Rob

Oakland isn't going to see the postseason this year. If Beane can artificially inflate Embree's value and hope to get a nice prospect for him in the offseason, there's no reason he shouldn't. It's just being smart. If there's one thing I've learned in fantasy baseball, paying attention to which players are going to be on competing teams is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of it all. You aren't going to rest your star young players in the middle of a playoff hunt... but teams like the Marlins and Mariners last year had no reason not to rest Miguel Cabrera when he came up a bit gimpy and King Felix when his innings total for the season got up there. If you pay attention to that, and nobody else does, you're gonna be a lot better off than you would have been otherwise. That being said, nobody was really predicting the A's collapse like this... I about got burned by Street myself, til I noticed somebody left Howie Kendrick available that late in the draft.

Maybe John Lennon, but the avi is Sean Lennon I believe, whose in the same boat as the 97 Marley kids who somehow continue to multiply and whore off their fathers name. you're right, you're right, it's the second generation musicians who are REALLY to blame for the Cubs weaknesses EDIT: while we're on the subject of avatars, how can Little Lord Fontenot bag on mine when he has the walking Cub logo getting backdoored by some other creature? Board rules? Board rules? You do as The Scorpions have done before you. That is the only rule that must be abided.

I can't believe I went to all the trouble of proving Marshall is a fantastic fifth starter even for a playoff team, and all I got back was a "He is OK." All this to be followed by two pages of goofiness. I'm not gonna waste my time looking up the numbers for Pie and everybody else I'd need to make a comparison.

1%??? Those dirty racists. Get em outta here.

if the worst case scenario has him putting up a .786 ops during a slump, where do i sign up? Combined with being one of the worst regular OF's in the game? I guess I have higher standards for $14M. I'm not saying I wouldn't want him under any circumstances and he is a pretty good bet to get you around an .850 OPS. However there are things that make me hesitant and I would want them to eat some of that money. If not, I'd rather go with Murton (and Jones if necessary) and allocate that $10-$13M to Z and a possible shot at A-Rod. again, defense is not our problem, our problem is OPS. burrell provides that. i'd take him in a second. You're right, defense isn't our problem. But awful defense changes a player's worth. I think there's a very reasonable chance that we can come up with an in-house option(s) that provides an .800 OPS for a low cost. Is Burrell going to be able to produce enough offensively to make up that $10-$13M AND the defensive drop off? The marginal wins between 86-90 (IIRC) are worth more than any others. If Burrell could help us win a net of two games from here on out, the 10-13 mil would be greatly reduced.

That's a bit too broad. Soriano had plenty of cold streaks/slumps/whatever you want to call them during the two months the Cubs were dominating because he is and always has been a very streaky hitter. Yes, he's missed now, but his injury combined with Lee's slump and Aramis being hurt/out is the much larger issue. If the latter two weren't happening, or even just one of them was mashing, Soriano's absence wouldn't be nearly as obvious. Yeah - that's terrible analysis Soul and you know it. There were a lot of factors that went into our terrible start. Soriano didn't help but Z was crap too. And Soriano isn't the only player hurt or not playing well now. Mojo mentioned Lee and ARam, but our SP has been suspect recently (Marquis was good in his last outing, bad the one before it, Marshall's had 2 bad turns in a row, Z and Hill both got rocked this week - all hail Ted Lilly, eh?). When Soriano finally got hot, he wasn't the only one. Lee and ARam have been consistent basically all year, but DeRosa had a great June and good July, Jones had a good July, Fontenot had a great June, Theriot was great in July (our SS position was pathetic for 3 months). There's a lot more analysis needed. "As Soriano goes, so go the Cubs" is far, far, far from accurate. There's no other analysis needed in terms of Soriano being important to this team. Or didn't you realize there are people lurking around here who think losing Soriano meant nothing? Hell, if Murton keeps hitting like he has in August, we make a big gain by losing Soriano... providing that's what it took to get him into the lineup (assuming we weren't gonna pull the plug on Floyd anyway)

Not having looked yet, I have to agree that the spin on Pie probably wont be near so positive. I'm praying for a BABIP discrepancy, otherwise I'll have to resort to preseason projections. Though I don't imagine I'll have a hard time making a case for him over our other options we'd bring up.

Health is a skill.

It's not working. Looks like we'll need the commercial-grade image. Probably not working because while you may not like the wording of the original post, you can't argue the validity of the arguement no matter how many goofy pictures you put up. Yeah, we can. Everybody is arguing how valid your so-called "point" is. Marshall is still a fantastic fifth starter at this point. Potential playoff teams, their fifth starter, and his ERA: AL: Red Sox - Julian Tavarez, 5.20 Yankees - Hughes, 4.64 (was Igawa, 6.79) Indians - Aaron Laffey, 5.73 (Cliff Lee, 6.38) Tigers - Andrew Miller, 4.42 (DL) Angels - Bartolo Colon, 6.72 (DL) Mariners - (for both fourth and fifth starters, pick two of Jeff Weaver, 6.20; Horacio Ramirez, 7.12; Cha Seung Baek, 5.74; Ryan Feieraband, 8.47) NL: Mets - Mike Pelfrey, 5.92 Braves - Jo Jo Reyes, 8.72 Phillies - JD Durbin, 4.12 (just four starts) Brewers - Claudio Vargas, 4.97 Diamondbacks - Yusmeiro Petit (just removed for Kim, 4.93) Padres - Clay Hensley, 6.18 Rockies - Jason Hirsch, 4.81 Dodgers - Matt Tomko, 5.49 I tried to avoid injury cases as best I can and go with the guys who would be predicted to be the #5 starters near the beginning of the season, but in cases like Philly and Atlanta, injuries and trades have made it pretty hard to ignore all of them. Either way, Marshall and his 4.17 ERA more than stand out in the group. I'm tired of putting out the numbers now, so I'll come back with some Pie stuff later.

This is bad news. Most of the time, the highest leverage situations are earlier in the ballgame... I don't want Dempster pitching then, and I sure don't want us saving Marmol or Howry until the 9th when we may or may not have a lead.

1. There is no such thing as a "leadoff man" and if there were, Soriano would not be the ideal one. 2. Soriano is right around the breakeven rate for stolen bases this year, meaning that he's contributed about zero runs when you consider how many times he's been caught stealing. 3. Murton could hit 30 dingers if he just added some loft to his swing; he has about as much raw power as anybody on the team. Just watch him during BP. 4. Both are above average fielders, range wise. Don't let your memory fool you.

No, it's higher than zero percent. If Aramis tweaked something in Sept after the rosters expand and needed a day off, and DeRosa was out with something, I could see Moore getting a spot start.

I love how one day, Murton isn't even good enough to be a big-league benchwarmer, and two weeks later, he's batting cleanup for us.

Just looking at her, I doubt we'd need that much time. 8-) http://rotoauthority.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/dergan.jpg Tru that. Yeti's not first is he ;-). I better go last. I'm not about to contract anything new.

If memory serves, he wanted to extend Pierre, but Pierre wasn't interested in staying... praise the lord.

Floyd's contract for next year kicks in with 425 PA or 100 GS. He's only got 243 PA to this point, and it looks like he's started 58 games.

I suppose that depends on your definition of bat.

But Murton's not going to play, and Stewart is a better option than Jacque Jones (assuming Pie takes over center field). Lou being stubborn about Murton doesn't make acquiring Stewart a good move, it makes firing Lou a good one. So you'd fire the 17th winningest manager in MLB history for a guy who has declined from last season? Don't get me wrong I really like Murt, but I don't see all the love people have for him based on his actual production. I'd much rather bash the Cubs for jerking around Pie. Perhaps I spoke a bit hastily. I didn't mean to imply the mismanagement of Murton is a fireable offense of its own. Combined with the rest of the screwups though, we really need to evaluate Lou's continued presence here. He certainly seems to be hurting more than he's helping at first glance.

But Murton's not going to play, and Stewart is a better option than Jacque Jones (assuming Pie takes over center field). Lou being stubborn about Murton doesn't make acquiring Stewart a good move, it makes firing Lou a good one.

What's the point? Murton is a better version of Stewart.

I'd still take any one of Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, Mays, or Aaron above him. Barry still isn't the best player of all time... He just one of the greatest, and happened to be the one playing during the era that made it more impressive.

If it's gotten so bad you've stopped trying entirely, that's worse than a regular slump.

I am gonna miss all those games on ESPN2 where I got to watch Cain and Lincecum pitch. They're really exciting young players.

I love it, more DoPo love. We have seen that in a while. You'd be better off hoping the Cards hire DoPo. Hey, he was in Moneyball and is friends with Billy Beane. He has to be a great GM. http://danjulien.atspace.com/depo.htm It was written before this season, so you'll have to add in Brad Penny's Cy Young credentials this year before making a conclusion.

Are you kidding me? Did you watch us let Dusty play out the string and then just not re-sign him? Yes sir, he got it bad.