Rob

Standard 5x5 format only difference being LF, CF, RF instead of 3 OF. 12 teams. We've been escalating the number of keepers each year... we're up to 10 now. Yes, I know that's an absurd number. And yes, my team has done horrible this year... I got nailed hard by injuries and people completely crapping the bed. Still, I think I have a good core to build around for next year. My roster as it stands: C - Matt Wieters 1B - Carlos Pena 2B - Orlando Hudson SS - Cristian Guzman 3B - Alex Rodriguez LF - Ryan Braun CF - Andrew McCutcheon RF - Milton Bradley Util - Alfonso Soriano BE - Travis Snider SP - Johan Santana SP - Jake Peavy SP - Rich Harden SP - Josh Beckett RP - Kerry Wood RP - Matt Capps BE - Rick Porcello BE - Ricky Nolasco BE - Zach Duke BE - Neftali Feliz BE - Homer Bailey Right now I'm thinking Wieters, ARod, Braun, McCutcheon, Soriano, Santana, Peavy, Harden, Beckett, Feliz. I hate keeping Soriano right now, but I know he's a good bet to rebound for next year at least. Peavy may need to be dropped though if this elbow injury turns out to be structural. At that point I have some choices to make with Snider, Noalsco, and Porcello. Thoughts?

Given the general attitude of the board lately, are you terribly surprised people are having trouble looking at the big picture?

Fox is a good bench bat and useful fill-in at the four corners and maybe even catcher. But I'm not sold on him being a better bet to provide value as a starter than any of our guys currently in those spots. Maybe spot him for an injured Sori through the rest of this year... but I think we'd be best served to keep the current arrangement next year, if for no other reason than to gather more info on Fox. Remember, at this time last year a lot of people were suggesting we dump DLee and start Hoff.

The Red Sox get away with grabbing all these journeymen guys because they generally do a pretty good job of properly utilizing them. I'd be shocked to see him with a bat in his hand, and if he's just running and playing D, he's a very nice player.

I'd consider something if Hicks was on the table. But I doubt he is and I sincerely doubt anything gets done...

Dave Cameron brings rational thought back to Bradley. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/bradley-taking-the-fall

He didn't accuse you of racism. He accused the racist fans of it.

nobody said average means nothing. it means something because it brings other numbers up. also nobody said anything close to what you said about ops btw, that hitter would still have an .800 ops delete your post, he needs to figure this out for himself. Feed a man a fish and all that. To be fair, the hits are worth marginally more than the walks when you look at it in extremes like this. This hypothetical player would be a marginal upgrade over Bradley this year. That said, if he's hitting .400 with no patience or power, Bradley would be the better bet of the two for next season.

I recently learned that the mods can read the words anyways. Tread carefully.

It's actually the 34 HR and 90 RBI that exite me, both of which would lead the Cubs btw. A Please, for the love of god, stop using RBI.

poorly? Well that's just ignorant.

Dunn is also having one of the single most atrocious defensive seasons I've ever borne witness to. The difference between him and Bradley is approaching 30 runs on defense alone... and that's with Milton just playing average defense in RF.

.280/.380/.500

Fixed for truth and accuracy. These are not numbers you can live with from a [expletive] corner outfielder. Stop pretending RBI means a [expletive] thing for individuals. It doesn't, and no amount of bitching will change that. It's not just RBI but you are obviously Milton's mom, so I'll let you praise this great RF we have. Have fun and when you see why we brought him here for and what we're getting, I'll respond. And you're obviously a troll or a [expletive] moron. I hope for your sake it's the former.

Fixed for truth and accuracy. These are not numbers you can live with from a [expletive] corner outfielder. Stop pretending RBI means a [expletive] thing for individuals. It doesn't, and no amount of bitching will change that.

Hey fucktards. Stop trying to justify your hatred of Bradley using pointless stats like BA and RBI. At least with your ridiculous semantic arguments like "middle of the order" you almost have a leg to stand on.

Cubs fans are idiots. Ibanez is a worse defender than Bradley and has been terrible lately. Bradley's closing fast. And that's to mention nothing of years two and three of the contract.

I'm not. At all. I just said it in the post above yours.

Ladies and gentlemen, your list of 2010 FA Outfielders per Cots. Bobby Abreu LAA Garret Anderson ATL Rick Ankiel STL Rocco Baldelli BOS Jason Bay BOS Marlon Byrd TEX Mike Cameron MIL Frank Catalanotto TEX Endy Chavez SEA Coco Crisp * KC Carl Crawford * TB Johnny Damon NYY David Dellucci TOR Jermaine Dye * CWS Darin Erstad HOU Cliff Floyd SD Ryan Freel BAL Brian Giles SD Ken Griffey Jr. SEA Vladimir Guerrero LAA Matt Holliday OAK Geoff Jenkins * PHI Reed Johnson CHC Andruw Jones TEX Austin Kearns * WAS Hideki Matusi NYY Jason Michaels CLE Xavier Nady NYY Magglio Ordonez * DET Manny Ramirez * LAD Dave Roberts SF Gary Sheffield DET Randy Winn SF

My post that set this whole thing off was that I said I was getting a Starlin Castro - Ronny Cedeno vibe. And because Cedeno didn't pan out I think some people took that the wrong way. At one point Cedeno was an excellent prospect, and if it were somehow possible to magically press a reset button and have another shot with him, I'd take it in a heartbeat. It wasn't meant to take anything away from Castro at all.

Why the hell is anybody mentioning RBI? RBI are completely meaningless as an individual stat, but it's not even like Bradley is hitting worse with runners on... he's actually been much better. And while one could make the "garbage time" argument, I'd be just as justified saying he's been trying to help pull our team out of this all month. It's not his fault nobody else is really helping him.

And I think that completely glossing over Cedeno's .355/.403/.518 line at AAA at age 22 is a bit dishonest too. Cedeno's maturation took a FAR different route than you can expect Castro's to. I see no issue with trying to take a step back before looking at it. Hey, I'm not saying Castro isn't a better prospect than Cedeno was at this age. He absolutely is, and not by a small margin. I was just commenting on the fact that there are quite a few similarities.

With a much better minor league pedigree and a proven ability to hit for average, mitigating his chances for a Cedeno-esque flop. yeah, i don't see how anyone can look at the two guys and say they're very similar. cedeno struck out in nearly 19% of his PAs from ages 19-21. castro was at 15.3% last year and this year he's under 10% while playing as one of the youngest players in each league. he clearly has contact skills that ronny cedeno did not possess. i'd be more concerned that he turns into rey ordonez - a guy who makes a lot of contact but doesn't make solid enough contact to hit for good average - than ronny cedeno. You dont see it? Really? Two young shortstops with standout defensive tools and trouble making the routine plays... both of whom have line drive strokes and attack the ball early in the count. Granted, Castro is beginning to show some signs of patience at the plate as of late... but until that the only real difference was that Cedeno had more trouble putting the bat on the ball... though he hit it a bit harder when he made contact. Yes... at the same age Castro has a huge leg up on Cedeno... but we really cant be expecting the sort of AAA breakout Cedeno had either. In this case I'd suggest trying to take a big step back and look at the big picture instead of trying to compare them year by year.

Anybody complaining about Bradley is racist. There, I said it.

Am I the only one getting a Starlin Castro - Ronny Cedeno vibe?