61-101, and we didn't even secure the #1 overall pick next June. Good bloody riddance, 2008.

Remember when, according to some, Carlos Silva was the best free agent pitcher available this winter?

Remember when, upon missing out on Hiroki Kuroda, the Mariners panicked about their starting rotation, signing said Silva to a $48M, 4 year contract?

Remember certain parties (e.g. me) saying that they hated the contract, but Silva was reasonably valuable and likely to improve the team, provided there was a reasonable defence behind him?

Remember how I didn't have tRA for any year before 2007 at that point?

Because holy crap was I wrong.

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After applying a positional adjustment for bRAA, their best hitter is a guy OPS'ing .729.

As a team, their bRAA stands at an amazing -98.8; 2 wins worse than what our sorry lineup has accomplished. And their pitching hasn't helped them that much either, what with it being worth +25 runs, 15 of those attributed to Rich Harden.

Who doesn't play for them anymore.

When Billy Beane wants to rebuild, my goodness he goes for it.

From Hickey via USSM: Erik Bedard has a torn labrum.

We knew what it was after the MRI — it’s a tear in the labrum and a cyst,” Bedard said. “Surgery was always an option, but you want it to be the last option. You’re never 100 percent sure what will happen in surgery.

I'd have some commentary but I honestly feel too queasy to point out anything except:

Anyway this labrum’s great – it belongs to Erik Bedard

-Scrappy, 3 days ago.

FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING DOG.

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Jeff's note: I'm not at home, but I just heard the news. Figures. For the Mariners, this has for all intents and purposes pretty much been sealed as the worst trade in team history. For us, it probably means no more Erik Bedard ever again, and shattered hopes for a competitive team in 2009. For everyone who thought it appropriate to call Bedard a pussy (or insinuate as such), I cordially invite you all to go fuck yourselves. In Riggleman's own words, Bedard gave this team everything he could - and probably more - and in the end it's not the pitcher you should hate, but the ex-general manager who thought the pitcher worth crippling the farm. You can't help getting hurt. You can help taking an obvious bad gamble. God dammit, Bavasi. God dammit. This organization has now been set back even further than I feared, and it's all thanks to you. Tomorrow morning I hope someone farts in your coffee.

It's fun when a worst-case scenario comes to fruition. Really keeps you grounded.

I imagine many of you have already noticed, but Statcorner now has a variety of sortable leaderboards available for your perusal.

Still don't have minor league data or tRA* available, but they're not too far off either, and I'm continuing work on navigation and user interface.

Enjoy, and if anyone has any feedback on anything SC related, we'd like to hear it.

PS: That was awesome.

Combined, you are on the order of 6 wins worse than average over a full season. (Assuming Yuni's a -10 defensive shortstop, which is being generous).

In bRAA (wOBA-based) and pRAA (tRA based), your Seattle Mariners:

Yes, I know. But Kenji doesn't completely suck at defence.

Bahahahahahaha how is this possible.

No politics. Seriously, none. No getting around the rule by referring to it and covering your ass with [zomg politics!] either. No statements, however balanced and fair you may think they are, which allude to current political matters.

Seriously, this is not a hard rule and we are perplexed at the frequency with which y'all are breaking it. So this is your warning. No more tiptoeing around the line, because you will get banned (or worse*) if you do.

Hearts,

-The Management.

*Yes we have found worse things than banning.

Yes, we know we're down. We're trying to get it sorted, and we'll be back as soon as possible. Thank you.

Update 17:30 SAT: It may be a while yet. Sorry about this.

Update 20:15 SAT: Sounds like progress is being made. We also have comfirmation that this is all Carlos Silva's fault.

Update 21:30 SAT: We're probably down until Tuesday. Mr. Silva, there will be a reckoning.

The defensive spectrum is a term coined by Bill James in the 80s, and attempts to show the relative scarcity of defenders able to play a certain position. In order of most common to least, it looks something like this:

DH-->1B-->LF-->RF-->3B-->CF-->2B-->SS-->C*

Many people would describe this as a ranking from easiest to hardest, but that misses out on a lot of the subtleties of the game. Think about it: would you really expect a catcher to be able to play a competent centre field? No, obviously not. This is because there are many different skills a defender can have, and each position weights these skills differently. Matthew and I have come up with a quick list of skills a defender might have:

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