ORS

Ah-ah-ah-hem... I demand an answer! For f***s sake, they even do the same "give it back" BS.

Wheek-torr! http://www.jewornotjew.com/img/people/c/cloris_leachman.jpg

7 pitch inning.

He had them right where Dice K would have wanted them.

Name the team with the most overrated Texas Hee Haw pitchers?

Saw him hit one out at the Tidewater Tides park in Va Beach when I was a senior in HS. Me and my buddy drove down to his dad's house because the Pawsox were playing there and Mo Vaughn was rehabbing. Mo went deep too.

Assumption. You don't know how people who are denouncing it would react if it happened for their team until it does and they react.

Jason Place. Meh.

I won't even pretend to guess how good someone I've never seen pitch could get. I think every prospect with very good tools has the potential to have it click and become phenominal. In Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract he said something very interesting about Pedro Martinez. To paraphrase: The difference between 7! and 10! is only 3 things (8, 9, and 10), but in terms of magnitude it's 700x greater. With pitchers, three little things like a little extra velocity, a little extra movement, and little better command, combined with a little extra deception (changing arm angle, speeds, etc) can have the same type of impact magnitude. Pedro didn't have the best fastball, or the most movement, or the best command, or the most deception, but when you combine everything, he's that much better than everyone else (not 700x better, but you get the idea). This was from the 2003 edition of his book. Any of these things could happen with Kelly, well except for maybe the deception part. If they do, he could be very, very good. So, his ceiling, like that of many others, is very high. Now, how good do I think he'll be? If he makes standard progress, he's probably a 2-3.

I don't see how Vitek gets into someone's list, whether it be a top 7, or 10, or whatever, over Lavarnway. Lavarnway may be incapable of playing his current position, catcher, at the big league level, then again he may be adequate enough to consider it, but his bat is looking like it is legit at other, less demanding, positions. He's done nothing but hit at every level, with good power. Vitek may be better in the end, but there's too little to go on to suggest he should rank above Lavarnway right now, IMO. I think Drake Britton passes Pimentel on many lists next year too. My top 10 is as follows.....(giving extra weight for accomplishment at higher levels, ie they are closer and there's less risk they completely flop, IMO, while also considering age/level and talent/potential) 1. Ryan Kalish 2. Anthony Rizzo 3. Jose Iglesias 4. Casey Kelly 5. Ryan Lavarnway 6. Anthony Ranaudo 7. Lars Anderson 8. Drake Britton 9. Will Middlebrooks 10. Oscar Tejeda

That's one year, though. To trend the quality of a conference, specifically the depth, I think it better to look at more than one year, as those middling to bottom teams from major conferences tend to have quite a bit of variance in the quality of team they field from year to year. I follow Duke for men's hoops, but for football I'm a Hokie fan. I have no allegiance to one school because I went to college well after my favorites were decided. Long story short, I played a lot of competitve hoops in NoVa and most of the guys in the age groups above me in AAU ball went to Duke (Johnny Dawkins, Tommy Amaker, Grant Hill, Joey Beard). I like Tech because that is where I was going to go to school right out of HS, but decided to go work for a bit and passed on the opportunity. Most of my friends went there, and I'd regularly go down to Blacksburg for games. Don't get me wrong, the SEC is the clear dominant conference over the last decade, but I think the ACC is catching a little more flack than they deserve. I can understand statements that talk about how bad it's been for them this year, but comments like "why does that conference get an automatic BCS bid" speak about a history of being not very good or worthy, and the history just doesn't suggest that, IMO.

Only one of those teams you mentioned as an automatic win are in the ACC. Only one, and it's the one I identified in my previous post. The ACC, while lacking elite programs the last 4-5 years, has similar depth. NC State, UVA, Maryland, Wake Forrest, etc are likely to be in the bottom half of the ACC but can challenge you on any given week. Conference play in the ACC is no cake-walk either.

Based on how he's played this year, can anyone prove he hasn't retired already? Maybe he's splitting his checks with a look-a-like who's showing up to games for him.

Fair points. I really also agree about the balance you spoke of. The very bottom of the ACC, Duke, is dreadful, bad enough to make the likes of Vandy, Baylor, Northwestern, and Washington State look like tremendous football programs (well, maybe not Wash St), but on a yearly basis, I'd pit their 6-11 against any conferences'.

For the sake of accuracy, when Miami and VT were consistently top-10 teams, they were in the Big East, I believe.

This really isn't true. It's been less than a decade since FSU was a consistent top-10 team, and when the conference absorbed UM, VT, and BC from the Big-East, it moved toward the middle of pack of BCS conferences, IMO. Clearly, the SEC and Big XXII (actually only the south half of the Big-12, IMO) have been the power conferences the last decade. That said, when you compare, top to bottom, the ACC and other traditional football conferences, like the Big 10 and Pac 10, I think they are of similar quality.* Sure, they aren't having a good year, but every one of the non-power BCS conferences experiences this from time to time. *EDIT: This comparison is not meant to be for this year only, but over the last 5-10 years.

While it may be flawed, and I agree that it is, mainly for the types of examples you state, and there are many of them, it's not subjective. It's a formula. So many dollars per WAR. The formula may be wrong, but it's objective.

Even worse, he said "by the way", which is used to convey a thought that might not have occurred to everyone, but followed it up with "water is wet" type obvious observations. Douchery.

Uh, no. You said his MLE's were .260/.320/.380. Not even close. [table]Level|PA|BA|OBP|SLG AA|378|.221|.284|.328 AAA|59|.245|.296|.439[/table] Those are his MLE's by level for 2010, which is composite OPS of .628. Your research consisted of reaching deep into your nether regions and pulling out some fabricated data to support your weak notion that this guy is a viable SS option for 2011.