HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Citecheck Hell)
Subject: Re: Les Expos.... Predictions.
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1992 01:56:18 GMT

In article <1992Sep26.235539.4957@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> Ryan.J.Victor@dartmouth.edu (Ryan J. Victor) writes:
>Lastly, are there any
>high-to-ridiculously-priced free agent pitchers in the market this year
>that the Expos might try to sign? 

Well, there's the best pitcher in the National League, Maddux.  I would
suspect the Expos to be at a huge disadvantage in trying to sign him.
My guess is that he ends up with the Padres.  (Though if he were a
risk-taker, he'd sign a one-year with Houston, post a 1.5 ERA and then
take the five year/$8 million a year he could get elsewhere...)

This year is the best free agent crop in history, IMHO.  The best hitter
in MLB, Barry Bonds, and one of the top two or three pitchers, Greg
Maddux, are on the market.  And unlike, say, a Bonilla or a Winfield,
these are players close to their prime: Bonds will be 28 when he signs,
Maddux will start the 1993 season at the age of 27.  (Then again, what
do Palmer/House say about 25-year-olds who face 28 batters per game?  I
don't think Maddux has been overused a la Billy Martin-style, but I'm
unsure what the cutoff for overuse is.  He seems to have been worked
fairly hard as a 19 and 20-yo in the minors: 29-30 batters per game.)
-- 
           .. . . .  .  .   .    .     .     .    .   .  .  . . . ..
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: tedward@cs.cornell.edu (Edward [Ted] Fischer)
Subject: Re: What is baseball?
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 01:34:43 GMT

In article <carl.717641419@warper.jhuapl.edu> carl@warper.jhuapl.edu (Carl Lamy) writes:
>
>This one's easy. Good pitching is better than good hitting. A good hitter
>gets out 70% of the time, because the pitcher gets him out (or the batter
>makes a mistake, etc.). So a pitcher dominates a hitter, even a good
>one, 70+% of the time.

Nit pick: the best hitters only get out about half the time.  (See
Thomas, Martinez, and Bonds.)

Real complaint: while this *seems* to address the question, it really
has nothing to do with the matter.  After all, a hockey goalie will
stop ~90% of the shots, yet hockey is IMHO dominated by offense.  The
real question is, how good is good?  Is the variation in pitching
greater or less than the variation in hitting?

If all the hitters were very close in ability, then pitching (and
defense) would be almost all of the game.  If there were little
difference between a good pitcher and a bad pitcher, then hitting
would be almost all of the game.

Let's look at the best and the worst (or second-best and second-worst
to get rid of outliers).  The second-best offensive teams (as of 9/20)
are Oakland (691) and Pittsburgh (631).  The second worst are Boston
(546) and SF (533).  A difference of 243 runs.

For pitching/defense, we have Baltimore (606) and Detroit (716), In
the NL, we have Atlanta (543) and Houston (621).  A difference of 188
runs.

Seems that on the team level there is *less* variance between
pitching/defenses than between offenses.  (Okay, so this isn't a
proper variance, and it isn't done over many years.)  Which is
strange, because it would seem to me that there is a slightly bigger
difference between a great pitcher and a horrible pitcher than between
a great hitter and a horrible hitter.  I guess it is just harder to
get hold of more than your fair share of the quality pitchers.

Conclusion: The game is roughly 50% offense, 40% pitching, and 10%
defense.  I pulled these numbers out of thin air, but they seem
reasonable given the data.  A split of 10% offense, 80% pitching, 10%
defense is ridiculous given the above numbers!

Cheers,
-Valentine
-- 
Make outs, not walks!					tedward@cs.cornell.edu
Clemens four Cy Young!
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: mjones@fenway.aix.kingston.ibm.com (Mike Jones)
Subject: Re: CD ROM Baseball Encyclopedia
Date: Sun, 04 Oct 92 03:50:04 GMT
Reply-To: mjones@donald.aix.kingston.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Corp. Kingston NY

In article <1992Oct2.151213.1@violet.ccit.arizona.edu> f67700241@violet.ccit.arizona.edu (Greg Franklin) writes:
>In article <11208@platypus.uofs.uofs.edu>, sidbury@jaguar.uofs.edu (Dick Sidbury) writes:
>> Recently, I saw an ad in the DAK catalog for a CD rom baseball encyclopedia for
>> $69. (That is the sticker price so it may be cheaper elsewhere).  Does anyone
>> have it? And what is your opinion.
>
>Is it the "Total Baseball" CD ROM, based on the book of the same
>name)?  If so, then it's a legitimate product.  I don't have a CD ROM drive
>myself (I have a PC clone), but when I do, you bet I'll get it.

The Total Baseball CD-ROM is the data from the book, although not all the
text. It has a number of picture and sound bites included. It unfortunately
doesn't seem to store the information in any sort of useful form (like the
Franklin Baseball Encyclopedia). This is tragic. Also, there's the Sports
Illustrated baseball CD-ROM, which is primarily pictures and sound bites as
well as a number of "capsules" covering various topics of the previous year.
I believe there is one other baseball CD-ROM out, but haven't had a chance
to check it out.

   Mike Jones  |  AIX/ESA Development  |  mjones@donald.aix.kingston.ibm.com

Have you ever noticed that the people who are always trying to tell you,
"There's a time for work and a time for play," never find the time for play?
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: reynard@susie.cs.scarolina.edu (John Reynard)
Subject: Re: Playoffs
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science
Date:  3 Oct 92 21:26:28 GMT


caldwell8102@mtroyal.ab.ca writes:

>Three of the four pennant races are all but over. Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and
>Oakland have all but won theirs. Looks like Toronto will probably hang onto
>the AL East although it's far from over. So, that creates the likely playoffs
>of Toronto vs Oakland and Pittsburgh vs Atlanta (again). 

>Who does everybody think will win those series's, and who will win the
>World Series?

>								Alan

Pirates vs Braves

Pirates in 5.
   Desperation on the part of non-Bonds/Drabeck players drives the 
irregulars to play well above their abilities.  Jeff King will look
like Lemke did last year except with more power.  Braves big boppers
will continue to be cold exacerbating the Braves problem.  The games
will all be close with wins like 3-2, 2-1, ala classic Pirate style this
year.



Jays/Brewers vs A's

If Jays, A's in 5.
If Brewers A's in 7.

   The Jays being the classic doormat for a Western team to beat on will
continue the trend this year if they manage to get there.  Winfield will
hit but it won't matter in the end.

   The Brewers having a little more spunk will fight it out but lose due
to the A's superior talent.





Pirates vs A's

   Pirates in 6.

    Jeff King attempts to shore up the LF job for next year as Bonds 
leaves and Kevin Young is promoted.  He hits like the Pirates always
expected of him in the regular season.  Bonds also hits well leaving 
a good taste in the mouths of the big market teams.  McGwire makes a
salary drive as well but the Pirates manage to win the series.
Games will be good with some low soring and a few high scoring ones.



John

The Expos coulda taken any of these teams
IMO

Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: traven+@pitt.edu (Neal Traven)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Baerga
Date: 6 Oct 92 15:58:35 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh

In article <39042@sdcc12.ucsd.edu> demers@cs.ucsd.edu (David DeMers) writes:
>
>Baerga was a throw in on the Joe Carter for Sandy Alomar and Chris James
>trade with San Diego.  One of Trader Jack's finest...
>
In that same off-season, Trader Jack also let Dave Hollins go to the Phillies
in the Rule 5 waiver draft.

Ahhh, but he *did* pick up the much-travelled Mike Pagliarulo to play 3B in the
1990 season.  Again, a positively *brilliant* bit of player evaluation.

My Duerk's Electronic Baseball Encyclopedia lists Pags with 116 defensive games
at 3B, someone named Eddie Williams with 13, and Paul 'Always Kidded about my
Name' Faries with 1.  Who played the rest of those 1990 Pods games at 3B?



-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
neal	traven+@pitt.edu	      You're only young once, but you can be
	traven@vms.cis.pitt.edu	       immature forever.   -- Larry Andersen
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: rs0i+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Schall)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Expos logo
Date: 29 Sep 92 16:31:44 GMT
Organization: University Libraries - Library Automatio, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

"The Expo's logo is composed of three letters, the largest
of which is the overall stylized "M" for Montreal. 
Represented in the lower left of the logo is a lower
case "e" for expos and on the right side of the logo,
in blue, is the letter "b" for baseball. 

The team's name originated when Montreal's application
to the National League was accepted in 1968, on the heels
of the 1967 World's Fair held in the city. The fair was
commonly known as Expo '67, and the team was subsequently
named Expos in memory of this fair that had served to
bring international attention to the city of Montreal."

from Baseball Weekly, August 12-18, 1992

--------------------
!!!Richard Schall!!!
rs0i+@andrew.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: mlstocku@zeno10.math.UWaterloo.ca ()
Subject: Re: Morris: more fuel for this debate
Organization: University of Waterloo
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 01:35:19 GMT

  More on Morris (Blah Blah),

About this big game issue. He pitched Toronto's opener against Detroit
at Detroit. He went the distance at won it 7-2 or something. The next
10 starts he was ENTIRELY mediocore. He gave up more home runs then
Ben Mcdonald during that stretch of 9-10 games. One game I remember he
tossed 3 tater balls in about fifteen pitches. The next 10 starts he
exponentially improves. Morris has not pitched below an above average
game his last ten starts. He lost both some games but was always in them (e.g. Going the distance against Baltimore to lose 3-2).

And about this choke bullcrap. The Jays have never had a really 
spirited team like they do this year. Last year and in 1989 they
did not choke. They lost because they were simply beaten by a better
team. The twinkies just ran right through them, and you could see
their energy in every play.

Anything can happen in two 7 game series but the Jays have to be the
overwhelming favorite. Winfield is counting down the minutes man.

Guzman was simply overwhelmingly unbelievable in that game Saturday.
Fielder was quoted as saying he saw one pitch he could've hit but
everything else was untouchable. 9 K's and one hit ball. I predict
that Guzman is going to totally dominate.

Has everyone read that Sir David Stieb was not even present at the
Clincher? His locker was cleaned out and apparently, he's gone for the
postseason. Is he gone forever?
~v
/Michael
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: thf2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Citecheck Hell)
Subject: Re: AL Rookie of Year Award?
Reply-To: thf2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 03:16:36 GMT

In article <1ab569INNf0k@uwm.edu> paul@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Paul R Krueger) writes:
>In article <1992Sep29.194933.23471@news2.cis.umn.edu> thornley@milli.cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley) writes:
>>First, what do you mean by winning 20+ games on baserunning?  You can't mean
>>that they won 20 more games than they would have if they didn't run bases (or
>>if they ran like I do), since all teams do that.  Do you mean something like
>>20 more games than if they ran like the Red Sox?
>>
>>Second, can you mention a few games?  If you are confident that the running
>>game has won 20 games, you must have seen a few.
>    
>    They haven't won 20+ games just by the virtue of their running, but out
>    of their 80-some wins, in at least 50 I'd say, baserunning has played a
>    big part. 

Time out.

Do you mean to say that the Brewers would be 40-120 without their baserunning?

And by baserunning do you mean that they run their bases in the correct
direction 100% of the time instead of 50%?  'Cause if that's what you
mean, then, yeah, if the Brewers just kinda stood at home plate instead
of running the bases, heck that's at least fifty games right there.  But,
then, because *all* teams do just that, it's hardly something special
we want to attribute to the Brewers.

>There have been several ways; stealing a base, taking an extra
>    base when it didn't seem likely, forcing mental or physical errors by the
>    other team when Milwaukee has pressured them into making a good throw, 
>    making the opposing pitcher forget about the hitter, etc...
>
>    Generally, the Brewers baserunning has been very agressive and very smart
>    with the exception of Dante Bichette. Now maybe it hasn't won 20 games
>    directly, but indirectly there have been several. And if you take all of
>    Milwaukee's offensive attributes and keep them the same except for the
>    baserunning part, and trade that for Boston's baserunning ability, then
>    yeah, I think they'd be about 20 games worse.
>
>    --salty

You're saying, then, in effect, that the Brewers are *worse* than the
Red Sox, except for the fact that they're better baserunners.  (Milwaukee's
19.5 games ahead of the Sox.)

Do you honestly believe that a man-for-man matchup between the Brewers
and Sox wouldn't show a clear superiority on the part of Milwaukee's team?
At least this season?

(Before you answer: recall Molitor v Clark; Listach v Rivera; Pena,
Plantier, Vaughn, Zupcic, Hatcher, Greenwell, etc.  And realize that
this pathetic offensive team has won only 19 fewer games than Milwaukee.
Do you really think that baserunning is the *only* difference between
Milwaukee and Boston?)
-- 
           .. . . .  .  .   .    .     .     .    .   .  .  . . . ..
          ted frank | thf2@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
         the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
From: hutto@SMTC.engr.scarolina.edu (Brent Hutto)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Playoffs
Date: 30 Sep 92 13:07:02 GMT
Reply-To: hutto@smtc.engr.scarolina.edu
Organization: NIST Southeast Manufacturing Technology Center

In article <1992Sep22.160159.2733@mtroyal.ab.ca>, caldwell8102@mtroyal.ab.ca writes:
>Three of the four pennant races are all but over. Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and
>Oakland have all but won theirs. Looks like Toronto will probably hang onto
>the AL East although it's far from over. So, that creates the likely playoffs
>of Toronto vs Oakland and Pittsburgh vs Atlanta (again). 
>
>Who does everybody think will win those series's, and who will win the
>World Series?
>
>								Alan

    OK, I'll give it a try...


    ALCS

    Oakland over Toronto in 7.

    NLCS

    Atlanta over Pittsburgh in 6.

    WORLD SERIES

    Oakland over Atlanta in 6.

    I think that the "home field advantage" being with the NL this year
    is good for Oakland.  Their sluggers will take advantage of the
    Launching Pad (tm) better than the Braves and the Braves pitchers
    will love pitching in Oakland.  The Braves would be better off if
    4 of the 7 games were in Oakland (in which case my prediction would
    be Oakland over Atlanta in 7).

    However, having made these predictions, let me just add...
    
    GO BRAVES!

    WOOF, WOOF! CHOP, CHOP! and so forth...
-------------------------------
Brent Hutto
hutto@SMTC.engr.scarolina.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: sinhaa@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Anand Sinha)
Subject: Re: jays starters for lcs
Organization: Department of Computer Science, McMaster University
Distribution: rec
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 15:18:28 GMT

In article <1992Oct3.4235.45594@dosgate> "stephen dawson" <stephen.dawson@canrem.com> writes:
>The Blue Jays pitchers have put it all together at just the right
>time!
>
>Jimmy Key has been awesome in the last month. David Cone has been,
>well David Cone, once he adjusted to the American League strike
>zone. Juan Guzman throws a one hitter through eight to clinch the
>East title.
>
>If it wasn't for his incredible career record and playoff experience
>Jack Morris may not even have warrented a start! But he will be out
>there to start things off on Wednesday.

Jack Morris doesn't warrant a start at all! And unfortunately he's going to
pitch games 1,4,&7. *Sh*T*.  Cone is the starter for 2&5.  Guzman had one 
great outing this month, but is it enough to move Key from the starting
rotation? I doubt it.  I think Juan realised that Saturday was his last start
of the year, and gave it his all...
>
>Look for the Jays to win in 5, and don't discount a sweep.

OH NO!! Ok, all Jays fans...we have to counter-act this woof.  

The A's are great.  The A's are the best team ever to play.  If the Jays
get lucky, they might score a run before getting swept.  

There that should do it. :-)

Seriously, I predict the Jays will win on October 15, giving my 30th birthday
some *real* meaning. :-)	

Anand Sinha
Jays -> all the way in '92.
Robbie Alomar for MVP!
Go Habs Go!
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: tomscud@ruf.rice.edu (Thomas Reid Scudder)
Subject: Astros
Organization: Rice University
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 07:07:15 GMT

What does anyone think of their chances next season?  It looks like they may
even have a chance to contend, especially if Atlanta moves to the East.
(Of course, they may also be lucky this year... does anyone have their stats
in 1 run games (the surest way to gauge how lucky a team is overall)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Morris: more fuel for this debate
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 14:41:16 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.162750.25880@leland.Stanford.EDU> claudius@leland.Stanford.EDU (Nelson Lu) writes:
>In article <92278.175733JPIERCE@MIAMIU.BITNET> Jeff Pierce <JPIERCE@MIAMIU.BITNET> writes:
>>Maybe the Blue Jays players score so well for Morris because they know
>>that a four run lead, on average, isn't enough to guarantee a win for
>>the team.  I believe they spotted him a 6 to 1 lead a few days ago, and
>>Morris gave up 5 more runs before he left the game with an 8-6 lead.  I
>>like Morris, but I wonder what his record would be if he were pitching
>>for the Angels (Nelson, would you want him this year)?
>
>Put it this way: according to the "Pythagorean" formula, if he had gotten
>*Jim Abbott*'s run support, his record would be a 7-19.  Enough said.

Well, Jim Abbott, with 2.77 ERA (~1.3 Lower than Jack's) went 7 - 15! So, if
we assume that the PyT is a reasonable predictor, he doesn't look much worse
for the Angels than Abbott!

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do. 
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: tedward@cs.cornell.edu (Edward [Ted] Fischer)
Subject: A dumb question
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 13:10:23 GMT


Will LaRussa be starting Weiss in the playoffs?  It seems that he
would have equally good defense with Bordick/Browne as with
Weiss/Bordick (Weiss has reportedly lost a step), and Browne certainly
has had the better bat this year!

Cheers,
-Valentine

-- 
Make outs, not walks!					tedward@cs.cornell.edu
Clemens four Cy Young!
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: The Prospects of the NL
From: f67700241@violet.ccit.arizona.edu (Greg Franklin)
Date: 6 Oct 92 00:30:03 MST
Followup-To: rec.sport.baseball
Distribution: na,local
Organization: University of Arizona
Nntp-Posting-User: f67700241

In article <Ahn-051092154301@branford-college-node.net.yale.edu>, Ahn@pop.cis.yale.edu (Eugene R. Ahn) writes:
> Who was [Baerga] traded for? I know he's not an all-time Indian. I
> bet it was some stinky team in the NL. Was it the Braves? :-)

It was the Padres, in the 1989-90 off-season.  He, along with Chris James
and Sandy Alomar Jr., went to the Tribe for Joe Carter.

> MIKE PIAZZA - he has been covered. had a stellar spring training, and in
> his call up at the end of this year, he did OK. Is he going to challenge
> Daulton for the title of best hitting catcher? [...]

The Bose-meister saw him a lot at Albuquerque, so he should give you the
necessary info.

> RHEAL CORMIER - I want people to pay attention to this guy. Last game of
> the season, he won his 10th game. He is 7-0 in his last 9 starts with an
> ERA under 2. In his last three starts, I believe he has more KO than IP.
> Excellent control. Anyone have background info on this guy? His minor
> numbers? His aresenal of pitches?

Some guy named CRASH popped into r.s.bb last year & was touting this guy,
comparing him to John Smoltz and all that.  I disagreed politely, and as
SDCN are wont to do, we tossed around all sorts of numbers.  The first
half of this year it looked like I was the big-time winner of that
argument.  It got a little closer the second half. :-)  I still think
Cormier is closer to Leibrandt than to Smoltz, but we'll see.
-- 
Greg "Mockingbird" Franklin      Interviewer: "Sir, how do you spell relief?"
f67700241@ccit.arizona.edu               Dan: "R-O-L-A-I-D-S-E."

"[George Bush is] the most ruthless white man in the history of the planet."
	-- Richard Ben Cramer, author of _What It Takes_
"The President scores much better than Bill Clinton."
	-- Dan, comparing Bush's record of marital infidelity to Clinton's
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: smm@sei.cmu.edu (Stephen Masters)
Subject: Re: Braves-Pirates Pitching Rotation (Does Anyone Know It?)
Keywords: baseball
Organization: Software Engineering Institute
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 14:29:41 GMT

In article <69711@hydra.gatech.EDU> jg10@prism.gatech.EDU (GILMORE,JOHN F) writes:
>Here's what I have so far:
>
>Game 1. Smoltz vs Drabek
>Game 2. Avery vs Wakefield
>Game 3. Glavine vs Tomlin
>Game 4. Smoltz vs ?
>Game 5. Avery vs ?
>Game 6. Glavine vs ?
>Game 7. Smoltz vs ?
>
My understanding is that Leyland is planning on using Drabek in games 1, 4,
and 7; Wakefield in games 2 and 5; and probably Danny Jackson in games 3 and
6.  Tomlin, Walk, and/or Zane Smith would be working out of the bullpen.

Leyland is planning on only carrying 10 pitchers on the playoff roster.  I
wonder which pitcher will be dropped from the roster if Zane Smith is included.
The bullpen pitchers that are elgible for the playoffs are Belinda, Mason,
Cox, Neagle, and Patterson.


Steve Masters
smm@sei.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
From: timlin@spot.Colorado.EDU (Michael Timlin)
Subject: Re: Inevitable changes
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 19:20:41 GMT

zuhars@madrone.eecs.ucdavis.edu (Gary Didi Seven Huckabay) writes:

>How about this:

>	West          Midwest         South          East
>      California      Chicago         Atlanta      New York
>      Oakland         St. Louis       Tampa        New York
>      San Diego       Kansas City     Miami        Boston
>      Seattle         Minnesota       New Orleans  Pittsburgh
>      Portland        Cincinnati      Charlotte    Philadelphia
>      Chicago (AL)    Cleveland       Houston      Toronto
>      Los Angeles     Detroit         Texas        Montreal
>      Bay Area II     Milwaukee       Phoenix      Baltimore

How about you give Denver it's team back. :)

Mike Timlin
timlin@spot.colorado.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball