Ted Lilly Appreciation Thread

[TruffleShuffle]

there were a lot of prominent posters who were quite sour on signing lilly. I'm not naming names... just going back to read the thread for entertainment purposes. I was middle-of-the-road... not thrilled with Lilly, but glad we signed someone with durability (knock on wood) and a track record of being at least a solid pitcher, which we didn't have last season.

 

Going back and reading those old threads - especially to laugh at the know-it-all armchair GMs who present their opinion as gospel - is a great time.

[Rob]

there were a lot of prominent posters who were quite sour on signing lilly. I'm not naming names... just going back to read the thread for entertainment purposes. I was middle-of-the-road... not thrilled with Lilly, but glad we signed someone with durability (knock on wood) and a track record of being at least a solid pitcher, which we didn't have last season.

 

Going back and reading those old threads - especially to laugh at the know-it-all armchair GMs who present their opinion as gospel - is a great time.

 

I was against the signing.

 

If he helps take us to postseason glory, I'll conceed the point. But it's important to remember that there's still 3 1/2 more years on this contract at a pretty high price.

 

That all being said, I'm really loving the way he's pitching right now. He's exceeded my expectations to this point by quite a bit.

[TruffleShuffle]

now i'm reading about how i didn't want to sign schmidt to a long, expensive deal because of all the PAPs (yay truffle!) but was okay with the rumored 3 year, $44M deal because I figured he wouldn't break down right away (boo truffle)

[Rob]

now i'm reading about how i didn't want to sign schmidt to a long, expensive deal because of all the PAPs (yay truffle!) but was okay with the rumored 3 year, $44M deal because I figured he wouldn't break down right away (boo truffle)

 

Same boat for me, IIRC.

[TruffleShuffle]

there were a lot of prominent posters who were quite sour on signing lilly. I'm not naming names... just going back to read the thread for entertainment purposes. I was middle-of-the-road... not thrilled with Lilly, but glad we signed someone with durability (knock on wood) and a track record of being at least a solid pitcher, which we didn't have last season.

 

Going back and reading those old threads - especially to laugh at the know-it-all armchair GMs who present their opinion as gospel - is a great time.

 

I was against the signing.

 

If he helps take us to postseason glory, I'll conceed the point. But it's important to remember that there's still 3 1/2 more years on this contract at a pretty high price.

 

That all being said, I'm really loving the way he's pitching right now. He's exceeded my expectations to this point by quite a bit.

 

I think there might have been something to be said for getting him out of the AL East and all those appearances against Boston and New York. His BB/9 is way down this year, and it helps to get him away from those patient teams that lead baseball in walks every year. He perhaps has been slightly lucky with batted balls and percentage of fly balls that leave the park, but for the most part his strong ERA and WHIP this year can be attributed to him pitching really well. Perhaps it's possible that Rothschild has helped him be a little more consistent with his release point, but whatever happened, his walk rate has been sliced in half. That's the real reason for his success.

[Omar]

Back to appreciation... He reminds me of Greg Maddux... From the left side. His repertoire isn't the same, but his delivery is. Same beginning movement, and gets in great fielding position. Doesn't really have a glove as good as Maddux though. Also is a flyball pitcher rather than a groundball pitcher like Maddux. But overall, still pretty similar.

[soccer10k]

Link to the thread, Truffle?

[TruffleShuffle]

Link to the thread, Truffle?

 

nah i'm not doing that... i don't think the mods want us giving links to rub erroneous evaluations in the faces of long-time posters. But it's not hard to go back and find the old threads, if you want to read through some of them.

[Bote McBoteface]

I guess the question is do the Cubs see Lilly putting up these numbers throughout his contract. If not, would it be a bad idea to trade him at his peak value in the offseason to free up cash for Zambrano?

[seanimal]

I guess the question is do the Cubs see Lilly putting up these numbers throughout his contract. If not, would it be a bad idea to trade him at his peak value in the offseason to free up cash for Zambrano?

 

I just don't see Lilly as the one we'd want to trade. This team has enough cash for Zambrano. Hopefully.

[soccer10k]

Link to the thread, Truffle?

 

nah i'm not doing that... i don't think the mods want us giving links to rub erroneous evaluations in the faces of long-time posters. But it's not hard to go back and find the old threads, if you want to read through some of them.

 

I assume it was in Transactions?

[Bote McBoteface]

It's on page 8 of transactions, near the top (currently the 5th topic from the top)

[BigSlick]

The only 2 people I never appreciate are Jason Marquis and Jacque Jones because while Marquis has been surprisingly steady this year, I know he's going to be horrible at any moment and...

 

Jacque Jones is just a really bad baseball player.

[Bote McBoteface]

I wouldn't call Jones a "BAD" baseball player. Certainly not great, but saying bad is a real big overstatement.

[BigSlick]

I wouldn't call Jones a "BAD" baseball player. Certainly not great, but saying bad is a real big overstatement.

 

He's pretty bad. He's pretty much the goofiest goofball that falls for the easiest pitches since Corey Patterson.

 

He also makes me nervous with every single ball he catches in Center because he takes really stupid routes.

[RynoRules]

Please do not derail my Lilly Love with talk of Mr. Jones. Rather, please start a "Mr. Jones and Me" thread.

 

And BTW, while Marquis hasn't been nearly as good as Lilly, has has been surprisingly decent and a worthy fifth starter, IMO.

[David]

He is paid hansomly to do his job, therefore he isn't going above and beyond the expectations that I set forth for a player.

 

That being said, I really like the guy and he could have my babies.

you're a girl :?: :shock:

 

What?

sori said Lilly could have Soriano12's babies

 

Which would make Lilly a girl, not Sori... Duh.

[Jon]

It's interesting just how similar Lilly and Hill have been this season.

 

Lilly: 21 GS, 132.2 IP, 14 HR, 108/32 K/BB, 1.09 WHIP, .229 BAA, 3.46 ERA

Hill: 19 GS, 118.0 IP, 19 HR, 105/38 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, .224 BAA, 3.58 ERA

[Schwarber Fan]

Back to appreciation... He reminds me of Greg Maddux... From the left side. His repertoire isn't the same, but his delivery is. Same beginning movement, and gets in great fielding position. Doesn't really have a glove as good as Maddux though. Also is a flyball pitcher rather than a groundball pitcher like Maddux. But overall, still pretty similar.

 

I agree, they also seem to be very quiet but they get their job done. Good comparison

 

oh and Soriano12, you can't like a player without appreciating them.

[Derwood]

wow, amazing. The thread announcing Lilly's signing was only 11 pages long (compared to the Barrett for Bowen 45 pager).

 

I also had nothing to say about it whatsoever

[soapy]

i wasn't a fan of the signing, but he's been fantastic so far. i hope he keeps it up. i do still worry about the last two years of the contract, but we'll see what happens.

[CubColtPacer]

"One thing, we've been watching his pitch counts real carefully," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "We want to keep him as fresh and rested as we can through the month of August and into September."

 

Lilly has tried to get Piniella to let him go a little deeper in games.

 

"He's been at this for a long time, and he's obviously got a very good feel with pitchers," Lilly said of Piniella. "My feeling is I have four days' rest in between. Every once in a while, I'd like to stretch it out and go deeper in the games.

 

"I don't think I'm going to win the argument with him," Lilly said. "I've expressed my opinion. His philosophy is he wants me strong at the end of the year. I have to respect his opinion."

 

I found that to be an interesting exchange with all that has been talked about with the old regime/new regime and pitch counts.

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070725&content_id=2109020&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

[Derwood]

i wasn't a fan of the signing, but he's been fantastic so far. i hope he keeps it up. i do still worry about the last two years of the contract, but we'll see what happens.

 

i can't be worried about 2010 when 2007 is so much fun right now

[Exile on Waveland]

I doubt I posted in the original thread, but I was a fan of the Lilly signing. He's always been a solid pitcher and moving to the NL and away from Yanks/Sox/etc had to be good for him. I was a bit worried about the flyball aspect in Wrigley, but the Cubs were desperate for pitching help. The money and years weren't way out of line, either, in my opinion.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I wasn't a huge fan of Lilly's contract(and I was a big proponent of getting Schmidt), but I underestimated him as a pitcher, even if he does regress from his current performance.