What do YOU want to talk about?

[Raisor]

Originally Posted by nate

Because this thread is so awesome, I Gordy and I combine to give it a:

High fourteen!

(Gordy has an odd number of toes on one paw)

I'm honored

[OldRightHander]

Originally Posted by Cedric

Does anyone else miss the days of Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red seats? Getting offered Blue seats was an amazing thrill.

I went to a 12:35 game in the early 90s and Kevin Mitchell hit a homer into the yellow seats and his next one into the red. Driving home from the game I heard Burbank say, "If he would have hit one into the green seats he could have hit for the rainbow."

[traderumor]

I want to talk about how Jay Bruce has a negative UZR this season and that people still actually quote such a rating.

[Cedric]

I want to talk about bringing back the old graphics from the Riverfront scoreboard. I really miss the argument between the manager and the umpire where a big red smokey gets jammed in the umpires face.

[Tony Cloninger]

Originally Posted by Patrick Bateman

For the millionth time, Horst had already been DFA'd, and eligible for free agency. Every team could have had him for nothing. He wasn't considered an asset. He was a throw away AAA piece for the Phillies when they decided they needed some depth late in spring training.

His likely future is middle relief dreck. I just don't see the love affair with the guy (albeit, he has surprised probably everyone in baseball with the year he has had).

The millionth time? This is only probably the 2nd time I recall hearing that...........so Im must have missed the other 999,998 times.

The love affair is the dislike affair I have with Valdez and the need for this team to stockpile Ray Oyler/Darrel Chaney type MI.

[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by Cedric

I want to talk about bringing back the old graphics from the Riverfront scoreboard. I really miss the argument between the manager and the umpire where a big red smokey gets jammed in the umpires face.

[traderumor]

Originally Posted by Tony Cloninger

The millionth time? This is only probably the 2nd time I recall hearing that...........so Im must have missed the other 999,998 times.

The love affair is the dislike affair I have with Valdez and the need for this team to stockpile Ray Oyler/Darrel Chaney type MI.

Stockpile?
One at a time and all teams have them because if he could hit, he'd be a starter. Good glove, good hit guys in the infield have starting jobs because it is a coveted set of skills, and is also not common enough for most/any teams to have benches with good hitting, good D infielders. Most teams trade one for the other even for their starters because there is not enough to go around the league, much less a lower revenue team like the Reds. He can hit enough to keep a job and has been useful to keep the D in tact so that a starter can rest. Who knows what intangibles he is bringing to the table, but Charlie Manuel loves the guy for that reason. He's even contributed offensively in some of his starts.

I'm not sure what your expectations are for that role. Hopefully they find an upgrade for him in the offseason, and at least we aren't in a position to have Janish or Descalso as our every day starting shortstop like two playoff contenders now are.

BTW, Ray Oyler was an everyday SS in an era when he wasn't that unusual. He eventually was replaced though, but held a job for his glove. Chaney was a bench player, period. I think the Braves gave him some starting opportunities, but only because they were Houston Astros bad at the time.

Valdez is being used for a role that is needed and guys like Gregorius and Hamilton can develop and become useful assets either in a trade or in a Reds uniform.

[BCubb2003]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

Always liked the "Walks will haunt" sign. And it's good advice, too.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by BCubb2003

Always liked the "Walks will haunt" sign. And it's good advice, too.

[edabbs44]

Originally Posted by traderumor

I want to talk about how Jay Bruce has a negative UZR this season and that people still actually quote such a rating.

UZR is only quoted when it fits the argument.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by edabbs44

UZR is only quoted when it fits the argument.

Bull crap.

[Tony Cloninger]

Originally Posted by traderumor

Stockpile?
One at a time and all teams have them because if he could hit, he'd be a starter. Good glove, good hit guys in the infield have starting jobs because it is a coveted set of skills, and is also not common enough for most/any teams to have benches with good hitting, good D infielders. Most teams trade one for the other even for their starters because there is not enough to go around the league, much less a lower revenue team like the Reds. He can hit enough to keep a job and has been useful to keep the D in tact so that a starter can rest. Who knows what intangibles he is bringing to the table, but Charlie Manuel loves the guy for that reason. He's even contributed offensively in some of his starts.

I'm not sure what your expectations are for that role. Hopefully they find an upgrade for him in the offseason, and at least we aren't in a position to have Janish or Descalso as our every day starting shortstop like two playoff contenders now are.

BTW, Ray Oyler was an everyday SS in an era when he wasn't that unusual. He eventually was replaced though, but held a job for his glove. Chaney was a bench player, period. I think the Braves gave him some starting opportunities, but only because they were Houston Astros bad at the time.

Valdez is being used for a role that is needed and guys like Gregorius and Hamilton can develop and become useful assets either in a trade or in a Reds uniform.

My expectations would be for him to hit better than Janish......would you not think that is reasonable expectation?

I know what those 2 were and what I was comparing them to..... in the world of MI like Dave Chalk, Marty Perez and Johnnie LeMaster.....those 2 stood out for me as pretty bad. They were the ones that came off the top of my head...and I was obviously trying for some humor.

[edabbs44]

Originally Posted by jojo

Bull crap.

Not really. I heard a lot more about it a few years back.

[Wonderful Monds]

Originally Posted by edabbs44

Not really. I heard a lot more about it a few years back.

Agreed. It's the same system that tried to tell us Brett Gardner was a top 10 MLBer. It's an interesting guideline, but it's off the mark quite often. I can't actually take a defensive stat seriously that tries to say Drew Stubbs is a *bad* outfielder.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by edabbs44

Not really. I heard a lot more about it a few years back.

UZR is talked about all of the time both as an isolated metric for defense and as a component of WAR. It's used all of the time so it's tough to take an argument that UZR is only used when it supports a person's point very seriously.