This is how Brian Sabean decided to spend $126 million

On a middle reliever...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Zito calmly accepted his demotion to the bullpen Monday and vowed that he soon would rejoin the Giants' starting rotation, although manager Bruce Bochy didn't offer a timetable for that event.

Bochy announced the move one day after Zito's worst performance of the season, a three-inning, eight-run outing in a 10-1 loss to Cincinnati. That dropped Zito's record to a Major League-worst 0-6. He also owns a 7.53 ERA and a .336 opponents' batting average, well above the respective National League averages of 4.06 and .255.

Heck, even FJM had a whole post making fun of a blogger trying really horribly to defend Sabean.

On a different note, however, I found a link on baseballprospectus.com to this study on how different pitches affect the arm and elbow.

Let's Play MadLibs!

Basically, this was already was cleaned up on BaseballProspectus.com, but you can have the joy of filling in whatever you feel like. I already have:


Cole Hamels (0 DXL)
Sometimes, you just let the readers speak. B.H. wrote: "Charlie Manuel [expletive deleted] has lost his mind. Five of five games this season he's left Cole Hamels in the game beyond 100 [expletive deleted] pitches. Never mind that he's never had five starts over 100 pitches back to back (though there was that equally [expletive deleted] run of four starts near/over 110 pitches last May) or that tonight against Milwaukee, aka the [expletive deleted] lefty killers, after rolling the dice and getting Cole to have a successful seventh (racking up two more Ks), he sends Hamels back out with 110 [expletive deleted] pitches with Braun, Fielder and Hart. Give me a [expletive deleted] break. Instead of leaving the game with a 4-3 lead, Braun doubles on three pitches and Fielder follows it up with a HR seven pitches after that. 121 pitches on the night! Never mind that we're talking Cole [expletive deleted] Hamels. He who was rushed to the majors at the first sign of health two years ago to maximize his value. He of the numerous arm injuries. He who has never gone 121 pitches in a game before... Against two lefty killers and a guy who hit a HR on him already that evening. This is two consecutive starts now that [expletive deleted] Manuel has left Hamels in for an inning too long (against the Mets it was trotting him out to load the bases (the last on an intentional walk) before pulling him... after which all inherited runners scored. To say the least, it's a bit [expletive deleted] frustrating."

The Brian Bannisters

Apparently can't hit but can sure as hell pitch. That's the name of my mixed-league fantasy team on ESPN.com, after the great Royals pitcher Brian Bannister. In fact, Mr. Bannister reward me with this 2-hit shutout he threw against the Detroit Tigers.

And if you need any more explanation why Bannister is my favorite non-Marlin baseball player not named Miguel Cabrera, this article is one reason why. This one is another reason why, and it even has three parts. Baseball Prospectus even did an interview of their own.