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If I told you on Opening day that the following things would be true on August 4 (I stole this from an email my buddy sent me), how many of you would have thought we would be in first place?
• Ramirez will miss 2 full months
• Someone named Randy Wells will have more wins than Zambrano, Dempster and Harden plus no one will have more than 9 wins
• Bradley will have less than 10 HRs and less than 30 RBIs playing mostly full time
• Marmol will walk more than one batter per inning plus have 10 HBP
• Soriano will endure the worst slump of his career, hitting about .175 for about 2 months with little or no power
• Soto will hit about .230 with a low OPS and get busted for smoking pot and be injured a few times.
• The following players will spend time on the DL in addition to Ramirez: Lilly, Dempster, Zambrano, Soto, and Johnson, but oddly not Bradley or Soriano
• The starting 3B for the Cardinals is Mark DeRosa. The starting LF is Matt Holliday, Carpenter is completely healthy and one of the best starters in the NL, Franklin will make the all star team and is one of the best closers in the NL, Pujols is the run away MVP, Rasmus is a solid OF if not a future star, many Cardinals have horrible mustaches and look like 70’s porn stars, Larussa is still a prick
seriously, things couldn't have gone much worse for us, and we are 8 games over .500, in first place. You can rip Hendry for signing Bradley instead of Ibanez (I don't, but you can), but if you do, you also have to credit him for having Wells, Fox, Guzman, etc in place to take over when our supposed studs went down.
All things being equal, things could be much much worse.
I wish that I believed in Fate. I wish I didn't sleep so late. I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
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There's so much good stuff in that post that we could make several quotes of the week out of it. You're absolutely right. Let's just hope it lasts for another 2 months.
I'm 100% fine with this. I'm just glad there's an actual plan in place that isn't, "Let's load up on retreads and hope we get lucky." I'm a little tired of that plan.
Butcher
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The NL is really, really bad.
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<!--quoteo(post=55443:date=Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->The NL is really, really bad.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The AL, outside of 3 teams in the east, is pretty much the same.
I wish that I believed in Fate. I wish I didn't sleep so late. I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
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Personally, I think Lou's doing an amazing job. I do think that Hendry's off-season moves looked terrible when he made them and have panned out terribly. DeRo, Marquis, Bradley...etc. I think Woods needed to move on though. I'm not excited by his deadline trade...I don't think it cost us much and we needed the arms so I hope it works out well.
Under the circumstances of this season, Lou's ability to patch together a lineup and have us in first place is probably Manager of the Year stuff.
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<!--quoteo(post=55444:date=Aug 4 2009, 08:59 AM:name=BT)-->QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 08:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55443:date=Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->The NL is really, really bad.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The AL, outside of 3 teams in the east, is pretty much the same.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not trying to take away anything from what the organization has done in terms of damage control this season, because lord knows, the team has been a mess with all the injuries and career worst seasons. I give our people credit for doing their jobs once the season began. Now, what happened in the offseason is another story.
That said, I still think even the mediocre AL teams (Sox, Twins, Jays, Seattle) would be in the upper tier were they in the NL instead. The bottom feeders in the NL (Nats, Pirates, Padres) are on a different plane of awfulness that none of the shitty AL teams can match.
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<!--quoteo(post=55448:date=Aug 4 2009, 09:12 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Aug 4 2009, 09:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55444:date=Aug 4 2009, 08:59 AM:name=BT)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 08:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55443:date=Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->The NL is really, really bad.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The AL, outside of 3 teams in the east, is pretty much the same.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not trying to take away anything from what the organization has done in terms of damage control this season, because lord knows, the team has been a mess with all the injuries and career worst seasons. I give our people credit for doing their jobs once the season began. Now, what happened in the offseason is another story.
That said, I still think even the mediocre AL teams (Sox, Twins, Jays, Seattle) would be in the upper tier were they in the NL instead. The bottom feeders in the NL (Nats, Pirates, Padres) are on a different plane of awfulness that none of the shitty AL teams can match.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hmmm. I think fans in Baltimore, Cleveland (watch them for the rest of the year) and especially Kansas City might strongly disagree with you.
I wish that I believed in Fate. I wish I didn't sleep so late. I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
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<!--quoteo(post=55449:date=Aug 4 2009, 09:16 AM:name=BT)-->QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 09:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55448:date=Aug 4 2009, 09:12 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Aug 4 2009, 09:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55444:date=Aug 4 2009, 08:59 AM:name=BT)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 08:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55443:date=Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM:name=rok)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rok @ Aug 4 2009, 08:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->The NL is really, really bad.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The AL, outside of 3 teams in the east, is pretty much the same.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm not trying to take away anything from what the organization has done in terms of damage control this season, because lord knows, the team has been a mess with all the injuries and career worst seasons. I give our people credit for doing their jobs once the season began. Now, what happened in the offseason is another story.
That said, I still think even the mediocre AL teams (Sox, Twins, Jays, Seattle) would be in the upper tier were they in the NL instead. The bottom feeders in the NL (Nats, Pirates, Padres) are on a different plane of awfulness that none of the shitty AL teams can match.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hmmm. I think fans in Baltimore, Cleveland (watch them for the rest of the year) and especially Kansas City might strongly disagree with you.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'll give you Cleveland for the moment, but KC and Baltimore have some really really good young talent that few of the bottom-feeder NL teams have. Plus there are 2 more teams in the NL, thus more bad teams. The talent pool is much thinner on average.
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But the talent pool isn't confined to the NL. The talent pool is the entire Major Leagues. Regardless, each team can point to it's minor league system with some hope, but I think you are underestimating how truly awful the Royals have been.
The AL is better than the NL right now, but there are essentially 5 bad divisions in baseball.
I wish that I believed in Fate. I wish I didn't sleep so late. I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
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<!--quoteo(post=55451:date=Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM:name=BT)-->QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->But the talent pool isn't confined to the NL. The talent pool is the entire Major Leagues. Regardless, each team can point to it's minor league system with some hope, but I think you are underestimating how truly awful the Royals have been.
The AL is better than the NL right now, but there are essentially 5 bad divisions in baseball.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh, believe me I've watched plenty of these teams play when they are in town and keep track of many of them online. They still don't come close to the awfulness that is embodied by the Nats, Pirates and Pads.
And I'm not trying to steer this discussion to another direction, so I will stop now.
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I know Bradley isn't hitting for power (or hitting much in general), but I don't think he's getting enough credit for being an on base machine. His OBP is .387, which is quite good and his OBP in July was .457. In fact, his line in July was really good: .275/.457/.420. The slugging still isn't where you want it, but still...
Milton, for all the grief he has gotten, has actually been a pretty valuable piece of the puzzle.
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Yeah, Bradley has been VERY consistent with his OBP even through all the struggles. He isn't worth anywhere near the money he was paid, but I think that if we stick it out with him he will rebound next season and start producing for more power and knocking in some runs. If he could just learn to protect the plate more with 2 strikes from the left side, the man could put up some monster numbers.
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<!--quoteo(post=55451:date=Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM:name=BT)-->QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->But the talent pool isn't confined to the NL. The talent pool is the entire Major Leagues. Regardless, each team can point to it's minor league system with some hope, but I think you are underestimating how truly awful the Royals have been.
The AL is better than the NL right now, but there are essentially 5 bad divisions in baseball.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree.
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<!--quoteo(post=55463:date=Aug 4 2009, 10:02 AM:name=funkster)-->QUOTE (funkster @ Aug 4 2009, 10:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55451:date=Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM:name=BT)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->But the talent pool isn't confined to the NL. The talent pool is the entire Major Leagues. Regardless, each team can point to it's minor league system with some hope, but I think you are underestimating how truly awful the Royals have been.
The AL is better than the NL right now, but there are essentially 5 bad divisions in baseball.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, and 3 of them are in the NL. Now, I will really stop.
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<!--quoteo(post=55466:date=Aug 4 2009, 10:06 AM:name=rok)-->QUOTE (rok @ Aug 4 2009, 10:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55463:date=Aug 4 2009, 10:02 AM:name=funkster)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (funkster @ Aug 4 2009, 10:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=55451:date=Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM:name=BT)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BT @ Aug 4 2009, 09:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->But the talent pool isn't confined to the NL. The talent pool is the entire Major Leagues. Regardless, each team can point to it's minor league system with some hope, but I think you are underestimating how truly awful the Royals have been.
The AL is better than the NL right now, but there are essentially 5 bad divisions in baseball.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I agree.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes, and 3 of them are in the NL. Now, I will really stop.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Royals are the worst team in baseball.
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