Leferd

The integration of scripted interactions ala Darklands and King of Dragon Pass.

Grizzlies are a strong team; tight D and the Rudy Gay trade was a gutsy but very smart move. Hate the way they play though and it was fun seeing the John Hollinger - Lionel Hollins feud played out. Lols.

XCOM on the iPad now has asynchronous multiplayer.

Balls. ... Verlander is pretty good.

Had no idea Adam Oates is such a DB.

This XP is no joke.

Updated definitions! LOOGY has always been a favorite of mine. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9591781/jonah-keri-baseball-grantland-dictionary

That he has.

Beyond words. This kid is insane. 4th goal and he's just showing off.

That was an interesting day of besuboru...

Price? Noted nerd-hater that he is. Lols. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24036763/rays-david-price-on-media-criticism-save-it-nerds

Balfour Rage!!! http://deadspin.com/as-tigers-trade-****-you-s-then-shoves-as-fight-brea-1442147216 NSFW

Does EA still have the rights to Dune?

Absolute bonkers.

I'm not sure about how or why Denver decided to blow everything up...considering they had their most successful regular season ever. First they let the Executive of the Year go to Toronto. Then they sacked the Coach of the Year, then they let their best player -whom they traded for the previous year, walk to the team that eliminated them.

It was a pitchers' duel for sure. Verlander definitely had his stuff, but the rookie Sonny Gray joins a long list of young Oakland pitchers getting thrown into the fire and absolutely dominating.

OAKLAND. Thank you Sonny Gray!

Yep. Very good comparables actually.

9:1? 9:1!? That's not just absurd or ridiculous, that's straight to plaid! Lol. Let's not get too hasty now. Not quite like it's completely unprecedented. Exhibit A: Dennis Eckersley 1988-1992, esp. 1990 season.

That dude has a 9:1 k/bb ratio. 9:1!!!! Over his career!!

He nasty.

Soto had a very interesting year. He put up all star numbers against righty pitching...batting right handed. (272/359/515 -REVERSE PLATOON SPLIT) and can be had for a very reasonable salary. You will definitely get good value for his production. AJP is 36 years old and is an asshat. McCann is going to be on the wrong side of 30 and made $14 million last year. I would save that cash and find a platoon player to complement Soto.

I would agree. Most successful teams are able to marry sabremetrics with traditional scouting. Use the data to back what the eyes are seeing and have scouts check up with what the stats say. There was a huge war with the traditionalists throwing their nose up at people like Bill James for years, until Sandy Alderson came to power in Oakland in the 80's. He bought in early, and collected each of Bill James' annual baseball abstracts and quietly put these newfangled theories into practice. Later on, he introduced these books to Billy Beane who completely doubled down and went all in when he took over for Alderson in 97. By this time, the sabremetric community was in glee that one of their own was OPENLY making smart baseball decisions using the objective based analysis --and all other teams are none-the-wiser. Of course, after the release of Moneyball in 2003 - floodgates have opened and most teams employ personnel well versed in sabremetrics. Oakland gradually began to lose their competitive advantage and had to come up with new ways in finding undervalued players at rock bottom prices.

Preseason games start today! The Golden State Warriors are 7:1 against to take the Western Conference. Over/Under is 49.5. I'll take them odds!

Yep. Driving up pitch counts is always a good batting strategy. Most sabremetrically inclined teams (Oakland, Boston, Texas) tend to go after guys who'll take pitches. PS If you didn't already know, Boston actually hired both Bill James and Voros McCracken were hired on by John Henry and Theo Epstein early on in their regimes. James is still a consultant.