SB Nation User Blog: 5percenter

Youkilis NOT an all star

5percenter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:32:44 -0000

The fans of Boston continue to stuff the ballot box with hometown favories instead of who is most deserving.

Justin Morneau is batting 309 with 18 HR's

Miguel Cabrera is batting 330 with 16 HR's

Kevin Youkilis is such a force offensively that he doesn't start in my fantasy league. I'm in a ten team league and you tell me which one of these guys you would sit for Youkilis

Pujols, Cabrera, Berkman, Fielder, Morneau, Teixeira, Gonzalez, Pena, Howard, Martinez

Youkilis has numbers that are more comparable to Todd Helton. That would be fine if we were talking about Helton in his prime. After all this is Youkilis peaking and Helton dwindling. As far as career goes Youkilis isn't in the same conversation as Helton.

So I ask,.....how does a player who is not even one of the 10 best at his position get to be an all star. The so called knowledgeable fans of Boston is how. Your sports opinion can't be taken seriously with such homerish antics.

You want to talk about defense. I agree Youkilis is better than some, maybe most. I'll tell you something else. Some of those guys are better than you think as well.

Wakefield Not Deserving

5percenter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:15:29 -0000

I'm hearing a lot people lobbying for Wakefield to be an all star. Maybe there have been sentimental picks in the past, but sentimental to baseball not a particular team. The rest of the country does not have a sore spot for Tim Wakefield just because he's done a decent job as a number 5 for a dozen years. He doesn't even factor in to the October plans of his own team. As far as the numbers go it's laughable.

Rankings/ 13 plus starts

ERA 28th

IP 19th

K's 38th

WHIP 27th

BAA 21st

The only offensive category he cracks the top ten in is a negative category with BB's against where he's 10th

Hanley Ramirez

5percenter — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:18:20 -0000

Is a BIG reason why the Red Sox are hesitant to give up their young talent. What the Red Sox are basically saying is we should have hung on to Ramirez and traded some other guys. You didn't win 2 rings with home grown talent no matter how loud you scream about it.

Take a good, long look at the Red Sox 2004 World Series roster. Every pitcher, and every single starting position player with the lone exception of Trot Nixon, did not come up through the Red Sox system.
That's right. Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Johnny Damon, Keith Foulke, Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts, and Orlando Cabrera were all high-priced free agents or acquired through trades.
Now, examine their 2007 payroll. It's $165 million. That was higher than all but one team in baseball.
This is not a small market club of scruffy underpaid underdogs. These are the New York Yankees, except they are located 300 miles to the northeast.
Despite the club's obvious mercenary approach in recent years, Red Sox fans are always the first to accuse other teams of "buying their championships."

In 2008 all your young guns were playing well. Lester, Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury. they were all there and they came up short without the BIG NAMES. Your home grown talent are a bunch of ROLE PLAYERS. Pedroia can't do what Manny, and Ortiz have done. SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF PEOPLE. You don't scare pitchers by doubling them to death. Frustrate yes. That pesky Pedroia is what you'll hear.

You are OVER THINKING. Paralysis by Analysis. Over value your young talent and deals will be hard to make. Ellsbury batted .27? last year and Buchholz was a disaster. To offer those two players foe Ramirez is DILUSSIONAL and insulting!!

Is Cassel a FRAUD???

5percenter — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:27:20 -0000

I'd like to point to 11 games. That's 70 percent of games played.
Bills
Colts
Chiefs
Doplhins
Niners
Jets
Chargers
Steelers
Seahawks
Rams

In 11 games vs those 10 teams. Cassel threw a grand total of 5 TD's with 9 interceptions and an average QB rating of 78. That's while running the most prolific offense of our generation.

Matt Cassel is clearly the product of phenomonal coaching, Wes Welker running after the catch, and an absurdly easy schedule.

He was also the most sacked QB in the league which tells you why he was so successful running the ball. He was running for his life!!

Screen passes to Welker was half the running game for most of the season and Welker MADE Cassel. 95 percent of the big plays were screen passes to Welker who single handidly gets Cassel paid next year. Cassel should give Welker a happy ending,.....or half the money he'll make because of him.

"The Dynasty Is Over"

5percenter — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:22:54 -0000

I'll tell you again. New England fans have a distorted view of their team.

Remember this post from week 2. It was titled "The Dynasty Is Over"

I was banned for posting it.

I heard a lot of people compare Cassel replacing Brady to when Brady came in for an injured Bledsoe back in 2001. If you believe that, then you have no place in the world of sports talk. When Brady came in for Bledsoe, it turned out to be an upgrade. Brady wasn't filling in for a QB who was busy winning championships. Brady wasn't replacing an MVP who was breaking touchdown records. Brady wasn't filling in on a team that was in the middle of a dynasty. Brady helped to make a good team better and Cassel has zero chance on improving on the Patriots record breaking season of a year ago. There is only one way for Cassel and the Patrotss to go.
The good teams you barely beat last year with Brady at the helm will have their revenge this year. Problem is the Patriots aren't playing to many good teams during the regular season. So regular season success is almost guaranteed. In that division you get 8 wins just for showing up. A championship, FORGET IT! Bottom line is,......the dynasty is over!

If you are one of those people who believe that Tom Brady is one of the best QB's to ever play the game. Which I am not! Then you must also believe that the Patriots are in serious trouble without him. You can't talk about Brady over the last seven seasons like he's an NFL immortal, and then say we'll be fine without him. WITHOUT BLINKING AN EYELASH!!! Do I have to remind you that you didn't win the superbowl last year,......and you HAD Tom Brady. Do I have to remind you that you are three years removed from a championship WITH TOM BRADY. Now you think
that you have a chance without him. It's good to be optimistic, but I prefer to be realistic. It's easy to say that the Pats will be fine during the regular season. They WILL: be fine. After all they have the easiest schedule in the league. What a JOKE! They play 16 games and ONLY 4 of those games are against teams with winning records last year. My point is the Patriots are a good football team and with their POPCORN schedule THEY could go 11-5 with any QB. However, THEY WILL
NOT WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP!!! The dynasty is OVER!!!!

Welker MVP??

5percenter — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:44:52 -0000

First of all Matt Cassel should get down on his knees and thank Welker with a happy ending. Half of his passing yards is Wes Welker and his yardage after the catch. Welker isn't catching passes downfield. He earns ever yard he gets while running past defenders like they were the pee wee team. Matt Cassel will be getting paid next year and Wes Welker is the biggest reason why. Because not only has he been the outlet for Cassel, he IS the Patriots running game. This Patriot team could thank Welker for 2 wins easy and in my mind if the Pats make the playoffs he has to get MVP consideration. I hate him with a passion because he has single handidly kept the Patriots in the race.

More Predictions from Guru Lou

5percenter — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:25:50 -0000

We all agree that the AFC isn't as strong as it was a year ago. Last year the Colts, Pats, and Chargers were the favorites and as expected they ended up having to beat each other to advance in the playoffs. Of course the Pats came out on top. I thought last year that the the NFC had closed the gap and was getting stronger. I was right and this year the numbers back up the fact that the NFC is at least the equal. I don't see any team in the AFC as good as the big 3 were last year.

I think the Pats will win the division. There is no reason they can't win their last 4 games, Seattle, Raiders, Buffalo and Arizona. Arizona is over rated and most of their wins come from within their HORRIBLE HORRIBLE division. Seattle, SanFran, and St Louis acoount for 5 of their wins. The Pats are better than the 4 teams left on their schedule.

So the Patriots will go 11-5 and win their division without beating one TRUE contender. Just as I predicted in week 2. Don't tell me DENVER was a good win, and don't tell me the JETS WEEK TWO was a good win,....THEY WEREN'T.

The Patriots have yet to win 3 games in a row this year and although that should change this week it's not a good sign. Putting three or four straight wins together in the playoffs with an unpolished QB and a so-so defense is not a great recipe.

The Patriots will be a MONSTER next year. Brady is back and the young guys on defense will have grown up a little. All the injuries on defense have forced more playing time for thr younger guys. That's going to help next year. With the maturation of the defense Bill will go back to the blue collar ball control approach. He'll do this to protect his QB. He'll do this because that's how the Patriots won 3 championships. The Patriots didn't win championships because of their offensive weapontry. They won with a smash mouth, grind it out, mistake proof, bend but don't break brand of football. Dropping back 50 times is not how you keep a QB healthy.

The Dynasty Is Over

5percenter — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:17:41 -0000

I posted this week two after Brady went down. I know you remember it. It was titled:

“The Dynasty Is Over”

I heard a lot of people compare Cassel replacing Brady to when Brady came in for an injured Bledsoe back in 2001. If you believe that, then you have no place in the world of sports talk. When Brady came in for Bledsoe, it turned out to be an upgrade. Brady wasn’t filling in for a QB who was busy winning championships. Brady wasn’t replacing an MVP who was breaking touchdown records. Brady wasn’t filling in on a team that was in the middle of a dynasty. Brady helped to make a good team better and Cassel has zero chance on improving on the Patriots record breaking season of a year ago. There is only one way for Cassel and the Patrotss to go. The good teams you barely beat last year with Brady at the helm will have their revenge this
year. Problem is the Patriots aren’t playing to many good teams during the regular season. So regular season success is almost guaranteed. In that division you get 8 wins just for showing up. A championship, FORGET IT! Bottom line is,……the dynasty is over!

If you are one of those people who believe that Tom Brady is one of the best QB’s to ever play the game. Which I am not! Then you must also believe that the Patriots are in serious trouble without him. You can’t talk about Brady over the last seven seasons like he’s an NFL immortal, and then say we’ll be fine without him. WITHOUT BLINKING AN EYELASH!!!

Do I have to remind you that you didn’t win the superbowl last year,……and you HAD Tom Brady. Do I have to remind you that you are three years removed from a championship WITH TOM BRADY. Now you think that you have a chance without him. It’s good to be optimistic, but I prefer to be realistic. It’s easy to say that the Pats will be fine during the regular season. I agree, they will be fine. After all they have the easiest schedule in the league. What a JOKE! They play 16 games and ONLY 4 of those games are against teams with winning records last year. My point is the Patriots with their POPCORN schedule THEY could go 11-5 with any QB. However, THEY WILL NOT WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP!!! The dynasty is OVER!!!!

Like I've Been Saying

5percenter — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:24:37 -0000

The New England Patriots have a pathetic schedule and have struggled with it. Matt Cassel has looked brilliant at times because of coaching, his supporting cast and the cupcake schedule afforded to him. The 2008 Patriots were built to outscore you and although that might look easy against Miami and Kansas City it will be a problem against CONTENDERS!! You just seen a glimpse on what your QB might look like in a playoff game against a top notch defense. it's not hard to understand you have to beat a good team to be considered one. It's 11 weeks into the season now and the Patriots have not done that. The Patriots have such a soft schedule and they don't seem very prepared when they play the better teams. It's like they expect every team to roll over like St Louis and Buffalo. This was ANOTHER team that the Patriots have owned and they were man handled again.

Moss makes certain things possible!!

5percenter — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:42:54 -0000

And Cassel has played damn good BUT,

IT'S ALL ABOUT BELICHICK!!

He is constantly evolving, adapting and adjusting with the talent he has. Recognizing his strengths and playing around them. They bring in Randy Moss last year and at the same time the defense starts getting older and a little slower. So what does Belichick do. He turns into Mike Martz. He knew he would have to outscore teams like the Colts and the Chargers. HE KNEW his aging defense wouldn't be able to shut those high flying teams down like they have in the past. So Belichick outscored everyone, ever! Then at seasons end he drafts speed on defense because he doesn't want to throw the ball like he did. He wants to play ball control. Now to start this season he loses his MVP QB. What does he do, he turns back into the PRE -MOSS Patriots. Grind it out keep it close 17-10 over Kansas City. 19-10 over the Jets. He see's his QB growing through the season. Playing some of the weaker teams allows them to stay in those games and stay at the top of the standings. Now the season progresses and Cassel starts feeling comfortable and BOOM, back to back 400 yard games in the air.