Thoughts on Raul ...

[JTWood]

Posts: 5
Joined: 11 Aug 2007
Home Cafe: Baseball

You should post more.

[Neato Torpedo]

How about Reynolds, Damon, Scott, Inge, and Lind? What about Joe Mauer? He's on pace for like 40 HR.

[JTWood]

How about Reynolds, Damon, Scott, Inge, and Lind? What about Joe Mauer? He's on pace for like 40 HR.

Mauer, Reynolds, Scott, & Lind are all young enough to have a breakout season.

Inge, more than anyone this year, has absolutely astounded me.

[da bears]

I completely disagree with the fact that journalists shouldn't have to have some sort of back up/accountability for writing stories or blogs like these. Analyzing stats for a portion of the season certainly aren't enough to make accusations like this, the guys family hears about stories like this and that's just wrong. Be a journalist and gather some real sources that point to real evidence to these guys using PED's not just some numbers which we all know can be easily manipulated. As the op said lots of these HR's came off some weaker competition and he moved to a hitters park, let the guy play the game and if some REAL evidence comes out about this then fire away at him. People just write whatever they damn well please these days and I find it to be really annoying. I have no clue what happened to being a real journalist...

[Neato Torpedo]

I completely disagree with the fact that journalists shouldn't have to have some sort of back up/accountability for writing stories or blogs like these. Analyzing stats for a portion of the season certainly aren't enough to make accusations like this, the guys family hears about stories like this and that's just wrong. Be a journalist and gather some real sources that point to real evidence to these guys using PED's not just some numbers which we all know can be easily manipulated. As the op said lots of these HR's came off some weaker competition and he moved to a hitters park, let the guy play the game and if some REAL evidence comes out about this then fire away at him. People just write whatever they damn well please these days and I find it to be really annoying. I have no clue what happened to being a real journalist...

Exactly. It's like talking about ghosts or magic, there's almost always a mundane explanation instead of this sensationalistic crap. It's like this:

"Oh god! The TV turned on by itself! The house is haunted!"
"No, your ass is on the remote."
"Oh." *pause* "I still think it's ghosts."

[thatguy27]

Occam's razor folks.

This blogger has every right to pose the question: can we attribute Raul's numbers to PEDs?

Why, because the simplest answer is more often than not he correct answer.

Those of you giving reasons for his boost in numbers that are not related to PEDs, you're grasping at every possible straw to make your case. You're basically talking about a best case scenario, stars aligning, once in a half century type occurrence as the reason for his monster numbers.

On the other hand, those accusing him of using PEDs, they're not grasping at any straw - they're talking about the most simple explanation for why Ibanez is all of a sudden mashing the ball like never before. It's a fair question to ask, IMO, because it makes far more sense than the contrary.

That said, I am not saying Ibanez is using. But I am saying if he were, it would not surprise me. And I am saying it is perfectly fair to speculate. That's what journalists/bloggers/reporters/fans do.

[MrRalph13]

I know this is America, and we have the whole ehtos of innocent until proven guilty, but wouldn't it be awfully easy to prove your innocence in this case? If he's so upset, just get tested at an accredited lab and send the results to the press. As a fan, I understand players care about their good name and probably shouldn't have to go out of their way to defend it against (mostly) baseless accusations; but why not put the whole matter to bed if it really upsets you that much? I know, i know, voluntary testing! What a joke! Also, wouldn't surprise me if the union had something in their contract that didn't allow players to do this. Anyone know if this is the case?

[Ender]

Why, because the simplest answer is more often than not the correct answer.

The simplest answer is he is having a hot streak. This happens every single season to some player or other. Ibanez isn't even the 'hottest' player for HR compared to career rates in baseball. Aaron Hill most likely is.

[da bears]

A journalist is supposed to find facts and then print a story that is informative to readers, not gather numbers in order to tarnish accomplishments of someone. That's called libel as far as I'm concerned. I can't go into my job and just make some shit up to give to my boss, why should these idiots?

[Neato Torpedo]

Occam's razor folks.

This blogger has every right to pose the question: can we attribute Raul's numbers to PEDs?

Why, because the simplest answer is more often than not he correct answer.

Those of you giving reasons for his boost in numbers that are not related to PEDs, you're grasping at every possible straw to make your case. You're basically talking about a best case scenario, stars aligning, once in a half century type occurrence as the reason for his monster numbers.

On the other hand, those accusing him of using PEDs, they're not grasping at any straw - they're talking about the most simple explanation for why Ibanez is all of a sudden mashing the ball like never before. It's a fair question to ask, IMO, because it makes far more sense than the contrary.

That said, I am not saying Ibanez is using. But I am saying if he were, it would not surprise me. And I am saying it is perfectly fair to speculate. That's what journalists/bloggers/reporters/fans do.

That's a terrible application of Occam's Razor. What's simpler, one God creating life or a complex sequence of evolutionary processes from a primordial ooze of amino acids?