Rob

According to his DT card at BP, Barrett was a thoroughly average first baseman and shortstop in the times he spent at those positions. (6 at first and 2 at short way back in '99) He also comes in at being around 12 runs worse than the average catcher on defense last year, which certainly is a significant margin. Then again, he also was the best hitting catcher in the NL last year by a significant margin. In other words, yeah, he's fairly lousy behind the plate even if he was only 2 or 3 runs worse than average as he was from 02 through 04. But his bat more than makes up for his defense. And besides, you aren't going to find a catcher that's going to have a whole lot of luck throwing out any basestealers with the staff we've got. We've got a bunch of power pitchers with nasty stuff and long, slow deliveries. He couldn't be in a worse situation to showcase his abilities, but you'll be hard pressed to find somebody that can look like a defensive wiz with this staff anyways.

It could have been worth more than an option-less utility guy that sits at the back of their depth chart.

1. Furcal has more skills than just speed 2. One stupid deal by one stupid team does not shift an entire market for players. I heard a tidbit a few months ago, I think was a secondhand account of something Beane said, that since all the post-Moneyball hubbabaloo, OBP is starting to get valued properly, and speed is now a skill that is undervalued. It doesn't seem to make sense that he would trade a guy like Bynum if he really believed that. Saying speed is undervalued doesn't necessarily mean it's undervalued by everybody. Perhaps the Rangers (and us, by proxy) overvalued it a bit too much and Beane took advantage of it.

As long as they're empty... I can't stand it when people waste good beer.

See: Benson, Kris

Yeah, I wish I were less of a diehard Cubs fan, cause I really feel tempted to jump ship right now... they'll be contending for years even if they never get any pitching... :(

This is pretty interesting. Chris Young is the CF of the future, and now Stephen Drew is the man at SS. I don't really see what the master plan is here. Obviously they're going to lose somebody eventually, but I think it'd make more sense to leave Upton at SS in the immediate future as his trade value is higher there. If they end up trading Young later, he'd still have time to adjust to the new position.

Bloody hell. If there's a chance our carrier doesn't provide it, then it probably doesn't. Insight is weak sauce.

When do the Giants come our way again? :twisted:

:shock: Like an actual syringe with a needle, or what?

On somewhat of a sidenote: There still is the argument that has been made that a speedy, more aggressive player would be more effective in a pinch hitting role. I don't have the numbers to look at off the top of my head, but it seems logical and it fits with my personal observations. Granted, no amount of work would make Tom Goodwin useful, but still... It'd be interesting to see the numbers, to say the least.

Does anybody know if I can order this package with just any old digital cable provider? Cause Decatur, IL isn't exactly a hotbed of technology.

I haven't taken mine off since the middle of last season... not even for a second. And just in case, I have a few extras still in their packaging in my drawer.

Actually, scoring speed is extremely easy. Just grab a stopwatch. And scoring the use of said speed isn't too difficult either. So I don't see at all how saying speed is important somehow implies it matters more than stats, especially considering said stats include that speed. Here we go again :roll: . The point of this thread IS NOT that speed is more important than stats, or other facets of the game. Its' just that it gets SICKENING how some (not all) can discredit its importance because its not next to OBP and HRs in the statbook. Look, I'll be the first to admit OBP and other things are much more important than speed. However as we saw today, our increase in overall team speed will be an asset which will put us over the top in more than a few games. I wont debate that the speed will put us over the top in a few games. And I even recognize it's importance in keeping us from being so streaky as we've been the last few years. But what I could debate is that the cost of that speed might keep us from winning an equal number. Yeah, given two guys with roughly equal abilities, where one is much faster than the other, it's obvious what to do. But if you give me the option of Juan Pierre or Grady Sizemore, I'll pick Sizemore everytime. Sizemore's better Slug% more than makes up for the difference in speed. Speed certainly is an asset. It's just not as much of a valuable asset to a large-market team like the Cubs. We can afford better talent than a guy like Juan Pierre, no matter how fast he is. Now I certainly don't mean to discredit speed as being unimportant by any means, but I think it is important to keep things in perspective. That all being said, I looooooved watching Pagan burning today.

Actually, scoring speed is extremely easy. Just grab a stopwatch. And scoring the use of said speed isn't too difficult either. So I don't see at all how saying speed is important somehow implies it matters more than stats, especially considering said stats include that speed.

Hopefully with all this speed and small ball we wont have quite as much of the feast or famine offense we had last season, so we shouldn't be quite as streaky.

:lol:

That just barely missed...

Neifi nearly gets into a DP. I swear, for as fast as he is, it shouldn't be that close.

Wow... I can't tell if the Reds pitching staff or defense is worse.

Am I the only one who thinks Howry doesn't look 6'5" 220 lbs?

I'm guessing that's why u don't have one. Just a guess. :wink: Wives don't like Ginger Kids?

I would so let Matt Murton screw my wife... if I had one.

Is anybody else having flashbacks of Chad Fox right now?

Relax, Howry is coming in. Have you been watching ST. Eyre owns howry. Maybe, but Howry keeps his BB/9 around 2... or just a bit over half as many as Eyre.