shellback

he also did some minor leauge time for the rays last year. hopeful that sean sticks in mlb.

im no reagns apologist but they traded a RESERVE INFIELDER for him and ate alot of contract. reagans knew how to eat contracts thats for sure. however, the risk/reward was big.

guy is an innings eater. probably a krispy cremes eater too!

kaz looked good. good movement, fooled the hitters. the guy was an multi-million dollar longshot when he was traded here for a reserve infielder. the angels/Butcher can't be blamed for not waiting around for the guy to totally rebuild himself.

hopeful this guy gets his shot in mlb with us.Calhoun appears to have an intensity this millionare loaded lineup/clubhouse needs.

all stats can be manipulated to mean almost anything. there's a place for the old school as well as the new- like WHIP. but an intelligent mix of stats, feel and experience to eval player performance is the smartest method. human behavior cannot be totally quantified. neither can player performance. trends can be established, but people are just too goofy to accurately predict thier behavior with statistical methods no matter how fancy, arcane or elegant the formulas are.

ever since i heard rex hudler refer to him as "butchy boy" on the air a few years ago, i've wondered about the guy. i'm not here after anyones neck. and in no way have the experience to reasonably evaluate an mlb coaches performance. wasn't Butcher a reliever in mlb?

yeah, but whats thier CERA? huh? sosh don't like hank. might as well trade him and get a catcher that squats right!

i was hopeful when the angels signed Rodney. but a fantasy baseball wizard friend of mine said: "Tom, this guy is a dog". thanks to the numbers comparison, i can see why he said that. thanks for posting the numbers, especially the WHIP.

Rodney obviously wanted to exclusively close when he was with the angels. when he was bumped back to 7th or 8th inning his performance really went downhill. it affected his marketability and the move smacked of punishment. granted, Rodney was lousy with us, but it is interesting how well a hands off approach works with some of these guys. Rodney was nails with detroit- comes to the angels and turns into a dog, goes to tampa and has one of the greatest seasons any pitcher has ever had? hmmmm....

as i was watching the end of the dr v. venezuela wbc game, i was interested to listen to Mota's overflowing praise of Jim Hickey(tb's pitching coach) related to rodney's great season last year. he didn't mention Butcher. Should be interesting to watch the seasons Ervin Santana and Dan Haren put together this year and the effect new coaching has on them. does coaching have that great of an effect on pitchers performance at the mlb level?

results are all dependent on CERA. seriously, i think that with the cutter this guy will be lights out. that little 2 inches of movement (tail) when the hitter reads fastball will equate to alot of lousy contact.

DON'T TAZE ME BRO!

maybe the plate needs realignment when he faces weave.

rooting for this guy. loss like this guy incurred can ruin lives- good to see he is taking the high road and immersing himself into his profession.

you're even cuter when you're angry

hence wins over replacement. that clears everything up.

The key word is helps. some of the new stats are great- like whip but this one is overused and its validity in my opinion is weak. just an opinion- if you like it then have at it!

you're so cute when you sigh

as they used to say in vegas, "what coulda happened...didn't"

WAR is bullsh*t. how can one players stats totally determine the won/loss of a team?

yours?

so.. runner on 3rd no contact play player scores 25% runner on 3rd contact play runner scores 15% thanks for grinding the numbers. anybody in any type of game that purposely decreases thier % chance to score has something badly wrong with themselves.

lost control there for an instant... this play ranks right up there with radiation sickness in my book

the contact play is ridiculous. come on, a mlb infielder is supposed to get flustered and make a mistake because a guy is trying to take home on a groundout? this play belongs in the 1960's play for one run defense and pitching era and it should have been retired there. every time i see the angels use it, "there goes a waste of a runner in scoring position". and, i have to add, it REALLY pizzes me off to the point that it makes me question wether the people that call it have any faith in thier teams ability to drive in runs OR if the people who call this pos play are just mired in a huge rut strategically and philosophically.