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rawaction

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Everything posted by rawaction

  1. rawaction
    Like TT said, you can't have Izturis, Cedeno, Murton, and Pierre (or insert other slappy leadoff option) in the same lineup and expect to score enough runs to win consistently. This is the generic model of building an offense. LF, RF, 3B, 1B = power positions. At least 1 of those has to be a .380+ OBP player and you'd like all to get on base 35% of the time, but can afford 1 (at most) of them to be sub .340, but shouldn't be below league average. Typically, the 3-6 hitters in the lineup. SS, 2B, CF, C= defensive positions. Only can afford 1 (at most) of them to be comparatively inept offensively. At least 2 of them have to be able to get on base at least 34% of the time to be at the top of the lineup (and .340 is at the absolute low end). And the other has to bring something to the table either power or OBP. The Cubs have the great OBP at 1B in Lee. They have Ramirez and Barrett, who comprise 3/4 of the "power positions" and do so with levels of production you should about expect from the middle of the lineup. The 4th in this group would be Jones, who has the SLG part, but gets on base at a below average level, making the Cubs short a "power" bat. That leaves SS, 2B, CF, and LF as the "defensive positions". Murton does his part by getting on base, and gives the Cubs 1 guy worthy of a top-2 hitter. But with Izturis and Cedeno being very good shots to have sub-.310 OBPs and neither having any power to make up for it, that gives the Cubs 2 inept bats. Pierre in CF, because he doesn't get on base enough, gives the Cubs 3 hitters that provide very little. Basically, the current Cubs lineup has 3 players who should be 8th hitters in a good ML lineup. Only 1 player worthy of a top of the order spot, without sacrificing a middle of the order bat. And are below average at one of the power spots (possibly 2 if Barrett reverts at all).
  2. rawaction
    Cubs have some pretty good baseball people? Since when?
  3. rawaction
    Yep.
  4. rawaction
    IIRC, USC's defense in 05 was young and had lost a lot of starters. Doesn't ND's 06 defense return a majority of it's starters from 05? And I would be worried about what Texas loses at QB considering they tailored that offense for Vince Young. Yep, that's why I said, I'm worried about what UT lost on defense. And yes ND returns a lot of defense, but that's not a good thing, considering there's not much talent there.
  5. rawaction
    I didn't read the entire thread. But am I correct that players not on the 40-man roster DON'T have to clear waivers? I could see the Braves taking Pierre, Gallagher, and a player like Eric Patterson or a couple more pitchers.
  6. rawaction
    A lot of tough schedules in the Top 25. I could see two 1-loss teams playing for the NC. My favorites were Ohio St. and Oklahoma. Notre Dame reminds me of 05 USC, without the star RBs, i.e. defense will lose them a big game. UWV schedule is too easy, and they may luck into the NC game, due to being undefeated in a weak, albeit major conference. I'm more concerned about what Texas lost on defense than offense, and I think the winner b/w them and OU could be a contender. USC is in a similar boat. Still the most talent in the country, but it's raw. Should be a 1-loss team with a solid chance.
  7. rawaction

    rawaction replied to Chocolate Milk's topic in Other Sports

    Maybe the Bears knew what they were doing? Clark is having a great camp. Again, DB depth this year is great. If either Manning has to start for the Bears, there won't be much dropoff.
  8. rawaction
    Utley will win the batting title, and MVP, and hit in 72 straight games. And I just jinxed him.
  9. rawaction
    I think you're looking at a package of Pie and 2 minor league pitchers. My guess are top pitchers in the system like Marshall, Marmol, Gallagher. Then again, in a salary dump, which this obviously would be, it could take a lot less if you eat the contract....which should not be an issue. The Cubs again, don't have the balls to make such a move, though. It's almost not worth talking about. Talking about Andruw Jones obviously.
  10. rawaction
    A steal for the Mets. They will be good for a long time. The difference between them and the Cubs is that they have a farm system producing big time. For all the money they are spending on Beltran, Delgado, Pedro, Glavine, and Wagner.....they wouldn't be close to where they are now without their farm system, which gave them Wright, Reyes, Pelfrey, Milledge, Heilman, etc....not to mention all the talent they were able to trade to complete the NLs best team.
  11. rawaction

    rawaction replied to Chocolate Milk's topic in Other Sports

    BTW, I love the camp reports. You BETTER keep them up! The Orton stories are disheartening, but he has to make the roster. He's just much more talented than Symons. I wish they would have drafted a young QB late this year. I'm really loving the DB depth this year. 2 potentially great CBs, 2 very capable backups. A pro-Bowl safety and a bunch of up and coming kids to go with him. IF the lack of D-line and LB depth doesn't hurt the Bears, the defense will unquestionably be better than last year, and that's tough to do.
  12. rawaction
    I see you reversed it. It was after the deadline, and he did not want to accept.
  13. rawaction
    How hard does Mateo throw? As hard as Marmol? I'm impressed by Walker this year. He's been a very steady performer. I didn't know that his defense was rated so highly though. Does he have a strong arm? Walker's a very small guy, so not much of an arm. From what I saw of him, he was very accurate, though. It's not Pierre weak at all, probably a little below league average for a CF. He's a very good fielder, though. Great speed, range, gets good jumps. Probably a better defender than Felix at this point.
  14. rawaction
    I'm really liking what GMJr. is doing this year and the last couple really. Anybody have his home/road splits on hand? I worry about park factors and age with GMJr. If 2 of the 3 Cubs OFs are gonna be Jones and a sub .850 OPS player, which most CFs they can bring in are likely to be.....they better get a Soriano, Sheffield, or Lee as a FA, or trade for a guy like Drew or Dunn. Wonder what it would take to trade for Andruw.
  15. rawaction
    I count about 19 players worthy of a 40-man roster. The Cubs SHOULD add 21 more players to the roster.
  16. rawaction
    I kinda like Byrnes. Don't understand why anyone would want Pierre more. Byrnes is not ideal, but I'd rather the Cubs go after someone like him or Brady Clark, rather than throwing money Pierre's way or going after another slap hitting, speedy, poor excuse for a leadoff hitter.
  17. rawaction
    Yes, so even though their OBPs weren't good, they still had a significantly better IsoD (more patience) than Izturis at age 26. Exactly. Both had more patience than Izturis at this age, which allowed them to progress as hitters. If Izturis doesn't learn how to take a walk, he will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER, be a consistently good player.
  18. rawaction
    Absolutely perfect 4th OF. Can play all 3 OF positions at a gold glove level. Kills LHP, good to great throwing arm. Will get on base. Has a good power . Has above average speed. I would love if the Cubs had Jose Cruz Jr. on the 2007 team, and he actually was the 4th best OF.
  19. rawaction
    I think those that are somewhat happy with this deal are happy for 2 reasons 1) Yes, a 711 OPS is not that great-but it's about average for a shortstop-average OBP, slightly below average slugging for a shortstop. Combine that with his great defense, and you have a pretty good shortstop. 2)If the choice at short is Izturis or Cedeno, Izturis is a much better player. He is better offensively, and much better defensively. He won't be nearly the hole that Cedeno has been in the lineup-so this is an upgrade in talent. Now we'll see if Hendry can find the offensive player to play at second to go with him. I'm sorry, but none of that is true. Izturis is bad. Defense doesn't make him good. Cedeno can and will get better, Izturis can't and won't (at least when compared to his 04). Why won't he get better? Is there something that you know that no one else knows? Check out Omar Vizquel's stats his first few years in the league. They weren't that good and he turned out to be a pretty good hitter. I've never seen Izturis over an extended period of time, but Vizquel's name seems to pop up a lot when measuring his D against another player. And Vizquel is a career .702 OPS hitter. He's also a career .090 ISOD hitter, something Izturis has never approached. As I said, Izturis won't get better than his 04 numbers, which he is about 80 points off of for his career. I will give you that he can possibly approach those numbers and maintain them for a few years....but a .711 OPS isn't anything to write home about. It still sucks, frankly. Vizquel has always had a better eye at the plate than Izturis. That will always be the difference between the 2.
  20. rawaction
    ARod, Jeter, Ichiro, Ortiz, Utley, Beltran, Soriano, Rolen, Glaus, Aramis and DLee, Vladdy, Abreu and Helton. Webb, Carpenter, Halliday, Lackey, Santana, Oswalt, Zito There's a lot of talent in that age range. But yeah, teams realized that not all prospects are suspects, and that trading for a marginal veterans isn't the answer to your pennant dreams. Yeah, I was thinking the opposite. There's not a lot of talent over 35 anymore. Bonds is not the force he was the last few years, there's no Sosa, McGwire, Luis Gonzalez, Unit, Clemens, Maddux, having great years over 35 like there has been in recent years. Kids are running baseball right now, and their doing it very cheaply. Those are all great players above, but I think this is probably the deepest group of under 26 yo studs and can't miss prospects probably ever. And that's with a couple of weak drafts recently.
  21. rawaction
    I think those that are somewhat happy with this deal are happy for 2 reasons 1) Yes, a 711 OPS is not that great-but it's about average for a shortstop-average OBP, slightly below average slugging for a shortstop. Combine that with his great defense, and you have a pretty good shortstop. 2)If the choice at short is Izturis or Cedeno, Izturis is a much better player. He is better offensively, and much better defensively. He won't be nearly the hole that Cedeno has been in the lineup-so this is an upgrade in talent. Now we'll see if Hendry can find the offensive player to play at second to go with him. I'm sorry, but none of that is true. Izturis is bad. Defense doesn't make him good. Cedeno can and will get better, Izturis can't and won't (at least when compared to his 04).
  22. rawaction
    No GMs want to give up top prospects anymore. The way to get the most out of any team is to get production out of cheap talent. The top prospect to change teams was Joel Guzman, and upside or not, he doesn't really have a legit position right now. The Yanks refused to give up their top 2 prospects. The Mets refused to give up Milledge. The Sox refused to give up Lester. And those are all teams that can seemingly get around not having a farm system. For all the talk that prospects are a crapshoot and a majority of them bust, horribly....there are a ton of future great baseball players out there. Nobody wants to miss out on the next big thing. Look around the ML leaderboards. You have guys like Mauer, Holliday, Wright, Howard, Utley, Bay, Pujols, Verlander, Liriano, Sizemore, etc. all under 26 and among the best players in the game. You don't see GMs willing to trade the next great player for a 2 month rental anymore.
  23. rawaction
    The problem isn't gonna be the IF offense. I could actually live with Izturis/Cedeno in the IF, given that not many teams have 2 strong bats up the middle, and Barrett at C kinda makes up for a weak 2b/SS bat. But they have to do something about the OF. If Jones is the 1st or 2nd best OF the Cubs have, they will be in trouble. Unless they get Edmonds, I don't see a way to get an above average league CF. So, that means the Cubs have to get a great OF for LF, and while Soriano and Lee have been great this year, they have a history of being very similar to what Jones is doing this year.
  24. rawaction
    Wow. I guess this is one of those, "fresh face" moves, Cubs must have just wanted someone that hasn't had a chance yet to get a shot. Mateo has pitched well enough to earn a taste of the big leagues, though. BTW, I'm annoyed by the number of spelled-out numbers in that second paragraph. I count seven spelled out numbers in the paragraph two alone, at least there are zero in paragraph one. I count 8; and damn is that annoying. Yep, there are eight.
  25. rawaction
    Raw Dawgs select Derrick Mason- WR, Baltimore and NYGiants defense
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