nilodnayr

starting march 15th they go chronologically, so that will only be for opening day...the later in the season your tickets are, the later they will come.

6 bleachers to each of opening day 4/21 5/20 8/18 9/1

Ok, wow no one has posted the starting # for wristbands yet...it was 06779. Hope someone was lucky!!

Its sorta both...you have to click on a game to get into the VWR. Then once you get through you are able to go to the schedule and select any game.

How in the world did you pull that off??? I got in one time, and got close to that last seats for the opening series Sunday night ESPN game (the Barrett grand slam.) I got in pretty early too. You faired pretty well though, that's awesome. I work with 150 guys, all between the ages of 22 and 32. Most are divided between Cubs and Sox fans with a few other teams spread throughout. No one really works on this day. Sure, everyone shows up, but 150 guys sit at their computer and try to get tickets all day. 2 years ago I had windows popping up faster than I could buy...got the saturday BoSox bleachers, all the whitesox games, everything your little heart could desire. After I had maxed out for myself, I started buying for a ton of people on here (hence the sig). Last year I organized an army of friends and although personally my luck was only so so, with us all together I once again got about 20ish games. I'm taking the day off tomorrow and no one blinks twice where I work. Taking off to go to a cubs game is a completely valid excuse, and so is buying tickets.

QFT (so close)

There are different philosophies in drafting. Some players use BPA (best player available). Others use scarcity (either position or category), while others use a hybrid (ie BPA in the first few rounds, scarcity later on). I take more of the scarcity approach as you can see from the mock draft thread. For example, if you have a 5x5, there are only a handful of guys who steal 30+ bases. Also, there is a gigantic drop off in production at 2B after Chase Utley. Its best to rank players by postion eligibility (by whatever your league rules are) and evaluate from there. You may decide that you want to draft Utley in the first round, or that you will let someone else take him and wait on a 2b until the 12th round. If you have a 5x5 scoring then saves is one of your categories. Depending on the size of your league you are going to want to draft 2 or 3 closers. Similar to last year there are a bunch of question marks in terms of who will be closers on some teams, so it might be wise to lockdown a couple sure bets on closer and then wait until the season progresses to see who performs well and wins jobs before picking up your 3rd closer on the waiver wire. Take a look at your limits...you may have an IP limit. If so then you will want to have enough starters to reach that limit. If you dont have a limit, I think about 6 starters is pretty average. Although your cumulative stats will increase with more starters, your average stats may suffer.

What are there, like 20K season tickets? Man, you would have to think there would be at least a 1% turnover.

As long as Theriot is in the mix, I disagree.

I sincerely hope you don't have a problem with the presence of foreigners on NSBB. :wink: :lol: :lol: Maybe it's because you're as cold as ice and willing to sacrifice? And you know how we feel about giving away outs around here... :D

You were holding out hope for on the days we face lefties for DeRosa plays in right and Theriot plays 2b, right? Well there is no mention of Theriot not playing the OF, so on those days Theriot could play RF and DeRosa could play 2b, making it exactly the same offensively as you wanted. At least thats what I'm hoing for. It makes sense if DeRosa is going to be our primary 2b to not move him to the OF and if Theriot is going to be on the bench to use him as a super sub all over the field.

Nope, you'll be fine.

Yes, this is definitely the last round, we decided on 6 bench spots. Good. Then I've already decided on my final pick. It will be hard to make because two other players I want are still on the board. Make a couple 2 for 1 trades, consolidate talent. Then you'll be able to open up room for some quality bench players. There are still a decent amount of useful players out there at some of the deep positions.

Don't speak such ill of the old Byrons building!!!!! And thats a shame if ctrl + n doesn't work anymore. I feel like I remember there not being a url bar last year. What is this "T icon" you all speak of in order to get the url if there is no url bar? Also, what do you think works better firefox or explorer? That would be great if someone could find a plug in for firefox that allowed you to use ctrl + n.

Yes, this is definitely the last round, we decided on 6 bench spots.

From MerriamWebster Main Entry: com·mod·i·ty Pronunciation: k&-'mä-d&-tE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -ties 1 : an economic good: as a : a product of agriculture or mining b : an article of commerce especially when delivered for shipment c : a mass-produced unspecialized product 2 a : something useful or valued < 3 obsolete : QUANTITY, LOT 4 : a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (as brand name) other than price 5 : one that is subject to ready exchange or exploitation within a market I am using definition 5. I would use 1c, I think that is the more generally accepted definition as opposed to "Film Quarterly".

Woohoo, Burke was just named as the #2 hitter in the Astros lineup...mo' fantasy value, mo' fantasy value, mo' fantasy value.

That makes no sense. You can't "just go out and sign the #1 FA pitcher on the market next year". You are devaluing top notch pitchers by referring them as commodities. Of course you can. Why wouldn't you be able to? And it is not at all devaluing something by calling it a commodity. A Ferrari is a commodity, and it's pretty valuable. It just means that it is replaceable, and $17 million pitchers are. If your ace IS the #1 FA pitcher on the market, and you let him walk, then by definition aren't you unable to replace him with the #1 FA pitcher on the market? I know its semantics, but in practice, its very much the case in next years FA market. After taking a gander through Cotts, would you like to know who the other FA pitchers will be coming out of arbi with Z? Jason Jennings Doug Davis Kyle Lohse Josh Fogg Rodrigo Lopez Victor Zambrano Shawn Chacon Casey Fossum Jake Westbrook Carlos Silva (option) Of those already past arbi the notables are: Bartolo Colon Tomo Ohka John Smoltz Livan Hernandez (option) Randy Wolf (option) Brett Tomko (option) Paul Byrd (option) Tom Glavine (option/going to retiree) Kris Bensen (option) Jaret Wright Steve Trachsel (option) Gregg Maddux (option) David Wells Jon Lieber Tony Armas Jr. (option) Eric Milton Curt Schilling Matt Clement Joel Pineiro (option) Tim Wakefield (option) Julian Tavarez (option) BK Kim Odalis Perez (option) Scott Elarton Kenny Rodgers Ramon Ortiz Javier Vazquez Mark Buehrle (STL bound) Andy Pettitte (option) Its a list of very old and/or very bad pitchers. Theres absolutely no one (who would sign with another team) anywhere near Z's level of production, let alone his age. The best options are probably of the Milton, Clement, Lieber, Vazquez, Ohka, Jennings, Westbrook ilk. Do you consider them aces of a playoff hopefully team? I really think you aren't understanding the full term of a commodity. A commodity is easily replaceable, a Ferrari is not.

A) Do we know the Cubs aren't going halfway? B) 4 million A) Yes, go to the link to Bruce's article on the first page B)4M to be gained, having a good chance at signing Zambrano (plus 4M) is lost......hmmm, is it just me or does this not work out when you do a cost benefit analysis. What does B mean? Bruce already said that he believes that the two sides going to arbitration would not likely hurt any feelings or affect anything but the starting point of the money for the negotiations. While I have all the trust in the world for Bruce and believe every word he says, there has to be at least a little affect of going to abri on the situation. Z is a proud guy, it can't not affect him at all. Additionally, in my opinion (or memory), this would be completely unprecedented. I believe eventually the cubs will sign Z long term because they absolutely have to, but I also believe going to arbi has an adverse impact to that process/relationship.

I'd rather have Z, Oswalt, or Carpenter over Zito. I would too, and that actually just further proves the Cubs case that the Zito contract was not a true indication of his worth and thus not a good basis for Z to base his compensation on. So you are saying that Z should be looking for more than Zito money? I completely agree. So if he wants to sign with the cubs for Zito money (and less years), then why should we let him walk? You are completely contradicting yourself. And I don't think you are using the word commodity correctly. Are you using it as in, a common product, indestinguishable and easily replaceable? I believe you are implying that a free agent player being paid at a level equal to his value is a commodity. Well there are a few problems with that...The way pre-arbi, arbi, and FA are set up, players are paid less than they are worth for their first 6 years of playing time in order to be paid more than they are worth after they reach the market. Secondly, Z is not easily replaceable. Thirdly, commodities are good inwhich there is a baseline of quality, one bag of soybeans is the same as another. Starting pitchers are not like this, especially aces. I'm not saying players can't be commodities, and in fact there have been previous rumors of collusion alleging so. Remember the year when every #3 pitcher that hit the market was offered 7/21? Those players were commodities. Very indestinguishable in quality and readily available for replacement. Some one like Z, regardless of contract, is not.

A) Do we know the Cubs aren't going halfway? B) 4 million A) Yes, go to the link to Bruce's article on the first page B)4M to be gained, having a good chance at signing Zambrano (plus 4M) is lost......hmmm, is it just me or does this not work out when you do a cost benefit analysis.

I asked this before, sorry if it was already answered...its hard to keep up to date with the billion new threads a day. Has a top tier player ever gone to arbi in his last year and resigned with the same team? Also, to put it in perspective, the probable difference between what Hendry thought the midpoint was going to be (12.5) and what it ended up being (13.25) is the equivalent to about 4 Jason Marquis starts (if hes healthy for the length of his contract), or the revenue the Under Armor sign is bringing in this year. If Hendry were willing to settle at 12.5, then the extra 750K is insignificant in terms of starting point of long term contract negotiations. The only thing this does do is send the message to Z that Hendry believes he has the power, not only in the arbi hearing, but also in long term contract negotiations. When in reality, we all know its completely the opposite (at least for the long term contract). And I have to believe Z thinks that as well.

Can you list your players in round form? You seemingly have a lot of guys I would think would go between like 3 and 6...it would be interesting to see who falls in the auto draft. Also, is this a 10 team league?

1-1) Albert Pujols 1-2) Jose Reyes 1-3) Johan Santana 1-4) Alfonso Soriano 1-5) Alex Rodriguez 1-6) Carlos Beltran 1-7) Ryan Howard 1-8) Miguel Cabrera 1-9) Carl Crawford 1-10) Chase Utley 1-11) Derrek Lee 1-12) Chris Carpenter 2-1) David Wright 2-2) Lance Berkman 2-3) Grady Sizemore 2-4) David Ortiz 2-5) Vladimir Guerrero 2-6) Manny Ramirez 2-7) Mark Teixeira 2-8) Travis Hafner 2-9) Derek Jeter 2-10) Carlos Lee 2-11) Matt Holliday 2-12) Carlos Zambrano 3-1) Jake Peavy 3-2) Aramis Ramirez 3-3) Justin Morneau 3-4) Joe Mauer 3-5) Paul Konerko 3-6) Miguel Tejada 3-7) Jason Bay 3-8) Hanley Ramirez 3-9) Jimmy Rollins 3-10) Roy Halladay 3-11) Brandon Webb 3-12) Dan Haren 4-1) Garrett Atkins 4-2) Ichiro 4-3) Vernon Wells 4-4) Brian McCann 4-5) Roy Oswalt 4-6) Felix Hernandez 4-7) Ben Sheets 4-8) Bobby Abreu 4-9) Jeremy Bonderman 4-10) Andruw Jones 4-11) Victor Martinez 4-12) Jermaine Dye 5-1) Michael Young 5-2) Robby Cano 5-3) Rafael Furcal 5-4) Francisco Rodriguez 5-5) Bill Hall 5-6) Cole Hamels 5-7) Brian Roberts 5-8) Joe Nathan 5-9) Adam Dunn 5-10) Ryan Zimmerman 5-11) Carlos Guillen 5-12) Chone Figgins 6-1) Daisuke Matsuzaka 6-2) Jim Thome 6-3) John Lackey 6-4) B.J. Ryan 6-5) Carlos Delgado 6-6) Billy Wagner 6-7) Rocco Baldelli 6-8) Rich Hill 6-9) Troy Glaus 6-10) Justin Verlander 6-11) Aaron Harang 6-12) John Smoltz 7-1) Ian Kinsler 7-2) Johnny Damon 7-3) Mariano Rivera 7-4) Jered Weaver 7-5) Huston Street 7-6) Brett Myers 7-7) Matt Cain 7-8) Scott Kazmir 7-9) Curt Schilling 7-10) Felipe Lopez 7-11) Hideki Matsui 7-12) Nick Swisher 8-1) Bobby Jenks 8-2) Jason Schmidt 8-3) Rickie Weeks 8-4) C.C. Sabathia 8-5) Dan Uggla 8-6) Juan Pierre 8-7) JJ Putz 8-8) Randy Johnson 8-9) Howie Kendrick 8-10) Rich Harden 8-11) Prince Fielder 8-12) Michael Barrett 9-1) Brad Lidge 9-2) Chris Young 9-3) Chipper Jones 9-4) Jeff Francoeur 9-5) Pat Burrell 9-6) Scott Rolen 9-7) Erik Bedard 9-8) Gary Sheffield 9-9) Trevor Hoffman 9-10) Richie Sexson 9-11) Barry Zito 9-12) Dontrelle Willis 10-1) Todd Helton 10-2) Takashi Saito 10-3) Mike Piazza 10-4) Delmon Young 10-5) Chad Cordero 10-6) Josh Beckett 10-7) AJ Burnett 10-8) Jonathan Papelbon 10-9) Tom Gordon 10-10) Julio Lugo 10-11) Barry Bonds 10-12) Corey Patterson 11-1) Chad Tracy 11-2) JD Drew 11-3) Francisco Cordero 11-4) Ervin Santana 11-5) Chris Ray 11-6) Coco Crisp 11-7) Stephen Drew 11-8) Bronson Arroyo 11-9) Jason Giambi 11-10) Brian Fuentes 11-11) Brandon Phillips 11-12) Alex Rios 12-1) Michael Cuddyer 12-2) Jason Isringhausen 12-3) Chien-Ming Wang 12-4) John Patterson 12-5) Magglio Ordonez 12-6) Eric Gagne 12-7) Tadahito Iguchi 12-8) Ryan Freel 12-9) Torii Hunter 12-10) Frank Thomas 12-11) Kelvim Escobar 12-12) Adam LaRoche 13-1)Willy Taveras 13-2) Joel Zumaya 13-3) Raul Ibanez 13-4) Adrian Gonzalez 13-5) Scott Podsednik 13-6) Bob Wickman 13-7) Nick Markakis 13-8) Nomar Garciaparra 13-9) Mike Mussina 13-10) Brad Hawpe 13-11) Dave Bush 13-12) Russell Martin 14-1) Mark Prior 14-2) Eric Chavez 14-3) Kenji Johjima 14-4) Anthony Reyes 14-5) Ramon Hernandez 14-6) Roger Clemens 14-7) Lyle Overbay 14-8) Scott Olsen 14-9) Nate Robertson 14-10) Derek Lowe 14-11) Jonathon Broxton 14-12) Chuck James 15-1) Hank Blalock 15-2) Aubrey Huff 15-3) Jorge Posada 15-4) Chris Capuano 15-5) Javier Vazquez 15-6) Octavio Dotel 15-7) Joe Crede 15-8) Josh Willingham 15-9) Josh Barfield 15-10) Brad Penny 15-11) Ivan Rodriguez 15-12) Jhonny Peralta 16-1) Adam Wainwright 16-2) Andy Pettitte 16-3) Jose Valverde 16-4) Alex Gordon 16-5) Anibal Sanchez 16-6) Solomon Torres 16-7) Keith Foulke 16-8) Bengie Molina 16-9) Dustin Pedroia 16-10) Pedro Martinez 16-11) Moises Alou 16-12) Ryan Dempster 17-1) Ray Durham 17-2) Josh Johnson 17-3) Mike Gonzalez 17-4) Chris Young 17-5) Ted Lilly 17-6) Greg Maddux 17-7) Mark Teahen 17-8) Jon Garland 17-9) B.J. Upton 17-10) Clay Hensley 17-11) Scott Shields 17-12) Edger Renteria 18-1) Eric Byrnes 18-2) Jeff Kent 18-3) Kevin Millwood 18-4) Philip Hughes 18-5) Chad Billingsley 18-6) Jason Varitek 18-7) Tom Glavine 18-8) Freddy Sanchez 18-9) Adrian Beltre 18-10) Orlando Cabrera 18-11) Nick Johnson 18-12) Ken Griffey Jr. 19-1)Tim Hudson 19-2) Edwin Encarnacion 19-3) Todd Jones 19-4) Freddy Garcia 19-5) Jose Contreras 19-6) AJ Pierzynski 19-7) Dave Roberts 19-8) Jim Edmonds 19-9) Morgan Ensberg 19-10) Matt Garza 19-11) Jeremy Hermida 19-12) Mark Buehrle 20-1) Shane Victorino 20-2) Brian Giles 20-3) Curtis Granderson 20-4) Corey Hart 20-5) Conor Jackson 20-6) Jeremy Sowers 20-7) Joe Borowski 20-8) Kevin Youkilis 20-9) Zach Duke 20-10) Kerry Wood 20-11) Akinori Ostuka 20-12) Joel Pineiro 21-1) Taylor Tankersley 21-2) Mike Jacobs 21-3) Gary Matthews Jr. 21-4) Seth McClung 21-5) Ian Snell 21-6) Cliff Lee 21-7) Troy Tulowitzki 21-8) Dan Wheeler 21-9) Chris Duffy 21-10) Ricky Nolasco 21-11) Bobby Crosby 21-12) Craig Monroe 22-1) Luis Castillo 22-2) Brandon Mccarthy 22-3) Kenny Rogers 22-4) Chris Burke

Ok, its been 30 hours...lets get this show on the road. BaseballXXXX, make your picks, Nick can catch up later. After all, its the last couple pics, not a big deal. This needs to end...its been over a month.