ThePenguin11

And does the penguin have this magic test that's going to be able to tell if everyone is truly clean and not taking HGH? :-k If so, :-$ go to your nearest patent attorney before talking to anyone in baseball. If baseball had the balls to blood test its players this would not be a problem. There is a magic blood test.

There is no way of knowing that anybody in MLB is truly clean until MLB mans up and begins HGH testing.

If we were to get Roberts, I don't see why this would not be the lineup. In fact I don't know why our .400 OBP guy would be buried behind our power-hitters in any scenario. It troubles me that Lou is already thinking he's a guy who should be protecting our 3-4 hitters. He should be a table setter getting into scoring position regularly in front of them. I think it's pretty obvious to most of us that Soriano is batting out of order, but let's not double-whammy the lineup. As for Derosa in RF, I think he should be the guy since he's an efficient hitter and can field the position adequately. He's a team guy and I don't see this upsetting his chemistry when it comes down to it - especially when he should be happy to get in the field on an everyday basis. Now if I can just talk Lou into making him an everyday player.... Roberts 2B Fukudome CF Lee 1B Ramirez 3B Soriano LF DeRosa RF Theriot SS Soto C P w/o Roberts Soriano Fukudome Lee Ramirez Derosa Soto Theriot Pie P The no-Roberts scenario kinda blows because we still have Soriano leading off and Soto/Theriot/Pie at the bottom of the order leaves something to be desired (with a weaker 1-5 order).

George Ofman doesn't do the news in the morning. Fred Heubner does Scoreboard updates during North's show and when the deal went down Dan Patrick's syndicated show was on.

Very Carefully. Tuffy Rhodes hit 55 home runs in Japan and OPS: Kaz in Japan - .846 Kaz in MLB - .712 Iwamura in Japan - .877 Iwamura in MLB - .770 Iguchi in Japan - .813 Iguchi in MLB - .768 Ichiro in Japan - .942 Ichiro in MLB - .816 Hideki Matsui in Japan - .995 Hideki Matsui in MLB - .856 Dice-K in Japan - 2.81 ERA Dice-K in MLB - 4.40 ERA Considering Fukudome's career OPS of .935 (.995 over past 4 years) is most comparable to Ichiro and HMatsui, I'm feeling pretty good about him. And he can catch and throw, too.

Erik Bedard has three things going for him that Rich Hill doesn't. Velocity, an effective changeup and Leo Mazzone (until 10/07, at least). Hill will not be gaining velocity and so far Rothschild hasn't been known to develop changeups for his pitchers. Even when Rich Hill was soaking in all of Maddux's expertise, he still didn't develop a mastery for the pitch or become any more dominant. In fact, I've seen very few signs of dominance out of Hill. Bedard showed signs under his first year with Mazzone and perfected it this year. I saw a lot of Bedard's work last year on MLBTV (on my fantasy team), and I would love for Hill to have a similar ceiling. I just don't see it. His K/9 and BB/9 don't seem to be translating to MLB. He'll be good, but I don't think he'll be Cy Young Award good.

Not in favor. And realistically, there is probably an equal chance that the Cubs re-sign Steve Stone to be our fifth starter as well as WGN/Comcast color analyst work on his four off days.

From MLBTR (via 1090AM in SD) Anyone have any idea what the Padres' biggest deals have been annually?

I've been hoping the Cubs could get their hands on a Bill Knickerbocker - Jocko Milligan-type guy for a long time. But come to find out he's a Solly Hemus-prototype...this is very, very good news. (PS: I don't even know who these comparisons are to...I just couldn't resist)

right now it sounds like they are waiting on Angelos to approve a deal. None of the names are 100% but Levine was quoted as saying Cedeno was part of it, along with a pitcher and perhaps an OF. Any ideas as to who the OF might be? I would say someone like Fuld but apparently he's "untouchable." Oh, and what are the chances of Angelos approving this deal? Didn't he turn down a deal involving Roberts at the last winter meeting? He turned down Roberts and Hayden Penn for M. Giles and Laroche. No GM in his right mind would approve that deal.

I don't think he nixed the deal because he likes Roberts' charitable work and thinks of him as the face of the team...I think he did it because Giles' career looked to be free-falling (and still does) and Adam LaRoche is 'just a guy'. Compared to one of their best pitching prospects (Penn) and Roberts I don't think you'd find a GM (ours included) that is dumb enough to make that deal. I really don't even understand how that got printed because I can't see anyone on the Orioles ever considering that deal...yet I've seen it in print a few times now.

I don't think he nixed the deal because he likes Roberts' charitable work and thinks of him as the face of the team...I think he did it because Giles' career looked to be free-falling (and still does) and Adam LaRoche is 'just a guy'. Compared to one of their best pitching prospects (Penn) and Roberts I don't think you'd find a GM (ours included) that is dumb enough to make that deal. I really don't even understand how that got printed because I can't see anyone on the Orioles ever considering that deal...yet I've seen it in print a few times now.

Sullivan brings up a good point I hadn't thought about. If we acquire these two, it doesn't rule out DeRosa playing in right field. That looks like a pretty good lineup to me. I might juggle Therio, Fukudome and DeRosa a bit but, it kinda works. Roberts,2B Fukudome, CF Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Soriano, LF Derosa, RF Theriot, SS Soto, C This could be a pretty effective lineup. Is DeRosa incapable of playing in RF? I guess that's the question. Derosa played plenty of RF in Texas, but his bat isn't nearly as valuable there as it is at 2B (or SS). Maybe the lack of power leaves something to be desired, but I think there's something to be said for having as many productive guys in your lineup as possible. I'd just like to see more long innings because we make pitchers work and get productive outs when we make outs.

Sullivan brings up a good point I hadn't thought about. If we acquire these two, it doesn't rule out DeRosa playing in right field. That looks like a pretty good lineup to me. I might juggle Therio, Fukudome and DeRosa a bit but, it kinda works. Roberts,2B Fukudome, CF Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Soriano, LF Derosa, RF Theriot, SS Soto, C This could be a pretty effective lineup. Is DeRosa incapable of playing in RF? I guess that's the question.

I'd probably be all over this Khalil Greene thing if he didn't look so much like Jeff Spicoli wearing a baseball costume. I find it hard to take him seriously, much in the same way I couldn't stand to look at Goldylocks Craig Wilson.

It's funny how trade threads always end up being arguements over semantics. I want to get into the time machine someone was using earlier to listen to Levine so I can skip ahead and see if the trade happens or not.

Might I suggest switching to Firefox, that has a spell check built in? Good point, but my spelling is superb. Just being a smart alec...

Leadoff hitter is not a position in the game of baseball. what is your problem, I made a mistake on saying that if thats your best comeback on trying to make me look bad then u obviously have no case in that argument I think you're still misunderstanding peoples' answers to your post. Being a "leadoff hitter" is not a meaningful role that a player fills. Jose Reyes isn't a good leadoff hitter -- he's a good hitter who bats first in the order. Obviously, he's the "leadoff hitter," but to believe this is a position/role that must be filled is illogical. And I don't mean to sound rude, but without periods and commas, some of your posts are a bit tough to read. Your not dont worry, but I corrected myself by saying just a leadoff hitter and he came back right after that saying that I said leadoff position which I didnt I think you're missing the point. Know im not I understand what you last two are trying to say, but UsSoccer said that twice to me soley for the purpose to make me sound dumb, which I corrected myself by saying its not a position, but there is a place in the order which is called the leadoff spot or leadoff hitter. Hey Tim, completely unrelated, but can we get spell/grammar check from phpbb for Christmas this year?

Am I thinking of a different Brian Roberts? That's awfully steep. Done without a second thought. I must be thinking of a different Brian Roberts too, because that is one lopsided trade. He's basically Matt Murton playing 2nd. That is basically a ridiculous statement. .281 .351 .409 Roberts .296 .365 .455 Murton Sorry, a tad bit worse than Murton. I disagree. Those three statistics aren't the only three you can use to make blanket judgements with. Murton is also a butcher defensively in my opinion. Plus you are comparing statistics of players who play positions with drastically different offensive positions. I don't see Murton as ever being an above average everyday outfielder. He's a nice 4th outfielder type. He doesn't project for power and I don't think he's got enough speed in the field or on the paths to make up for his warning track power. Your opinion means a lot more than the numbers. Here's the deal for me, it doesn't matter where you get the offense it matters how much offense you get. I'd love to see the Cubs upgrade in RF. Hopefully they get Fukudome. However, nothing happens in a vacuum. Currently, the Cubs have a hole in RF, SS, and CF. Brian Roberts plays none of those positions and, if the rumors are true will take three tradable players to get. So, if they don't get Fukudome and Roberts moves DeRosa all over the diamond and they lose Cedeno, Murton, and another players. They've upgraded slightly at 2nd and have "shot their wad" so to speak. I see your point. I don't totally agree with it, but you are also entitled to your opinion. I just think that Roberts overall game is being undervalued here. I saw much of the same dissecting of Alfonso Soriano in a thread the '05 trade deadline I was looking at earlier today. Everybody was talking about how he was barely any better than what we had on the roster and that he wouldn't make the team any better. A year later he was on the team and we were considerably better. Even with him batting out of order in the lineup. I'm glad I saved the old thread, it's hilarious to look at what we were all saying about scenarios back then and how ridiculously off they could be. And the best part is how much coveting of 'prize prospects' goes on. Most of the guys people didn't want to trade flamed out somewhere else or are stinking it up in our system. Interesting reading material.

Am I thinking of a different Brian Roberts? That's awfully steep. Done without a second thought. I must be thinking of a different Brian Roberts too, because that is one lopsided trade. He's basically Matt Murton playing 2nd. That is basically a ridiculous statement. .281 .351 .409 Roberts .296 .365 .455 Murton Sorry, a tad bit worse than Murton. I disagree. Those three statistics aren't the only three you can use to make blanket judgements with. Murton is also a butcher defensively in my opinion. Plus you are comparing statistics of players who play positions with drastically different offensive positions. I don't see Murton as ever being an above average everyday outfielder. He's a nice 4th outfielder type. He doesn't project for power and I don't think he's got enough speed in the field or on the paths to make up for his warning track power. Don't forget that most of Murton's stats are against lefties and weak righties since he mostly platooned last year. Roberts' stats are against all pitchers. An excellent point.

Am I thinking of a different Brian Roberts? That's awfully steep. Done without a second thought. I must be thinking of a different Brian Roberts too, because that is one lopsided trade. He's basically Matt Murton playing 2nd. That is basically a ridiculous statement. .281 .351 .409 Roberts .296 .365 .455 Murton Sorry, a tad bit worse than Murton. I disagree. Those three statistics aren't the only three you can use to make blanket judgements with. Murton is also a butcher defensively in my opinion. Plus you are comparing statistics of players who play positions with drastically different offensive positions. I don't see Murton as ever being an above average everyday outfielder. He's a nice 4th outfielder type. He doesn't project for power and I don't think he's got enough speed in the field or on the paths to make up for his warning track power.

What I find most hilarious is that MLB Trade Rumors is the source on Rotoworld! 99% of what is reported on MLBTR.com is rehash from Rotoworld. I seriously check both all the time and MLBTR is always like five minutes behind Rotoworld and claiming to have learned it from inside sources. Now it's Rotoworld checking MLBTR for rumors and reporting it! At least they're crediting MLBTR, something they never do for Rotoworld. Seriously, it's too bad there's no money in running a site like that because I'm pretty sure I could do it, too.

Well I guess this is credible since he didn't report that it was Eric Beldard and actually spelled Wladimir correctly...

Kosuke Fukudome-OF-Player Dec. 4 - 10:34 pm et The Padres have reportedly offered Kosuke Fukudome a three-year deal. MLB.com believes it could be worth $8 million per year. Fukudome is believed to be insisting on a three-year deal, no more and no less. The Padres would have room for both him and Luke Scott. Is that enough to get him??? I thought he'd be getting $10MM+ per year.

Oh God, please don't let Dusty get his hands on Erik Bedard. He's got what it takes to be a perennial all-star, but with a previous injury history, his arm will be cooked by the end of '08.