Diffusion

Options left Wellemeyer - 0 Ohman -1 (but would need to clear waivers) Novoa - 1 Wuertz - 2 Koronka - 2

Come on Japan vs DR final!

They were guaranteed immunity from everything apart from perjury as one of the conditions of their testimony. That has nothing to do with any sanctions a private organization, such as Major League Baseball, would want to levy upon their players. It only has to do with possible criminal charges filed by the government (the body granting the immunity) that would come DIRECTLY from that testimony. Yeh, and major league baseball only knew of what Bonds said via an illegal leak of sealed grand jury testimony. MLB taking that leak and using it against him, legally I suspect that's pretty much not a viable option. Besides, steroids wasn't illegal. How on earth can MLB suspend someone for breaking a law that didn't even exist?

.285/.303/.447 Young's numbers in 52 games at Triple-A last year. 4 walks, 33 strikeouts in 234 plate appearances. 7 stolen bases, 4 caught stealings. .250/.323/.357 in 15 games this Spring. 2 walks, 4 strikeouts in 31 plate appearances. That said, 5 swiped bags out of 5. But I can see why the Devil Rays are sending this 20 year old to Triple-A. How terrible of them. BJ Upton will make the team the moment they find a taker for Julio Lugo. That though could be a while coming. There's no market for Lugo. The Rays might even have to wait for next winter when he hits free agency.

He was able to throw mid 90s last year!

C Michael Barrett, 1st round (Expos) 1B Derrek Lee, 1st round (Padres) 2B Todd Walker, 1st round (Twins) 3B Aramis Ramirez, international (Pirates) SS Ronny Cedeno, international (Cubs) LF Matt Murton, 1st round (32nd overall, Red Sox) CF Juan Pierre, 13th round (Rockies) RF Jacque Jones, 2nd round (37th overall, Twins) C Henry Blanco, international (Dodgers) SS Neifi Perez, international (Rockies) 2B/OF Jerry Hairston, 11th round (Orioles) 3B/OF John Mabry, 6th round (Cardinals) OF Angel Pagan, 4th round (Mets) 1B/OF Michael Restovich, 2nd round (Twins) OF Marquis Grissom, 3rd round (Expos) SP Carlos Zambrano, international (Cubs) SP Mark Prior, 1st round (Cubs) SP Kerry Wood, 1st round (Cubs) SP Greg Maddux, 2nd round (31st overall, Cubs) SP Wade Miller, 20th round (Astros) SP Jerome Williams, 1st round (Giants) SP Angel Guzman, international (Royals) SP Rich Hill, 4th round (Cubs) SP Sean Marshall, 6th round (Cubs) SP Glendon Rusch, 17th round (Brewers) RP Ryan Dempster, 3rd round (Rangers) RP Scott Eyre, 9th round (Rangers) RP Bob Howry, 5th round (Giants) RP Will Ohman, 8th round (Cubs) RP Roberto Novoa, international Pirates) RP Scott Williamson, 9th round (Reds) RP Michael Wuertz, 11th round (Cubs) RP Todd Wellemeyer, 4th round (Cubs)

Was that the Pirates' Oliver Perez that started for Mexico? If so, wow, his stuff was awful.

Is this an indication that the BlueJays don't think the free agent starting pitching market is going to settle down? An interesting conclusion. It's really been an issue of supply and demand these last few years, with everyone wanting pitching and there not really being that many good pitchers hitting the market. And next year's free agent crop is going to be as deep as it's been in a long time. As of right now, it's highly likely that Andy Pettitte, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt, Kelvim Escobar, Jose Contreras, Jeff Weaver, Wade Miller, Greg Maddux and Brad Radke will all become free agents, and Kerry Wood and Mike Mussina may have a team options bought out.

They were guaranteed immunity from everything apart from perjury as one of the conditions of their testimony.

So.

Yeh, that's really fair. The Cubs' didn't make the playoffs so you take it out on one player by ridiculously calling him a "complete bust". I guess Nomar was doing a really good job up until the bottom of the ninth inning on September 26th, seeing as the Cubs were just about to pull 1.5 games clear of the closest team in the wild card race. And then, by only hitting .296/.424/.407 in 34 PA in the 7 remaining games, he blew it. Maybe you were expecting too much. Like Nomar to play everyday and hit like it was 2000 while playing Gold-Glove defence. Jeez. It was absolutely no secret that Nomar was having problems with his Achilles, and that he hadn't been quite his old self with the Red Sox that year. Indeed, at the time, people were even talking about him being a clubhouse cancer. We knew what we were getting, and we knew it was a gamble, and we decided that it was worth it relative to what we were giving up. Given that over the final two months of the season Nomar improved our team at a negligible cost (erm, Alex Gonzalez?), it's plain that he did that. The fact that he was a big name, the fact that he was traded at the deadline and the fact that the playoff race was tight, that's all completely academic. We didn't trade for a player guaranteed to put you over the top if you deal for him at the deadline in the middle of a tight playoff race, we traded for Nomar Garciaparra. What did Hendry know that everyone didn't know? That's an honest question. Okay, that makes some sense. Thanks. I just didn't know the story behind the inclusion of Murton in the deal, and Epstein insisting on Murton being in the deal sounded extremely strange, so that's the only reason I asked. Really, that you constantly lie and make things up only occured to me later! :wink:

Garciaparra played in 43 of the 58 games the Cubs played in 2004 after they traded for him. He hit .297/.364/.455, and the cost to the Cubs was in the region of $1m, plus the prospects, minus Alex Gonzalez. Nomar's brief 2004 stint with the Cubs was also quite probably a factor in him deciding to spend 2005 in Chicago. As a result, I have absolutely no idea how you can describe the Garciaparra part of the Garciaparra trade a "complete bust". Do you need me to quote for you Alex Gonzalez's career line? Now, obviously, due to the groin injury, Garciaparra returning in 2005 didn't work out for the Cubs as they might have planned. That though does not necessarily mean that the decision to bring him back was a bad one, unless you want to argue that the Cubs had any knowledge that Garciaparra would injure not the Achilles that had troubled him during 2004 but his groin. Make no mistake about it though, there was nothing wrong with Garciaparra's bat last year - if you count spring training, Nomar hit .306/.336/.541 in 122 PA before he got injured, and .318/.347/.531 in 190 PA after it, which comes to .314/.343/.534 in 312 PA overall. His career numbers? .320/.367/.544. His defence is another matter, of course, and it wasn't particularly good, but it would have needed to have been twenty times worse than it was for your labelling of him as a "complete bust" to be even remotely accurate. In all, Garciaparra cost the Cubs three prospects, minus Alex Gonzalez, and cost the Cubs just under $10m. He played 105 of a possible 220 regular season games with the Cubs, hit .289/.339/.453 and was poor defensively. And that was pretty much the fulfillment of the worst case scenario. If it's 31 July 2004 again, and the same trade is on the table, you take it every single time, each time being a fleecing, and as with any trade you just hope that ill-fortune doesn't nix the best laid plans. Care to explain how that works, or maybe provide a source on this? The Expos demanded Brendan Harris from the Cubs, so the Boston GM insisted upon sending a decent prospect of his own to Chicago?

What are Pierre's numbers? .214/.233/.286 in 30 PA (6-for-28, 3B, BB, 2 K, 0/3 SB/CS)

Nolasco 8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 HR, 3 BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA Mitre 5 IP, 4 H, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 1.80 ERA Pinto 5 IP, 5 H, 0 HR, 5 BB, 7 K, 3.60 ERA

BLUE JAYS David Bush (2002, 2nd round) Reed Johnson (1999, 17th round) Jay Gibbons (1998, 14th round) Michael Young (1997, 5th round) Orlando Hudson (1997, 43rd round) Casey Blake (1996, 7th round) Josh Phelps (1996, 10th round) Craig Wilson (1995, 2nd round) Ryan Freel (1995, 10th round) Tim Crabtree (1992, 2nd round) Chris Stynes (1991, 3rd round) Ben Weber (1991, 20th round) Jon Olerud (1989, 3rd round) Jeff Kent (1989, 20th round) Dave Weathers (1988, 3rd round) Woody Williams (1988, 28th round) Derek Bell (1987, 2nd round) Mike Timlin (1987, 5th round) Ryan Thompson (1987, 13th round) Bob MacDonald (1987, 19th round) I'm not sure when Wilkin became Toronto scouting director, so cut off as applicable.

It's complicated. Here are the possibilities depending upon who wins tonights all-important all-Far-Eastern game, which is being played in Anaheim. -- If Korea win, Korea win the group and the US will also advance unless they lose 1-0 in 14 innings to Mexico, in which case Mexico will go through. Japan are out. -- If Japan win and score 6 or less, Japan and Korea go through and the US and Mexico are out, regardless of the result of tomorrow's matchup. -- If Japan win, score 8 or more, and win by a margin of 2 runs or more, Japan are through and Mexico will be out. If the US then beat Mexico, they will go through. If they don't, Korea advance. -- If Japan win, score 8 or more, and win by a margin of exactly 1 run, Mexico are out and the US will be out too if they lose to Mexico. But if they beat Mexico, the US will go through, and -- If Japan win, score exactly 7 and win by a margin of 2 runs or more, Japan will go through, and Mexico will be out. Korea will go through if the US lose to Mexico, but if the US win, extremely complicated earned run and then, if necessary, batting average rules will apply to Korea and the US to decide which of the two go through. And if that doesn't solve things, lots will be drawn. -- If Japan win 7-6, Mexico will be out. Japan and Korea will go through if the US lose to Mexico, but if the US win, extremely complicated earned run and then, if necessary, batting average rules will apply to Korea, Japan and the US to decide which two of the three go through. And if that doesn't solve things, lots will be drawn.

Cub drafts 1987-2005, Round 2 onwards MLB career featuring ERA < 4.50 (min 150 IP) or OPS > .730 (min 500 PA) Dontrelle Willis (2000, 8th round) Eric Hinske (1998, 17th round) Justin Speier (1995, 55th round) Kyle Farnsworth (1994, 47th round) Brant Brown (1992, 3rd round) Terry Adams (1991, 4th round) Steve Trachsel (1991, 8th round) Jon Lieber (1991, 9th round) Matt Franco (1987, 7th round) A short and very unimpressive list, no? You're talking about 1039 draft picks over 19 drafts, and the Cubs have just 9 players that have gone on to have useful careers to show for all that (assuming my definition of a useful career is a fair one, and personally I don't think my requirements are particularly stringent). And 3 of them came within 5 picks of each other in 1 draft! Compare this to the five other teams in the NL Central today, same criteria... CARDINALS Dan Haren (2001, 2nd round) Coco Crisp (1999, 7th round) Albert Pujols (1999, 13th round) Rick Ankiel (1997, 2nd round) Chris Richard (1995, 19th round) Cliff Politte (1995, 54th round) Placido Polanco (1994, 19th round) T.J. Mathews (1992, 32nd round) John Mabry (1991, 6th round) John Frascatore (1991, 24th round) Rheal Cormier (1988, 6th round) Jeremy Hernandez (1987, 2nd round) Ray Lankford (1987, 3rd round) [A very strong list] ASTROS Jason Lane (1999, 6th round) Morgan Ensberg (1998, 9th round) Keith Ginter (1998, 10th round) Eric Brynes (1997, 4th round) Wade Miller (1996, 20th round) Roy Oswalt (1996, 23rd round) Julio Lugo (1994, 43rd round) Jaime Walker (1993, 10th round) Shane Reynolds (1989, 3rd round) Luis Gonzalez (1988, 4th round) Kenny Lofton (1988, 17th round) Al Osuna (1987, 16th round) Darryl Kile (1987, 30th round) [What a sensational list, simply off the charts] REDS Ben Broussard (1999, 2nd round) Adam Dunn (1998, 2nd round) BJ Ryan (1998, 17th round) Scott Williamson (1997, 9th round) Jason LaRue (1995, 5th round) Ray King (1995, 8th round) Aaron Boone (1994, 3rd round) John Riedling (1994, 22nd round) Scott Sullivan (1993, 2nd round) Chad Fox (1992, 23rd round) Trevor Hoffman (1989, 11th round) Reggie Sanders (1987, 7th round) Butch Henry (1987, 15th round) [Very strong list again] PIRATES Chris Shelton (2001, 33rd round) Chris Young (2000, 3rd round) Dave Williams (1998, 17th round) Rob Mackowiak (1996, 53rd round) Marc Wilkins (1992, 47th round) Kevin Young (1990, 7th round) Brian Shouse (1990, 13th round) Rick White (1990, 15th round) Mark Johnson (1990, 20th round) Steve Cooke (1989, 35th round) Blas Minor (1988, 6th round) Tim Wakefield (1988, 8th round) Randy Tomlin (1988, 18th round) [Not much top notch talent, but decent depth] BREWERS Bill Hall (1998, 6th round) Ronnie Belliard (1994, 8th round) Mark Loretta (1993, 7th round) Jeff Cirillo (1991, 11th round) Troy O'Leary (1987, 13th round) [Ouch. That's awful] I think from that it's pretty clear that the Cubs' list is a weak one, one completely outclassed by the Astros', Cardinals' and Reds' lists, although one nowhere near as pathetic as the Brewers', and probably better than the Pirates' too. Why? Why have the Cubs had such difficulty getting players from the draft to the major leagues? Poor scouting or poor player development? A combination of both? And what does this mean for the futures of the following: Grant Johnson, Eric Patterson and Sean Gallagher (2004), Sean Marshall (2003), Brian Dopirak, Justin Jones, Billy Petrick, Rich Hill and Sergio Mitre (2002), and indeed the 2005 draft class? Is it really worth the Cubs spending money on these kind of draft picks? Would they not be better off trying to sign first round talents that drop due to signability concerns? Or perhaps better off just concentrating on signing more international free agents? It's pretty clear that once the first round talents are gone, it's slim pickings, and the Cubs aren't getting any of them anyway.

Anyone remember Luke Scott? No, I didn't think so. Hit .368/.411/.779 in 73 PA last Spring for the Astros and made the team. And then hit .188/.270/.288 in 89 PA for the Astros last year. As if to underline that you can ignore Spring Training numbers.

Waaaaa wwwaaaaaaaa wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa A baseball team isn't for October, it's for life.

The mere possibility of Prior getting injured is why you should build for yourself a kick-ass offence. One that can even withstand the possibility of the loss of a player like Derrek Lee.

To simplify things as much as possible... If Japan beats Korea, the only thing that matters is how many runs Japan score. In the case of less than 7 runs, the US is out. In the case of 7 runs, if the US beats Mexico, there will be complicated tiebreakers. In the case of more than 7 runs, if the US beats Mexico, they advance. And, so far, the Koreans have only allowed 7 runs in 5 games the entire tournament. So, if you're supporting the US, either root for Korea to win, or for them to get blown-out and mercy-ruled.

Judging by the defensive numbers (DPs, E, FPCT, PO, A etc...), Paul Witt played shortstop, Michael Griffin was at second base and Kevin Russo at third. http://baylorbears.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/stats/2004-2005/teamcume.html .255/.307/.392 with a 52/12 K/BB ratio in 215 PA really count as holding your own when you're in your age 21 season and at short-season A-ball? I think that's stretching things a bit.

First things first, please, let's not talk in wins. It's difficult enough to separate a pitcher's contribution from that of his defence from that of the opposition batter without even considering how that stacks up relative to what's happening in the other half of the innings or what happens once the pitcher has been relieved. Aside from that though, CubbieRich is a lot closer to the truth than a lot of you would care to admit - WHIP is a pretty lousy and unreliable statistic in itself. It does indeed count a single, double, triple, home run and walk as one and the same, while strangely disregarding hit by pitches (though I'm not really too fussed about it omitting wild pitches), and that's preposterous. Furthermore, if you think about it, WHIP is just an extremely crude expression of the rate at which a pitcher allows home runs, the rate at which a pitcher allows hits on balls in play, the rate at which a pitcher allows balls in play (strikeout rate) and the rate at which a pitcher allows walks. Throw all that together, without making any adjustment for their relative significances, and you get WHIP. It can approximate a player's value, but that's about the extent of it. It's not at all accurate, and it's absolutely useless as a predictive value. Quite why people become so attached to "catch-all metrics" (ironically titled, since they really don't catch-all) I don't know, because it's so much informative and so much more accurate to talk in terms of a handful of different statistics. All WHIP does is give you a feel for who the best pitchers in the game were at some stage. But you don't really need a feel for that. It's generally pretty obvious. As such, I don't see the value of WHIP at all, and I think the baseball world would be better off if people just stopped using it. The same, only three times over, goes for wins for pitchers.

I completely disagree. Not only do I think more of the intensity, excitement and atmosphere down there on an absolute scale, the DR-Puerto Rico game last night being simply unreal, unlike anything I've really seen before, but when you consider things in per person terms, remembering that the Hiram Bithorn stadium holds just 19,000, I think it blows anything you'll see from an American crowd out of the water.

How can the umpires even call that? If they saw it, and they were absolutely sure of it, they'd have called it first up. Not on appeal. And unless you saw it and you're absolutely sure of it, you can't make a call like that. Because that's never called, and because the guy was safe at the plate by a mile, and he'd have gained no advantage by leaving a fraction of a second early, which he didn't.