104 thoughts on “February 7, 2013: Day Ten”

  1. Has anyone noticed that the Twitter Feeds from Real Dick Bremer and Fake Dick Bremer are pretty much indistinguishable?

    vs.

      1. i wonder if any personality out there maintains their own "not" or "fake" page in addition to their real account. that would be extremely awesome.

        1. I was wondering about that re: Bremer, but if that were the case, they wouldn't be so similar, would they?
          Unless Bremer forgets from time to time which acct he's logged in to.
          I see that Fake Bremer follows real Bremer, but real Bremer does not follow Fake Bremer.

  2. The 1978 World Series got off to a bizarre start. In Game One, the Empire Builders built a 9-3 lead through five innings only to lose 15-10 on a bullpen implosion. In Game Two, Denver jumped out to a 7-1 lead through the top of the fourth, only to lose 9-7. After that chaos, Bert allowed two early runs but threw a complete game in Game Three with the Empire Builders on top 6-2.

      1. a lot of fans think it is dead and the show will never be the same because Sony fired the shows creator Dan Harmon after last season

      2. They've tried to kill it, but there's always so much fan backlash that they keep bringing it back. I'd have to think this is the final season.

        1. Community got a 1.8 in the key demographic in the initial ratings from last night. If it keeps that up, that's pretty much a certain renewal number given the flops the rest of NBC's schedule has seen so far in 2013.

  4. Heads up to the Fantasy Baseball keeper league participants - I'll be getting out the eligible keepers by team shortly, and I'll let you know when the deadline to decide you keepers is once yahoo opens the leagues.

    1. Speaking of which, I think we should change the stats tracked; I really dislike using nigh useless stats like pitcher wins, RBIs, and saves. I have a couple ideas, but would like to see what others think first.

      1. As the owner of a consistently crappy team, I am in favor of any scoring changes proposed.

      2. I'm okay with that if everyone else is. What I'll propose is we wait for yahoo to open and I'll renew the league. On that site, I'll post a poll with the available stats and each owner can pick 6 for each category. Once the poll closes, I'll take a look at the results and change the league setup. I think the categories can be changed before the draft, but if not, I can delete the league and set up a new one with the new stats.

        If most people are happy with the stats we have or if less than half the league responds to the poll, I'll keep the set up the same.

        1. That's fine, though I'm not sure there should necessarily be six scoring categories. For position players, I was thinking of using AVG, OBP, SLG, and net SB. I would really like to add in fielding, but I am not sure what to use for that yet. For pitchers, it's a bit harder. Perhaps ERA, SO, BB, and something else. HR maybe? I'm stuck on coming up with a fifth if position players have fielding added.

          1. If we don't have Saves as a stat, then there is basically zero reason to use relievers other than to have someone in the lineup for that spot. I think it totally takes away from the strategy to eliminate that stat. The same can be said for middle relievers if we don't have Wins and/or Holds. They may be lousy stats at evaluating player results, but I think they add to the strategy (and the fun) of fantasy baseball.

            1. Not true. Relievers will have a better ERA and fewer walks and home runs. Starters will rack up strikeouts but will fall well behind in the other three stats.

              1. I could leave the Reliever spot empty and give up even fewer walks and home runs. As for ERA, relievers pitch less innings than a starter and then you generally have many more starters on your roster, so the reliever innings have a minimal impact on your overall ERA.

                1. Point taken. However, relievers pitched 34% of all innings in the AL (probably slightly higher in the NL). Overall AL ERA was 4.09; starters contributed a 4.37 ERA compared to relievers' 3.55. They do make an impact. I'm fine with a reliever counting stat *grumbles*.

                  Looking at the Yahoo stat list, it seems they allow SO/9 and BB/9. That is something the relievers can impact measurably. No HR/9 though. Yahoo, you're killing me with this stupid stat list. Who [redacted] cares about triples allowed or pitch count.

                    2. All right, after listening to this discussion and careful consideration, I've decided on the following categories:

                      Batters: Sacrifice Hits, Sacrifice Flys, Hit By Pitch, Hitting for the Cycle, Grand Slam Home Runs, and Catcher Interference (for the defense)

                      Pitchers: Hit Batters, Pitch Count, Quality Starts, Triples Allowed, Intentional Walks, and Total Batters Faced

                    3. Replace Catcher Interferance with Bunts and you've got DicknBerts wet dream fantasy league.

                    4. We're missing Texas-leaguers and HotBp*.

                      *Hustling on the Basepaths- what did you think it stood for?

            2. I don't have a problem with Wins and Saves- they are crappy stats, but they are easy to calculate (relatively) and you can target the players who are most likely to pile up wins and saves.

              Holds suck. The formula is weird and there are 2-4 players in each bullpen who might rack up holds in any given game. The value of middle relievers (to me) is definitely tied in more to high K rates and low ERA's, with vultured wins an added bonus.

            1. I don't like the hits part. I could be swayed though. To me, strikeouts, walks, and home runs are musts. After that, I'm not sure. As socal points out, there needs to be a reason to have relievers rather than all starters. I included ERA to encompass the "other" part besides FIP, since I felt it best included the "other".

    3. The league is up and invites have been sent out. If you don't have an email with the invite information, let me know at robzk with the yahoo email provider.

      1. I think the rookie keeper threshold should be lowered slightly (assuming I am reading the rules correctly). Case in point: Bryce Harper. If he were to be kept for 2013, it wouldn't count against the three-year maximum. Perhaps cutting the threshold in half, roughly? 300-400 PAs and 100-125 IP/40-50 games.

    1. Do you have any information on just how accurate ZIPS is? Just looking at those projections, I'm not overly impressed with it.

      1. Rates are pretty good; I wouldn't trust playing time at all, simply because it is so difficult to project.

    2. Of course it isn't when they still have Nishi on the roster and predict him to play a full season along with Dozier, Carroll, Florimon and Escobar. They obviously don't know how to predict playing time since there's no way you get that many PAs for those players, even if Nishi was actually playing for the Twins. They also have Pavano, Capps and Oliveros (who I believe had TJ surgery) pitching for the Twins.

      1. ZiPS isn't projecting what WILL happen, but rather what is LIKELY to happen to each individual player if he received a full season of playing time (hence all the extra innings and PA's).

          1. I am not aware of any. Tango often runs (ran?) comparisons that would show the error of the projections after the fact. Of course, there's BP's percentiles, which are hilariously awful.

    3. Did I forgot and Scott Elarton got a NRI or a minor-league deal or something?
      Seems like something I'd remember. #FormerRoyals

    4. 95 losses, here we come! I hope my wife appreciates all the summer evenings we will spend together.

    3. Seems more credible than hand-written notes between self-aggrandizements in notebooks by a noted self-aggrandizer.

      1. The self-aggrandizer in this case being Bosch, not Schilling.
        I could also see this as "You can vote for me for HOF now, OK? Promise I'm clean, though I was tempted when my body was breaking down. I could have kept on like those other guys."

    4. You know an official who's no longer with the Red Sox? Theo. I'm pretty sure Schilling just said Theo injected him with drugs.

        1. Nah, Manny wanted someone else to do it - he said Theo wasn't delicate enough - and that's why he got traded.

    2. According to Wikipedia,

      Carnival is an important celebration in Anglican and Catholic European nations.[6] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the week before Ash Wednesday is called "shrovetide", ending on Shrove Tuesday. It has its popular celebratory aspects as well. Pancakes are a traditional food. Pancakes and related fried breads or pastries made with sugar, fat and eggs are also traditionally consumed at this time in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

  8. I don't mean to single anyone out with this comment; since I returned from hiatus I've just been observing something of trend.

    I'm a little concerned about responses to other Citizens' LTEs that begin with "Not true." Sometimes this is indeed the case (something was written that is factually incorrect), but I sometimes see this reply deployed in a case where there is both ambiguity and room for discussion about the topic in question. I might occasionally use this response when correcting something said in my classroom, but's a response that strikes me as a little heavy-handed among friends (and might even come across a little chippy on the screen).

    All of that said, I'd like to share an exchange between two married friends of mine:

    Wife: Will you stop being such a pedant?
    Hubs: Will you stop being wrong?

    1. Not true.

      I jest. I know you said you aren't being specific, but I'm guessing my LTE prompted this one. And you're right.

    3. Reminds me of when I was commuting 150 miles per day over the course of a summer. Come August, my wife uses the car for the first time in months and agitatedly calls me from the highway.

      Her: "WHAT IS THAT AWFUL SHAKING-VIBRATION!!?!?"
      Me: "Calm down. What are talking about?"
      Her: "My teeth are chattering and my hands are going numb. This car is all over the road."
      Me: "Calm down. I didn't feel anything when I drove it yesterday."
      Her: "Well, it feels terrible today. Get it checked out."

      I roll my eyes and promise to have it looked at. Turns out, the balance and alignment was off causing significant wear to the inner edges of the tires. The steel belts were literally shredded in places. Guy tells me if they'd gone at highway speeds, it would likely have been catastrophic. "Good thing you caught it when you did."

      Also, you have friends who correctly use "pedant " in a sentence? That's pretty cool.

      1. When I was in college, I had a summer job working for a grain elevator company with offices in various small towns in south-central Minnesota and northern Iowa. One day, driving assorted county roads back from one of the northern Iowa locations, I noticed that the car wasn't handling all that great, but didn't think much of it. My dad, on the other hand, noticed a big patch of exposed steel belt on one of the tires that evening. Thanks, dad.

        1. Err...I was trying to convey support for the before & after perspective of our prodigal-sabbatical. Apparently I'm just too good of a yarn spinner.

    4. Since I am the author of the only other LTE in the past month* with the phrase "not true" in it (those two words have been next to each other 21 times in the history of the site with only one other instance since 10/13/12 and safely less than half of the total were in this context), I say, "Sorry, cheaptoy, for asserting so bluntly that it is not factually correct that getting a refund from the IRS is better than paying in."

      *Yes, I searched it.

      1. I think there's something faulty with the search tool, because I can think of at least one other recent instance of that response off the top of my head. Like I said, I'm not intending to single you or anyone out, so I hope that's not how you interpreted my observation.

        1. As of right now, the search tool returns 24 results. Checking the database manually also returns 24 results. However, that's for the occurrence of literally "not true". Phrasing it slightly differently will result in the comment not being found.

  10. Had my first dream where my baby was killed tragically. I apologize to Spooky for all my tragic children stories i made him judge

      2. dropping off bed/rolling on top of them jolted me awake so many times, and I wasn't even holding the baby.

    4. I've never had that dream, but earlier this week, I dreamed that Miss SBG was abducted, which was bad enough.

    2. I'm thinking spray on the bottom half of your wetsuit for triathlon - you want the 'catch water' part for the stroke.

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