CubinNY

Oh but they want him to start, though.

And what do you know. Somebody took some pitches. Who is that Red headed kid?

Every other sentence starts, "I'll tell you what" And he loves his own voice. He's the worst.

Nice AB by Aramis. Vargas is nothing special. I haven't seen a plus pitch yet.

Z looks good. The walk to Uggla killed there. Nothing you can do when I right hander pulls a low and away slider out to left. 9 times out of 10 that is a weak grounder.

Nah, Murton is gonna torch this guy. I agree. He might go 1-1 with 3 BBs and 3 RBI

It's baseball 101. Young pitchers Pitchers you haven't seen Lefties You take a ptich or two unless it is in the kill zone If you have all three of those wrapped up in one player you take a few. What do the Cubs do? Swing at pitch 2, 4, 6, 7, and 9.

Take some pitches here And Slappy flails away at the 2nd pitch.

he left it over the middle of the plate. it was not a good pitch, at all. It was in the zone but low and away, nowhere near the middle of the plate.

That wasn't that bad of a pitch to Caberra. Sometimes you have to tip your cap. --------- Does anyone think the WBC has affected Z? I don't have any opinon, just asking.

Tony Womack got DFA today.

This is a big game for Z and the Cubs. They need to take care of this AAAA team.

Wholy Lyle Lovitt, Batman!

You are correct. It also means the player can't play anywhere else either. I have no idea if what I am about to tell you is true or not. But I played with a guy in a 30 and over league a couple of years ago who was a catching prospect with the Cubs during the Wilkens, Berryhill, Girardi era. Supposedly, he was ahead of both Wilkens and Berryhill in terms of talent and was the starting catcher in Iowa. He said the Cubs drafted Girardi and pushed him through the system. Anyway, when Joe was ready they put him in AAA and made him the starter. They guy I played with (his first name was Scott) got pissed and asked for his release. The Cubs wouldn't give it to him. So like an idiot he quit. Well, he had just signed a two year contract. The Cubs put him on the restricted list. By the time his contract was up he was done in professional baseball. If one is around a lot of minor league ballplayers one hears these stories all the time. But appearently this dude was a stud. He was the best 36 year old catcher I've ever seen. You could probably contact someone in Media Relations with the Iowa Cubs and request stats and/or a roster for the 1988 and 1989 teams. Girardi was with Iowa in 1989. Not to hijack the thread, but are you still playing in the amateur league? Since we moved to NY I haven't played (3 years). But we are moving to Memphis and they have a MSBL league I might play if my shoulder will let me.

I got a chuckle out of that one Jon. Thanks.

You are correct. It also means the player can't play anywhere else either. I have no idea if what I am about to tell you is true or not. But I played with a guy in a 30 and over league a couple of years ago who was a catching prospect with the Cubs during the Wilkens, Berryhill, Girardi era. Supposedly, he was ahead of both Wilkens and Berryhill in terms of talent and was the starting catcher in Iowa. He said the Cubs drafted Girardi and pushed him through the system. Anyway, when Joe was ready they put him in AAA and made him the starter. They guy I played with (his first name was Scott) got pissed and asked for his release. The Cubs wouldn't give it to him. So like an idiot he quit. Well, he had just signed a two year contract. The Cubs put him on the restricted list. By the time his contract was up he was done in professional baseball. If one is around a lot of minor league ballplayers one hears these stories all the time. But appearently this dude was a stud. He was the best 36 year old catcher I've ever seen.

So what happens when the Yankees or Sawx offer him 18? They already have. Do you think Clemens has some loyalty to the Astros? If so, where does that notion come from?

Well, Andy said a team could never have enough pitching.

Everyone can call me crazy if they want to, but I'd wait and see if Wood can be healthy and productive before writing him off. I know the arm troubles have caused everyone frustration, but when he is healthy he is among the best pitchers in the game. I'd hate to see him finally get everything worked out and go on to success with another team.

Won't happen, unless Drayton seriously low balls him. And what makes the yankees any closer to winning a WS than the astros with the addition of Clemens? That one is pretty easy Damon, Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui, Sheffield, and Cano. Musina, Johnson, Clemens > Oswalt, Pettitte, Clemens

That's the point. I don't think LaRussa thought Maddux was scuffing the ball either. He was trying some silly little league poor sportsmanship stuff. It looked to me a little like the ump gave Maddux a little larger strike zone on the next two pitches too. And Maddux continuted to pound on them like a rented mule.

Well then, if Cedeno was so "obviously" playing him to pull in such a sever manner, shouldn't Walker have been playing virtually up the middle? I guess that depends on what the spray charts say. Also, I don't remember Baker ever saying "walks are overrated". Does anyone have a link? Maybe I missed it. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2669 I really hate those qoutes. It depresses me everytime I read them.

I don't think the Cardinals get anymore calls then the Cubs do. That is just nonsense, quite frankly. Howerver, that has nothing to do with what LaRussa did. I don't think it is standard operating porcedure in baseball either. Usually when this thing happens they find something incriminating on the guy, ala Cybil Tavaras. What LaRussa did was just poor sportsmanship. He appears to be a very petty human being.

You compared their career path, which insinuates comparing them at similar ages. Lofton is going to be out of baseball in a year or two. You can't compare Pierre now with Lofton now. I think they will have a similar career paths. I think Pierre will get a three year deal from someone that gets him to 33 or 34. Lofton played with two teams until the age of 34. After 34 he has bounced around because of his speed. I could see that happening with Pierre too. And it says nothing about their skills sets except for footspeed. Pierre now is not as good as Lofton was at his age. Of that there is little doubt. But the one thing they have in common is their foot speed. Lots of players with who can run have similar career paths.

Nobody was comparing their skill sets at the same age, at least I wasn't.