CubinNY

I haven't read the entire thread, but isn't Stone good friends with McDonough? Weren't they seen having dinner together last week. Would he make Stone the GM? The thought frieghtens me.

Mostly the voices in Al Yellon's head.

cosign. I wouldn't say he didn't spend enough time in the minors, he had almost 1300 AB from 1999-2001. He probably needed to finish 2001 at AAA instead of playing with the Cubs, and that may have delayed his development somewhat. The fact is, his 2003 and 2004 seasons, where he contributed 3.2 and 5.2 WARP3 would fit in very well now if he was still with the team - had Dusty NOT tried to fit a round hole into a square peg with Corey as the leadoff hitter. Corey's freefall under Baker and Co. in 2005 was compounded even more by fan abuse. Suffice to say, Baker did not put Corey in a position to be a useful player on the team nor to take advantage of his rarer skillset. IMO, you missed the point of wastra's post. And missed it entirely. the number of ABS are not that important. What is important is the BA/OBP/SLG/OPS numbers. He was drafted in 1998. In 1999 he had 475 ABs in low A and put up good numbers (.320/.358/.592 /.950). Not hard in low A for talented players In 2000 he had 444 ABs in AA and put up mediocre numbers (.261/.338/.491/.829) and was brought up to the majors as a Septemeber call up. In 2001 he had 386 ABs in AAA and put up terrible numbers (.253/.308/.387/.695). In 59 games and 131 ABs in the bigs he put up even worse numbers (.221/.266/.336/.602) In 2002 he played full time for the big club. Patterson was rushed through the minors. It is my opinon that he never should have been promoted to AAA in 2001 and certianly shouldn't have been sloted for the starting spot with the numbers he put up in AAA and in his breif stint in the majors. B/c the Cubs value tools over all else he was. No one knows what Patterson might have become if he was given time to develop whatever skills he had in the minors.

The Yankees don't care about OBP. I would also like to add you don't score a walk you score a run, or something like that.

cosign.

Kevin Goldstein just did an article on BP where he put Gallagher in the same five man group as Homer Bailey, Scott Elbert, Yovani Gallardo, and Phillip Hughes. He does conceed that Gallagher is a step behind those guys, but the mere fact he can be mentioned in the same group means you're underestimating him a bit. That being said, "baseball men" don't seem to value Gallagher all that much, despite the results he continues to get. His stuff is obviously better than Yusmeiro Petit's was... but he seems to get lumped in his class, for better or worse. Gallagher has very little value in a trade, and can't be the centerpiece of a deal for an elite talent. Considering his status in the eyes of GMs with his actual potential to produce, it's sheer folly to even suggest he be included in any trades. We'd be selling him for fifty cents on the dollar. Gallagher completely dominated his competiton at two levels. He did suffer from control problems at times, but he was a man amongst boys for most of the season. I also think he was young for AA.

B/C it's far easier to fill in 3 holes than 4. Everyone needs starting pitching. If you can't make the playoffs with a rotation of Z/Hill/?/?/?, then you're definitely not making it with a rotation of Z/?/?/?/?, especially when the bulk of those unknowns are going to be filled in with Free Agents. Our rotation is barren, especially if Prior and Miller don't make their starts. Why make the problem worse by trading away a potential #2 making the league minimum? Crawford doesn't win you more games in CF than Hill does in the rotation (over their expected replacements). Rotation depth gets you to the playoffs in the absence of a great offense (Crawford doesn't give us that). We need more SP, not less. Next to abuck I've been one of Hill's biggest supporters here. However, counting on him to be a top of the rotation starter next year is courting disaster. I don't know if I'd trade Hill for Crawford, but I think it would be a fair trade. Next year Hill will be 27 and making his first full season in the majors. He's probably got about 4 or 5 years of career prime. Crawford is almost a year and a half younger that Hill and will likely be a top outfielder for 7 to 10 years. Plus he is cheap. Getting him fills one hole and affords the Cubs any number of options including, Packaging Pie for young top of the rotation starter or spend big bucks on a top free agent starter.

If Aramis leaves, then they should back the truck up and sell, sell, sell. Not becuase Aramis is that good but becuase he's all the Cubs have besides Lee and third base is a terribly hard position to fill. As I wrote in another thread. Losing Aramis would set off a cascade of bad trades. This is just one example. Is 3B really that hard of a position to fill these days? Great 3B aren't really all that rare anymore. Even with down years from some of the established (but still pretty young) 3B's around the league, there were still 13 guys that both had enough AB's to qualify for the batting title and also posted at least an .800 OPS. There were nine that posted at least an .850 OPS. And those lists excludes guys like Chavez, Tracy, Mora & Blalock. There's a whole bunch of young players on the list like Cabrera, Atkins, Wright & Zimmerman. There are a number of 3B studs in the minors like Gordon & Stewart. Third is almost becoming easier to fill with an offensive player than first base. Are any of those players on the market? And what would it take to acquire one? Third base is not an easy position to fill unless you have an in-house candidate, like the Cubs.

Are you kidding? Crawford would be fixture for the better part of decade. At 25 he's already one of the top outfielders in the game. There is no guarentee that Pie will make it. And he'd have to go a long way to make to the level that Crawford is at already. Crawford is the proverbeal 5-tool player. If Pie does make it the Cubs can move Crawford to either corner position.

Holy snikes. If Crawford is going to be available I'd give up any two of Hill, Marshall, Pie, Pawelek, Gallagher, or Veal. The Cubs could put Crawford in either LF or RF if/when Pie is ready. I'm not ready to hold any position for Pie, yet.

I like Kirk too, he knows his stuff. Seems like the only people that don't like Kirk are OSU fans who don't like that he isn't a homer. Indeed. Herbie is a first class talent. He use to get harrassed all the time by the local knuckleheads in Columbus when I lived there. I think if he wasn't an OSU alum the radio station would have fired him a long time ago. They fired his co-host in 1999 for giving "it" to one of the callers/listeners and then going off on a 5 minute tirade on what idiots/uninformed most of the listening audience was. Then shortly afterwords they hired Neanderthal Chris Speilman to do the show right before Herbie's. And its all Buckeyes all the time. Really? I knew OSU fans got upset sometimes because he isn't a blind homer, but I still would have thought he was somewhat of a hero out there. The deal about his co-host sounds pretty good though, I wish I could hear it. So many of the people who call into sports talk radio are just clueless. I guess one just has to live in Columbus. It's smack dab in the middle of the state with the only pro sports franchize within a three hour driving distance being the NHL Blue Jackets. A good majority of the people have never lived anywhere else and good minority of the people are OSU grads who have hung around. They eat, sleep, and drink Buckeye sports. I've never seen a place so obsessed with the local university and I grew up 8 miles north of the Golden Dome. The athletes at OSU are treated like demi-gods and Woody Hayes is god. Don't get me wrong, I got a first class education at OSU and wouldn't trade it for anything. However, while my car was parked in an OSU lot it was worked over pretty good ($4,000 worth of damage) by a drunk with a fire extinguisher. After knocking out all my windows and denting as much of the body as he could he set off the fire extinguisher in my car. His finger prints were all over my car in the dust. When I called the cops (OSU cops) he walked around my car looked at my liscence plate and shook his head. I asked him if he was going to take prints. He said "Naw. You know you are from Michigan don't you?" Well the idiot was later caught trying to break into the chemistry building. Of course he was covered in dust. So they asked him if he did the job on my car and he said yes, becuase I was from Michigan. I know becuase I obtained the police report. Some good came of it though. It's one of the reasons why I started dating my wife. She offered to drive me around while my car was in the shop. A Buckeye is a poisonenous nut!

ha :D

I like Kirk too, he knows his stuff. Seems like the only people that don't like Kirk are OSU fans who don't like that he isn't a homer. Indeed. Herbie is a first class talent. He use to get harrassed all the time by the local knuckleheads in Columbus when I lived there. I think if he wasn't an OSU alum the radio station would have fired him a long time ago. They fired his co-host in 1999 for giving "it" to one of the callers/listeners and then going off on a 5 minute tirade on what idiots/uninformed most of the listening audience was. Then shortly afterwords they hired Neanderthal Chris Speilman to do the show right before Herbie's. And its all Buckeyes all the time.

Memphis plays Tennessee in Memphis at 11:00 am local time. 9 am tailgate is a little early for beer, but I think we might do some bloody Mary's and scrambled eggs. Last week the Coach fired his defensive coordinator after he (as offensive coordinator) contributed to 5 INTs. This one should be over by half-time. We'll see.

If Aramis leaves, then they should back the truck up and sell, sell, sell. Not becuase Aramis is that good but becuase he's all the Cubs have besides Lee and third base is a terribly hard position to fill. As I wrote in another thread. Losing Aramis would set off a cascade of bad trades. This is just one example.

Two bad things would come from that deal 1. The Cubs would get much older and more expensive But worse, 2. The Cubs would be much worse The Cubs simply cannot let Rameriz walk.

Morgan should win this one going away.

Obviously we don't know the story. However, if I were Prior I'd be seriously upest witht the Cubs front office. He's been mishandled, suffered from freakish injuries, and then got seriously ill during the offseason. And then the Cubs insinuated that he is "soft". All this in his first three years of full time big league pitching. Maybe the Cubs are cursed. But the curse has nothing do with the starts, billygoats, or black cats. It has to do with a piss poor organization.

Who says he doesn't have to? He does. Aramis is more important to the Cubs than any other team I can think of. If he is gone they will have one legitmate power hitter in the line up. Add in the fact that they will also have to replace a position in which there isn't a whole lot of talent avaliable. Losing Aramis could set up a cascade of bad trades in an effort to replace him. Aramis has to be resigned even if it costs the Cubs. Aramis deserves a big contract.

Wow this is an early game.

http://www.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/sts15103.asp?navbar=hw232188 I wouldn't play football again, but that is me. Accroding to webmd "The spleen is a useful but nonessential organ." Whatever that means. Paging Dr. Cub, Dr. Cub.

There probably are any number of managers that would manage exactly the way Baker has. After all Baker played The Game and is a baseball lifer, that seems to be a prerequisit for the position. But truely, I don't think a manager matters that much, maybe a handfull of wins over the course of the season. If a team is close it matter much more. I think Girardi managed the Marlins out of the playoffs, for example. Baker is/was bad, but I don't think he could have got much more out that assembled team then he got. It was bad at the end of 05 and was worse at the start of Spring Training. From what I've ssen of Girardi, I don't want him managing the Cubs next year. Nevertheless, until the front office decides that their philosophy de jour is not the right one it could be a while until the Cubs are in contention. As always I hope for the best. Sometimes things just break right.

On paper at least, I think your analysis is good. Most good teams get better as the season progresses. I expect ND will be better and they have some cream puffs on the schedule (on paper) going into the USC game. I think WVA will mop up the Big East, but let's face it, that doesn't mean they deserve to be in the title game. But then again, that's what makes college football so interesting and frustrating at the same time.

I so wanted Nomar back this year.

Both Ohio State and Michigan could lose this week. Minnesota always plays Michigan tough in the Dome and Iowa at home should make the game interesting. Go IUPUI er', I mean Perdue!