Doll Is Mine wrote:By Matt Snyder

Utley garnered the second-most votes in a Sports Illustrated poll of MLB players asking who is the "meanest" player in baseball. Only A.J. Pierzynski received more votes.

PETA wants you to know Utley's not a bad guy, though.

"A staunch defender of homeless, abused, and neglected animals, Utley not only founded the Utley All-Star Animals foundation with his wife, Jen, to help animals in Philadelphia but also starred in a national PETA campaign that encourages everyone to 'adopt, don't buy' dogs and cats," PETA said.


Also, according to the organization, "given the buzz around his fierceness on the field, [fans] might be surprised to learn that the people who should really fear Chase Utley are animal abusers!"

PETA Loves Utley

Yeah, but is he a vegetarian? Doubtful.

cartersDad26 wrote:

Doll Is Mine wrote:By Matt Snyder

Utley garnered the second-most votes in a Sports Illustrated poll of MLB players asking who is the "meanest" player in baseball. Only A.J. Pierzynski received more votes.

PETA wants you to know Utley's not a bad guy, though.

"A staunch defender of homeless, abused, and neglected animals, Utley not only founded the Utley All-Star Animals foundation with his wife, Jen, to help animals in Philadelphia but also starred in a national PETA campaign that encourages everyone to 'adopt, don't buy' dogs and cats," PETA said.


Also, according to the organization, "given the buzz around his fierceness on the field, [fans] might be surprised to learn that the people who should really fear Chase Utley are animal abusers!"

PETA Loves Utley

Yeah, but is he a vegetarian? Doubtful.

When he's at home and Jen is cooking his meals he is

MLBTR discusses Madson's upcoming free agency

They also have their latest predictions on the Elias rankings. Madson and Oswalt are As, and Rollins, Ibanez and Lidge are Bs.

BigEd76 wrote:MLBTR discusses Madson's upcoming free agency

They also have their latest predictions on the Elias rankings. Madson and Oswalt are As, and Rollins and Ibanez are Bs.

Yeah, but there's probably 0 chance of us offering arbitration to Oswalt or Ibanez.

The bard is also a B. Just sayin

How is Rollins only a B? Also are we allowed to get a pick for Oswalt if we decline his option?

Wheels Tupay wrote:How is Rollins only a B? Also are we allowed to get a pick for Oswalt if we decline his option?

Probably missed too much time due to injury this year and last. Plus I believe his category is 2B, 3B and SS if I'm not mistaken. You can get a pick for Oswalt if you decline his option, then offer him arbitration (and guarantee him $15 mil if he accepts arbitration? Why decline his option in the first place then?).

magelb
Flyers are taking BP. Meanwhile, Domonic Brown is working with Juan Samuel in LF.

magelb
Domonic Brown chases a James van Riemsdyk ball to the wall...and it's gone! #meaninglessbaseball

lethal wrote:

Wheels Tupay wrote:How is Rollins only a B? Also are we allowed to get a pick for Oswalt if we decline his option?

Probably missed too much time due to injury this year and last. Plus I believe his category is 2B, 3B and SS if I'm not mistaken. You can get a pick for Oswalt if you decline his option, then offer him arbitration (and guarantee him $15 mil if he accepts arbitration? Why decline his option in the first place then?).

If you look at the NL 2B/3B/SS projections, there are only 17 "A" players in the group. Rollins is the highest-rated "B" player and is just behind Scott Rolen and Chase Headley (who aren't free agents). To put it more into perspective, Rolen and Headley are only a few tenths of a point behind Jose Reyes.

So needless to say, if the projection is off even a little bit for any of those three players, Rollins could be an "A" very easily.

BTW, the far more surprising thing is that Polanco is fourth on this list... tied with Ryan Zimmerman. Yup. I'm not sure if that means the projections are unreliable or the formula used to determine free agent compensation is laughably misguided.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AoSOMyrC9cB7dF9DUWtVclZ4Sm01YS0xU21ZRllIdVE&output=html&widget=true

Looking at that list, I now see we don't need David Wright since we have Polanco.

I imagine if Rollins goes on a tear for the last couple weeks it could bump him up to A status.

Also if it's top X players are "A" players, he could easily pass Rolen since Rolen isn't even playing. edit: although that doesn't appear to be how it works.

That's pretty unfair/stupid though that they list SS and 3B in the same category

Looks like Brown is not going to be on the post season roster.

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:

lethal wrote:

Wheels Tupay wrote:How is Rollins only a B? Also are we allowed to get a pick for Oswalt if we decline his option?

Probably missed too much time due to injury this year and last. Plus I believe his category is 2B, 3B and SS if I'm not mistaken. You can get a pick for Oswalt if you decline his option, then offer him arbitration (and guarantee him $15 mil if he accepts arbitration? Why decline his option in the first place then?).

If you look at the NL 2B/3B/SS projections, there are only 17 "A" players in the group. Rollins is the highest-rated "B" player and is just behind Scott Rolen and Chase Headley (who aren't free agents). To put it more into perspective, Rolen and Headley are only a few tenths of a point behind Jose Reyes.

So needless to say, if the projection is off even a little bit for any of those three players, Rollins could be an "A" very easily.

BTW, the far more surprising thing is that Polanco is fourth on this list... tied with Ryan Zimmerman. Yup. I'm not sure if that means the projections are unreliable or the formula used to determine free agent compensation is laughably misguided.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AoSOMyrC9cB7dF9DUWtVclZ4Sm01YS0xU21ZRllIdVE&output=html&widget=true

I'd say both, but probably more the latter than the former. I think there are a lot of counting stats in the formula.

Found it: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/10/s ... d-for.html

2B/3B/SS: PA, AVG, OBP, HR, RBI, Fielding percentage, Total chances at designated position

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/print?i ... =blogEntry

The rating system groups players into five categories -- catchers, starting pitchers, relief pitchers, infielders other than first basemen, and first basemen/outfielders/designated hitters. Players are ranked in five to seven statistical categories, with the specific categories varying by their position grouping (e.g., there are no fielding stats used in the 1B/OF/DH group, but the catcher and infielder groups each include two defensive stats). Cumulative statistics may be adjusted for players who spent time on the disabled list, restoring stats for up to 60 days of missed playing time.

Each player is then given a point total for each statistical category that is inversely related to his actual ranking. For example, if there are 100 starting pitchers in the ranking, then the pitcher with the lowest ERA gets 100 points, the pitcher with the second-lowest ERA gets 99 points, and so on, until it reaches the pitcher with the highest ERA, who gets one point just for writing his name. This system has an obvious flaw, of course, as it gives no weight to the distance between any two players: If the top pitcher's ERA is 0.1 or 0.01 or 1.0 runs better than the ERA of the next-best pitcher, it doesn't matter, as he still only gets one extra point. Point totals within each position are then scaled to make 100 a perfect score.

That system is really goddamn screwed up. Yeah, that flaw that it mentions is ridiculous. Did Bud Selig scribble that formula on a napkin or something? I mean I always figured it was based on batting average and crap like that, but that's even worse.

The B1G Piece wrote:Looks like Brown is not going to be on the post season roster.

Not playing in AAA was probably a pretty good indicator.

hunter and howie pence used to have cereal eating contests, per mlb network

In an interview in the October issue of Philadelphia magazine, Rollins says it’s time for rich people like him to start paying more. "Warren Buffet pays less taxes percentage-wise than his secretary, you catch that?" Rollins asks. "How can that be?"

"I’m blessed to pay a lot in taxes, " Rollins says. "I have friends and relatives that go day-to-day. Every American deserves to feel secure at the end of their life. So if it’s going to lift two families up, go ‘head, tax me more, I can handle it. Best I know, everyone’s going to die. No one’s taking money to the afterlife."

RED PINSTRIPES INDEED

So he is willing to pay more in taxes but not take a discount from the Phillies. That greedy SOB.

MO MONEY MO TAXES (also more problems )