jjgman21
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Everything posted by jjgman21
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Interest in Edmonds?
jjgman21 replied to RynoRules's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
the way I see it, the list of centerfielders for the most part are either terrible ie (Pierre, Taverez, Rowand), one year wonders (ie Byrnes, Matthews, Roberts), unobtainable (ie. Beltran, Sizemore), or not worth what it would take in a trade (Jones, Griffey). so you are left with few choices. one is to swing a deal for an undervalued player like Clark. he'd be fine in my eyes and an option. there is Freel, but with the trades made by the Reds, I don't see him going anywhere. I have suggested DeJesus. if there is any player I would make a strong push for in a trade it is DeJesus. there is also the possibility of a creative option like putting Jacque out there. probably not a bad idea. all in all, the options are relatively few. I see no reason to pee on the idea of bringing Edmonds in when there are not a whole lot of better options out there. yes he's old and on the decline, but he still a top 10 CF'er in OBP and top 8 in slg/ops. if you view him as a complimentary player and not one at the core of the offense, he's a fine option. -
I wonder what the Bears could get from the Jets for Jones with the probability that Curtis Martin is done. this makes it a little more complicated ... http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AmGmo0qdWr.y.qX_b56POX1DubYF?slug=ap-bears-benson&prov=ap&type=lgns (Benson to miss 2-3 weeks) ... but seems the Jets have to do something to get an every down back. what you hearing in NY Goony?
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I don't agree, but I can certainly understand the point of view. He's certainly not for everyone. That said, Lawrence Holmes is very good. And Zach is just kinda ok. For me anyway. Zaidman is terrible. He uses the most specious reasoning and makes a terrible habit of repeating his main point over and over. He relies on sports cliche and the way he talks-putting the wrong emphasis on words in sentences and asking questions like he's about to drop some sort of profound, dramatic point-are annoying. Holmes and Bernstein are very good. Boers is getting worse by the minute. Abbatacola and Goff are decent, too. those things are hard to pick up on when you don't listen to sports radio for extended periods of time. from what I've heard, his break down of the Bears tends to be some of the best and most reasoned analysis. he was one of the few who predicted the Bears to finish anywhere but the bottom of the central last year. Bernstein on the other hand is way to willing to ride the tide of the prevailing sentiment, and his tendancy to hangup and make fun of callers when they bring up good points contrary to his POV, instead of taking them on head on, is nauseating. to show how much sports radio I listen to these days (was alienated a long time ago, particularly since I now have an Air America affiliate to listen too) I haven't even heard of the last two you listed.
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White Sux lose again. YES!!!
jjgman21 replied to Sweet Swinging Billy's topic in General Baseball Talk
No big deal, IMO. Of course the home announcer is a homer. They're hired and paid by the club. Now, that doesn't mean the club has to hire announcers as bad as Hawk & DJ, and they are awful. They let Rooney get away, and he is good. In fact, he and Farmer were an excellent team. Singleton..., not so much. BTW, I agree with whoever said that this thread reminds me of the White Sox fans that I can't stand - rooting against the Cubs at every available opportunity just because. did you listen to or see it? I have no problem with announcers being homers, but if you are going to complain about ball/strike calls from the booth, the pitches really should be close. I think Brenly and Len do a good job with this sort of thing. they're not afraid to call out the umps when they miss a call, but do it in an understated way, and will call it either way. they don't use the remaining two and half innings to complain that the ump cost them the game, when the ump had nothing to do with it. what I couldn't stand is when Stone would refuse to acknowledge bad calls against the Cubs and take the attitude of 'that's what they deserve.' -
this seems like as good a place as any to plug this in this makes no damn sense. who would you rather have, Ledee or Cruz? http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AtfZTyzHgywthuruR0zuBk4RvLYF?slug=ap-mets-ledee&prov=ap&type=lgns has anyone picked up Cruz yet?
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Did you even see the hit? Brown barely touched him, Urlacher's hit wasn't that bad and what I'd expect of practice. It really didn't look that bad, I hope it's not too serious. no, i didn't see it, and the report that i heard on espn 1000 was that urlacher and brown "pinballed" benson as he was making a catch over the middle. i only knew what i was told, so i apologize for the knee-jerk response. that said, urlacher and brown both acted like benson was on a different team when questioned about it. Bernstein is just an angry soul who feels the need to insult others randomly to re-affirm his intelligence. I'd think twice before taking his attitude or philosophies to heart. Just a bit of advice... bernstein is actually one of the smarter and progressive radio personalities on the air. the fact that he likes to make fun of everyone is just an added bonus. i don't think boers brings much to the table and think a pairing of lawrence holmes and bernstein would make for much more informative radio. holmes likes to stay on point where boers will go off on some tangential joke or anecdote. that said, boers and bernstein are the best thing going on the air in chicago today. mac, jurko, and harry are just terrible now. yes, scripted rants read to seem extemporaneous and forced fake laughter are great. at this rate, he will remain a 'progressive radio personality' for the rest of his career. the guy is a tool, and Chicago sports radio (and sports journalism in general) is one giant toolbox. the only one worth a damn is Zach Zabeman (sp?)
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Did you even see the hit? Brown barely touched him, Urlacher's hit wasn't that bad and what I'd expect of practice. It really didn't look that bad, I hope it's not too serious. no, i didn't see it, and the report that i heard on espn 1000 was that urlacher and brown "pinballed" benson as he was making a catch over the middle. i only knew what i was told, so i apologize for the knee-jerk response. that said, urlacher and brown both acted like benson was on a different team when questioned about it. There's a video link earlier in the thread if you're interested in seeing it....it's not great quality, but you can get an idea of how trivial the contact was. thanks, but i'll take everyone's word for it. every other person i've talked to has said it wasn't a serious hit. the hit on the Eagles 3rd string RB in the HOF game didn't look like anything either. A-Train's plow through Strahan that ended Strahan's 2005 season didn't look like anything, nor do alot of the hits that have sent football players to wheelchairs human anatomy is weird.
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I agree that that would be a problematic philosophy for young pitchers, but I've never heard that Rothschild preaches never trusting one's own stuff and never getting batters out with pitches out of the zone. I'm not saying he doesn't. I just have never heard it. Where did you get that? never perhaps was a strong word. don't know that anyone has ever explicitly said that, but Stone used to beat around the bush to that affect. (ie. stay on the outside corner when the game is close and late; go high out of the zone with the fastball when ahead in the count, one more slider low and away should get him, etc.) I don't think anyone needs to explicitly say it. I think its abundantly clear from watching this team the past several years that is what he preaches, leading the league year after year in both Ks and BBs. it's not a bad philosphy, if used in moderation, but when these things become as predictable as the tides, I'd just as soon have the pitcher throw the pitch over the middle and trust movement to get the batter out via contact.
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don't pull anything patting yourself on the back, dusty. :pukel: There is nothing wrong with this comment at all. He is giving Murton a compliment by saying he has struggled at times but found himself for a strong second half run while complimenting Pagan, too. Oh my...the humanity. I realize most people here don't like Baker and want him gone, but don't try to find reasons to criticize unfairly. I agree that sometimes the piling on of Baker is a little over the top. In this case, I'm not so sure it isn't justified though. I would like to know the context of the comments, but it sure seems what he is saying here is 'Murton is coming around thanks to the way we use him, Pagan on the other hand is the truly talented one.' Then why use the word "and"? It seems clear that he is saying that Murton fought through the down period successfully and how he was used also helped. Wouldn't one have to ignore the fact that Baker said the word "and" in order to think that he was taking all of the credit for turning Murton around? so he's not taking all the credit. he's taking partial credit and that's nonsense. if anything, he should take all the blame for putting Murton in this slump in the first place by preaching aggressiveness.
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Well, this is really just the first thing that I've worried about with the Bears. I didn't mind the draft. I liked the Griese signing. I'm pretty confident they'll be a good team this year and can make some noice. But both RBs going down is not something to laugh off. That's true. And I'm not really laughing it off. Just refusing to stress myself over it...at least till we get a couple preseason games under our belt. I would be much more worried about the quarterback situation if I was the Bears. The defense should be solid again and I don't think both RB's should be out very long. Grossman finally staying healthy and showing what he can do is the question mark. be worried that a third fluke injury is going to happen? when they have a legitimate backup now? the Bears QB situation is better than it has been in years, perhaps decades. now you wanna talk about QB concerns, let's talk about the silver and black.
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White Sux lose again. YES!!!
jjgman21 replied to Sweet Swinging Billy's topic in General Baseball Talk
anyone listen to Homer Hawk tonight? endless complaining about a walk to Salmon in the seventh. the thing is, NONE of the pitches he was complaining about were anywhere near the strikezone. the next inning the Angels' pitcher did get one high strike, but that was two batters after the same pitcher was robbed on a 3-2 call to Alomar. then the post game chat and news conference was all about bad ball strike calls. leave it to the fans to complain about the umpires (and Sox fans do that aplenty, no matter where the pitch is). Ozzie did refuse to complain, the broadcasters and rest of the media should do the same. there was nothing outrageous about the strikezone tonight. -
McGwire Avoiding MLB's Steroid Investigation
jjgman21 replied to The Voice of Reason's topic in General Baseball Talk
but the question is not what the vet's committee thinks, at least not for a number of years. what is important is what the writers think. Did you read the Rob Neyer article that Vance is talking about? Neyer was talking about writers (granted, some of them didn't have HOF votes) and not the Veteran's Committee. I doubt McGwire gets elected next year. Exactly. The writers seem unwilling to vote McGwire in. I'll be shocked if he actually gets more than 40% of the vote in January. read your post wrong. for some reason HOF voters translated into Hall of Famers who vote for other Hall of Famers in my brain. sorry about that. -
you're exagerating. his range is fine.
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McGwire Avoiding MLB's Steroid Investigation
jjgman21 replied to The Voice of Reason's topic in General Baseball Talk
but the question is not what the vet's committee thinks, at least not for a number of years. what is important is what the writers think. -
Agreed...He is spotting his pitches much better over the last two games and even more so in yesterday's outing. That said, he also received a lot of help from Pittsburg yesterday. Not every team is going to fan on that chest high fastball. Better players are going to lay off that pitch and challenge Rich to get them out with something in the strike zone. I think he needs to learn to throw his fastball for strikes low in the zone, but if set up correctly alot of (even) major league hitters will wave at that high fastball because it comes out of the same window as his curve when he throws it for strikes. I think Hill's problems have been mostly mental though. for instance, he looked unhittable in the first four batters against St. Louis, then Rolen battled him in a nice AB, and he lost all composure. I also think Rothschild and his philisophy of never trusting one's own stuff and getting everyone out with pitches outside of the zone is not condusive to a staff full of guys 27 and younger.
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I was thinking the same yesterday. I do understand that Wrigley has a fairly dangerous bullpen setup, and he likely will get better at negotiating that area as he continues. However, Izturus should have made that play along the left field line. He subsequently bobbled the groundball, but I was impressed by the way he recovered. abuck and goony aren't saying anything abnormal. He is touted as the best defensive shorstop in the league, and he supposedly helps win games with his defense. He hasn't shown that as a Cub. I was p'd at the play on the pop up, but Aram probably should've caught that ball too, and a similar ball was hit to the other side a batter or two later and Cedeno had trouble with it. I think it had to do more with the wind and the sun than the bullpen set up. Izturis' play up until now has been too small of a sample size to judge his performance as a Cub. the problem with Izturis remains the fact that Cedeno can provide equal performance for millions less while openning up a position where the Cubs can get some offense (second) if he is the shortstop, and that he was the worse possible option to go with in the Maddux trade. people should stop praising every little thing he does right and damning every little thing he does wrong. he is what he is, and what he is is not right for this team. every bobble on defense and every good AB should not be the subject of a new thread. neither makes anyone any more right or wrong about his acquisition.
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huh? Bradley was drafted as a raw WR with great speed. his hands and routes are what were questioned, never his speed. I never heard of him as a great speed guy. Really? He ran a 4.42 at the combine and in the 4.3's at OU's proday. I never thought of him as a burner nor a plodder. Certainly faster than Muhammed, but he's not the Bears speed threat. I think he is in the faster end of the spectrum when it comes to WR's. He's not the fastest guy in the NFL but speed certainly isn't an issue with him. Low 4.4's and high 4.3's is fast. this is typical of the write ups on Bradley when the Bears drafted him (too high) http://www.chicagobears.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=7886
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Teixeira potential trade-bait?
jjgman21 replied to jtownie's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
Our LF OPS is 18th in MLB. Our CF OPS is 22nd in MLB. Our RF OPS is 14th in MLB. Our middle infield next year will likely be the worst offensive double play combo in baseball. Aramis might opt out of his contract and leave the team. Barrett is unlikely to put up the numbers he's put up this year. Since our OF has not been very good this year, and the infield won't make up for deficiencies next year, I wouldn't say our OF is set. Was he saying set, as in, (a) already occupied by perfectly acceptable producers, or was it set, as in, (b) the GM is going to just go with the same crap that's already there? It's clearly not set (a), but most likely set (b). i'm not making a judgement either way but according to this article the cubs are hot and heavy trying to resign juan: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060806cubsbrite,1,141655.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines I'm not one to use emoticons, but :shock: please demand that much Juan. that seems about the only thing that may make Hendry shy away. the way I see it, if they resign him, all is lost anyway, so signing him for that much wouldn't be a big deal. -
Teixeira potential trade-bait?
jjgman21 replied to jtownie's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
people have been saying this about Barrett for years it seems. I think I finally have to agree, but that doesn't change the fact that he will be one of the top offensive catchers in all of baseball again next year. -
I've suggested it for years, and been flamed for it. he should've had a David Wright deal in place when he had as much service time as...David Wright. The Cubs just don't lock up their studs in pre-arby times. They seem much more interested in going year-to-year through the arbitration process, and letting a guy approach free agency. They prefer flexibility 2-3 years from now over stability and cost certainty. And I completely disagree with their strategy. Maybe that's because they never have to go to arby with anyone? I think if MacPhail goes through a nasty arb he might change that strategy. I don't think it is a nasty arb that is going to bite the Cubs in the ass for this strategy. it is a player, perhaps Z, perhaps Aram, who the Cubs spend years building up good will with, only to watch them say "thanks for the dough, going to free agency anyway."
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Doesn't sound that terrible of a day? I guess you had to see it... for izturis, who is supposed to be the second coming defensively, i'd consider a day with two misplays to be a bad day. but back to hill's greatness...don't want to divert the thread too much. :D A hard hit ground ball that takes a tough hop on him is hardly a misplay. He played the ball of the chest, just as he is supposed to and made a very strong throw to first without even really setting his feet to get a good runner in Bay. I know a great majority of fans here don't like Izturis and the trade but it doesn't mean you should now try to find reasons to criticize him unfairly. That was a play, that if committed by Ronny Cedeno would have been called sloppy, lazy and ill prepared. It was a routine ground ball to short. you're both right. Baker would be too critical of the play if committed by Ronny, posters are being too critical of the play since it was committed by Izturis.
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I've suggested it for years, and been flamed for it. he should've had a David Wright deal in place when he had as much service time as...David Wright.
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don't pull anything patting yourself on the back, dusty. :pukel: There is nothing wrong with this comment at all. He is giving Murton a compliment by saying he has struggled at times but found himself for a strong second half run while complimenting Pagan, too. Oh my...the humanity. I realize most people here don't like Baker and want him gone, but don't try to find reasons to criticize unfairly. I agree that sometimes the piling on of Baker is a little over the top. In this case, I'm not so sure it isn't justified though. I would like to know the context of the comments, but it sure seems what he is saying here is 'Murton is coming around thanks to the way we use him, Pagan on the other hand is the truly talented one.'
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it was strike three to the last batter too.
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huh? Bradley was drafted as a raw WR with great speed. his hands and routes are what were questioned, never his speed.