nilodnayr

thats a great point. i remember some of the cubs players already saying theyd love to have cuban as the owner. if they knew mlb screwed cuban, that couldnt work out well for the owners and mlb. But what would the repercussions be? Are the players going to strike if Cuban is muscled out? Are they going to hold a harder line during the next CB? Don't think so. Its all a PR standpoint, the players have no leverage in this situation because they won't do anything if they don't get their way and the league knows that. yeah theres really gonna be no repercussions. itll probably be just some bad feelings from the fans and players. and the league wont care about that in the first place. don't forget that there is this govermental body, chaired by Arlen Specter, called the SEC. Specter is on record as being in favor of revoking MLB's anti-trust exemption. additionally, the Tribune Co. owes a fiduciary responsibility to stockholders to maximize profits, which would include any sale of assets (the Cubs/ Wrigley). the Cubs are owned, and are being sold by a corporate entity, therefore, MLB's hands may very well be tied this time. MLB, Selig, and concerned lawyers are well aware of this fact. stay tuned. Cuban is fully in play, imho... I was just addressing the repercussions from the players. Definitely the fiduciary responsibility is going to make this very interesting. The only other public knowledge of a sale of a team to not the highest bidder was the BoSox, right? When was the last time a public corporation sold a team? The Dodgers?

but they're the Indians Why don't you understand it? The Yankess play in NY and the Indians play in the Cleve. Face it, these "experts" need quotes around them.

thats a great point. i remember some of the cubs players already saying theyd love to have cuban as the owner. if they knew mlb screwed cuban, that couldnt work out well for the owners and mlb. But what would the repercussions be? Are the players going to strike if Cuban is muscled out? Are they going to hold a harder line during the next CB? Don't think so. Its all a PR standpoint, the players have no leverage in this situation because they won't do anything if they don't get their way and the league knows that.

Why do you put a negative spin on everything? It is something I heard and decided to share here because I thought it was funny. I obviously didn't stand on the sears tower and say "ESPN loves the Cubs" , bro-sifer. But thanks for overanalyzing a couple of basic thoughts. The change the title of the thread from ESPN to Richard Justice.

Season by season park adjustments are horrible. I'm sure there have been many articles on this, but if you look year to year, they are quite variable. And not just for wrigley, where wind is a determining factor, or parks that move fences, but for pretty much every park.

Beat the Brewers in extras AND condemn your team to years of crapitude, all within about 16 hours. I LOVE the Astros!!!!!

And we're back up to 71.79337%.

Kendall has been awesome for 1 month. The other 2 months his OPS is in the 5's thats not good. Couple that with his terrible defense and inability to throw out King Kong Bundy trying to steal, and his performance with the Cubs has been subpar. There is plenty of reason to believe Soto could have put up better numbers on the average then Jason Kendall. Additionally, regardless of Soto's production, we would have a much better idea of what to do for Catcher next year. Ya, that is exactly what I am thinking about these last 2 months. And by the way, I still think Kendall has been awesome for this team I'm not sure I follow...I was trying to say that we should have started Soto regularly a long time ago to get a good read as to whether or not he could take over the starting job next year.

Kendall has been awesome for 1 month. The other 2 months his OPS is in the 5's thats not good. Couple that with his terrible defense and inability to throw out King Kong Bundy trying to steal, and his performance with the Cubs has been subpar. There is plenty of reason to believe Soto could have put up better numbers on the average then Jason Kendall. Additionally, regardless of Soto's production, we would have a much better idea of what to do for Catcher next year.

Well said. If the A's get their money's worth on Blevins, then hooray for them. The Cubs definitely are getting their money's worth on Kendall. Say what you will about the guy, but if Kendall hadn't filled the offensive sinkhole at C, then the Cubs are almost certainly looking up at the Brewers right now. C wouldnt have been an offensive sinkhole if we would have brought Soto up and played him.

The Cubs are the number one cause of feline AIDS. They are also the #1 cause of me drinking 15 Labatts and puking on my Practice Leader (ahh memories, or lack thereof, of the 2004 playoff, or lackthereof, run)

Cocaine's a hell of a drug.

If we don't make the playoffs it will most likely be bay a game or two, meaning, that every game we didn't win will be the reason.

Where is that link? thanks. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/ps_odds.php

It's small but the Brewers have a better chance of gaining ground on us in those 2 games than they do losing ground. It's not statistically insignificant. Their chance of winning both games is .52^2=27% Their chance of losing both games is .48^2=23% Hence, their chance of gaining ground over losing it is 4%

BP has us at a 55.44309% chance of making the playoffs. Unfortunately, yesterday was a rough day... we lost 15.97812%.

Soto was already ready. He can replace an injured position player or an injured pitcher now on the postseason roster because of the new rule. Its not position for position anymore?

I think ATL will do the trade for Marshall. If they do trade him, I think they could get more, especially since they'll be selling high with the year he's having. I think they could get more in terms of prospects, but they aren't going to find anyone whos major league proven and cheap like Marshall. They are looking for someone to step into the rotation for 2008 and provide some certainty that they didn't have with their rotation of prospects this year. Plus, who else needs a SS? There's about 10 teams that could use a SS. Cubs Cards Pitt (if they trade Wilson) Hou SF White Sox KC Detroit (depending on Guillen) Bal (Tejada) Toronto Oakland (see what they do with Crosby) . The Cubs would be out of their mind trying to use Wuertz/minor leaguer in the same role as Marmol could potentially be used next year. Let's not kid oursleves and assume Marmol was maximized this year. And what SP do those teams have to trade? IMO Marshall>>Garland. Detroit would probably the only team that can put together a better offer. And I forgot to mention that its pretty much a lock that Jack Wilson, or another (thought to be) defensive minded SS will be headed to the Tigers, eliminating the only team that could put together a better package.

I think Marmol's done a great job, but hes being used as a 7th inning guy. Both Dempster (1.65) and Howry (1.48) have higher Leverage Indexes than Marmol (1.24). Which shows that Marmol's value was not maximized. HOWEVER, to your point, Marmol does have the highest Win Probability Added of the relievers (2.84) to Howry (1.41) and Dempster (1.34). WPA does show that Marmol has been the individual that has contributed the most of any of our bullpen (and actually entire stafff) to the success of the team. Interesting that the back end of our rotations LI and WPA have an inverse relationship.

I think ATL will do the trade for Marshall. If they do trade him, I think they could get more, especially since they'll be selling high with the year he's having. I think they could get more in terms of prospects, but they aren't going to find anyone whos major league proven and cheap like Marshall. They are looking for someone to step into the rotation for 2008 and provide some certainty that they didn't have with their rotation of prospects this year. Plus, who else needs a SS? There's about 10 teams that could use a SS. Cubs Cards Pitt (if they trade Wilson) Hou SF White Sox KC Detroit (depending on Guillen) Bal (Tejada) Toronto Oakland (see what they do with Crosby) . The Cubs would be out of their mind trying to use Wuertz/minor leaguer in the same role as Marmol could potentially be used next year. Let's not kid oursleves and assume Marmol was maximized this year. And what SP do those teams have to trade? IMO Marshall>>Garland. Detroit would probably the only team that can put together a better offer.

So because Marmol spent most of the year dominating major leaguers, we should discount him? He did start off the season with 7 starts in AAA posting a 1.02 WHIP, 10.54 K/9 and 2.63 BB/9 if that makes you feel better. And back to the discussion which you didn't want to talk about, the Cubs could upgrade their offensive blackhole at SS by moving Marshall, opening up a spot in the rotation. He was dominating hitters at a position the Cubs would have to replace if they move him to starter. They would have to go outside the organization to get a reliever to try and replace the production of Marmol. I'd feel more comfortable with the rotation/pen together and look to improve the offense via prospects for trade and players like Soto than trading players on an already thin 25 man roster. We had a discussion yesterday about Marmol's Leverage Index. I think he could be replaced adequately internally with Wuertz or a minor leaguer. Or as I laid out, you could move Demp to the rotation.

I think ATL will do the trade for Marshall. If they do trade him, I think they could get more, especially since they'll be selling high with the year he's having. I think they could get more in terms of prospects, but they aren't going to find anyone whos major league proven and cheap like Marshall. They are looking for someone to step into the rotation for 2008 and provide some certainty that they didn't have with their rotation of prospects this year. Plus, who else needs a SS?

Don't play that stupid BS with me, that might work with others but not me. i was joking. all he would need to do is post an era under 4.50 and this would be fine making marshall expendable. If I felt more comfortable about the pen and the Cubs had Estes as the likely #5 going into next year, I'd be pushing for Marmol or Gallagher as the #5. I'd like to see Marshall get the chance to grow into the role of a starter, he has the potential to be a real good #4 with the current 5. I think Marmol out of then pen next year could pop a 13 WS which might there with most 2/3 starters in the NL. I don't want to sacrifice their best reliever for potential nominal improvements over Marshall while hoping a team would improve SS/OF for Marshall. I think it boils down to if you prefer Theriot at SS, Marmol/Howry/Dempster in the pen, and Marshall as the 5th over 1) Renteria at SS,Wuertz/Howry/Dempster in the pen, Marmol as the 5th or 2) Renteria as SS, Wuertz/Marmol/Howry in the pen, Dempster as the 5th To me, the improvement at SS by far outweighs the possible downgrade in the pen and the rotation.

So because Marmol spent most of the year dominating major leaguers, we should discount him? He did start off the season with 7 starts in AAA posting a 1.02 WHIP, 10.54 K/9 and 2.63 BB/9 if that makes you feel better. And back to the discussion which you didn't want to talk about, the Cubs could upgrade their offensive blackhole at SS by moving Marshall, opening up a spot in the rotation.

Thats fine, we can stay true to the thread. If you look at Marmol's minor league #s while starting, combined with the ability hes shown this year to get major leaguers out, and we have our own little mini-Joba Chamberlin. Who, by the way, is penciled into the Yank's rotation for next year.