RynoRules

Assuming they move up the ladder at an avg. pace, when could we expect to see the following guys at Wrigley (including for a Sept. call up in 06' or 07'): Dopirak EPatt Harvey I ask because I know less about minor league promotions than many here and wish to learn. Thanks.

I assume you say this because there is no hard proof that he cheated? Or b/c lots of people were cheating and he was best of the cheaters?

Good point. I was also thinking that Izturis' arrival has forced Cedeo to second and Neifi to the bench. This is a good thing.

Lets just catch the Brewers and Stros.

It looks like the Cubs did not claim him. Will Carroll, in today's Under the Knife column, mentions that he was told the Astros had the prevailing claim. Well, then it looks like it wouldn't have mattered. The Astros were pretty desperate to make a deal before the deadline to improve their offense-if they didn't make the trade for him, the Braves must have been asking for entirely too steep of a price. I'd bet they asked for eithr Lidge or Oswalt since their were ings that both were available. Rogers reported this morning that Oswalt was very nearly traded to Boston.

http://paulmelone.typepad.com/paul_melone/images/candle.jpg http://circlechange.com/mlbb/photo/MCabrera.jpg

http://paulmelone.typepad.com/paul_melone/images/candle.jpg

PLEASE BE TRUE!!!! PLEASE BE TRUE!!!!

Well, I guess the good thing ishe never flatly denied using them like Palmeiro did. What he said was tantamount to an admission, though I'd have a much greater degree of respect for him if he just came clean (no pun intended).

In response to the thread's title: I sure as heck hope so!

Good one.

Agreed. Having a guy who actually takes pitches and walks behind Pierre and in front of Lee, Tejada (assuming my abve scenario), and ARam would be very good. The really good part of my scenario, IMO, is you have guy like Barrett - with .300 / .380 / .450 potential - hitting in the six hole.

I don't think you can exclude the possibility that JH will pursue Tejada again, using Ronny and two of our young pitchers as bait. Then you move Izturis to 2B (though I'd prefer to move Tejada there). Assuming we resign Pierre (looks like we will right now, based on JH's radio interview of this week), you have: Pierre - CF Murton - LF Lee - 1B Tejada - SS ARam - 3B Barrett - C Jones - RF Izturis - 2B Not the situation I'd prefer, but not so bad either.

He's definitely comfortable with building a team around speed and defense (going by his Cardinal teams). The big difference with him is he won't tolerate the horse-(you know what) that Dusty does. I welcome that.

That Kirk Gibson highlight is so overplayed that it doesn't do anything for me anymore. Sure, it was a great moment, but it's just become so saturated. Did you see it live when it happened? If not, I can undersatand why I doesn't effect you as it does many of us. You truly had to be there and understand the context. No one got runs off Eck that year - he was impossible to hit. The Dodgers were decided underdogs who beat the Mets in the NLCS with smoke and mirrors and for the most part without Gibson, who strained his hammy sliding into second. The rest of their lineup was unimpressive - guys like Marshall, Sax, Mike Davis, Sosccia (sp?), Alfredo Griffin, John Shelby, Jeff Hamilton, etc. If you look at their team hitting stats they are far worse than the 06' Cubs. As for pitchging, besides Orel and his season for the ages, it was Leary and Belcher pitching way over their heads, and a great bullpen lead by Howell, Pena and Orosco. On paper, they had no business even being in the WS, nevermind standing up to the A's with The Juice...I mean Bash Brothers and a solid staff of veteran starters, plus Eck, the MVP and Cy Young winner. When he hobbled up and there and feebly fouled off a couple of picthes I recall thinking that this would be over fairly quickly. Then he reached out over the plate and took what looked like a desperation "make some contact" swing. When the ball took off it looked like a routine fly...but then Canseco kept on drfiting back. At first I thought he was settling under the ball deep in RF, but it never stopped going. It was nothing short of amazing.

Pirates had a great trio with Bonds, Bonnilla and Van Slyke, and some nice complimentary guys like Lind, Merced, Buechele, and the immortal Dom Slaught. I believe Johnny Ray was their 2B, Pena wat at C, and the Joe Orsulak was the CF'er before Bonds. Where's Larry McWilliams now? I just watched the '84 clincher recently. Johnny "The Crooner" Ray, Tony Pena and Orsulak were their guys in the 80's, no? That may have been what you meant. They also had the immortal RJ Reynolds and a 3B named Jim Morrison (that's not a joke) who absolutely killed the Cubs but couldn't hit against anyone else. Since were on the topic, we should see if Candy Maldanado will come back as our 4th OFer next year.

Pirates had a great trio with Bonds, Bonnilla and Van Slyke, and some nice complimentary guys like Lind, Merced, Buechele, and the immortal Dom Slaught.

I would give lots of credit to Hendry's imagination if he pulled this off. Acquiring Andruw would be good protection if Aramis does indeed walk away. And makes the team far more formidable going into next year if Aramis stays.

I would give lots of credit to Hendry's imagination if he pulled this off. Agreed. Could this be why he is showcasing Mateo? Just a thought.

No one is giving Wood that kind of money - no one.

It actually sounds like speculation on Sullivan's part - what is his source? Is he just throwing it out there based on his own observations? He did qualify his statement.

Me too my friend. (apparently we can no longer torment ourselves with that electrifying "and Kerry Wood plays long ball!" YouTube.com video) I probably watched that clip 200 times. Never stopped giving me chills especially when they panned to the crowd outside on waveland (I think it was waveland[/b ]. Correct. I really believed that his HR would swing the momentum back to us. :cry:

I am not sure the idea of corner OFers with power nos. is outdated, but it is boxed-in and provincial thinking. If you get power nos. from non-traditional positions - such as catcher, second base, shortstop and/or CF - than you can keep Murton in LF and be happy with his potential for .300 / .375 and 15 HRs. Accordingly, if you add, for instance, Jones and Soriano (2B); Tejada (SS and move Izturis to 2B) and Jones; or Tejada (SS - trading Cedeno and/or Izturis to get him) and Soriano (2B), you can afford to keep Murt out there, IMO. Frankly, TT, I am surprised that you support the notion that corner OFers must be "power guys".

For those of us who are 30 or older (ouch it hurts to say that), it was our generation, so I say it was awesome. Still not the best moment in baseball that our generation (Generation X; most on this bd. belong to Gen. Y I guess) has seen. That happened in 1988: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ17awQG1EM He never should have been the MVP that year, but its still a great story. EDIT: BTW, prior to joining the Braves, Bream was a long time member of the Pirates. Ouch.