TruffleShuffle

they're winning all their games against bad teams just like we are, except they've been taking some games off good teams too.

dae-eun rhee is back!!! pitched 2 innings for arizona tonight; went as follows: kirk is in to pitch the third. burruel may be a guy to watch; he signed above slot out of high school and has a single and double tonight. i do like signing these unknown high school guys in the late rounds - there's a lot better chance that one of them breaks out and becomes a big-time prospect than it is to have a guy like david macias turn into something other than minor league roster filler.

this is true, but generally if your team isn't good enough to win one year, you're not going to win the next year by changing nothing. plus look at the cards' roster - most of their important pieces are 31 or younger. they had a team that one could reasonably expect to improve from one year to the next, plus they also had a better minor league system that they used to contribute to bullpen depth, a starter CF (rasmus) and then adding good players in holliday and derosa. the cubs have an inferior system now to what the cards had last year, and most of the key components of the cubs are only going to get worse, and continue to have injury problems, from here.

no, that would be an awful idea. guzman has had injury problems throughout his minor league career. you've finally found something that keeps him relatively healthy; be happy you've got that. one would think so. he'll have spent half a season at AA; that's enough to be a serious contender for a spot in the rotation if he turns enough heads. i'd expect that he'd be returned to iowa though. i think they acquired gorz because they needed another pitcher back in the deal. he's a decent option for the #5 starter, though he'd have to prove himself. one would assume they're going to let harden walk simply because of the payroll crunch they're dealing with next year, although harden has hurt his value in free agency by being pretty average this year. unlikely, if for no other reason than this season was the perfect time to commit to him as a starter and they still won't do it. no way. utley is one of the top five players in the game, a very good hitter and outstanding fielder, generally stays healthy, is a great value for $15M a year from 2010-13, and they don't have a replacement for him. plus now they have cliff lee and cole hamels fronting the rotation; they really do not need someone like zambrano. i really have to try hard to think of a reasonable deal involving those guys - maybe utley for zambrano, vitters, cashner, angel guzman and starlin castro? still doubt the phillies do it. now this might be possible, though the yankees already have three good frontline pitchers (sabathia, burnett, chamberlain) and no reasonable replacement for cano. plus it really isn't the yankees' m.o. to trade established good players to bring back other good players - generally if they want a frontline starter, they'll just go out and sign him in free agency or, failing that, trade prospects for him.

no. the payroll for next year is about $120M and they've already sunk a lot of money into long-term contracts with Z and dempster (plus lilly is still under contract in 2010). offer him arbitration and probably watch him walk.

friggin matt holliday is hitting about .900 since he joined the cards.

hey, they're actually playing baseball in daytona! nate samson - he of the 5 XBH's in 89 games this year - has homered, doubled and driven in all four runs.

what's the sears tower?

not really, because lee would have homered last inning. we're the cubs - no he wouldn't have ok so because we're the cubs the wind would have magically changed between the top of the 9th and bottom of the 9th. Didn't you learn about the weather gods while you were getting your degree? i must have been out sick the day we discussed the impacts of woebegone baseball franchises on the weather.

not really, because lee would have homered last inning. we're the cubs - no he wouldn't have ok so because we're the cubs the wind would have magically changed between the top of the 9th and bottom of the 9th.

not really, because lee would have homered last inning.

By month: .955, .657, .585, .992, .431 he's certainly the model of consistency.

is a .730 OPS good for a corner outfielder who's making $16M?

nice AB

braves lost to phillies.

way to go hendry you moron.

i don't know if i can read it... it'll just make me want them back too much.

the pirates were pretty lousy earlier this year, but with most of the team traded away this version is downright atrocious. they'll be lucky to play .300 ball the rest of the way. and what was with the defense they were playing on lee? i watched the highlights and it looked like they had milledge stationed in left-center field.

yeah, i know jonathon broxton always was regarded as a reliever, but he started through most of his minor league career.

peoria's offense has really been rollin lately. up 7-2 in the 6th. nice start for archer - 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K. jackson is 0/1 with 2 walks and 2 SB. flaherty is 1/2 with a walk. burke is 0/1 with 2 walks. rosa is 2/2 with a double and walk. lake hit a grand slam.

koyie hill hasn't been able to hit a beach ball in his entire major league career.

they're not presenting it as competition with the nfl, they're presenting it as a minor league for the nfl. if i understand it correctly, any player can be signed by an nfl team off the roster of a ufl team. i don't think this is a bad idea. people are into football in the late summer/fall and watch a lot of college/nfl. all the leagues held in football's "offseason" have failed so why not do one concurrent with the nfl season? to me, it's smarter to have a league that runs september to november than one that runs in the spring during march madness, nhl/nba playoffs and the start of major league baseball. who gives a crap about football at that point?

i'd be surprised if more than 3 of those guys reach free agency.

wait is this a joke?

yeah don't get me wrong, i think it's a really good idea to be by far the biggest player for young talent in a significant market, but if the players don't turn into anything then it's not money well spent. judging by success of many asian players in the big leagues and the performance of the far east teams in the WBC, there should be a lot of talented high school talent there. the question is, are the cubs identifying it properly and will they develop it properly?