mg420

Wow, sarcasm? Name one instance where Clemens has exhibited anything below class-act standards, personality wise. throwing the broken bat at mike piazza as he was running to 1b.

i disagree Then you're wrong again. perhaps it's a matter of opinion that doesnt have a right or a wrong answer. then again perhaps the notion that you could be incorrect is unfathomable to you.

i disagree

my point is that teams can get to the playoffs and win despite their offense. if the cubs are going to be a better team it will be because of their starters & bullpen imo.

i think it's ludicrous to say a 3.20 era is great. so there. The difference is, you're wrong. i'm glad you think so. it lends credence to my argument. thank you for your support.

why is having alot of power so important? look at oakland, san diego & the twins. none of them have much power at all but they win with good pitching and a balanced line up. when lee, aram & barrett are all back healthy, this team should have enough power to win if they can get good pitching and a solid closer. trading murton would come back to haunt the cubs big time imo. Well, if you read closely, trading Murton is something I'd prefer not to do. That's why I'd like to add power through signing Soriano for secondbase. That way I keep Murton in left and add power at second. My second option would be to pursue a player like Jones for CF. Failing there, I think the Cubs would have to look at LF as a place to have a better bat in the line-up. I think both OBP and SLG are important. As it stands, the Cubs don't have enough of either. and again, i dont think that adding more power is that important. i think a .300 25 hr season is reasonable to expect from murton in 2007. i dont think there is any way they sign soriano to play 2b especially at the $ he will want. i would rather they follow brenly's philosophy of using the young players they have to win rather than getting older overpriced guys like jones & soriano. If we go into next year with the same team and pencil in Theriot and Murton, we will be lucky to finish in third place. Slugging is more than HR's, it's hitting the ball with enough authority to get extra base hits. This team lacks it. Murton is definitely not a lock for 25 HRs. He might do it, but he's just as likely to hit 10-15. And 25 HR's while not bad, isn't any great shakes either. I like Murton. But the team does need to improve its SLG. We were abysmal in that area this year. you should take a look at who is playing 2b & lf for the twins, padre's & oakland. with good pitching, you only need an average offense to compete. having lee back for a full year alone will improve the offense in a major way.

why is having alot of power so important? look at oakland, san diego & the twins. none of them have much power at all but they win with good pitching and a balanced line up. when lee, aram & barrett are all back healthy, this team should have enough power to win if they can get good pitching and a solid closer. trading murton would come back to haunt the cubs big time imo. Well, if you read closely, trading Murton is something I'd prefer not to do. That's why I'd like to add power through signing Soriano for secondbase. That way I keep Murton in left and add power at second. My second option would be to pursue a player like Jones for CF. Failing there, I think the Cubs would have to look at LF as a place to have a better bat in the line-up. I think both OBP and SLG are important. As it stands, the Cubs don't have enough of either. and again, i dont think that adding more power is that important. i think a .300 25 hr season is reasonable to expect from murton in 2007. i dont think there is any way they sign soriano to play 2b especially at the $ he will want. i would rather they follow brenly's philosophy of using the young players they have to win rather than getting older overpriced guys like jones & soriano.

i think it's ludicrous to say a 3.20 era is great. so there.

I'm pretty sure you don't have to argue. 2.75 ERA, 165 ERA+, compared to 3.26 ERA and 131 ERA+. I think there are several hitters each year who have a great season, with a handful having elite years. Likewise, I think there are several pitchers who have great seasons, and a handful with elite years. Demanding an elite year doesn't make much sense. Demanding that a highly touted player be among the 2 or 3 best to be considered having a great year is absurd. In 2003 Wood led the league in K/9, K's, fewest hits allowed, was 8th in ERA, tied for 4th in QS, was 9th in WHIP, was in the top 5 for complete games and shutouts. He had the 6th lowest OPS against. By any reasonable measurement he had a great season. To say otherwise indicates a clear bias against the guy, probably based on some sort of feeling of being let down in other years. Who knows. But the fact is he had a great year that season. If he ever gets healthy enough to be a starter, it would be foolish not to give him the chance. it would also be foolish to move him from the pen if he can be productive there back to the rotation where he has proven for 8 years that he cannot stay healthy.

why is having alot of power so important? look at oakland, san diego & the twins. none of them have much power at all but they win with good pitching and a balanced line up. when lee, aram & barrett are all back healthy, this team should have enough power to win if they can get good pitching and a solid closer. trading murton would come back to haunt the cubs big time imo.

right... he has proposed some bizzare trades recently but as far as his overall baseball knowlege goes, there are few if any around as good as he is. i would love to see him back in the booth.

interesting take from steve stone on the score today regarding the cards collapse. he thinks that not having a closer was a big reason why this is occuring. the cards losing streak coincides with isringhausen going on the dl. not too many if any teams without an effective closer get to the playoffs let alone the world series.

It's the HR's that are skewing his SLG. He's hit one every 42 at bats, compared to once every 410 in the minors. take a look at torii hunter's minor leauge stats. how does a guy with 42 career minor leauge hr's in 6 years and a career sluggin % under .400 hit 25-30 each year in the majors? according to your logic it shouldnt be happening but it is.

I'd call his 2003 great, without question. Not down in history great, but great nonetheless. As great as Zambrano last year. zambrano wasnt great last year either imo. we must have a different opinion on what "great" means. i look at some of the years pedro, maddux, clemens, johnson & sanatana have had and woods 2003 just looks like a very average year that a good pitcher would have. not a great year by any stretch imo. So by your definition, there's about 1 great pitcher per year. i wouldn't say only one but most years have a few guys who have great years. i just dont consider a 3.20 era and 14 wins a great year.

its more the fans than the team. for some reason the sox fans seem to pay more attention to what the cubs are doing than their own team.

Obviously. That's not the freaking point. You can't just take a short time frame and multiply it to determine what a guy will do. When's he going to cool down, my man? Maybe, just maybe, we might have something here. With all the numbers being thrown around here, why not just look at what he has done in the Minors, and accept the fact that the Cubs may just have a pretty decent ball player? Matt Murton is in the same camp. Build around these young guys who won't be costing the organization too much money for a few years. Murton is a pretty decent ballplayer, as is Theriot. I'll take performance over potential. Matt Murton and Ryan Theriot are not comparable. I didn't compare Murton and Theriot. I pointed out that they are both pretty good ballplayers who are young, inexpensive, and already on our roster. I understand what you are saying about the #'s projection, but I have a point. Spending money does not translate into having a good ballclub (as we see this season). The Cubs have got to stock this team with guys that produce. We traded away two great pitching prospects for Juan Pierre, and kept the ones that were more "promising" prospects (Guzman & Hill). It is good that at least one of them is working out. How many more prospects can the Cubs deal? How many top free agents are going to be consider coming to this trainwreck? My point is that it is time to build around the young guys. Murton is a good player to keep. Theriot, to me, looks like the type of ballplayer the Cubs can use (even if he is overachieving). Sign or trade for a good defensive CF with power, a couple of quality starters (if they can), and get a dependable SS, and things should start looking better. i think they were second tier at best. pinto walks way too many guys and nolasco isnt exactly tearing up the leauge after a very hot start. i dont think they will turn out to be a huge loss when all is said and done.

I'd call his 2003 great, without question. Not down in history great, but great nonetheless. As great as Zambrano last year. zambrano wasnt great last year either imo. we must have a different opinion on what "great" means. i look at some of the years pedro, maddux, clemens, johnson & sanatana have had and woods 2003 just looks like a very average year that a good pitcher would have. not a great year by any stretch imo.

Obviously. That's not the freaking point. You can't just take a short time frame and multiply it to determine what a guy will do. of course not. but you also cannot take a players minor leauge #'s to project what every player will do in the majors. if you you could, alot of AAAA guys would be mvp's & all stars in the majors instead of bench players or still in triple at age 30. minor leauge #'s ARE NOT the end all and be all when it comes to major leauge production.

fontenot or ep?

You have a problem with a 3.68 ERA? i do when you consider the talent that wood has. supposedly he had the best stuff in the leauge when he was healthy. he never came close to living up to his potential as a starter. hopefully he can rise from the ashes and be lights out in the pen. and again i wouldnt call any season he had "great".

and playing to win as a team and not for individual stats. too bad dusty doesn't think this way or they might be alot closer to .500 this year. Come on now. The Cubhouse Country Club just wouldn't be the same now would it? nope it wouldn't. cant make the players uncomfortable or they might get upset. they dont earn enough $ to have to put up with that.

None of those guys compares with Wood if he's at his best. The only reason he should stay in the pen is if he's physically incapable of returning to the rotation. time will tell how good hill, veal & sean will be. wood hasnt been at his best since 2003 and even then he was only 14-11 with a 3.20 era. a good year but not exactly a great year. wood had (has?) great stuff but it never really translated to production on the mound. That's only if you count win/loss record as production on the mound, and we all know you don't do that if you want to make a reasonable point. i count a 3.68 era and averaging 141 ip in 8 years as a lack of serious production on the mound.

because he could die if he gets hit with a line drive? That's a good reason for him not to get on the mound. It's not a good reason to retire. Retire means no money. 60-day DL means keep money. pehaps but i think that the leauge and some doctors would have a say in the matter. if there is no way he will be able to pitch next year, what's the point of putting him on the 60 day? i dont know what the mlb rules are in this situation.

he must write his articles in the morning while he's sitting on the toilet. at least the amount of thought he puts into them would lead you to think so.

and playing to win as a team and not for individual stats. too bad dusty doesn't think this way or they might be alot closer to .500 this year.