses, then it's a clear ball or over the middle. Fewer strikes, more hits. This, and the idea of being tight and struggling with command per Hershiser, makes more sense to me.

Where am I slamming him? Look at the gamelog of those 4 games. Two "meh" starts where he was lucky to only give up 3 ER in 5 IP (2 HR each start), brilliant, and s*****. Calling that inconsistent isn't slamming anyone. It's calling it what it is, inconsistent. Or does it only sink in with you if I say he had an inconsistent "arsenal".

I'm sorry, but inconsistency means he hasn't translated it to the big leagues. Kris Benson tosses out a good game now and then, but he sucks as a starter because he's inconsistent. Hughes should be developing his consistency in the 'pen where they can regulate the importance of the innings he pitches. Arsenal, arsenal, purple monkey dishwasher.

Not to mention this is the "qualified" list from B-R. "Qualified" at B-R usually means at least 1000 IP. There are a truckload of good young pitchers who have not spent appreciable time in relief and are likely to end up on this list once they become "qualified". I also agree with the strategy. Once a pitcher has proved he can repeatedly dominate minor league hitters, but is stuck translating that to the big leagues as a starter, then the next thing to do is see if you can wean him into the league.

Translation: Wang is DOMINANT, ABSOLUTELY DOMINANT.....except for when he isn't.....but let's blame that on something beyond his control......so I can stroke myself to thoughts of him being DOMINANT, ABSOLUTELY DOMINANT. Question: When Yankees ride the suck pony, is it ever the players' fault?

2 runs, no hits .... das must be filling his drawers in delight.

Besides, what is going on here is very transparent. Nobody responds to or reads the Trenton Thunder thread. What Jacko wants is to get our attention, headline news, it's like he's saying, "I demand you pay attention to how awesome our guy is". Nobody cares, give it a rest, and go circlejerk on the Yankee prospect sites you copy and paste from.

I third it. There will be two kinds of posts in this thread. Jacko's ball washing, everyone else mocking him. Does this forum really need a separate thread for promotions that will garner less than a page worth of responses on topic? Not really. Stick these updates that nobody cares about in the threads for the relevant team that nobody reads.

Nick Green takes suck to monumental levels. Thanks for getting the best all-around player on the team hurt, you dickbag.

Fernando Martinez, LF Nolan Reimold to DH

Now his performance has been downgraded to cha-cha'ing through large-bore rifle fire. He'll have to get a few outs to be considered tango'ing through muzzle-loader fire.

Grounding into a DP with the sacks full when you are down 3 should from this moment on be referred to as, "Hitting into an ARod".

Quiet, watermelon hat. Yeah, I went there.

So, I don't trust my connection to support mlb.tv, which means I'll be Gameday'ing the next three weeks from this temporary stay just north of San Antonio. The place I'm at doesn't have EI, but it does have MLBN. I have to say, the program running while the games are on is excellent. I'm missing nothing relevant.

Nolan Reimold

Corrections (typically needed to rebut Gom posts): The question wasn't how to do this comparison, it was to get you to address the comparison that has already been made. You still have not done this. They did not only have BA as a stat in the 80's. It's the only thing the media cared about at that time. James formulated his RC metric in the 70's. The first iteration of that stat was OBP * Total Bases. James doesn't project pitchers. He developed a projection system that even he doesn't rely on. He sold the proprietary formulae for his pitcher projections to others that publish them now. Back to the 80's, I was in middle school. The old man jokes are stale, because I'd bet money I'm younger than you.

Victor Martinez is not impressed.

Or, they'd look at how hitters perform once the count has reached a certain point, and they'd compare the difference across the league and find that one pitch being called a ball or strike would have massive impacts on expected performance from that point on. Then, they'd bring to your attention that the difference is so significant that if the skill were indeed repeatable, it would be measurable and the best would consistently be the best. Of course, you'd ignore that, becuz u watchezz teh gamezzz. BTW, Bill James is one of those that finds little to no value in CERA, and I'd bet the house he's watched more games than you'd ever think to.

I never said catchers have no impact, so quit sucking your own dick with that strawman. How do you make the biggest contributing control variable, the performance of the pitcher, equal for both catchers, even on the same team? Backups tend to get tied to one member of the rotation and then pickup day games after night games. How their usual battery-mate pitches will be the biggest contributing factor to their CERA. Look at who the Yankees' best pitcher was last year, the one you think proves your case, and then look at which catcher caught the majority of his games. Then, just for the fun of it, look at who caught most of Kennedy's and Hughes' games. Think that might throw the results off a bit? It's a worthless stat for catcher comparisons, and since that is the only reason people started tracking it, then it's pretty much worthless overall. This is why no credible baseball analyst cares about it. And no, you aren't in that group.

You've been told why CERA is pretty close to worthless and have yet to address the criticisms. Anyway, has anyone ever seen Jeremy Sowers and Eli Manning in the same room?

How bombed would you get if you drank every time Joe Morgan mentioned someone from the Big Red Machine, the fact that he's in the HOF, or said slidepiece?

I seem to remember, from Jacko mind you, something about you are never as good as you look when things are going well, never as bad as you look when things are going bad. What happened to that? Oh, that's right, it only applies when we are doing well. Seriously, though, we are a contingent team. The contigency being, if our expected strength in the rotation can't right itself, this won't even be a penant race. NY will walk away with this division on the strength of what it paid for in the offseason. None of those acquisitions have bombed, and that is what it will take for them to lose this division.

So is Kade Keowen (sp?). He was an interesting pick in 2007. Big, athletic kid with raw athletic talent that could make him a star if he honed his skills. He really struggled in his draft year and last year, but he's shown some signs of life in this young season.