Dipre

But don't you sell Air Jordans?

Visit his page for viruses and stupid spam!

And you know it, since you like being at the bottom.

Substract Burnett, McGowan and Marcum, and you've got a couple rotation holes that'll seriously affect their pitching, and i know McGowan didn't pitch last year, but still.......

I'm so desperate, i'm on the brink of watching Mexican baseball............

The Jays can't field, can't hit, and can barely pitch. So a last place finish is their ceiling IMHO.

Ewwwww............

Pero de que carajo me esta hablando este hombre a mi? Don't front me, i'm bi-lingual too, lol.

Apparently, i am the OFFICIAL talksox.com peacemaker, lol.

That much is true, HOWEVER, how about if you take it easy and lay off BSN07? He's also a Sox fan like you, save all that aggression for yankee fans, and you will certainly be much more liked around here,. (Direct it towards Jacko specifically please ).

Got vanilla?

That's not relevant, if the statistic is flawed, it's flawed even if you're the godfather of statistical analysis. Oh, i follow links, i can also use common sense and investigate team tendencies and actually check on the stats myself instead of listening to some blowhard who wrote that on his blog 'cause the offseason has been slow, i read the whole article, and laughed at the "Varitek lovers, stop here, part" still, it's the use of a flawed stat to quantify something that can't really be quantified. No major difference, but 10% is still a significant number, and besides that, your "stat" holds no significance in 2008, when Varitek actually lead in CERA by a LOT even though the staff was heavily in favor of the backup catcher as in, the backup mostly caught Wake's 4.13 ERA, and not gems like Aardsma, Bucholz and Timlin, whose near 15% of innings of Varitek's catched innings are actually a significant number. Not only that, but you admit team ERA directly affects his CERA rating, making me ask you, isn't that why most people say RBI's are overrated since it's such a teammate-dependent stat, then how about the speeding train of awesomeness that is a stat based on a whole pitching staff? Wow, i'm flabbergasted. Yeah, he's to blame for Bucholz' lack of command, Aardsma's lack of command, and Timlin's decline. You're a genius, the NASA should hire you. Because CERA is a staff-dependent stat, but apparently you just can't see it while others can, i wonder why.......... Because he can't hit anymore. And about a catcher not getting rave reviews on his game-calling and handling of the pitching staff,Victor Martinez says hello........ The problem is, you keep trying not to take into account the advantage backups in Boston have had over the last few years being Wake's "caddies", i might take this stat a bit more seriously if you pointed it out to me in a staff where the main/backup catcher present a bit more of parity in the amount of games caught, because there is no overcoming the sample size when one catcher has to catch some good, but some AWFUL pitchers, but the other only catches one extremely consistent pitcher, and once in a month, maybe a good, maybe a bad one. Besides that, who the hell said he can have direct control on a staff's ERA, that's just a strawman argument, we're discussing the relevance of CERA, and my point is, that it's a stupid stat because it's entirely staff-related, and you counter with "i have a degree in statistical analysis", as if that has any relevance. And if you really want your "stat" to have any relevance, then i need you to explain to me how one of the best defensive catchers, and one of the most respected game-callers in the last 3 decades, Mike Matheny, had a 3.48 CERA on the 2002 Cardinals, and then a 4.60 CERA on the injured and ineffective 2003 Cards squad, then a 3.86 CERA on the WS 2004 squad, but then a 4.46 CERA on the contender for team ERA lead that was the 2005 San Francisco Giants. Again, sir, you need to read deep into things,because you can't try to judge a skill based on stat that wildly fluctuates depending on the staff you're catching, but hey, what do i know, i don't have a degree on statistical analysis. Well, you live by your stat, it's not your fault you don't like to analyze things yourself.

Yawn. Your problem is you take what any idiot takes as "instant truth" and YOU'RE the one who doesn't go deep into the information. Just to prove my point and shut you up (just because i'm childish), let's take 2008 as the prime example of 'Tek's effectiveness as a game caller, since his catcher ERA was 3.67, of course, since i am, after all, lazy, i'll let you do the math how awful the other catchers were compared to him since the Sox' overall ERA was 4.01, even though he caught all of the awesomeness pitched by Mike Timlin and Clay Bucholz last year, as compared to 2005, when he was catching to masters of awesomeness such as David Wells, and whatever was the Sox bullpen, and surprisingly, his CERA was 5.01. Because being stupid and taking the "black hole" years of Sox pitching (with stars of the caliber of John Burkett, Casey Fossum and Jeff Suppan), and adding to that the fact that Wakefield had his "personal caddy' which caught all of those above league-average innings instead of gems like last year's Mike Timlin suggests to me that you are merely a "sheep" following a douchy sportswriters' article and not using the very important tool that is common sense. These FACTS bring me to two points: 1) CERA is a USELESS stat, since it depends completely on the staff you're catching,(John Buck says hello). 2) You are a complete and utter tool for believing the ******** that is spewed from the keyboard of such an idiot, when the Sox FO (you know, the ones who actually make the baseball decisions and have a complete scouting team), 2 HOF caliber pitchers, and an assortment of veterans and young, promising pitchers alike all sing praises to Jason Varitek's gamecalling. So in conclusion, measure a stat and its usefulness before coming here and looking like an idiot. Thank you, and good night.

You can't be serious? Do you know how many SUCK ASS pitchers 'Tek has caught during his Red Sox career? And i guess your journalist douchebag idol, who has probably never even played f***ing softball has a much more informed and important opinion than that of (probably) future HOFs Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling, as well as young stars such as Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. But nah, i'll go with the genius who didn't take into account the amount of "dead years" Varitek has caught for this team, hell, if all, the 0.10 difference should tell you just how awesome a game-caller Varitek really is.

Sample sizes, anyone?

Well, they might just make a run at him. And if ya ask me , FO's got a huge boner on Mauer.

Spot on. It's just a book, read it, take it for what it's worth, have a laugh at A-Rod, an move on. That's about the size of it.

He's bluffing, and he'll probably end up taking the deal.

Reading is cool..........

Olson was traded to the M's for Aaron Heilman...... http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/01/cubs-close-to-a.html

You two still miss the point. The point being that even though a platoon of Kottaras/Brown/Bard would not be optimal, Varitek was so AWFUL last year that Kottaras alone should match his production. Because as Kilo said, shooting for '08 Tek production IS shooting pretty low.