DaveW

Dave's response is indicative of why it's worth pointing out. I dunno, its got over 2 million reads now, I'm sure there are plenty of people on the "fence" about Gay marriage. Who knows if this Ayanbadejo/Kluwe thing is tipping point for some of those folks.

Ah yes, good old libertarians, it all sounds good in theory but would never work in this country. He has a few good points, especially the drug ****, but other then that he won't garner enough votes to really matter. Obama is easily going to win this election unless something absolutely drastic happens in the next couple months.

That was a really awesome win, I can't believe they were able to come back with 20 secs left to tie it up! The offense was garbage until they figured out that they just needed to keep feeding the ball to Percy and Peterson, this team certainly needs a solid WR2, but it is what it is. The defense still has issues in the secondary, but hopefully they can improve that as well. Ponder had a solid game, maybe this team can win 6-7.

The Vikes won't go 0-16, they are bad, but not that bad.

Exactly, Larkin IMO is on the short list of the top SS of all time. I'm curious to see how many RP start making the hall of fame in the future, Rivera obviously is a lock but I wonder if other guys can sneak into the conversation as well. I agree Kab, Edgar and Bagwell certainly belong in the hall over McGriff. And I actually think he is behind Delgado, and no way do I think Delgado deserves to get in.

First off, there is no reason why Plouffe can't be average or close to average at 3B, prior to the injury he was playing just fine. I'm not sure how he was "below average" at the plate as well, he was hitting close to a .900 OPS prior to the injury. You also just can't assume Parmelee would be average in the field at third base when there is about a 99.9% he wouldn't. It would most likely be a disaster, and there is a reason why Parmelee has only played 1B/RF coming up in the minors, if there was even a slight chance he could play anything else, they already would have given him reps. Last and most damning of all, Parmelee throws with his left hand. Lefties don't play third base. There have been 4 in the history of the game who have played more then 50 games at the position. Case closed?

Nope

I am confused about your Konerko comment about him being "one of the best in the games" Konerko basically equals Morneau at this point as there career numbers are very close.

Maddux and Glavine will easily make it. Not sure why you are throwing Jack Morris into the mix, Morris is nowhere near HOF caliber IMO. Was he a great "big game pitcher?" yes. But he has a career 39.3 WAR (145th overall amongst all pitchers) and he had a 105 ERA+ He was a solid #2, but solid #2's don't go into the hall of fame. Also the thought that Bagwell definately used is backed by zero evidence whatsoever, his name never came up in any reports, no? I'd put Piazza in the hall no doubt, dude is the best hitting catcher of all time (even those his defense was bad, he still stuck at the position) I have no problem with WAR as a stat...none. But I quoted Dave Parker's WAR as a -0.1 in 86 when he was 5th in MVP w/31HR 116RBI....that means he's less than a replacement player....dont think so. He was -1.5 the next yr with 26hr 97rbi......WAR just needs to be used in context. Morris was the team ACE on 3 different World Series Champions....not a #2 winning a total of 58gms in those 3yrs. Have no problem using his ERA against him (even in the DH AL) & thats why he's had to wait, but he will get voted in this year as the best pitcher of his middle 14yr era (79/92) when he was the only guy with over 190wins (233) & pitched 500 more innings than anyone during this period (reason for higher ERA?) while finishing 2nd in Ks, 3rd in WAR @ 51.8 (behind Ryan/Clemens). He was the pitcher of his era & that included Nolan Ryan Morris was the third best pitcher on the Twins in 1991. Yes, he had a great world series, but he was the third best over the course of the season. Same thing in 1992 with Toronto. A couple clutch games in the world series does not make you a hall of famer.

A word of advice - don't sell your soul the to bell whistle of sabremetrics - the game means way more than that. I realize that, but my eyes watching/following McGriff tell me he wasn't a hall of fame player, his basic stats tell me the same, then when we include WAR etc it becomes even more clear! I'm not saying he wasn't good, hes just not a hall of famer.

48.2 career WAR (169th overall) It's nothing like Bert IMO.

False. Gibson and Berrios. I'm sure there are some other gems hidden as well who have that sort of potetial: Boyd? Jones?

I wasn't implying that you said they were the same pitcher (or anything close). I was just stating that maybe you can give a non power pitcher more innings since there is less potential stress on the arm?

Maddux and Glavine will easily make it. Not sure why you are throwing Jack Morris into the mix, Morris is nowhere near HOF caliber IMO. Was he a great "big game pitcher?" yes. But he has a career 39.3 WAR (145th overall amongst all pitchers) and he had a 105 ERA+ He was a solid #2, but solid #2's don't go into the hall of fame. Also the thought that Bagwell definately used is backed by zero evidence whatsoever, his name never came up in any reports, no? I'd put Piazza in the hall no doubt, dude is the best hitting catcher of all time (even those his defense was bad, he still stuck at the position)

Kab already did. Again, why is it such a known fact that he didn't do roids? IMO everyone not named Denny Hocking or Pat Meares in that era shouldn't be assumed to be a non user.

Will Peterson get more then 5 carries? Will Ponder improve on his mediocre rookie season? Will the Vikes start out the season with a W? My prediction: Vikes 24 Jags 20

That's one of the great tragedies of the steroid era. A guy gets older, and has a few better seasons that are above his average (which can statistically happen without steroids) yet people assume it's because he was cheating. Not everyone's career is a linear progression towards a peak then a linear regression towards retirement. I realize that wasn't explained well. I'm saying not everyone goes 20,22,24,26,30,35,40,37,33,29,25,20 homers in their career. it's perfectly normal and understandable to have some statistical variation over the course of 10-20 years of a career where someone drops a 40 or upper 30 among some upper 20 seasons. You have to factor in things like health, or just dumb luck. The difference between a homer and a flyout can be as simple as the ballpark, the direction of the wind, etc. In short, seeing a few good seasons in a person's mid 30's is sadly automatically linked to steroids now. I'm of the opinion that anywhere between 50%-60% of the players were juicing during any of those "times" I think its ridiculous personally to keep Bonds out of the hall of fame, roids or not he is one of the best 5 hitters of all time. Ditto with Clemens, though both are dicks, but being a dick shouldn't keep you out of the hall of fame (just ask Ty Cobb)

Doesn't Strasburg throw a lot harder/more violently then Gibson? I think that makes a large difference, no?

Wow, we agree on something, it feels like it's been months since that happened. Or maybe it's just the putridity of the season making it seem that way. We agree on important issues. We disagree on the handling of a 28 year old AAA relief pitcher.

Yup. 12th highest WAR amongst all pitchers ever. (and 39th overall)

First off, how can we be so sure McGriff wasn't on the juice? Between 95 and 98 (his 31-35 year old seasons) his OPS was .830. Then he suddenly puts up a .957 OPS in his age 35 season and a .930 in his age 37 season? Either way, he is a borderline at best case and he played in the steroid era, no hall for him. Also it seems like there were a ton of better 1st baseman that were around during his career as well.

It already got 1.2 million reads on Deadspin within the first 20 hours and MSNBC interviewed him last night as well. I'm pretty sure this is the largest story deadspin has had since the Favre Scandal. Kluwe is awesome, after his career I hope he writes somewhere. His live chat on deadspin a month or two ago was golden.

Gibson as the #16 prospect in the system? Give me a damn break. Salcedo at #7? wow.

A+ post!

I have stopped watching games for the most part now that football season is back.