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biittner77

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Everything posted by biittner77

  1. biittner77
    I'm a little surprised about Clevenger, not because I thought he'd make the team but they usually keep extra catchers around longer due to all the SS games.
  2. biittner77
    Unless the rules have changed, they only have to keep him down 10 days to delay his arby clock one year.
  3. biittner77
    It's funny how different the perceptions are. During the game the announcers were praising the Hawks defense which a lot of people here are saying is terrible. Some are complaining about Seabrook who seems like he's been doing better lately and praising Hjalmarsson who made some really bad mistakes this weekend. At least we can agree that Sobel is bad.
  4. biittner77
    Sandberg came up as a middle infielder without a lot of power. He credited Jim Frey with teaching him how to hit for more power. I think he'd at least try to pass along what he knew to Castro. Whether that's a good thing or not is debatable. Frey *I think* taught him how to recognize pitches that he could drive (that's what Sandberg said at the time iirc) and the result was an impressive 1984 season with something like 17 triples, 19 HRs and over 20 doubles.
  5. biittner77
    Seems like the Pirates would have been much better off promoting Ramirez when he was ready at age 22 instead of rushing him up at age 19. They could have gotten more production out of him or perhaps more from the Cubs in the trade.
  6. biittner77
    Anyone think that MLS could survive a prolonged strike? It seems like their position is similar to the Arena League. MLS can't really compete with Premere League Soccer in terms of quality just like the Arena League can't really compete with the NFL. There's a market for professional soccer on American soil but how patient will that fanbase be when they have better (in terms of quality) options available?
  7. biittner77
    Merlin Olsen probably wouldn't be considered the best player on his own team. That's not really a knock on him but he will probably always be overshadowed by Deacon Jones. I don't remember much about Olsen as an announcer but he was better than Dan Dierdorf though practically anybody would be.
  8. biittner77
    Milton Bradley implied that by saying he got racist hate mail from the Cubs front office. If he actually said that as some have suggested.
  9. biittner77
    Next week he'll run the same column but will autocorrect Starlin Castro to Tyler Colvin. Or did he already do that in reverse?
  10. biittner77
    More like, criticize Jim Hendry for what he is: a bad GM. Don't criticize him for what he is not: a vindictive crazy person.
  11. biittner77
    How about none of the above. Frote and Taylor are pretty interchangeable. Wolfe doesn't do anything on offense that Taylor can't do. Maybe they use a late round pick on a project runningback that can bring something else to the table like a short yardage fullback
  12. biittner77
    As far as I'm concerned, no matter what the Hawks do in the playoffs this has been a fun season. I'll be mad if they don't win the Cup but that won't take away from what they've done this year. If they lose in the first or second round the worst part will not be missing a once in a lifetime opportunity, it will be people doubting their chances next year because they lost a playoff series. I think if they just stuck with Niemi- and said you're the starter tomorrow regardless of what happens today he would settle down and play well.
  13. biittner77
    No, it was a mistake in and of itself. No, it was compounding a mistake by trying to correct it.
  14. biittner77
    Was not paying Wood $10m/year a mistake? His stats last year were a little better than I thought: 55 IP 4.25 ERA, 99 ERA+, 1.38 whip 20 saves not too bad but hardly worth what he got from Cleveland. For comparison, Kevin Gregg 68.2 IP 4.72 ERA, 95 ERA+, 1.31 whip 23 saves. This is not to say that Gregg was a good acquisition but that Wood was pretty close for more than twice the price. Wood's k/9 was just over 10 while Gregg's was just over 9.
  15. biittner77
    They say that Vitters, if he reaches his potential, will have the kind of bat that they would make room for somewhere. They could keep Ramirez at 3rd and put Vitters in LF, RF or first. They could also move Ramirez to first and put Vitters at 3rd. We won't have a problem if Vitters and some of these other youngsters reach their potential, but we haven't been very lucky with position players reaching their potential. Of course. Which is why they won't hesitate to give Ramirez another 3 year deal- or at least if they don't it won't be because they don't want to block Vitters.
  16. biittner77
    They can't have too many that played for other teams either. Off the top of my head, the only Cub developed OF that meets that criteria would be Joe Carter. I guess there must be others but I'm having trouble remembering any. Maybe Billy Hatcher?
  17. biittner77
    They say that Vitters, if he reaches his potential, will have the kind of bat that they would make room for somewhere. They could keep Ramirez at 3rd and put Vitters in LF, RF or first. They could also move Ramirez to first and put Vitters at 3rd.
  18. biittner77
    So replace Lee with Colvin? That is not only not a good option, it's not an option. Soriano at first? The other fielders are going to be pissed at all the errors they get when he hops to catch their throws. Colvin replacing Lee this year certainly isn't an option. Next year, who knows? It's not really likely but it's not inconceivable that Colvin could show enough over the course of this season to be given a shot at LF next year. As for the hop, that's an OF thing. I'm sure he would come up with some other dumb trademark playing first.
  19. biittner77
    Where is Larry Biittner? Rick Monday and Bill Madlock make the list. Seems like neither of them were with the team long enough to warrant a top 50 spot. Either that or they should have made this a top 40 list and cut some of the fluff.
  20. biittner77
    Does Wisonsin get Bo Ryan talent because of the system or because that's the only type of player willing to play at Wisconsin? It seems like they have always played the same, slow, boring system and that would not appeal to a lot of players. But isn't that more a reflection of the coaches they have or are the coaches adapting to the talent they have?
  21. biittner77
    pillowcase+2 bricks+lake= cat problem solved
  22. biittner77
    maybe seeing a steady dose of runners getting thrown out in ST will convince Piniella to never steal bases during the season.
  23. biittner77
    The plan was to build the Braves 2.0, a team that would win consistently. They failed miserably. The fact that they actually did get a good amount of arms is meaningless. That was only part of the plan, and it didn't lead to consistent winning. They had 5 90+ loss season, only 2 90+ win seasons (and one required a 163rd game). Even discounting the first few seasons under this plan, they were 1032-1073 in 13 seasons after the plan was in place. It was a failure, no ifs ands or buts. Since 2003 They've made the ploffs 3 times and finished 2nd twice. That's not reaching the ultimate goal but it's not utter failure either.
  24. biittner77
    I thought that had been the case for a while. Develop a stockpile of arms and then trade them for the position players you need. It was the MacPhail plan starting in 1994, and it was a failure. The plan worked in so far as developing pitchers. The problem came when they traded them for Juan Pierre or held on to them too long. During the MacPhail Era the Cubs have put a lot of pitchers into the League: (off the top of my head) Wood Prior Zambrano Wells Marmol Guzman Wuertz Wellemeyer* Nolasco* Farnsworth Marshall Gallagher (he may be after MacPhail but under the same philosophy Beltran whom they sold high on- sort of Hill- had at least 1 good year for a playoff team. Dontrelle Willis There's probably more which basically comes to 1 a year that makes at least some positive impact with someone.
  25. biittner77
    Another priority for Hendry and Piniella has been to get more athletic ie fast. Move Soriano to first and get a LH lf with some speed. In a perfect world Tyler Colvin emerges as that guy after a healthy successful full year at AAA. That doesn't solve the need for a LH power bat but it may be a direct they decide to go in. I'm not suggesting it's a good option but it would be a cheap one.
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