CubinNY

What do you want him to say? What could he say that could make anyone happy? This is A-Rod's mess, but the self-righteous indignation by some players, the public, and press is really annoying to me. Most everyone would do the same thing if they were in his situation. It doesn't make what he did right, it makes what he did human. There were at least 100 other guys who tested positive and probably many others who were just lucky. They should all (owners, managers, and players) get in a circle and shoot, because they are all in it together.

I don't think Bonds was in the union and he had a freaking comfy chair in the locker room. There's no big brother, there are lots of little brothers that he needs to look out for. It's pretty damn ridiculous to think that A-Rod reworking his contract and taking less money would benefit him in some way. The proposition is a lose-lose for him. He takes less money, is kicked out of the union, and is shunned by him fraternity. Edit: IRCC, Kevin Millar wasn't in the union either, he was a scab during 1994 and they wouldn't let him in.

Except the guy at the top. No, it benefits him too, at least financially.

. :-k It's mighty big of the players union to allow the CBA to be breached when it benefits their own, isn't it? I love the blurb about how the union would permit Cruz and others to waive their individual rights. I don't think the union has a say in that decision. Wasn't it the union not allowing ARod to waive his rights that prevented him from being traded to Boston and instead to NYC? I believe it was that he was willing to take a salary cut to fit in the Red Sox's payroll and the union objected. That would be correct. ARod was will to cut something like $30 million off his deal to make the trade happen, but the union wasn't having it. The union confuses me sometimes. Why won't the union allow something like that? Does the union get a portion of that money or something? If it's his money what do they care what he does with it? Precedent. And the fact that what A-Rod gets affects the everyone else. He's at the top of the food chain, what he does affects everyone below him. All unions are set up to benefit the collective that makes up the union. Sometimes that means that the needs of the guys at the top have to be subordinate to everyone else. In the end, it benefits everyone.

He was already heading into the toilet in June though. The BABIP says that he was just unlucky, but I think a far more telling line is the BB and LD%. He was swinging at a lot of balls outside of the zone (low and away sliders, especially).

Depends on who wants to be the guy to caters to the needs of Ron Santo. I'll volunteer.

Is that with the platoon? If he's platooned I think that's a pretty good projection. If he's not I think he's more like .270/.350/.400. It's not just the 2-seamer that gets Fukudome, it's the low and away slider outside of the zone.

And kill people who cross him.

I'm doing Gameday Audio this year. I'm blacked out of Cubs games anyway. Why don't you watch it on TV or do you not have cable or satellite? CSNC is the RSN in this area and I am able to watch all the games (except WCIU because it's too much of a pain to switch over to an antenna to get it on channel 69). MLBTV blacks out in market subscribers which is why you cannot get the Cubs games (nor Sox, Tigers, Reds). So I am going to assume this is for when you are working. Indiana's cable companies don't carry CSN Chicago because it's not the local RSN. At the same time, it technically is inside the Cubs home territory so the games are also blacked out on MLBTV. So if you get cable for any reason, you have no way of seeing those Cub games in this market. I'm still crossing my fingers that they won't black the games out with Uverse (which actually has the channel but they blacked out Bulls games) but I'll have to wait another month to see for sure. It's the same way for my folks (who live in NIles MI, 90 miles from Chicago, 10 from IN). Last year they got a dish (up from the basic cable package, woo who!). I tried to order MLBEI for my dad but called first. He gets CSN chicago but the kicker is every single Chicago sports team is blacked out because Niles is the property of Detroit according to the NHL, NBA, and MLB. The only logical people are the NLF where he gets Bears games on the local Fox station. MLBEI won't be of any use to him b/c he's in Cubs territory too according to MLB. It's maddening.

Adrian Gonzalez Hanley Ramirez I'm thinking it will either be SS, 2nd, CF or SP with the contracts the Cubs currently have. That narrows it down a bunch, I know. I think Hallady is a good guess if his arm doesn't fall off.

I'm hoping Gathright somehow doesn't make it, as he and Johnson are completely redundant defensively. It's not worth carrying a guy just as a pinch runner when you have a 12 man pitching staff. Also, there is no one to back up Aramis on that bench. I wonder if that's why they have Jake Fox working out at 3b. I'm guessing Gathright doesn't make the team either. He brings nothing to the table that Johnson doesn't bring. Also, I'm really hoping Hill beats out Bako for the backup catcher position. Why do you hope Hill beats out Bako?

So, Greg chose working with the Padres over the Cubs.... Wasn't there some rumors that he and Larry don't exactly see eye-to-eye?

If you wanna get down, get down on the ground -- COCAINE!!!!! I'm with you with Leon. I was not happy about Grace taking over for a power hitting left handed stud like Leon Durham. I wasn't happy that he took Bill Buckner's place, I'm 40, but boy do I feel old reading this. Billy Buck was the last player from my childhood who still played for the Cubs. My fav Buckner memory was him stepping on Gary Carter's face mask and then getting into a fight with Carter. I hate Gary Carter.

So you...of all people...are saying he doesn't look like an lf. How hilarious. How many times have you railed on scouts for using phrases like that and making assumptions like that? How many are there? I get your point, but at the most basic level physical stature is important. If he's some sort of latter day Hack Wilson, he'll be the first. Dan Uggla? He's a 2B, but the point still stands. He's a short power hitter who struggles with contact sometimes. Uggla is also 6 feet tall (5'11" anyway).

So you...of all people...are saying he doesn't look like an lf. How hilarious. How many times have you railed on scouts for using phrases like that and making assumptions like that? How many are there? I get your point, but at the most basic level physical stature is important. If he's some sort of latter day Hack Wilson, he'll be the first.

How many 5'9" LFers are there in MLB? That should tell us all we need to know about this guy.

Roy Oswalt is the biggest douche in the history of the douche bag. He's a bigger turd than Bono. Hey Roy, you played with Caminetti, Clemens, Tejada, and Pettitte, not to mention the other guys we don't know about cough*Richard Hildalgo*cough. Your only world series appearance is an abomination you bumba-clot.

Who's going to pay them? I'd rather see a bunch of minor leaguers/college kids and make it like the Olympics or something. They could bill it as the future of the sport. However, Cuba, Korea, or Japan would win every year.

Here's my deal with the new defensive metrics, they don't work. There is a huge spread of talent when it comes to hitting, hitting with power, and speed. In other words, the SD of MLB ballplayers in those regards is pretty big. A big SD and the further away from the mythical average player the bigger the difference you make (bad or good) When it come to defense, speed plays a roll in as far as position one plays but you are much more likely to see a lumbering LF/RF than you are a track star (barring late inning replacements). In addition, the spread of ability when it comes to catching a ball at the major league level is not very wide. In other words, the vast majority of guys are all bunched together near the average. With a narrow SD like that there are fewer outliers. Maybe Abreu is one of them but even if he's 1 SD or even 1.5 SD from the average player that spread isn't very far, so he's not that much worse than the average guy. I'd say the biggest difference in ability will come with arm strength and accuracy. IMO, that's where the cream gets separated, but again the spread is probably is not that big. Now about IF v. OF. By the time the ball gets to the OF it's a hit or its caught. Most of the time its routine one way or the other. Sometimes a guy will have to go to the gap or head toward the wall to make a play, but that might happen 1 or 2 times a fortnight. Most of the time whatever damage was done was decided by the time the ball left the IF. The IF is different, however, guys who cannot cut it don't stay there long or they get moved to 1st. So again the spread is pretty narrow. The difference comes in as ability to get to a ball, knock a ball down, or dive substantially changes the outcome of a batted ball. That's not going to happen in the OF.

Whomever those some are, are drunken idiots. He's a friggen OFer. Is outfield defense not that important now? Yes. Of course not. but the frequency of chances is a lot less than in the IF and the opportunities to make plays that others wouldn't is pretty significantly reduced. Said another way, Bradley (or any other corner OF this side of Carl Crawford) isn't going to be making significantly more plays than Abreu. It's a distinction without a meaningful difference. Defense is the new OBP. Except the OBP thing was really important and the defensive stuff is just nonsense (with notable exceptions on both sides of the curve). We've all been through this before I'm not going through it again.

Whomever those some are, are drunken idiots. He's a friggen OFer. He's not the guy he once was and Bradley is by far the better player though.

It could mean that he uses the HBP like some guys use a walk. Begeio and Baylor just stood there and let the ball hit them. seems like a good strategy to me. I'm not confident that he'll learn patience (if can actually happen) in the Cubs system. It doesn't seem to have much value.

Maybe more if JH comes to his senses and trades for him next year.

Joe Borowski says hello :wave: from steroids-made-me-millions-land. The dude was out of baseball and pitching in Mexico when he magically found 10 mph on his fastball at age of 29. Edit: According to bbreference he's made $13,000,000 during his career. Yep, I would do steroids too if at age 37 I would have made that much money.

Good pickup for the Nats. I'm sure they are going to get a bargain for his level of production. I kind of feel sorry for Dunn, but then again he's a multi-millionaire playing a game I would for free.