Rob

Z was the 33rd most valuable pitcher in baseball last year according to WAR. And that probably undersells Big Z, as fangraphs WAR doesn't include defense or hitting... and Z is well above average at each of those. He's probably in the 20-25 range in overall value from starting pitchers. Overpaid certainly, but almost assuredly above average. He's not what he used to be, but reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Meh, it's just one of 162 games. Nothing that happened means anything.

Butters, you're so stupid.

Bullpen. who?

That's pretty much my feeling. I think Fukudome helps this team quite a bit with his OBP and defense. They're not ideal for a RF, but I think there's a steep drop off from Fukudome to Colvin/Nady/Hoffpauir as things stand right now. Even if Colvin manages to become a better hitter than Fukudome OPS-wise, his arm and his range are decided downgrades from Fukudome in RF. I don't think the tradeoff would be worth it right now. Moreover, even if Brett Jackson is banging down the door, there might be a better argument for trading Byrd than trading Fukudome come next offseason. Jackson could be a plus defender in CF, which would mean trading Fukudome and shifting Byrd to RF or just trading Byrd. It'll be interesting to see what Hendry does this coming offseason. Lee and Lilly's contracts are running out, and Aramis has that opt-out clause. The only one of the bunch who might nab a substantial pay raise is Lilly, but trading Fukudome may be the only way that Hendry can afford to retain some of those guys... what with all of our heavily backloaded contracts and arbitration raises coming.

Colvin cannot replace fukudome's production and the nats don't have any upgrades to offer to make it worthwhile (not realistic ones, anyways). I'd consider moving him at the deadline if we are out of it. There are enough options likely to make it to market in the offseason, or Brett Jackson could be knocking on the door early next year. But trading fukudome right now is giving up on the season, which is very premature.

Frasor was just named the Blue Jays closer, so his price tag to acquire just went up.

Kudos to the front office.

This is the dumbest thing I've read today.

bounce back from what? his play in tennessee last season was the best he's been since he was drafted. sorry, I meant breakout, referring to the thread in the minor league forum. 4/5 today with a HR and a 3B.

bingo. For one or two games at a time, fontenot is a fine backup. If there's an injury, Barney is ready now. And Castro could force his way up at any time.

What the hell is there to "forgive" Sori for? It's not like he was trying to play badly.

I was on colvin as a bounceback candidate before spring training. Do I get a free pass?

Tell me why they didn't sign him then? Because of steroids and the possibility of jail time? That's partially correct. Whether or not you or I believe in the effect of "chemistry" effecting a team, Bonds has been known as a complete [expletive] his entire career, and it certainly didn't aid him in getting teams to line up to sign him. And that was my point. And my point is (still) that teams are idiots if that is why they didn't sign him. I have a hard time believing that all 30 teams are run by drooling morons So you think all 30 teams passed on a player who put up a .480 OBP because they were scared he might go to jail during the season (which he still hasn't done)? I think it had one heck of a lot more to do with the fact that for the vast majority of fans, Bonds was the living embodiment of the steroid era and most teams didn't want that negative publicity. Add in his health / mobility issues, the legal issues, the media circus and associated distractions...and it's not too hard to see why teams didn't want to sign him even though he was still the best hitter in baseball. I'm sure the personality thing didn't help, but it was way down the list, imo. don't forget that he was still looking for an $18 mil payday last I heard. That's a bunch even for the best hitter in baseball, especially after you factor in the bad defense and the fact he couldn't play every day (which required a team to sign one of the better/expensive 4th outfielders).

I'll take John's word for it. Link Musta missed that while I was down in Arizona. Still, he can physically do the job even if he isn't currently sure whether he wants to or not.

If anybody were actually interested, I'd be glad to.

John Smoltz would be a fine addition to any bullpen, provided he doesn't want a big contract. Anybody who thinks he can't pitch anymore is just wrong.

Pujols Vmart Kung Fu Panda Upton Hanson As crazy as it is, I can't recall a season like Hanson's being quite so quiet. Depending on how you feel about the other owners in your league, you may want to try holding Haren instead and hoping nobody noticed Hanson last year. But yeah, Pujols is a no-brainer. Sandoval and Upton are only going to get better, and Victor's got extreme value simply because not many catchers rack up 600 PA. Yeah, he's on the wrong side of 30, but that means you listen to trade offers... you can't let him go for nothing, especially at such a thin position.

I'd be on the phone seeing if Smoltz has interest in coming out of the pen and seeing what he'd charge. But there's not much else at a glance.

After the first two days of spring training, I'm willing to call my Colvin breakout prediction a complete success. Yup, I'm so freakin smart.

Every Cubs fan I know in person (i.e. not people on this board) had the exact same thing to say about the Bradley/Silva trade: "I'm just glad he's gone." Most people don't want to think about the other stuff. They just don't really care, or want to be told why (I think) they should. Most people don't know anything about baseball. My friends are all idiots when it comes to this stuff. Of course the unintended comedy is that the folks here that think they do know everything about baseball and everyone else is an idiot and/or uninformed, are themselves uninformed on the most critical elements of the situation. I've said it before and I'll say it again: unless you were in the Cubs clubhouse day in and day out last year, then you have no clue what was really going on, and therefore you have no business spouting about what Hendry should or should not have done with Bradley. Irony much? I have never said that Bradley didn't have an impact on clubhouse chemistry or even on performance. I've only ever said that it can't be quantified, and that the best route we could take would be to ignore it. But you, you say that he definitely had a net negative effect. And that it was a big one. And you rail against us for not being close enough to the situation to have any idea what was going on. But I didn't see you in the clubhouse last year... No, your only "proof" of your statements is that Jim Hendry, a man with a very long line of questionable decisions, has the same opinion on the matter that you do.

Kudos to you for recognizing that, just maybe, the depth and breadth of this dude's delusions made trading him at any cost the smart move -- and that only someone up close and personal to the situation (like, say, Jim Hendry) would know for sure. The armchair QBs around here were having none of that hypothesis a few months ago, when this story was still on the front burner. Milton Bradley is so crazy that Jim Hendry had to trade him! We know this because Jim Hendry traded him. Circular logic is circular.

First time I saw a curve, I already knew that it was supposed to look like it was going straight for your head so I didn't bail out. It was a fastball.

Everybody does realize that Cashner starting in the minors actually helps his development as a reliever too, right? More reps for a pitcher who's only got 2 plus pitches, a below-average change, and sometimes spotty control can't really hurt. If our pen really needed the help that badly, fine. But Cashner isn't a great bet to be much better than a long line of fungible arms we've already got lined up to be the last man in the pen right now. Why start the arb clock and hinder his development? It's not like Lou actually uses all of his pen arms anyways.

Bill James got to me first and Neyer was right on his heels. But I've loved baseball stats as far back as I can remember. I was calculating my own obp and slugging back in pee-wee ball. I was doing the same for all the players on the baeball cards back in '91, and I was seven.