CubinNY

And something from a local paper: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/epaper/2008/04/03/a1c_fau_0403.html?cxntlid=inform_sr It sounds like he'd be a great dead ball era player.

I like how you put up Big Z's hitting numbers. Hell, put him at DH in the interleague games.

CUBS are actually 3 games below .500 on the road (10-13), but your point is well taken, just the same. Right. The Cubs have done exactly what a good team is supposed to do, beat up on the bad teams. For the first time in my life I have faith in this team. They are going to keep winning.

210-147 career record 154 saves 127 ERA+ (that puts him in the top 50 all-time) 1.17 WHIP 7.98 K/9 (23rd all time) 3011 career strikeouts (16th all time) One Cy Young award If you think his numbers are borderline HoF, ok. However, when you factor in his postseason numbers, (15-4, four saves, 2.65 ERA in 207 IP), I think he definitely gets in. The thing that will help Smoltz is the 200 wins and 150 saves, only Eckersley has similar numbers (20 win season and a 50 save season) and he's in the HOF.

Those stupid Cubs. They're so dumb, putting together the best team in baseball and winning all the time. Hendry and Lou should be fired. Demoting Pie and signing and playing Edmonds has nothing to do with the Cubs winning. But, if it makes you happy...

Edmonds is done. Done Done Done On top of that, Pie may lose another 1/2 season of "seasoning". However, the Cubs may just be good enough to overcome the ridiculous decisions they some times make.

I think the wife and I will travel to Jackson to see Jeff pitch. Hopefully the team will look better than they did when I saw them in Montgomery. I'll give my very ammeter scouting report.

There was an excellent fluff piece in the Sunday NY Times about Pedro Alverez. The kid sure does seem to have a good head on his shoulders.

Felix Pie.

Dunedin...high-A affiliate for the Blue Jays. Isn't this his 3rd FSL All-Star Game appearance? If so, that is a pretty dubious honor.

It's a standard deviation artifact.

I think it's absolutely a sure thing he gets in. What isn't a sure thing is whether it's on the first ballot.No way. He doesn't have the numbers and baseball writers have an extremely long memory. See Santo, Ron. W L ERA 200+ IP 216 146 3.46 9 The only thing he's done that is HOF worthy is keep the walks and HRs (for the most par) down. I'd love to hear Bruce Miles opinion on this. sportswriters love postseason success. they think that's very important. Year Round Tm Opp WLser G GS ERA W L SV CG IP H ER BB SO +------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+ 1993 NLCS PHI ATL W 2 2 1.69 0 0 0 0 16 11 3 5 19 WS PHI TOR L 2 2 3.52 1 1 0 1 15.1 13 6 5 9 2001 NLDS ARI STL W 2 2 0.50 2 0 0 2 18 9 1 2 18 NLCS ARI ATL W 1 1 1.00 1 0 0 1 9 4 1 2 12 WS ARI NYY W 3 3 1.69 1 0 0 0 21.1 12 4 2 26 2002 NLDS ARI STL L 1 1 1.29 0 0 0 0 7 7 1 1 7 2004 ALDS BOS ANA W 1 1 2.70 1 0 0 0 6.2 9 2 2 4 ALCS BOS NYY W 2 2 6.30 1 1 0 0 10 10 7 2 5 WS BOS STL W 1 1 0.00 1 0 0 0 6 4 0 1 4 2007 ALDS BOS LAA W 1 1 0.00 1 0 0 0 7 6 0 1 4 ALCS BOS CLE W 2 2 5.40 1 0 0 0 11.2 15 7 0 8 WS BOS COL W 1 1 1.69 1 0 0 0 5.1 4 1 2 4 +------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+ 4 Lg Div Series 3-1 5 5 0.93 4 0 0 2 38.2 31 4 6 33 4 Lg Champ Series 4-0 7 7 3.47 3 1 0 1 46.2 40 18 9 44 4 World Series 3-1 7 7 2.06 4 1 0 1 48 33 11 10 43 12 Postseason Ser 10-2 19 19 2.23 11 2 0 4 133.1 104 33 25 120 +--------------------+-----+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+ The post season won't matter with his record in the regular season and his attitude. If he gets in it will be several years down the road.

I'd be all over that like white on rice. It probably won't happen though. I think the Cubs are happy with Soriano. Omar will fire Willie before he will trade Beltran.

The Count is way better looking than Harang. Way better.

I think it's absolutely a sure thing he gets in. What isn't a sure thing is whether it's on the first ballot.No way. He doesn't have the numbers and baseball writers have an extremely long memory. See Santo, Ron. W L ERA 200+ IP 216 146 3.46 9 The only thing he's done that is HOF worthy is keep the walks and HRs (for the most par) down. I'd love to hear Bruce Miles opinion on this.

Well, minor league records don't matter, so it shouldn't be how anybody rates a minor league manager. But aren't the Tenn Smokies the Cubs AA team? How do they have "a lot of talent"? Fox Craig Colvin Samardzija Holliman Veal Clevenger There are a lot of high round draft picks there. I think one has to measure talent by the level of competition.

I'm not much of a college basketball fan so I cannot comment on the Coleman Beasley thing, however low graduation rates are somewhat of a red herring. When I was at OSU the graduation rate (within 4 years) for ALL undergrads averaged around 35%-45%. At most of these big schools graduation rates for all undergraduates is pretty poor. Graduation rates are always going to be worse because many times the athletes come to college unprepared to succeed at college. I know some of the people who work with the athletes at the University of Memphis, and they are working hard with the athletes even before the athletes formally take classes. I think it is a bit unfair to make blanket statements about programs. But it's not unfair to pick on the outliers, which, I believe Huggins' programs have always been. I don't disagree, but I'd like to know what the overall graduation rate at Cin. was when Huggins was there. Rose is a good kid and has worked hard in school even though everyone knew he was only staying for one year. If I'm the Bulls, I draft him.

Schilling might get in but it is no sure thing. He's been a dick to the baseball writers for most of his entire career. Also, his peers don't much care for him either. If Pedro, Johnson, Maddux, Glavin, and Piazza (already retired) all retire after this year, it will be one helluva class. Bagwell and Bigeo (sp?) better hope they get in on the first ballot or it may be a few years before they get in. Sosa and Clemens may have to wait a long time too. It will be real interesting to see how the baseball writers handle the steroid era.

I'm not much of a college basketball fan so I cannot comment on the Coleman Beasley thing, however low graduation rates are somewhat of a red herring. When I was at OSU the graduation rate (within 4 years) for ALL undergrads averaged around 35%-45%. At most of these big schools graduation rates for all undergraduates is pretty poor. Graduation rates are always going to be worse because many times the athletes come to college unprepared to succeed at college. I know some of the people who work with the athletes at the University of Memphis, and they are working hard with the athletes even before the athletes formally take classes. I think it is a bit unfair to make blanket statements about programs.

I mentioned this is my useless scouting report of the Smokies, but they don't look good. It's hard for me to describe, but they just don't look like a good team. They don't have that, I don't know what to call it, but whatever it is they ain't got it. However, they seem to have a lot of talent on the team. My question to the experts is this: How much does a minor league coach affect winning? Is it the same as a major league manager or is the manger in the minors more important? Do minor league managers ever get fired/promoted during the season? Who is Buddy Bailey?

It's not one season, it's his entire HS career (not weak, but not 1st round status either). He impressed in a couple of showcase game and the scouts went ga-ga. The Cubs drafted him, then he held out for the big signing bonus and didn't play baseball for an entire summer. He comes back from the long lay off and all of the sudden his swing doesn't look so sweat. And now he's hurt. I think we all want the Cubs prospects to be lights out good.

You are weird. i was going to say something about it, and then i saw the his slg is all the way down to 431. i wouldn't say that i'm "not at all impressed," but he really needs to start hitting for some power. I'll amend my statement to say what tree said. Maybe if Lou batted him higher in the order like he should it would make things better for me. He's in a run producing position in the order. I'll agree with this. As far as I'm concerned he's been very impressive, they're just batting him in the wrong spot. Hey Roast, I'm about 2 blocks south of you at the Chicago Hilton. I passed by Columbia college and almost bought a shirt.

You are weird. i was going to say something about it, and then i saw the his slg is all the way down to 431. i wouldn't say that i'm "not at all impressed," but he really needs to start hitting for some power. I'll amend my statement to say what tree said. Maybe if Lou batted him higher in the order like he should it would make things better for me. He's in a run producing position in the order.

The Cubs are for real. However, they are a good team, not a great team (great meaning over 90 wins). To be great they will need to get better production out of CF. Also, I'm not at all impressed with Fukudome. The pitching staff will be fine once they drop Marquis and Put Hill back where he belongs.

I'll be on the road again for this game. Listening to Milo Hamilton makes my brain hurt. Every thing that goes wrong for the Astros is an "almost" and everything the Cubs do well is an "almost" Astros: "If Derrek Lee was on inch shorter he doesn't come up with that hard line drive." Cubs: "If Soto didn't foul off that last pitch he would have struck out." Also, he hates Harry Carey. What a dick.