FergieJ31

Why? Was Lou joking? He's said equally dumb things in the past and never went through with them. He's attempting to play mind games, to get the opposing managers and pitchers to worry about whether or not whoever is on second is going to steal. My thought exactly. With all the head fakes he made last year, you'd think people would have learned his schtick by now.

I'm told nothing serious is going. All is quiet right now. I'm a little disappointed to hear that, but thanks for the info. Thanks Bruce, and I'm not disappointed at all. Every trade rumor I've heard in the past two months is a big loser for the Cubs. They should stand pat until the ASB, because there are bound to be better trade targets by then.

Just hearing the name Dave Veres = incredible Pavlovian sadness, seventh inning 2-run double.

The topic isn't that bad -- I've seen far less interesting topics and stale jokes routinely posted here. NSBB has a lot of intelligent posters and should pride itself on questioning conventional baseball wisdom. Just a few thoughts .... first, I don't think anyone in the "sliding is faster" camp is suggesting that sliding into first is always advisable. Stop with the injury rebuttals - that's obvious to all. The relevant question is, if it really is marginally faster to slide then one might want to do so in extremely crucial situations. And if this is the case, coaches might want to help prepare / condition their players to do so in such situations. Second, I wish the pseudo-physics explanations would stop. Newton is spinning in his grave ... spinning I tell you. (Well, ok, he would be spinning if angular momentum were not conserved.) Conservation of momentum does not apply here because of wind resistance and some ground resistance (when the runner is not airborne). That WikiAnswers page makes some pretty specious arguments in this regard. If you attached an accelerometer to a runner, you would see it momentarily spike negative then positive with every stride once the runner is at full speed. The fastest runners know how to pull/push off the ground quickly to minimize the negative/maximize the positive, but both spikes are there on every step, so momentum is certainly NOT conserved. Also, the arguments "Why do fielders dive for the ball" or "why do sprinters stick their chest out" are non sequiturs. Diving for a ball has nothing to do with reaching for the bag with one's foot. So does sliding get you to the base any faster? In my opinion there are two opposing factors which make the answer "Maybe": 1. Unless you are a world-class sprinter, bending forward to prepare for a slide WILL break your stride slightly. It will slow you down. You can easily try this yourself: run at full steam and pay attention to how your upper body plays a role in maintaining your speed. Now lean forward to prepare for a slide; your balance will be slightly thrown off for a stride or two. World-class sprinters have trained hard to eliminate this on the very last stride to gain a few fractions of a second. I think feet-first slides would be even worse. 2. One argument that hasn't been given much weight (although I think it has been mentioned) is that a head-first dive will momentarily decrease wind resistance, because the body is slightly more streamlined through the air. So if you take a fearless head-first, Pete Rose-style slide, and time it such that your hand hits the bag without much frictional sliding, you'll probably counteract the disadvantage above (1.) and you might reach the bag slightly quicker. However, umps usually listen for the foot while watching the ball on bang-bang plays, so you run a higher risk of the ump botching the call on a very close play (they're not likely to hear your hand). All in all, it's too close to call - not a strategy I would advocate even in a crucial game situation.

Maz's HR is underrated?? The guy is in the HOF (and is one of the most undeserving HOF'ers) because of that one play.

I assumed he meant http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/millewa04.shtml, but I might be wrong because I don't see a strong comparison there. WaMi never had a year like Prior's 2003. The Bird is the usual point of comparison: http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/fidryma01.shtml

http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2007-w45/img.66160_t.jpg

Mosteller was a huge Red Sox fan; I'm sure he enjoyed writing that paper. Quote from the abstact: His wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Mosteller is interesting, especially his methods of teaching.

My favorite memory of Damian was an interview he did in early 2004, shortly after he was traded. I remember someone asked him about his previous two years catching elite power arms Johnson-Schilling and then Wood-Prior. It was a brainless sort of "Which of the four had the best stuff" question, which called out for an equally brainless, "laugh and say something non-committal" response you see 1000's of times on ESPN. But Damian didn't back down, he didn't hesitate, he said "Kerry Wood without a doubt is the nastiest pitcher I've ever caught."

This is why I cringe whenever I read someone say they are bored and just want something -- anything -- to happen. My biggest fear is waking up one morning and hearing Murton + Gallagher for Byrd + mid-level prospect is a done deal.

It would be trading from areas of depth to fill a tremendous hole. Murton will be a little used 4th outfielder, Cedeno would no longer be needed with Greene, Patterson is lost on the depth chart with Pie and Colvin, and Marshall would likely be battling Lieber, Gallagher and others for the last rotation spot. Khalil Greene on the road in 2007: .288 .322 .519 .840 Khalil Greene on the road career: .280 .335 .515 .850 Remembering that Greene plays most of his games in the toughest hitter's park in baseball and the toughest hitting division in MLB and that the NL Central is arguably the best hitter's division in baseball, the numbers Green could put up playing for the Cubs in a very solid line up all the way through could REALLY pump his numbers up. If you add Greene's bat (ignore the great defense he plays for a moment) to the Cubs line up, the Cubs have Soriano, Lee, Ramirez and Greene with the potential to have .500+ SLG and Fukudome, Pie, DeRosa and Soto all with the potential of mid to high .400 SLG. Soriano, DeRosa, Lee, Ramirez, Fukudome, Greene, Pie, Soto And wow, what a stellar defense the SP's would have behind them. It's a lot to give up for Greene, but none of those guys are someone who turns me off such a deal. I started out with this thread thinking Murton + Cedeno + Marshall + Patterson for Greene was overpaying, but I'm coming around ... BigBadB is probably spot on here.

Yes indeed: Brandon (Morehead, KY): What about walking to Wrigley Field and seeing the big red sign on the front of the stadium? I get chills seeing pics of it. SportsNation Rob Neyer: You're right: it's a great sign. I have to say, I started this thinking Fenway, but now I'm coming around to Wrigley. Can I call it a draw? Or is that just weaselly...

Either the BABIP was a statistical fluke or it was the result of a demonstrated repeatable skill. I think late movement on pitches is a factor behind lower-than-average OppBABIP, in addition to good defense and field positioning. Cubs pitchers are certainly above average at missing bats, and a low OppBABIP is indicative of a lot of near-missed bats (choppers, weak grounders, pop-ups, etc) But ... and I think I'll get flamed for this but I'll say it anyway ... having watched or listened to a good chunk of the 2007 year, I think the Cubs were definitely in the black in the luck department on the whole (whatever luck means). It's some karmic payback for the abysmal luck they had during the prior few ^H^H^H^H 99 years.

I hate this move. Byrd is not equal value for Murton. I really don't get the "Murton doesn't seem to have a place on the Cubs" logic, just because the OF corner spots are locked in. I'd much rather have Matt on the bench and get his 150-175 PA's as the fourth OF. I really get the feeling the Cubs are getting cold feet with Pie, maybe given his tepid winter league performance. If so, I'd much rather sign Lofton than trade Murton for Byrd. They better act fast though, looks like Kenny is close to signing with Milwaukee, which would suck.

I'm extremely skeptical too. My B.S. meter was pushed into the redzone at JH's alleged comment about Farnsy's two "discoveries".

Tim is being BRob-bed of his bandwidth ](*,)

FWIW the post was more about frustration with the organization (Hendry) than it was a blast on Fox. Yes I realize it's a minor league deal and not worth getting upset over on the surface -- it's just tiresome to see Hendry play the same losing strategy over and over. What does Chad Fox have to do with Hendrys loseing strategy over and over? Marmol,Wood,Wuertz,Eyre,Howry, are set in the bullpen. There's a lot of young fireballers brought in to create for the final spots or spot. Fox is a must roster filler in AAA or insurance in case of a rash of injuries. He cost the Cubs nothing. This worked well for the Cards last year with Troy Percvial. We don't even have an update on Fox's health yet he might be hitting in the 90's again for all we know or not. Again, forget the Fox signing for a second. It's a meaningless signing -- it cost the Cubs nothing and in a vacuum I'd have nothing at all against it. But in the context of Hendry's long history of attempting to catch lightning in a bottle, or trying resurrect yet another player's career, I'm not going to apologize for a little venting. If Chad has a great year in AAA, or better yet the big league club, more power to him.

FWIW the post was more about frustration with the organization (Hendry) than it was a blast on Fox. Yes I realize it's a minor league deal and not worth getting upset over on the surface -- it's just tiresome to see Hendry play the same losing strategy over and over.

Welcome back Chad - because an organization can never have enough crappy arms. Trivia: Fox was the winning pitcher in the 1998 Brant Brown game.

The Weekly World News claimed that Tejada had been traded for Bat Boy. The WWN reported that if you play "I Am The Walrus" backwards and listen carefully, you can hear John say "Brian Roberts in Cubbie bloooo" (I listened and it sounds more like "Paul is dead")

Funny how you could swap the words 'can' and 'chick', and still end up with the same sentence.

yeah i'm in too whatever it represents, LOL @ Brooks Kieschnick where's Oddibe?

Yes indeed: http://bp1.blogger.com/_OybGn9OTdG0/RwsPCsV6gsI/AAAAAAAAAA0/CJNMTXIjhNw/s320/Valverde.bmp

What is the source for these numbers?

Kid's not gonna have a 5000 OPS for long with that way-too-late swing.