CubinNY

From the Cubs.com article I'd say that is pretty contriversial. I wonder what Dusty will say to him, because one of them isn't being truthfull.

What did Neifi say, I missed it?

Walker sure doesn't know when to keep his head down and mouth quiet. I don't know maybe he doesn't feel like he should have to compete for a job. I can't say I blame him. But I wouldn't talk like that. I still think he doesn't make it out of Arizona as a Cub.

That's a little extreme, I think. Bad calls happen all the time, and not because of some grand conspiracy. I'm more apt to chalk this one up to natural human fallability than premeditated malice. I don't disagree. It is just a shame that it happened. The strike zone was all over the place all day and if they cover the bag on Wells bunt, it is on to extra innings. Often perception is reality in these instances.

Innocent mistake or not. This smacks of homerism.

why? USA would of won 5-4 if we assume everything went the same way. No one knows what would have happened if that call is not overturned. I hope the umps sleep well tonight

Boo! The Japanese got ripped off!

I Love Pat and Ron

I agree completely. Good luck convincing the baseball "men" who played "the game" and the wannabe Sox clones on that one though. Even so, I think given Patterson's struggles with the Cubs, they had to let him go. Now the choice is/was; is Pierre the best option? I think that depends on who was available. I would have been happy to get Wilkerson or someone else instead of Pierre, but we will never know what could have been. We just have to hope that Pierre performs to career norms with regard to OBP. What worries me more is that the Cubs haven't got another run producer. I am as big a fan of Murton as anyone but thus far he has not shown he can hit for much power save the short stint he had with the club at the end of the season last year. I reallly don't expect much out of Jones and we know Pierre isn't going to hit for power. That puts termendus pressure on Aramis, Lee, and Barrett (not really a run producer either). I still think the Cubs will struggle to score runs on a consistent basis.

I love this. This is the crux of the stats vs. convential wisdom arguement. CW: Hey you showed me some data that proves your point but I don't like it. So it proves nothing. ST: But the numbers don't lie. CW: So what? I don't like them so you can stop using them. I'll keep my uninformed opinion thank you.

The Cubs are easing Prior into the mix to avoid the elbow problems that sidelined him the previous two springs. year A - He has problems in ST. year B - He has problems in ST. year C - He comes to ST after being very sick over the winter so he may be behind in conditioning. Wouldn't it be the responsible thing to do something different than year A & B??? Not necessarily. If someone is injured early in ST for two years and the Cubs and the pitcher don't do anything different mechanically when the person gets to a certain point of pitches or stress on the elbow then the injury will reoccur. It doesn't matter, it only pushes back the time when the injury will occur. Now I have no idea if they are doing something different or not, other than not expose him to game situations. Supposedly Prior was sick well before spring training. I cannot fathom how being sick in January or December would impact his conditioning in mid Feb and March to the extent that he is just now pitching. Those Rothchild quotes really bother me. If there is nothing wrong why is he just now begining to throw breaking balls? Why is he velocity down? Why do they say we'll see how he comes through it if all he needs is extra conditioning time?

Well written. Most of the players are jack-asses anyway. Mike Schmidt said he would never vote for a person on the vetran's ballot b/c they weren't good enough the first time. What kind of logic is that? Most of the sportswriters feel like they are some type of gatekeeper. BS is what I say.

It will also ruin the 6K I was planning on spending after collecting it in vegas after the WS.

Good. I think if they are going to do this thing they should do it right. If it is in the best interests of baseball to have this thing every 4 years they should shorten the season by the requisit number of games and have the thing in the middle of the season with ALL THE BEST PLAYERS representing their country and the starting pitchers going without a pitch count. It works that way in socer and hocky pretty well. Why wouldn't it work in baseball.

His really good year was last year. I think he'll go back to his 200 IP, 4.00 ERA type season, but this time won't have the Yanks offense to give him 18-22 wins. I voted for Pettitte too and I agree with Raw. With the "progress" Prior is making I wonder if he will make 25 starts this year.

I found this quote from Bruce's piece in today's Hearld interesting Are they babying him so he won't get injured or did he come to camp injured and they are rehabing him in camp? To me, something doesn't seem right.

Well, I'm the guy that does this type of operation. I was pretty accurate in my statement of inference 8) This is a message board any one can say anything. I haven't ready anyone making declaritve statements about being a medical expert except for one person. Whether this person is actually a medical expert or not has not been demonstrated. If the person is, it is much better to edify then the criticize. When do they teach bedside manner in medical school anyway? I think the people who posted about Wood's condition were attempting to give the best information that they could given what they know about wood's condition. Enough with the owned crap.

We shall see. I hope you're correct

Root for small ball? This isn't going to be a small ball team. Juan Pierre will slap some singles and steal some bases, but other than that this is not a small ball team. It's a baseball team. Why do people insist on trying to pretend it's one or the other. Everybody wanted to call the White Sox a small ball team despite the fact that they relied so heavily on homeruns to win games. The Cubs have been for years among the league leaders in sacrifice hits and bunts yet people said they never tried small ball stuff. We shouldn't pretend this offense is going to be immensely different than it has been in years. Pierre isn't going to change everything on his own. Anyway, of course Cubs fans are going to root for Pierre. I personally wouldn't have gone so hard for him to be on the team, and I think many people grossly overvalue him. But I like him and think he can help the team and will be pulling hard for him, and all the rest of the team. Just to piggy back here. In addition, the Cubs are lacking at least one run producer in the middle. Right now I would say their offense is slightly below average to average. If DLee or Aramis regresses significantly to the mean or below the mean of the career performance the Cubs will have a hard time scoring runs. I think Slap Nasty is an upgrade from the previous years but the Cubs are still lacking consistent run producing people, at least as it stands right now. How are we slightly below to average offensively? I can think of 3 NL teams that have a better offense than us on paper. STL, PHI, and NY. And we might be better than New York. You might could throw the Dodgers in there too, but they have some pretty big health concerns. I think we'll easily be in the top half of the league in runs scored this season. The Cubs will likely not hit as many HRs as last year or the previous year. They haven't been in the top half of league in runs scored in quite some time and they haven't done much to improve their situation this offseason. I guess I could ask you why you think they will easily be in the top half this year. Why won't they hit as many HR's as last year? I think we'll easily be in the top half of runs scored this year because the 3 black hole positions as far as OBP last year(CF, SS, and LF) have been improved quite a bit. Becuase the people in LF, CF, RF, and SS will likely hit less HRs then the people in those positions last year. In addition, Lee, Walker, and Barrett will probably hit less HRs this year. Both Barrett and Lee had or tied career highs in HRs and walker is another year older. I am not saying the offesnse is terrible but it is not good either. Last year they were middle of the pack. I expect the same thing this year.

Root for small ball? This isn't going to be a small ball team. Juan Pierre will slap some singles and steal some bases, but other than that this is not a small ball team. It's a baseball team. Why do people insist on trying to pretend it's one or the other. Everybody wanted to call the White Sox a small ball team despite the fact that they relied so heavily on homeruns to win games. The Cubs have been for years among the league leaders in sacrifice hits and bunts yet people said they never tried small ball stuff. We shouldn't pretend this offense is going to be immensely different than it has been in years. Pierre isn't going to change everything on his own. Anyway, of course Cubs fans are going to root for Pierre. I personally wouldn't have gone so hard for him to be on the team, and I think many people grossly overvalue him. But I like him and think he can help the team and will be pulling hard for him, and all the rest of the team. Just to piggy back here. In addition, the Cubs are lacking at least one run producer in the middle. Right now I would say their offense is slightly below average to average. If DLee or Aramis regresses significantly to the mean or below the mean of the career performance the Cubs will have a hard time scoring runs. I think Slap Nasty is an upgrade from the previous years but the Cubs are still lacking consistent run producing people, at least as it stands right now. How are we slightly below to average offensively? I can think of 3 NL teams that have a better offense than us on paper. STL, PHI, and NY. And we might be better than New York. You might could throw the Dodgers in there too, but they have some pretty big health concerns. I think we'll easily be in the top half of the league in runs scored this season. The Cubs will likely not hit as many HRs as last year or the previous year. They haven't been in the top half of league in runs scored in quite some time and they haven't done much to improve their situation this offseason. I guess I could ask you why you think they will easily be in the top half this year.

I'll second that and say the same thing for Barrett and Lee. Go Mexico and the Dutch Antelees! Watching the USA get beat by Canada proved what a farse this WBC is. Upsets make competition a farce? No, Canada playing the USA in an "exhibition" game is not competition, it is a farce. Hopefully the USA will lose to one of the other teams in their pool next and Lee and Barrett don't get hurt.

I'll second that and say the same thing for Barrett and Lee. Go Mexico and the Dutch Antelees! Watching the USA get beat by Canada proved what a farse this WBC is.

Root for small ball? This isn't going to be a small ball team. Juan Pierre will slap some singles and steal some bases, but other than that this is not a small ball team. It's a baseball team. Why do people insist on trying to pretend it's one or the other. Everybody wanted to call the White Sox a small ball team despite the fact that they relied so heavily on homeruns to win games. The Cubs have been for years among the league leaders in sacrifice hits and bunts yet people said they never tried small ball stuff. We shouldn't pretend this offense is going to be immensely different than it has been in years. Pierre isn't going to change everything on his own. Anyway, of course Cubs fans are going to root for Pierre. I personally wouldn't have gone so hard for him to be on the team, and I think many people grossly overvalue him. But I like him and think he can help the team and will be pulling hard for him, and all the rest of the team. Just to piggy back here. In addition, the Cubs are lacking at least one run producer in the middle. Right now I would say their offense is slightly below average to average. If DLee or Aramis regresses significantly to the mean or below the mean of the career performance the Cubs will have a hard time scoring runs. I think Slap Nasty is an upgrade from the previous years but the Cubs are still lacking consistent run producing people, at least as it stands right now.

I don't know what "scouting" means, and I don't want to start any conspiracy theories, but it makes me wonder what the Cubs are not saying about the million dollar arms of Wood and Prior. I know, I know, but it is fair to speculate, no? All this stockpiling of starting pitching is starting to worry me.

Lee batted 6th for most of his career