Abomination

It's possible some of the players may have refused to go also, and when you think about it with the olympic testing standards for performance enhancing drugs being much stronger, that could also be a factor with some players not going.

I don't mind the shootout overall for regular season games, but I think the overtime period should be 10 mins instead of 5.

I think that depends whether the 15M is allocated elsewhere or not.

Bernier with the toque on top of the goalie mask is pure win

Amazing job on the anthems.

Apparently Jimenez is asking for 17 to 20M / year. I don't think he'll quite get that much, but I doubt he gets less than 15M per (which I'd be okay with). As much as Tanaka is holding the market up, I think the Yankees are too with the A-Rod situation. If they can't stay under the cap, they'll probably sign at least 2 of the starting pitchers.

Winter classic is starting for anyone interested (with snow coming down). Should be an interesting game.

Keep in mind JFaS is a Flames fan

It would be nice if they didn't rotate through so many in a game too. I'd like to see a rule come in that a pitcher either has to face a minimum of 3 batters, or has to get the final out of an inning before they can be replaced. Put an end to this nonsense teams are doing using sometimes 4 or 5 pitchers an inning.

Man that Chacon season was bad. 6.31 xFIP, 7.11 ERA, 7.39 BB/9, 1.942 WHIP, and still put up 35 saves lol. How the hell did he keep his job that long to even manage that?

Yeah, that was horrific. I might have to go with Chacon though in 2004.

I think my vote might go to Kimbrel in 2012, who somehow managed a 0.88 xFIP and 0.654 WHIP (only 3.9 hits / 9). He and Gagne are the only two in the discussion though imo.

If you're mixing up the different kinds of fastballs, I'm not sure you would have to. You'd just have to stay unpredictable with overall pitch selection between the fastball (all kinds) and off-speed stuff.

Heh, now there's a list no one would ever have picked (rolls eyes). Percentages are interesting on the 4-seam. I've always felt that pitchers shouldn't limit themselves to one kind of fastball. Use the 4 seam high, sinker low, 2 seam and cutter in.

It seems like AA knew about the trade well ahead of time (and indicated most GMs did if I remember right). He seemed clearly frustrated, and said something along the lines of Dombrowski having something very specific in mind as a return, and that the Jays didn't have those players he wanted. The point is, it seems that Fister WAS shopped at least to some degree and Dombrowski had clearly talked to a lot of GMs about it, so I don't buy that this had anything to do with AA. He simply had a specific return in mind and wasn't going to take superior packages over what his mind was stuck on wanting imo.

Looks like a pitcher that throws in the low 90's. Can't easily find anything else out.

I bet there's probably a university or two with at least one course on hunting it. It's astonishing what some high end universities get away with offering these days

I hope you learned your lesson

Interesting linked article at the bottom of that one saying that Hayhurst and Morris won't be back next year.

It is the origin, the constructs creating it are outside the structure of our universe (I think). Anyhow, back to topic

I think I tried to answer that earlier in the thread, but I'm not 100% sure I got it right.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind taking a chance on him, but not sure if I'd give him a guaranteed spot.

Koji's numbers are completely insane. His age is a concern, but man alive can he pitch. I mean, last year he had a .565 WHIP and a k/bb ratio of over 11! How does that even happen?

I'd probably take Jansen over everyone except Kimbrel and Chapman. Koji and Holland would likely round it out.

That assumes that it did indeed come from nothing, but I believe at least some current theories do not make this assumption. KCJaysFan would probably be able to explain it better than I can though. I believe one of the theories (based on string theory) suggest that it started as a 9 dimensional string with confined dimensions of equal size. Interactions with strings wound in the opposite direction (anti-strings) caused the string to stop confining three of those dimensions (in a process similar to matter/antimatter reactions), which released the dimensions and allowed them to expand outwards. A second theory suggests that the universe was created by a collision between two infinite 3-branes (structures containing 3 out of a certain number of allowable, in this case infinite, dimensions I think. This is getting way outside my comfort area). The energy generated by the collision creates the construct of the universe, pushing the branes apart. The resulting universe goes through phases, beginning with the big bang, then a period dominated by radiation, then matter (our period), then dark energy, then a contraction phase. Like I said though, KCJaysFan may be able to better explain it / correct me on it. Regardless, I don't have a problem with (serious) religion as I think a lot of people need to have something to believe in. Without that, society would probably crumble. That doesn't mean that everyone needs it. It doesn't mean that if you believe in these theories you can't also believe in God. My personal opinion is that if I have to believe in something that is essentially eternal (either by definition or by operating outside the laws of our universe), that I choose to believe there is some kind of intelligence behind it. I don't however believe that everything that happens in day to day life does so for some greater purpose.