TruffleShuffle

you're using the royal "we" there, i guess

plus he is getting most of their carries now... definitely henry

Someone dropped Alexander in a keeper league? You've got to be kidding. I can't imagine even dropping him in a regular league (that's one reason for having bench players, so you can carry an injured player for a few weeks), let alone a keeper league. Yeah, apparently the same person dropped T.O. a month ago too. Now when my team is healthy, I'll have this lineup: QB P. Manning RB Alexander RB Willie Parker WR Roy Williams WR Larry Fitzgerald W/R either P. Burress or D. McAllister TE K. Winslow loooooaded

OK, but the Cubs are going to stay bad that way. Just because the Cubs sign "big name FA" doesn't mean they're the RIGHT free agents. Something to keep in mind with Alou's rough start is the transition players make coming to Wrigley with all the home games - but all in all, I liked the Moises years (not the throwing or baserunning, but those are small complaints). Yeah, but go with the young guys? That's pretty much how it turned out last year, and the Cubs were brutally bad. Teams in baseball strengthen themselves through free agency, trades, and their farm system. You need to be active in free agency to field a good time, as long as you make the right move rather than get mediocre has-beens like Steve Buechele. Sure, you can put in Sean Marshall rather than Ted Lilly, stick with Ronny Cedeno at second base, etc. But there are plenty of Kevin Ories, Gary Scotts, Mike Harkeys and Todd Wellemeyers that turn out to be nowhere close to major league average. You have to USE the right young players, not just ANY young players. The Marlins plan worked semi-decently, because they had kids like Willigham/Uggla/Ramirez/Jacobs, etc, that were talented enough to play. If the Cubs improve themselves through FA, fine, but the Cubs don't have a good history of doing that. The Cubs have been burned through FA(Dawson was the last FA who wasn't a bust), hence the reason why they are better through the trades (Sandberg/Sosa/Lee/ARam/Sutcliffe). So if the Cubs are going to improve they have to look at all avenues, and use a combination of them all. Yeah well, therein lies the problem. The Marlins went with the kids and did fine because they had good minor leaguers. The Cubs don't, especially position prospects. So, they have to sign free agents to fill the holes that the minor leagues can't adequately fill.

oops

OK, but the Cubs are going to stay bad that way. Just because the Cubs sign "big name FA" doesn't mean they're the RIGHT free agents. Something to keep in mind with Alou's rough start is the transition players make coming to Wrigley with all the home games - but all in all, I liked the Moises years (not the throwing or baserunning, but those are small complaints). Yeah, but go with the young guys? That's pretty much how it turned out last year, and the Cubs were brutally bad. Teams in baseball strengthen themselves through free agency, trades, and their farm system. You need to be active in free agency to field a good time, as long as you make the right move rather than get mediocre has-beens like Steve Buechele. Sure, you can put in Sean Marshall rather than Ted Lilly, stick with Ronny Cedeno at second base, etc. But there are plenty of Kevin Ories, Gary Scotts, Mike Harkeys and Todd Wellemeyers that turn out to be nowhere close to major league average.

I'd probably just go with Johnson and Jackson. SD's rush defense got torn up by Larry Johnson, but Washington is not a bad pick either, assuming that he doesn't lose too many carries to Barlow.

OK, but the Cubs are going to stay bad that way.

Not sure I'm on board with that. I place an equal priority on a stud hitter and a stud pitcher. I think if we lack either one this offseason we will be pressed to be WS-worthy in 2007. Agreed. The Cubs had the second worst OPS and third fewest runs in all of baseball. Their starting pitching was also really lousy, but even if Lee stays healthy all year, the Cubs have some major deficiencies offensively.

moises alou will get more than 4-5 million per

yeah the cardinals have pretty much been a league-average team the last three years with jeff suppan there... only 3 nlcs and 2 world series appearances

who the hell dropped shaun alexander?!?!?!?

great, so out of the choices there are 28.5 white and 1.5 hispanic? well, I guess we still have some work to do in this country.

Where's Joe Carter as an option???

might want to let people know it's a yahoo league... by the way, I'll do it even though I know next to nothing about the NBA.

Seriously, what's wrong with Novoa, besides consistency? He was great down the stretch in August and Sept. He was better than Eyre and Dempster over the course of the entire season. He gave up a crapload of HRs, but 12 of 15 were before August 1. His peripherals are nothing to get excited about. Bad HR rate, a hit per inning, 4 walks per 9 innings, just over 6 strikeouts per 9 innings. None of that suggests a guy who is about to break through. Yes, he pitched better in August and September, but there are real questions about sample size there, and if he pitched well in those months, why was he so horrible in the other ones? Still, even after the ASB he gave up 36 hits in 34 innings, walked 12 and struck out 22. Those numbers are just not very good, even if you ignore his totally craptacular first half of the season.

OK, I'm doing the deal. Hopefully Shockey doesn't decide to blow out his knee next week!

awesome. who's the other non-white player that they refer to? Is it Victorino, or am I missing one? Ethier. http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/33/332358.jpg What race is he then? I'm curious.

What the hell is with the title? Look again? At what, how bad some of these guys are (calling Mabry mediocre is an insult to mediocrity). The fact that some are everyday players and some barely see the field? Yeah, as FJM says: The award makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It's like they took out all the superstars, all the minorities, and then just picked names out of a hat.

awesome. who's the other non-white player that they refer to? Is it Victorino, or am I missing one?

Seriously, this is brutal. Jose Valentin is Puerto Rican, isn't that the only non-white player on the list? Shane Victorino is Hawai'ian, which isn't exactly white, but really, there's not much difference. Most of these guys aren't even role players. Woody Williams and Jake Westbrook are regular starters. Atkins started nearly every game, scored and drove in well over 100 runs. Then there are the choices like Mabry and Shouse, who were mediocre. I remember reading somewhere, either in a magazine or book, that almost it's almost always white guys who get the reputation of being average-talent guys that make it based on their hard work. I believe the point was also made that when teams are looking for guys to fill out their roster, they keep aging white players over minority players. This award is pretty dumb in general, but the fact that 29 of the 30 players are white is really telling. Way to go Major League Baseball and Holiday Inn.

Ryne Sandberg coaching Eric Patterson into becoming a perennial all-star would perhaps be the greatest thing I've ever experienced as a sports fan.

If it means adding strength to the far more important rotation and lineup, hell yeah. yeah, but then the cubs are creating a hole while patching up another. No. It's creating a smaller more managable hole in order to patch a far larger and more important hole. Like it or not, a good bullpen is worthless on a bad team. And it's not like the Cubs bullpen would fall to pieces if Scott Eyre was traded. He's no difference maker. He's a very small piece to a very messed up puzzle. And relatively easy to replace. Yes, but what are you using him to get? It's not like you're going to get any sort of big impact player for him. Sure, I'll make a deal if I'm going to bet a big-time bat or good starter in return, but Eyre certainly isn't enough. If you're saying Eyre & prospects, then I'm fine with that.

I don't think he'll be a low-K player. He just isn't cut out for that. However, he's not a complete hacker either and he will take a good amount of walks. From following games it seems like a lot of his strikeouts are the result of having a good eye, not from just waving aimlessly at balls outside the strike zone. And, it's not as if he had a horrible year. It was certainly a dropoff from his outstanding 2005 season, but a .300 OBP and .738 OPS is still fine for a second baseman playing in a pitcher's park in a pitcher's league. He has struck out 199 times in 257 games - not great for a guy who projects as a leadoff hitter, but not unacceptably high. His IsoD of .069 is good and is a hell of a lot better than most of the losers in this organization, and his 2006 OBP of .339 is all right. I think he's still learning a lot too, having only been in the organization only two seasons. Good to see someone else hopping on the bandwagon, even if it's a little tentative :)

If it means adding strength to the far more important rotation and lineup, hell yeah. yeah, but then the cubs are creating a hole while patching up another. It's why you don't trade Z for A-Rod, even if you think it's a good deal, the Cubs can't afford to be giving away talent. This team is BAD, and really the only good way to improve a team this depleted in the short run is to make free agent signings and, if necessary, trade minor leaguers for major-league ready talent.