Interesting idea for a slump breaker? I guess I'm glad I'm nowhere near Seattle just in case this actually catches on.

Austrian Rugby Team Gets Naked

WikiFact: The origins of striptease as a performance art are disputed and various dates and occasions have been given from ancient Babylonia to twentieth century America. In terms of myth the first recorded striptease is related in the ancient Sumerian story of the descent of the goddess Inanna into the Underworld (or Kur). At each of the seven gates, she removed an article of clothing or a piece of jewelry. As long as she remained in hell, the earth was barren. When she returned, fecundity abounded.

Replacement Level Yankees has a post up with summary statistics from 1000 simulated Diamond Mind seasons using 6 different projection systems (CHONE, DMB, Hardball Times, PECOTA, ZiPs, CAIRO). Put the kids to bed and see what you think, as it ain't pretty.

Replacement Level Yankees Blog

Looks like my guess of 84 wins is a tad optimistic.

Over at Athletics Nation, Blez posted his lineup for Most Despicable Team. Of interest is his inclusion of Beltre at 3B. I think the term "despicable" is a little out of place, but I'm pretty sure all of us have certain players on other teams (or even our own) who we irrationally or even rationally despise. Seems like an interesting topic atleast and nothing to take particularly seriously.

Mine:
C - Paul LoDuca
1b - Kevin Millar
2b - Brian Roberts
3b - Scott Brosius
SS - Michael Young
LF - Garret Anderson
CF - Johnny Damon
RF - Jermaine Dye

SP - Cupcakes
SP - Curt Schilling
SP - Jared Weaver/John Lackey
Cl - K Rod
RP - Ramiro Mendoza

Def. not exhaustive and some are more hated than others (despise Damon), but I'm comfortable that this is a good start.

Anyone else care to share?

Original AN post: http://athleticsnation.com/storyonly/2007/11/15/142640/32

I ran into a news article today discussing some HOF cases that are coming up within the next few years, amongst others our very own Edgar. It reminded me of an old discussion on baseballthinkfactory that was pretty enlightening. It's about 700 posts arguing his candidacy. Worth the time to read through if you have a moment or 20 to spare.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/22291/P0/

Dan Szymborski over at BaseballThinkFactory has already started posting his player projections for the 2008 season. Thanks to reverse alphabetical ordering, the Mariners are already up.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/2008_zips_projection_seattle_mariners/

"The King Felix projection is pretty disappointing, so I hope ZiPS is wrong. For most teams, that'd be a pretty positive projection for a very young starter, but I think a lot of people, myself included, kinda hoped he'd be fighting for Cy Youngs by now, not suffering occasional arm tweaks and allowing a confusing number of hits."

Head on over and see what you think.

I know a few of us are in the NOVA/DC/MD area. So is anyone thinking about going to any of the games? I'm thinking about Tuesday and maybe Wed. for Felix if I can get the night off. It'd be nice to atleast put a few faces to poster names. So anyone planning on going?

300 character fact du jour: Peanut brittle was originally created by the Nazi's for use in military rations. Brittle was an easy and economical way for them to remove the poison found in raw peanuts (a plentiful crop in Germany).