Originally published 12.6.07.  Edit to add, D-O-V's take on this move turned out to be from another planet.  We thought that we were stating the obvious, but as so often, we quickly found out that most amigos were diametrically opposed on it.  LOL.

Every time this happens 'round this town, which is most of the time, I think of Jim Bowden explaining to Gary Huckabay why he doesn't hire a sabermetrician:  "there isn't a dime's worth of difference between you guys.  You like pitchers who strike out a lot of people, walk very few, and keep the ball on the ground.  No kidding.  Us dumb-bunny scouts woulda never thought of that." 

It's not about what they did done, Jim… it's about what they will do… 

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1.  Bill James once pointed out that sabermetricians have a different, 30,000-foot, view of the forest than do field personnel.  He opined that this view is not superior taking all things into account, but that it is definitely different.

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This is part 1 of Ichiro 2008.

How will he perform?

1. Will he have 200 hits 100 runs and 30 SB?
2. Will he be more vocal and will be the leader of M's?
3. Will he be more patient and draw more walks?
4. Will he have (mini) slumps in April and August/September?
5. Will he have more bunts and SB as ordered by his manager (though I don't know if McLaren will order him to do so; he just said it to media)

Just some questions to my freinds here at DOV.

In Part 2 I will write my opinion based on offseason interviews reported in Japan.

As y'know, Justin won the 2007 14-team AL-only ESPN League, and Cool Papa the monster 20-team Yahoo league.

There were a half-dozen or so roto sharks who played both, and one of them was an equal-opportunity tail-kicker. 

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2007 ESPN League:  Taro finished with the best overall record, "lost" on the very final day to finish #2 of 14.  And as a group, those were 14 very active, very savvy dudes.  Two or three guys, who justifiably considered themselves champs coming into the season, very quickly lost interest in running with the big dogs :- ) and had to be replaced mid-season.  Thanks to Jonezie, Optimist, and ?I forget? for taking over the blue-smoke-belching NASCAR entries.

Probably most of us would agree that Taro had the best overall roster wire-to-wire (though Justin played to peak at the end, which he did, and was deservedly the champion after whacking me, Mikey Jay, and Taro).

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Now to the last part. What I think is the cause and the solution.

As in an Edgar Allan Poe mystery C. Auguste Dupin must solve the problem. All the evidence have been in part 1 and 2.

Profiling:

1. Johjima is making something different. The emphasis is in different because if Johjima is making something inferior or bad or has a bad habit all the coaches, bloggers and fans would have find it and corrected it. Unconsciousness or subconsciousness may also be involved to make it harder to solve the problem.

2.It must be something related to attention. When Johjima calls for attention in RISP situation the DER was better. Suspect is more to younger players than veterans. Lopez was criticises for lack of attention. Yubet too. So Lopez and Yubet may be involved. 

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2007 M's DER by Dr. Naka, PART ONE 

Now let's discuss about FOREST.

Before I go to details a review what the discussion is about.

I am a bit lazy so I got it from THT.

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Here you have a post valued 20M$ for the Mariners. It is a long post so it is in 3 parts.

[Conventional wisdom is..] Ibanez and Sexson lost one step or two and is the cause of bad defence of M's. Bench Vidro, Ibanez to 1st, let fielders with range like AJ or Wlad play at left and the problem is solved.

But …

Watching all most games of 2007 on Japanese TV which has a far more better camera work on defence of the players than MLB TV or other US TVs,  it cannot be true.

The discussion at DOV was:

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Skippy Sez:   Clement, what's that you say?  Oh.  Well, let me tell you something :dramatic pause: … we like surprises.  

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Dr. D Sez:  :- O

Jose Sez:  >:-O 

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Skippy Sez:   But Jeffy has to be first string to see the inside of an MLB (TM) stadium.

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… that being John Benson's #1 yellow sticky note on draft day.   

The players most likely to exhibit the most dramatic spike in performance are those aged 26 who have several years of major league experience - John Benson 

His #2 sticky note, the one on the right side of his computer monitor :- ) being those players who had radically better second halves than first halves.

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