Juan Samuel was definitely an exciting player, and it's hard to dismiss a young guy who puts up 30+ doubles, mid to high teens in terms of triples, and the same for HRs. Not to mention 40-70 SBs. His rookie year was truly eye-popping, even w/the lack of walks. It was good enough that he actually landed a single first place ROY vote in a year when the runaway winner with all the other top votes was Dwight Gooden. I also recall some favorable comps to NL MVP Ryne Sandberg; i think that mostly boiled down to the impressive fact they tied for the league lead with 19 triples.
After his 1987 season, it looked like he was going to break through into superstar level, but he never improved and only had a couple more full-time seasons. from '84-'87 i would say he was definitely valuable at the plate, but he was vv memorable as a disappointment thereafter.
― omar little, Monday, 21 August 2023 19:21 (eight months ago) link
Great answer from Bill. Jay Bruce also comes to mind. He was good for many years (but not the superstar that everyone thought he would be) but still got chances from several teams even though he declined rapidly in his 30's.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 21 August 2023 20:35 (eight months ago) link
Early Juan Samuel: a potential superstar in the buildingAfter six or seven seasons: Juan Samuel has left the building
― clemenza, Monday, 21 August 2023 21:24 (eight months ago) link
I'd like to nominate Angel Hernandez to be the next Speaker of the House. Just anything to get him off the baseball field. . . .— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) October 4, 2023
― clemenza, Thursday, 5 October 2023 14:25 (six months ago) link
Bill James, despite his faults, does pop out some all time tweets
― H.P, Thursday, 5 October 2023 14:26 (six months ago) link
Now that his site's closing down, I'll probably have to do something I've never done before, follow somebody on Twitter.
― clemenza, Thursday, 5 October 2023 14:28 (six months ago) link
Noooo, it's a trap!
― WmC, Thursday, 5 October 2023 14:35 (six months ago) link
I was thinking that Angel Hernandez must be the most unifying force in baseball.
― clemenza, Thursday, 5 October 2023 16:00 (six months ago) link
There’s several Jomboy videos about him, there’s one with Kyle Schwarber absolutely losing it at him and getting (deservedly) tossed, and then the Phillies manager is out there trying to put a diplomatic face on it. Incredible guy.
― I’m going to get fined for being right, again (gyac), Thursday, 5 October 2023 16:18 (six months ago) link
lol I'd take Ángel Hernández over Jim Jordan or Steve Scalise as Speaker any day
― felicity, Thursday, 5 October 2023 20:56 (six months ago) link
Win-win, as the saying goes.
― clemenza, Thursday, 5 October 2023 21:30 (six months ago) link
The site is lingering longer than it was supposed to, but nothing new has been posted for a while. The starting pitcher rankings seem to have been updated, though, right through to the end of the World Series going by Merrill Kelly's placement. Last one ever, then:
http://www.billjamesonline.com/polls_ratings/starting_pitcher_rankings/
1. Gerrit Cole2. Zack Wheeler3. Blake Snell4. Corbin Burnes5. Merrill Kelly6. Zac Gallen7. Spencer Strider8. Shohei Ohtani9. Justin Verlander10. Logan Webb
― clemenza, Saturday, 4 November 2023 20:02 (five months ago) link
First I've heard about this:
About a week ago I suffered a stroke. I am more or less OK. I am not in ANY pain. I can walk normally and take care of myself, but my right hand is messed up and interferes with my ability to do things like tweet. Thank you all for your support.— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) January 26, 2024
― clemenza, Friday, 26 January 2024 22:39 (three months ago) link
Regarding Bauer, there is loud contingent shouting "There is only ONE acceptable opinion here, you HAVE to agree with us or you're a terrible person." Whenever one side of the argument sounds like that, I take a more careful look at the other side.— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) March 26, 2024
here’s our lovable brain damaged legend
― brony james (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 26 March 2024 23:32 (one month ago) link
Funny, cos I’m sure Bill is more empirical about things like “four separate accusers”, “once harassed a teenage girl by sending her dozens of tweets because she said she didn’t like him” and so on. Honestly beyond me that someone didn’t delete his account for his own good years ago.
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Tuesday, 26 March 2024 23:34 (one month ago) link
Saw this come up again in light of his recent comments:
Was explaining to my wife and our friends about the time I got into a Twitter spat with Bill James that directly led to the MLBPA rebuking him and the Boston Red Sox distancing themselves from him, a real Twitter highlight for me https://t.co/z8H7mPcTEB— Chris Towers is the Riley Greene Preservation Soc (@CTowersCBS) July 20, 2022
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Tuesday, 26 March 2024 23:38 (one month ago) link
bill has been brain damaged for years now. sad but just is what it is
― brony james (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 27 March 2024 00:08 (one month ago) link
from his daughter on bluesky:
any time you think "wow i'd like to be a nepotism baby" i encourage you to think about what your dad might post were he in the position to give out said nepotism
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 27 March 2024 19:46 (one month ago) link
lol, sympathy acquired
― H.P, Thursday, 28 March 2024 00:05 (one month ago) link
his latest tweet is praising Joe Lieberman as "the only Democrat who would stand up for Rush Limbaugh's right to speak" (???)
― jaymc, Thursday, 28 March 2024 01:04 (one month ago) link
mods, please change the title of this thread to "Bill James RIP".
signed,
OP
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 28 March 2024 01:06 (one month ago) link
Philosophical Q. Suppose your dog has been taught not to do something and usually doesn't, but has a breakdown and does it, and gives you that guilty look. Is that the same as knowing right from wrong, for a human & in a legal sense? Or is knowing right from Wr a broader concept?— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) March 28, 2024
― brony james (k3vin k.), Thursday, 28 March 2024 19:40 (one month ago) link
i prefer not to speak.gif
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:02 (one month ago) link
Wait Bill's dogposting now? Refollowed
― H.P, Thursday, 28 March 2024 20:18 (one month ago) link
Is Bill working up to a confession here or
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 March 2024 23:44 (one month ago) link