Another Saturday night drinking with scouts at the Barleymoe

             Tonight Elijah Craig is joined by Johnny Walker, George Dickell, and Jack Daniels

Elijah: I thought we would try to find a guy like the immortal Mario Mendoza. The guy that every major league player was suppose to hit better  than him. I found the guy in our league. But before we do, I want to send a message to the owner.

Johnny : Your crazy Elijah, Mario Mendoza was a guy who rarely hit above .200. The Mendoza line is .200.

Elijah: Johnny you read too many simple statistics. The Mendoza line is actually the batting  average of a defensive specialist. If a defensive specialist is hitting better than you , why are you in the major leagues?

George: But  you don't want to do that?

Elijah: No, I need to talk to thebigdogs. I think they have the guy but maybe they don't want my opinion affecting the player's value.

Jack: So what in the hell are we going to talk about?

Elijah: What players in triple -A, are most likely to affect the major league playoffs?

Elijah: Well, you guys are the best of the best scouts. I thought you could talk about the over achievers in triple -A.

George: You think we are going to tell you who we think are 3-A, 4A and major league players.

Elijah: No, I think you will tell me who you think will help a team make the playoffs.

Johnny: Why would we do that?

Elijah: Inwardly, you all think you're the best scout ever and want to prove it. The fact that none of you are ever asked to scout an international bothers all of you , especially Johnny.

 George:  You said we were the best scouts.

Elijah: Well, we've been drinking for a while.

Jack: The best four relievers are: Kendry Calderon (BOS), Clayton Hudson (LOU), George Kerr (STL) and Shayne Hughes (NY1).

Johnny: I know you're impressed with Hughes' season--21 innings no earned runs allowed ; but my guess is that he will replace Sierra in the Empires bullpen very soon.

George: Any of those guys would look good on the Vegas roster.

Jack: And Boston is loaded with young high potential relievers. I'd watch this at the trade deadline.

George: I'd like to move on, and talk about position players. I really like Erick Standridge (AAA) of Vegas. The major league roster has two young catchers so this guy is just bait. Whoever pimpbotlove wants this guy is the collateral to swing the deal.

Johnny: Any team looking for a shortstop can take a look at Magglio Flores (ALB). He might be hitting as well as he will ever hit this year but the glove will always be there.

Jack: It's always about the home run hitter. If a team is looking for power they better talk to San Francisco about Polin Doubront (SF).

George: You're to late Jack. Polin Doubront (SF) has already been promoted to the major leagues.

Elijah: So am I suppose to believe that there are no power hitters to help a major league in the playoff races.

Johnny: There are some 4A players. Guys you might trusts as a pinch hitter but nobody with power to play everyday.

George: You can probably say the same thing about starting pitchers. Shayne Ashby (BUR) is the one impressing me at 3-A but milton7 would never trade him.

Elijah: Well boys that pretty much ends our discussion they want to close the bar early tonight. See you next week.

                            Another Saturday night, drinking with the scouts at the Barleymoe

                         Tonight Elijah Craig is joined Johnny Walker, Jim Beam and Henry McKenna

Elijah: I hope you remember that Seventy_77 asked us to talk about recent rookies of the year and what are their chances of making the Hall of Fame. That is why Henry is here. HE is my expert on the Hall of Fame.

Henry: Elijah, being selected Rookie of the Year really has nothing to do with the Hall of fame. Only 14 of the 54 guys in the Hall won the ROY award. 

Jim: Well Henry there have been some really bad Roy in the past. My favorite dud is Todd Kirby. He was selected in season 9. Only played in 571 games and batted .250 for his career. He crushed 50 homers his first season for milton7's Bulls. After that not so much. milton7 arbitrated him once and then he was gone.

Johnny: My favorite bad ROY was Garret Rivera. He loved my scotch whiskey. If he hadn't like it so much he might have pitched more than nine years. pimpbotlove  had him on the Tarpons in season18 and he did well. That was the only season he had an era under 4.30. Garret's problem was he thought being in the majors was all about the W's. nobody told him that the W's were wins , not whiskey and women. He won only 59 games and I heard his second wife would have been fine with it if he only had 59 girl friends. He was with some good owners pimpbotlove, mcbain and  milton7.

Elijah: So we wasted a lot of time talking about the sorry ones. Henry, can you give me an idea about what Hall of Famers have in common.

Henry: The average Hall of Famer is selected as an All star about 7.75 times in their career if they are a hitter and 8.25 if they are a pitcher. Only 4 of the 23 pitchers in the Hall never won a Cy Young award with the average being 2.5. Only 2 hitters failed to win sliver slugger with the average being 6.

Johnny: Jeimer Ortega won the award back in season 39. He leads all active Roy with 9 silver slugger awards and 8 All star  selections with 4 MVP awards.

Jim: And he's not slowing down. This season he is hitting .350 with 18 homers.

Elijah: How about pitchers.? Are any of them likely Hall of Famers?

Jim: I think it's obvious Carlos Chantres will make the Hall. He is only 32 and has 192 wins and an era of 2.10. There are 2 other experienced pitchers that I think might make the hall. Miguel Quiroz and Renato Viriato. Miquel is 34 and on the Mud Dogs, which always helps in the wins column. He's 23 wins away from 200 w's with a 2.92 era. He has 2 Cy Young trophies to go with his 3 all star appearances. Renato is only 32 and, although I have concerns about his longevity, he has 5 all star appearances and a 2.77 era.

Elijah: How about guys under 30? Who has a shot at the Hall.

Johnny: If George were here he would tell you Elijah that everyone under the age of thirty has a chance.Obviously Rey Jung who has 3 MVP, 6 sliver sluggers, and 5 all star appearances is all but in the Hall. Jose Johnson,  has the most MVP in the Hall of Fame with 7 and Jung is 29. So he could conceivably tie or break Johnson's record.

Jim: The young pitcher I'm looking at is Miguel Margot. He's also 29 has 5 all star appearances, 4 fireman of the year awards, and 325 saves.

Johnny: One last batter to watch is Phil Searle. He's 28 and has 3 silver slugger awards, 2 all star games, a .309 batting average and a 1.022 ops.

Elijah: Thanks fellas I think we should call it a night.