Rob

That sound you just heard was West Ride Rooter creaming himself.

He has Archie Bradley falling to us.

Lopez will likely be starting for us on Memorial Day.

Nope. Fleita said today he takes the guns out of the park when Simpson pitches. Doesn't want him worrying about it. Not entirely sure what to think about that. The meat head in me thinks that if Simpson is mentally weak enough to let a radar gun bother him that's worrisome. The Cubs don't want him to start overthrowing and end up hurting his arm. I didn't see anything about Simpson being mentally weak and letting a radar gun bother him.

Anybody ever play Basewars on the NES? That's how I think it should be.

I think it's a given that an outfielder will be called up before tomorrow's game. Calling up a pitcher to replace Byrd on the roster was a move for one game, to provide bullpen depth behind Russell. It would be an interesting story if it is Montanez: Former Cubs' #1 draft pick makes Cubs' debut more than a decade after being drafted after first spending time in the ex-Cubs' rest home in Baltimore. :D I dont mind calling up Montanez. Or LaHair or Snyder, who are all pretty much interchangeable, but I wonder of that 1 bad slide came between Brett Jackson and a callup. I wonder if their will be any correspoinding roster moves for Iowa, Tennessee, and Daytona, or if Iowa will jutst stick with an extra pitcher. There's no reason to call up Brett Jackson this early. If we did, he'd qualify for Super 2 status and assuming he develops into a pretty good player, that can end up costing the club upwards of $10 mil or even $15 mil over the course of his club-controlled years. Since adding him a month early likely wont make the difference of us making the playoffs this year, it would be a very bad idea to just throw that money down the drain.

I wont fault a guy for putting up bad numbers while playing injured. Apparently goony does not feel the same.

I almost referred to you by name when I said "some people."

Lake's batting average is over .300 now and he's still flashing some pop. He still needs to work on his approach and his defense, obviously... but I'm not as ready to give up on him as some.

In that case let's think about ways to get Jesus Montero. I don't think there's a pitcher in our organization that could get us Montero. Garza probably could. But yeah, Montero isn't getting traded for a bunch of our prospects. The Yankees were willing to include him in deals for top-shelf guys... not Blake DeWitt and change.

But HGH is not illegal because it makes you good at baseball..it is illegal because it is addictive and harmful. If protein shakes were addictive and harmful to your health would they also be a PED? Your post is the first time I've ever heard of HGH being labeled addictive. However you are certainly right in that there are harmful side effects. But the side effects are merely the reason it's a controlled substance. They aren't the reason it is banned from competitive sports. HGH was declared a banned substance by the Olympic Council back in the late 80s. The move was more pre-emptive than anything else. There wasn't anything to suggest that HGH was going to be terribly useful as an anabolic agent, but athletes had assumed it would be and began taking it in abundance. And while studies in recent years have shown that HGH has very little effect on how hard one can hit a baseball, there isn't exactly a good reason to un-ban it either... At any rate, I digress. My previous post was intended only to show that the line between "supplement" and "PED" isn't drawn by how useful a substance is... What sense does it make for all these self-righteous fools to ostracize a player as a "cheater" for taking a less effective substance with more side effects? This sort of "cheater" is to be pitied for being a moron, not burned at the stake for ruining the integrity of the game.

Emergency Board

I'm surprised there isn't a thread about this already. He'll be our starting pitcher Saturday. Rumor has it that he's guaranteed $900,000 when he gets called up, so I'm beginning to worry about what role Cashner is going to have when he does return.

Guilty as charged of hating on Jackson and Cashner. Jackson's strikeout rate was (and is) scary, but his walk rate has come around. Cashner I just hated because I was sure he was going to be a reliever... I seem to recall likening it to drafting a place kicker in the first round of the NFL draft.

Last year, his BABIP indicates he was a bit unlucky. However, his FB rates the last two years have been 44.9% and 42.0%. That's not a good idea in Safeco. But even beyond that, his plate discipline seems to be eroding as quickly as his mental state. His strikeout rate is up over 30% and his once-prolific walk rate has dipped as well. He's already burned through 8 teams in the league, none of which is likely to welcome his return. Of the remaining teams, I can't imagine more than a couple would have any more than a passing interest. The way I see it, it's likely Tampa Bay or bust. They're a saber-oriented front office which makes them more likely to value his potential contributions, they are in contention and trying to make due with a Fuld/Damon/Johnson trio across LF/DH, and Bradley's league-minimum pricetag matches up nicely with their thrifty ways. Also worth noting is that the media coverage is pretty light. Of course, the wildcard in that proposal is Desmond Jennings. The Rays will delay free agency by a year if they keep him in the minors until this Saturday, but it will likely take into July to avoid Super-2 status. If they're inclined to think Bradley may rebound, it may do them some good to pick him up and give him a shot until July or so. But ultimately, I think they'll pass. As will the rest of the league. Baltimore needs help at 1st. What's the thought process there? Bench DLee (who has been a notorious slow starter), move Scott to 1B, and Bradley in left over Pie/Reimold? I wont put anything past the O's, but considering how close MacPhail and Hendry are, I'm sure he's privy to all the awful things Bradley did in his tenure with the Cubs that never made it to the press. Besides which, it seems awful early to pull the plug on a "big FA acquisition" like the O's sold DLee as being to the fans.

We've got plenty of options in house between Randy Bush and Dave Littlefield. What are we waiting for?

4) This sounds like something Al Yellon would say. I understand if you have relationships with these people because of your website and don't begrudge you if you feel the need to defend them, but don't expect fans with less access to want change. Like I said, he wouldn't have survived this long in any other major market. Change for the sake of change is an awful idea. There needs to be somebody out there that's better then Hendry and is likely to be available for it to make any sense at all to fire him. Is it really so crazy to think a full one-step ahead?

Last year, his BABIP indicates he was a bit unlucky. However, his FB rates the last two years have been 44.9% and 42.0%. That's not a good idea in Safeco. But even beyond that, his plate discipline seems to be eroding as quickly as his mental state. His strikeout rate is up over 30% and his once-prolific walk rate has dipped as well. He's already burned through 8 teams in the league, none of which is likely to welcome his return. Of the remaining teams, I can't imagine more than a couple would have any more than a passing interest. The way I see it, it's likely Tampa Bay or bust. They're a saber-oriented front office which makes them more likely to value his potential contributions, they are in contention and trying to make due with a Fuld/Damon/Johnson trio across LF/DH, and Bradley's league-minimum pricetag matches up nicely with their thrifty ways. Also worth noting is that the media coverage is pretty light. Of course, the wildcard in that proposal is Desmond Jennings. The Rays will delay free agency by a year if they keep him in the minors until this Saturday, but it will likely take into July to avoid Super-2 status. If they're inclined to think Bradley may rebound, it may do them some good to pick him up and give him a shot until July or so. But ultimately, I think they'll pass. As will the rest of the league.

It'd be easier to just make him start riding home from the bars with La Russa.

The whole decision to make our lineup more left handed was meant to alleviate our issues against RHP. Do you really not understand that? Also, the DeRosa trade has worked out perfectly. He sucked in the year after leaving the Cubs, we got three good prospects for it, and one of those prospects (Chris Archer) was the centerpiece of the trade that netted us Matt Garza. How so many people still have a problem with this trade is absurd to me... Also, the Cubs couldn't afford to bring Wood back at anywhere near the contract he was going to demand on the open market. Any offer we made was going to be an insult. If he wanted to come back at a substantially reduced price (like he did this year), all he had to do was ask.

Pfff. You would have a lot more time to worry about eating crow if you weren't so busy eating the crow. I seem to recall having a very vocal "who cares?" stance on our 2B situation just before the season began... at least as far as it pertains towards Barney/Baker/DeWitt. I did want to acquire a better option from outside the org if at all possible.

One must be cautious when using pronouns that the reader can easily identify the antecedent. Also, you're not making much sense there is the proper way to say what you were attempting to. Your is a possessive pronoun, not the contraction for you are.

Drinking a protein shake before working out is much, much, much more effective than using HGH. Protein shakes are perfectly legal and acceptable supplements. HGH is a PED.

that has to be the most amazing post i've ever read. Do you have HFFC on ignore? The real question is if he has HCCF on ignore. In today's lesson, we learn that you should not be typing on your computer while on the phone wishing your mother a happy mothers day. Otherwise karma will lightly tap your nuts.

that has to be the most amazing post i've ever read. Do you have HFFC on ignore?