BigbadB

The Phillies mascot reminds me of a dinosaur. There you go!

LOL, no. I have cut back to half a pack a day. Now that Vegas is pretty much smoke free (excluding hotel rooms and the casino gaming floor), it will be easier for me to attempt. But, a little bit at a time is a step in the right direction. Shockingly enough, the law they attempted to pass in California would have made it easier for me to quit, but it was shot down. It was an increased tax that would have made smokes about $4.00 more a pack. I guess even the non-smokers thought that was a bit too much. That's good, because cold turkey makes me a very, very wound up individual, and nearly impossible to tolerate for more than a few minutes at a time.

Yeah, it's confusing to me, also. If you are going to pick random towns and teams to be a fan, why on Earth would anyone pick the Cubs? It's Bears, Cubs and Bulls for me, though I'm not really an NBA fan anymore now that the greatest player that ever lived is retired (Jordan). I support the Chargers and Padres when they aren't playing the Cubs, but it's because I live here now. But, when they play against Chicago, my allegiance is still with the area I grew up in and followed from day 1.

Troll says what? :D

Are you kidding me? California invented it. There are whole towns you can't smoke in. Del Mar and Solana Beach, you are not allowed to smoke in your car as you pass through. It's banned at beaches, stadiums, pretty much everywhere. A smoking area well away from the non-smokers would have been a much more effective plan. To make me leave the stadium and then cross the street before I light up, thanks, but no thanks. I can see the game perfectly fine from my tv. I'll buy my consessions at the local grocery store, and they'll be much cheaper, thanks! Meanwhile, corporate America, who voted out smoking pull into their parking spot in their 10 MPG smog emitting SUV's. You won't smoke while doing it though. :lol: True, but I'll smoke on the way there and on the way back.

Are you kidding me? California invented it. There are whole towns you can't smoke in. Del Mar and Solana Beach, you are not allowed to smoke in your car as you pass through. It's banned at beaches, stadiums, pretty much everywhere. A smoking area well away from the non-smokers would have been a much more effective plan. To make me leave the stadium and then cross the street before I light up, thanks, but no thanks. I can see the game perfectly fine from my tv. I'll buy my consessions at the local grocery store, and they'll be much cheaper, thanks! Meanwhile, corporate America, who voted out smoking pull into their parking spot in their 10 MPG smog emitting SUV's.

And I'm just the opposite. I refuse to pay for tickets to a baseball game when the organization has made it very clear they don't want me there. (ie. smoking not allowed ANYWHERE on the stadium grounds at Petco) And when I am successful at quitting, I still won't go. I will still be bitter that they didn't want my money then, therefore they can't have it now.

I don't like the idea of moving Moore. If Aramis gets hurt, Moore and McGehee are the only respectable options at 3b, IMO. Moore has a little bit of major league experience. McGehee doesn't.

Jacque Jones, Scott Eyre, Scott Moore and Carlos Marmol for Rocco Baldelli? Way too much. But, I'd do it.

Kill me now. It's news like this that reduces the trade value of a player, and Hendry is becoming famous for this. All it would have taken is for Hendry and Jones to have an understanding that letting it slip that Jones wants out of town will make trading him a much more difficult task. The Cubs deserve fair trade value in return regardless of Jones' feelings about wanting to leave. Now that it is rather apparent that he does want to leave, unless someone is still willing to offer up as much as he should have netted in trade without this news, I'd have to inform him that he'll be the opening day CFer in Chicago this year, unless of course the opposing team is starting a Lefty. With the current market, Jones has value in trade. If this news reduces that value, he should remain a Cub. In other words, I wouldn't trade him just to trade him, even if he really does want to be traded. In other words, I don't know who blabbed to the media about Jones' desire to leave Chicago, but the cat is out of the bag now, and it's too bad, so sad for Jones at this point. Unless, of course, someone offers fair return. I just don't understand it.

Rotoworld's take: The Cubs are continuing to shop Jacque Jones, who would prefer to move on after one year in Chicago. Cubs manager Lou Piniella has been in contract with several of his new players since being hired, but Jones isn't one he has reached out to, seemingly another sign that the 31-year-old isn't in the team's plans for the future. If a Jones deal can be pulled off, the Cubs will likely sign Cliff Floyd with the money they free up. They could also pursue Darin Erstad or Steve Finley as center field help. Source: Chicago Sun-Times

Ryan Howard?

My logic is that wins really have very little factor in determining a pitcher's value. Let's go back and review Matt Clement some more. In 2003, Clement went 14-12 with a 4.11 ERA. ERA+ was 103. In 2004, Clement went 9-13 with a 3.68 ERA. ERA+ was 123. In 2005, Clement went 13-6 with a 4.57 ERA. ERA+ was 96. Clement pitched for a really good Boston team in 2005. His record reflects that. 2005 Run Support for Clement starts= 6.02 2004 Run Support for Clement starts= 3.86 2003 Run Support for Clement starts= 4.24 There is definitely a correlation between wins and run support. Run support is completely out of the pitcher's control. But, without good run support, his record will suffer. With excellent run support, the pitcher will have a much better record.

The flag was out so early, that I didn't get myself very excited about the runback. I didn't see the flag, so I was way too excited about a non-touchdown.

The only time I got upset with Grossman yesterday was the fumble. He needs to learn to just eat the ball when he gets in trouble. I would have been much happier with a punt downfield over a short TD by the Seahawks. Way to go Bears! Two more games to go!

It's amusing to see LA turned into a Charger town this past season. Damn. Wife isn't ready yet. Luckily, the bar is only 5 minutes away. Poor LA with no NFL teams. Sounds like the Chargers plan on staying somewhere in San Diego, though National City, Chula Vista and Oceanside (the bidders) are not better options than just building a new stadium right next to Jack Murph....err, Qualcomm Stadium.

It's just about Bloody Mary time at my favorite watering hole and big screens du jour. LET'S GO BEARS! I'll celebrate with you all sometime after the Charger game. It will be Charger fan crazy at this place, so it will be hard to leave.

I always like to use this example to disprove the value of wins. In 2004, Brandon Webb went 7-16 with an ERA+ of 124 in 208 IP. In 2004, Russ Ortiz went 15-9 with an ERA+ of 104 in 204 IP. Brandon Webb ERA that year: 3.59 Russ Ortiz ERA that year: 4.13 Brandon played on one of the worst teams in the 21st century. Ortiz played on a very good scoring Atlanta team. If you didn't have the names listed, which players stats would you rather have on your team? Also, Russ Ortiz is a 20 game winner, Brandon Webb is not. Heck, Russ Ortiz' 15-9 is almost as good as Carlos Zambrano's 16-8. Carlos had an ERA+ of 165 that year. Wins are close, but that's the only thing close about them. Heck again, Jason Marquis won 14 games last year with a 6.02 ERA and a 73 ERA+. Carlos Zambrano, Kerry Wood AND Mark Prior all would be 20 game winners at this stage of their careers if they played for even a semi-decent team at scoring runs. That same year, Greg Maddux was 16-11 with a 4.02 ERA. Matt Clement was 9-13 with a 3.68 ERA. Matt had a better ERA+ as well. Maddux gave up 4 earned runs or more in 12 games. Clement gave up 4 earned runs or more in 9 games. Clement gave up 2 runs or less in 15 starts. Maddux gave up 2 runs or less in 17 starts. Given this information, is there any possible way to take this information and come to any conclusion whatsoever that one pitcher would end the season 16-11, and the other would end up 9-13? Given this information, can you look at the wins and losses between the two players, and determine that the guy who won 16 games was clearly the better pitcher that year? I sure can't.

Who do you have starting at Iowa? Cedeno? Yep. I'm in agreement with that. He obviously needs more seasoning in the minors. Sitting on the bench as a part time player on the Cubs roster won't offer him that.

Yes, some of these guys are suitable bench players. It's the extensive list that's concerning. As well as the playing time granted to some of these players. This is a big market team. They can afford quality starters and quality back ups. When a starter gets hurt, they shouldn't have to resort to Rey Ordonez at SS. They shouldn't have to resort to a 3b by committee. They shouldn't go into a season with a platoon of Hollandsworth/Dubois. The lack of development from the farm system is why this team is constantly looking at guys like Tomas Perez and Rey Ordonez when a starter goes down. I'm not opposed to having a bench guy like John Mabry. But, when your entire bench consists of John Mabry, Freddie Bynum, Angel Pagan, Neifi Perez and Henry Blanco, and John Mabry is your best bench option, the team is going to have serious problems.

Nice tackle, but where are the Gators in that picture? :D

Bryant Gumbel. Joe Morgan would be my pick of the names listed, however.

I don't think Baldelli is really all that cheap, either. At least not cheap for Tampa. But, teams continue to be dumb enough to cave in to the demands for these guys. Last year, Tampa got stuck with Huff and Lugo because of their asking price. At the trade deadline, someone was dumb enough to offer up young talent to get them and met Tampa's demands. Therefore, I don't see Tampa coming down on their asking price anytime soon for Baldelli.

And as I said before, I can do the same thing with the outfield. Tom Goodwin, Troy O'Leary, Doug Glanville, Calvin Murray, Todd Hollandsworth, Jeromy Burnitz, Jody Gerut, Matt Lawton, Angel Pagan, Michael Restovich and Marquis Grissom. The Cubs have had more than their fair share of these guys that shouldn't be anything more than a NRI. This is a prime example of how horrible it is to not develop position players through your farm system.

I meant to say out of MLB completely. Rey Ordonez has not logged a single major league at bat since his stint with the Cubs. Neither has Tony Womack. Alex Gonzalez retired and is just now making a comeback. But, he was our everyday starting shortstop in 2003. After that, he was a part time starter at best on some of the smallest market teams in MLB. Enrique Wilson hasn't played a major league game since his stint with the Cubs.