Phightins

Yes!! .500!!! It wouldn't be winter in Philadelphia without a completely mediocre pro basketball team

I'm not even that mad. When the other team has 13 3's (and counting), it will be a loss.

...Seriously?

Jrue is out again tonight. God damnit.

Dave Cameron of Fangraphs wrote a good post last night about why this is a much more defensible trade than the Rays/Royals trade last week, which was basically the same structure. Perhaps it will help you feel better. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/how-to-go-for-broke-blue-jays-style/ As a Phillies fan, I am disappointed that D'Arnaud winds up back in the NL East just as Halladay's arm becomes completely fried .

It's 2012. Leave that to the professionals. Adam Lanza does not need a gun.

Silly. Guns do nothing but kill and inflict damage. Cars have a purpose.

Also, time to stop treating mental illness like it's a joke.

Also, the Phillies signed Mike Adams (2 years, $12 million, vesting option for a 3rd year) and John Lannan (1 year $2 million) today. Fine with the Lannan move. He isn't very good, but there is almost no risk involved. I'd much rather fill out the rotation with him than with a 3 or 4 year deal for Edwin Jackson or Kyle Lohse. Not a huge fan of the Adams deal. Nothing pisses me off more than giving multi-year deals to aging middle relievers (coming off surgery no less) showing clear signs of decline. I loved Adams in his Padres days, but he is a shell of his old self. Strikeout rate going steadily downhill for the past few seasons, and his surgery this offseason will most certainly not help that. Plus, with this huge stable of power relief arms in AAA, I'd wager that at least 2 of them pan out, perhaps more. Why throw this kind of money for veteran bullpen help when you still have other needs?

Boo....it's gonna kill me to see Travis D in the NL East . Hell of a deal for Alderson if it goes through. Beltran last year, now Dickey. Super impressive to get maximum return on aging players with questionable futures.

To add on to that... I agree that the Yankees should be commended for their approach. When your roster is old, full of shitty contracts, and already in luxury tax territory, the solution is not to add more old players on shitty contracts. Just take some time to regroup and focus on player development (I'm pretty sure Youkilis didn't get a qualifying offer from the White Sox, so he doesn't cost a draft pick, but correct me if I am wrong). Short term, the team may suffer a bit (although that still looks like a very strong team to me). There is nobody worth overpaying this offseason, anyway. And I agree 100% about Russell Martin. He does not deserve a 2 year contract, especially since you have Romine and Sanchez on the way up.

Pretty awesome for the sports blogging community. The Houston Astros (baseball) recently hired Kevin Goldstein, a blogger/writer, to be their director of scouting. Really cool trend. I will miss reading Hollinger's chats while slacking at work, though.

Jrue out tonight. Nick Young in the starting lineup. This should go great.

Apparently, the person who owns that Facebook profile claims that the real shooter may have had his ID. I have no clue and can't really process any of it. This is too [expletive]ed up to even think about.

Well done! And I agree.

I just don't understand. Ugh...

*Obligatory bump of Kingfish anti-Yankee posts from 3 years ago*

For a guy already on the wrong side of 30, that's a lot of years. Y'all better hope Hamilton and Pujols delay the steep part of their declines as long as possible. That could get reallllly ugly. Should be a fun lineup in 2013 though.

5 years is a lot.

Stuff that I shouldn't do.

Great show.

Damn, the Reds are going to be filthy next year. Seems like a steep price for the D-Backs to pay, though. Big fan of the trade for the other two teams.

We've all made our points, so I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but here is Rob Neyer's post about the trade: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/12/10/3749556/kansas-city-royals-tampa-bay-rays-trade-james-shields-wil-myers-analysis I pretty much agree word for word, and it also has the details on that factoid about the BA minor league player of the year winners that I mentioned earlier. That is one hell of a group.

Some positive quotes today... Hard to not be skeptical. The team and player have not exactly been truthful in this process so far. But it's something. Hope the MRI on the 20th goes well.

Yeah, I think park factor does. Or tries to, anyway. It compares a team's performance at home vs performance on the road. So I guess factoring in the road performance helps tell how the stadiums play. The exact science of it is too far over my head though I love advanced stats but I honestly have no idea how 75% of the formulas work, lol.