Lyon-for-Sauerbeck, with prospects on both sides, happened today. Plus, TSN is quoting Gammons as saying that Escobar-for-Lilly-and-Blanton could happen.

Is there anything not to like about Joe Blanton?

20GS 126IP 106H 6HR 18BB 130K

I know, it's low-A ball. It's still much, much better than Sandy Nin, and Nin's not a bad prospect.

Blanton has 130 Ks (and just 18 walks) in 126 IP in High-A, so that would be very exciting if it's true.

My bad -- he's still in the Midwest League, but those are awesome numbers anywhere.

According to Yahoo, tonight's game has been rained out. Looking out my window (OK, one of the partners' windows), it looks like a gloomy New York evening indeed.

Regarding the trade, can I ask a really stupid question: Why would the A's do that?

I have a hard time believing they would trade Lilly for Escobar and I have a really hard time believing Lilly and a very nice pitching prospect for Escobar.

Anyone wanna share any insight that I may be missing here?

Escobar to the A's? Why do the A's need ANOTHER pitcher? Granted, getting rid of Lilly is addition by subtraction, but the A's need starting pitching like the Twins needed an OF/DH. I hope this is the beginning of Beane's dealing, because the A's won't make the playoffs with their current offensive composition.

I would hate to get rid of Blanton, too. Those numbers are rather nice, to be sure.

http://economics.about.com
Aaron:

Escobar SNWLPct = .620
Lilly SNWLPct = .407
(replacement level = .425)

I think that has a lot to do with it.

I think JP would win that trade easily if it happens, so I'm not 100% sure that it will. Maybe the Jays gave to give up a PTBNL or something. I imagine they'll also have to pay the salary difference.

I'm also pretty sure that Billy is working on getting an outfielder. Why the A's don't put together a couple of decent platoons is beyond me.

Mike

Just to continue a thought from another thread, where I tantalizingly gave the league's top 3 in DIPS by starters... here's the rest of the list

NYY 3.76
Bos 3.97
Oak 4.31
ChW 4.46
Bal 4.48
Tor 4.49
Min 4.65
Sea 4.66
Cle 4.78
Det 4.81
KC 4.84
Ana 5.12
Tex 5.47
TB 5.53

Now I think that's interesting.

Escobar SNWLPct = .620
Lilly SNWLPct = .407
(replacement level = .425)

I think that has a lot to do with it.

Okay, Kelvin has been a little better than I thought this year and Lilly has been a little worse, but that .620 is based on what, like a dozen starts? Kelvim's career ERA is still well above 4.50, he's about to get expensive.

Lilly is much cheaper and, despite his struggles this year, seems like a player with a lot more "upside." Plus, Beane traded quite a bit to get him just last year and seemed to be pretty excited about getting him.

I could see Lilly for Escobar and I could even see Blanton for Escobar, but I don't see why the A's would do Blanton and Lilly for Escobar.

Those aren't adjusted. Robert's handy-dandy PFs are in the archives from last week... I should do that. Then do bullpens, and the NL.

Good list, Craig. And you've discovered a pitching category Texas isn't last in!

Mike, why are you so high on Lilly? Have you seen him? I will offer the least scientific explanation I can give about him, even worse than my anti-Jeremy-Giambi stance: Lilly is a wuss. Plain and simple, he's a wuss. He won't listen to his coaches, either, which I realize is somewhat paraodoxical to his wussiness, but he's vastly overrated.

The Jays don't need another pitcher who will be useful if a large volume of things break right. I've said that before, and I'll keep saying it. Blanton is nice, however, because the more Grade A prospects you have, the greater the chance more of them will actually work out, rather than going the Brien Taylor route.

Gammons says the A's are having a hard time getting a bat so they're going to try and shut everyone out.

Anyway, who cares what their motive is. The Jays would be getting a 1st round pick that has great numbers.

That team DIPS is interesting. I knew Lidle's DIPS was a lot better than his actual ERA, but it looks like the team as a whole is affected as well. Can we blame that all on Stewart?

http://economics.about.com
1. Lilly *has* been awful. He does have potential, but it does look like he's going to go Bruce Chen. That being said:

2. I think offering Escobar arbitration is a bad idea, so I'd like to see him go now. I think he's overvalued right now, personally.

3. The Jays could use another pitching prospect.

Mike

...which raises the question that under Randy Smith simply could not be asked: Did the Tigers actually win this trade?

At the time, I think most saw the Yankees coming out ahead because they picked up "ace" Jeff Weaver, while there were whispers about Carlos Pena after being moved by Oaktown so easily. Now, Weaver's in the dump, Lilly has been injured/ineffective, and while Pena has only been so-so, Detroit also has German and Bonderman to show for it.

Score one for the little guy.

Plus, Beane traded quite a bit to get him (Lilly) just last year and seemed to be pretty excited about getting him.

He got rid of Pena pretty quick and he was probably more excited about him. Just shows that he's not stubborn and is willing to cut his losses.

Start the game! Yankeeography is killing me!

Just shows that he's not stubborn and is willing to cut his losses.

Hello.

Given how many related trades Beane has made in a very short period of time, I think it's fair to classify Oakland's return (assuming the Escobar trade happens) as Escobar and Durazo for Pena, Bonderman and German.

Having said that, Lurker, I do agree that on balance the Tigers win the three-way exchange. Certainly, the Yankees finished third.

Yeah, I think we can safely ignore it when a GM claims to be excited about acquiring a player. After all, you won't, for myriad reasons, ever hear this conversation:

BILLY BEANE: I know we traded a bushel for Ted Lilly, but we're not very high on him. Oh, well, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And we surely lost this deal.
JG: Thanks for the honesty, Mr. Beane.
BILLY BEANE: My pleasure. Now would you quit bagging on Terrence Long? I was high on him, too, you know.
JG: I'll do my best.

I think Beane is, to a certain degree, stubborn. He'll stick with players long past the point of them turning slumps around, as he did a few years ago with both John Jaha and Matt Stairs. It was fairly obvious they were not going to get healthy (Jaha) or start hitting (Stairs), but Beane stayed the course. This year, as has been well documented, it's been Beane's reluctance to admit he's got a problem at 1B/LF/RF/DH/2B. Other than that, the A's line-up is a rock.

I hate rain.

That trade is bizarre. I don't think SNWLPct is very accurate either, it doesn't account for what a flake Kelvim is.

I have often heard people say about Dan Duquette that he was good at finding low-cost guys to do a decent job (like Troy O'Leary), but that he was not good as realizing when it was time to get rid of those guys and find new ones.

Do you think Beane has the same problem? He does a nice job at finding the Hattebergs and Saenzes and Jahas and Starses, etc...but he doesn't do a great job of getting rid of them and finding new ones?

I really don't have a feeling either way, but I'm curious what you think.

BTW, if you haven't noticed, I've been posting more and more on Da Box lately. I enjoy the discussions here and it's a lot better than Primer lately. Hope you guys don't mind.

Aaron, of course we don't mind! We're thrilled. I'm sort of the West Coast guy, you can tackle the Midwest issues, and the East is already taken care of. We'll cover all of baseball yet.

As you can see by my post above yours, you are spot on with your assessment of Beane.

I should also say that DH has not been a problem, though I lumped it in with the other four dead spots in the A's lineup. Durazo, while not flashing the power expected of him, has not been a drag on the offense that others have been.

Is the game cancelled for tonight, or is it just a delay?

Aaron, if anything you should be posting here more. Who needs your own blog when you have Da Box? ;-)

This rumour has got me thinking. It doesn't seem to me that Escobar will become a type "A" free agent this off-season. Is there any chance that the Jays do this trade with the A's and then turn around and sign him in the offseason? If there is, the trade would come down to Lilly/Blanton to the Jays and 2.5 months of Escobar plus Toronto's first rounder to the A's.

BTW, I am getting the draft pick information from here.

Rained out, Pistol. If the game turns out to be meaningful for the Yankees (or, dare we dream the impossible dream, the Jays) later in the season, they'll make it up on a mutual offday. Monday, September 8 seems to be the best fit.

Damn. I have several Jays on my fantasy team. I need the stats!!

The compensation for the Jays signing Escobar, if traded, would be the same whether he was a type A or B free agent. It's the team losing the player that gets a sandwich pick - no one actually loses a second pick.

Of course, Oakland would have to offer arbitration for there to be compensation, and if they did there's a good chance Escobar would take it.

Brent,

That (Escobar to Oakland, then re-sign him) is exactly what Mike WIlner on the FAN was saying as a definite possibility. If this is an option, I'd say go for it; we don't need Escobar now, and maybe he tanks in Oakland so we can get him back *really* cheap.

Well, I guess I should start listening to the FAN.

By the way, the Box is hoppin'. It's been a tough month for the Jays, but we've racked up approximately 25,000 hits in the last 30 days.

Aaron,

Kelvim Escobar's numbers as a starter since 2001:

Year   GS   IP     H   HR  BB   K    ERA   SNPct  IP/GS  $H   $HR  $BB  $K
2001   13   77.1   77  4   31   65   3.18  .650   5.9   .321 .012 .091 .191
2003   11   68.0   53  3   25   60   3.72  .620   6.2   .273 .010 .089 .213
Total  24  145.1  130  7   56  125   3.43  .636   6.1   .300 .011 .090 .201

Escobar was moved out of the rotation after 2001 after suffering paresthesias (numbness and/or tingling; I can't remember which) in his pitching hand in his last start of the season, in which he posted a 1.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K line against Tampa Bay.

Ted Lilly's numbers as a starter since 2001:

Year   GS   IP     H   HR  BB   K    ERA   SNPct  IP/GS  $H   $HR  $BB  $K
2001   21  104.0  111  17  48   97   5.63  .382   5.0   .359 .036 .102 .206
2002   16   90.0   73  14  29   69   3.90  .534   5.6   .281 .038 .078 .185
2003   19  110.1  116  20  40   85   5.22  .407   5.8   .339 .041 .082 .175
Total  56  305.1  300  51  117  251  4.95  .434   5.5   .329 .038 .088 .189

Lilly has pitched in better pitchers' parks than Escobar. Their walk rates are roughly equal, but Escobar strikes out a few more batters and gives up less than a third as many home runs. He also goes deeper into games.

You can argue about selectively quoting stats, but Ted Lilly didn't do anything in the majors until 2001, so going back further isn't really going to change the comparison. Moreover, I think that anyone who has ever watched Escobar pitch will tell you that the key to his success is his mental state; for whatever reason, he just seems more suited to starting than to relieving, so I feel justified in throwing out his relief stats. You are free to disagree with this assertion if you want -- I can't imagine how one would prove it. However, even if you throw Escobar's relief innings into the mix, his record is still better than Lilly's.

Escobar is half a year younger than Lilly.

I imagine that Lilly's rights are controlled for the next three years, while Escobar is a free agent at the end of the season. To me this is the only reason why one would want Lilly over Escobar. In terms of upside, as you say, it's not particularly close, but in Escobar's favor, not Lilly's. I see to reason to expect Lilly to bring his home run rate down, and until he does so he'll never be an above-average starter.

Cheers,

John

I think that Escobar is the better starter, handily. Unless Blanton has a goood chance of being an impact guy by the time he's 25, I really hope JP runs for cover and doesn't make this deal.

Kelvim may be a "flake" but I'll take a flake who throws 96 and can give you 120 pitches as a starter or any number of innings as a reliever over a same aged pitcher who gives up a ridiculously high number of homeruns (and I don't much care which arm he throws with). Lilly's one major drawback his whole career has been the longball...in a full season's worth of innings he'd approach FORTY homers given up. I don't care how good your strikeout rate, K/BB, or mysterious lefty pitcher mojo is, you can't be a useful pitcher with that kind of homer rate. And i think

Kelvim Escobar wins out over Ted Lilly in talent, versatility, and durability hands down. For a team that's in a serious playoff race, he could be a difference making piece of the puzzle. Joe Blanton is a good prospect...but it will will most likely be another two years before he throws a single Major League pitch. In other words, projecting his usefulness in the big leagues at this stage of the game is a sizeable gamble, despite his excellent numbers in low-A ball.

Blanton would make the trade palatable from the Jays standpoint because the only thing Lilly would really give them is a 27 year old guy with major league experience who they control for 3 years. He isn't more than a 3rd starter at most and probably a 4th or 5th long term. Cory Lidle is probably a better pitcher than him.

Though not quite the "Hattebergs and Saenzes" you're speaking to, does getting rid of Ben Grieve and Bill Koch count as a preventive trade before they're skills either eroded or became more obviously flawed?

For me, Escobar should get a pretty decent contract offer in the offseason, both in dollars & years, and one I doubt Ricciardi would wish to match.

I think the missing information in this story is the assessment that JP has made about the advisability and ability to sign Escobar beyond this year. I think this deal is a no brainer (in fact so much so that I can't help but think that there's more to the deal or that its complete crap) if Escobar is unsignable beyond this year by Toronto. Why wouldn't you take Lilly and Blanton in exchange for the next 13 Escobar starts? You wouldn't if you truly believed that you were in the race this year and I do not think that JP in his heart of hearts believes that. If JP wanted to sign Escobar past this year and thinks he could do it, then the deal becomes one of judging Escobar's upside against this package and it becomes much more equal.

Against that package plus a draft pick or two. Escobar will mostly definately be signed by someone in this pitching poor environment. You also have to take into account that Escobar at this point might be the best pitcher available on the market. Other than Cory Lidle, what other starters are even available?

Sucks to have no game tonight, but Halladay probably has a better chance of preserving his streak tomorrow at home against Chicago. You'd think missing Colon and Loaiza would be a good thing, but from what I can tell they're in for just as tough a time against Buehrle and Jon Garland, who inexplicably has put up great numbers against the Jays. In 7 games (5 starts) he's 4-1, 32/10 K-BB in 38 IP, along with a 2.13 ERA and 1.08 WHIP career vs. Toronto.

I'm glad at least that the game didn't start 2 hours later, the last thing I want is Rob Faulds broadcasting the game being the reason that Sportsnet delays airing the Manchester United/Celtic game tonight. Somehow baseball and soccer are my two favorite sports, yet most people who like one are totally apathetic to the other. Anyway, I encourage everyone to check it out if they're looking for some kind of athletic competition on TV tonight and don't like watching the Braves, but I realize that might be a bit of a stretch given the nature of the audience here!

Sidney Ponson and Kris Benson (either of whom I'd like to see the Jays pick up except that the asking price for Ponson appears to be ludicrously huge). Maybe Lidle and a lower level prospect for Benson can happen.

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus was on the FAN with Wilner tonight and he was saying that Beane wants Escobar in the pen, not in the rotation, which makes sense given the Big 3 and now Harden. Oakland would use him like Minny used to use Santana, or how Shields is used in Anaheim...come in for anywhere between 2-4 innings three times a week.

He does usually perform well in that situation...maybe Paul is reading this site. I believe I suggested that at the beginning of this season. ;)

Can it be assumed correctly that if Pete Gammons is circulating that this 'imminent trade' is about to happen, he is doing so to bring about the end-all-be-all final offers from the likes of the Cardinals (Harden) and the Giants (Williams, et al)? Either way, if this is a set deal, someone's still feeling out someone else before comitting to another round of Jays/A's 'The Kissing Cousins'.

If the Jays can get a really good package for Escobar, great. If not, I hope they offer him arbitration, and I won't be disappointed if he accepts. His counting stats won't be anything special, so he might not be able to win a big arbitration award. The Jays need to be adding good starters, not subtracting them, and I don't see anyone besides Halladay, Arnold, and Thurman having much chance of making a positive contribution next year.

As I said in my earlier post, I don't think Lilly is anywhere near as good as Escobar. More to the point, Lilly has been such a mediocre pitcher so far in his career that I don't think controlling his rights for three arbitration-eligible years has much value. I'd definitely rather have the compensation pick(s) than Ted Lilly. Lilly and Blanton for Escobar sounds OK as long as Escobar is only expected to bring in one draft pick. If Escobar is deemed to be worth a first-rounder plus a supplemental pick, then you're swapping a first-rounder for Blanton (a fair deal, although you save the $1-2 million signing bonus) and a supplemental pick plus three months of Escobar for three years of Lilly. That part of the deal is terrible; I don't see how Lilly is even worth a supplemental pick, considering JP's drafting record. How many of you guys would trade Bush or Banks for Lilly straight up?

Regarding Blanton: those are good numbers, but he's a 22-year old first-rounder in low-A ball. He's a good prospect, but he ain't no Cole Hamels. I'd say that the Jays' last two first-rounders (Adams and Hill) are doing about as well as Blanton, as are their last two second-rounders (Bush and Banks). I am unfamiliar with the scoring environment in the Midwest League, so if it is an extreme hitter's league then I am underestimating Blanton's value.

I'm sort of hoping that Aaron can become our Midwest bureau chief.

Hey, yo, you AL-focused ZLCers, all this talk about trades that might possibly be imminent according to Peter "John Wetteland will be a Brave within the hour" Gammons, nobody has thoughts on the actually-already-made big trade of the day? Or did I miss that in another thread somewhere?

Cubs get Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez and cash; Pirates get Jose Hernandez, minor league pitcher Matt Bruback and a player to be named.

I don't know anything about Bruback and of course the proverbial PTBNL could swing this the other way, but is there any downside to this trade for the Cubbies?

Lofton fills in the rest of the year as Patterson heals. Ramirez might finally be the Cubs first real long-term 3B since Santo (sorry, Ken Reitz). And the NL Central seems very winnable.

The Pirates, in the last 30 hours, have traded their 3B, CF, closer and top setup guy. Kris Benson has his bags packed, I assume. And Reggie Sanders for that matter.

Has anyone who made an All-Star team one season changed teams three times before the next trading deadline? Hernandez: Brewers - Rockies - Cubs - Pirates.

I think it was a must-do for the Cubs. I think the NL central is a three team race. Duh. In the end I like the Astros though, and I think they could be real tough in the post-season with that great bullpen of theirs.

Ramirez is a real coup for the Cubs, and they no longer have to play footsie with Florida to try and land Lowell.

Jose Hernandez in a pitcher's park? Yeesh.

As for the potential deal with the A's, I have to totally agree with Aaron but I wonder if there is another player (Catalanato?) involved in the deal we haven't heard yet. If Cat was packaged with Escobar I could see that making a lot more sense. And it would also explain the Kielty deal a little more. The A's could certainly use Cats bat, heck, they could use his glove too.

Wasn't sure where to put this, so I figured I'd put it on the active thread...

This article from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune was mentioned in the Transaction Oracle thread about the Stewart/Kielty trade. According to the article, the PTBNL will be "a minor league player who's not on the Blue Jays' 40-man roster."

As mentioned in the discussion on TO, this could mean one of two very different things:

1. The Twins will get to choose any player who is not on the Jays' 40 man roster.
2. The Twins will get to choose any player who has accumulated enough service time that he needs to be protected on the 40 man roster or risk being exposed to the Rule 5 draft. Essentially, this would give the Twins a free Rule 5 pick from the Jays.

If it's the latter, then it doesn't really matter -- any player who the Twins would take would likely be taken in Rule 5 anyway. If it's the former, then the PTBNL might turn out to be a significant part of the deal.

John N -

Actually, I could interpret "a minor league player who's not on the 40-man roster" as a bunch of guys JP and Ryan agreed upon and Ryan can select which one he wants later. I don't think it's like a free Rule 5 pick or Ryan has carte blanche to pick up anybody not on the 40-man. But hey, I could be wrong.

I doubt that the Twins would have the option of anyone not on the 40 man roster. IIRC, you don't have to put minor leaguers on the 40 man roster until after their 3rd minor league season. (Correct me if I'm wrong there. Also, this is also another advantage to drafting college players.)

If that's the case you'd have most of the Jays top prospects available (Gross, Griffin, Arnold, Adams, Bush, etc...). Given the level of prospects being traded this year I can't imagine that's the case.

Pistol: Players don't need to be added to the 40-man roster until they have three years of minor-league service (four if they were younger than 19 on the June 5 immediately prior to their signing.)

I agree that it is somewhat far-fetched that the Twins might have their pick of Gross, Griffin, Arnold, Adams, Bush, Hill, Vermilyea, Banks, ...

If the PTBNL was anyone significant, he probably would've been named at the time of the trade. In deals like this, the PTBNLs are almost always longshot prospects.

I like that deal a lot for the Cubs in terms of filling their precise needs for the immediate present; and possibly long term with Ramirez. They give up an infielder they didn't ever need and a good but not great AA prospect in Bruback (125 ip, 120 h, 10 hr, 33 bb, 90 k, 15 hit batsmen). The Pirates need to get a pretty good PTBNL for this deal to make sense for them although the market for Lofton was probably pretty limited anyway.

Still the Cubs can easily afford this deal with their deep farm system and pitching heavy drafts. I like it from their standpoints, injecting two everyday bats into the lineup without giving up a significant 25 man roster player.

Not enough Net access lately, so I keep coming into all these threads late....

Granting that this is a Gammons rumour and could be made out of whole cloth, it does sound plausible. If it goes through, though, I can't say I'm in favour of it. I agree with the line of thinking that says Escobar flat-out has more talent and more upside than Lilly, and will be the better pitcher for the next three years. Not knowing everything that's going on behind the scenes, nonetheless if this is the best that's being offered for Escobar, I'd still keep him around and offer him arbitration for next year.

It's not that I'm totally sold on Kelvim, even though he finally looks like he's turned the corner as a pitcher. He's still highly mercurial, he has the troubling numb-arm history, and there's the little matter of a pending lawsuit against him. Hell, considering where he was in May, it's amazing the Jays have gotten him to the point where they can receive any kind of talent for him. But he remains a very combustible commodity, high risk and high reward. I'm risk-averse by nature, so I might be inclined to ship him out --- but I'm not a major-league GM, and intelligent risk is part of the formula of a winning club. JP knows Escobar and his situation better than I do, so if he's decided he doesn't fit into the team's plans, I'm OK with that. But I would like to see the ballclub improved by dealing him away, and I'm doubtful the trade as floated will accomplish that.

Ted Lilly, to me, has red flags all around him. If this trade goes through, the Blue Jays will be Lilly's fifth team. He went from the Dodgers to the Expos (for Carlos Perez, inter alia), then to the Yankees (the Hideki Irabu deal), and thence to the A's (the afore-mentioned Weaver trade). It seems like every team that's acquired him (and he's been acquired by some smart front offices) has had great expectations when he arrived, which quickly turn to disappointment as he's eventually dealt away again. I think Mike Moffatt's comp of Bruce Chen is chillingly accurate. Lilly started this year strong under mechanical suggestions and close guidance from Rick Peterson, but then apparently went back to his old ways thereafter and got lit up after April. Nothing against Gil Patterson, but I'm not sure he's going to have any more success getting Lilly to harness his potential. If the guy doesn't get it after being traded to his third team, you have to wonder if he's ever going to get it. Escobar may be a problem child, but I see no reason to deal him for another one.

As for Blanton, he was one of the A's seven first-round picks last year, and those certainly are impressive numbers. But they're posted at Low Class-A, and Joe is turning 23 in December. By comparison, Vince Perkins (22 in September) put up better numbers at equivalent-level Charleston earlier this year, but has struggled more than a little upon his promotion to Dunedin. They're not good comps, really -- Perkins' achilles heel is control, while it appears to be Blanton's strength -- but the point is that Low-A pitchers are huge gambles. Blanton is close to being a bad-body pitcher (6'3", 225, and it ain't all muscle), and his violent delivery has in the past raised concerns about his mechanics and health. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd consider Blanton a nice trinket that could develop into something more, but that otherwise I wouldn't consider him a dealmaker.

So basically, I'm not real high on the trade as suggested. Granted, Lilly is cheaper, and it never hurts to have another arm on the farm, but JP's best deals thus far have managed to improve the team, bring it one step closer to contention, and I don't really see how the Blue Jays are a better team with Ted Lilly taking Escobar's spot in the rotation. If Gammons is talking through his hat again, then this is all just useless air, but if the deal as described is accurate, then this is my take on it. I have, of course, been wrong more than once before. We shall see.

Oh yeah ... unless the Cubs' PTBNL is Juan Cruz, then the Pirates got beaten over the head with this trade. They'll rerget giving up on Aramis Ramirez, I suspect -- Dusty Baker might actually be just the manager to finally get through to him.

And we've all forgotten to mention the biggest trade of all --- Jesse Orosco is back in New York!

Aren't we forgetting the most important thing, in this thread?

We just witnessed another SWEEEEEEEEEP in Yankee Stadium! :-)

Jordan, I also made the Bruce Chen comparison before, either here or in my A's column. I'm thinking it was my A's space, because I recall the usual firestorm of e-mails afterward. I get lots of those. And apparently you missed my exclusive analysis of Ted, where I didn't bother with is stinky numbers and simply called him a wussy. I'm being polite, mind you, because young children, my mother, or John Ashcroft may be reading.

Blanton's latest outing: 7 IP, 4 H, 14 K, 1 BB. Not bad. Midland coming up?

Robbie Neyer's latest comment on Beane:

"And then there's Beane. I think the world of Billy, but if he can fix what ails the A's lineup, we should let him rule the world."

Gitz, back to you.

I won't get involved in a tete-a-tete with Rob Neyer. Not only is he (obviously) the superior writer, but he actually speaks to Billy Beane, and also to Keith Law and J.P. Ricciardi.

The numbers I ran above, adjusted using 2003 PFs...

Bos 3.71
NYY 4.00
Tor 4.12
KC 4.28
ChW 4.33
Min 4.51
Oak 4.69
Bal 4.87
Sea 5.02
Cle 5.04
Det 5.07
Tex 5.11
Ana 5.28
TB 5.47

This list looks almost completely unrecognizable.

Whoops.

The PF adjustment adjusts twice for BABIP park factor. Damn.

Craig, the moral of the story? Our bullpen really sucks.

Moral: our pitching isn't as bad as it looks.

BTW, Craig,

I'll have event park factors posted some time today.

It's hard to take park factors seriously.

Why?

Because they lie.

They don't lie; people sometimes lie. And people sometimes make mistakes.