Keeper

This. I have the utmost respect for what Dave Duncan does to "lost causes." One of the best in the biz. I've heard he's upset with how the Cardinals handled his son, though. Might be leaving after this season. If that's the case, I would imagine La Russa will also be leaving.

Brad Penny... 8 shutout innings against the defending champs... wtf.

Haha, you should have dropped Molina instead. f***, Huston Street has biceps tendinitis. Why is this happening now?

It definitely happens if your home field is Petco Park.

Very likely. I would need a lot of guys to step up. I already lost Morgan. The baseball gods would be cruel indeed if they took Hanley away from me now.

True. I hope Hanley's injury isn't too serious...

Screw you, Gom. I was just about to add Gutierrez.

I was thinking the same thing. I don't see how Thome fits on any NL team. He's a huge liability on defense. When is the last time he even played in the field?

Don't have any other sources on this as yet, but Jon Heyman is good enough.

I agree. He's earned his paycheck this year. Despite the lower OPS, you could make an argument that Markakis is having a better year, though. Markakis has over 100 more plate appearances, 68 more total bases, and 36 more RBIs in a worse lineup than Drew. I know you're going to say that RBIs is a team dependent stat, rendering it meaningless. The Red Sox team OPS is .803. The Orioles team OPS is .755. Markakis is producing more with less around him. That said, Fangraphs indicates that Drew is having much better year in RF than Markakis.

I'm not taking a swipe at Drew. I'm merely saying that Markakis is a better player whose salary isn't nearly as high. Drew is having a good season. I'm not disputing that.

The point is Markakis is playing for a lot less money than Drew. And is actually a much better player at this stage in their careers.

That's what you get for acquiring Jerry Hairston.

Good to see my pitching get back on track. It's about time!

They're different pitchers. Wang pitches to contact with his sinker. He hardly ever gives up the long ball. That could change in the new stadium. Dice-K misses a lot more bats than Wang, but Wang has better control. Dice-K doesn't give up as many hits as Wang. Dice-K's 6.9 hits per 9 innings last year was best in the AL. He also issued 94 free passes in just 167 innings. Not good. Gom is correct about Dice-K not going deep into games; Nearly half of his starts last year (14 of 29) were under 6 innings. That also means he doesn't give you as many quality starts as Wang. Wang had 18 quality starts in '06 and 20 in '07. Dice-K had 18 quality starts in '07 and 14 last year. Wang's durability has taken a pretty big hit in the last 2 seasons. Dice-K's durability took a hit this season. Dice-K has the ability to dominate hitters. Wang does not. Wang is a solid middle of the rotation pitcher. Not an ace. Dice-K has the stuff to be an ace, but he needs to go deeper into games to be considered one. It's a cop out answer, but I'd say it's a tossup.

I take back what I said about Nick Green getting good hitters out. Sergio Mitre 1-hit the White Sox. At Yankee Stadium. It doesn't get any more embarrassing than that.

I would think so, but it doesn't make any sense. They're 3 1/2 games back in the WC. That's not an insurmountable lead by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm sure you could round up a bunch of SS, 3B, and RF who can hit 90. But with any accuracy? Whatever else Nick Green does in his career, he now has bragging rights to 2 shutout innings against some pretty good hitters.

Nyjer Morgan out for the season with a broken hand. FML.

I picked Wuertz already.

f*** Penny. Too much pride to go to the pen when he's stunk all season long? What a selfish, vainglorious piece of s***.

Not sure how Santana didn't win in '05. I still think they'll give it to Greinke, though, unless he has a major meltdown. The 15 Ks might have been the performance to put him over the top for good.

Why? They're a good team.