TruffleShuffle

that was just a terrible loss by iowa

depends on your assessment of Marmol. I've thought for at least a year now that Marmol's repertoire was better suited for the bullpen, so I'd have put him there coming into this year. The alternates for the rotation would've been (for me) Guzman and Gallagher. couldn't have said it better myself. marmol's performance this season has made a strong statement that his career will be in the bullpen, and it looks as if it will be a pretty successful one at that. marmol's performance has made a strong statement that a young guy will need some time to adjust to the majors. he's not a one-pitch guy or someone who doesn't have any stamina...he could be an effective starter. his changeup is pretty lousy, and his control can be spotty - which would lead to high pitch counts. He doesn't have a big frame or thick lower half, so I could see him tiring fairly easily. If he learns an effective change, I'd give him another shot in the rotation, but at this point it ain't broke, so don't try to fix it.

As has been said previously, if you're going to take fliers on Williamson, Dempster and Miller, then you sure as hell better keep a guy like Mark Prior around in hopes that he can return from his arm troubles. I wouldn't give him $10M next year, but if the price is reasonable - and I have no idea how it will be determined - then absolutely take the chance.

I'd be shocked if Wisconsin finishes fifth. Behind who... Michigan, PSU, OSU and who, Iowa??? I really think Wisconsin finishes first or second, losing either of their road games at Happy Valley or Columbus, and then the Michigan game will be a great one.

depends on your assessment of Marmol. I've thought for at least a year now that Marmol's repertoire was better suited for the bullpen, so I'd have put him there coming into this year. The alternates for the rotation would've been (for me) Guzman and Gallagher. the cubs minor league system could have produced an era near five. marquis will probably be close to that. well he'll have to put up a second-half ERA above six for that forecast to pan out

13 SB in 17 games too!

Tennessee goes down by one in the ninth after a solid start (8 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR) by Holliman, but then Jake Fox hits a 3-run walkoff with 2 out in the ninth to give the Smokies a 7-5 win! He finishes the game 3-5 with a triple short of the cycle, and 5 RBI.

depends on your assessment of Marmol. I've thought for at least a year now that Marmol's repertoire was better suited for the bullpen, so I'd have put him there coming into this year. The alternates for the rotation would've been (for me) Guzman and Gallagher.

i don't see how marquis would make it disastrous, since after this year he'll only have two years left on his contract, and the cubs may not even be able to spend much toward next year due to ownership issues. Plus if there's a guy they really want to get in the 2008-09 offseason, they can probably defer some of Marquis' money or backload a contract offer to a free agent. Soriano's contract could certainly become an albatross down the road, however. Plus it will be hard to classify Marquis as a disastrous move when he still has a chance to be one of the better values of the offseason: San Francisco-Zito L.A. Dodgers-Schmidt Seattle-Batista, Weaver Phillies-Eaton Yankees-Igawa Cardinals-Mulder Rangers-Padilla Astros-Woody Williams Even if Marquis regresses over the next 2 1/2 years (not to 2006 levels but to bad levels) he probably still will have been better value than all those pitchers signed to similar or bigger contracts than Marquis in 2006. It could certainly turn out to be a bad move, but probably not awful or disastrous when you compare it to moves that other clubs made. true - there were a lot of guys (especially Schmidt) that many on this board were clamoring for, and most of them have been outright disasters. I wanted nothing to do with Schmidt (too many PAPs the past few years) but I was in favor of either Randy Wolf or Padilla. Wolf has been average, and Padilla has been a train wreck.

If the Cubs were going to sign one - Marquis for 3 years, $21M or Meche for 5 years, $55M - I'd take Marquis easily. The contract is shorter and for less money, Meche has had arm trouble before, and his ERA+ hadn't been above league average in four years. Nothing in his secondary stats was particularly promising either. He's certainly had a good first half, but I'm not sold on him.

i don't see how marquis would make it disastrous, since after this year he'll only have two years left on his contract, and the cubs may not even be able to spend much toward next year due to ownership issues. Plus if there's a guy they really want to get in the 2008-09 offseason, they can probably defer some of Marquis' money or backload a contract offer to a free agent. Soriano's contract could certainly become an albatross down the road, however.

ack how did i forget braun??? ](*,) ](*,)

how cubbish is this? Iowa has 15 hits, 9 walks and three homers in 10 innings, but has scored only four runs. Chalk that up to solo homers, 14 LOB and 5 GIDP.

key words in that post... also "expected difference" probably assumed DeRosa will fall back to career norms, and I think that scouting at least help diagnose whether or not that is likely to happen[/b]

Actually, August was a great month for him (927 OPS), and he ended August with a 319/371/500 line on the year. But then he completely tanked in September, with a 590 OPS. I'm not sure if there was an injury... more likely, it was just a matter of being worn down from having easy career highs in games and ABs.

after tonight's game, i really wish i had voted for latroy. I realize now that I despite him far more than Jeff Blauser.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU SUCK HAWKINS

I'd walk graffanino but not the next guy... don't load 'em up for Hart, he runs well and is too good a hitter

Tell us how you really feel.... scars of '04 haven't healed, and now he's doing it again

f*** you latroy

yeah but it's right after the ASB, and Gallardo helped out by going almost 5 tonight.

iowa doing everything possible to lose the game... four GIDP and 13 LOB. It's got to be really tough to get 22 baserunners (13 hits, 9 BB) in 9 innings and only score 4 runs.

Durham is three years older, and more likely to decline, plus he was coming off a career-type year. And regardless of that, there was a big money difference (more than $3M per) between their price tags.

I'd take Oswalt in a long term deal over Zambrano in a heartbeat. But yeah, we'd have to pay out the butt to get him. As far as teams that would be interested, the Angels and Red Sox have the most to offer, though if the Yankees are willing to put in Philip Hughes, they'd have a strong starting point for a deal. Our minor league system just isn't good enough to get a deal done, unless we pretty much give away every prospect we have, plus Hill, Marshall and/or Marmol.

free matt holliday!