You poor guy.

You really don't understand the concept of "replacement value".

And after all this time I thought you were just breaking my balls, you weren’t.

You really don’t get it.

Let’s take the first part of that statement I quoted above….

“At the rate they should have been playing”

Hey, that’s the whole game, man: Figuring out the rates at which they will play.

I deliberately avoided picking Sheff and Kent, because I figured they were a year older and due for a drop off. And I certainly didn’t think Lee was gonna duplicate last year.

You wanna talk about “At the rate they should have been playing” and guys who were disappointments, I have those too.

We all have them.

Disappointments, and surprises who did better than we expected.

I could say if Chavez and Burrell and Tejada had played up to expectations, I’d have another 200 points or so, and with my extra 25 starts I’d project to being in the lead.

But I wanted to talk about replacement value, and how you don’t really understand it.

This season, Lee has averaged 3.00 FPPG, Sheffield 3.47, and Kent 3.26, while missing about 170 games between the three of them.

Do you mean to tell me that they guys you used as replacements didn’t average 3.21 FPPG in those 170 games?

Why, I’d bet that their replacements did better!!

I can tell you for sure that I lost a lot more points in replacing Harden and Patterson than you did in replacing your three guys, and those two injuries were considerably more damaging to my chances than your injuries were to yours.

But let’s say you’re right….

Let’s say that over those 170 games their replacements averaged half a PPG less than Sheff, Lee, and Kent.

Or let's say that the three of them were about to start producing half a point a game more.

So you’d have another 85 points in total?

That puts you “so far ahead it wouldn't even be fun any more.”?

Please. Get serious.

As far as you saying that I haven’t made up any points on you in weeks.

Well, let’s see…..

While your deceptive lead in raw points has increased from about 400 to about 450, I believe that I’ve gained an additional 8 or 9 pitching starts in hand against you in that time.

Since I value each start at about 13 FPPG, I figure that in fact I [i[have[/i] gained on you, since if you add the 100 points those starts are worth to my total, my deficit is only about 350.

(N.B.: I didn’t check those figures; I’m going from memory here, so I could be wrong)

But that’s OK, because all this business about games in hand and projections is yet another concept which you don’t fully understand.

You and numbers……sometimes I wonder….

Like when you told me that allowing only 6 runs a game gives your team a good chance win.

Or what you just told me: That the high score in the salary cap game is over 100 practically every day.

So keep your head buried in the sand and keep thinking you have a 500 point lead, and all will be well.

I’m gonna tell you, though:

This race between you, JL, TM, DB, and myself is a lot closer than you think it is.

Fnally, my whine in my last post was about injuries.

You didn’t realize that?