KingKat

I think Tabby and Buck are just about the worst combination possible. The whole broadcast becomes an echo chamber. Part of the proble is that Buck doesn't act like a true play-by-play guy. He wants to do colour too so you basically have Buck do commentary, Tabby merely repeats it back to them and they just stay stuck on the same, usually clichéd, point for long stretches.

BTS and I are tight. I was just razzing him.

Good thing you're a fan of a different team then.

If you give up 2 homeruns and you only give up 2/3 earned runs total, that's being extremely fortunate unless you're not putting any runners on which wasn't the case. This is not a hypothetical regression. His recent starts have been bad but for some reason people seem to be blind to that. Look at the ERA/FIP/XFIP numbers from his last couple of starts. [TABLE=width: 482] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD]ERA[/TD] [TD]FIP[/TD] [TD]xFIP[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]2015-08-22[/TD] [TD]TOR[/TD] [TD]@LAA[/TD] [TD]4.76[/TD] [TD]6.30[/TD] [TD]4.76[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]2015-08-15[/TD] [TD]TOR[/TD] [TD]NYY[/TD] [TD]3.00[/TD] [TD]7.96[/TD] [TD]6.99[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Now look at the same from Dickey: [TABLE=width: 306] [TR] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD]ERA[/TD] [TD]FIP[/TD] [TD]xFIP[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]2015-08-23[/TD] [TD]TOR[/TD] [TD]@LAA[/TD] [TD]7.50[/TD] [TD]3.79[/TD] [TD]6.43[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]2015-08-18[/TD] [TD]TOR[/TD] [TD]@PHI[/TD] [TD]11.25[/TD] [TD]6.87[/TD] [TD]5.79[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] By any metric other than ERA, Estrada's last couple of starts have been as bad as Dickey's but because of runs scored, everyone wants to burn Dickey at the stake while turning a blind eye to Estrada's struggles. Given Estrada's track record, given the way he's actually pitching, it makes absolutely no sense to give Estrada a pass here while also worrying about Dickey.

My friends call him dustbowl because he looks like he just stepped out of a John Steinbeck depression era novel.

ftfy

All things being equal, the team will go with Dickey over Estrada. That's just the reasonable expectation to have and it's not something to get worked up about. Argue that they're both bad if you want but some are arguing that a bad pitcher (Dickey) is being unfairly valued over a good one (Estrada) and that's not the case. Both can be bood in stretches. Neither should inspire full confidence.

Your original post was more than fine but it's kind of degenerated into a "everything that's wrong with Machado" thread which is lame.

Estrada's skill level hasn't suddenly risen since last year. When things break poorly for him, he's Marco Estrada 2014 version when things break well for him he's Marco Estrada 2015. Either way, he's the same damn pitcher. As ridiculous as it was to write him off in the off season, it's just a ridiculous to consider him a rotation lock now. Marco is a nice guy to have in a pinch and I'm quite happy the Jays acquired him but let's not trick ourselves into thinking he's a guy you want to lean on. He's given up two homeruns in each of his last two starts and that shouldn't surprise anyone because it's basically his homerun rate regressing to career norm. He's a good guy to have but the flyball and homerun tendencies that so many people were worried about in the off-season didn't just get up and leave.

I believe the proper term is manziere.

I think I'd prefer to push Estrada to the bullpen. I love Marco. I though he could contribute for this team and I'm very glad he has but the fairy dust is wearing off. Pushing him back to his swing man role and maybe piggy-backing him with Stroman at first would make sense. It's a role Marco's familiar with. As for Hutch, I don't like the idea of denying him an opportunity to start in September unless a 5th starter really isn't needed.

In Hayhurst's second book, he relates calling his agent angry after being demoted and his agent tell him to f***in' relax. The quote is something to the effect of "I get this call at least once from every single reliever. This happens to everybody and doesn't mean anything as far as how the club values you. If they really didn't value you, they'd cut you altogether."

Delabar is the new Accardo.

Fake Jonn?

Third base is the position that is the most underrated by old school types. It's traditionally thought of as an offensive position when it's really a premium defensive position. As a consequence of this, 3B is under-represented in the Hall of Fame and some of the great two way 3B like Rolen, Beltre and Donaldson are under-appreciated.

Cleveland rocks! Cleveland rocks! (O.K. I'll show myself out)

You can link directly to the part you want:

O.K. so the argument that Puljos's wRC+ is worth more than Bautista's because of where they play is bogus.

Isn't wRC+ park adjusted?

Only a minority of them I would think. There's a poll with the article and it's 52% lost and only 13% won.

Oh well... Not living in Baltimore is it's own reward.

Man I hate the Angels' font.

Meh... I don't believe in shielding people from what they can see with their own eyes. If someone still believes, they'll try to buy low and that's fine.

Starting to think I should have pounced on a Hector Santiago trade window.

Confirmed.