BigbadB

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....

If the Cubs were to find a way to land someone like Abreu at the deadline, which I'm pretty skeptical, I'd have Abreu batting 2nd, not 5th. If Pierre were to get closer to his .360 OBP and then you had Abreu and his .400+ OBP hitting second, Lee and Ramirez would be in heaven. If the Cubs would have thrown Abreu money at Brian Giles this past offseason, they could have had that without giving up anything other than compensation picks in the June amateur draft, and they still could have had that kind of OBP at the top of the order. But, didn't happen. I would agree with anyone who said that you would really need to WOW Phily to pry him away.

The Giants also have Armando Benitez due back from the DL as soon as he's eligible, so I'd imagine they'd wait to begin evaluating their pen until after he's back and throwing in the 9th. The Braves have no such closer waiting in the wings, except for Devine, as you said, but with the way he's pitched so far in the bigs, both in his time last year, and this year, I'd worry about him as a closer. That Ray kid the Braves have made Barry Bonds look clueless at the plate on 4 pitches also. The Braves don't need to deal with other teams to fill holes, all they need to do is promote someone up from the farm.

Detroit could surprise a bit this year. Granderson is supposed to be the real deal. Shelton is playing his first full season. Maggs appears to be healthy. Pudge and Guillen are coming off of down years and are typically much better than they were last year. Polanco and Inge are nice role players. The addition of Kenny Rogers, Bonderman now has major league experience, and Verlander could be a ROY candidate. They have a solid bench and no real weakness except maybe middle relief. If they stay healthy, they are not an "easy" series for anyone.

Agreed. And the bullpen helped with a lot of those losses. It is a stronger bullpen this year, so hopefully they will protect more leads.

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And he just singled. He's got 9 XBH's this week. 2 doubles, 2 triples and 5 HR's.

The week isn't over yet, but is there are an argument for one of the best opening weeks in MLB history? The guy is just insane right now. Why are they still pitching to him?

Good news, it's only a 3 year contract.

Shelton is 2-2 (2 triples) and 3 RBI so far today in just two at bats. I wouldn't trade him to anyone until he cools off.

I applaud Neifi's enthusiasm in helping out, but I'd prefer to see Derrek Lee or Aramis Ramirez working with Cedeno on his hitting. Neifi can help him with his defense. :wink: