TruffleShuffle

2 more homers last night for Gomes and one for Delgado... sweeeeet

Lidge's ERA+ was 181 last year; Dempster's was 136. Not exactly a fantasy when you, uh, you statistics. As for Murton versus Lane, we don't have much to base a comparison on, but my guess is that Lane will have better numbers this year. OK OK I'd disagree with this and actually say that they're equal or Berkman's slightly ahead. His OPS+ has been better than Lee every year except last year, meaning that I'd need to see another year like that from Lee to say he's better than Berkman. Also, Berkman's career OBP is 50 points higher than Lee, and I love OBP. OK As stated above, I disagree, but we'll have to see how it plays out. I'd only go with one greater than symbol, since Burke was a rookie last year and can be reasonably expected to improve, while Jones is what he is. Again, I'd go with one fewer greater than symbol, because Ausmus is better defensively and I think calls a better game than Barrett... but yes, Barrett does add significantly more than Ausmus. Disagree again. Yeah, it looks like Cedeno will be a better hitter than Everett, but do we really know yet, based on the small sample size? Not to mention that Cedeno has looked shaky in the field, while Everett may be the best defensive SS in the national league. I'd call them equal or give Cedeno a slight edge. Yeah, but here's the problem, and I'll say it again. They're not healthy. Given their histories, they probably won't be healthy through October if/when they come back. Not to mention that Prior and Wood haven't pitched like they did back in 2003, nor are they likely to this year. Do Wood and Prior have the potential to put up ERAs at or below 3.00? Sure. Will they? History says it's very unlikely.

Nothing personal, but I am getting just a bit tired of hearing that. I'm still rooting for the Cubs, just like I did last year even though I knew before the season started that their bullpen was too lousy and their on-base abilities too low to win anything. Unfortunately, I'm a realist.

Yes, I am sure Texas would be thrilled to trade a 25 year old stud who put up the 7th best OPS+ in the AL last year, for a major leaguer who can't stay healthy, plus either a minor leaguer who can't stay healthy, or a minor leaguer who might make it as a 4th starter. There may not be enough alcohol in the world to get Jon Daniels to consider that deal.

Isn't debatable??? They aren't healthy. Wood isn't healthy. Neither is Prior. ARam is pretty much guaranteed to miss a handful of games this year, and the rest of the supporting cast is mediocre. The Astros had Berkman, Ensberg, 3 starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.00, and the best closer in the league. The Cubs don't have anthing close to that, except for ARam in place of Ensberg. Even Jason Lane is better than any of the Cubs' 3 starting outfielders. Zambrano, Prior and Wood can't hold a candle to what Clemens, Oswalt and Pettitte did last season. While I like Dempster, he's not in the same league as Brad Lidge. Wait til next year. Although I guess that if the Cubs manage a .500 record with Lee, Prior and Wood missing a significant amount of time, people can feel good about it, rather than disappointed.

Just you wait, my youth movement strategy (Bay, Wright, Cantu, Gomes) will pay off. no, no....when Fielder, Beltre and Helton all break the record for most HR in a month in July, then who will be laughing? Haha, yeah Beltre is really showing signs of breaking out. What's he got this year, one extra base hit?

I suggest that you all concede victory to me now, and save some face.

Taken from the home run derby picks thread... I'd say you talked yourself into the right decision... Johnson: 1-32, 0 HR, .031/.139/.031, .170 OPS Thome: 15-43, 7 HR, .349/.541/.907, 1.448 OPS

I'm not sure why this would have been a tough decision, even though a surprising # of people picked A-Ram. His career high in HRs is 36 and he's injury prone. Pujols has 40+ HRs 3 years in a row, and has been very durable his whole time in the majors. For that matter, so has Dunn. The only guys in group B that I seriously considered were Pujols, Dunn, and Teixeira.

w00t Actually I'm at 55 right now after a HR by A-Rod today, and big days from Pujols and Swisher yesterday. What makes this a lot of fun is that even I have some guys who have done crap so far, like Huff and Todd Helton. But the guys I thought were the "safest" picks to hit over 40 due to their health and youth, Pujols and Dunn, have gone bonkers so far. Giambi, Gomes and Swisher are looking like smart picks so far, and Thome will get a lot of HRs if his back holds up.

PECOTA actually projected him as a more valuable second baseman this year than either Todd Walker or Jerry Hairston. PECOTA's credibility is falling if that is the case. No kidding... I'm probably E-Patt's biggest fan on this board, but Todd Walker is one of the top 10 offensive second basemen in baseball... I'd guess probably pushing top 5, without doing any hard research. I wouldn't buy that E-Patt would be anywhere near as productive as Walker at the major league level this year.

I still have zero confidence in Ryan Harvey's potential to be a good major league ballplayer. Yeah, it's nice that he's hit for a lot of power at every level so far, but his BB/K ratio of 50/240 in 191 games coming into this year is horrible. He's at 1/14 this year in 7 games, so he's not improving. To be honest, if he doesn't show improvement in that area after this year, I wouldn't be opposed to moving him to pitcher and seeing what he could do there.

Not that I care much about the NBA, but that charging call in the last 5 seconds of Friday night's game was absolutely atrocious. Hope you Bulls fans realize that.

Ah excellent reference to the American Dreams... although you made one mistake. You have "Babe" making an out at least two times, which is impossible, considering that I couldn't get him out once. I generally resorted to beaning him, rather than throwing a strike and giving up a home run.

So is it too early to ask what the major league record is for most errors in a game? I'd have to guess it was back in the 19th century when the fields were in terrible shape. But seriously, the Reds suck.

I love how when something as earth-shattering as a steal and an error happens, all the gamecast things immediately crap out. We have a computers that can beat almost any human being in chess, but we can't find have baseball gamecasts understand plays that aren't 100% routine. Wonderful.

Well I just gave ESPN gamecast a try, and it says Barrett is still batting with a 2-0 count and Pierre on 2nd, Lee on first. Consider that test failed... back to mlb.com

Yep, time to get Adam Dunn his third straight HR. You know, I probably wouldn't have taken Dunn in the NSBB Home Run Derby if he didn't play the Cubs 19 times this year.

Uh oh, Rusch has damaged his trade value even further... I don't know that the Cubs can even get a bag of baseballs for him any more.

bump :lol:

Do you really want to be the team that sends Ponson back to the bottle? The bottle, or McDonald's?

Don't worry, he still has 158 games left to botch.

Thanks for taking out Carpenter after 6, Tony.

Hopefully Encarnacion will single and then get thrown out going back to first.