Dipre

Kevin Youkilis. Had he not lost time due to injury, he would have had (hell, maybe he had) a better overall season than Bay.

a700 and i discussed that a couple pages before.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee24/MaxVest/backpedal.jpg

This is my point however: Board: "You know, this team kinda needs a new cleanup hitter, because Bay, our main power threat, just doesn't cut it". Doiji: "Bay's the perfect cleanup hitter and an elite performer" Board: "No he's not" Doiji: "Yes he is" That's about the size of it.

THANK YOU. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I MEANT.

Not necessarily. It's "Really good" not elite. Simple as that.

And that's basically the type of hitter we need.

This phenomena is not exclusive to Howard as i pointed out. But nice try. Near-elite? LOL.

However, Howard averages over 80 XBH per season, Bay does not, and to specify the validity of my "scariness factor" as you dumbly call it, please compare the percentage of fastballs and strikes thrown to both Bay and Howard, you'll notice that the "Scarier" Howard, Pujols, Fielder, A-Rod, (Insert good cleanup hitter here) receives less strikes and fastballs than your average or above average player, and in this case, since Howard does whiff a lot more than Bay, by relating it to his contact%, he still received a lot less strikes than him in a similar amount of PA's, while also being thrown 10% less fastballs. I don't blame them. It's simply things that will be evaluated when awarding a player a new, multi-year contract. Or what, do you think his agent won't mention it?

We would have one if not for the Manny debacle. Now your argument is wrong, because remember he made a hell of a push for Adrian Gonzales during the deadline.

The point is not whether they grow in trees or (This is not meant to be an insulting or snarky remark, just trying to point something out) but the fact that almost every contending team, including most of the teams who made the playoffs have a true threat on their lineup and we don't.

But that isn't even the core of the argument anyway, Doiji's just twisting around (typical) to suit his weak-assed opinion. Jason Bay is not a cleanup hitter. Simple as that.

Reasons stated below. You think .338 and .355 BABIP's are sustainable in the long run? LOL It is for "power" hitters, and i didn't "choose" not to report BABIP, it doesn't help your argument, it helps mine, because Bay put up all these numbers with a right-around league-average BABIP. Do you think we're the only ones who look at advanced stats? I'd be willing to concede 2005 as his "career year" had it not happened with Pittsburgh, i'm sorry, but the "Al/NL" and "Produced for a contender" argument are very heavy in my book. I'll admit it is debateable though. Because you think he's the "Best.Manager.Ever" so you probably think his input has some value.

I think more than the umps, you should blame Nathan and Carlos "Suck" Gomez.

That's exactly the point, plain and simple.

I'm not psyched to see him pitching at Coors.

Bay is not a legitimate "Holy s***, i'll crap my pants" power threat, in fact, remember this is his CAREER YEAR in, not surprisingly, his CONTRACT SEASON. Hell, he even had a career high in LD% and FB%, as well as the highest HR/FB% since 2004, even while having a career-high 162 Ks. Since you think Tito's the Best.Manager.Ever, i want you to explain that to me.

I think that's the core of your argument with Keeper. Besides, man, he managed a completely clean game against the Yanks last night, but Nathan and his offense s*** the bed.

Why do you have to be such a smug little s***? I'm sorry, i'm not trying to stir s*** up, but seriously. The only other teams in the postseason to not have a true 4-hitter are Anaheim and Colorado, and Colorado had it but traded him away. The Twins have an injured Morneau, the Yanks have A-Rod, the Dodgers have Manny, the Phillies have Howard, the Cards have Pujols/Holliday, and Detroit, had they made it, would have had Miguel Cabrera. I'll list other teams with a legitimate 4-hitter just for shits and giggles. Mets: Delgado/Beltran Milwaukee: Fielder Cubs: Ramirez/Lee (who appears to have finally overcome his injuries) Texas: Hamilton Giants: Panda. And that's not even mentioning teams who, coming into the year had a true cleanup hitter but they declined/got injured/simply sucked. In other words, the lineup of the Boston Red Sox lacks a true offensive threat, because it has a lot of good all-around hitters, but no one that makes the other manager plan ahead for his ABs. It doesn't matter if you think "Oh 28 other teams" or whatever other "WTF?" inducing thought goes through your head, it's simply the truth.

Fixed

No. Because you're trying to use "Salary cap" as an excuse while conveniently ignoring the fact that nearly half this team, and most of the upper-level talent on it, came from the farm. Nice try.