Dipre

But why? He can barely play defense anymore. Aren't they supposed to be looking for a guy who gives them a bit of defensive flexibility?

1) We're talking about pitching. The Yankees do not have better pitching, even though they are the better team overall. 2) The Yankees have been working on player development every bit as hard as they've been working on maximizing their financial advantage. To state otherwise would be lying. 3) Javier Vasquez is not a salary dump. In salary dumps you don't get significant talent in return and the Braves did. It's another issue altogether if you don't have the knowledge about the players the Yanks gave up, because Melky may be a fringe starter, but Dunn and Vizcaino have the potential to be impact arms, and that's a nice haul for a starter with one year left on his contract who had a fluky season last year. 4) The Red Sox have two years left of Papelbon, meaning he's still under their control for 2011. Why would they trade him? And, being as expensive as he is, who would take on him awarding the Sox the significant return they would probably demand? That makes no sense.

Bucholz was average but showed tons of encouraging signs. Chamberlain did just the opposite. In fact, if i'm the Yankees, i take the gamble with Hughes in the rotation, he can maintain his stuff better from game to game and doesn't suffer from so much inconsistency.

How dare you disparage the next Roy Halladay and the next Roger Clemens? They're both ready to claim rotation spots next year and dominate, but the Yankees want to give the rest of the league a fighting chance.

*Yawn*

2009 Fenway Park: Total Homers: 186 117 HR's to LF. 2008 Comerica Park: Total Homers: 202 117 HR's to LF. 2009 Citizens Bank Park: Total Homers:207 107 HR's to LF.

But you're failing to account for the actual number of home runs that are hit out to left field. If someone is looking for tangents to get out of the main issue, it's not me. I used both percentage and HR number. More Home Runs were hit over the Green Monster and LF power alley last year than the same area in Citizens' Bank Park. A known launching pad. It's simply easy to homer over the Green Monster. Not because it's hard to hit it out through CF and RF (this has been acknowledged several times) but because the actual number of Home Runs hit in that area reflects this.

To the bolded part: According to your own research, Fenway Park yields 10% more HR's to LF than the average ballpark. And the website you used has Hit Tracker as its main source.That means that, just like i did, they found a way to sort Hit Tracker's HR's by the part of the stadium they were hit to. Simply sort by horizontal angle. Anything over 95.0 is Left Field. Of course, try using 2007-2009. 2006 is a statistical anomaly by Fenway's standards. Thank very much for proving my point. Also, your "chicken and egg" question reference does not suit the context it was used in. Try again.

For instance, in Citizens Bank Park (An absolute launching pad) , 207 Home Runs were hit last year (21 more than Fenway), but only 107 of those were hit to LF. in other words, more Home Runs were hit to LF last year in Fenway Park than one of the best Home Run stadium in the Majors, and unlike Yankee stadium, Citizens Bank doesn't have a preferred HR destination.

Account for stadium rankings. Do this research yourself: Tell me how many of the other AL stadiums yield 88+ HR's to LF on a consistent basis. Hit tracker online Back it up with statistics.

The issue is not the mistake. As you say, it's a slow week, the discussion revolves around what little we have, and there's no need for personal attacks.

Incorrect. For some reason, for the past few weeks Doiji has attempted to undermine the effect Fenway park's LF has on HR totals. He claims that Fenway is a "doubles" park. And this would be correct, but can only be partially attributed to the Green monster, because research done by ORS and myself shows that Fenway is homer-heaven for RH pull hitters, and while putting it into the context of the Adrian Gonzales scenario, it should greatly improve his HR potential at Fenway Park, a fact that can be attributed his ridiculous opposite-field HR total the past two years, because the guy sprays ball to Left as if he were a LHH. The Mike Cameron discussion is a strawman brought up to divert attention from the main point. No one in the entire site has ever said "Fenway will boost Cameron's HR total". I called him out on both subjects in the context of the discussion without any sort of personal attacks. He resorted to name calling, which is exactly the behavior i have been condemned for in the past. Fenway Park 2007-2009 number of HR's and HR% to left field: 2009: Total Homers: 186 Homers hit to Left Field: 117 Home Run Percent to Left Field:62.90% 2008: Total Homers: 147 Home Runs to Left Field: 95 Home run percent to Left Field: 64.62% 2007: Total Homers: 148 Home Runs to Left Field: 89 Home Run Percentage to Left Field:60.54% If you're going to make an analysis about something such as the impact a certain ballpark has to a certain ballplayer, expect it to be challenged if it is inaccurate. Doiji's assessment of Fenway Park and its impact on Adrian Gonzales is inaccurate, i challenged his premise, and all he had to do was refute my point, not resort to personal attacks and name-calling.

Cameron's not the player being discussed here.

No. It means you're being an idiot for putting words in other people's mouths.Ok. No one has expressed they expect a homer jump from Mike Cameron. You're simply making s*** up. Btw, even though it's easy to notice the fact that i've abandoned personal attacks, i won't take them. So if you're a douche to me, i'll be a douche to you. Where did you get this? Fenway Park was 7th in the AL, tied with the Metrodome, with 2.30 HR/Game. And a total of 186 HR's were hit at Fenway last year. 117 of those homeruns were hit to LF last year. 62.90% of HR's at Fenway last year were hit to LF. Explain to me how a park that yielded 117 HR's to straightaway LF last year is "average" in HR's to left? For conceptualization purposes: Kauffman stadium yielded 134 HR's all of last year. Safeco Field yielded 156 HR's all of last year. Jacobs Field yielded 138 HR's all of last year.

Mike Lowell is not a power hitter.

What are you talking about? A) In Cameron's case, what would be expected is a jump in overall production, because a lot of fly-ball outs in Miller Park are doubles at Fenway, and how much he pulls the ball would lend itself to a production increase. Home runs have not been mentioned once. B ) As for Gonzales, as much as you don't like to admit it, Fenway's LF wall is heaven for cheap homers, and for a guy who hit 21 oppo-shots last year, a modest increase in HR output is not a crazy thought. Stop thinking Fenway's LF wall is not cheap-homer heaven. It is, and we've proven it to you.

And this is why Mike Cameron is a good addition offensively for the Sox: http://www.hittrackeronline.com/parks/Cameron_Mike_2009_scatter.jpg Dude likes to pull the ball.

During his four years in the AL, he averaged 206 IP and 186 K's. There's no reason for him not to average his usual IP while reaching the 200 K plateau, which he has already reached twice in four years in the AL. The reason his ERA will rise above four is because a 23 LD% with a .297 BABIP is not sustainable, add to that the Yankee stadium factor, and a regression on most of his peripherals due to the league change.