ThePenguin11

A platoon's kinda pointless because Walker is better at hitting LHPs and RHPs than Hairston. Walker's splits actually showed that he was hitting lefty pitchers much more efficiently, while still doing very well against the righties.

Is Walker really that patient? His walk rate in 2005 appears to me to be .0722 vs. the 2005 NL average of .0845. It's not so much that Walker's patience leads to walks - it's that he rarely strikes out.

That's ridiculous. It's called being realistic. It's bad enough that we tout each and every player who's ever made a wave in the Cubs minor league system, now we're touting some guy who's probably best projected as a major league backup that was exchanged in one of the Cubs most mundane transactions of all time. No Cubs fans want their players to stink. Shame on you for that accusation. Some of us are realistic enough to not have expectations for players who don't warrant them.

Seriously. Angel Pagan. 7 pages of trying to justify if this marginal/mediocre prospect could be Carlos Beltran - or anything even close to it. The original statement should have been: "Angel Pagan = Poor man's Carlos Beltran?" Of course my answer would have still been 'no', but I think that might be less of a stretch. Let's not forget that Beltran was an MVP candidate before he stumbled last year.

No, no, no. Angel Pagan = Ty Cobb. No no no....Cobb stunk. He got those .420, .409, .401, .390, and .389 seasons playing in an era when the pitchers lobbed the ball underhand up there. Considering the fact that the average player in those days hit .250, Cobb stunk, but everyone else must have really stunk. Regardless, Pagan is a far superior talent to Cobb. He plays in the modern era where athletes are big and strong. Disregard the fact that Cobb himself was 6'2, 200 and his friend Honus Wagner was 6'0, 210....those guys certainly weren't athletes. Pagan easily takes the cake to Cobb. Probably better the Mays too. You see, Mays played 40 years after Cobb, that means he played in an era that was better than Cobb, which makes him better. Therefore, Pagan plays 40 years after Mays....so he must be better. I think Cobb played before they invented wood. They had to use their own arms for bats back then. EDIT: Dagnabbit, got trumped. That's what I get for not finishing the thread.

I just don't see why people have to lie to themselves, and everybody else, about the likelihood of Pagan turning into a good starting position player. You can be happy for a guy to reach a lifelong dream of making a team without being delusional about his future. I don't see the point of relentlessly bashing Pagan because some are hoping he could turn out to be a decent bench guy. If he does, great, if he doesn't, we'll get rid of him and bring someone else up. Pagan's overall effect on the team is minimal in any event. I'm not really sure who said he was going to be a starting position player for us. People have compared him to Carlos Beltran. People have said "we just don't know", people have said he could turn into a good starter (whether it's on the Cubs or not is pointless). I'm not bashing Pagan, I'm discussing his future with a sense of realism, unlike those who choose to dream of him as something he's not. Pagan is actually exactly the type of player I want on the bench; young, cheap, with some talent and not a complete waste in the OBP department. I love Pagan because he's not Jose Macias. Now, they just need somebody on the bench who can be a threat from the right side. The Mets compared him to Beltran. I think the comparison was used here to accentuate his potential for diamond-in-the-rough status. I also don't see anything wrong with saying he has the potential to be better than he's shown in the Minors. The whole "He's the next ______" is the stupidest statement in baseball and it's one of the most common. Every other week we hear these and their totally unsubstantiated by fact or any real comparison. This time it was "Pagan is much compared to his fellow Puerto Rican, Carlos Beltran". They make the comparison because he's another Puerto Rican outfielder. Their games however are completely incommensurable. In the annals of baseball stupidity, I can remember other such comparisons as, Aramis could be the next Manny (Same last name), Kris Benson could be the next Tom Glavine (Looked the same in the face, but didn't have any real similarities, oh, and Benson's not even a lefty), Kerry Wood could be the next Clemens, Ryan (Because he's from Texas - not because of his throwing style or pitching style - because then they're nothing alike)...The list goes on. For those who watch poker on television, another brilliant comparison would be Phil Ivey: The Tiger Woods of Poker - because he's a young black guy. Not because they have parallels between their games - if you could even come up with them in poker and golf. The whole thing is just silly, and it's been getting old for a long time.

So, what your saying is...we should make Pagan our closer?

I'm not quite sure how trading Wellemeyer to the Marlins is indicative of the team's desire to win. I said that because this team's cutting the obvious trash right out the gate, and not doing stupid things like keep someone around because of running out of options. That's indicative of a different franchise attitude. Wellemeyer looked abysmal all spring. He needed to go. I hope that means Grissom is gone. Too bad they won't cut Jones lose. I guess I can buy that Jake. At least, I think it means they are making better decisions. It seems they were too worried in the past about using minor league options, veteran status, guaranteed contracts, etc for personel decisions. I'm not sure it really means they "mean business now", or they have a bigger "desire to win". But it could be a different mindset. Hopefully this line of reasoning extends to the Grissom decision, and maybe down the line, moves revolving more around performance on the field rather than tenure and status. Geez, it seems like we got more for Wellemeyer than we did for Patterson. Yuck.

Keep an eye on Willingham and Johjima this year. You might even be able to grab one off the wire. I drafted both and am pretty sure one is going to have a surprising season, if not both. Willingham parked a couple today and has the ability to go yard 25-30 times. Johjima has averaged as many in Japan, but most expect him to do less in the US. I realize the pitching is better overall here, but in light of their WBC success, I think we can give them a little more credit now. Johjima put up very big numbers, albeit against inferior pitching, but he did it in very short seasons. So, in summation, yes I do like Hernandez. But if you're not sure and want to back him up for cheap, grab one of these two.

That team looks fine. You've got a lot of very good hitters and pitchers. Your only source for concern should be outfield depth since Drew doesn't have a backup. Other than that the lineup and pitching looks damn good. Benitez did get lit up for ten runs today, but it's still spring and Dempster's probably better anyways.

Oakland's going to be winning the AL west -- I doubt Beane's going to trade Zito mid-year. Why would StL trade Mulder? Good point, I started thinking about next year's free agent crop and relating that to possible trade bait. My brain's in shambles today.

Zito and Mulder now that I think about it...Right?

Apologies in advance if it's posted elsewhere, but who are some of the best possible midseason targets for this year's trade deadline? The only name that comes to mind for me is Carlos Lee. Does anyone have a list or a link to another thread with this?

b/c ST is just a small number of innings against guys that are going to be bagging groceries in a couple of weeks (well...sent down the the minors anyway). Wuertz would be on a bus to Iowa right now if it wasn't for Baker taking into account the last couple of seasons. It's only fair that Rusch and Williams get the same benefit of the doubt. Then explain to me why Williams and Rusch seem to be having trouble getting the grocery baggers they're facing and Guzman and Marshall aren't? Either way, my actual point was to ask why it was a foregone conclusion that Williams and Rusch would fill out two rotation spots 'automatically'.

Why aren't they competing for the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation? Or even the 3rd and 4th? Rusch and Williams have been just short of brutall all offseason, and I think that neither should be handed a spot in the rotation. Zambrano and Maddux are the only pitchers who get an automatic spot in the rotation.

Is this speculation or have you heard this somewhere? From KFFL.com: Cubs | Ryu could spell relief Wed, 22 Mar 2006 00:21:02 -0800 Updating a previous item, The Chicago Tribune reports Chicago Cubs P Jae Kuk Ryu may make the team as a relief pitcher instead, as the Cubs are looking for reliever help. It cited Kiley as the earlier source.

I meant that as top prospects. I do realize that doesn't really mean anything in fantasy baseball, so it was tongue in cheek.

I'm the new guy in a 13-team league, and this is the result of my first ever baseball draft: C Kenji Johjima 1B Justin Morneau 2B Chase Utley SS Michael Young 3B Scott Rolen OF Ichiro OF Jim Edmonds OF Aubrey Huff SP Carlos Zambrano SP King Felix SP Danny Haren RP Eric Gagne Bench: C Josh Willingham 1B Mike Jacobs 2B Ryan Freel SS Dustin Pedroia 3B Pedro Feliz OF Luis Gonzalez (ARI) OF Curtis Granderson OF Corey Patterson SP Zach Duke SP Greg Maddux SP Noah Lowry SP Anthony Reyes RP Tom Gordon I realize it's a who's-who of recent Baseball America standouts and while that could be a good thing, I'm wondering if I went too young. Duke, Felix and Lowry seem to be ready for 200 IP but Reyes and Pedroia seem to be headed to the minors indefinitely. It's a keeper league so I should definitely have some nice options later on. Any thoughts?

As much as you would like to think you didn't join it, I think you did with the above thesis.

The rotation will be: Zambrano Maddux Rusch Williams Hill or Guzman Personally, I would rather see: Zambrano Maddux Guzman Hill Williams ...with Willams getting the skip in the rotation. What better time to see what these guys can do in the majors? They can't be any worse than Rusch can they? Not that he's awful, but he's gotten by with some pretty plain stuff.

It maked my brain hurting. Please fix! EDIT: And what's up with the cliffhanger!!! It's like 24 all over again.

They should also claim a dime out of every quarter tossed in his hat as well. It's only fair. There wouldn't be street performers without the Cubs.

Just read through the thread one thing stands out to me...Fergie Jenkins won 20+ games for six straight years while posting ERA's between 2.63 and 3.39. Nothing against Zambrano, but he's not there yet. I seem to remember Greg Maddux and Rick Sutcliffe putting up three good seasons together as well. Granted, Sutcliffe didn't dominate but he was very consistent much like Carlos.

Do you think they would have broken a record for most tickets sold the first day???? I mean, let's not forget about that for a second.

Did anyone even see him throwing? I wouldn't put it past them to have lied about that too.