James Paxton and Randy Johnson

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Don't forget the SSI article 'Life Lesson' if you haven't seen it.  We accidentally filed it under the "ALL" domain rather than inside the baseball subdomain.  It contains several profound comments.

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BaseballHQ has two basic things to say about James Paxton:  (1) He's the Real Deal, ace-wise, and (2) he hasn't proven a thing about pitching 200 things yet.  So its advisory is that in your $260 roto league, when the bidding hits $32, $33, $34, let somebody else pay it.  Dr. D /cosigns that as reasonable, as does BJOL's feeble ranking of Paxton as #50 starter in the big leagues, below CC Sabathia and J.A. Happ.  Objectively speaking, the Smart Money will let somebody else bet the $34 (or take Zeus as the #2 pitcher in the AL).

If you're curious about technical-type details, HQ loves the "additional bumps" in FpK and SwK, "carrying K/BB and run prevention to new levels."  By FpK he means first-pitch strikes, which meant the 2+ walk rate was as solid as a rock.  By SwK he means swings and misses, meaning the 10+ strikeouts were the real deal.

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Moshin' off Mo' Dawg

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Moe Dawg (one cubicle to the right; got a parentheses in there real quick, didn't I?) gave us just the kind of "bulletin" our Hot Stove viewers crave.  He reminds about Bergman:

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1. Christian Bergman:  He's back.  54 big league innings last season; 4 wins, 5 losses; 5.00 ERA; 1.41 Whip.  You will remember that he did have three stellar outings:  7.1 innings of 2 hit, shutout ball vs. the Orcs, 7 innings of 4 hit, shutout ball vs. the BoSox, 4 innings of 1 hit, shutout relief vs. the Angels.  In his other 40 innings he gave up 30 earned runs and 54 hits.  Feast vs. famine.  Bet the under on the feast line in '18.

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Life Lesson

In front of the paywall (until Q's pile up in front of it) there is this Hey Bill:

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Hey Bill, do you ever get bored of baseball. As a youth, I was mad about baseball like a lot of kids, but my interest waned in my 20s as I got interested in other things.  Then it gradually stabilized but at a much reduced level than it was before. I'm about your age.
Asked by: manhattanhi
Answered: 1/7/2018
 No. . .things get more interesting when you know more about them.   Since I work in the game I continue to learn about it, so it stays interesting.  

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HQ on Felix

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Q.  What does HQ expect from Felix in 2018?

A.  They've got him for 11-8, 3.91 with 8.1 strikeouts and 2.9 walks.  I'll take it, bro.  The 160 innings they glibly schedule, that's a hedge.  He's as likely as the next guy to give you 27-30 starts.  On the one hand, he's got high mileage.  On the other, he recruits his big muscles and decelerates perfectly.  I'll take it.

In their draft guide they've got him in the group #46-95, which group also includes Lance McCullers, Sonny Gray, Alex Cobb, and Johnny Cueto.  They're factoring in REL(iability) and everything else.

On BJOL's starting pitcher rankings he has fallen to #60 overall, by definition a 2-3 SP if you cut the group up among 30 ballclubs.

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Linkables and Debatables

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BEN GAMEL and LOOKOUT LANDING

This saber piece rat cheer is worth half a cup of your morning java, loaded as it is with 'zone charts, .gifs, and nervy analysis.  They like Gamer's ability to adjust-vs-adjust and his ability to deliever 2 WAR per season as a part timer.  Weren't we just talking about great bench players?  By "bench" we include platoon guys, of course, John Loewenstein types and the like.  You can't pay everybody $13M a year.

But a Denizen like Moe Dawg might point to Gamer's excellent platoon split (.737 career vs LHP, as opposed to .715 vs RHP) and think more in terms of several years of cheap 2-3 WAR performance.  Your take?

What continues to resonate with Dr. D, is the M's own confidence in Gamel.

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[[WATCH^ESPN]] UGA vs. Bama Streaming, Live CFP Championship Full Game Online

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP || 2018 Live Stream Online TV Channel .
This National Championship Game 2018 will be the College Football Playoff final between Alabama and Georgia. Make sure that you spare your leisure time at .
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[ESPN-1] CFP Championship 2018 Live Stream - UGA vs Bama Live Football Game

The 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship is a college football bowl game that will determine the national champion in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2017 season. It will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 8, 2018. The game will be played between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide, which advanced to the national championship after winning the semifinal games hosted by the Rose Bowl Game and the Sugar Bowl (respectively) on January 1, 2018.

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