BigbadB

If they keep drawing walks and showing general patience at the plate, I'll be happy. Of course, with the way Izzy was pitching, how do you not draw walks? :D

Can you enlighten me on this comment? Have the points not completely updated in the game center? Rookie question.

The hookers from Risky Business? Nah, not that one. Can't think of the name of it. The pod women. Minority Report That's it! Thanks B! No problem BigBadB. 2nd time was a charm. Not really. I responded to your first one. My response was right before your 2nd time. :wink:

I should shut up now. It only took me three pages of this thread to get out what I was trying to say.

The hookers from Risky Business? Nah, not that one. Can't think of the name of it. The pod women. Minority Report That's it! Thanks B!

The hookers from Risky Business? Nah, not that one. Can't think of the name of it. The pod women.

Make up call for Lee -- who was clearly safe. I didn't see Murton's play. Murton was safer than Lee. :) Agreed. Why didn't they show a replay of that blown call?

Bynum looks like one of those people in that Tom Cruise movie.

The ump definitely gave Marshall the rookie treatment.

Yeah, if you want to use Conine and Cruz for comparisons, it will make people lean more towards Jones. However, Conine and Cruz were not the only players available for RF this offseason. Brad Wilkerson, Milton Bradley, Brian Giles, Aubrey Huff, Reggie Sanders, etc.... While it wouldn't look like a popular move now, I'd rather have brought back Nomar on a smaller contract and stuck him out there in RF than sign Jacque Jones to a 3 year deal. Jones isn't as bad at the plate as he has been so far, but he's never been anything special at the plate. One of Jones' problems is the same problem that has plagued this team for years. OBP. He doesn't get on base very well. I'm not interested in "I told you so's", I just want a good team. Paying high dollar for mediocre players because you couldn't get who you wanted is a poor business decision, now and until the contract ends. Jones' contract will handcuff the team later on, just you watch. He will basically be making what Todd Hundley made, and while Hendry pulled off a tremendous deal to get rid of Hundley, he had to take on "bad contracts" in exchange. It worked that time, but it isn't always going to work. If the plan didn't work out to get the guys he really wanted, then, IMO, it was a much better idea to put his long term contracts in his back pocket and offer up a 1 year deal to someone like Reggie Sanders, or trade for Milton Bradley and figure out a way to upgrade next year.

Offer him Polanco and Abreu for one of his closers and Utley. Your strength in the outfield makes Abreu tradeable.

I don't believe I said that. I believe I said I have never seen a pitcher dominate Bonds the way this kid did. In other words, if I were to rate pitcher dominance of Barry Bonds in a single at bat, the performance the other day by Ray was the single most dominant performance I have ever seen. And yes, I have have seen Wood and Prior dominate Bonds in at bats.

And a weather report?

Crosby won't be out long. They sewed his finger back on quite nicely. You can hardly tell. :D

Well, it's a Sunday game. What are the chances that Dusty rests all of his starters today? :D I mean, they have been so overworked already, only having days off on Tuesday, Thursday and tomorrow.

Jones makes for a decent platoon option with Nady. I'm game. But, if Beltran continues struggling, I'd be interested in knowing how much of his contract they'd be willing to eat.

Unfortunately, Jacque Jones is the brunt of boos that more likely would be directed at Jim Hendry, but Hendry doesn't take the field. Jacque Jones isn't a horrible player. He isn't among the elite, either. I don't fault Jones for being mediocre. I fault Cubs management for not doing a better job of landing a better player to stick in RF. They've failed 2 years in a row. And it probably wouldn't be all that big of a deal if Jones was out there if the rest of the team was much better than they are, but add to the fact Cubs management gave a mediocre player a 3 year multi-million dollar contract, and it compounds the problem. I can still hear the interviews in my mind from last year when they signed Burnitz. "He had a great year last year and we think he's going to be a big help to this team", ignoring the fact he spent the last year in Colorado, which I basically challenge anyone to find a player who hasn't had a a huge boost in his career AVG's by playing in Coors. I mean, test the logic. It's not much different to think Burnitz will have another tremendous season in Chicago comparable to the one he had in Denver than it is to think that Jeff Cirillo will be a tremendous asset as an everyday starter this year because he had that one good season or two in Denver a few years back. I believe I recall Burnitz saying he thought he'd be able to match his HR output from the previous season. But, this is a Jacque Jones thread. WYSIWYG. He didn't play in Colorado. We see his everyday numbers in Minnesota, and we can get a pretty good idea what to expect from Jones. Unfortunately, it's not going to be much. But, I can't boo him because of that. I can't boo Neifi and I can't boo Jones. It's not their fault they are here. I do believe boos should be saved for players on the opposing team, and lack of hustle or appearance of lack of care among members of the team you would typically cheer. In other words, when a Moises Alou kicks a ball into the ivy because he's too lazy to pick it up, boo until you lose your voice. If a guy doesn't run out a ground ball, boo him to the point the manager has to take the guy out of the game for fear he'll get booed too.

This thread is interesting in the fact that Dontrelle Willis' name has come up in a lot of threads recently. I could be off base here, and I'm just guessing, but I would venture to guess that there would have been a bigger buzz on this site (at the time of the trade) if when the Cubs traded for Clement and Alfonseca if Felix Sanchez was involved in the trade rather than Willis. I seem to recall Felix having quite a following. I'm not sure what happened, but I'll take a guess that it was injuries.

Felix got into 3 games in 2003, and hasn't seen the bigs since. Not really sure why they traded him, but it turned out to be a pretty good call. Although at this point, it's a wash since neither of the guys we got for Sanchez are with the Cubs anymore.

I don't think St. Louis or Houston is as good as they were last year. The Cardinals should have brought back Reggie Sanders and Grudz. Houston should have offered Clemens whatever he wanted.

It's always better to get in a league with people you know, so you can ride them if it appears they have abandoned their team. Hopefully, you get a good league manager who can turn the abandoned team into at least a semi competitive team so more people don't become inclined to abandon their teams also. But, yes. People will quit when their team falls out of contention. I've also seen some pretty lopsided trades happen in these random leagues, and I've also seen pretty good players dropped from teams, which is why they now have a "can't drop" list in place. I would recommend making posts on the fantasy leagues message board encouraging reaction. The more discussion you can create with the other team owners, the more you may create a friendship and/or mutual respect where you will want to create a league with them and maybe a few new invitees to replace abandoned teams the next year. With that last paragraph in mind, look for leagues to join that have "Cubs" in the title (and exception would be "Cubs Suck" or something of that nature). By joining a league like that, you are already joining a league where you have something in common with other team owners. At the same time, you might be able to introduce those Cub fans to NSBB. :D

Agreed. I'd take Furcal for Drew. Outfielders are easier to find on the free agent wire than SS are.

If OBP is one of your scoring options, Giles>>>>>>>>Zimmerman.

Felix.

Okay, maybe he is 31. Where did they get him? Triple A? I've never seen a Cub pitcher dominate Bonds in at bat the way he did the other day. It wasn't just a 4 pitch K. He made him look foolish at the plate. Possibly a fluke, but the real point of my post is that Atlanta's farm system runs deep. If they have a hole to fill, they tend to do it from their farm. Francouer, Langerhans, Betemit, Kelly Johnson, LaRoche, McCann, Devine, Davies, James, etc....