TruffleShuffle

Harang will throw 15 innings and shut the cubs out 1-0

if his name wasn't jeff samardzija, nobody would think he was a prospect

Sounds like you might have had your own little version of "The Crying Game." speaking of things that evoke a dry heave...

I was under the impression he was doing much worse than he actually is so far this year. yeah his batting average has been lower, but that's because his BABIP is .300 (as opposed to .338 and .325 the last two years). His walk rate is actually up, though is power is down a bit. His LD% is still solid (20%) so he's probably just been a little unlucky. He's actually pretty good, and the White Sox gave him away for next to nothing.

What he said. maybe you guys were their slumpbuster :lol:

That's a nice deal too... Loney is gonna be a good player. Ethier's production is going to be very similar to what Murton did last year, and Meloan would probably be in the Rangers' bullpen in 2008. Meloan apparently has an ugly max-effort delivery though. I'm guessing the Dodgers wouldn't discuss Clayton Kershaw, or at least wouldn't consider putting him in a deal where they're already parting with Loney.

He's not a great player, but for a guy with a career .346 OBP and 98 OPS+ as a second baseman, the Sox should've been able to better than that. Basically the phillies took a dump in a box and are shipping it to the White Sox.

He was never given a chance this year. He did struggle, but it was sporadic time. He also struggled at times last year. And most of the veterans on this team have struggled. Plus, the OF has offered basically nothing. Murton put up good numbers in the minors, and has the type of game that should translate to good numbers in the majors. He will probably never approach great, or even very good. But he could and should be a solid piece of the puzzle. But the Cubs screwed him over this year with their mismatched outfield mess and decided that he would be the odd man out, even though he didn't deserve that treatment. With the year Murton had in 2006, and especially having a great second half, he should have been guaranteed a starting spot. You don't take a young, cheap, moderately-productive player and replace him with a guy who is old, oft-injured and less productive. And Floyd's range in rightfield is atrocious. The team would be better off if they'd never signed Cliff Floyd, and if Murton were playing regularly in RF.

BP wrote that Santana was likely off the market due to Bartolo Colon going out for the year.

or just have good taste in women :P

Hence the reason for scouting. Maybe it was rust or a lack of good coaching. But obviously they weren't picking him based on his college numbers.

All times Central: 6:05: Pirates - J. Van Benschoten (0-4, 8.17) @ Phillies - J. Moyer (8-8, 5.01) 7:05: Padres - J. Peavy (9-5, 2.47) @ Astros - W. Williams (5-11, 5.03) 7:10: Brewers - C. Vargas (8-2, 4.47) @ Cardinals - M. Maroth (5-5, 5.82) 8:05: Dodgers - B. Tomko (2-7, 5.42) @ Rockies - J. Fogg (5-6, 4.84) 8:40: Braves - J. Reyes (0-1, 6.14) @ D'backs - Y. Petit (2-2, 2.54) Go bad teams!

And CF Leon Johnson & SS Darwin Barney aren't real prospects? Then why did the Cubs draft them in the top 10 rounds a month ago? Johnson is 22 and Barney turns 22 in November. Johnson through 8 games: .308/.419/.462 Barney through 7 games: .269/.387/.308 - Needs to work on his power I don't know why they drafted them, they were incredible reaches. Barney looks like a slightly better version of Joe Simokaitis, and Johnson is Sam Fuld reincarnated. I dont believe that the Cubs drafted Barney because they were thinking of Simokaitis and Sam Fuld is a pretty good player who'll have a chance to play in the big leagues, thou he cant come close to running with Johnson. My next question is, do they check birth certificates in the major leagues? Of course they had something better in mind when they drafted them, just like they had something better in mind when they drafted Montanez, or Harvey, or Dopirak, or Pawelek, or Colvin. It doesn't mean that's going to happen. Fuld will be a 5th outfielder if he makes the major leagues, and his ~.750 OPS in AA at age 25 doesn't exactly put him on track to make it there. I don't really know what you're addressing with the birth certificate thing, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that Johnson and Barney are both 22(EDIT: Barney isn't quite 22) and in Low A. I never said anything about it, and I'm not holding it against them right now, but age matters, and those two are going to have to move quickly through the system. Barney was a reach, but how can you call Leon Johnson an "incredible reach"? He was a 10th round pick.... unless you want the Cubs drafting high school guys and signing them above slot (which they didn't do much of this year), you can't call Johnson much of a reach.

He wrote this at 1:15 am, well after the Iowa game was over. That might be my bad. I sent him an email around 11 pm central telling him what was going on, and that there had been no indications of an injury to that point. congratulations on being the source of a bogus story!

We are in a pennant race, so playing through slumps is out the door this year. You either produce or you don't play. As has been said before, if you bench a guy in a slump, you're not going to get the hot streak that will come in the future.

who is "tinkers"?

pretty sad that we're all still really happy to read stuff like this. Just goes to show how inept Dusty was.

oh and for the love of God, Free Geovany Soto. He has a 1.254 OPS this month with Iowa and and a 35% line drive rate. He's seeing the ball great.

Not bad and you forgot Wyatt, dont underrate Peoria which could be as good or better. Peoria? Isn't virtually that entire team devoid of prospects? Anyway, I'm glad to see that Burke is not being overmatched like he had been for the rest of his minor league career. I'm actually glad the Cubs picked up a high-ceiling offensive prospect, because they really don't have any outside of Vitters. (i'm assuming Dopirak and Harvey are busts)

Hill and Marshall are too young, better trade for some proven veterans who know how to win down the stretch.

yes, but a player intentionally performing poorly for money on the biggest stage is not in the vein of Pete Rose, Ty Cobb or whatever other lowlife you want to throw in there. I agree that a player's actions off the field should not be considered, unless they do something like bomb the Statue of Liberty or turn into Ted Bundy. But I'm judging Ciccotte and Jackson as not worthy for the Hall because of their actions on the field - namely, throwing games for money on the sport's biggest stage. That, to me, is inexcusable. That's a pretty ignorant statement of the facts. Look up Shoeless Joe's stats from that series. If he was throwing anything, I'd hate to see the numbers he'd put up trying. That's a pretty ignorant analysis of the facts. Look up Shoeless Joe's stats from games the Black Sox lost in that series, versus the stats in the games that they won. Night and day. Also look at the fact that he was one of the best fielders in the league, and allowed three triples in the series while playing leftfield. And not the least of all was that he accepted money with the understanding that he'd help the Black Sox lose. Game 1: 0-4 in 9-1 loss Game 2: 3-4, 2B in 4-2 loss Game 3: 2-3 in 3-0 win Game 4: 1-4, 2B in 2-0 loss Game 5: 0-4 in 5-0 loss Game 6: 2-4, RBI in 5-4 win Game 7: 2-4, 2 RBI in 4-1 win Game 8: 2-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI in 10-5 loss In 3 wins: 6-11, 3 RBI In 5 losses: 6-21, 3 2B, HR, 3 RBI I wouldn't say they're night and day. His SLG was better in the games they lost than the games they won. I'm almost positive that most of his contributions in game 8 came when the game was pretty much decided.

eh whatever, he's no delino deshields

still better than the trash that was rolling out on the field toward the end of last year

one-pitch rich!!!

Soto has singled and walked twice... keep him in the minors plz, he's doing great there