Bender Update !!!

[SteelSD]

I even told SD awhile back, when we were having this same discussion, that this had to be the year for Casey, and that there could be no more excuses.

Absolutely you did. And absolutely, I responded with something akin to "Ok. I'll back off and give Casey the 2004 season before drawing a final conclusion as to his value and the actual effect of his injury."

Heck, the majority of objective folks have even bought into the theory that the shoulder injury impacted Casey's performance over the past two seasons. They just haven't agreed that the injury was severe enough to completely excuse the previous 2.5 seasons. Considering Griffey's shoulder surgery, his performance while injured, and his current numbers, I'm not sure you and I will ever agree about that impact to Casey's performance. But that's ok.

The issue we have here is that 49 games isn't the 2004 season. It seems that 49 games are enough to trigger bottled-up ranting from folks, but it's not enough for the "objective analysis" you're looking for considering the previous performance history.

As MWM has already very plainly stated, no one is rubbing a "Sean Casey Sucks" lucky rabbits foot while desperately wanting Casey's production to tail off. Nor did anyone show up with an "I told you so!" thread after Casey posted a sub-.750 OPS for the first three weeks of May.

It's awfully telling that some folks were sitting back waiting for Casey to be right after his early May performance mirrored his 2003 numbers while other folks were gnashing their teeth- waiting to pounce on other posters for being "wrong".

Seriously, think about that for a second. It's not about liking Casey or liking Casey. It's about people not liking people who they think don't like Casey. It's about biding time, waiting for the appropriate moment, and pouncing.

And y'know what? There's no one posted an Adam Dunn "I told you so!" thread. If we want to generalize, the "stat crowd" has been the staunchest support group for him. Kid's got a .988 OPS right now. He's actually played more games than Casey- allowing for more data if one wanted to misguidedly attempt the kind of "victory speech" we've seen on this thread.

So why is there no one proclaiming "victory" while snidely calling out the "Dunn bashers"?

Because it's childish and it'd would be too early to do so even if it weren't childish.

[MWM]

And yet when I said the very same things last year that you just stated above Mike, I was laughed at and told it just didn't seem feasible.

OK, I've just got to ask. Were you really laughed at, or did folks just disagree with you? Seriously. Show me an example of when you were laughed for offering such an opinion on Casey.

[Chip R]

OK, I've just got to ask. Were you really laughed at, or did folks just disagree with you? Seriously. Show me an example of when you were laughed for offering such an opinion on Casey.

MWM, you know GAC. People laugh at him all the time. And there really doesn't have to be a reason.

[GIK]

I'm closing this thread for now until Boss and I have a chance to fully review it. I'm at work and a bit busy so it may be awhile. Thanks for understanding.