Gom

Is this deal official yet? I love it. You're going to pay $19 million this year for the right to get rid of Lowell and sign Beltre. Brilliant.

Ok...do it.

Dipre... Make the trade for Lowell. Let's see your hypothetical. You keep saying trade him, so let's hear it.

I have a feeling that Granderson might end up being O'Neil-lite.

He won't lead off. Nice bat to have 6th or 7th in the lineup though.

Expect regression from Jeter and Posada. Arod will probably improve due to his increased health. Granderson will benefit moving out of Detroit and homerun heaven Yankee Stadium. More of the same from Tex, Cano, Melky, and Swisher.

The thing is this. The Angels, Cardinals, Mariners and Red Sox are in the market for Holliday and Bay. The Mariners are a bit of a longshot, but one of those teams will be left holding nothing. I'm seeing it as a battle between the Sox and Angels for Bay, and the Cardinals and Sox for Holliday. Keep in mind, the Yankees are lurking. If Holliday is signed for 18 per, with Granderson, the Yankees have actually brought payroll down from Matsui and Damon.

So much for toning it down after heart problems.

Then the Yankees pull the trigger on him with Joba. If the Sox won't give up Clay, he won't go there.

Not really. Just going to show that even though I really like Gammons, he tended to be optimistic due to his fandom when it pertained to the Red Sox. Crisp better than Damon at the end of Damon's contract. Smoltz will be the best pitcher in the AL East. I laughed at both of them...WHEN he said them.

I find it very hard to believe that the Sox will stand pat. If the Red Sox do not come up with an impact bat to take the place of Bay, this team will be fighting for their wild card lives.

RF has many errors. Dependent on many factors, least of all the type of pitcher on the mound. Groundball or strike out pitchers will yield a smaller range factor. That is one of many factors involved. 228, I have no problem with people quoting the stats, but when faced with someone who states that scouting reports differ, they start with "watch the gamezz" and other illogical crap that shows they are incapable of independent thought. So I take them to task every time. No one has yet told me how something like UZR [mind you, we've moved on from UZR to RF] can have such variety in the numbers. See it's based on multiple formulas...so an aberration in one will lead to wildly changing figures, to the point to render the formula mainly useless.

If THIS was the case, then ABSOLUTELY.

I've said it all along. In many posts. In many threads. I also said that UZR is useless, and that defensive metrics lag behind offense and pitching ones.

Fine. They are all flawed. f***ing thank you. So the enthusiasm for their accuracy should be tempered, and eyes-on-scouting, i.e., should be relied on more. They are more flawed than offensive or pitching metrics. I don't think anyone can argue this point. As I've said all along, a combination of watching the games and statistical analysis paints the best picture. Otherwise, teams wouldn't hire sabermetricians and scouts, it would be one or the other. The going trend is that teams UNDERvalued defenses recently. Which is why you're seeing teams go with defensive players more often at the expense of one dimensional hitters. I actually think we value hitting too much and not defense enough. However, I haven't seen a defensive metric I really liked. I never bought into Moneyball, but I'm sure if I was here when it came out, people would have been making the same claims of "watching the gamezz". Folks, if you agree with ORS that the defensive metrics are flawed, and my contention that they are not as advanced as offensive or pitching statistics, please don't quote them as if they are the final word. Back to the hot stove, if you all don't mind. Who has SEEN enough of Granderson to give me his take on a scouting report. I can see he can't hit lefties, I'm talking about defense.

I saw him as a CF. Anyways, irrelevant to the debate that UZR is useless.

Actually, coming from you, I wouldn't be surprised. You really haven't shown that you know baseball at all.

So you're saying is that he is below average overall as compared to an average firstbasemen defensively? So ends the debate. Thank you.

I will never forget how he said that by the end of Damon's contract, Crisp would be better. I do like him though as an analyst. All I watch besides porn these days is MLB Network, so that's cool.

So what happens when your actual game-viewing experience is in contradiction to your statistical analysis?

Actually, I was debating with ORS. Dipre was too busy calling himself an idiot to debate with me.