Eastern Conference

Nick Faldo keen on second Ryder Cup chance

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:11:00 +0000

Nick Faldo has revealed that he would love another opportunity to captain Europe’s Ryder Cup team. Under his leadership, the European team lost for the first time since 1999 earlier this year, but the Englishman says that he would happily ‘do it again’.

Nick Faldo’s team were quite comfortable losers to an American side captained by Paul Azinger as they went down 16.5 - 11.5 in Valhalla. During and after the tournament, Nick Faldo received lots of criticism for the way he handled being in such an important role.

Despite this though, the 51-year-old wouldn’t hesitate to accept the role once more should it come his way, saying that ‘the buzz’ of being in the team room was something he considered ‘really special’.

I guess that this is no real surprise really, Nick Faldo does has been heavily involved in the Ryder Cup over his career as a professional golfer and perhaps he isn’t ready to let it go quite yet. He admits that he ‘loved every minute’, after all.

The golf odds probably won’t favour Nick Faldo retaining the captaincy though. It is quite rare that someone stays on in the role two years later, especially after a defeat that received heavy criticism in the press.

There is part of me that thinks Nick Faldo would do a lot, lot better should he for fill the position once again. It was argued that he was out of his depth in such a high-profile role and this may have been the case. However, he would have learnt so many lessons from his mistakes. Maybe he would come back fighting with an improved strategy?

This whole situation is probably not going to go any further than speculation in all honesty. I just can’t see it happening. Yes, it is encouraging that he is keen on continuing in the role, but if he had said ‘no, don’t fancy it’, he would have been admitting some wrong doing last time around and this isn’t something Nick Faldo likes to do.

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Projecting Giants Hitters with Marcel

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:38:00 +0000

Tom Tango has just released his yearly projections via his projection system Marcel. You can find them on FanGraphs — individual player pages or sortable leaderboards — or you can download the entire .zip file on Tango’s own website. Marcel is a very basic projection system that uses 3 years worth of data, with the most recent production weighted the heaviest, some add age adjustments, and regression to the mean.

The Bill James projections are already out, but I’m not crazy about them and Marcel is another system to check out. With that in mind, I’ve collected projections for hitters that could see some time on the 2009 Giants team. I then translated the projections to wOBA and calculated the bRAA — batting runs above average — and RV/700 scores. If you’re unfamiliar with these statistics, I’ll explain them briefly blow. Alternatively, you can check out StatCorner’s glossary for definitions of these statistics and many others.

wOBA (Weighted On-Base Average) is a linear weights statistic devised by Tom Tango. This is a great introduction to wOBA. wOBA takes the series of events that can happen when a hitter steps to the plate (1B, 2B, 3B, HR, RBOE, BB) and weights each event according. HR’s are worth more than 2B’s, and 2B’s are worth more than 1B’s. It’s very intuitive and easy to follow, think of it as a more refined OPS. League average wOBA tends to be around .338 — I’ve used .332 for my calculations below because offense was down in 2008 and Marcel assume it will also be down in 2009. Hitters with a .400+ wOBA are considered very good hitters and ones with wOBA of .300 or less, are considered poor hitters.

bRAA (Batting Runs Above Average) is how many runs above average a hitter is credited for by hitting alone. It’s computed by taking RV/PA (Run Value per plate appearance above average) and multiplying by how many PA’s a hitter has accumulated over a season. PA’s are also projected for our hitters, but what would happen if he hit for a full season? That’s where the next statistic comes into play.

RV700 (Run Value per 700 PA’s) is RV/RA multiplied by 700 PA’s, essentially a full season for a hitter. This lets us see how much a hitter would contribute if he batted for 700 PA’s.

Now, let’s check out the numbers:

Click to enlarge

I’m still on a color-coding table kick, so forgive me if the colors drive you crazy. The colors are pretty self-explanatory, green indicates a good score and red indicates a poor score. Also, keep in mind that these numbers — bRAA, wOBA — aren’t park adjusted and I’ve made no positional adjustments. You could probably fiddled with the numbers a little if you wanted to.

Thoughts

The top 5 hitters on the Giants by bRAA are: Pablo Sandoval (5.54), Fred Lewis (3.74), Nate Schierholtz (3.07), Conor Gillaspie (3.02), Aaron Rowand (2.99). Probably the most surprising hitter of the bunch was Conor Gillaspie who Marcel projected to get 204 PA’s in ‘09 and hit for a line of: .278/.355/.444. Playing time is hard to project for these sort of things, but even Gillaspie’s wOBA of .349 is pretty favorable. But, you’ll notice that his reliability score is very low indicating that Marcel is taking a shot in the dark with Conor’s projection.

On the other hand, I think Marcel under-projected Sandoval’s playing time who looks to be a large part of the Giants team in 2009. Marcel projected Sandoval to only get 277 PA’s but his wOBA of .355 is the best among Giants hitters. His projected bRAA was 5.54 runs above average for a hitter but if he batted for close to 700 PA’s, it would be +14 runs above average with the bat. That’s one of the reasons that position is important for Sandoval. If he’s a catcher putting up +14 runs above average with the bat, then he’s above average for his position and solid, maybe a borderline All-Star. The offensive requirements at 1B/3B are much tougher. Pablo’s value plays best at catcher.

Going back to Pablo for a second, Marcel has his slash-line at: .310/.355/.472 with a BABIP of .341. Pablo had a huge BABIP of .361 in ‘07 but Marcel only knocks about 20 points off in the projection. I thought it was interesting that Marcel is predicting Pablo to K more in ‘09 as compared to ‘08. His K% jumps 5% from 9.7 to 14.7.

Molina takes a slight dip in this projection. His wOBA of .338 in ‘08 is almost 20 points higher than his projected wOBA of .318 for ‘09. Don’t worry too much because a .318 wOBA catcher is still most likely average for his position (I haven’t ran the wOBA numbers for catchers in the NL, so correct me if that’s wrong) and he will be a 34-year-old catcher with weight issues heading into next year. Molina is a bit past the age when catchers go poof, so he might be more durable than we think, but he should still be watched closely.

Marcel essentially has Fred Lewis holing steady from his ‘08 numbers. His projected line is: .279/.350/.426. Lewis’ BABIP was a talking point among Giants fans last season and Marcels adjusts it some by knocking it down 20 points to .347. Lewis loses a touch of power but his OBP stays the same. If Lewis could repeat his ‘08, or at least come close to it in, the Giants would be very happy.

The most futile Giant with a bat in his hands? Say hello to Mr. Ivan Ochoa. His bRAA of -6.97 runs was the worst among projected Giants. If Ochoa somehow accrued 700 PA’s in a season, he’d be -18 runs by his bat alone. Ouch. Brian Bocock isn’t too far behind him with his score of -4.49 batting runs. I was surprised to see Bocock’s projection crediting him with hitting 5 HR’s in 240 PA’s.

I was expecting Burriss’ projection to be a lot more pessimistic than the Bill James projection, but Marcel was even more optimistic than Bill James was. Marcel projects Manny to have an wOBA of .334. I have to admit, I still have some problems with this Burriss projection. It’s adding 20 points of wOBA to his ‘08 score and it’s even projected him to hit 5 HR’s. I’ll take the under on this projection but it’s nice to dream.

Marcel has Rowand pretty much staying the same ast last year with a wOBA of .338, but he should play a little above average in 2009 because scoring is projected to be down — a league wOBA of .332.

Interesting stuff, like all projection systems the numbers are fun to look at but your mileage may vary. I’m most looking forward to the ZiPS and PECOTA projections for the Giants hitters and when they come out, I might do something similar like I’ve done here with Marcel.

Comment Starter: Any projections catch your eye?

The Right Sticks by Tom Wishon

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:28:00 +0000

The Right Sticks by Tom Wishon is a great read

With only a few weeks until Christmas, every keen golfer will be anticipating the odd stocking-filler come Christmas Day morning.

Unfortunately some golf presents will be worthless - I’ve never received a novelty Callaway or Titleist ball or a pair of shocking pink Stromberg trousers. But I find suggesting a few golf books means the thought, as well as the gift itself, counts.

The Right Sticks by Tom Wishon is a great read.

The full title of the book gives you more of an idea what this book is about: The Right Sticks - Equipment Myths That Could Wreck Your Golf Game.

Wishon seeks to dispel many of the myths that surround today’s golf clubs and how they impact on your game of golf.

The book isn’t aimed at any one in particular, but Wishon’s candid analysis will allow the reader to make an informative choice by seeing through much of the hype.

Amateur golfers are told so called “facts” about golf equipment and Wishon discusses some of the most common ones, including:

The bigger the clubhead, the better

The longer the length of the club, the further you can hit the ball

Women’s clubs are designed for women

Golf clubs sold to amateurs are exactly the same as those sold to professional golfers

Custom-fitted golf clubs are only for really good golfers

All the above, according to Tom Wishon, are myths not facts, and in The Right Sticks he offers good reason for you to believe him.

The Right Sticks is Tom Wishon’s eighth book and follows recent titles: The Search For The Perfect Golf Club (2006) and The Search For The Perfect Driver (2007).

Tom Wishon has every reason to write this book as he has been a leading golf club designer for the past 33 years and has over 50 different design “firsts” to his name.

In April 2007 Golf Digest Tom Wishon was referred to as “an innovator - one of three on the edge of golf technology.”

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Giants Ink Lefty Affeldt

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:18:00 +0000

Extra Baggs is reporting that the Giants have signed LHP Jeremy Affeldt to a 2-year deal. Terms of the deal have no yet been disclosed but Affeldt made $3M with the Cincinnati Reds last year. Affeldt had a break out year with the Reds in 2008 when he compiled a pitching line of: 78.1 IP, 78 H, 80 SO, 36 R, 29 ER, 9 HR, 25 BB. That works out to a 3.33 ERA, 3.66 FIP, and a tRA of 3.68.

Some batted ball and outcome results from Affeldt’s ‘08 season:

PA	K%	BB%	GB%	FB%	BABIP	HR/BIA
334	23.95	7.49	54	21.2	0.318	9.47

You’ve got to like the strong K% coupled with an above average BB%. He also showed some groundball tendencies which is also nice to have in a reliever. According to FanGraphs, Affeldt is primarily a two-pitch pitcher out of the bullpen. He opted for his fastball 62.8% of the time and his curveball 31% of the time. His average fastball was clocked at 94.6mph and the big bender was clocked at 79.1mph.

I’ll update this post with more information once it’s known. I’ll also be working on a PITCHf/x profile on Affedlt once I get my pitch database squared away.

Edit: Looks like the deal is for 2-years, $8M. You can’t argue with that cost, very nice pickup for the Giants here.

Edit2: Still working on some things, but I put together a chart with some stats on Affeldt.

Click to enlarge

Stats included are: K%, BB%, kL% (K’s looking), kS% (K’s swinging), GB%, FB%, HR/BIA, and LOB%. You can really see the progress that Affeldt has made over the last couple of years once he switched to relieving full-time.

Free Agent Preview: Rafael Furcal

admin — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:20:00 +0000

Here’s the facts:

In 2008, the Giants had the worst team production for the shortstop position in the National League. The collective of Giants’ shortstops combined for an OPS of .576. That made them the only team in the NL that failed to surpass the .600 OPS mark for team shortstop production.

Omar Vizquel, Ivan Ochoa, Brian Bocock, and Emmanuel Burriss all logged 200+ innings at the position. Despite strong defense from Vizquel, Bocock, and Ochoa, their combined futility with the bat washed out any positive gains with the glove.

If you expanded the selection to both the AL and NL, only the Baltimore Orioles had less production for their shortstop position than the Giants. O’s shortstops had an OPS of .535.

You can check the newly added positional depth chart to see that help isn’t coming from the minor leagues. Ochoa (if he returns), Bocock, and Burriss are current candidates for shortstop in ‘09. Brandon Crawford and other Giants’ shortstops are still a good ways off.

Emmanuel Burriss had a respectable year for a baseball player who was rapidly accelerated to the pros. But his overall lack of power — in both the majors and his track record of the minors — has some concerned. Burriss’ ISO of .046 places him among other light-hitting players such as: Tony Pena (.040), Chone Figgins (.042), Omar Vizquel (.045), and Juan Pierre (.046), and Willy Taveras (.046). It’s not a great sign when the shortstop you are replacing, who had a historically bad season with the bat, hits for the same amount of power as you do. And is probably a better overall defender.

Heading into the winter, the shortstop market is a mixed bag with one clear shiny prize sitting atop. Rafael Furcal. Your team, who is in dire need of a shortstop, has already had “serious” talks with Furcal and could very-well make a push to sign him.

And here we are, the Giants need a shortstop badly and Furcal is the best shortstop on the free agent market. I like Burriss as much as the next guy but you can’t deny the concerns that come with his bat and you can’t deny the way things have been focusing towards Furcal.

The question is: who is Furcal and what does he bring to the table? Will he be worth the money? And is he a better option to play short as compared to someone like Burriss? These are a few of the questions I hope to answer.

Player History

Rafael Furcal was signed by the Atlanta Braves in 1996 as an undrafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He started his pro career in 1997 as a 19-year-old in the Gulf Coast League as a second baseman for the GCL Braves. Over his first season, Furcal hit: .258/.335/.342 while stealing 15 bags in 17 attempts. Furcal’s first step toward prospecthood took place in the following year when he played for Danville in the Appalachian League. In 66 games, still at 2B, Furcal hit: .328/.412/.414 while stealing 60 bases out of 75 attempts. He was named the Rookie-level league’s top prospect and he immediately shot to the top of prospect charts in the Braves System. Furcal continued to grow as a player in 1999. He played over two levels — A and A+ — and was now playing shortstop. He particularity excelled in the SAL when he hit: .337/.417/.397 with 73 stolen bases in 83 games. After the transition to shortstop, BA described his defense in the following quote: “His glove is consistent, while his range and arm strength are well above-average.”

Furcal started 2000 in the majors after a brief 3 games in AA. Furcal replaced Braves SS Walt Weiss and never looked back. Over 131 games Furcal hit: .295/.394/.382 with 40 stolen bases in 54 attempts. Furcal eventually claimed the Rookie of the Year award and remained a fixture at shortstop for Braves teams in the early 2000’s. Before 2006, Furcal signed a 3-year deal with the Dodgers. Furcal put together a very nice ‘06 season for the Dodgers but battled injury problems over his final two years. Furcal had ankle problems in 2007 that reduce his running speed and kept him to 138 games played. His SB total of 25 in ‘07 was his lowest seasonal total since his injury shortened 2001 in which he stole 22 bases. In 2008 Furcal started the year as one of the hottest players in baseball, hitting: .366/.448/.597 until May 5th when a back injury forced him to the 60-day DL. Furcal underwent back surgery during the season and didn’t make it back to the Dodgers until late September.

Can He Field His Position?

Now that we’ve got the brief history of Furcal out of the way, let’s get down to the details. What kind of fielder is Rafael Furcal? Let’s check out some plus/minus numbers.

Remember that plus/minus is in “plays” and not runs. Also, I don’t have access to the 2004 and 2005 seasons, but the 2004-2006 total is available online at the Fielding Bible website.

Year	plus/minus
2004-2006	+35
2006	+4
2007	+6
2008	+0

From ‘04-’06 Furcal was +36 plays above average as compared to his shortstop peers. We know that in ‘06 he was +4 plays above average, so between 2004-2005 he was something like +15 plays per year on average. In ‘07 he was +6 plays above average even with the ankle issues. In ‘08 his sample size was very small, he only played 296 innings at short, but he rated as an average defender. With Furcal’s age and injuries over the past few years he should be an average to slightly below average defender at shortstop over the next 2-3 years.

Every year Tango does a Fan Scouting Report which is very interesting. He collects ballots from fans on each team and their fielders, and then tallies the results. You can find the 2008 and past results, here. Furcal rates pretty well in Tango’s Fan Scouting system. He tended to rate as an average to above average fielder while earning strong marks for his throwing strength.

Furcal At The Plate

One of Furcal’s most noted traits is his abilities at the plate. Let’s see how he rates in sOPS+, wOBA, and WPA/LI.

Year	sOPS+	wOBA	WPA/LI
2003	122	0.362	1.11
2004	108	0.353	0.8
2005	116	0.360	1.25
2006	112	0.365	0.61
2007	88	0.317	-0.92
2008	183	0.437	1.42

sOPS+ is interesting because it compares Furcal to other shortstops. From ‘03-’06 Furcal was an above average hitting shortstop. His OPS, on average for these years, was 15% better than the average shortstop in the NL. He was below average in 2007 and was way above average in 2008.

wOBA also shows that Furcal was an above average hitter from ‘03-’06 and in ‘08. WPA/LI also shows that Furcal was worth +1 offensive wins in ‘03, ‘05, and ‘08. If you had any question of just how good Furcal was in 183 PA’s in ‘08, this should help settle your question. His +1.42 offensive wins in ‘08 rank as his best score over the last 6 years. Also, remember that WPA/LI isn’t recorded by position but by all qualified hitters. Having a shortstop that is +1 offensive win by batting alone is very valuable.

Furcal experienced a drop in his offensive numbers in ‘07 and it was his worst season with the bat since 2003. If you check out some of the underlying numbers, you see that Furcal lost some power in that year. In ‘07 his ISO dropped to .084 after having ISO’s of: .151, .135, .144, and .145 over the previous 4 years. As a result, his HR/FB% dropped to a very small 3.8% after averaging between 8-9% in previous seasons. Furcal’s ISO surged to .217 in ‘08 but that was accompanied by a .380 BABIP. Furcal’s true ISO going forward is probably somewhere around .120 and recent projections from ZiPS and Bill James support this.

Valuing Furcal

Furcal is reported to be looking for a deal that ranges from 3-4 years and he could get anywhere from $10M to $14M per season. In recent years, teams have paid close to $5M per win above replacement. If we find out how many wins above replacement Furcal is, we can find out how much Furcal is worth. Using the latest ZiPS projection on Furcal, I have his wOBA projected to .344, slightly above the league average of .338.

I projected Furcal to make 500 plate appearances in ‘09 and be worth +0.5 wins defensively, which might be a little optimistic but he was close to that range in ‘07. If Furcal is healthy in ‘09, he should play average, to above average defense. Let’s also compare him to the player most likely to head into next season as the Giants starting shortstop, Emmanuel Burriss. I’ve projected Burriss as a .310 wOBA hitter — which is probably overly optimistic, I haven’t seen any credible projections for him yet — and an average defender. I’ve also bumped him to 600 PA’s, 100 more than Furcal, as his health is much better. Burriss should be much more likely to attain 600 PA’s than Furcal. The results come to this:

Name	PA	wOBA	Defense	WAR	$WAR
R. Furcal	500	0.344	0.5	2.39	10.92
E. Burriss	600	0.310	0	0.75	3.71

Furcal works out to be worth around +2.39 wins above replacement in ‘09. That makes him worth around $11M per season on the free agent market — remember, teams pay about $5M per win above replacement. The Giants should look to pay Furcal anywhere between $10M-$12M for season if they want to pay him what he’s worth. The difference between Furcal and Burriss is a little more than +1.5 wins to the Giants. Note here that it could be even greater if Burriss doesn’t hit a wOBA of .310, which is very possible. I’ll be anxiously awaiting to see how ZiPS, Marcel, CHONE, and PECOTA project him,

A recent article on the Chron about Furcal details the following:

The Giants’ more realistic targets are a middle infielder and bullpen setup men. As of midday, they had not submitted a formal offer for Rafael Furcal, the premier shortstop on the market and one of their supposed targets. Furcal should have plenty of suitors, including Oakland, and is believed to be seeking four years at $10 million per for openers.

A 4/40 deal for Furcal would be in range for market value. Being the top shortstop on the market, many teams will be looking at Furcal and he could get expensive, quick.

Conclusion

Furcal has been a fine player over his career and is above average for his position. If he can post a wOBA of .344 over the life of his contract, he’ll be worth about $11M per season. That includes the presumption that he’ll also be an average or better defender throughout the contract. The Giants have little to no depth at shortstop and outside of Burriss, who has bigger questions marks than you would like, the shelf is pretty bare. The Giants have stated that if they sign a shortstop, they’ll be likely to move Burriss over to 2B.

This poses a problem because Burriss’ bat is weak. If he’s plays at second base, he’ll need to defend around +10 runs above average for that position to play above replacement. The best and worst defenders tend to range from -15/+15 by runs saved, so the best case scenario for Burriss at 2B is that he can maintain a .300+ wOBA and defend like MarkEllis, one of the premier defenders in the game at 2B.

I would take a Furcal deal in the neighborhood of 4/40 to 4/48. I think anything past that and you start running into trouble. The Giants have no one on the way to help them out at shortstop and if they can land a healthy, and productive Furcal for the next 3-4 years, that should help bridge the gap to current shortstop prospects Brandon Wood, Sharlon Schoop, and Ehire Adrianza. I think because of the relative weakness of shortstop options in the Giants system, they have to consider Furcal and if they can land him for $10-12M per season, they should do it.

Comment Starter: Do you want Furcal?

Woo-hoo, Indeed.

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:56:00 +0000

During the press conference yesterday, when Tim Lincecum was asked what he said when he learned of his newly acquired CYA, Lincecum said he dropped a few “Woo-hoos!” and that was that. You’ve got to enjoy this guy. At the presser he was dressed in a army-styled jacket with a beanie. He looked like a 24-year-old but he pitched well beyond his years this season.

I know that watching ESPN can be hazardous to your sanity, but I had it on in the background last night while I was putting together dinner — a clam chowder, perfect for these cold East Coast nights — and I noticed that PTI was on the tube. There was a time when I watched PTI or Around the Horn semi-interested because there was nothing else on TV around 5PM but those days are gone. I generally get home from work too late for the show now and I’ve got better things to do. But, back to the show in question, PTI was on and the topic landed on the NL CYA. Tony Kornheiser wasn’t on the show for whatever reason but his stand-in was Rick Reily, who’s an idiot in his own right. So, the topic of the CYA comes around and Michael Wilbon was utterly amazed that Lincecum was the ‘08 CYA Winner. On his ballot (paraphrasing) “Lincecum was the 5th best pitcher”. Lincecum v. Santana was debatable but the moment you try to tell me that Brad Lidge was more valuable than Tim Lincecum is the minute you should stop talking. Forever. I know that MSM shows like PTI are just loud, talking heads, but seriously, come on. I think they even made a dig at the BBWAA and how everyone tries to outdo each other with statistics in baseball. Pffft, nerds. Reily, unsurprisingly, agreed with Wilbon and rambled off something that I couldn’t remember because I had already tuned them out.

Sportswriters in general glorify ignorance. The dumber the statement, the better. I get it. You can’t sell your product if you don’t make waves or feign anger and shock every 2 minutes, but it makes ESPN unwatchable. I think right after the segment, or maybe even during, they had Peter Gammons on and he gave the Lincecum CYA a thumbs up. Gams referred to Lincecum as something of a Pedro Martinez and said he did deserve the award. Gams holdin’ it down. I’m hoping that after the appearance, Gams went back to shredding out white-hot brain melting guitar licks.

I thought it would be interesting to include a table of some of my favorite pitching statistics to see where Tim Lincecum ranked among them in the National League.

Stat	Score	Rank
ERA+	164	1st
tRA+	141	2nd
FIP	2.59	1st
xFIP	3.37	1st
WPA	4.59	1st
WPA/LI	3.49	2nd
K%	28.71	1st

Out of the 7 listed statistics, Lincecum takes 1st place for 5 of them. I thought it was amazing that Lincecum’s K% was +4 points over the next nearest starting pitcher. CC Sabathia — who pitched 400 less PA’s than Lincecum in the NL — finished behind Tim with a K% of 24.81. Lincecum pitched more innings in the NL and struck out more hitters. Sabathia did finish first in tRA+ but again, he pitched less overall innings in the NL than Lincecum did, taking away some from his overall value.

You’ve got to feel a little for Sabathia, he pitched out of his mind in the NL but I can’t justify giving him an award for coming to a weaker league and pitching great for half a season. He had an amazing year, no doubt, but I think the BBWAA was right on ranking him 5th. I’m sure he’ll be handsomely rewarded for his work in the NL this year in the offseason.

WPA stands for Win Probability Added and it can be found on the excellent FanGraphs website. It’s an interesting stat as it attempts to compensate for situation, meaning that when a player excels in tight situations, he’ll be credited with doing so. Lincecum’s 4.59 wins added was tops in the NL. Johan Santana was 2nd with a WPA of 4.08. A note for my WPA rankings, I only used starters because closers, who tend to pitch in high leveraged situations, can get a boost from their work role, and in turn, get boosted in the WPA scores. That’s why I’ve also included WPA/LI in my table, which is the WPA score with the leverage index removed. In this statistic, Tim was edged out by Santana who had a WPA/LI of 3.53, meaning that he was worth +3.5 wins over your average pitcher in the NL. Tim’s score of 3.49 is so close, that it’s almost a tie between them. If you remove the leverage score from WPA, Lidge scores a 1.62 in this statistic. Meaning that Lincecum was worth slightly more than twice the value of Brad Lidge.

Tim also edged out Santana in ERA+, his score of 164 squeaks past Santana’s 163. Tim’s FIP — Fielding Independent Pitching — was 2.59 and he was the only pitcher in the NL with a FIP of less than 3.00. Dan Haren was 2nd to Tim with a FIP of 3.01. It’s a glut of statistics to look at, but I think they do a good job of providing a framework for Lincecum’s ‘08 season, which was by all accounts, a CYA worthy season.

The last thing I wanted to include in this post was a break down of K’s per game by Lincecum over the season. Check out this plot.

I’ve added a blue trend line to indicate his overall strikeout trend throughout the season. I’ve also excluded Tim’s first appearance of the year in Los Angeles out of the bullpen.

Half	K%	BB%
1st	25.2	8.7
2nd	33	9.4

Tim added nearly 8 points to his K% between the 1st and 2nd half, indicated by the rise in the trend line. His BB% increased slightly, by .7 points, but nothing overly significant. Lincecum, without further strides in control, is probably an 8-10 BB% pitcher per season. What I found fascinating about this plot was that Lincecum improved in the 2nd half by K%. Even if it is in a smaller sample size, a K% of 33 is amazing.

My hope is that Lincecum’s success under his increased, to say the very least, workload will not be carte blanche for the Giants to keep pushing him to the limit. He’s an amazing pitcher and watching him start in ‘08 was one of the major bright points on this Giants team. He deserves the CYA and I hope it’s the first of many. For all the rotational depth that the Giants think they might have, if you subtract Lincecum from the rotation, the team will be set back not in months, but years.

Tim Lincecum Wins CYA

admin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:28:00 +0000

Today the BBWAA named Tim Lincecum the 2008 National League CY Young Award Winner.

From MLB.com:

Lincecum became only the second Giant to capture the Cy Young, joining 1967 winner Mike McCormick, and the first second-year player to earn the distinction since right-handers Dwight Gooden of the Mets and Bret Saberhagen of Kansas City secured the 1985 awards in their respective leagues.

McCormick, Gooden, and Saberhagen? That’s very good company to be a part of.

From the BBWAA website:

Of the 32 ballots submitted by two writers in each league city, Lincecum was listed first on 23, second on seven and third on one to total 137 points, based on a 5-3-1 tabulation system. The righthander, 24, was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and led the NL in winning percentage (.783) and strikeouts (265).

Like the quote says, Lincecum finished with 137 total points. Runnerup was Brandon Webb with 73 and Johan Santana with 55 points. Brad Lidge received 10 points, CC Sabathia received 9 points, and Ryan Dempster received 4 points.

We’ll go over some numbers on Lincecum’s season tomorrow, but for now, congrats to Lincecum and the Giants. The team rode him hard to finish the year and let’s hope Lincecum will have several more healthy years with the San Francisco Giants.

Voting Results

Player, team	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
Lincecum, SFG	23	7	1	137
Webb, ARI	4	15	8	73
Santana, NYM	4	8	11	55
Lidge, PHI	0	1	7	10
Sabathia, MIL	1	1	1	9
Dempster, CHC	0	0	4	4

Rumors That Make You Go “Unnggh”

admin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:06:00 +0000

The Hot Stove League is a time during baseball when everyone and their little brother can create terrible, awful, truly terrible (did I say terrible?) rumors involving the San Francisco Giants professional baseball club team. It’s actually really easy to get the wheels of trade speculation moving. The Giants need a third basemen? Hank Blalock could be available. A package of Madison Bumgarner and Tim Alderson could get it done. Make it happen Sabes! Write, click post, submit.

The trepidation that fans feel during this time of year is partially vindicated. Brian Sabean’s recent player acquisition record leaves something to be desired. And plus, baseball fans can be fretful by nature. Thus, making the HSL a horrific time of year to navigate. It’s cold outside, baseball is gone, and your favorite GM is making some crazy-assed moves. It’s enough to make you want to pull the blankets over your eyes and not leave the house until Spring.

I realize that devoting time to rumors is a little silly. Afterall, maybe 10% of the rumors that are posted during the cold winter months of baseball’s offseason actually ever come to fruition. Still, it’s easy pickins’ to talk about and whether you like it or not, rumors and trade talks are a large part of the offseason. You could argue that trade rumors are all that the offseason has to offer. I’ve made it a point to not ‘rosterbate’ on this site because you can find that anywhere on the Internet, but I think rumors are fair game to talk about.

A rumor on MLBlogs caught my eye this morning regarding a one Mr. Juan Uribe and the Giants:

The Chicago Tribune recently reported that free-agent infielder Juan Uribe might have piqued the Giants’ interest, and club insiders did not deny this. Uribe, 29, hit only .247 with seven home runs and 40 RBI in 110 games last season for the Chicago White Sox, but he hit 20 or more homers in three of the previous four seasons.

Juan Uribe isn’t very good and going forward, is probably less valuable than Rich Aurilia. The problem with Uribe “hitting 20+ HR’s” in three of his previous four seasons is that he plays half of his games in a very strong hitters park. The Cell constantly rates as one of the best parks in the majors to pick up a bat in if you’re a hitter. If you adjust for park factors, Uribe’s offense — which has been in decline over the last few years — looks poor.

wOBA* is the linear weights wOBA metric but with park factors applied. This will help us sift through some of Uribe’s performance to distinguish how much his park could be helping him. wOBA* is the same as wOBA in that .300 or less is a very poor hitter, .340 is a average hitter, and .400 or better is a great hitter.

Uribe had a fantastic year in ‘04 when he hit a combined: .283/.327/.506 with 23 HR’s. That’s good for a *wOBA of .358 making him an above average hitter. This was also during the time when Uribe was an above average defender at SS, further increasing his value. A SS with a plus glove and above average offense is very valuable, we’ll come back to Uribe’s defense in a bit. From ‘05-’08 Uribe had a tough time on offense. He posted scores of .313, .300, .300, and .315. This despite hitting 16, 20, 21, and 7 HR’s during this time span. When you consider the position of SS, a hitter with a wOBA of .315 isn’t terrible and probably pretty close to average or slightly below average offensively — edit: I did a quick wOBA calc for MLB SS’s in ‘08 and it worked out to .324. Shortstops, as a bunch, don’t hit like first basemen or designated hitters. That brings us to our next problem with Uribe.

He’s no longer a shortstop.

Uribe, at one time, was a plus-defender at shortstop. From ‘04-’06 he accumulated a +20 score by John Dewan’s Fielding Bible, over those years he made 20 more plays than your average SS. That’s not bad defense to have at SS and when you combine it with his average to slightly below average bat (for his position) Uribe had some value. I don’t have Uribe’s plus/minus scores for ‘04 and ‘05 but in in ‘06 he was a +3 and in ‘07 he was a -7. Uribe has had some conditioning issues over the last few years that may have affected his defense and mobility at shortstop and before the ‘08 season the White Sox went out traded for Orlando Cabrera to play short. A Joe Crede injury moved Uribe from the bench to 3B where he rated as a slightly below average defender with a -3 by +/- in a small sample of 4601. innings played.

Uribe earned $4.5M in ‘08 and could look for a contract in the same neighborhood for 2009 and beyond. Taking a wild stab, he could probably sign for a 2/8 deal with an option. If Uribe stays at 3B, he’s barely a replacement level player making him worth $2M on the FA market per year. If he can move back to SS and defend at around -5 runs (which is likely a generous estimate for him) while hitting a wOBA of .315 over 500 PA’s in the NL, he’d be slightly above replacement level and be valued around $3M.

The problem with Uribe and the Giants is twofold. If the team thinks they’re getting “20 HR power” from Uribe, they’ll be disappointed. Taking Uribe out of the Cell and placing him in AT&T (which has tended to be more neutral lately) will reduce Uribe’s already fleeting bat. It’s also not crazy to believe that his defense will continue to slip a little here and there. You’ll also have to debate on whether Uribe should be taking any playing time from Manny Burriss or any other young Giant. Burriss’s upside is very small, but for the future development of the Giants it makes more sense to give him AB’s than it does to give Uribe any.

Giants fans have already seen Uribe before. They saw him during 2008 and his name was Jose Castillo. Castillo’s career line: .254/.296/.379 OPS+ 75 is almost identical to Uribe’s career line: .253/.295/.423 OPS+ 80. If you adjust the lines for the parks they’ve both played in, they are going to be very, very similar. Uribe might not have Castillo’s stone-gloved defense, but Castillo didn’t cost $4.5M per season either. He made under $1M and was gone when things didn’t work out. The usual caveats apply: if the Giants could sign Uribe to a 1-year cheap deal, then I might be interested, but caveats aside, I’m not seeing the appeal.

Comment Starter: Cast your vote: Yay or Nay on Proposition Uribe?

Giants Sign Josh Phelps

admin — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:23:00 +0000

The Giants have signed 1B Josh Phelps to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training.

From SFGiants.com:

Adding potential depth Monday, the Giants signed first baseman Josh Phelps to a Minor League contract with an invitation to big league Spring Training.

Phelps, 30, owns a .273 batting average with 64 home runs and 244 RBIs in 465 games spanning eight Major League seasons. He also has caught 12 games in the Majors and diversified himself further by playing outfield this year.

We’ve already detailed this one, but great low-cost signing by the Giants. Phelps could potentially address two needs on the Giants. First, he could see time at 1B depending on how the rest of the offseason shakes out. If the Giants find some legit nibbles on the FA market for Bengie Molina, they could always trade him away, move Pablo back behind the dish, and use Phelps and a combination of Ishikawa or Bowker at 1B. Second, Phelps hits LHP and would play well as a bench bat. This is probably the most realistic scenario right now. Phelps might not have the positional flexibility of Rich Aurilia, but he provides nice insurance for that position — player who hits LHP — in case Aurilia doesn’t resign or the Giants think Phelps can beat any future production from Aurilia. Phelps, for his career, has hit LHP well posting a line of: .297/.364/.495 across 560 PA’s.

If Phelps doesn’t make the team out of Spring Training, look for him to take on a Brett Harper / Scott McClain role for the Fresno Grizzlies.

Bullpen Cheapies

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:54:00 +0000

Earlier last week I wrote about a few things that I thought the Giants should be doing for next year’s team. Among them were fixing the bullpen and finding free — or very cheap — talent to plug in to the team. Over the weekend the Giants made an early signing that could satisfy both of those requirements. The Giants signed 31-year-old RHP Justin Miller to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training.

Miller, who broke into baseball with the Blue Jays in 2002, has been with the Marlins since 2007 as a reliever. Like most relievers, he started his professional career as a starter but made the move to the bullpen somewhere around the 2005 season. The last pitching crop of non-roster invites brought in players like Keichii Yabu, Bartolome Fortunato, and Victor Santos. Fortunato and Santos didn’t impact the major league roster but Yabu pitched better than I or anyone else probably expected.

Miller is a two-pitch pitcher when he’s working out of the bullpen. He’s your classic fastball-slider reliever. According to his FanGraphs page, he throws a fastball right around 90mph (91mph in ‘07 and 89mph in ‘08) and a slider at 80mph. Miller really favors his slider, throwing it 48.7% of the time in ‘08. He’s been a flyball pitcher over the last two years with GB/FB rates of 0.99 and 0.72. His slider heavy workload could have had something to do with his trip to the DL with elbow inflammation in July. He was then DFA’d on August 15th.

Miller’s best season came during his first year with the Marlins in ‘07. He posted a tRA* of 3.30 and in 61 IP he struck out 74 hitters. That’s good for a K% of 28.57%. The last Giants reliever to come close to a K% of 28% was Joe Nathan’s K% of 26% in ‘03. In ‘08 Miller saw his K% drop down to 20.90%. Over the past two years Miller has posted average walk rates — 9.2% and 9.9% in ‘07 and ‘08 — for a reliever in the National League. In 2008, the average reliever in the NL posted a BB% of 9.7% and a K% of 19.3%. If Miller is healthy and able to get his K% at 25% or above while maintaining an average BB% he could be a very nice pickup for the Giants.

I think one of the more appealing aspects about Miller is his control. He doesn’t have pinpoint control but in the Giants bullpen, he could look like Greg Maddux. One of the weaknesses in the Giants pen in ‘08 was the base on balls. Giants relievers ranked 6th in the NL by BB% for team bullpens. The Giants have a variety of relievers with potential — Salder, Hinshaw, and Wilson — but they tend to come with control problems.

NL bullpens ranked by BB% (high to low) for ‘08:

Team	PA	BB	BB%
PIT	2512	277	11.03%
FLA	2278	251	11.02%
WSN	2411	255	10.58%
MIL	2044	214	10.47%
STL	2200	230	10.45%
SFG	2181	228	10.45%
ATL	2410	247	10.25%
PHI	2072	211	10.18%
SDP	2372	236	9.95%
ARI	1962	194	9.89%
NYM	2157	202	9.36%
CIN	2308	214	9.27%
COL	2320	209	9.01%
HOU	2197	194	8.83%
CHC	2147	186	8.66%
LAD	2198	186	8.46%

Individual Giants relievers ranked by BB% for ‘08:

Name	BB%
Hinshaw	16.2
Sadler	13.71
Yabu	10.6
Wilson	10.29
Taschner	10.18
Walker	9.29
Romo	6.15

Sergio Romo’s control is fantastic and now that Walker is off the team, Miller could potentially be the 2nd best reliever on the team in regards to BB%. Hinshaw and Salder both have electric arms but their control could be a very real stumbling point for them in the future. Yabu, Wilson, and Taschner were just slightly worse than your league average reliever in the NL when it comes to BB%.

Overall, I like the pickup of Miller and if he could return to his ‘07 numbers — presuming that he’s healthy now — he should have a good shot making the bullpen out of Spring Training. Let’s hope he’s more Yabu — with better underlying peripherals — than he is Santos or Fortunato. Miller’s upside is a repeat, or something close to, his ‘07 performance but a more realistic expectation is simply a league average relief performance for the Giants in ‘09. And for a bullpen that lacked any sort of consistency, league average is a step in the right direction to a better bullpen.

Robert Karlsson secures European Order of Merit title

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:32:00 +0000

Robert Karlsson has become the first ever Swede to win the European Order of Merit golf title. The 39-year-old could afford to finish 32nd in the final competition of the season at the Volvo masters as his closest challenger Lee Westwood failed to grab the victory he needed for the title.

Overall, Robert Karlsson finished 17 strokes behind Valderrama winner Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark, but this didn’t matter as Lee Westwood finished tied for 13th with Padraig Harrington. Therefore, after an anxious weekend that Robert Karlsson described as the ‘hardest ever experienced’ in his golf career, he was able to lift the Harry Vardon trophy.

Robert Karlsson admitted that he was disappointed not to finish the season with a good personal performance, but that his Order of Merit victory marks a ‘great day for Swedish golf’.

The fact that Robert Karlsson is celebrating is a justified reward for the players’ consistency over this European Tour. He has only finished outside the top 20 places on six occasions over 23 events. That’s a rather remarkable achievement and highlights how far he has come as a professional golfer.

The Swede admits that he has taken his game to a ‘new level’ and that it feels ‘fantastic’ because of it. The next step for him though is to record a major victory, something I might stick a golf bet on him doing in 2009. He has come a long way as a player in the last three years or so and if this continues; he can become very, very successful because he is a model professional.

Random Posts

October 19, 2007 -- Wii Golf Game - We Love Golf
January 12, 2008 -- Drivers banned from competition
May 5, 2008 -- John Daly interview without his shirt on

Free Competition to win Dom Joly Golf DVD

admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Dom Joly Golf DVD - Dom Joly

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Unfortunately we have had to temporarily suspend this competition due to the DVD release date change which has caused the PR company to withdraw the offer of sending 10 copies of the DVD for competition winners.

We are currently negotiating an alternative prize.

All those that have already entered the competition, please accept our deepest apologies. Your name will go forward and 10 competition winners will be chosen on 30 November, as before.

Each competition winner will now receive two from the following DVD titles: Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights Complete Series One, Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights Complete SeriesTwo, Spitting Image Complete 2nd Series, Meet The Spartans, 8 Out Of 10 Cats - Claws Out.

DVD’s will be sent without any preferred choices.

Once again, please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

Random Posts

April 14, 2008 -- Trevor Immelman wins US Masters Open
February 2, 2008 -- Ian Poulter says he was misquoted
January 24, 2008 -- Possible Golf Resort in Northern Ireland

Stop It.

admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:47:00 +0000

I raised this question once before, but, is the “Trade Matt Cain” meme the worst thing ever?

Select quotes from an article published yesterday on SFGiants.com:

The discussion over whether the Giants should trade Matt Cain already is a lively one, conducted on radio talk shows and Internet fan sites and by baseball reporters nationwide.

Does lively mean infuriating? And at least two of those three sources (maybe even all of them) are terrible, terrible sources for information. Sports radio? Blech. Internet fan sites? Guh. Baseball reporters? Erp.

Ideally, the Giants would keep Cain to maintain their formidable tandem of 24-year-old right-handers at the top of the starting rotation. Asked during his end-of-season summary whether Cain and National League Cy Young Award candidate Tim Lincecum will be off-limits in trade talks, Sabean said, “In my mind, they are.”

Good, Sabes. But, to our defense, some wacky things have spewed forth from your brain chambers. Speed ‘n Defense 2: Electric Caught Stealing; GAMERS; Romo DFA’d accidentally; Eugenio Velez; Dan “I’m a First Baseman now” Ortmeier; We need more CF’s; etc.

The article then puts on for a little bit about how GM’s don’t like to share their innermost thoughts with MLB.com and then it moves on to some quotes from scouts. Men of baseball. Grizzled dudes with radar guns. Unwashed, possibly grumpy, old men who know talent when they see it. I’m talkin’ ’bout scouts, son.

Scout #1 is sane and rational:

“I certainly wouldn’t want to move him unless I absolutely had to,” a scout for a National League team said of Cain, whose 30-43 career record belies his 3.74 ERA. “I think he’s going to get better. With continued maturity, he’s going to be a dominant guy.”

Scout #2 was doing whippits before he was quoted:

But the consensus of scouts said Cain doesn’t quite qualify for the tiny group of truly untouchable players.

“The only guys I’d say would be untouchable with anybody would be the Albert Pujolses or the Joe Mauers of the world,” a scout representing an AL team said. “There aren’t too many guys in our game about who you’d say, ‘I can’t trade him.’ I think it’s very closed-minded if you would say he’s untouchable.”

First, I like that the scout is quoted as saying “the Albert Pujolses” because it just sounds weird. You can’t trade Cains for the Pujolses, it just won’t work! Secondly, Matt Cain just-doesn’t-win-games and because of that, he stinks.

A scout suggested that if the Giants dangled Cain for a hitter besides Fielder, they probably could obtain two prospects along with the hitter they needed. He added that one of the prospects ought to be a pitcher who is almost Major League-ready to help cushion the loss of Cain.

Matt Cain for Tony Gwynn Jr. and two A-ball players! Make it happen Sabes!

World Series = Done.

admin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:46:00 +0000

Here’s the deal: I wanted to watch the game last night but I just couldn’t get into it. I watched the last half of the 6th but that was it. Most unexciting final game of the World Series, ever? I think the format was messing me up. It’s just not as exciting to watch a baseball game that’s starting in the 6th inning than it is to watch a full game from beginning to end. Anyone else feel this way?

So, where do the Giants go from here? We’ll probably have to endure a couple of months of middling rumors and Casey Blake scares — I’m looking at you oldjacket — before the dust settles.

We’ll have to wait and see what Brian Sabean and the Giants do this offseason. But, here’s a Hot Stove League shopping list of items the Giants should be looking for:

1. Defensive Upgrades - The Giants’ defense in 2008 wasn’t very good. Remember ‘Speed and Defense’? Well, the Giants didn’t come through on defense. The outfield was average to slightly above average but the infield was one of the worst in the National League. Infield offenders include: Jose Castillo, Ray Durham, and John Bowker. Thankfully, two of the three just listed are no longer on the Giants. The Giants should strongly consider the impact of defense when they fill 3B, 2B, and 1B.

The Giants outfield was average to above average. Outstanding work in RF by Randy Winn and solid work in LF by Fred Lewis helped to mask Aaron Rowand’s defensive problems. Rowand was about -7 runs under your average CF in the National League in ‘08. His days as top flight defensive CF are probably over. What the Giants will need from Rowand is for him to hold his ground and defend around average in CF, if he can’t do that, his value starts dipping.

2. Bullpen Help - Fixing the bullpen should be another priority for the Giants this offseason. The bad news is that Sabean will most likely spend cash on the free agent market to bring in a reliever. I hate, hate, hate, spending FA dollars on relief help. There are some high priced targets on the market this year — Fuentes, K-Rod, etc. — that are going to get overpayed for their services based on the save stat and a reliever mentality.

Why do I hate spending money on relievers? Because if you look at the leader board of top relievers in any year, you’ll find a good portion of them were picked up for free or next to nothing the previous year. Relievers fluctuate a lot. It’s much easier to, with little cost, find a guy who can throw you 50 innings of average relief than it is to find 150 innings of average starting. Before this season had anyone heard of: Grant Balfour, Matt Thornton, or Chris Sampson? I doubt it, but they were some of the best relievers in baseball this year. Better yet, would you want to sign them to multi-year deals for large sums of money? Probably not. The point is this: you don’t have to always have the Riveras, Papelbons, or Wagners to have a solid bullpen. Some of this is luck — the right guys breaking the right way — but I would argue that an even larger part of it is smart team construction.

A perfect example of cheap bullpen talent is Keiichi Yabu’s 2008 season for the Giants. He was acquired for nothing and gave the Giants 68 innings of 3.57 ERA baseball. Will he likely repeat his ‘08 season? Probably not, but the Giants get kudos for giving him a chance and he rewarded them nicely. This is what I mean when I say it’s easier to find 50+ innings of solid relief than it is to find starting pitching.

I much, much prefer to bring in some low cost arms with upside — say, pitchers with high K%’s but have battled command issues — and sort them out in Spring Training. But, at this point in time, the Giants seem determined to head into the FA market and spend money on the bullpen. In addition to money, they’ll most likely have to kick a draft pick for whichever reliever they sign.

The good news is that the Giants cleared out Tyler Walker, Kevin Correia, and Brad Hennessey from the bullpen. I’m hoping they do the same with Taschner but we’ll have to wait and see. The good news continues in that the team might have found a late inning reliever in Sergio Romo who pitched fantastically for the Giants in ‘08. Mix in guys like Alex Hinshaw, Billy Salder, and Brian Wilson and you’ve got the beginnings of a better bullpen.

3. Avoid Large Deals - I know this is a list of things the Giants should do, but this is one thing they shouldn’t do. Don’t panic and overpay on the market for mediocre production. Look, we know our offense needs work. That’s a reality. But don’t freak out and sign Casey Blake to a 3-year deal. Just don’t do that.

4. Find Free Talent - Look for cheap, low-cost, talent with upside. We’ve talked about Josh Phelps and he’s a good example. Nelson Cruz was a great find (clarification: he was DFA’d, no one wanted him and he returned to the Rangers) for the Rangers last year. Most likely the Giants will continue to transition next year and that means losing some games along the way. This is a bad thing for the short-term, but it affords the Giants some flexibility if they can take advantage of it. With another transition year on the horizon, the Giants can bring in players like Phelps or Cruz and give them playing time. Much more playing time than contending or fringe-contending teams would be able to give. If you’ve done your homework, and catch a few breaks, you might find some long-term solutions in the process.

These are the four biggies that stick out to me right now. This post is a little broad but for now, I think it’s a decent guideline for the Giants. I’m working on a more detailed offseason plan of action, so keep an eye out for that.

Basically, it all comes down to making smart, prudent decisions that won’t sandbag you for future years. It’s about not over-reacting and looking to the future, the honest-to-goodness future. My two-part comment starter for you is this:

Comment Starter: 1) How much will Sabes be able to plan for the future when he could be on his way out? Do you foresee any foolish ‘One last shot’ plays for NL West? and 2) What did my list miss? What’s your shopping list look like?

Borking Things

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:30:00 +0000

I’m in the process of changing over the theme design for BCB today, and as a result, things may look broken now and then. The new theme should be great once I get it up-and-running but it might be a little bumpy in the meantime.

To Do List:

1. Change link and menu colors
2. Remove logo
3. Create a new logo
4. Clean up side bars
5. Fix <pre> tags and <table> code. As of now, the tables and pre-formatted text are out of line with the main body text. Still some problems in IE but everything should look good in FireFox.
6. Miscellaneous

Thanks for reading.