FergieJ31

I'd find it extremely hard to root for the Cubs if Bonds were patrolling LF. Purely emotional. I have no doubt he'll put up decent numbers again next year, but he's such a jerk. I agree the Cubs should take a gamble and Daisuke is the guy I'd gamble on. Absolutely filthy stuff - if he's in the NL he might utterly dominate the league. If that happens and the Cubs upgrade their offense, they should contend for the division.

I agree with the general thought that sometimes you simply must overpay to get the talent, but Alfonso is not that talent. His 2006 is the classic contract year. The time to overpay was two years ago when Beltran was a FA (yeah I know, Sammy's contract yada yada). Prediction: Cardinals sign Soriano for 5/80 or thereabouts.

I know Neifi is long gone, but it is still funny to see how he is talked about in the media. This gets me thinking that maybe it wasn't just Dusty. Maybe there's something about him that makes mangaers love him :shock: . He's comfort food for lazy baseball minds. He "does the little things", is "gold glove caliber", knows how to bunt, makes lots of contact and runs at a reasonable rate of speed. It wasn't until very recently that people started criticizing managers for using a guy like Neifi, let alone hitting him 2nd. Neifi is the type of player old-school types believe a middle infielder is supposed to be. He could go 0-20, but if he lays down a sac bunt he'll keep his job. I just had another Matt Foley flashback, goony :lol: I agree - for lazy baseball minds (I like that turn of phrase) his utter lack of plate discipline and OBP doesn't detract at all from the aesthetics of laying down a pretty bunt, or starting a 6-4-3 dp.

My 2 cents: no way would I trade Prior or Hill for Dunn straight up. Prior has 2007 comeback player of the year written all over him. Is there any doubt that his 2006 numbers were the result of pitching hurt? And Hill showed all the signs of being a dependable #2 SP, with the ability to utterly dominate a game. I'd be pretty steamed if the Cubs gave him up for Dunn. Don't get me wrong - I love Dunn's OBP and plate discipline ... just not willing to overpay for that. Now Pie + Guzman for Dunn ... that I would do, but I'm sure the Reds would lol.

I believe he was quoting people "in the know" with their descriptions of the candidates, purposefully putting quotes around those oft-repeated phrases. Yes, they are largely meaningless, but I think we know what they all really mean..... nothing. Did anybody else "picture" Chris Farley "reading" that "article". http://www.patheticpersonals.com/images/brauer.jpg As Cub fans we've all been living in a van down by the river, metaphorically speaking.

Yeah I'm not ready to throw Dempster under the truck this off-season, especially with rock-bottom trade value. He had a really solid April last year when the Cubs were on a roll, I think he had 6-7 saves in that month alone. Let's see what he can do under a new skipper and hopefully more regular work.

[Homer] D'oh!! [/Homer]

What do you like about Francona? Mainly the fact that Francona seems to thoroughly get the importance of OBP. Well regardless, as far as I know he's still the manager of the Red Sox, so why are we talking about him being the manager of the Cubs? Hence the "not gonna happen" in my previous post - but it's a pleasant thought nonetheless. I laughed at that report in the paper too, but then again after the disappointing season the Red Sox had, I wouldn't be THAT surprised to see them part ways with Francona.

What is your opinion on the Mark Cuban issue? I'd make exactly the same comment about Cuban - if in fact he does interfere with a game by blasting the refs. The Mavs coach should be able to tell him to cool it. I'm not a big basketball fan but from what I can tell his court-side tirades are tolerated pretty well by the league. The record level of fines indicates otherwise. I see ... I stand corrected. If owner tirades actually influenced winning pct, then owners could optimize the tradeoff between wins and league fines somehow ... too bad they don't. Even still, I'd love to see Cuban buy the Cubs - but that's a pipe dream.

What is your opinion on the Mark Cuban issue? I'd make exactly the same comment about Cuban - if in fact he does interfere with a game by blasting the refs. The Mavs coach should be able to tell him to cool it. I'm not a big basketball fan but from what I can tell his court-side tirades are tolerated pretty well by the league.

What do you like about Francona? Mainly the fact that Francona seems to thoroughly get the importance of OBP.

I'd probably go with Brenly. I don't like the issues and baggage that belong to Girardi. I'd hope that some of Len's knowlede had at least rubbed off on Brenly and that he might consider things like run expectancy in making decisions. What issues? Him telling Loria to quit yelling at the umpires? It's Girardi's job to communicate with the umpires, not the owner. thats not necessarilly "baggage." I'd also have to have a stronger endorsement of Brenly other than he's sat with a PBP guy the past two years. It probably won't be either one of these guys anyway. The owner can pretty much do whatever he or she pleases. It is not up to the coach to do anything. Nor should he. The owner signs the checks and gets to yell at whomever he pleases. No. In his office, or maybe in the clubhouse or locker-room -- yes, absolutely -- the owner may yell at whomever he pleases. Not on the baseball field and not when it interferes with the game or the manager's job. I have nothing but admiration for Joe for telling Loria to shut the f up.

I'd prefer Brenly but I'd be happy with Girardi too. Girardi had a fine season but he was also the benefactor of some really nice young talent. As others have said I'm a little scared by some things I've read about Giradi, but some of that might just be Loria's smear tactics. I hope Razor Shines is considered, but I really wish Francona would be considered (not gonna happen).

I agree. There was nothing wrong with the way Howry and Eyre pitched this year. Wuertz, when he was finally called back up, was a stud. They were not the problem. The problem with the pitching staff was mainly the starting pitching. If you have better starting pitching that lasts longer in the game, you won't have to use up your bullpen as much and then you won't have to use the guys in the back of the pen as much either. Eyre did not pitch well. Plus he was out of shape, which may have contributed to his injury. Dempster sucked and it had nothing to do with the starters. The bullpen was definitely part of the problem. Eyre was actually fairly solid until mid-Aug when he was hurt. Not spectacular but solid: ERA a shade above 2.00 with over 50 IP. He actually gave up under a hit an inning (61 in 61 1/3) even at the end of the season. But his absymal walk rate ruined his WHIP, absolutely infuriating.

No disrespect intended to anyone but I find this extremely implausible, on multiple levels. None taken. But it's true. So is the assertion then that (1) Prior could have pitched through shoulder tendonitis but chose not to and (2) told his cousin it's because he didn't want to be "abused by Dusty any longer"? I'll certainly buy (1) because of the horrible numbers he put up: 1-7 with a 1.61 WHIP trying to pitch through discomfort before he was shut down. But not (2). Even assuming he felt that way about Dusty, why on earth would he actually say that to his cousin? [ Edit: btw I'm not questioning nick's integrity ... in my opinion he represented his info properly ("3rd hand, take it for what it's worth", etc.) I'm only questioning whether the story is actually true as relayed here. ] Fact of the matter is, Dusty did not abuse Prior this year. The lesser of the evils in Prior's mind could very well have been "I'm not pitching until I'm 100%". He was risking millions in the future FA market if he continued to suck and become labeled a flash in the pan has-been rather than a tough luck, injury-prone stud. But in those 9 starts you can hardly say Dusty abused him ... his pitch counts: 88 91 101 109 76 103 106 103 58 Even if you throw out that last 58 when he got shelled by the Brewers, he still averaged under 100 pitches per start and was never asked to pitch more than 6 innings (albeit usually b/c he was getting shelled). That is not abuse. And by the way, about 2003, he did ask Prior and Wood to throw a lot of pitches down the stretch - no doubt. But in Dusty's defense, what manager wouldn't have ridden them hard given the hot division races plus the relatively shaky Cub pen? I think Dusty was a terrible baseball strategist and has deserved much of the criticism he's gotten, but I feel he's unfairly blamed for Wood & Prior's health the past three years.

Will Carroll reported that Prior has the same shoulder injury Woody had going into this season (via Cubs sources). I don't know about that source, but Carroll has a great track record as far as Prior is concerned. If it's true, we shouldn't count on Prior at all. Trading him is stupid as his value is rock bottom, but we should fill out the rotation w/o taking him into account. MacPhail said earlier today that the Cubs should take health into account from now on (DUH!!!) when making player acquisitions. There's hope. Take it for what it's worth but I have a friend of mine that knows Prior's cousin really well. She told my friend that if Dusty is gone next year Prior will be healthy. She told him that while Prior was feeling discomfort in his shoulder he could have pitched through it. According to her, Prior and his father made the decision that he wasn't going to be abused by Dusty any longer. I absolutely got this info 3rd hand but my friend is a huge cub fan and I believe him. Not unbelievable by any stretch. No disrespect intended to anyone but I find this extremely implausible, on multiple levels.

moot point ... 2006 NL Comedy Central "Champions": Stl Cardinals.

The Cards are holding back Carp today and going with Reyes on short rest. I think holding back Carp is a no-brainer if they had a more well-rested starter, but I don't know about sending the kid up there on 3-days' rest. If the Cards lose and Houston wins, I would assume Carp goes tomorrow vs SF.

Probably Moises Alou. :roll: #31

Thanks. Are you registered over there? No but on first glance it looks like a good board - decent signal to noise ratio - is it? I'll definitely read it from time to time. Folks seem to be breathing a little easier over there tonight :wink:

Same here. That was the most pathetic excuse of all time. I'm sorry, Clemens wins easily. Sammy's was implausible, but Clemens' was just absurd. My two-year-old daughter knows the difference between a bat and a ball.

Can we settle this once and for all statistically? Does someone have access to historical pitching data to run a query? Maybe we can compare Kerry's 2003 oppOBP and oppSLG against all MLB pitcher-seasons with, say, 150+ IP in the past 10 years? To be completely fair, we might want to exclude AL pitchers. And should we agree on what qualifies as a "great" percentile? Top 15%? Top 10%? I have the Lahman 5.3 database at home so I can run the OBP test tonight ... but even Lahman doesn't have enough data to compute oppSLG (no 2B, 3B columns).

Wow, sarcasm? Name one instance where Clemens has exhibited anything below class-act standards, personality wise. throwing the broken bat at mike piazza as he was running to 1b. "I thought it was the ball" I've hated Clemens ever since. Same here. That was the most pathetic excuse of all time.

wolf, nice forum (rock band tourney). Led Zep 81% of the vote - finally something I can agree with Cards fans on :D

Two out of three ain't bad.