TruffleShuffle

they overachieved pretty greatly in 2008 and most of the key parts are two years older. the offense isn't awful but it's not good either. i don't think the cubs are bottom-of-the-barrel bad but i have a hard time seeing them be as good as the cardinals and the third best out of the braves/phillies/dodgers/rockies/giants.

well, i'm glad that's that. guess i'll tune in next year. so you think it's a solid idea to call up a 20 year old who has spent one year outside of rookie ball?

well, we gave him 11 innings, time to pull the plug. No we gave him 3 seasons and 11 innings. I'm not guaranteeing that Castro is better from day 1 or anything, but for a team that seems to have a weak offense, you need someone with more range at SS. Also, Theriot's high average, no power hitting abilities were somewhat OK when the offense lead the league in OBP and runs scored, but in an offense with potentially 3-4 black holes in it (or possibly only 1 or 2) we need to start considering other options if there is a better one out there. the cubs aren't good, what's the point of killing an arbitration year and rushing a guy up to the big leagues when he is, at best, a very marginal upgrade from the current shortstop over the next two months? people complain that we rushed ronny cedeno; calling castro up now would be way more silly than anything the cubs did with ronny.

well, we gave him 11 innings, time to pull the plug.

Very true. Defense is like the new OBP, which doesn't mean the Cubs have to follow it blindly. But the Cubs look like they've payed almost no attention to defense while constructing this team. unfortunately it looks like they've paid very little attention to offense or pitching either.

gave that one a ride

jason marquis is off to a fun start in washington: walk, hbp, single, GIDP (run scored), walk (wild pitch run scored), walk, force out that's about as bad as you can pitch and only give up 2 runs.

so apparently a high school-run radio station was fined $20,000 for missing station IDs and was forced to shut down, there was pretty much no media coverage of this crazy act by the FCC and a local radio expert has no recollection of any such thing happening. i'd just settle for a link to a high school radio station getting fined by the FCC for station IDs being missed, even if it's not in indiana and was nowhere close to $20,000. so far we have links to things that are nowhere close to the assertion that was originally made.

not really sure why this is a huge deal - they're a very popular team, play in a really famous ballpark that has a smaller capacity than most ballparks and sell out most games. if people are willing to keep paying that much for tickets then charge away.

Congrats. How about you bold the "?" indicating I don't remember the exact details. perhaps you should have said "i think..." or "i'm unsure of the details, but i believe that..." instead you passed this story off as being fact, and further investigation has shown that: (a) the fines issued are significantly less than $20,000 (b) the fines were issued for something completely different than missing a station ID, and a poster found that missing a station ID warrants a $1,000 fine, so this assertion of yours could not possibly have been anything close to true, and © there's no evidence that any station, high school or other, was forced to fold as a result of outrageous FCC fines. otherwise, your story looks like it is holding up just fine.

I was waiting for you to say something. You assume that I was refering to black people rather than a type of speech. yes the type of speech ebonics, which comes from the word ebony, which is the color....

yeah i saw that. he must be able to throw in the mid 90s or something, to be so bad in college and still get drafted and kept around for two years.

Ryan Scoma (Giants) - not mentioned; given his performance last year and the round in which he was drafted, he's probably just organizational filler who will probably be doing something other than playing baseball in a couple of years. Ty Kelly (Orioles) - didn't make their top 30 but is the third 3B on their minor league depth chart - what i've found is that they tend to list guys who are still considered prospects but didn't make the top 30. Andy Suiter (Dodgers) - not mentioned... strike-throwing seems to be a serious problem. Jake Jefferies (Rays) - ranked #29 in the system. see write-up below. Justin Fitzgerald (Giants) - not mentioned; bad WHIP last year Ryan Royster (Mariners) - not mentioned. hit well last year, but he was old for his levels. Bryan Evans (Marlins) - not mentioend. looks way too hittable. Eddie Gamboa (Orioles) - ranked #29 in the system. see write-up below. Brad McAtee (Rockies) - 79 IP, 75 H, 59 ER, 83 BB, 57 K in 2 years. believe it or not, he wasn't mentioned. Eddie Gamboa - Gamboa doesn't have the same ceiling as most of the other pitchers on this list, but he's a great bet to get the most out of his ability. A 21st-round pick in 2008 as a fifth-year senior out of UC-Davis, Gamboa is a durable pitcher who throws strikes. He jumped to full-season ball last year and blazed through the system, reaching Double-A and compiling a 1.08 ERA between three stops. He has walked just 31 batters in 146 pro innings and rates as the best strike-thrower in the system. Righthander Pat Egan has a similar profile, but Gamboa's stuff is a notch better. He has an 89-91 mph fastball with good life, also throws a changeup and has worked on both a curveball and slider as a pro. He relies heavily on his fastball, challenging opponents to hit it, and so far they haven't. He's athletic and fields his position well, and he has a good pickoff move. The Orioles love his makeup. Gamboa profiles strictly as a reliever, and at age 25 there's no reason to hold him back. He could open 2010 in Triple-A and get his first big league opportunity later in the year. Jake Jeffries - Jeffries shared the Big West Conference player of the year honors in 2008, then had a solid pro debut after the Rays drafted him in the third round. An offensive-minded catcher, he's a contact oriented hitter who should improve as he learns the nuances of how pitchers are trying to attack him. After being tough to strike out in college, he often went out of the strike zone early in the count last year, which took a toll on his batting average and overall production. He uses the entire field and could hit for more power as his approach improves. Jeffries arrived in spring training last year too bulky and tight after an offseason of weight training, which affected his throwing. Once he reduced his bulk and his entire body became looser, he made steady strides, decreasing his pop times from a well below-average 2.3 seconds to a fringy 2.0. He threw out 26 percent of basestealers. Jeffries has focused on becoming more agile, and his footwork, blocking ability and overall quickness behind the plate improved. He works well with pitchers and calls a good game. Though he has below-average speed, he runs well for a catcher and has good instincts. Jeffries successfully made several adjustments last year, setting up for a solid season in high Class A in 2010.

whoaaaaaa

their hitting coach basically turned into the incredible hulk by artificial means, their closer was suspended for using steroids and showed up in the mitchell report, and their former outfielder and third basemen were frequent hgh purchasers. shut the [expletive] up you bunch of hypocrites.

when was the last time that someone was so far and away the best player in the world?

penn state homer :D

bingo

what in the hell

good move for them, he builds pretty good teams even if they do always flop in the dance, and i think it's good for depaul to hire a black coach - should help them recruit within the city.

wtf is walter state

i kinda hope that the cards have a big power spike this year (so far so good) and everyone says it's because their new hitting coach is giving them all steroids.

i know the guy is a douche, but this was a pretty amazing play

i discussed this in the game thread, but $10M is what you pay for college talents who are more or less sure bets - prior (okay he got injured, but before that he was awesome), pedro alvarez, david price, wieters, teixeira, strasburg, etc. basically, some of the most talented, accomplished college baseball players in the last 25 years. not a guy who had decent numbers and played wide receiver. i'm all for dropping big dollars in the draft, but do it on guys who drop because of signability concerns or because you're drafting highly-rated guys early in the first round. not because you're buying a guy away from another sport. classic cobs.