ukyah

i'll ****ing kill myself.

exactly. singing my song.

i agree that he'll bounce back. he just needs more seasoning.

absolutely. a reliever's effectiveness is extremely dependent on how and when he is used. we've seen it over and over again. how many relievers have you seen that were effective middle relievers or even set up men, but couldn't handle the closer role or whichever other role? we can scream all day, but frieri has a history of success in the middle innings. i'll say it over and over again he's being miscast and misused.

keep in mind maddon is working from a talent deficiency, much like the A's. they pull out all the lineup tricks out of necessity. the key to a good manager is pitching management, judge maddon and scioscia however you like on those standards. also, maybe the best manager in baseball right now by those standards is bruce bochy.

true. it's not like frieri is a bad dude, he's a standup guy and a good reliever. he's just being used improperly.

whatever. at this point, if what they do works, fine. if it doesn't, they're going to get fired...someday. i don't agree with half of what scioscia does.

don't confuse two different issues. replay has been working fine, with very few hiccups. the new rule of plate blocking is just a bad rule. they are two different things entirely.

oh well, lock me up. throw away the key.

i could live with something centered around santiago, but not skaggs. as most others, i don't feel that this has any legs to it other than twitter fodder.

the way i see it is everyday dipoto keeps him on the roster is one less day dipoto has to save his job. same with scioscia. to be fair, if the second half of the season plays out like the first half, neither will be terminated.

otherwise known as not getting the job done. papelbon and romo are pedestrian. salary and bad management is what keeps papelbon closing for the phillies. romo is an avg. closer who rode the world series to a better reputation than reality. jansen is a terrific pitcher, but has been struggling this year and is part of the many reasons why the dodgers are in 2nd in their division. i don't think any of those are building blocks to an ernesto frieri defense. i realize 89% is not horrible, but frieri absolutely sets games on fire for stretches at a time. it's one thing to blow a 1 run lead, it's something entirely different to blow 3+ run leads, which he has a history of doing. i like frieri, as i said, i just like him in the seventh.

are you saying i'm stupid? i just wanted to be sure.

throwing at the head is never cool. i just don't have a problem with the bean ball. i get bothered by the reasons sometimes, more so than the actual bean ball. braun could get hit for the rest of his career and i'd tip my glass to the pitcher. even outside of the steroid shit, he ruined a guy's career knowing he was guilty.

too much to talk about already, but i have to respectfully disagree with many of jeff's points throughout this thread. frieri is not a closer on a playoff team. frieri is a 7th inning man on a playoff team, and he's a good one. we're just using him wrong.

i understand it not working out because lucroy hit a grand slam, but i'm not understanding what's so wrong with putting braun on to set up the force out. i'm also not understanding the problem with plunking braun. **** ryan braun, he's a horrible person.

this right here. it's a conundrum in my mind.

luke hochevar 40th overall, next year 1st overall. once again, not the same situation at all. newcomb hasn't had any of the "1st overall pick" buzz and doesn't play in a major program. his draft status at 15, was either right at where his projections were or higher, depending on which source you favor. he could go back to school for his senior year, have a breakout campaign and still be a 10-15 player. there's almost no hope for greater reward from his current draft position. the differences between the 15th pick and the 40th pick are immense. right now, his agent is negotiating a deal and trying to get him the most possible money (good). he will eventually sign for somewhere at or above slot, but not below slot because that's not really representative of this particular pick. if i'm wrong, then i'll eat it.

the rest of the space time continuum says hello. he'll sign. appel was expected to be the number #1 overall pick in 2012 and dropped to #8. he held out and then went first overall the next year. not even close to newcomb's situation.

he'll be signed. he's a college junior who went 15th overall. he's got nowhere else to go.

trust me. science was definitely jose's friend.

scioscia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

it's also clear as day that he would have signed with whoever gave him the most money. let's not be naive. if the angels offered him a better contract than the yankees, then he'd be singing buttercup right now.

i wouldn't have been upset if they went with zimmer in the first. he looks like a wil myers type of potential. nothing wrong with that potential return, but i definitely like this newcomb kid too.

this is no big deal. he's going to sign.