Iannetta vs. Wieters is TOUGH. I guess I’d say Wieters, but it’s very, very close. Wieters more upside, Iannetta safer. I do like Iannetta quite a bit.

What are your thoughts on J. Sanchez? Bruce is talking about relegating him to the ‘pen. Does he figure it out or is he dicked like RIck Vaughn in Major League II?

Last one, quick hit; Iannetta or Wieters for the rest of ‘09.

Thanks, as always for the time and consideration.

Hopefully Bumgarner can stay healthy…And thanks for the kind words, by the way.

I, for one, can’t answer either of your trivia questions, but I did recently read about a player who once had 100-plus RBI with ZERO home runs. But that was like more than a century ago.

Hopefully that new nickname — James “Chode” Loney — catches on.

With a mere 2 home runs and 44 RBI’s through 65 games, James “Chode” Loney is on pace to finish the season with 5 HR and 110 RBI’s. If he does, then he’ll be one of a select few players in the modern era to drive in 100 runs with less than 10 homers. A fairly easy question for any of you who are about my age (forty-two) is who was the last player to drive in over 100 runs with fewer than 10 home runs?

A much harder question: There was a team during my lifetime that actually had two players combine for over 200 RBI’s, but fewer than 20 home runs. Can you name the team and these two players?

I remember asking the readers on my blog a month and a half ago “who would you rather have on your fantasy team right now: Nick Markakis or Grady Sizemore?” I said that for me it was very close, and I love both players, but I’d rather have Markakis–particularly in a keeper league. No, I didn’t forsee Grady getting injured, but I’m confident that we’ve seen Sizemore have his best (or at least very close to his best) season already and Markakis’s best season is still to come.

Sometimes I get the feeling Prince Fielder doesn’t get the respect that he deserves. Yes, he’s recognized as an outstanding player, but I don’t believe most people see just how outstanding he really is–a .425 OBP with 16 homers and 63 RBIs in only 65 games (that’s a pretty devastating player.) And he’s still only 25 years old. I’m pretty sure his body type has something to do with this lack of respect. He’s a very comparable player to Ryan Howard, who I believe gets much more respect from the masses. They are both very large men, both are larger than they need to be–but while Howard simply looks huge, Prince looks fat. He’s always looked really fat. He’s noticeably fatter than his father was at the same age–and take my word for it if you’re too young to have seen him play, Cecil Fielder was FAT.

I owe you one DDD, because you turned me on to Madison Bumgarner when you took him in the RW Staff League 2 minor league draft. Soon thereafter I took him in my one league in which minor leaguers matter the most. I got him in the 4th round of a 5 round 16 team draft, and I owe it all to you. Thanks.

I couldn’t agree with you more regarding the Donte Stallworth situation. I like Donte Stallworth and believe he is genuinely remorseful about what he did–but he still chose to get wasted during the middle of the night and attempt to drive in that state in the early morning. 24 days of time for unmistakeably taking another human life just doesn’t sound right.

Larry David’s piece was an absolute joy to read. Thank you for providing the link. Keep up the great work my friend. Someday I’m sure many more people will see for themselves what I’ve known for years now–this is one of the very best sports blogs around, an absolute jewel in my humble opinion.