CoolHandLuke

I want to be able to root for Mendenhall as a pro, so I really hope the 'boys don't get him.

I love how fast his draft is moving.

Harvey looks tiny.

Jeebus, what does Dorsey have on his wrist?!

No surprises so far!

Kerry's reaction was awesome as well.

I think the real question is this: Is Oswalt's perceived value equal to his actual value? I don't think he is the ace that people seem to think he is. He is good no doubt, but is he better enough than Hill to give up a lot of our younger cheaper guys?

I don't think Fox is really an option at catcher anymore, barring an emergency. I though we had a latin player in the higher levels who was known for his defense? Jose Reyes maybe?

Assuming they don't pick up the option, do we have any minor leaguers who could step up and fill the backup role cheaply?

:banned:

condescension? :wink:

I think the only super realistic scenario in which Johnson puts up an OBP close to .390 or better is if he ends up being used in a fairly strict platoon in which he faces lefties for a solid majority of his at-bats.

Actually, Johnson, at his best (2006 in 134 games) had an OBP of .390. If that's a "league average OBP sort of hitter," can we have a lineup full of league average sort of hitters? Do you think that he's going to repeat his 2006 performance? Because I don't think it's especially likely. Ignore 2007 and you've still got to regress to the mean and apply an aging curve; ignoring 2007 is ignoring valuable information to add to our forecast. And so while his .390 OBP for the Jays two years ago was nice, I don't know that it qualifies as the best case scenario for Johnson this season. I can't use Excel at work, sadly, but if I'm remembering correctly, Johnson's composite forecast for this season wasn't especially spectacular, with an OBP around .325 or so. I have no idea whether or not he's going to repeat his performance, seeing as how he was injured most of last year with a herniated disc that required surgery. 2007 should not be ignored, but it also needs to carry a caveat. Given that he had one year of .390 OBP, got injured, then posted a year of .305 OBP, and considering his performance thus far this year, I would not be surprised to see him end the season closer to the .390 than the .305. What about the two years previous when his OBP was .320 and .332 respectively, do they count?

Replacing Blanco with Laird would be an upgrade as long as he doesn't cut into Geo's playing time. Speaking of which, is this finally the last year of that bloated backup catcher contract?

Seriously. Ryan Theriot hit a single yesterday. I want you to find me a quote from anyone that says that Ryan Theriot will never hit a single. I'll wait. Take all the time you need. Oh? Nobody has said that? Okay then. The argument against Ryan Theriot is not that he will never, ever do anything, and will hit .000/.000/.000 with zero putouts and zero assists. The argument is that over the course of a full season, Ryan Theriot is unlikely to be especially productive at shortstop - his median forecast is basically right at replacement level, and his high-end forecast still falls short of league average production from his position. He will occasionally have good days, sure - I'm sure I can find some game-winning hits from Neifi Perez if I go back and check the play-by-play records. But over time, the likelihood is that the bad days will outnumber the good. That said. If for whatever reason you will only be satisfied with Ryan Theriot's detractors if we say bad things about him even on the good days - I am there. I am so there. If that's really all that you need to... well, I have no idea why this seems to bother you, but if it does, I will go ahead and provide that valuable service to you. So far as I am capable, I will go ahead and find a way to communicate to you, personally, Ryan Theriot's worth as a starting shortstop - in game threads, in postgame discussions... any time, any place. You're welcome in advance. I think I am in love with this post! Welcome to the boards. Me too, because just what these boards need is more condescending posts. Somebody has to fill the Meph-void. Hopefully Colin loves the draft, because Meph was almost essential on draft day.

Drew's contract is off the books by 2011. Soriano's contract is off the books by 2014. Injury prone or not, Drew has a shorter contract, thus IMO would have more value to the Cubs, then a semi-productive healthy Soriano. Soriano is a better player. Drew is statistically a pretty decent player, but we dont need another average outfield how will that help us out in anyway more than Soriano does? I don't think anyone is really arguing that Drew is better than Soriano (which he may be, that's not really the point of the thread as I see it) rather they are arguing that saving about 20 million a year from 2012-2014 is worth whatever loss of production there is (although it's debatable that there would even be a loss of production). Personally I feel that replacing Soriano with a more OBP-centric player would actually benefit the team, even if there is a pretty large decrease in power. Especially considering Soriano is put into the leadoff spot in the order. Yea I agree that that it would be cheaper to get Drew over Soriano, but what am I basing Soriano being better than Drew you ask? Umm probably because besides like 2 years in Drew's career hes either been hurt or has been an above average corner outfielder. I know Soriano has had injuries since hes been on the Cubs, but at full strength he has so much more to offer. What you typed here doesn't seem like a reply to what I said.

Actually no, I've never heard of that. Is that something that's widely acknowledged? It's based on the fact that the worst teams usually win about one third of their games and the best teams usually lose about one third of their games. 60/60/60 is bad addition I believe.

closer

There weren't many better options for one thing. I don't believe that Lou likes to use setup guys without a lead (although I could be wrong on this)

Theres no denying Theriot is king of the base hit, but aside from that, he offers very little value to a big league roster. He's a pesky singles hitter, with average to below average defense at SS. not to mention that most of the hate (obviously a reactionary word, not true hatred) is based on his long history of being decidedly mediocre at best, and yet he is still cemented into the lineup for the foreseeable future.

Theriot dropped the feed from Cedeno on what could have been an inning ending double play that would have preserved the tie.

Cedeno for starting short stop.

THERIOT. hate

I wish we had more than one relief pitcher that I felt comfortable with in close games.