BigbadB

Mike Fontenot never had a future as a utilityman, because he doesn't do any of the things you'd want a utility guy to do. He can't really play anywhere other than 2B (ruling out the utility part), his defense is average at best (ruling him out as a late-innings defensive replacement), he doesn't run particularly well (scratch pinch-running). If he can't hit enough to stick in MLB as an everyday 2B (or at least a platoon 2B), then he's out of luck. It would appear that with the Cubs anyway, he's out of luck. I don't see why you think defensive replacement and pinch running are the only uses for a bench player. If he can hit enough to be a quality pinch hitter, then a player is worth keeping around. A bench player's greatest asset is his bat. There's practically an unlimited supply of all glove no stick guys that can be brought in, there aren't many that can hit. I have no idea if Fontenot could, but his minor league numbers suggest he at least stands a chance. If he came close to replicating his minor league numbers in the majors (obviously not a guarantee), he'd be a perfectly suitable bench option. But I'm interested in this Kinkade guy on the bench. Career .350 OBP in the majors, 102 OPS+, and solid minor league numbers. With minimal compensation, a guy like this has a chance to provide some help from the bench. Yeah, I agree with Kinkade. Sounds like a good bench guy. I don't see any reason at all to keep Cedeno on the big league roster. He either needs to work on his development in AAA at SS or get cut loose. If he can't hit his weight at the major league level playing everyday, I see no hope of any kind of improvement playing sporadically as a bench guy. McGehee intrigues me as well. That could end up being the battle for that last roster spot in ST, McGehee vs. Kinkade.

If you would have made me guess, I probably would have said Ken Holtzman.

Not to change the subject from talentless midgets, but why is Jason Alexander in your avatar? :D

But Lou likes midgets. But, what kind of midgets does Lou like? I'd be shocked if he liked limited talent midgets.

Yeah, I get XM in my wife's van, but that's it. I might have to call XM and see what I can do to get it on a portable, because I'm not going to sit in the wife's van when I want to hear a game. :D

I think a lot of these guys vote from their heart rather than facts. I just can't care about the HOF. People like Ron Santo, who not only have HOF credentials as a baseball player, but has dedicated his entire life to the sport, aren't in the Hall, therefore it loses a lot of its meaning, IMO. Horrible sentence structure. My apologies in advance because I'm not going to go back and fix it. :D

Fair enough. But, I get EI for all MLB games, not just the Cubs. With Fantasy baseball as popular as ever, MLB should be capitalizing on the opportunity for EI to be seen regardless of what cable provider subscribers have. If they are stupid enough to sign an exclusivity contract with one provider, then I might have to agree with you and not feel sorry for them or myself.

I believe Comcast is Regional. I can't get Comcast in my market, but then again I'm way out here in California. With EI, I get all the Cubs games except the Saturday black out games and the occasional game that airs on WCIU or whatever that channel is. It's possible I don't get Cubs games when they air on WGN, but I get WGN and usually watch the game on that channel if they are on.

And that's the attitude everyone should have about this. It should not be exclusive to any provider. What if DirectTV gets exclusivity, and then doesn't get the amount of new memberships they hoped for? The price will go through the roof for the EI package. I live in SoCal. The East coast 7pm games start at 4pm here. A lot of people don't buy the EI package out west because a large percentage of the games start so early. They aren't even home from work yet when the 6th inning of an east coast game rolls around. It would not be a smart business decision by MLB to go exclusive with any provider, period. I don't need it so bad that I'd be willing to give up my home and business phone number, my high speed internet service and all the email addresses that I have and give up my current DVR boxes and all the channels offered by my cable company. The less access I have to baseball games would also have an affect on my interest in the game.

Is Vladmir Guerrero eligible? :D If not, I'll take Carlos Quentin.

If Aramis looks like he might be out for a few days, I'd imagine they'll bring Moore up from AAA, so I'm not too concerned with the lack of middle infielders. At any rate, I'm just happy we don't have 8 second basemen on the roster (yet) i forgot about moore. i would still like to see mike f in a utility/ph role this year though. Hopefully, he gets the chance. Izturis and DeRosa with Theriot and Fontenot backing them up. Cedeno in AAA.

They will certainly lose me as a customer if they do that. I have zero interest in DirectTV. I usually just get auto-renewed each year through my cable company. They give me all the discounts that comes with it. Those discounts are "early bird" and "repeat customer". I'd have to do some digging to find out how much I paid last year, but it was probably $139.99. I'd pay for it if it was $339.99, but don't tell them that. What I won't pay for is a completely different cable package like DirectTV. I think it would be somewhat stupid to go exclusive with a single cable provider, but who am I? Just some dumb ole consumer.

You would have to be good at one point to get to the bigs. That's the difference. I don't think anyone can say Estes was never good. A 19-5 record with a 3.18 ERA (ERA+ of 130) in 1997 is pretty good in over 200 IP.

He was with San Diego last year, but he was out most of the year with an injury. Yeah, he'll put up decent numbers at Petco.

I'm staying out of this platoon argument, but depending on how you define "real", I'd say that the Cubs did not go into last year with no "real" back up behind Cedeno. Neifi Perez was given a 2 year contract last year for real money, and in the eyes of those that signed him, I would suggest they felt they signed a "real" back up at SS. And I might also add that Neifi Perez might actually be a better "real" option at SS than either Cedeno or Izturis in 2007, but that won't be happening. And it's pretty sad state of affairs within the Cubs organization that I'm actually saying that Neifi might be a better option than anyone we currently employ at the SS position. As much as Neifi was overpaid last year, Izturis will make almost twice as much as Neifi in 2007. And it only took trading Greg Maddux to get him. Just wow.

5 man rotations, specialty bullpens and smaller parks have to factor in somewhere as well, I would think.

Another study that would be interesting along with the one Jon posted, is how many more home runs were hit each year in the parks that were there all during this time, Wrigley for example. A lot of the newer parks seem a lot more home run friendly. Then there is the steroid dilemma that had guys like Brady Anderson hitting 30+ more home runs more than they ever hit before during that same time frame. Well, Anderson hit his 50 HR's in 1996. Camden Yards was built in 1992. Obviously, adding a tremendous power hitter or two can really offset the numbers, like Sosa. But, how much difference are we talking about in general?

Probably just keeping it real the first time out to see what kind of support they will get. Not a good idea to set lofty goals when you really don't know what kind of response you might get. I think because it's Derrek and because he's probably viewed by many as one of the classiest players to ever don a Cub uniform, he'll probably net a huge response for this charity. But, it's not a good idea to assume so.

Floyd probably won't cost much considering he may not pass a physical. But, he's still pretty scary with a bat when he's healthy.

Yeah, I've soured on Loretta a bit. I'm hoping DeRosa can match or do better than what Loretta provided over the last few years. If they hit DeRosa 2nd (which is what I'm guessing will happen), he has the potential to do some damage hitting between Soriano and Lee. I'm really hoping this supposed swing change will keep his numbers somewhat comparable to what he did last year. Heck, maybe he'll do even better?

I guess we should cheer for a Floyd signing then. Floyd shouldn't gobble up too much of Murton's at bats since he's an injury waiting to happen. I'd actually like to see Jones play center and maybe give Pagan some starts against LH pitchers. Floyd could rest Lee at 1b occasionally. If Floyd hurts himself sometime during the season and Pie is doing well in AAA, Jones or Pie could split some time with Murton or rotate the 3 somehow. I would have preferred Huff because he can play some 3b and 1b as well as the outfield.

Not bad for AZ.

"Hey, Cracky!"

I'm sure we can, just as soon as the Phillies release him. I'm thinking that will be somewhere right around 2020.

Howard has given up 20 jacks in 81 major league innings. Yikes!