CubinNY

Santo is in post orgasmic bliss. "what a beautiful day. What a beautiful game"

Angel's never thrown a ton of innings in his career. Part of his job as a starter is to give a good amount of innings. Also, he's thrown the ball well in limited innings. Where has the problem been? The bullpen, where he's being sent, so this could be a help to the team is Marshall (I'm guessing) continues on this solid year. The lack of logic is stunning, simply stunning. Starting pitching = Strenght Bulpen percieved weakness (not necessarily a valid reflection of reality) Remove starting pitchers weakens the starters. The starters are weakened the bullpen gets more work. When a bullpen works too much it gets weaker. A bullpen is used to help preserve vicotory. It's hard when there is nothing to preserve. Marshall is not a good bet to be a decent 5th starter, neither is Miller. I find you making a few of assumptions along with your logic. Guzman has pitched well as a starter, but if he can't consistently go deep into the game, he is not helping his bullpen. Also, Marshall vs. Guzman isn't as clearcut as you make it out to be. Sure, we can all break out our jump to conclusions mats after 3 starts, but look at their historic major league and minor league performances and consider who also would be more suited in the bullpen. It's really not hard. Why not take Z and make him a middle reliever then? Marshall is not good and comming off an injury. Wade Miller looks to be almost finished. After that the next legit starters are in AA and A ball. When you take from a strength it makes it a weaker. Ok, first off. Zambrano career 129 ERA+ Second off, you maintain the assumption that there is going to be a huge dropoff from Guzman to Marshall, the same as Zambrano to Marshall based on your argument. Aside from the most recent limited major league action from Guzman, there is nothing to indicate this to be a continuing trend. Guzman can help in the bullpen, Marshall cannot. This is about allocation of resources. It's really not that hard. Does the pen need help or is Lou overreacting after a tough loss? Or has Lou mismanged the pen making it look worse than it would otherwise be the case? But all that is entirely beside the point. It's just plain dumb to take a starter out of the rotation to put him in the bullpen. Just dumb. Why can't Marshall help the pen? What are you going to do when Miller comes up instead of Marshall?

DLEE!!!!111!!!1!!!!!!!!111 Santo just pissed himself.

Angel's never thrown a ton of innings in his career. Part of his job as a starter is to give a good amount of innings. Also, he's thrown the ball well in limited innings. Where has the problem been? The bullpen, where he's being sent, so this could be a help to the team is Marshall (I'm guessing) continues on this solid year. The lack of logic is stunning, simply stunning. Starting pitching = Strenght Bulpen percieved weakness (not necessarily a valid reflection of reality) Remove starting pitchers weakens the starters. The starters are weakened the bullpen gets more work. When a bullpen works too much it gets weaker. A bullpen is used to help preserve vicotory. It's hard when there is nothing to preserve. Marshall is not a good bet to be a decent 5th starter, neither is Miller. I find you making a few of assumptions along with your logic. Guzman has pitched well as a starter, but if he can't consistently go deep into the game, he is not helping his bullpen. Also, Marshall vs. Guzman isn't as clearcut as you make it out to be. Sure, we can all break out our jump to conclusions mats after 3 starts, but look at their historic major league and minor league performances and consider who also would be more suited in the bullpen. It's really not hard. Why not take Z and make him a middle reliever then? Marshall is not good and comming off an injury. Wade Miller looks to be almost finished. After that the next legit starters are in AA and A ball. When you take from a strength it makes it a weaker.

Marshall isn't going to do better than Angel, and is more likely to do worse, while Angel isn't going to get consistent work out of the pen if Piniella continues to use the pen like he has. This isn't a hard concept. What is seemingly hard concept is that we need someone who doesn't suck in the bullpen. Our 5th starter need not be lights out. Guzman has the hard stuff to succeed in the bullpen. If we're not going to make a trade soon, why not give it a shot? Yes, games don't count on Sunday.

This is why Guzman is going to the pen. The rotation is not the problem. that was my thinking when i suggested it a few days ago. i got verbally stoned for the suggestion. The rotation will be the problem when they trot out tomato cans once every 5 days. Then the bullpen will become taxed and people will begin to bitch about the starters. THE RIOT!

Angel's never thrown a ton of innings in his career. Part of his job as a starter is to give a good amount of innings. Also, he's thrown the ball well in limited innings. Where has the problem been? The bullpen, where he's being sent, so this could be a help to the team is Marshall (I'm guessing) continues on this solid year. The lack of logic is stunning, simply stunning. Starting pitching = Strenght Bulpen percieved weakness (not necessarily a valid reflection of reality) Remove starting pitchers weakens the starters. The starters are weakened the bullpen gets more work. When a bullpen works too much it gets weaker. A bullpen is used to help preserve vicotory. It's hard when there is nothing to preserve. Marshall is not a good bet to be a decent 5th starter, neither is Miller.

Wrong

That's not even close to the hole story. Team A could have a high SD but also have a high M. Team B could have a hight SD but have a lower M. Team A is the Mets M= 5.3 Team B is the Cubs M = 4.7 Then you have to factor in runs allowed.

The Cubs never diasapoint do they? Of all the stupid things to do. IF they put Guzman in the pen he will be there for the duration of the year. Then they will trott out three or four fifth starters for the rest of the season. They are beyond beyond.

I love it. How does Kevin measure talent? Translation: The entire draft is a highly speculative system with no sure-fire way to tell who is the better pick when looking at a small class of elite prospects. All things being equal, I'd take the guy who will cost less in such situatations.

Any reason given for why the changes coming had to wait until Monday, and not be enacted today? Could they be working a trade or two, and they don't expect them to be complete until Monday? I'm guessing this is part of it. Lou asked Hendry to make some changes and Hendry asked for the weekend to negotiate. Anyone else here think Dempster won't be getting the call anymore in save situations? I hope he's considering Wuertz for the job. I bet Cotts is on the short list to go down since he still has options as well. Dempster has done pretty well. I have no idea what is going to happen. Erye has been bad and came to camp out of shape (I think). I'm guessing he's gone. The problem is that the bullpen is a secondary problem and becuase of the timing of the troubles it is getting all the bame. Like I said before the season started, Hendry gave Lou a chess set with too many pawns and not enough knights and expects him to win.

Lou is putting his fingers in the [expletive]. Soon he'll be out of fingers too. I have to give him credit, he's trying.

If the Cubs sweep, I'll donate $10 for someone to have premium for two months, but the person then has to pony up the dough for the next 10 months.

I'm sure you now walking and hitting go hand in hand unless you're a small class of player like Vlad or Ichiro. When Eric was in Memphis he was swinging at everything in sight. Hopefully he is making the connection.

I would not want to be on the airplane sitting next to Lou.

Soriano and Lee are not in the prime of their careers.

penultimate means second to last. Are you saying Erstad's "deke" was the second to worst one you've ever seen?

Bullpens are always a crapshoot, always. IMO, Larry hasn't done a good job with anyone during his tenure. Z didn't just wake up one day with bad mechanics. Its a progression of successive approximations to what we see today. Larry should have seen it a long time ago. Mazzoni talks about body language, Larry doesn't speak that language. He's presided over the downfall of two of the most promising pitchers of this generation. He's been flat out terrible. Jason Marquis be damned. [/b]

I didn't see the game, but the brief highlights I saw of Z pitching he was comming straight over the top in almost an exaggerated motion. I've also not seen the drop in velocity. What did the gun have him at?

I hope so. I wish I could watch this game. I'd love to see Hill pitch to a great hitting team. [Obvious color commentator comment] The key will be keeping the ball in the ballpark and walks of course.[/Obvious color commentator comment]

I dont know what the point really would be of hitting him 2. I guess it would help a little , but I think 4 or 5 would be a better fit. This is something that should have been done a long time ago. Like in Spring Training.

I don't like any of them. The thing about those parks is that it is virtually impossible to get any air circulating. Yankee stadium is one of the worst venues to watch a game. It's a stagnant sesspool in the summer. At least Shea breaths. All those stadiums suck for fans. Give me a ball park that breaths.

I didn't watch the game, but I totally agree with your assessment of Zambrano. I'm not usually a "get into the head" type of guy. But you can almost see it happen with Z. He gets pissed gets the ball back from the catcher and slings it in there. He usually does this type of stuff for the better part of an inning after something bad happens. He loses all focus. If I were Lou I would tell Barrett to talk to Z every time something bad happens, if for no other reason then to slow him down a bit.

2006 was last year. 2005 was the year before last year. This year is 2007 I didn't include organizations that win close to 100 games and make the playoffs each year. It's clearly stupid to include division winners and WS contenders year in and year out with the likes of the Cubs. The Cubs were not about in the middle of the pack. They finished LAST and spent the MOST to do so. Why do you continue defend the Cubs at every turn? And yes, I'd put the Blackhawks at the very top of the bottom of sports franchises.