BigbadB

How do you feel about the whole 'spitball pitchers in the Hall' argument? Obviously obtaining spit is only gross and not illegal so it's not exactly the same, but do most baseball fans resent pitchers who may or may not have cheated when they were pitching? Is that a breach of sportsmanship? I'm not even sure how I stand on the matter. Just curious what others think. (To clarify, I believe steroids = bad) Spit balls were allowed for a while. Steroids were always against the rules, they just didn't have testing. And I don't think the two are near the same category. But isn't Vida Blue, or some dude like that in the Hall and everybody is pretty sure he threw spitters when they were illegal? BBB makes a good point along with yours, in that they probably weren't thrown on every pitch, whereas steroids make you stronger all the time. Gaylord Perry comes to mind when discussing spit balls, not Vida Blue. Vida Blue is the one that supposedly threw a no hitter while on LSD. Does the MLB really need to spell out all that is illegal? Do they really need an Article 276 section F that reads "child porn is illegal in the United States, therefore illegal in MLB. Any player caught with child porn will be banned from the game." I just don't see the need for this rule. If you are doing something that is illegal in this country, then the job/company you work for should be in jeopardy. Steroids are an illegal substance, just like cocaine. How many times did Steve Howe get suspended?

How do you feel about the whole 'spitball pitchers in the Hall' argument? Obviously obtaining spit is only gross and not illegal so it's not exactly the same, but do most baseball fans resent pitchers who may or may not have cheated when they were pitching? Is that a breach of sportsmanship? I'm not even sure how I stand on the matter. Just curious what others think. (To clarify, I believe steroids = bad) Was every pitch a spit ball? Probably not. Only when they could get away with it. Occasionally, they got caught and ejected from games. Bonds was playing everyday enhanced by illegal drugs, and apparently a whole bunch of them. Add on his body armor and what pitcher stands a chance against the Incredible Hulk (minus the green skin tone)?

And, steroids has helped baseball players break long standing records that otherwise probably wouldn't be broken. Will they let the record stand when some player takes kryptonite and hits 540 HR's in a season, assuming kryptonite is an illegal drug. :D

Jim Thome can outproduce by himself the production that Big Skirt and Carl Everett provided the White Sox last year. Paul Konerko did. Frank Thomas/Carl Everett '05 XBH's= 57 Paul Konerko's '05 XBH's=64 Frank and Carl's RBI output=113 Konerko's RBI output=100 Frank and Carl's Runs scored=77 Konerko's Runs scored=98 Case closed.

Oh, and how much more of a "leader" is Carl Everett than Jim Thome?

Leader and/or leadership can never be used in the same sentence with Carl Everett.

Even if the Cubs were shopping Walker, it's rather apparent that he would not net the return he would be worth, so to me it's rather silly that he is still discussed in trade discussion. A productive, veteran, starting 2b that only makes 2.5m is worth quite a bit in trade, IMO. If you can't get quite a bit, you might as well keep him and play him. .249 .319 .438 .305 .355 .474 Which of the two above is worse? The first one, correct? The first one is Jacque Jones, the guy the Cubs just gave a 3 year deal to at twice the amount Todd Walker makes. The 2nd one is Todd Walker. End of discussion.

I'm not so willing to believe Bonds was clean prior to 1998.

Root for small ball? This isn't going to be a small ball team. Juan Pierre will slap some singles and steal some bases, but other than that this is not a small ball team. It's a baseball team. Why do people insist on trying to pretend it's one or the other. Actually I think you misunderstood my intention. I am constantly calling for a balanced team that can all styles of baseball, depending on what game situation merits it. I didn't intend to infer that the Cubs are a small ball team (if that's what you got out of it). I was strictly referring to Pierre's game. Often I find the proponents of OBP ball shun all forms of small ball, at all times, and I was making the point that with Pierre on the team, you simply can't take that stance. No, we really do not shun small ball at all times. In a tie game in the 8th or 9th, I'm fine with Pierre stealing 2nd, Walker bunting him to 3rd and giving Lee and Ramirez the opportunity to sac fly him in. I'd prefer that Walker hit the ball to the right side and hopefully through the infield, but if he lays down the bunt to make a fairly deep fly ball an RBI and a lead in the game, I'm cool with that. I don't want to see it in the 1st or the 4th, however, or whatever inning Pierre is coming up to hit. Every base running error (caught stealing, caught attempting an extra base, picked off) is one less RBI opportunity for the most productive hitters on the team.

They said he would be back on his throwing routine on Wednesday. Probably not much effort with the legs, however.

Just to back up MHuber, Lightner is an idiot. He is horrible. However, Coleman is a HOF broadcaster. Not sure if he was doing any of this particular broadcast, but the comments don't sound like anything he would say. Vasgersian and Mark Grant on the tv side are just as good if not better as our broadcast team. Vasgersian has done the last 2 Olympics besides doing Padres games. The Padres would not let Vasgersian out of his contract to interview for the Cubs job opening last year, otherwise it would probably have been Vasgersian getting the job. No disrespect to Len, as both are excellent game callers.

I can't describe how great of a time I had, especially with my nephew. But it was an unbelieveable experience, I would recommend to any BIG-TIME Baseball fan. I'm looking forward to the games I have tickets for in San Diego.

I disagree with your assessment of the pitching. In a 16 team league, that's a pretty good rotation. Coco Crisp and Mark Loretta in front of Manny this year will make Manny an RBI machine once again.

Does this get your hopes up at all? http://cubs.scout.com/2/503956.html Which two teams are they putting in 5th and 6th? I'll assume Cincinnati is one of them. Houston or Milwaukee?

If Pierre is not running into unnecessary outs (caught stealing, caught attempting to take an extra base, picked off) and Todd Walker, Matt Murton or Jerry Hairston Jr. are batting 2nd instead of Neifi Perez, the offense will be okay. Not bad, not good, just okay.

My feelings on Bonds are pretty well documented. I think I understand now why he wears that body armour. He didn't want any pitchers to hit his needle drilled elbow.

Sorry, no do overs on your picks. :D

Soriano is embarrassed to be a starting outfielder in the major leagues while making 10m a year? Feel free to quit and move back to the DR if you're so embarrassed. I really dislike people who think they are bigger than the game themselves.

LA is better for non beach touristy things to do. San Diego is better for beach touristy things to do. In other words, if you are bringing her to play in the sand, San Diego is probably the better place. San Diego also features Legoland, Sea World and our world famous zoo. LA definitely has more things going on, but for small kids, IMO, San Diego is probably a better vacation destination. Disneyland isn't far from LA or San Diego, either. In fact, it's VERY close to Anaheim Stadium.

I'm not going to do any games this year. If you get tickets and find out you can't go or couldn't find someone to go to a game with, let me know.

That's the team I felt has always made a good trade partner with the Cubs. Gathright, Huff, Lugo, Baez, etc....... Prior to the Pierre trade, we had a lot of pitching to move. We had a ton of money to spend and we had holes at basically all of the positions the above guys play. I know that Tampa was asking too much for these guys, but I wonder how much time was actually spent working on trades that would help both teams?

I like Borowski and he will likely get some save opportunities, but with the line up Florida is throwing out there this year, I wouldn't count on him to get very much work. The starting pitching has a chance to be very below average to very bad outside of Dontrelle, and the offense is probably not going to be of much help.

Of course, the closer who has probably put the most guys on the DL from his pitches is Trevor Hoffman. That off speed pitch of his can make a guy throw his back out trying to back track on their swing.

I think Greenberg is just as good of a fit as Grissom. At Grissom's age, I would think Greenberg is better defensively, and quite likely offensively as well. Hypothetical: Pierre turns his ankle rounding 3rd and needs 2 or 3 days off. Who is a better option starting in CF for the next 3 games, Grissom or Greenberg? Or do you slot Jones in CF and put Mabry in the corner, and is that any better? A lot of teams carry a back up CF even if your CF is durable. Grissom is 39 years old. Outside of Steve Finley (who's production dropped like a rock last year), how many other 39+ year old CFers are earning jobs at the major league level? I suppose you could stick Hairston out there again, but my money is that Dusty will have Grissom out there. And with Dusty, I would imagine Hairston would be there before Greenberg would. So, it's basically a moot point.

Yep, Lidge is definitely Goliath. In fact, he's probably Goliath more than any other current closer. Wagner a close 2nd?