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It would not surprise me at all if several of the big market clubs are trying to structure their payrolls/MiLB talent around trying to acquire Cabrera. Personally, I expect Florida to trade him for at least 3-elite prospects prior to him hitting FA in order to maximize their return for him.

In Yankee stadium, the ideal scenario would be to put JD in LF with his arm and death valley. But, that puts Matsui in RF, who, while accurate with his arm, isn't stopping too many first to thirds on singles to right.

Yes. Move Damon's noodle arm to RF. I like it. Make it happen. Damon and Matsui present a bit of a conundrum for the Yankees. The premier OF talent available next year is Andruw Jones, and I expect the Yankees to be interested. With their weaker arms, neither of Damon or Matsui profile well as RFs.

Sorry you wasted your time typing that out bro, because it's a pile of garbage in regards to the discussion. Where your analysis is deficient is that it shows us nothing about trends in these players BB-rates. Many of the guys on the list have a high BB-rate year in and year out. Melky demonstrated an IsoD of ~.050 at about every level in the minors prior to last year. That trend is what makes last year an anomaly. If he can do it more than once, then it will become a part of his skillset. I don't understand why you can't get this.

Spread Category : Date & Time Favorite.................... Spread ......................... Underdog 12/21 8:00 ET At Green Bay................ -3.5 .............................Minnesota 12/23 8:00 ET Kansas City.................. -6.5 ............................At Oakland 12/24 1:00 ET At Buffalo ....................-4.5 .............................Tennessee 12/24 1:00 ET At NY Giants ...................-3 ..........................New Orleans 12/24 1:00 ET At Atlanta ......................-6 .................................Carolina 12/24 1:00 ET At St. Louis ..................-2.5 ...........................Washington 12/24 1:00 ET Indianapolis ...................-9 .............................At Houston 12/24 1:00 ET At Pittsburgh .................-3 ................................Baltimore 12/24 1:00 ET At Cleveland ..................-3 .............................Tampa Bay 12/24 1:00 ET Chicago ......................-4.5 ...............................At Detroit 12/24 1:00 ET At Jacksonville .............-2.5 ..........................New England 12/24 4:05 ET At San Francisco ............-4 ..................................Arizona 12/24 4:15 ET At Denver ......................-3 ...............................Cincinnati 12/24 4:15 ET San Diego .....................-5 ...............................At Seattle Monday Night Football Point Spread 12/25 5:00 ET At Dallas ......................-7 .............................Philadelphia 12/25 8:30 ET At Miami ......................-2 ....................................NY Jets Straight Category : Date & Time Favorite...................................................... Underdog 12/21 8:00 ET At Green Bay.....................................................Minnesota 12/23 8:00 ET Kansas City......................................................At Oakland 12/24 1:00 ET At Buffalo ........................................................Tennessee 12/24 1:00 ET At NY Giants .................................................New Orleans 12/24 1:00 ET At Atlanta ...........................................................Carolina 12/24 1:00 ET At St. Louis ....................................................Washington 12/24 1:00 ET Indianapolis .....................................................At Houston 12/24 1:00 ET At Pittsburgh ......................................................Baltimore 12/24 1:00 ET At Cleveland ....................................................Tampa Bay 12/24 1:00 ET Chicago ............................................................At Detroit 12/24 1:00 ET At Jacksonville ..............................................New England 12/24 4:05 ET At San Francisco ..................................................Arizona 12/24 4:15 ET At Denver .........................................................Cincinnati 12/24 4:15 ET San Diego ........................................................At Seattle Monday Night Football Point Spread 12/25 5:00 ET At Dallas .......................................................Philadelphia 12/25 8:30 ET At Miami ..............................................................NY Jets Monday Night Football Total Points Scored : Use the Dallas / Philadelphia game.......................... __44_____

You have it all wrong though. He did get stronger from his initial weakness as is evidenced by his improvement in the second half of '05. And, he even got stronger as he started off the year well in '06. What he missed was the opportunity to condition himself for the full season grind. His legs are integral to his pitching success, and they wore out because he wasn't able to build the normal base he does in the offseason. It's really a simple concept, and one that applies for power players in every major sport. Is some of it age? Absolutely, but that doesn't change the fact that he wasn't fully recovered when he conditioned himself for the '06 season. I see him starting the year off very well in '07 with a bit of a swoon in the second half due to age, but it won't be as dramatic as it was last season.

But, Jacko, you are making that number up. The 18 months was the reported recovery time. Nice try. I'm not adding an excuse. I'm looking at the data and applying it to the normal offseason routine. Time will tell. Two months until P & C report.

Wrong. The offseason is when the players can condition themselves for the grind of the season. He wasn't at 100% during the offseason conditioning period.

Melky can sub in CF, but he's not an everyday CF.

He is? .846 .766 .687 .763 .840 Those are his OPS from ages 24-28. Looks like he's recovering from something, and at 29 next year, he's not hitting a decline age. I'm not posting this because I particularly like Hinske, but I do like pointing out the absolute fallacies of your opinions. Since you don't look s*** up, you are easy prey.

http://uplink.space.com/attachments/407643-can_of_worms.jpg In regards to the topic. Brady would have been better served just letting this one go. He comes out looking completely full of himself here.

Cincy and more than 60 points, and I sweep, right? One stellar week should make up for the mediocrity I've had thus far this year due to the high number of upsets.

Wonderful. Now, how does this interpretation apply to me living in Florida? I was born and raised in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Your inbred comment would have been apt if I were born and raised in non-coastal/non-urban Florida (or WVa, etc.), but I wasn't. Once again, Gom, swing and a miss.

You are forgetting a key fact in this situation. It is the Pirates. They actually wanted Shawn Chacon from you guys last year for chrissakes. Shawn Chacon defines awful.

I have only one prediction in regards to this Drew situation. If it turns out they void the agreement, Jacko will be one of the biggest Drew proponents in the world, and he'll let us know just how much this will kill our chances this year. If it turns out he makes it to Boston, we'll hear about how he is overrated and will cripple the team financially. Book it.

Insulting my family now? Petty. Besides, aren't you Egyptian? I wouldn't exactly start casting stones with the weird sexual pecadilloes that go on in that part of the world.

Drew never had the likes of Damon, Walker/Bellhorn (during his good OBP years), Ortiz, and Ramirez hitting in front of him. Never. You know it. Stop trying to keep your weak ass point alive.

RBI's? Seriously? Do you watch baseball? Wonder why Nixon had so many more RBI's? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the players on his team were better at getting on base. I can't believe someone who purports to know anyting about baseball like yourself can't recognize that RBIs are a function of your teammates more than anything else. Use your head, Jacko.

815 RBIs from 1-8. f***ing hilarious.

I don't question the basis of the strategy, but I do question its actual application. Can Tito stick to the plan and not devolve into assigning traditional roles to players and sticking with them (like Grady did)? Do the players themselves perform better when their role is known and consistent? Sometimes the best strategic plans are only good on paper because the effect of human psychology is overlooked. All that said, at this point, it might be a good idea if Bill James were to meet daily with Francona and start drilling the concept into his head.