Rob

I'm just assuming this thing is dead.

That depends almost entirely what you think of Fontenot. In all honesty, playing Ronny Cedeno instead of Theriot, and keeping Murton as our fourth OF is probably just about as good. I think that's just straight up BRob's advantage over DeRosa. If you add in DeRosa over the next utility guy (presumably Fontenot), it probably becomes a little more than 2-3 more wins. Last I checked, we weren't likely to just add Roberts (and his 2-3 wins) without subtracting from the major league squad. True, but I suppose it depends on how much PT you actually would have expected out of Murton, Gallagher, Cedeno, etc. Well, the PECOTA projections that have us a couple games ahead of the Brewers are counting on Cedeno stealing the starting job from Theriot, and Murton getting a few hundred PA as the best 4th OF in the league.

That depends almost entirely what you think of Fontenot. In all honesty, playing Ronny Cedeno instead of Theriot, and keeping Murton as our fourth OF is probably just about as good. I think that's just straight up BRob's advantage over DeRosa. If you add in DeRosa over the next utility guy (presumably Fontenot), it probably becomes a little more than 2-3 more wins. Last I checked, we weren't likely to just add Roberts (and his 2-3 wins) without subtracting from the major league squad.

That depends almost entirely what you think of Fontenot. In all honesty, playing Ronny Cedeno instead of Theriot, and keeping Murton as our fourth OF is probably just about as good.

My personal list, which is somewhat jumbled... 1. Vitters 2. Soto 3. Donaldson 4. Veal 5. Gallagher 6. Colvin 7. Samardzija 8. Thomas 9. Ceda 10. Huseby

PECOTA EqA projections: Cedeno - .251 Theriot - .237 Cintron - .229

Throwing from 45 feet on flat ground. If all goes well, he should be ready sometime in the second half. He still has one available option year. I'm really hoping he comes back a bit after the break and stays healthy. He's still got some of the best stuff in the system. We've cornered the market on lights-out light-duty right-handed relievers. I was hoping more along the lines of our third/fourth starter.

Throwing from 45 feet on flat ground. If all goes well, he should be ready sometime in the second half. He still has one available option year. I'm really hoping he comes back a bit after the break and stays healthy. He's still got some of the best stuff in the system.

37. Justin Verlander 38. Erik Bedard 39. Aramis Ramirez 40. Cole Hamels 41. Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones 42. Adam Dunn

1) You can't assume that the .300 hitter is the only one getting extra bases. In fact, he's much less likely to be getting XBH. That margin is only gonna get wider. 2) SB can't move the guys ahead of him up a base. They don't have the same value as regular total bases. If you want to call that a wash with the fact that walks can't move a runner up more than one base at a time, I'd be amenable to that. 3) You're operating under the assumption that if you don't win the game in that PA, it's game over. It's not. There are batters behind him. I'd want the guy up who is least likely to make the out to end the game. Last season, that was Weeks.

True. But there's no doubt that those three fall into the extremes of those categories. Myself, I'm loving the Gallardo injury right now... should cause his draft stock to slip a bit, which might allow me to grab him later on in the draft.

Oh, I'm not debating the method. I've always been the guy who cobbles together a pitching staff in the late rounds and off the waiver wire. (I'm lucky in that only 2-3 others in my league have any grasp on prospects). It's just rare that you see a staff where every single starter has big, big question marks about their health. Z - wear and tear Lincecum - funky delivery Daisuke - admitted he was tired at the end of last season Harden - duh Johnson - duh Arroyo - workload

I think Cintron's an insurance policy if Cedeno or Theriot gets traded. No one else on this roster can play SS at the kind of level this organization clearly values to the extent that they would merit any significant playing time. Moreover, between Pie, EPatt, Colvin, and Fuld, the Cubs have enough guys in the organization who can adequately play CF. Moving Cedeno out there would not help settle any conflicts between that glut of players. Well, considering there have been rumors that Cedeno has been working in CF this offseason, and the fact that Pie/Patterson/Colvin and Fuld are ALL left handed hitters, it might make some sense. Naturally I would prefer someone who has played CF more then one offseason, but if the price for Byrd is Murton plus quality prospect, I much rather see Cedeno platoon with Pie in CF. But what would Cintron have to do with that? RH pitching: Theriot playing SS, Pie playing CF -- injury occurs -- Cedeno moves out to SS or CF. LH pitching: Theriot playing SS, Cedeno playing CF -- injury occurs to Theriot -- Cedeno moves to SS, Pie comes in at CF -- injury occurs to Cedeno -- Pie comes in to play CF Perhaps, Cintron would fill the role that would have gone to DeRosa, had the Roberts deal gone through. IDK, what the Cubs are thinking. And yes, I do wonder if they are, sometimes. I think Cintron is the NEW Macias. I sincerely doubt it. I'd bet good money that Cintron is in AAA all season unless there's a trade or an injury.

Your pitching staff would make every trainer in the world cry.

I think Cintron's an insurance policy if Cedeno or Theriot gets traded. No one else on this roster can play SS at the kind of level this organization clearly values to the extent that they would merit any significant playing time. Moreover, between Pie, EPatt, Colvin, and Fuld, the Cubs have enough guys in the organization who can adequately play CF. Moving Cedeno out there would not help settle any conflicts between that glut of players. Well, considering there have been rumors that Cedeno has been working in CF this offseason, and the fact that Pie/Patterson/Colvin and Fuld are ALL left handed hitters, it might make some sense. Naturally I would prefer someone who has played CF more then one offseason, but if the price for Byrd is Murton plus quality prospect, I much rather see Cedeno platoon with Pie in CF. But what would Cintron have to do with that? RH pitching: Theriot playing SS, Pie playing CF -- injury occurs -- Cedeno moves out to SS or CF. LH pitching: Theriot playing SS, Cedeno playing CF -- injury occurs to Theriot -- Cedeno moves to SS, Pie comes in at CF -- injury occurs to Cedeno -- Pie comes in to play CF

Sorry, its gone now. But it is not correct. Average is very important. There's a reason why that is the 1st stat shown when a player comes up to bat. It shows how good a hitter is. There are other stats that might tell more about a player, but there is no way that average isnt an important stat. You are a very good hitter if you can bat .300 over a season. Hopefully you have some other tools as well besides being a batting average hitter, but having a high average is a good stat to have. The reason average isn't that important is that it can't stand on it's own. If a guy has a .300 average but a (let's say) .320 OBP, he is not a good offensive player. It doesn't matter that he can hit for high average because overall he's making outs too often because he doesn't get on base in other ways. On the other hand, if a guy has a .240 average but a .370 OBP, he's a pretty good offensive player (might even be very good, depending on how much power he hits for), regardless of the low average. OBP encompasses BA and tells you more about the hitter on top of it. There's really not that much of a reason to look at his BA, other than if you want to evaluate how likely a player is to continue to perform at the level he has previously exhibited. In other words, you might want to look at it to see if a given player's OBP is highly batting average dependent, because if it is, without getting too far into detail about stuff like BABIP, it's probably less repeatable, particularly as the player ages. If a guy hits .240 hes a terrible hitter regardless of his OBP. Hits are better than walks. Hits can get you more than one base, and can actually drive in runs. Id rather have the .300 .320 guy, but it depends on his power and speed too. quick quiz: who is the better hitter? A) .264/.386/.554 B) .309/.356/.382 I prefer Adam Dunn over David Eckstein, personally.

As of right now, the bench is a big part of the reason they're predicting us to do so well. They are predicting that Theriot loses a lot of PT to Cedeno (who rightfully has a much better projection). Murton looks like the best 4th OF in MLB. Ward is solid, and PECOTA loves Fontenot, allowing us to use DeRosa elsewhere without losing much production at 2B.

Huh? What does this even mean? The way it's phrased, it seems like it's intended as an insult, but U of I is a very good school, so I don't really get it. I went to U of I, but I hate that school right now. Everyone there is so cocky, teachers and students. Their acceptance procedures are off the wall, and most likely just pick names out of a hat. So I'm just pissed at U of I right now and thats why I had to insult the school. Someone I know got rejected with a 29 ACT, 3.9 GPA and involved in every activity, while someone else I know got accepted with a 21 ACT, 3.8 GPA and not very involved. Into the same major as well. My guess would be that your associate probably didn't spend the entire personal interview explaining to the interviewer over and over again that a half windsor knot is the only acceptible knot for a tie.

I used that arguement a few pages back and even mentioned Hatteberg along with Youk. It went unnoticed. Any and all attempts to refute his logic have gone unnoticed by him. He merely responds with more rhetoric.

Congratulations... you are the first person I have ever put on ignore. I have a big thing about the ignore thing and how I think it's stupid, but I'm definitely considering it for the first time, too. I have never done it anywhere for anybody... nobody before has been this aggressive in pushing their flawed agendas, though. The only problem is that people will keep responding to him, and I'll be able to see it when they quote his posts... if we could just get everybody to ignore him, that'd be much easier.

Congratulations... you are the first person I have ever put on ignore.

Damn, that's real early for Kemp...

Can't complain much about guys not falling to you after you get Braun in the 2nd.

Send me a pm with your email addy and I'll send you a copy when I get mine from my friend. (He's registering right now)

Nowhere has it been implied he is still injured. The Cubs just told him not to go full bore and risk injury.