TruffleShuffle

respect? take your shoes off inside his house if you're worried about disrespecting him. hit him wherever you think he'll be best in the lineup.

well generally when the cubs tell you that a guy is going to be out for X amount of time, you can assume that he'll be out for about 3X. it's a proven mathematical relationship.

For whatever reason, I was thinking ahead to the HoF class in 2009. Jim Rice is on the ballot for the 15th and final time. I think he may get enough support to get in, even though he doesn't deserve it. There's one new guy who absolutely should be in, Rickey Henderson. Unfortunately I think he may not even get in on the first ballot, because there are a lot of idiots who think first-ballot HoF's should be guys like Ruth, Williams and Mays, and everyone else should have to wait a year. Plus he had the reputation for being selfish, which may be true, but he's also one of the best LF ever. David Cone is probably a lot closer to being a borderline candidate than most people would suspect, but he shouldn't be in. Hopefully he is having more luck keeping it in his pants than he did while in the Mets' bullpen. Jesse Orosco won't get in unless people really have a fetish for games pitched. Mo Vaughn? Maybe if he hadn't porked up to about three bills by age 30. Mark Grace? No, though he should get bonus points for popularizing the term "slumpbuster." Matt Williams? Nope. I won't bother getting into guys like Alan Trammell and Tim Raines, who should be in, but won't even get a quarter of the votes. And let's not forget our old buddy Ron Santo, who, God willing, will finally get the honor that he deserved 30 years earlier.

I think it started with Tommy Herr and the 80s Cards teams. wasn't it usually spelled tommie herr? anyway, he's not really a good comparison. in the prime of his career he was a solid hitter with good on-base ability. he was a lot better in that spot than, say, ozzie smith or terry pendleton.

I just bought the 2008 Baseball America Prospect Handbook today, which is almost certainly my favorite annual publication. BA started publishing this awesome book in 2001, so this was the 8th BA prospect handbook. How many do you own?

i like how the guy has had 7 ABs (plus a few walks and a couple of HBP) and this has sold lou on the fact that maybe kosuke is not cut out to be a #3 hitter. this is spring training. lou is like a little kid with ADD.

pawelek??? if that guy hadn't been drafted in the first round, he wouldn't even be talked about as a prospect any more. he's done absolutely nothing to affirm his status as a prospect.

this is a salad in texas: http://images.inmagine.com/img/foodcollection/fdc_single5/fdc922458.jpg

let's all hope for a great 2008 from one-pitch rich!!!

jarrod washburn, also known as one of the few non-moronic bill bavasi signings.

okay, so his really bad months were basically marginally better than an average month for ronny cedeno in 2006.

okay that is gross. mayonnaise or nothing on tuna.

31 baserunners in 22.1 innings does not qualify as "incredible." the only thing incredible about his second half was his good fortune. his whip in a cub uniform is over 1.6. not so great.

I'm with you, except with the roles reversed. I'd like to see Ascanio put together a good spring and get the last bullpen slot. you really think fontenot will be a neifi-esque hitter? he's shown too much patience to be that bad. his minor league obp is .366 and his minor league ops is 100 points higher than neifi. i can see thinking that cedeno will be a decent big leaguer, but given his piss-poor discipline in the big leagues, i'm betting against him.

i would really prefer that fontenot make it over cedeno. fontenot i think could be a pretty solid hitter, not great, but not terrible either. i am convinced that cedeno will be a neifi-esque offensive player.

lol, culpepper should try to finish a season first

i think hart should make it. he showed enough last year to at least merit a spot as a long man if he pitches adequately in spring training. i'm gonna guess that the 25 man roster is: 1. zambrano 2. lilly 3. hill 4. dempster 5. lieber 6. wood 7. howry 8. marmol 9. eyre ](*,) 10. wuertz 11. hart 12. lahey 13. soto 14. blanco 15. lee 16. derosa 17. theriot 18. ramirez 19. fontenot 20. soriano 21. pie 22. fukudome 23. murton 24. fuld 25. ward cedeno is in the minors or traded, marquis is dumped on some unsuspecting team, ceda heads to tennessee, piggy, marshall, ascanio and fox head back to iowa.

lawl at the third one

juan gonzalez was never as good as everyone though he was. good hitter? yes. one of the best hitters in the game? no.

is anyone else curious as to why marquis has to earn a spot, but dempster is apparently assured of the #3 spot in the rotation? dempster was pretty damn mediocre the past two years; what's he done to merit being tabbed the #3 starter?

there wasn't anyone to throw him the ball in chicago either The medicore QB situation in Chicago is still better than the absolute crap known as Tavaris Jackson. sure about that? tarvaris: http://www.nfl.com/players/tarvarisjackson/careerstats?id=JAC566507 rex: http://www.nfl.com/players/rexgrossman/careerstats?id=GRO597298

there wasn't anyone to throw him the ball in chicago either

well the flyers seem to have extracted their heads from their collective rears, and now have won three in a row. back up to #8 in the east, with a big game against the rags tomorrow. in other news, danny briere has to be one of the worst players in the league when it comes to playing defense. his attitude toward back checking is completely cavalier. i mean, he's a -25 for God's sakes. that would've been understandable on last year's team, but a team that's in playoff contention??? come on.

pfffft..your just saying that cuz he's the enemy ;) and because lito dominates the cowboys for some bizarre reason

yeah the philly papers reported this as well. with sheldon brown as the other corner, there's no need to keep lito around any more. he's a good player (2 pro bowls) but has some injury problems. given the demand for quality cb's in the league, i'd think he'll fetch a pretty good return.