TruffleShuffle

something tells me that the braves are gonna go with the buyout rather than the $20M next year. The Rockies are on the hook for that. Colorado to pay $49M ($20M signing bonus, $8M in 2001, $8.5M in 2002, $2M in 2003, $2M in 2004, $2.5M in 2005, $6M buyout in 2009). Florida to pay $23.5M ($7M of 2003 salary, $8M in 2004, $8.5M in 2005). Atlanta to pay $48.5M ($2M of 2003 salary, $2M in 2004, $1.5M in 2005, $13.5M in 2006, $14.5M in 2007, $15M in 2008). so the buyout was automatic? there was no chance that his salary would be picked up? i can't say this is shocking given that his contract was so bad that three teams had to pay part of it.

I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Sarcasm. that was a sarcastic response to a serious response he got in another thread. i think.

aside from ron santo, the first person i'd put into the HoF would be bill james. i would love to have this: http://content.powells.com/cgi-bin/images.cgi?isbn=9781135591588&p=1

i definitely hate corey hart more. mostly because he is so damn ugly and hits for power even though he weights 85 lbs. braun is fun to watch in the field no matter where he is. that glove will cost the brewers a couple of games this year.

if kendall had any stones he would have swung at that pitch. he just knows wood's stuff is too nasty for him to hit, so he put the bat on his shoulder and prayed for a walk---he had no intention of swinging, which was smart, it just backfired. yeah i think the ump might have given him a walk if he'd gone up to the plate with any initiative to swing the bat, but since he just stood there and tried to turn every pitch into a ball, the ump just rang him up.

i think he'd prefer that you not use that abbreviation wasn't hernandez like 6'4" and about a buck seventy? that might explain why he was trying to beef up.

i still think ottawa may be the most talented team on paper. i really cannot believe what has happened to them. especially since alfredsson is regarded as a great leader. there has to be something going on behind the scenes there. i think it's the defense and goaltending. they have an exceptionally overrated defense aside from Phillips/Volchenkov and the goaltending has been spotty all year long. not a fan of wade redden?

something tells me that the braves are gonna go with the buyout rather than the $20M next year.

btw daytona choked and lost 8-6

looking at that lineup, i have a feeling that there will be a lot of piss-poor offensive outputs from tennessee this year.

agreed, cards are #1. i don't care if they ever lose their first 100 games, i will be rooting hard for them to lose #101 in a row.

1. Number of Cubs wins, 2008 - 88 +50 2. Number of Cubs wins, Cardinals season series (15 games) 9 +150 3. Number of runs scored, 2008 - 779 +25 4. Number of runs allowed, 2008 - 698 +175 5. Final Placement in the NL Central Division - 2nd +100 500/1300 Player Stats & Scoring 1. Number of Aramis Ramirez Home Runs - 33 +10 2. Number of Soriano Stolen Bases - 24 +40 3. Kosuke Fukudome's OBP - .392 +0 4. Derrek Lee's RBIs - 101 +20 5. Ted Lilly's Wins - 14 +20 6. Carlos Zambrano's ERA - 3.78 +40 7. Rich Hill's Ks - 197 +0 8. Ryan Dempster's Innings Pitched - 124 +0 130/400 1. Which will be higher: Rich Hill's K's or Rich Hill's Innings Pitched? - IP +30 2. Which will be higher: Jon Lieber's starts or Jon Lieber's relief appearances? - relief appearances +30 3. Which will be higher: Felix Pie's at-bats or Reed Johnson's at-bats? - Felix Pie 0 4. Who will have more HRs: Soto or Fukudome? - Soto +30 5. Who will have more wins: Hill or Lilly? - Lilly +30 6. Who will have a higher SLG: Soriano or Ramirez? - aramis 0 120/180 1. Most HRs: aramis 0 2. Highest OBP (min. 400 ABs): fukudome 0 3. Lowest ERA (min. 150 IPs): hill 0 4. Most saves: wood +30 30/120 The Annual Tiebreaker: Date of Lou Piniella's First Ejection (you may answer "none" to predict an ejection-free season for Lou) - april 27 TOTAL: 780

kemp's K% in the minors was about 15% in 2006 and 2007. pie did show improvement last year but his K% was over 20% in 2006. wrong. actually, very wrong. http://firstinning.com/players/Felix-Pie-a/ http://firstinning.com/players/Matt-Kemp-a/

haha shut up brantley you dumb hick

i think ricciardi gets a lot of credit for being a billy beane discipline, but he hasn't really been that good. pretty meh, IMO.

theriot would actually be a good option at #9, like the brewers have been using with kendall, but i can't see the cubs ever being smart enough to do this.

i am pretty sure that AA pitchers are going to make a complete fool out of ryan harvey pretty good night offensively for daytona so far. thomas is 2-4, wyatt, wright and castillo are 2-3 and yusuf carter has homered.

i still think ottawa may be the most talented team on paper. i really cannot believe what has happened to them. especially since alfredsson is regarded as a great leader. there has to be something going on behind the scenes there.

yes fans do have the right to do that, but why take it out on the guy who is being miscast as a starting shortstop for a division-contending team? How is anybody taking it out on him? I've only "seen" the Monday game, but I'm sure it's a safe bet to say he's still a Wrigley favorite. Nobody is harrassing him. Nobody is beating him up. People are complaining and pointing out that he sucks. He's a professional baseball player who is incapable of doing his job at an acceptable level. Those types of people get talked about in negative ways by fans, it's always been that way and always will. We said the same things about Alfonseca, Pierre, Neifi, Hundley and all the rest. (a) alfonseca was fat and a grump (b) pierre used to be good, and he seemed proud of the fact that he didn't walk © neifi probably got more crap than he should have; more of the anger should've gone toward dusty (d) hundley was an a-hole and a drunk, and he used to be good i think you will generally see a lot more anger directed toward guys who used to be good and aren't any more, and there's probably at least a decent reason for that.

well cueto will be good this year and some of next, then the 250 IP this year will land him on dr. andrews' operating table by mid-2009.

f you moises. that's about all i have to say.

how about a good luck bump for the first start of 2008? go rich go.

don't blame me, i was told that what's his butt couldn't start tomorrow's thread. blame him, i think he is in durham helping coach k find his way through the maze to the cheese at the end of it.

yes fans do have the right to do that, but why take it out on the guy who is being miscast as a starting shortstop for a division-contending team?

In for the spot start... this game features some guy named Sampson who plays for the Astros; from what I can tell, this is him: http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2007/10/19/sports_jp_kelvin_1019+Z.jpg His numbers in 2007: 7-8, 4.59 ERA, 121.2 IP, 138 H, 62 ER, 20 HR, 30 BB, 51 K so he's not a strikeout artist, to say the least. Facing him is the 2008 Cy Young winner, "One Pitch" Rich Hill. The pride of Milton, Massachusetts, Rich went 11-8 with a 3.92 ERA in 2007, a great surprise to those who thought he was no better than a AAAA pitcher. His other stats: 195.0 IP, 170 H, 85 ER, 27 HR, 63 BB, 183 K. Here is a shot of Rich trying to look as dorky as possible, and frankly doing a pretty good job at it: http://www.alexsautographs.com/richhill1.jpg The exclusive TruffleShuffle forecast: Clouds breaking for some sunshine, temperatures in the upper 40s, winds north-northeasterly at 8-16 mph. Sounds like a lovely early April day in Chicago! Go Cubs.