TruffleShuffle

nice piece of hitting there

ozzie will win a verbal sparring match because he knows more swear words than anyone else

John Sickels on Hill I really don't understand his thinking. IMO, I think he's reluctant to admit that he was wrong about Rich -- when BA was talking a lot about his potential, and when they gave him a strong rating after his breakthrough 2005 season, Sickels was still pretty down on him. Now with the exception of a small handful of games with the big club, he's been lights out for the better part of two years. He says he wants to see more than half a year of good major-league performance out of him, but the way he's pitched in late 2006 and early this year is completely in line with how he pitched in the minors. It's time to recognize that the guy we see on the mound today is not the same guy who couldn't find the strike zone with any regularity from 2002-2004.

especially since he was the "payoff" for an asset with some value

feels really good having the bases juiced for a guy who doesn't hit the ball hard and has a GB% of 50%... outside of a bleeder through the infield, i was hoping for a strikeout so that hill could have a chance to hit and at the very least turn the lineup over

what a loser

cesar's entire career at the plate has been a struggle

i'll donate my organs in exchange for not having to listen to jesse white ever again

ok like that country music guy last night talked about his tour but also about baseball and other stuff... with jesse white, it all comes back to organ donations baby.

wow this guy has no personality

Have they stopped playing? no it's just light rain right now good to see the brewers get boned over by the ump after yesterday's terrible calls

that's my dog

Mench can't hit right-handers-at all. not completely true, but he's definitely a lot better against LHP

http://www.t-n.com/Newsletter/Summer04/Summer04graphics/lawnmower.jpg

uh how about success in close games? 0-8... what a joke.

0-2... bury him

yeah good luck hitting that hook, bill hall

radar not particularly promising for playing all 9 innings

take a look at some of these mock drafts done by people with a lot of time on their hands. I saw one that had Davis reaching the Eagles in round 3, and I looked through about 10 of them. I think he's gonna be a real good player. If the Eagles made no moves at all and ended up with S Michael Griffin WR Steve Smith LB Buster Davis I'd be extremely pleased.

I've seen about 10 mock drafts, and only in 2 of them was he picked in the first 3 rounds. I was planning to take him with my next pick though as he's absolutely perfect for the Colt's system being so short. really??? I've looked at many mock drafts, and in only one of them was he not gone by early in the third round. Some had him as early as mid-2nd round.

I think the difference between this year's team is that last year's team really was bad enough to lose 96 games. They deserved to lose 96 games. That team, on paper, was horrid. This team really is not that bad on paper, and their luck evens out or even stops being absurdly bad, they'll be better than the 2006 Cubs.

by the way, in real life there is no way in hell that buster davis falls to the end of the 3rd round

I'm having the best draft by far. Buster Davis, LB, Florida State

It's pretty hard to hide them when your ace only goes 5.1 innings. zambrano, eyre, howry and soriano are the people most deserving of blame for this mess. Howry has not been good but hasn't been horrible either. I believe he'll still pitch well this year. The Eyre signing was a complete mistake and it continues to be compounded. I still am puzzled by the bashing of Howry. Is he overpaid? Probably. But who would the Cubs have had in the bullpen last year if not for him? Somebody who was awful. Who would be there instead of him this year? Cherry? Yeah he didn't do anything wrong last night. Kerry Wood? His arm fell off again. Walrond? Sucks. Marmol? Sure sucked last year. Rapada, O'Malley, Mathes? No, no, no. The way people talk on here, it's like you can just go to the magical baseball factory and pull a league-average bullpen pitcher out of your butt. It doesn't work that way. Whoever took Howry's spot in the bullpen would be considerably worse than him. Signing veteran bullpen help is like signing free agents at any other position. You don't sign guys to big contracts when they have numbers completely out of line with performances in other seasons (see Eyre, 2006). You don't sign guys with bad peripherals (Eyre's entire career except 2005). You don't sign guys who are getting really old (Remlinger). But, you can sign pitchers who have been good, have had good peripherals for multiple years, and who aren't over the hill.

holy hell, the brewers are a collective 3 for 50 against rich hill?!?!? I find myself getting perilously close to where I was the second half of last year - not giving a crap unless Hill is on the mound. Unfortunately, this year I dumped $100 on MLB TV. So I may end up getting $20 worth.