Got us to thinking

I watched Stranger than Fiction the other night. It was not your typical Will Ferrell movie and I would recommend it for the following line alone:

Dr. Jules Hilbert: The thing to determine conclusively is whether you are in a comedy or a tragedy. Have you met anyone who simply might loathe the very core of you?

Harold Crick: I'm an IRS agent. Everyone hates me.

Dr. Jules Hilbert: Well, that sounds like a comedy!

One of the key parts of the movie is when Ferrell's character is trying to get Dustin Hoffman's character to help him figure out who is narrating his life and what kind of novel his life is. Hoffman dismisses Ferrell, but as Ferrell is leaving he mentions that the narrator said "Little did he know..."

Dr. Jules Hilbert: Little did he know. That means there's something he doesn't know, which means there's something you don't know, did you know that?

Hoffman's character mentions that he has done entire seminars on "Little did he know." and that he would help Ferrell figure out his novel.

This is a roundabout way of doing two things....

1.) Shoe-horning in a movie that I watched and liked into a post.
2.) Introducing a link to a post by Matt Eddy at Baseball America.com that has the phrase "Got us to thinking" in the opening paragraph.

I have used "Got us to thinking" on this blog, in a few PLAYBALL! articles, and probably Mehring Mondays at the main Rattler site along with various other writings that I have done -- probably with mixed results.

Someone could probably conduct a seminar on blog posts that start with "Got us to thinking"

Eddy's "Got us to thinking" post is about....well, I'll let him tell you (emphasis added):

The release of this year’s minor league free agents list got us to thinking: Could a team comprised only of those same free minor leaguers compete even with MLB’s worst teams?

Six big league teams—the Devil Rays, Pirates, Royals, Orioles, Marlins and Giants—finished with winning percentages below .440, meaning a 72-90 record would push the minor league free agent (MiLB FA) team to the top of the heap.

I’ve selected the team with which I’d battle Florida and San Francisco for second-division supremacy. Because they’re closer to the majors, Triple-A players, only, were considered, as were all players granted free agency after being designated for assignment and refusing that assignment. More than 600 players were available, but I settled on these 25:

Aside from the 'Got us to thinking" lead-in, why would this post be of interest to me -- and hopefully you?

Down in the outfielders section there is this ex-Rattler from 2000:

RF Justin Leone
2007 Team: Fresno (Giants). Age: 30. Bats: Right.
Draft Status: Selected by Mariners in 13th round of 1999 draft from Saint Mary’s (Wash.) College.
Peak Prospect Ranking: No. 11 on 2004 Mariners list.

Eddy goes on to reason why he selected Leone...

Leone went 20-20 in the PCL in 2007, chipping in 30 doubles as well.

How would these 25 players stack up against the below .440 club? Maybe that will get you to thinking.