Rob

Loudly.

I keep hearing rumors of Dunn going to the Yankees to play 1B, with Joba Chamberlain and spare parts going back.

Not just getting Kendall as a replacement catcher after we use Barrett and something else to trade for a position we actually need help at... but actually trying to sell him as a straight upgrade over Barrett. That's like trying to say the Phillies should trade Rollins + for Neifi since Neifi has hit .385/.429/.615 at Citizens Bank Park and he has a moderately better glove.

Yeah, no doubt about the right foot.

Well they changed a bunch of stuff related to the draft. Good article here: http://www.baseballdigestdaily.com/bullpen/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=161&Itemid=39. If you look towards the bottom, So i dont think Kendall would want to explore any further contract and hit the market to see what he could get. As a type B we would get a sandwich pick between rounds 3 and 4, so that is a little bit different too. I think the point is that he can accept the offer of arbitration. And if he does that, the lowest salary he can get is 10% less than his current one. In essence, that means he'd have to decline an offer of 11.7 mil for one year in order for us to get a compensation pick... something not bloody likely. So, yeah, we wouldn't be offering him arbitration... so no comp pick.

Yep, an upgrade at Catcher for us. We then trade Barrett to the AL. Clears 2 problems with 1 stone. No amount of wishcasting is going to have Kendall doing enough over the rest of the season to even come close to being as good as Barrett. The extremely slight defensive upgrade comes at a huge cost on offense, even if Barrett is struggling offensively. Kendall has fallen off the cliff... there's no climbing back up for him.

OMC = USA

I'd consider giving up Guzman, but not Marshall. Why would they want a guy with elbow problems? If he can throw a pitch out of the bullpen, Krivsky wants him. He's got a fetish.

I'll be filing this one under "duh."

Hey Fred, I don't suppose you have LD% for the players so we can get an idea of whether their BABIP is too far out of line?

If we could get Chris Iannetta for Barrett and Jones, I'd do it. Hell, I'd even throw in Cesar Izturis and Scott Eyre if they wanted em.

I appreciate the kind words, but no need to feel sorry for me. I just joined because it's fun. Win or lose, it's all good :D Holy crap... you're actually Butters.

Just recently, I made a pretty big trade. I gave up Nick Swisher (who was playing CF for me), AJ Pierzynski, and Jhonny Peralta for Joe Mauer and Julio Lugo (just to cover SS for me until I figure out who I want there). I had already snagged Vernon Wells to ride the pine, so I moved him out into CF... but I didn't realize exactly how bad Lugo was doing this season. So, do I stick with Julio Lugo and pray for a rebound, or do I grab one of Dustin Pedroia, Felipe Lopez, or Stephen Drew off the waiver wire? Lugo, Lopez, and Drew are all struggling mighty, but have decent upsides. Meanwhile, Pedroia is mashing but his upside is very limited. Thoughts?

I'm appalled by watching him play the game. That's funny. The last three years, he's been one of the very few reasons to watch the Cubs, and two bad months into the next season, everybody says they can't stand him. Barrett haters remind me way too much of Yankee fans... that whole "what have you done for me lately?" crap. It's disgusting... and it's certainly not befitting of a Cubs fan. And for two months Barrett has been crap. Who cares what he did in the past. That's not helping this team now. The point is that he has a recent track record of playing very good baseball. It's not that he can't play very good baseball anymore, it's simply that he's struggling. And this excessive negative attitude, and all the booing, and all the crap Lou Piniella is giving him is not going to do anything to help him out of this prolonged slump. And considering he's the only catcher on this staff who has the potential to be an asset to the team instead of a liability, I think we would be best suited to cut the man some slack. But instead we find ourselves just exacerbating the situation. You want to talk about what's not helping the team? It's the attitude espoused towards him... First off, never said he was the only reason... just one of the few. Besides, for his entire career Maddux has requested a personal catcher with a freaking cannon for an arm. Why? Because he's consistently clocked among the slowest in the entire game with his delivery to home plate, and he never bothers to hold the runners in the first place. And since Maddux has been a bloody superstar most of his career, the teams caved in. It doesn't make it the right idea... it's just the one that happened.

I'm appalled by watching him play the game. That's funny. The last three years, he's been one of the very few reasons to watch the Cubs, and two bad months into the next season, everybody says they can't stand him. Barrett haters remind me way too much of Yankee fans... that whole "what have you done for me lately?" crap. It's disgusting... and it's certainly not befitting of a Cubs fan.

I am appalled at how fast everybody has turned on Barrett...

Wells was not happy about that last call.

1. I think defensive indifference is only called in the 9th, IIRC. 4. It was cynicism. I know Barrett is fairly lousy on defense, but I hate it when people try to use numbers to prove it... especially when the numbers don't mean too much given the context (i.e. how slow our pitchers are to the plate)

Is it just me, or do the Cubs seem to have a lot of really slow SPs that are susceptible to steals? There have been many instances of runners getting such good jumps on our pitchers that there was no chance of throwing them out. It's not just you. It's been generally acknowledged for years that the Cubs' power pitching staff was real easy to steal off of.

that wasn't on barrett, that was on lilly It still counts against Barrett's numbers.

Spot start? Cause I've been starting Rich Hill all year, and that's worked out pretty well for all parties involved.

No catcher in the world would have been able to catch Cruz stealing third there, but I bet good money we have people talking about how Barrett is a crappy defensive catcher because he only throws out X% of baserunners.

Can't anybody on this damn team call for the freaking ball?

STRIKE!!!

Wow... he's not even close.