Good thing today's Birthday Team has solid starting pitching. You've got huge problems when Hal Morris is, by a mile, your best offensive player. I like Hal; he got on base, popped a bunch of doubles. Nice ballplayer, but not someone opposing teams ever feared.

Morris, by the way, got more HoF support than John Wetteland in their one year on the ballot. I'm not saying either one of them deserved much support, but Wetteland was absolutely dominant for a number of years and Hal Morris was...a nice ballplayer.

C: Brian Dorsett
1B: Nate Colbert
2B: Jim Rogers
3B: Mike Muldoon
SS: Oscar Robles
LF: Hal Morris
CF: Ollie Pickering
SP/RF: Doc White

SP: Hippo Vaughn
SP: Claude Passeau
SP: Kirk McCaskill
SP: Fred Frankhouse
RP: Graeme Lloyd

Also, I know that I'm not the first to point this out, but I bought the BPro 2012 book this weekend and was floored by some of the comparables. With all due respect to the Prospectus folks, who do some really good work, their comp system is just completely broken (or was at the time of press).

Ezequiel Carrera's #2 comp? Richie Ashburn. Heading into his age 25 season, Ashburn had 743 career hits, had led the NL in hits, triples, and stolen bases, and was a two-time All-Star. Carrera is in his Age 25 season, has 49 hits and a future as a fifth outfielder/AAA insurance policy. Jason Donald's #2 comp is Derek Jeter. Donald's a nice enough utility guy, has played pretty well when he's had the chance, but the difference after their Age 26 seasons is around 900 hits, 70 home runs, 23 OPS+ points, and several dozen supermodels.

Other weird Indians comps: Shelley Duncan -> Carlton Fisk, Chad Durbin -> Jack Morris, Nick Hagadone -> David Cone, Justin Masterson -> Mike Henneman, Rafael Perez -> Charles Nagy, Tony Sipp -> Sid Fernandez, Joe Smith -> Andy Messersmith.

Like I said, I don't mean to pile on or be disrespectful to a group that has contributed quite a lot to the saber community, but some of this stuff is just utterly dreadful. Really makes it difficult to take any of their projections seriously. I'm not sure I'll be buying the book next year, absent some huge changes. It's a shame.

Nate Colbert >> Hal Morris

I can’t even fathom what it would be like to watch a guy win Rose Bowls, coach in the NFL, manage an MLB team, and coach college basketball these days.

Closest example I'm aware of was Clive Charles (RIP) who coached the men's and women's soccer teams at Portland and the U23 men's national team simultaneously. Reasonably certain he was also an assistant on either (or both) the men's and women's national teams but his fairly full wiki page doesn't mention it so maybe not.

Yeah, Walt, you're absolutely right about Colbert v. Morris. I constantly find myself underrating Colbert, as the era artifically deflated his stats and him playing for those horrific Padres teams screws with my mental image of the guy.

I can’t even fathom what it would be like to watch a guy win Rose Bowls, coach in the NFL, manage an MLB team, and coach college basketball these days.

The only current sports figure I can think of who has won championships running a team in widely different sports is Joe Gibbs, whose teams have won three Super Bowls and three NASCAR Championships.

I also believe that it was Bezdek that came up with the nickname RAZORBACKS for U of A sports teams.

The only current sports figure I can think of who has won championships running a team in widely different sports is Joe Gibbs, whose teams have won three Super Bowls and three NASCAR Championships.

Ehh, he is just the owner of the NASCAR team. If we are giving credit for owning teams, then there are a number of people who have "won" championships in multiple sports.

I also believe that it was Bezdek that came up with the nickname RAZORBACKS for U of A sports teams.

Yup, in 1910. They were the University of Arkansas Cardinals before that.

A's DFA Brandon Allen to make room for Daric Barton.