Anyone see Ellis Burks last night?

[dvldog]

With all the money they put in, they shouldn't be so close to the Sox in the standings.

[ultimate7]

My argument is that the Yankees pitching sucks, so I don't think they will win the AL, they could, by I predict they won't.  The favorites have to be the Red Sox with Schilling and Pedro in a short series.

[malnuboy]

One thing about Burks is that he is all buisness, a beachball wen't into the dugout and without hesitation, he grabs it from I think Pedro and rips it apart and throws it on the ground and just contitnues to watch the game. Also does anyone think Guiterez looks like the cop from Gone in 60 Seconds

[fightonusc]

Plus, the Yankees' international scouting program is so far ahead of any other team - because of the amount of money they pour into it. They can wait for a prospect to be identified, and then come in at the last minute and offer the kid far more money to sign than the other team who did all of the "heavy lifting" in the first place.

And I completely agree with Baines - basically, the Yankees don't need as strong of a farm system, since they can treat half of the teams in the league as "farm teams" to devleop talent that they can trade for/sign as free agents when they need to fill a hole.

[poolstroke72]

 Well its not going to be a short series if the sox play the yankees it will be 7 games.Pedro is horrible against the yankees so that's a bad argument you made.Schilling is a good pitcher though.Red sox got 2 hitters manny and ortiz thats all.So,in order for them to win Pedro and schilling cant lose a game they pitch,very unlikely.Minnesota has a shot in the dark,no hitting at all.They match up to Oakland good ,but the sox and yankees will beat minnesota.This is good though I finally got some conversation going in the forum,instead of asking for a game.All in fun though,Go Yankees.

[fightonusc]

The Red Sox have as many regulars batting above .290 as the Yankees (each have five), and they as many regulars with an OPS above .850 as the Yankees (five each). And I'm not counting Trot Nixon into those calculations, which gives them an additional very solid hitter. So, I don't get saying that the Red Sox only have two hitters while the Yankees are some sort of unstoppable offensive machine...

[poolstroke72]

 Well you decide  
Jeter                           damon
a-rod                           bellhorn
sheffield                      manny
Giambi                          ortiz              
Matsuai                        millar
posada                         varitek
williams                        scrub
olerud                           scrub                  Not even close
cairo                              scrub

[fightonusc]

OK, let's break the teams down position by position:

LF: Manny vs. Sheffield - Sheff's a great hitter, but Manny's one of the top five (maybe three) hitters in baseball today. Neither are great defensive players.

Advatange Boston

CF: Johnny Damon vs. Hideki Matsui - This is very, very close. Matsui has a little more power, but Damon has a lot more speed. This is probably about even, although I would lean towards Damon if I had to.

Push

RF: Kevin Millar vs. Bernie Williams - They are both pretty similar in terms of HRs and RBIs, but Millar is hitting 39 points higher than Williams, and his OPS is 76 points higher.

Advantage Boston

3B: Bill Mueller vs. Alex Rodriguez - Bill Mueller's good for what the team needs, and I think A-Rod is slightly overrated, but this still is pretty easy to call.

Advantage New York

SS: Pokey Reese vs. Derek Jeter - See above.

Advantage New York

2B: Mark Bellhorn vs. Miguel Cairo - Bellhorn's got some pop for a second baseman, but doesn't hit for a lot of average; Cairo is a good contact hitter with limited pop. But even without a high BA, Bellhorn still has a higher on-base percentage than Cairo. But then again, Bellhorn is a strikeout machine. Hell, it's a draw.

Push

1B: Doug Mientkiewicz vs. John Olerud - Olerud's lost a lot as a hitter, but Mientkiewicz is strictly a defensive specialist, and I'm just listing offense here.

Advantage Yankees

C: Jason Varitek vs. Jorge Posada - Again, Varitek is has a slight advantage in BA, while Posada has the edge in HRs and RBI. Since their OPS is almost identical, I'm calling this a draw as well.

Push

DH: David Ortiz vs. Jason Giambi - Who knows if Giambi's ever going to fully recover from whatever the hell he had. Meanwhile, Ortiz is putting up sick, sick numbers.

Advantage Boston

So, we wind up with a 3-3 tie, with three pushes. And frankly, if I had to lean one way or the other, I'd give the Red Sox the slight edge at CF and 2B and the Yankees the slight edge at C, making it 5-4 in favor of the Red Sox. So, unless you're completely myopic and also know nothing about baseball, this is hardly "not even close".

[dvldog]

This type of analysis is fun to do, but baseball teams need a certain amount of cinergy to be successful.

[Felonious Gunk]

This type of analysis is fun to do, but baseball teams need a certain amount ofcinergy  to be successful.

What the hell does a power company have to do with baseball?  (BTW, that's the company that serves most of Indiana and Cincy)

[dvldog]

synergy

[malnuboy]

The Red Sox need a manager who will pull Pedro after he some how gets out of the 7th unscathed when his last 3 pitches went a combined 1300 feet. Comes in in the 8th and Matsui goes yard?

[poolstroke72]

  Well fightonusc you have the wrong match ups for someone who thinks he knows baseball.Sheffield is right field and manny is left field.Matsuai is left field and damon is center.Bernie is center and nixon is right so you messed up the whole outfield but your human.You forgot Giambi against  any of your first baseman,not olerud,where you been all year you forgot about Giambi.A-rod better than mueller,Jeter better than any shortstop and Cairo is as good as your second baseman and Posada is better than Varitek.So that is 5-0 around the Infield and I'll give you 2-1 in the outfield.So that is 6-2 Yankees,like I said not even close,end of story.Get your facts straight if your going to go head to head on a battle about baseball,as I can see you don't know a dam thing.Oh by the way like I said earlier ,Pedro cant beat the Yankees,once again he choked.

[Bonny]

-Gotta go with Varitek over Posada
-Giambi is sick
-Bellhorn over Cairo
I have had about enough of Yanks/Red Sox. F'n espn
Twins and A's going to be tougher than anyone in a short series thanks to pitching

[fknmclane]

Wow, quite the thread and discussion.

Poolstroker, please learn to type the English language.  Your posts are absolutely ridiculous and just about impossible to read.  Most people use periods and two spaces after them when finishing a sentence.

As for who's the better team, Yanks or Red Sox, it looks like the Yankees are the better team right now.  They've taken three out of four from the Sox and have beaten Pedro twice in a week (if Francona could pull his head out of his ass, this may not have happened.)

As you all know, I'm a huge Yankee fan.  I had to deal with the "buying their team" crap for the entire 2001 Series from hypocritical DBacks fans.  Think about it.  An expansion team going all the way in 4 years?  One answer:  $$$$$$.  I'm not bitter, I swear.

Anyway...the Yanks used to have a great farm system. Their organization was run very well.  The shit hit the fan when Gonzo's blooper made it into center.  Since then, the idiot Boss has decided to take more control and once again is running the franchise into the ground.  He needs to get suspended again. That way, Cashman and Michael can do their thing and the Yanks will be solid for another decade.

Okay, the playoffs.  The Yanks have a great team on paper and plenty of power, but they don't really have any hitters, guys like Tino or Brosius or O'Neill, guys who move the runner or work the count.  It's all or nothing with this team.  The Angels and Marlins proved this simple fact and the Yanks have done nothing to improve on their deficiencies.

Having said all that, you still can't count them out, as their pitchers are coming around and pitching well, and the team seems to be gelling, taking charge, realizing they are the Yankees, and everyone is too busy staring at their pinstripes.

And let's not forget...the Red Sox are still the Red Sox.

Sorry for the ridiculously long post.

[BigVanilla]

  tell me anothe rteam that can state that fact,four great players on there team that came from their farm system

Maddox
Wood
Prior
Clement
Zambrano
Patterson

Not to mention the major-league caliber players down in AAA, who don't  have anywhere to go until the current roster retires or gets traded away.

[Pat Sheridan]

i always look into the yankee dugout and wonder how many players came up through their farm system and haven't been bought by Steinspender.

Give Keith Foulke and Johnny Damon back to the A's, give David Ortiz back to the Twins, give Pedro Martinez back to the Expos, give Manny Ramirez back to the Indians, and give Curt Schilling back to the Diamondbacks, and THEN you can start bitching about the Yankees "buying" players, hypocrite

[BeefMaster]

Minnesota has a shot in the dark,no hitting at all.

Yeah... that explains why the Twins took 2 of 3 from them last month.  The Twins are overmatched in terms of hitting, but they have better pitching and better defense, especially in the outfield.

You forgot Giambi against  any of your first baseman,not olerud,where you been all year you forgot about Giambi.

Do you even watch baseball?  Since the Yankees acquired Olerud, Giambi has DH-ed pretty much every game he's played.  I looked through the last week's box scores, just to be sure, and either Olerud or Clark started every game at first, while Giambi DH-ed every game he played.  I'd guess Giambi will only play first in the postseason if the Yankees make the World Series (where there's no DH for 3 games), or if Clark and Olerud are dead.

[poolstroke72]

Sorry,       If      my     typing     and      english    offends         you,      is       that     all         you    do      is    rip       people         on     here.        I        do        not       use       a       keyboard        often      and     sorry     I'm        not        as    perfect      as     you.     Remember ,         there's         somethings    some         people         do         better        than     other     people.     Your      100           percent   right though ,     I'm    a         awful        typer ,      and      my      grammmar        and      punctuation       does    suck,        I 'll    have       to    live       with     that      my        whole        life.          Well,         I         hope        this           spacing            is    surfice        for       you,            once           again        I        apologize.

[fknmclane]

Sorry,       If      my     typing     and      english    offends         you,      is       that     all         you    do      is    rip       people         on     here.        I        do        not       use       a       keyboard        often      and     sorry     I'm        not        as    perfect      as     you.     Remember ,         there's         somethings    some         people         do         better        than     other     people.     Your      100           percent   right though ,     I'm    a         awful        typer ,      and      my      grammmar        and      punctuation       does    suck,        I 'll    have       to    live       with     that      my        whole        life.          Well,         I         hope        this           spacing            is    surfice        for       you,            once           again        I        apologize.

This was PM'd to me.  Anyone else?  I can't stop laughing.