nilodnayr

Smart foul by Doyle...that posession was a microcasm of the game...Wisconsin having no clue what to do on offense.

Quite a comeback.

Bummer for Tennessee. Lofton misses the front end of a 1 and 1, then Lewis makes a 3(his foot was on the line) with 14 secs left, Tennessee misses a couple tries, and OSU clears(Butler was out of bounds when he threw it out of danger.) It was very quick, but I thought they only gave Lewis the two. OSU was only down by 1 anyway. And yes, Butler was very much on the line with time still left on the clock.

Wow, so free throws are sorta important. As an Illinois Alum I hate Pearl and therefore Tennessee, but they are really good.

you can also look at it as a potential 20 game winner and 3 potential 15 game winners. Aaron Small won 20 games for the Yanks...who cares? in case you didnt realize it, in baseball wins are a good thing. And the starting pitcher does it all by himself? of course not but the ability to give 5-7+ quality innings and keep your team in the game translates to wins. But they can still lose those games...ask Roger Clemens. You should have just said "you can also look at it as potentially one guy who can consistantly pitch excellently and 3 guys who can give you 5-7+ quality innings and keep your team in the game". If you talk about wins in a discussion about pitching you are going to get jumped all over.

you can also look at it as a potential 20 game winner and 3 potential 15 game winners. Aaron Small won 10 games for the Yanks...who cares?

Thats some solid corner infielders! Frankly, I would send feelers out on ARam and DLee. Some (especially cubs fans) may perceive their value to be significantly higher than Atkins, which IMO is not the case. If you can get someone significantly better than Gordon for Lee or Aram, go for it. I'm not Rotoauthority high on Atkins, but I predict good things. Like I said, Atkins for Gordon isn't bad, but I think you can do a little better.

No, we don't have a corner infield slot, but we do have two DH/Utility slots that you can fill with anyone. I already have Howard in one of those slots and I'm not all that excited about filling both spots before the draft. I like to keep at least one of them and grab a hitter late who has slipped through the cracks (that's how I got Atkins last year...with my 17th round pick). Who do you have at 1st that Howard goes to DH/Util?

I'm assuming you dont have CIF as a position, because if you did then although you would have the best backup 3B in the league, you could play him at CIF. If you don't then again its a win/win trade, but see if you can get someone a bit better than Gordon. I'm sure a lot of teams would be interested in ARAM or Atkins. Check out this expert mock draft to see if you can pilfer an earlier round player who would qualify for 18-20. Also, you need to consider if the win for the other guy will propel him into vying for the championship with you. If you still think your team has the advantage, then go ahead and do it.

However, hes not a guy who will work to get himself into shape so he is succeptable to such injuries.

That has the makings of a pretty bad rotation, especeially that question mark guy. My hope is that Guzman breaks out and Prior is healthy. Miller is a shell of his former self and even if healthy will not be the same pitcher he was in Houston. Miller definitely is a shell of his former self, but that doesnt mean he cannot be an effective pitcher. Other pitchers have learned to become effective without an overpowering fastball. Unfortunately for Miller he is having to do it because of injury and not age. But he did show at times last year that he still can be an above average starter. He doesnt need to be the same pitcher he was in Houston to put up a 120 OPS+.

I was only talking 2005 as a whole, which may not be fair, but isnt exactly unfair. His rates were better as a reliever only, but only enough to get him a component ERA of 2.82 as opposed to 4.33 from this year. Take defense out of the equation and you further see similarity. His 2005 DIPS was 3.10 as a reliever as opposed to 3.72 in 2006. His regular ERA is extremely misleading in both years. My point is, don't expect 2005 Dempster, but don't expect 2006 Dempster.

I too would like to make a correction. The perception that he pitched much better in 2005 than 2006 is quite incorrect. Actually his WHIP was similar (1.43 vs 1.51) as well as his K/BB (1.82 vs 1.86). The real difference between 2005 Dempster and 2006 Dempster was "clutch". In 2005 he had an incredible 77.5 LOB% as opposed to 63.3% in 2006. Now the question is, which one of those is the abberation. Well, probably both. In 2005 he allowed 131 runners for an expected runs allowed of 44 (as opposed to actually allowing 35 runs). In 2006 he allowed 113 runners for an expected runs allowed of 38 (as opposed to actually allowing 47, although only 40 were earned). Dempster probably isnt going to be as bad as he was last year, but allowing so many baserunners, I'm not optimistic for a repeat of 2005. Even if he would have allowed 38 runs last year and assuming conservatively that 7 of them were unearned, his ERA would have been 3.72. Still not great for a closer, but probably a fair projection. how is having a 77.5% LOB as opposed to a 63.3% LOB and a 1.89 era compared to a 4.8 era not pitching much better? Because it all was a matter of WHEN players got on base, rather than IF they got on base that was the difference. Like I said, his WHIP, K rate, BB rate, HR rate were fairly similar. His FIP was only .28 higher in 2006 than 2005. Like I said the real difference was "clutch".

While its a win-win trade, its a much bigger win-win trade for him than you. I would try to snag two quality 18-20 round keepers for one of your thirdbasemen. Gordon is a great deal at that spot though, so try to make it work.

I too would like to make a correction. The perception that he pitched much better in 2005 than 2006 is quite incorrect. Actually his WHIP was similar (1.43 vs 1.51) as well as his K/BB (1.82 vs 1.86). The real difference between 2005 Dempster and 2006 Dempster was "clutch". In 2005 he had an incredible 77.5 LOB% as opposed to 63.3% in 2006. Now the question is, which one of those is the abberation. Well, probably both. In 2005 he allowed 131 runners for an expected runs allowed of 44 (as opposed to actually allowing 35 runs). In 2006 he allowed 113 runners for an expected runs allowed of 38 (as opposed to actually allowing 47, although only 40 were earned). Dempster probably isnt going to be as bad as he was last year, but allowing so many baserunners, I'm not optimistic for a repeat of 2005. Even if he would have allowed 38 runs last year and assuming conservatively that 7 of them were unearned, his ERA would have been 3.72. Still not great for a closer, but probably a fair projection. But it's better to have him be a closer than designated our best bullpen pitcher right? I can't remember the time the cubs went into a season with the ability to designate some one as the best bullpen pitcher. I sure hope we have better bullpen pitchers than him next year, regardless of whether they pitch the 7th, 8th, or 9th.

I too would like to make a correction. The perception that he pitched much better in 2005 than 2006 is quite incorrect. Actually his WHIP was similar (1.43 vs 1.51) as well as his K/BB (1.82 vs 1.86). The real difference between 2005 Dempster and 2006 Dempster was "clutch". In 2005 he had an incredible 77.5 LOB% as opposed to 63.3% in 2006. Now the question is, which one of those is the abberation. Well, probably both. In 2005 he allowed 131 runners for an expected runs allowed of 44 (as opposed to actually allowing 35 runs). In 2006 he allowed 113 runners for an expected runs allowed of 38 (as opposed to actually allowing 47, although only 40 were earned). Dempster probably isnt going to be as bad as he was last year, but allowing so many baserunners, I'm not optimistic for a repeat of 2005. Even if he would have allowed 38 runs last year and assuming conservatively that 7 of them were unearned, his ERA would have been 3.72. Still not great for a closer, but probably a fair projection.

I think Jones is slightly better for the short-term, but I actually think Church is a better fit for the Cubs, then Jones, because of his ability to reach base consistantly. If you think Jones is slightly better for the short-term but Church is better because of his ability to reach base constantly, then are you saying that Jones' slugging advantage over Church slightly outweighs Church's OBP advantage? Because in a much worse hitting environment Church has outslugged Jones the past two years. Church has put up OPS+ of 120 and 128. Jones hasnt come close to that since his break out year in 2002. The only valid concern about Church is that he hasn't been a full time player, but I think that is more a reflection of an organization that just gave Nook Logan the starting CF job. I believe Bruce Miles stated before Christmas that the Cubs have no interest in Ryan Church. No, he said that the Cubs had interest, but that Washington was asking for way too much for him to make a deal at that time. Good, that makes a ton of sense. Seemingly every team was after church at the time and nothing came of it. I bet he gets revisited again very soon. He will definitely be moved before opening day.

Fun fact...Lance Berkman out OPS+ed Tomas Perez by more than Aramis Ramirez last year.

Does he ever talk out of anything else? Actually he's been dead-on pretty often this offseason. Hopefully not this time. Actually he says "a trade for a less proven player such as the Nationals' Ryan Church might be a more realistic option, but Erstad and Finley are on the Cubs' radar." I hope hes right about Church.

I think Jones is slightly better for the short-term, but I actually think Church is a better fit for the Cubs, then Jones, because of his ability to reach base consistantly. If you think Jones is slightly better for the short-term but Church is better because of his ability to reach base constantly, then are you saying that Jones' slugging advantage over Church slightly outweighs Church's OBP advantage? Because in a much worse hitting environment Church has outslugged Jones the past two years. Church has put up OPS+ of 120 and 128. Jones hasnt come close to that since his break out year in 2002. The only valid concern about Church is that he hasn't been a full time player, but I think that is more a reflection of an organization that just gave Nook Logan the starting CF job.

Wow, what a horrible move.

The Phils are really high on Victorino.

Do you know where your seats are? My friend got to the top of the list a few years ago, but his seats are in the 525ish section. Really crappy. Especially when the sun sets. Every year I just take the day off of work when the single game tickets go on sale and buy up bleacher tickets to all the games I want to go to. MUCH MUCH better than getting season tickets.

\ Quite simple actually. Why pitch a full season for 17M when someone will pay you the same to pitch 1/2 a season? Call him that mid-season pickup and run for the play-offs. :roll: you are stating the obvious. i keep hearing specifically the 22nd mentioned for clemens and i'm wondering how that is any different than june 23rd or august 17th or september 2nd or april 11th or may 30th and so on. the only deadline i'm aware of is, IIRC, that you cant resign with the same club if arb is declined until sometime in may. it may just be something as simple as when summer vacation starts for his kids or someting, i dont know. You keep hearing June 22nd because thats when he first pitched last year. His agent has said that he is interested in a short season again. June 22nd is illustrative.

They are trying to put in a Magglio clause...if he misses X amount of games because of his shoulder then they can opt out of the contract at the end of the first or second year or whatever. I believe at first it was thought of just posturing for less money, but if Theo holds the line I can see a team like the Angels swooping in and picking him up since they missed out on all of their targets (and Rivera broke his leg). Heck, I could see him signing with the Angels for more than he agreed to with Boston. Although he probably walks WAY too much to be an Angel. If the cubs really wanted to win they would swoop in, sign Drew away, and involve themselves in a three way deal sending Pie et al to Florida, Willis to NYY, netting ARod. We'd probably be flirting with lux tax, but would have an offense that would make up for even worst case scenario with our pitching.