KSaw

Pat Borders was elite at blocking balls. Now he wasn't elite at anything else but he was also one of the best in the game at blocking the plate and tagging guys out. He was fearless and runners had to go threw him. No stat line can dispute either. He dealt with staffs that had silly sliders and splitters who bounced an insane amount of pitches. He could also receive. Watching him frame Guzman pitches was an art form being that all catchers for Juan were told to just set up in the middle for every pitch, give him a big centre of the plate target and move accordingly. JPA would have been lost.

They are not necessarily bad stats, there are just deeper stats available. However, when it comes to relievers they can be very misleading due to sample size. A reliever can have 30 appearances, pitch 35 innings and be solid 27 times but with just a couple blow ups with no outs recorded and 4-5 runs scored, he can look like a scrub on paper.

It's not an advanced stat. I still believe that it is a telling stat. It's certainly better than ERA, K/9, Wins and most traditional stats.

Just a thread to mark the accomplishment. The club has scored 33 runs over its past 3 games. I'm not sure that they've ever done that over a 3-game stretch before but I'm fairly sure they've never put up double digits 3 games in a row.

Lets be fair. WHIP is a good stat and many of his listeners would be lost if he talked like a Saber-geek, even if he was able.

Ironically Zambrano wasn't the most scouted player with Long Island. It wasn't Dontrelle Willis or Ian Snell either. Scouts had been watching the once upon a time highly touted Josh Barfield. He's 30 and was supposedly doing many things right and was drawing considerable attention and getting, "Back in the Majors," buzz. Then came a hamstring injury just a few days ago. I don't know if Toronto was one of the teams scouting him or not but considering the size of the scouting staff, I'd guess yes.

It's been suggested for weeks that the Phillies had been in talks with him. He may have even gone to Long Island at their request. I'm not sure that he was ever an option.

Adding the phrase, "Why do you think that," to his on air reputoire would do wonders.

I would be surprised in Toronto didn't draft a college player though. The system is in need of some good talent that can reach New Hampshire quickly.

Mock drafts are all over the place. I've seen many that have Stanek falling to the Jays at 10th. There are many that have Wilson in the top 15, while Law has him 26th. Every year we are all shocked when the draft takes place. It's so hard to predict.

I hear you. That said, he also seems to go into every call assuming that the caller is an idiot who knows less than he. I'd say that a good 20% are informed but he still talks down to them. Even a guy like Jim Rome historically has stretched out discussions with informed callers when he has done phone segments. He would also thank them for being adding to his show. IMO Wilner should do a bit of this. For those old enough to remember, Mark Hebscher and Bob McEgo would each rip callers and cut them off but when they got a good one they'd listen and let the caller talk. They'd even break for commercial and bring good callers back after the break. When has Wilner ever done that?

Lind and his rebuilt stance and swing is getting results one year after much of the tinkering was done. I was expecting much if this in 2012 and it sure didn't happen until after returning from Vegas. Fast forward to this year and he is all Yoga conditioned and simply much healthier. There's no talk of fatigue or old lingering back problems. And now the power is starting to come too. The real kickers to all of the early success is that he has had bad luck with balls in play and should be hitting around .310 currently. The second is that the stance, position in the batter's box and later swing/ quicker trigger/ more compact approach is by design something that allows for staying on pitches from lefties. The next progression is for him to play everyday. It is too bad that in 2012 he had this stance, positioning and trigger but didn't swing later or look to use all fields until Mottola worked with him in Vegas. The early swings made no sense considering the other adjustments. He was often way out in front and was swinging at balls in the dirt because he was committing far too early. I'm not generally a Murphy blame guy but in this case, you have to fault him for his swing early-swing even earlier philosophy because it didn't mesh with anything else the player was doing.

Joking aside- you are right. He has his own opinions. He's just a glass half full homer for the most part.

Ya, I hear he doesn't like ribs- lol.

Saying that Dustin will start would be like saying that Johnson isn't coming back soon and sure would get into the heads of Jenkins, Ortiz and Romero.

Anyway, last night Negrych went 2-4 with a walk. He hit another double and had 2 RBI (for those who care about RBI). Now hitting .414 He is not in the lineup this afternoon.

Wilner may be correct in that the club is saying that he'll relieve. I just don't believe anything that they claim in regard to injured players anymore. I think that McGowan will be fit in where the club has a need. What I do find interesting is that when Dustin was put on the 60-Day DL it was not originally made retroactive to March 30th. That was a move made later on. Clearly McGowan is progressing well because he wasn't projected back until the second week of June.

I actually meant Ruf but the point is the same.

We don't know what he is yet really. All prospects are like that. We just have an organization packed with toolsy athletes who lack a natural hit skill. Kids who hit line drive after line drive, take walks and don't strike out are not a bad thing. Sometimes they end up as AAA monsters, sometimes they become decent players and sometimes they become Tony Gwynn. It's just nice to have a natural hitter here and there. I do think Blanks is too much to expect for Bonifacio. He's just too close in development and is a power bat.

Just relaying some of the opinions. I'll find the link. The point was simply that he is generally viewed as a player who will hit and stick at position and start at the big league level. Is that not preferable over Bonifacio?

Don't be silly. Never said any such thing.

I was quoting, not making the comparison.

Firstly, we were talking about getting something for Bonifacio. You aren't going to get a huge return. Even La Stella would cost more than just Boni. You have to be realistic. The kid I named is the #9 rated second baseman in all of minor league baseball. If you check a few other sources you will see him shooting up prospect lists. Some are now making Dan Uggla comparisons, while saying that La Stella's fielding has already improved past original expectations. Understand that La Stella's fielding was the question mark. Everyone loves his bat.

He's a Braves top 10 prospect. He's also moving up that list. He's hardly a sleeper. I like him better because his hit skill is his biggest strength. This club lacks those players and has few in the organization. His midseason prospect ranking will have him way up from the 320s where he was a few months ago.

He's thrown some recent simulated games. Throwing 90+ pitches shouldn't be an issue. I think they they're just being careful and easing him back into game action. He has thrown 40 or so live in game pitches since Saturday.