Many times in evaluating players on this site, in discussions or arguments or whatever, I bring up the advanced metrics. The reaction to those seems to be "That's great" and they are then shrugged off, only thought of again when I continue to annoy you by bringing them up again and again.

So yesterday I was having a discussion with BiB on Kyle Quincey and brought them up again. I realize there's a bit of a history with this board and some members of the Corsiatti, which has caused quite a bit of backlash against the advanced stats.

Since it's the offseason,  and the feud has simmered since last season, I thought this might be a good time to bring up the discussion again.

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As I sit here on the eve of another season, I find myself wanting to ask a favor of you, but kind of ashamed. Nevertheless, I am going to ask it. Giants, could you please win the World Series this season.

I know this sounds like a bit of a selfish request, especially after last season's magical run. I am fairly new to Giants fandom, having become a fan opening day 2009. At 29 years old I finally got into baseball enough to pick a favorite team. I had narrowed the list down to 5 candidates, and I was living in San Jose at the time.

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If you forgot about the Pensblog, or never knew of them in the first place, they are undeniably hilarious. Of all the NHL Guardian parodies.They easily have the best one, in my opinion.

via www.thepensblog.com

The Detroit Guardian. I suggest you go take a gander.  They also have the Montreal one.  They said they have other ones, but I was unable to find them in their archives. These two are still funny though.

As some of you may or may not know, I'm still kind of learning about the Giants lineups, and really how to be a self-loathing in the pit of despair Giants fan. Some of the finer points of strategy I don't understand, because they aren't really stuff I've ever paid attention to, like why a guy should hit 4th, 5th or 6th. Hockey is my hardcore sport, Soccer is the sport I'm most tactically aware in, and baseball is my casual sport.

Tonight was the first game I got to go to all season, since I am from, and live in, CO. I have read stuff around here. There were a few things that really confused me, and I wanted to see if I was missing something rather subtle that baseball people understand and I don't or if I was just not understanding because it didn't make any sense.

1st, why is Posey batting 7th. He seems to be a good hitter, and gets on base a lot. It seems like having Whiteside and the P behind him is a good way to squander any contribution he makes at the plate. That happened more than once tonight and it was frustrating.

2nd, why isn't he behind the plate. It seems like the Giants best lineup is Huff at 1st, Schierholtz and Burrell in the OF and Posey behind the plate. Wouldn't this get the best hitters in the lineup? The only reason I can see starting Whiteside is he gives some defensive advantage, but he wasn't all that good defesively tonight.. Seems like the best lineup wasn't on the field tonight.

I somehow feel like I'm started the whole "Anti-Corsi" kind of sentiment on this forum, when I engaged in some heated discussion with some of the guys over at Matchsticks and Gasoline, so I want to get a couple things straightened up. There's a little too much "Anti-Stats" (the mathmatical kind, not the awesome center) on this board lately for my liking. As I do appreciate and see the value of statistics. So consider this little discussion/tantrum stemming from that.

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So I was unable to watch the opening series of the season, mainly because I was vacationing in Europe. As everyone knows, they then rattled off a series sweep of the Astros. Then I was back in town, but unable to watch them in the first game against the Braves. Finally, in the second game of the Braves series, I was able to sit down and watch the Giants... And they got smoked.

Sunday I had tickets to the avalanche season finale and was unable to watch them, and then my free preview of Extra innings was up. Of course they won last night.

So the Giants are now 6-0 when I am unable to watch them, and 0-1 in games I've watched. A sample size of 7 is clearly a big enough sample size.

I feel like the character of a modern day Greek tragedy. Watch the Giants, feel the agony of defeat. Don't watch, they win but I am unable to experience the joy that comes with that.  At least the Avs in the playoffs will keep me occupied for a couple series.

Allow me to indulge in some nonsense for a moment.

As many of you know, I am training for a half marathon. Yesterday (Saturday) I had a terrible run full of mental blocks where I only made it about 6 miles (I was supposed to go 10). So Today I decided to give it another go, and run the full 10.

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If you were on the fence about whether to attend the MHH MArch 1st game against Les Ailes, there's now added incentive to head down and join the party.

Why added incentive you ask? Because the March 1st Colorado-Detroit game will be on VS. If you have Direct TV that will be the ONLY way you can legally watch the game, well other than sports bars. Direct TV and VS have issued a joint statement:

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If anyone is going to the Edmonton game tonight, would someone stop by the Avalanche store by the main entrance and see if they are selling Team USA "stastny" sweaters. Also, if it's nto too much trouble, could you ask the staff if the store is open on non-game days.

For Valentines day, I want to get the jibblewife a Stastny Team USA Olympic sweater. Now I found a link the other day that shows that the Kings are selling Kings' players Olympic sweaters in their team store, and I would like to just get the sweater at that store if it's possible.

Now I'm headed to the game on Feb 12th against the 'Yotes, but I need to know if I should order a blank one beforehand and then get it stitched over the Olympic break, or just get it the day of the game. Ideally I'd like to head down a few days before the HX game and get it for her so she could wear it to that game.

Anyways, if someone could stop by the game tonight and get me some info, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

I've seen a lot of posts here about who the giants shouldn't pursure, and who would be a disaster. Don't get me wrong those have been valuable to read since I don't follow other teams enough to really have a good judge on who's good or not from other teams. But One thing I haven't seen around these parts (and it's possible I missed it) is a list of the actual desired free agents.

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