mg420

with baker gone next year and murton playing every day, i dont see why his slugging % wouldnt go up significantly from this year. he can easily be a .300+ 25 hr guy in 2007 imo. Because he's not that good. I didn't realize players peaked at 25. I see no reason that he can't improve, especially if Dusty's free swinging mentality leaves the clubhouse. There's very little in his past that suggests he's going to hit for any more power than he is now. Maybe he'll be able to maintain it without as heavy a platoon distribution, but it's not often college draftees start hitting for more power at the MLB level after not displaying it anywhere before. ever hear of a player called ryne sandberg? murton's a big guy with a quick bat and looking at some of the bomb's he's hit this year there is not reason to believe that he can't hit 25+ a year if he gets 500+ ab's.

with baker gone next year and murton playing every day, i dont see why his slugging % wouldnt go up significantly from this year. he can easily be a .300+ 25 hr guy in 2007 imo.

as i said before, i think the OF for 2007 is going to be set with murton, pierre & jones. if pie can stay hot in aaa next year, they might end up trading jones and sticking felix in rf.

why not restovich? he can also give jones a break in lf against some lefties.

Who are the Cubs giving up for Kottaras? Im not sure you can count on Prior or Schmidt staying healthy. You also cant hope for Barrett to have the same yr he is having this year. Hendry needs to add a Power Bat in that lineup. a heathy lee to go along with aram, jones & barrett has the makings of a fine offense imo. would wells, shaver & novoa be enough for a guy like kottaras?who knows if he is even available- i assume the padres need pitching more than anything and already have several other good young catchers i their system.

That really doesn't look much more promising than 2006's team. other than a new manager & another year of experience, what changed from 2005 to 2006 for the tigers? a guy like schmidt along with having lee back in the lineup would make a huge difference imo. Using the "well, it worked out of them" philosophy is not a good way to build a team. This was the same thought process that people used to justify fielding a lineup that was a lock to have a poor OBP. There is no excuse to improve the team as little as that roster would improve this team. actually i consider it the "go young and rely on your own prospects" philosophy. with the bullpen the cuns have, if they get good starting pitching (ie if they can stay healthy), they dont have to have a great offense to win alot of games. what is oaklands team obp this year? they seem to be doing well with a so-so at best offense and solid pitching.

That really doesn't look much more promising than 2006's team. other than a new manager & another year of experience, what changed from 2005 to 2006 for the tigers? a guy like schmidt along with having lee back in the lineup would make a huge difference imo.

2007: LF murton CF lofton or jp RF jj 3b aram ss izzy 2b fontenot/theriot 1b lee c barrett/kottaras bench pagan, restovich bynum sp z schmidt prior or miller hill marshall pen: ohman/rapada eyre aardsma wuertz guzman howry demp

i would rather see them try marmol at closer than trade him. if he works out there, they can always trade dempster.

if they are going to make carlos into a closer (which might be the best option imo), he should get some time in that role in iowa. i suggested the same route for guzman not long ago. with marshall, hill & mateo in line as starters & veal & sean g coming on strong, it's time for some of these other guys to start producing as starters or they should be switched to the pen or traded. i know marmol is still very young and hasnt pitched much being converted from a catcher, but maybe his stuff is better suited to an inning or 2 rather than 5-6.

You can't really judge them on their limited major league totals. However, you can look at minor leaue totals. Theriot, while always being old for his league has career numbers of .265 .355 .331 While the OBP is solid, the slugging leaves much to be desired. Those are his 5 previous seasons, not including this year. Cedeno, while being young for his leagues has career numbersof .265 319 .376 Obviously the OBP leaves MUCH to be desired. With his slightly higher SLG, his OPS edges Theriot .692 to .686. As 2B I don't see either of these guys being anything other than career backups. Cedeno has had one great season(between AAA and MLB) one decent season (AA) and everything else has been bad. Theriot, while showing great plate discipline for the past 4 years has never really had acceptable SLG numbers other than last year at AA. With the right coach and a switch back to SS, Cedeno could become a starter. Unless Theriot develops power next year at the age of 27, hes just a backup. Fotenot's minor league numbers make him look capable of being a .800 OPS player. He has been a AAA player for three years now and will like Theriot be 27 next season. Maybe he's the best 2B prospect of the three, but he needs to be given a chance soon. Maybe they will all just brige the gap for Patterson, but he has not lived up to the hype of last year. if the cubs are dead set on giving ss to izzy next year (as it looks like they are), i dont see why fontenot couldnt start at 2b with theriot able to sub for either one of them at ss or 2b. of course all of this is contigient on baker & nefi going elsewhere.

i know it's a very small sample size for theriot but i sure like what i've seen for ryan more than ronnie. should the cubs trade cedeno & have theriot & fontenot play 2b next year?

pavlik is a lefty

Oh gosh, this is gonna get me in trouble, but... Cubs fans are not the best in the world. We are great fans, no doubt. We are NOT the best in the world. How do you even quantify that? Because we sell out every game, even though we're horrible? Because we question each and every move that our front office and manager make? As much as I hate to say it, we aren't any better than Cardinals fans. We're no better than Red Sox fans. We're no better than Yankee fans. We're definitely up there, and among the best, but I think saying we're the best is very egocentric. Sorry for the semantical rant. We are great fans, no doubt. The best? How can you say? IZZY Mandelbaum: How 'bout that, huh? The World's Greatest Dad. My son made it for me. JERRY Seinfeld: That's very nice. IZZY Mandelbaum: The best in the world. (pointing to himself) Which means I'm better than just number one. JERRY Seinfeld : Well, I don't know how official any of these rankings really are.

wow. she certainly rates as hot to me. loduca has excellent taste imo (at least on the physical level).

LINK

from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuuto

i remember hearing not too long ago that the cubs were going to move pie to a corner of spot but it looks like he is still in cf. i wonder if they are waiting to see if they can resign pierre to do so.

z prior hill miller/mateo/marmol/guz marshall

He must have made someone very angry because he doesn't seem to get any attention from the Cubs brass. if the cubs do go with izzy & cedeno @ ss & 2b next year, why not back them up with theriot & fontenot on the bench? they both seem like good glove guys who can run a little and know how to get on base. i think mike can play 3b too so he can back up aram. maybe one or both of those guys can end up being the cubs version of freel.

i would rather see the cubs keep murton & all 3 of those pitchers myself.

I am getting that sense too, though I would still platoon Murton with Jones in RF, sign Dave Roberts to play CF and get a big bat for LF. It does seem that Hendry will use his $25-30M to address starting pitching, but that's just a guess at this point. what about with playing murton every day & platooning restovich with jones in rf? Restovich is the best clutch hitter on the team at 333. You'd think the Hendry/Baker tandum would love those numbers. his .947 ops with 21 hr in 329 ab's aren't bad either.

I am getting that sense too, though I would still platoon Murton with Jones in RF, sign Dave Roberts to play CF and get a big bat for LF. It does seem that Hendry will use his $25-30M to address starting pitching, but that's just a guess at this point. what about with playing murton every day & platooning restovich with jones in rf?

Our LF OPS is 18th in MLB. Our CF OPS is 22nd in MLB. Our RF OPS is 14th in MLB. Our middle infield next year will likely be the worst offensive double play combo in baseball. Aramis might opt out of his contract and leave the team. Barrett is unlikely to put up the numbers he's put up this year. Since our OF has not been very good this year, and the infield won't make up for deficiencies next year, I wouldn't say our OF is set. Was he saying set, as in, (a) already occupied by perfectly acceptable producers, or was it set, as in, (b) the GM is going to just go with the same crap that's already there? It's clearly not set (a), but most likely set (b). i'm not making a judgement either way but according to this article the cubs are hot and heavy trying to resign juan: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060806cubsbrite,1,141655.story?coll=cs-cubs-headlines

Holy crap my HS kids know to do this. Sometimes it just amazes me how little these guys know about their craft. it's easy to know what to do and another thing to do it. it's like telling hill to just throw strikes or jones not to swing at pitches out of the zone.