Rob

Really? CPatt Walker Sosa Alou Ramirez Lee Barrett Gonzalez CPatt had put up a darn good half season in 2003, Walker was Walker in 2003, Sosa was still a damn good ballplayer, Alou was coming back to life, Ramirez was talented as all get-up, Lee was Lee, Barrett was a question mark, and Gonzalez was coming off a 20 HR season. Going in to 2004 was much more exciting for our offense than going in to 2007.

This is disturbing to me. Bringing Pie to the majors in this situation is bound to put a lot of pressure on him. For a club that's declared itself in "win now" mode, this is a confusing decision. Goony is right. We DO need offense out of CF since we'll get nothing out of the SS position and DeRosa is no guarantee to repeat last year's numbers. Furthermore, Barrett probably will sit in about 1/3 of Cub games, as most starting catchers do. When he's out, we have a no-hit backup in Blanco. There are days when we'd play 3 guys with OBP around .300 or worse. That's a sure loser, and that's assuming we're completely healthy, which we won't be because no one ever is. Our pitching is improved, but it's not the kind of rotation that will win a lot of 2-1, 3-2, type games outside of Z and maybe Hill. Further, one has to question how long Lou will stick with Pie if, in fact, he does put up a line something like .250/.300/.400. If he's juggled between AAA and MLB and not given consistent at bats, it could hamper his development as a player. Young players need to play and get consistent AB's. Counting on Pie to be the 2007 CF is a bad decision from a put the best team on the field to win today standpoint, and a worse decision from a player development win tommorrow standpoint. Was Hendry even paying attention during the 4+ seasons of Corey Patterson? PECOTA sees a .280/.342/.480 line from Pie with plus defense next season. Given the other current options out there, I don't see how you can say this is a bad decision from the "win today" view.

Any evidence of this? Fiddling around with the Lineup Anlyzer seemed to indicate otherwise. That's assuming universal health. If the lineup has nothing but .300 EqA's, the production would be easier to replace if somebody went down to injury.

Or Ohman. Why would we want to trade the less expensive, more effective one? Especially when considering the fact that Eyre's market value is well above his actual value, trading Ohman instead of Eyre would most likely be foolhardy.

Brewers look significantly better, and the it's hard to bet against the defending WS champs. Astros look like they've fallen off the face of the earth though, which I'm loving.

While it's just a minor league contract and an invite to ST, this move is indicative of the failure of the front office to recognize what constitutes a good ballplayer.

I knew somebody would respond like that, and I had no idea how I was going to respond. Still don't.

For amphetamines. http://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/816866/detail.html?dest=rss| I love that he tried to blame it on Mark Sweeney.

Barely major league material? Last I checked, he's been better than Marquis recently.

I'd rather have the Big Mac than any other Cards' HOFer not named Gibson, Hornsby, or Musial.

If Aramis looks like he might be out for a few days, I'd imagine they'll bring Moore up from AAA, so I'm not too concerned with the lack of middle infielders. At any rate, I'm just happy we don't have 8 second basemen on the roster (yet)

I find it quite ironic that his parting line is the exact opposite of what Branch Rickey (a sure baseball genius) used to say. It's like he's trying to enforce that he's a dumbass.

I'd rather have nothing, thanks.

Seeing as how his value to the rest of the league is so minimal, and for us he's a very low-risk, very high-reward proposition... it'd still take a ton to pry him out of my hands. To DFA or cut him (which I've heard people propose here before) is perhaps one of the single dumbest moves that could be made in this situation.

I'm all for DLee batting second... anything to keep Izturis from batting there.

I don't really either, except for the handful of guys I like to think of as "clean". Finding out John Smoltz, DLee, and Griffey were juicing would be a heartbreaker.

Just because that's the average market price doesn't make it a good idea. The idea is to go cheap at certain spots by using young guys so that you can spend the extra cash on real difference makers. Suppan is not likely to be one of those.

Could it be the best rotation in the NL Central? Almost certainly... unless Mark Prior is ressurected, Zambrano's arm stays on, Hill pitches like he did the last few starts of last season, and Marquis and Lilly regain their 2004 forms.

Because he's a solid, durable pitcher. And he's getting the same deal as Lilly, when he's a way better pitcher than Lilly. Please make some attempt to quantify that statement. You're almost guaranteed to get over 190 IP, if not 200, while you'll be lucky to get 170 out of Lilly. Over the past four years Suppan has posted a better average WHIP and average ERA. Lilly has a much higher HR/9 ratio, and a much higher FB% than Suppan. Those two things combined in Wrigley could spell disaster for Lilly. Neither are ace pitchers, but with Suppan you know what you are going to get, and if I had my choice between the two for the same contract, it wouldn't even be a debate for me. Once again I feel compelled to point out as other posters have that Suppan would be lucky to post better ERAs or WHIPs than Lilly were he pitching in the AL East. His limited time as a member of the Red Sox attests to this fact, as well as to the fact that Suppan will only be as good as the defense behind him. If were are to force our hands as to who our eight position players will be for the next few years, Suppan and his ERA and WHIP would be more predictable than Lilly, true. As the the fact of the business is that people come and go though, we have a better idea of what we will get from Lilly over the next four years than we would have gotten from Suppan, IP aside. In that vein, the Brewers do make much more sense for a man of his pitching methodology. Their recent influx of young players does lend itself to a relatively stable young team for the coming years... much moreso than the Cubs and their flirtations with replacing every young person in the lineup on shorter term deals (DeRosa, Floyd, Izturis[yes, I know he's still young..the point still stands]) This is not meant as a compliment to Lilly though, by any means. Even if everything breaks as well as it could for Lilly, he's going to have a beast of a time justifying his contract. I'm just trying to point out that this sort of deal for this sort of pitcher would be a horrible idea for the Cubs... even moreso than Lilly's.

Because he's a solid, durable pitcher. And he's getting the same deal as Lilly, when he's a way better pitcher than Lilly. I see the argument for calling him durable, but he isn't really much of a pitcher.in the current sense of the word. He doesn't really do anything to help or hurt his own chances on the field. He doesn't strike out anybody. His walk rate is a bit better than league average. His HR rate is respectable but not amazing. Perhaps more than anybody else in the league, he's only as good as the defense behind him. But with him being a bit of a groundball pitcher, I would not want to see how he does when Hardy goes down again and his middle infield is Hall and Weeks. (I still don't see Counsell getting extended playing time at SS if/when Hardy goes down...) At any rate, that Brewers defense isn't awe-inspiring.

Why?

As would I, but in terms of everyday firstbasemen of this era, his overall value is closer to Grace's than anybody else I could think of whilst still in my drunken stupor.... though you'd have to throw out a handful of seasons where he's been amazing to buy into the comparison.

Didn't Gary Carter and Mazeroski play defense? A defensive 1B with little power will never make the HOF. Unfortunately, certain positions (2B, SS, etc.) are considered defensive positions whereas other positions (1B, OF, etc.) are not only considered offensive positions, but offensive with power positions. Unless you are someone like Tony Gwynn with 3000+ hits, you need to show some muscle. So if 3,000 hits is the absolute mandate for automatic introduction then why is Mazeroski of 2,016 hits, a good 300 its fewer then Grace, and Mark played 1 few yr then Maz? Or Gary Carter of 2092 hits same reason with Maz? So what I am saying is Mark Grace was as great of a defensive 1B, as Maz was as a 2B, and Gary Carter as a C, and Grace was a significantly better offensive player then both, and yet Maz/Carter are considered HOFers, and yet Grace isn't considered a HOF? My guess is both Maz and Carter and Joe Morgan............you fill in the blank. I don't get why you seem to think Carter isn't a HOF catcher. WARP3 has Grace's best season coming in 1993, when he posted a total of 8.8. He also posted an 8.7 in 1992 and an 8.1 in 1989. But he didn't go over 8 again. From 1977 through 1986, Carter's WARP3 scores came in at... 8.4, 8.7, 8.8, 9.9, 7.6, 11.9, 9.5, 9.8, 10.3, 8.4 That's as good of a stretch as your are going to see. I don't pretend to know what WARP is, nor do I care about it. All I know is from prolly 1990 to his retirement, Grace was widely considered the 2nd most dangerous hitter----especially in the clutch---behind Tony Gywnn. There were times which teams would rather pitch to Sosa, then they would Grace, to which the Cubs had to often switch Grace from 3 slot to 4th slot. To me that has as much of an impact on the game, as a 500 ft homerun. IMO, if Carter is a HOFer, then Gracie is a HOFer, WARP be damned. Essentially the jist of my argument was that after adjusting for league context and positional scarcity, Carter (after adjusting for his fantastic defense) was more valuable along the lines of Banks than of Grace (even after adjusting for his own defensive excellence). That is not meant to disparage the merits of Grace as a HOF worthy candidate, but rather to fully endorse the accomplishments of Carter. Grace has been hurt by the change in league context, as his value might be approximating a man like Carlos Delgado (who might be garnering HOF consideration of his own) in any given season. However, Carter was hurt perhaps as much as any other, and his defense amongst the all-time greats behind the plate. Carter is a sure-fire hall of famer. Behind Bench, Berra, Campy, and Cochrane, he ranks in easily on the second-tier of the best of the best. Behind Gehrig and Foxx, Grace has a harder time trying to fit in with the Bagwell, Thomas, Murray, McGwire, Greenberg, Killebrew, McCovey, and Mize group.

Zito at U.S. Cellular (or whatever it's called now) would be absolutely disgusting. While the idea of him pitching at Wrigley or in Arlington was bad enough, I'd venture to say Zito on the south side would be fantastic... though only for Cubs fans.

Didn't Gary Carter and Mazeroski play defense? A defensive 1B with little power will never make the HOF. Unfortunately, certain positions (2B, SS, etc.) are considered defensive positions whereas other positions (1B, OF, etc.) are not only considered offensive positions, but offensive with power positions. Unless you are someone like Tony Gwynn with 3000+ hits, you need to show some muscle. So if 3,000 hits is the absolute mandate for automatic introduction then why is Mazeroski of 2,016 hits, a good 300 its fewer then Grace, and Mark played 1 few yr then Maz? Or Gary Carter of 2092 hits same reason with Maz? So what I am saying is Mark Grace was as great of a defensive 1B, as Maz was as a 2B, and Gary Carter as a C, and Grace was a significantly better offensive player then both, and yet Maz/Carter are considered HOFers, and yet Grace isn't considered a HOF? My guess is both Maz and Carter and Joe Morgan............you fill in the blank. I don't get why you seem to think Carter isn't a HOF catcher. WARP3 has Grace's best season coming in 1993, when he posted a total of 8.8. He also posted an 8.7 in 1992 and an 8.1 in 1989. But he didn't go over 8 again. From 1977 through 1986, Carter's WARP3 scores came in at... 8.4, 8.7, 8.8, 9.9, 7.6, 11.9, 9.5, 9.8, 10.3, 8.4 That's as good of a stretch as your are going to see.