If Brian Barden doesn’t do what he did in April and the Cardinals don’t get off to that hot start, Michael Jackson would still be alive.

Chaos theory? (Do people still push chaos theory, or did that fade out after the Jurassic Park series?)

This is a nice article about the guys that sometimes get forgotten as the season unfolds. Barden and Thurston both did a great job for the team to start the season, even if sometimes the fans forget the importance of their contributions.

I particularly liked how Mozeliak linked that early success--and the subsequent uptick in ticket sales--to the team's ability to add payroll midseason. It's a nice nod to the fans (in the course of larger nice nod to Barden, Thurston, et al.).

For the reverse of this, of course, there was yesterday when discussing the Yankees and I had entirely forgotten Kevin Cash was on the team this season.

Or yet another twist, like if Chris Davis hadn't been so godawful in June, the Rangers might be getting ready for the playoffs right now. There must be some way to punish guys like that retroactively.

Or yet another twist, like if Chris Davis hadn't been so godawful in June, the Rangers might be getting ready for the playoffs right now. There must be some way to punish guys like that retroactively.

The Twins would be several games up on Detroit if it wasn't for Alexi Casilla, Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto.

If the Cubs didn't piss down their leg most of the season, the Cardinals might not make the necessary trades to propel them to a legit world series contender. (Though they'd still have Chris Duncan OPS+ing 140-150.

The reverse acknowledgment is called the Francoeur Award.

If Brian Barden hadn't done well in April, he probably wouldn't have played in May and contributed all that negative value. His overall season line of .233/.286/.379 in 114 PA at third can hardly be said to have been a good thing. Whatever value he did provide in April he more or less took away in May, so the hot start was cancelled out by the fact that it gave him more playing time. This seems to be a frequent phenomenon.

Not that there isn't a tiny bit of value in a replacement level player playing at replacement level instead of below, and maybe it's management's fault he kept playing (though their hands were kind of tied), but it's not like he posted a Mabry-like good season or anything.

Whatever value he did provide in April he more or less took away in May, so the hot start was cancelled out by the fact that it gave him more playing time. This seems to be a frequent phenomenon.

This is called The Other Francoeur Award.

If Brian Barden hadn't done well in April, he probably wouldn't have played in May and contributed all that negative value. His overall season line of .233/.286/.379 in 114 PA at third can hardly be said to have been a good thing.

But the point being made -- and it may be a stretch -- is that Barden helped produced a fast start that resulted in the Cardinals drawing about 400,000 more fans than they had projected, which in turn allowed them to add payroll for critical midseason acquisitions.

But the point being made -- and it may be a stretch -- is that Barden helped produced a fast start that resulted in the Cardinals drawing about 400,000 more fans than they had projected, which in turn allowed them to add payroll for critical midseason acquisitions.

That can be critical in a roto league- a fast start lets you put some categories in the book and to trade for others.

he Twins would be several games up on Detroit if it wasn't for Alexi Casilla, Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto

That's the Twins fault- those guys did what they always do-make many outs