BigbadB

Darkhouse is what you get when you spend the money you have set aside to pay your power bill on something else.

Depends on who your carrier is, I suppose. Cox (my cable company) is offering to pay 100% of my tab for MLB.TV. I prefer that over switching carriers. It sounds like the cable companies were in a no-win situation. DirecTV (whether you like their dealings with MLB or not) offered up a big package for EXCLUSIVE rights to MLB EI. While MLB did give the cable companies an opportunity to match what DirecTV was offering, as soon as they did, DirecTV would have turned around and pulled their offer off the table, since their exclusivity was no longer true. I haven't been following this as closely as I probably could have, but from what I gather, MLB is the only one who wins with all of this. Option A: DirecTV has exclusive rights to MLB EI Cable has nothing MLB gets basically the same amount of money from DirecTV that they received last year from everyone combined, and MLB.TV subscriptions increase dramatically. Option B: Cable matches DirecTV's proposal DirecTV reconstructs their deal because the exclusivity offer is no longer on the table, virtually changing nothing except a bigger profit for MLB (cable offer being much higher than previous year), though not nearly as much as MLB.TV subscription won't dramatically increase. Option C: DirecTV has exclusivity Cable refuses to pay the ridiculous matching price for MLB EI, but offers to pay 100% to their cable subscribers if they would like to purchase MLB.TV. Option C isn't ideal, but it attempts to keep their customers from switching to DirecTV. No matter how you slice it, all of these options help MLB profit big time. Preventing DirecTV from profiting is at least attempting to keep the competition (DirecTV) from profiting on the exclusivity deal. I'm going to go with MLB.TV. I can't place blame on my cable carrier for being in a no-win situation. And I appreciate that they value me enough as a customer to want to help me continue getting baseball games somehow. They didn't have to offer up anything at all. The amount of subscribers for out of market baseball games really isn't all that overwhelming that they would lose all that many customers to DirecTV if they did nothing. A high percentage of those people would have gone MLB.TV instead of switching carriers anyway. I still would have gone MLB.TV if they weren't offering to pay for it. In a perfect world, fans from everywhere could get out of market games on any cable or satellite system or via MLB.TV. We all know this world ain't even close to being perfect, so I guess Option C isn't the worst possible outcome.

I can see what inspired you to become such a huge fan. Those were good times. :roll: :D

Tampa? Who is starting for them besides Kazmir? Offensively, they look pretty solid. Pitching will once again be their weakness. It's amazing to me that they ignore that problem year after year. I thought for sure they'd peddle some offense this offseason for some pitching. They're going to lose a lot of games 14-13.

I've never understood why players are expected to give discounts to the team that they play for. I think it's great if a player took a huge discount if it meant enough in savings to add another great player, which in turn would increase the chances of the team winning, but there aren't many unselfish players willing to do something like that. And the reason is, some of these guys won't have anything to fall back on once their baseball careers are over, so make as much as you can while you still can.

The rumor is that the Padres are looking at Oscar Robles to take Walker's place on the roster. Is Oscar Robles better than Walker? If not, then they weren't taking the best 25 players to Petco next week.

I'm predicting 90+

Now it's definitely sounding more like NCAA :thumright:

FYI- Roberto Novoa IS available. :wink:

Haha!

The problem with your theory is that it has no more likelihood of being true than my theory. Players go through slumps all the time. The best players in the league go through slumps. You have no idea what causes those slumps. Focus, stance, timing, follow through, etc......, but it happens to the best of them. It's all guesswork, but his slump started on Dusty's watch and ended on Dusty's watch. I'm sure he slumped at other times under someone else's watch. For all we know, Derrek Lee saw what was wrong with Murton's swing and helped him correct it. I have yet to hear from Murton himself how his slump was busted. Until I hear it from him, we are all just blindly speculating. Now, if you have proof that Murton's GB ratio was fixed by Dusty and the Clowns, feel free to share. Until then, no love for Dusty from me. :D

yes. you cannot exceed roster limits though - ie if you have an extra reserve, you have to have an SP spot empty. I think I follow that. Although it really doesn't matter at this time, since I only have 5 (healthy) starters. :D

Spending big money on a closer is not a great plan. Who were the top saves guys only 5 years ago? It's the biggest revolving door in baseball. There just aren't very many Mariano Rivera's, or Trevor Hoffman's, or Lee Smith's. If you are lucky enough to find one of those, you're luckier than most. In 2002 and the top 10 leaders in saves, only Eric Gagne is a closer today. Guardado would make a 2nd guy, but who knows if he'll ever make it back to being a closer. And Gagne's issues are well documented. Only a small handful of closers are still closing. Wagner, Rivera, Hoffman, Todd Jones, Isringhausen and maybe another guy or two I'm forgetting. In 2003, only 3 or 4 of the top 10 are still closing. I put "4" in there because Jorge Julio might be a closer this year. You want a good closer? Find a guy in your own system that's dirt cheap and offers up at least 2 plus pitches with good control, but is pretty much out of the picture as far as a rotation spot is concerned. Mike Wuertz comes to mind. Kerry Wood would have been a possible option. I'm willing to wait it out and see how Dempster performs this year. I think he might surprise a few people.

I'll have to disagree with you on Murton. He was a great hitter before he ever saw the big leagues. He showed plenty of power in his short stint in 2005. While it is possible that they found a flaw in Murton's swing (he was hitting the ball on the ground too much), the slump was really timed perfectly with mention that he was not aggressive enough at the plate. That also coincided with the great Freddy Bynum getting lots of playing time in Matt Murton's spot. Every player goes through a slump occasionally. I really have no desire to give the last management group credit for correcting Murton's bat. The same management group was in charge when his slump started.

And while he did look horrible at the plate last year, I think he was doing exactly what he was asked to do. Swing early and swing often. Heck, Matt Murton was chastized last year for showing patience. And right after that, he slumped big time. Coincidence? I think not. Cedeno showed a lot of promise in his major league debut in 2005. Then, with more time under the 2006 regime, his promise turned to despair. I'm hoping new management turns him around. He might be our only hope at SS for the next few years.

Well, how about Jacque Jones for Zach Duke? :D I've certainly felt bad for Pirate fans over the years. But, at least they do have some exciting young ballplayers to watch, rather than guys who will never amount to anything.

So, if I understand what's being said correctly, you can switch out starting pitchers during the week, and mix and match however you want as long as you don't exceed 7 starts?

Yesterday was awful windy in these parts. That, and balls fly farther in the Arizona air. Until you see him hit a scoreboard in an NL Central ballpark, I wouldn't make much of it. BTW, we had 75 MPH wind gusts in some parts of SoCal yesterday. Not sure how windy it ever got in Phoenix, but it was VERY windy here in San Diego.

Seattle? They signed Jose Vidro to DH. He's hit 14 HR's combined over the last 2 years. Walker has 21 over the last 2 years. And I didn't necessarily mean that Walker would be signed by an AL team to be the primary DH. What's left on most teams at this point other than roster filler and/or replacing an injured player? Lots of teams have guys DH occasionally that aren't power guys. Shannon Stewart was signed by Oakland to fill in at DH.

Not to mention the fact he was awesome in his role as a lead off guy here. Who did we give up to get him? Nobody worth anything. The guy is still the best lead off hitter the Cubs have had in the 2000's, and arguably better than anyone they had in the '90's. The fact Dusty couldn't recognize where Bellhorn's value was best served isn't exactly a shocker. There were a lot of things Dusty was clearly clueless about. But hey, let's continue making fun of a former Cub. Especially one of the very few former Cubs that actually was worthy of an occasional standing ovation in 2002. And even though Bellhorn's value is no longer what it was when he was a Chicago Cub, I still wouldn't trade him straight up for Jose Hernandez.

I'm not sure where Todd Walker will end up, but it will most likely be in the AL where he can DH and fill in at several infield positions. I hope he wins his grievance. What the Padres did to him is inexcusable. How a team can offer arby to a player, lose the arby case and then cut the player and only be responsible for 1/4 of the arby decision is pretty bogus. Especially since they offered him arby, therefore rendering Walker as "off the market" considering teams were NOT going to give up players to get him. The Padres offered him arbitration as insurance. They need to fork it over.

I've been gone for the last week, so I'm way behind on what's been going on, but I'm going out on a limb and picking this team to win the division. I think they will avoid devastating injuries, and a few guys will step up and contribute in a big way this year. I think they'll win 90+. I think Houston and St. Louis are worse than they have been, and they weren't really all that good to begin with. Milwaukee is the only threat, but I think they still have way too many question marks going into the season. I think the Cubs bullpen will really step it up and with better management and more depth on the bench, they can't help but be more than 20 games better than they were last year. Fire away on my post, but the Cubs are going to the playoffs in 2007. Book it.

At the plate, Theriot has done nothing but impress. I'm a bit concerned about his "D", but I would imagine he's at least adequate wherever they put him defensively. I like DeRosa as well. I think his bat will come around soon enough. It's hard to say who will be more productive, but the playing time should be there for both of them. I hope Izturis continues hitting like he has. He's shown so far this spring that he can be an asset hitting 8th. With Soriano hitting lead off, it will help this club to have decent bats at the bottom of the order who can set up Soriano. But, I'm still skeptical of Izturis continuing to get on base at the rate he is. I suppose I'd be happy if he could put up a .330+ OBP and play the tremendous "D" everyone raves about. He has been drawing walks, which is a good sign.

I had no problem grasping the concept of this thread and I'll be happy to give my grade of A+ so far. It was just a regular A until I read this latest quote about Floyd being saved for the stretch run. Not only will this kill a bunch of Floyd's incentives kicking in, but it gives Murton a chance to show what he can do playing regularly. Piniella has said all the things I want to hear. Now, he just needs to follow through and do all the things I want to see. He's empasized walks being important. He's put good OBP guys in the 2 slot. He's said he will take the best 25 guys to the show. He's talked about moving one of Theriot or DeRosa to the outfield (assuming he is considering platooning Jones) on certain days. The list goes on and on. Lou has quickly desolved my pessimism. I'm optimistic going into 2007. The combination of added talent and Lou's comments and what he's shown so far has me excited for the first time in quite awhile. Worst to first is a pretty big leap. But, I think Lou's managing style fits this club way better than the lifeless bunch Dusty created and managed. I'm not a big believer in clubhouse chemistry. But, I do think the attitude that people come to the ballpark with can affect their production. If the guys are excited to be there, I think the production level is better than when you have a whole bunch of guys who could concoct a long list of places they would rather be than on the field in Wrigleyville, which is what I saw last year. This team has the talent to win lots of games. Winning makes people want to win more. From what I have seen so far, I think Lou is moving this team in the right direction to win a lot of games. A+

Very cool of my cable company to pay for my MLB.TV. It's not exactly what I wanted, but they are still sticking it to DirecTV with what little ammo they've been provided with.