jjgman21

How would Murton have been out by 10 feet? The ball was 20 feet up the 3rd base line. He would have scored easily. Yup-I just rewound my Tivo..the catcher caught it about 5 feet up the line-but he was right on the line, and the throw home came so fast that there is no way that Murton would have been there yet. He would have been out easily. it certainly was more than 5 feet, but certainly wasn't 20. Murton has decent wheels. a good route and Molina has a do or die swipe tag. there's no way of knowing one way or the other, not sure how anyone can argue for sure either way.

you stink Novoa

how much of a lead do you guys feel is needed to have sent Murton in that situation?

I don't get why Bagwell and Biggio are bad choices at all...Both are near the top of their positions on All-Time lists as it is. well it's all sticking by his guys, but nobody in their right mind would choose Bagwell and Biggio over Gerhig and Hornsby. maybe they had more grit that these two top 5 all time OPS+ players.

three innings to go with Dempster used three consecutive days and Eyre two. c'mon offense. wake back up here.

J-Rod. what a tool. on first base defense. anyone see Howard's play on the ball off of Hamels yesterday? what the hell was that about? pick up the ball and get an out.

c'mon Hank. you gotta let Ronnie know there's time to get him at second.

c'mon Nevin. he's looked terrible at first on several plays today. btw, 1/15 speed replay on Tivo reveals bad call at first. Speizio was out by 6 inches.

not sure if that was intentional or not. what I can assure you of is that LaRussa will retaliate for that. sure which Z got him.

LaRussa fear retaliation for 4 bean balls (two not called) and several other close calls over the past two days and Z on the mound for the Cubs? ok, with this likely being the last inning for Z, I'm looking for a little payback right here. since no boppers are coming up this inning, Molina seems like as good of a candidate as any. c'mon Z. get the first two and then go after him.

can't get a game day tracker anywhere. anyone have a pitch count on Z

with their inability to develop hitters and the 40 man squeeze they have year after year, I've been advocating trading pitching prospects for hitting prospects for years.

Baker's hidden agenda? put Murton in against the toughest of the Cards all right handed starting pitchers to make him look bad. "look how well Pagan did, gotta get him more starts"

LaRussa fear retaliation for 4 bean balls (two not called) and several other close calls over the past two days and Z on the mound for the Cubs?

theory - because we hired a manager under the mistaken belief that he keeps his team motivated for 162 games a year. he leaves it to the players to motivate themselves, which they do quite well against the big rivals.

did we finally get a call there? what makes LaRussa think he has x-ray vision and therefore has a right to argue, I have no idea. there is no possible way he saw that play better than the ump.

just looking at the numbers at the cube. Guzman 02 156 03 90 04 48 05 18 06 about 90 thus far, 10 more starts at 6 inning puts him at 150, 60 more than he has pitched in 5 years, on an oft injured arm Ryu - didn't realize he had such a significant workload last year. Marshall 03 166 04 79 05 104 06 103 already. 10 more starts at 6 inning puts him at 160, 60 more than he has pitched in 3 years, on an oft injured arm Marmol - I didn't realize his work load was so significant the past two years either. not as bad as I thought with two of the four (Hill I'm ok with giving lots of innings to), but I still think it should be a consideration and that Marshall and Guz shouldn't get more than a 6 or so more starts.

nice job Ronnie, and Hank that first pitch to Ronnie was a ball in the first inning.

31 pitch inning. keep it up guys. patience, patience, patience.

yet another example of the Cards ability to lobby the ump into changing his strike zone. Carpenter, the reason you aren't getting the calls is because the pitches are outside of the zone. sorry if you're used to getting balls called strikes

again, I think people are talking past each other as all indications are the Cubs can't get anything of value in return (I don't view a mid-tier prospect of value) let's make a list of what the pros are if what has been reported is true (the only trade will involve the Cubs picking up all or most of the remaining salary and fetch a mid-tier prospect) and considering who the manager is pros if traded - mid tier prospect, opens up opportunities for young pitchers pros if kept - avoids overuse of young pitchers, young pitchers probably won't be used anyway (Rusch will), goodwill/mentoring/blah blah blah the scales don't tip heavily either way. I think they tip toward keeping him, others think they tip toward trading him. maybe we should agree to disagree since there is no clear cut answer to what is best. I think we can all agree that their should be a ray of hope that Maddux's performance yesterday, his history of late in the year success, and playoff experience should and will fetch more than what has been reported.

Well, then you don't sign him. I doubt the out-clause was the difference between Aramis being a Cub or not. The Cubs were not against a wall yet, they still had Aramis for another season when they made the deal. They could have traded him last season at the deadline had he not had shown any willingness to sign by then. With the out option, Ramirez holds all the cards. Whenever you give a player (really his agent) all the cards, you are risking that the player really likes his situation and wants to stay. And usually you lose. I seem to recall that out option was a huge part of the deal and would not have happened otherwise. I could be wrong, but I certainly wouldn't think any GM would think out of the box and just throw that out there. I'm sure it was player/agent driven. so without the out clause contract, the Cubs would have had to either trade him last summer if he showed no willingness to sign or hope they could wrap him up at the end of the year or take the draft picks. this year, the Cubs either need to trade him if he gives no indication of opting in or hope they can wrap him up at the end of the year or take the draft picks. they are in the exact same position, just got another year out of Aram. it was stupid, but nothing has been lost.

Don't worry, unless the Cubs were to miraculously finish the season on a tear, their 1st round pick should be protected. As long as they finish with one of the worst 15 records, they'll get to keep their 1st rounder regardless of how many FA's they sign this offseason. thanks for that info. didn't know that.

how do we figure out what type he would be and what each type fetches? even if a type B they get a sandwich pick, no? Probably all a moot point because in order for the Cubs to get picks, they would have to offer Walker arbitration after this season, possibly putting the Cubs in a position to bring him back next season (assuming of course so one else signs him). I'm not so sure the Cubs would be willing to do that. For what ever reason, it seems like Hendry had been looking to trade him ever since he picked up his option before this season started, but just couldn't get a deal he wanted. Actually, I think that's a gamble the Cubs might take because Walker doesn't seem too keen on staying with the Cubs either. At this point, it's probably going to be worth more to keep him, offer him arbitration (if you have to, do what Tim always says - tell him you'll make him a bench player if he accepts) and get extra picks. As a Type B, the Cubs could get a 2nd or 3rd round pick. That's probably going to be worth more than any prospect(s) the Cubs can get for Walker now. what got me thinking about this question is that the Cubs will need to add a FA or two in the offseason, so if they want any draft at all, they need to keep a couple arby eligible players around. that second or third round pick might be their highest draft pick next June.

while the out clause is stupid, I think people need to take into account the context in which that contract was signed. without that clause, Aram doesn't sign a contract before 2005 and more than likely isn't on the Cubs in 2006. the option was to get some contract done, or watch him leave at the end of last season where he would have probably been the cream of the FA crop. agents are getting very good at the "we will not negotiate during the season" game. another draft question. if the Cubs keep Aram and he opts out, can they offer him arbitration and get high picks if he goes elsewhere?