justlikethecubs

Wonder how fast they clocked him throwing the cap?

Just a guess but probably scouts or somebody with handheld radar guns in the stands.

Na, Prior is just paying people back for all the negativity. he probably figures by not throwing hard he'll give a few people anxiety attacks or something :)

It could have been underhanded. "throw the floater"....

Im still waiting to see if Prior was throwing 83-85 with his left arm or right arm? Don't think that's been confirmed yet :wink:

I think Smoltz turned into a pretty good pitcher.

Here is the website for the Mariner's radio station. I don't see an email address to the announcers but there is one for a columnist for the Mariners who is writing a blog while at spring training. http://www.komoradio.com/marinersradio

I agree we can have the potential to be a strong lineup. I was kinda shocked to see us mentioned in the same breath as the yankees and ahead of the Red Sox. It would be nice if we produced runs this year like those lineups have in the past. It might take some of the stress off our pitching. :)

Not sure if this has been posted so I thought I would put it out there. Feel free to move if it's already being dicussed http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070305&content_id=1827802&vkey=spt2007news&fext=.jsp

OPS is what you do yourself, not with the help of teammates. OPS+ adjusts for park factors. If you are going to compare guys, OPS+ is one of the best things to use. I understand OPS to a point. and I understand what the poster was saying . It makes sense. I guess I am looking at is more situationally then by stats. the three from the yankees lineup would seem to see more quality pitches to hit based on the rest of the lineup. Thats all I was implying. I do think that would impact OPS abut who knows by how much ARod and Giambi were monster hitters long before they found their way to the Yankees. Giambi's top two OPS+ years came with Oakland...three of ARod's top four came with different teams (SEA, TEX). well looking over there careers before the yankees I probably would have saw that. I was only thinking about the yankees situation. so im wrong..

OPS is what you do yourself, not with the help of teammates. OPS+ adjusts for park factors. If you are going to compare guys, OPS+ is one of the best things to use. I understand OPS to a point. and I understand what the poster was saying . It makes sense. I guess I am looking at is more situationally then by stats. the three from the yankees lineup would seem to see more quality pitches to hit based on the rest of the lineup. Thats all I was implying. I do think that would impact OPS abut who knows by how much

This is a good point. Some of the contracts that seemed way out of line when they were signed, are looking better now. Player contracts are trending up so it might take some of the sting off this one, down the road. That's what people thought when Hampton, Giambi, Jeter, and A-Rod signed their contracts 5-7 years ago. and the yankees are getting along just fine toting the contracts of giambi, jeter and arod around. The average annual value of Giambi/Jeter/ARod represents about 31% of the Yankees projected 200 million budget. The average annual value of Soriano/Ramirez/Lee is going to be 35% of the Cubs budget if it hits 130 million...and I'm not sure it's going to get quite that high. Ok, so if the three contracts the Cubs have aren't as payroll friendly for them as the big three are for the Yankees...maybe they get better production out of their players to make up for it. [Career OPS+/3 year average OPS+/career high OPS+] ARod [145/147/167] Jeter [123/125/161] Giambi [150/155/202] Average Values [139/142/177] --------------------------- Soriano [115/113/132] Ramirez [109/133/137] Lee [123/146/177] Average Values [116/131/149] Factor in defense if you like, but I don't think that's going to come close to covering the gap...especially if ARod bounces back from his one year anomaly at third. Basically, the Cubs are spending a larger percentage of their payroll on their top three guys than the Yankees, and the return they're getting from those guys isn't as high...nor will it likely ever be as high. If you have worse payroll management than the Yankees (locked in for the next five years or so no less), you're going to have to work hard to make up the difference. i agree that the yankees are getting more bang for the buck than the cubs. but i still feel like the cubs will have ample $ to spend. even though they're getting more out of their money on those three guys, i don't think the cubs worst contracts equal the bad contracts the yankees have/had with pavano, wright, rj, etc. the cubs haven't set themselves up for a perfect next 10 years, but i don't think they're crippled by any means. I dont think just comparing there OPS + is that helpful. yes you do get an idea of what they have done, but how much of that OPS is dependent on the team around them? Put Soriano, Ramirez and Lee in the same lineup with Sheff, Posada, Matsui and u would have to bet their OPS would increase somewhat. conversely put the yankee's big three on different teams or in lineups not so stacked and they would drop a bit. I do believe we are paying alot but I will hold judgement til they have played a game I think.

The money is really the only bad thing I see here. He's a good super sub like everyone has been saying and I dont think Lou will play him if he doesnt win the job. If Theriot plays well, he'll just be an expensive super sub. If this signing was to somehow stop us from getting one of the bigger targets, then its bad, but I think if another 2-3 million will get us who we want, Hendry will go for it. His job is on the line.

so we have something to talk about?

Were the reds giving bush a tryout there? They do need help in the pen..

I am going to be in the bleachers for the apr 11-13 so I hope Marshall pitches as well. and I hope its warm and doesnt rain, but I'll take what I can get. :)

I got in at 11 am last year and the red sox, cardinals and white sox series were all gone for 4 tickets.. the white sox series did have some single tickets I believe. Should be more available this year with the bleacher box seats now open.. Good luck to all who got in.

Last year I got an email saying I didn't get any and one saying I did. This year I just go the one saying I didnt get any..

mlb has a pretty decent read on PIE. Mostly stuff we have heard but it looked good. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060307&content_id=1338331&vkey=spt2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Wellmeyer is trying to lower his value as much as possible before we trade him..

after his performance thus far... will anyone even want wellmeyer and what could we possible get for him now?

we did just play the Giants.. perhaps he was getting tips from Alou?

he must have forgot to have the trainer work out his finger this offseason.

Next Week I get to listen too.. yeah!

no murton? Dusty.....