Iceblink

Please let it be true. And then someone foolishly puts in a waiver claim on Soriano, Randy Myers style. And then Hendry resigns to play shortstop for the Cardinals.

Gammons said Ramirez, Byrd, Pena, and Baker have all been the subject of inquiries, and the Cubs turned them all down saying that we were planning to use them to win next year. I'm pretty sure you could add Lou Gehrig to this team and we'd struggle to compete for the wild card. Hendry is motivated by something other than fielding a team that can win games.

No mention of Ryno being a bench coach....that's interesting...and surprising. Not really...there'd be speculation about Quade's safety anytime we struggled if the supposed #2 choice was on the staff.

Even the Pirates know you've got to get that bat in the lineup somehow.

Thanks for updating, OO. I had myself a bebbe and now I get on my PC "sometimes". I can't believe we gave up that shot at #3. If only indifferent Lou had stuck it out.

In the world where you overpay for a guy based on past performance rather than what he'll be over the life of the contract, it can be a bad idea. Hendry has shown he'll jump into that world over and over and over again. Considering Dunn has two above average skills (homers and walks), and the walks are down, and the other parts of his game range from average to very far below average, I don't think it's a no-brainer. He isn't terribly old, but he's going to be 31 in a couple months. Before the PED era, 31 was old for a power hitter. 31 is old for a player who was slow and defensively challenged in his mid 20's. Those skills will only become larger liabilities. Giving him a 5 year deal in the 10-15 million range seems like a pretty good-sized risk. Granted, I seem to be mostly alone in thinking that.

In 6 of his 10 seasons (including this year), he's had an OPS better than .900. That includes a .948, .956 and .940 OPS. Saying .900 at best is underestimating how good he's been in the past. In his last 7 seasons, he's gone: .855 .940 .898 .901 .889 .928 .913 Other than the .940 5 seasons ago, and the .928 last year, he's been a .900 guy. Given that his walks are down and his power should start to decline within a season or so, expecting him to routinely eclipse .900 seems strongly optimistic.

Dude...you're up 11-0 in the 5th inning, Cubbies? Over the team you're trying to catch? But yeah, you're probably right...we just aren't in the same league as Pittsburgh.

When you put up 40+ homers but barely top 100 rbi, and put up 100+ BB (in the same season as the 40 homers) but barely top 100 runs, that's not a great ratio. I think they're relevant for judging him as an offensive player. And like Northside pointed out, he was on some pretty good offensive teams in Cincy.

I've always been a little curious about the strong affection for Dunn here. I'd like to have him (for the right price), but I don't think he's a real lineup changer, and he's probably a year or so from where he should start declining. His career high is 106 RBI - been in the top 10 in the NL three times (8th is his best), his OPS is never close to dominant and figures to hover around .900, at best. His slugging % has been in the top 10 in the NL once in his career. His OBP is well down this year. The only things he's been consistently strong at is drawing walks and hitting homers. Even with that, he's never scored many runs. His walks are down, and his homers figure to start declining in the next year or two. He'll be below average and declining at first base. So...if you give him a 5 year deal, I'd guess we'd look at a guy who'd be around 30-40 homers the next couple of years, then 25-35 after that. Maybe you get 100 RBI out of him once or twice. The walks should further decrease as his power decreases, so he's probably going to be a mid .800's OPS guy in a couple years. He'll be 31 in November. I remember reading a stat that there are zero guys 36 or older with an OPS above .800 this season. The career curves for guys in their 30's are much different now than they used to be. I know there's not a lot else out there at first base, but if we put out a 5 or 6 year, $10-15M deal, I think we'd get fair value for maybe the first two years.

I'd let him go in a heartbeat if someone claimed him. He usually looks like he's barely trying. Think he's gone full Roger Dorn. Gives every tough ground ball that ole' bs. Good god, I would pay a lot of money if people could no longer use Bull Durham or Major League as the basis for their inane complaints. But how much would you pay if your third baseman would get in front of a ground ball? Bidding starts at just under $17 million, which means he got paid something around $104,000 to play today.

I'd let him go in a heartbeat if someone claimed him. He usually looks like he's barely trying. Think he's gone full Roger Dorn. Gives every tough ground ball that ole' bs.

Morning of August 21: Team W-L PCT GB Pittsburgh 40-82 .328 0 Baltimore 43-80 .359 2.5 Arizona 48-75 .390 7.5 Seattle 49-73 .402 9 Cubbies 50-73 .407 9.5 Cleveland 50-72 .410 10 Kansas City 51-70 .421 11.5 Washington 52-70 .426 12 Houston 53-68 .438 13.5

And only a half game out of #4 with Seattle's 3 game "winning" streak. Those amateurs. Cleveland & Washington are both 3-7 in their last 10, but only the Pirates are showing our kind of commitment here.

Ah know! That reverse sweep of the Padres was clutch. An indifferent manager, a roster full of rookies and under-achieving veterans...the formula is there for a stretch run.

Sports fans, we sit with a month and a half left in another exciting race for futility. Pittsburgh has surged into the lead with a 7 game losing streak, showing the rest of these wannabes how a team that's been here before closes this race. By all accounts, Baltimore should have had this puppy locked up...but then they go and hire Showalter and actually have a winning record over their last 10. There are then a couple tiers of teams: Seattle and Arizona fighting it out for the #3 and #4 spots, and a group of 5 teams within 3 games of each other. That second group includes our beloved Cubs, fighting hard to catch Cleveland and Kansas City and jump two teams. Those three spots could mean the difference between drafting a small college guy nobody's heard of and drafting that same guy three spots higher! (I keed, I keed.) We were smoking hot before giving up these two games against St Louis this weekend. I've got faith that we can get back on track and get this pain train rolling again. It'll be a fun race to watch. UPDATE: September 24th standings: Team W-L PCT GB Pittsburgh 53-100 .346 0 Seattle 58-95 .379 5 Baltimore 61-92 .399 8 Arizona 62-92 .403 8.5 Cleveland 63-91 .409 9.5 Kansas City 63-90 .412 10 Washington 66-88 .429 12.5 Cubbies 69-84 .451 16 Milwaukee 72-81 .471 19

Best of luck to the new Cubbie in Peoria. Not a great start so far (3 IP, 5H, 3R (1 earned), 2 BB)...but he has fanned 3. Probably a nervous night for him after the trade.

Rosenthal posting on twitter that the Yanks have also picked up Austin Kearns.

Go, Matty, go. I pulled up the Hanshin Tigers site and let Chrome translate it. According to his translated player page, he's totally awesome: 365 hits, 29 stolen bases in 127 at bats, 09 balls to lead

Mlb.com is showing the mlb tv broadcast.

Yeah. That's how I feel - I didn't like Colvin or Jackson and a lot of guys didn't like Cashner and all 3 of those first rounders have had success to this point. I did want Sale or Castellanos. Yeah, but those guys had pretty consistent 1st round grades. When everyone in the business is in agreement on a guy, they're right 9 times out of 10.

We could've got Simpson in round 3, right? Hendry, if you wanted to save money, don't overpay over the hill players.

CP won the game for them cutting down the tying run at home for the final out of the game. Is that a walk-off throw? http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7997563&c_id=bal&topic_id=8879234 WTG, Corey.

Holy Garland for Karchner Batman! As soon as I read the thread title, I was thinking of Karchner & Garland. Of course, it was actually Garland for Karchner and at least some contribution to getting rid of Lynch. Would you trade Cashner for a bucket of balls and Hendry moving on?

That "catch" is just one more reason why I hate Bud Selig.