rawaction

Harris isn't even putting up those numbers with the team he was traded to. The key to the deal is what he did with the team he was traded to. That's like saying the Rangers lost the Sosa deal to the Sox, because he became a great player with the Cubs.

fine. But don't bother telling me what I can and can't bring up.

The discussion you jumped in on was Tim's comment about people frustrated with Hendry not liking Ryan.

what a worthless point. It's a limited sample for all the pitchers and holds absolutely ZERO predicative power. anyways trachsel sucks and will continue to suck as the cubs lose 10-4. You're big on calling other's posts pointless and generally putting down other people's opinions. Consider this a warning, a vacation is just beyond the horizon.

If you include Liriano, you have to include Nathan and Bonser. and garza among others Their success started long before Mauer made an impact. Not sure how Santana fell into his lap, they traded for him when he was young and far from a proven commodity. they got lucky....very very lucky. ryan has even been quoted as saying he got lucky on Santana. And before these guys fell into his lap he was finishing last or second to last for half a decade with a top five pick every season so I would like to think he could build a good system if hes getting top five picks year in and year out. He also plays in a division where there werent many good teams and there werent any big spenders until the last couple of seasons with the exception of the mid 90s tribe and the twins sucked then. he only had success when things fell into his lap and everyone else in the division sucked. Lets not forget that two of the rocks his entire tenure there, Hunter and Radke weren't acquired when he was GM. Lets not forget before Mauer none of his first round picks during the suck years even amounted to much. Mark Redman and Michael Cuddyer are average players at best. How does that compare w/ Hendry? They haven't had as much success as the Twins, despite having top picks just as many times. Prior fell into the Cubs lap. Lee and Ramirez (and their salaries) were dumped into Hendry's lap. Hell, every GM has been lucky in some regard.

I don't think anyone is suggesting minor changes, in the sense that the upgrades in production would be minimal. A legit .875 OPS in RF, would do wonders for this team as would an upgrade at SS.

I'm not sure if it's luck or what, but Ryan's better at the same philosophy. If the Cubs were a little better over Hendry's regime, they would have had more success. I think a little can go a long way. Of course, it would help if the Cubs could produce Mauer, Morneau, Santana, Garza, etc.

Lynch has been sick this week. I think I'm gonna go with Ahman.

The only reason for Pie NOT starting is if you trade him for a .900 (give or take .025) OPS RF in a trade for him, and you start Jones in CF 1 more year, before Patterson or Colvin take over.

I would love Renteria. Put Theriot back in a utility role, which he is probably best suited for. I'd imagine the Braves would want a couple of pretty decent pitchers. Guys like Gallagher, Hart, Holliman, Mateo, Veal who are close to the majors as SP should be of interest to them. They may require a couple of them for Renteria. edit: may be some interest in Pie also. Andruw's not gonna be back and they could use a CF. I thought they would go after a guy like Rowand, but w/ Teixeira, it's doubtful they could spend money.

Jones and Soriano are basically the same player. Where Soriano hits for a higher average, Andruw walks more. Soriano's career line: .281/.326/.512. Jones .263/.342/.498. Both have a career OPS+ of 115. Not to mention, the are both very similar to Aramis, except for the lack of Ks for Ramirez. Andruw is a good player, but personally, I'd like to see a completely different kind of bat to go with this group.

Damnit. You were almost left for dead. I can't believe you've turned it around enough to finish 2nd for the 3rd straight year! :twisted:

I'm a big Hernandez fan. Liked him a lot last year. He's a guy that could be a top prospect by this time next year.

Gorzellany is a really good pitcher. Hopefully, he can hold this lead.

Donaldson is 21 in short-season ball. Colvin is 21 in AA, 3 levels ahead. Colvin held his own against monumentally better competition. I dont' see how you can say he's a non-prospect but Donaldson is great because of similar numbers (wihtout the walks) at Boise as Colvin. Also, you can't mention Ceda without the walks. If those numbers you listed were the whole story, everyone in baseball would be talking about him.

Jeter's an above average defensive SS. I'd say probably top 10 in the league. My guess is he's better than ARod would be if he were there still. The stuff about Arod being the best SS on the Yankees is off-base. Arod was better when he did play SS, but since then he's bulked up and looks like he's lost some range. Jeter has worked hard and become a much better defensive SS.

opposite of LDT. Ahman Green vs. Carolina or Marshawn Lynch vs. Pittsburgh. Probably 2 of the most consistently good run defenses. Or wildcard, Jerious Norwood vs. Jacksonville, who is a backup but playing against a D that allowed nearly 300 yards on the ground last week. Also, would you start the Jags D vs. Atlanta or the Packers D vs. the Manningless Giants?

Yeah, there's a sticky that states the point limit. Also, you have a pm.

Gotta see how the points play out for the rest of the year, but even before the reduction to 2000 I was probably going to look to trade: Maggs, Holliday, Abreu, ARam, Webb, Oswalt & all the relievers. This means I'll probably also have to dump one of Reyes, Vic or Halladay. Essentially, a points limit of 2000 means you can only keep three productive players plus one guy who was either hurt or not as good. Plus all the exempt players and minor leaguers. I wish this was clear at the beginning of the season. I don't know that it would have prevented me from trading away some of the young players I did, but it would have changed the trade value of them for certain. yep. I'm looking at Santana, Wright, and Sizemore right now. Which means, Morneau, Sheff, Wells, Hunter, Hudson, and Escobar will be on the block.

I like Colvin. I'm very pleasantly surprised his defense has turned out to be as good as it is. The power, I don't see as much of a problem. He did hit 35 doubles and 15 HRs in less than 500 ABs. Again, that's in 2 tough leagues for power. I think he can hit for a decent amount of power in the majors (15-20 HRs). The lack of BBs is disturbing. Next year will be a big year for him, as he should repeat AA. His walk rate decreased in the jump for high A to AA. He doesn't strike out at an alarming rate, maybe a little over what you want from a guy that doesn't have big time run producing power.

I trust Zambrano to win most. Despite what the numbers say, he's the most likely Cubs pitcher to put them in position to win a must-win game. But I also don't like the fact that he would be obviously jacked and would probably suffer with his command. See opening day history and 2003 playoffs as examples.

Who's pitching in this series? I've heard Backe, Albers, Williams, Patton, and Wandy at various points in the last 2 days. Is Trachsel for sure on Thursday? Also, I wonder if Larussa will go with Maroth against the Cubs in place of recently blasted Pineiro. If he is truly a genius he will.

That's an excellent comment. "I didn't have a choice"? How about not starting him, that's a choice?

Yeah, I win with the 4th lowest score of the week!

Congratulations Tim! Didn't think you'd beat out the Raw Dawgs this year. Congratulations to all the playoff teams too and thanks to everyone else on another good year. I wouldn't have beat out Raw if I hadn't sold off a bunch of my prime minor league assets to acquire Webb, Ordonez & Halladay prior to the deadline. I was well behind before I made those trades. And I dealt with a couple injuries and ineffective players. Sheffield went down. Hamels is still out. Gallardo had an ugly stretch. Morneau and Uggla had bad slumps. A lot of day-to-day stuff too. I finished about 200 points behind you, but nobody else finished within 200 points of me. and nobody sniffed my score from last season! new rules. one less starting spot in the OF.