rawaction

Not by much. A Marlins' no facial hair policy is like having a no sex policy for your little league team.

I just realized that there will be a ton of games vs. LHPs this year. St. Louis- Mulder Pitt- Duke, Maholm, Perez, Burnett Cincy- Milton, Dave Williams, Claussen Mil- Davis, Capuano, Eveland Houston- Pettitte, Wandy Rodriguez Jones will be pretty useless at least 2 games of every series against Pittsburgh, and useless at least once in every other division series outside of St. Louis.

If either of those last 2 start, the Cubs are in trouble. And strangely enough, there's a strong chance of that if the Cubs trade Williams. Wood, Miller and Guzman are currently rehabbing. Prior has missed time. Rusch has been ineffective at times. Hill has been ineffective at times (ML level last year, minors before this year). Edit: But if the Cubs can get a big bat for a package including Williams, I do it and gamble that 5 of the other top 8 names can stay healthy at the same time.

Be interested to see if teams are more interested to deal star players come midseason. I could definitely see Hendry being able to pull off deals for players he's rumored to be interested in if things go well this season. The deals for Tejada, Abreu, Dunn, and Zito could be revisited. Hopefully, some of the Cubs players and prospects stay healthy and perform well, increasing their trade value.

Welcome. Stay away from middle IFs and line drives this year, ok?

Well, you know the Cubs are gonna have injuries. Wood may not be ready opening day. Miller won't be. Guzman may not ever be ready. Prior and Zambrano always have that risk because of past workloads. Maddux is old. Rusch can easily be ineffective at any given time. Hill is largely unproven. I'd like to hold onto Williams unless the Cubs can package him with others to get a big bat. You also gotta start thinking about 2007. Maddux will be gone. Wood could be. Williams could step in and be a solid #3. If guys like Hill, Guzman, Marshall, etc show they are healthy and ready for an ML load, then you trade Williams. There's no way I start Rusch over Williams, especially since Williams has been the better start and Rusch the better reliever.

I think there are a lot of good teams in the league for next year. Quakers has great young talent that could/should play a lot this year led by Mauer, Wood, Hermida, McCarthy, Guzman, and still has one of the league's best players, Beltran, coming off a down year. NSBB has another great team, with prospects and a ton of draft picks. Galesburg is a catcher away from having an entire lineup filled, and also has 3 ML starters for 06, including a legit ace in Sheets. And is returning champ. BDCoopers have 2 of the best keepers Utley and Howard, to go with stud D. Lee and Michael Young. Buddiga has the same nucleus of a perennial playoff team. NCCubbies, Tootielicious and SOS have cornered the market on great starting pitching. Bulbs have Peavy and Felix at the top of their rotation. Budcrew has great young talent with V. Martinez, Zambrano, Miggy Cabrera, Delmon and Figgins. And I have the best OF ever assembled with Vlad, Bay, Sizemore, and Berkman (though he'll probably be my 1B), and a top 3 2B.

IU led by 8 in the first half. Down 5 at halftime. Down by 20 early in the 2nd half, and the closest they got after that was 7. The players battled. Calloway was excellent. Davis however got outcoached out of halftime as he has in nearly every game all season long. I fully believe we had a shot to win if Davis wouldn't have been so strict with Killer after his 2nd foul. He sat the final 7 minutes of the first half. IU's 9 point lead was soon a 5-point deficit. In a game like today's, you gotta either stick with him with 2 fouls and build on the lead while you have the momentum, or put him back in when the momentum started to swing the other way. Then you use halftime to adjust accordingly if Killer has 3 fouls. And I'm not a big Davis hater. But I think he has single-handedly killed Ben Allen's jumper. No playing time will do that to an 18-year old kid.

i agree with you're ideas here, except that corey isnt a good hitter, we saw glimpses of what he could be if left alone with his abilities in 2003... .298BA, .320OBP, .511SLG.corey was over coached and forced into roles he was never meant to play, it screwed with his approach so much that he just lost it I said he is not a good hitter. Not really close right now. But it's not because of lack of trying.

Yeah, and we all know by Corey's face when he walks back to the dugout that he doesn't care and is uncoachable. Seriously though, and I know this wasn't you saying it, but how did Corey get this uncoachable tag? By reporting to spring training earlier than any position player the last 3-4 years? By getting to the park early and taking extra batting practice with his hitting coaches more often than any other player on the team? By trying to change his approach to become the leadoff hitter the Cubs thought they needed? Corey Patterson is coachable. He does care. He is hard-working. He's just not a good hitter.

To change the tone of the thread, and to get myself pumped for the game today. I will go on record now to show why IU has a legit shot to pull the upset today. 1. Any good team has a chance to beat anyone on it's home court. IU has shot 50% from the field and 43% from 3 at home. Even with the lackluster play of late, they have still pulled out games with their shooting. 64% 2nd half vs. NW, 46% in 2nd vs. UofI (after about 30% in the 1st), 65% vs. OSU, 60% vs. UM. 2. See last year. These 2 teams played in Hartford last year. And while UConn won, IU led by 13 in the 2nd half before they showed their youth and inexperience, and UConn showed the opposite. UConn is probably a better team than last year, but not by as much as IU is better. IU had more big bodies to throw at UConn last year (White, Ewing, Kline, Roberts), but did very little inside, starting frontcourt combined for 3 points. But the Hoosiers guards gave UConn trouble. Bracey got inside the arc and torched UConn for 28 points, despite a poor shooting game from outside. Vaden, Wilmont and Strickland all were able to get into the lane and hit shots or draw fouls. Vaden who was 2-8 from 3 in that game has been the nation's best 3pt shooter over the last month. It was also the 4th game of his college career. This IU team will start 3 seniors and a 4th year Jr, as opposed to 2 Jrs, 4 freshmen and a soph most of the time last year. 3. Marquette formula. Marquette played very similar size to what IU will play all day today. Novak at 6'10" was upfront with mixed-and-matched 6'8" players all game, with 3 guards around them. And while Novak was big with 16 boards, he did most of his offensive damage with 6-3's and 11 FTs. UConn also allowed Marquette's lesser wing players to combine for 31 points, though they had bad shooting nights. IU will have to get Novak's production (41 points, 16 boards) from 2 different players (Killingsworth inside, Vaden from outside), but the combo of Wilmont and Strickland are definitely better than Marquette's guards. IU also has Suhr, Ratliff, and Allen who can come up with big shooting games at any time. 4. Mike Davis factor. He always gets his teams up for games like this. Took a mediocre team to the final 2. Took #1 UNC and Duke to the last 2 minutes in consecutive seasons. IF anything Davis' teams have overachieved against great competition. GO Hoosiers. What could have been a toe-to-toe drag out fight with 2 great frontcourts now becomes a David vs. Golaith game.

I'm Master Batters. Couldn't think of anything better.

You are assuming he's gonna be good. There's no guarantee he's gonna be any good. There's also no guarantee that Dunn or the like will ever become a free agent. The Reds could sign him today. I'd give up the chance that Pie is gonna be good, for a player who's actually good. Especially, since there is a very slim chance that Felix will ever be as good as Dunn, Abreu, etc are right now.

Didn't see the game, but Suhr was excellent last night. 10 points, 5 assists, 0 TOs, 3 off. rebs. Vaden did a lot without scoring a bunch. Marco finally rebounded like a 6'8" 260lber should. The team as a whole did a great job rebounding. Vaden and Killer were 1 short of the entire rebouding total of the entire NW team. You didn't miss much, per se, but it was a little bit different. Davis really did shake things up. He changed the starting linuep, but also changed the rotation quite a bit. Suhr was one of the first players off the bench. Ratliff didn't play much in the 1st half, but did in the 2nd. Kline made a few decent plays (basically just didn't screw up). Allen actually made a few nice plays in the paint as well. Monroe didn't play much (and looked pretty poor when he was out there) and Callaway didn't play at all. I don't know if Davis was trying to make a statement (again) or if he really feels this is his new "rotation". I'd hate to see Suhr try to play 20+ minutes against UConn. It won't be pretty. He can give you that against Northwestern, but not against more talented backcourts. I don't hold out much hope for the UConn game. It will be interesting to see who gets matched up with Boone. I assume it's going to be Vaden (if last year is any indicator), Kline and/or Allen. I'm assuming Kline will get the start, but Vaden will see most of the time on Boone. IU can't match up with size, so they are gonna have to try to use their speed advantage and shoot lights out like they were doing early in the season. I'd even like to see a lot of Ben Allen (with 4 guards) drawing the UConn big men outside, and everyone just driving to the basket. If you force them to play zone you have a shot to get open jumpers, which have to be on. Rudy Gay is the #3 for UConn, but he would be the tallest player in IU's starting lineup. He's gonna be impossible to matchup with. Just gotta hope he's gonna hang around shoot 3's, and not be aggressive to the hoop, like he has done in the past.

Maybe it's time to include both Pie and Rich Hill in a package for Dunn... ':-k' Agreed. I'm not down on Felix at all, but I think if you can get an impact bat, preferably a young one like Dunn, then you gotta trade him. He's far from a lock to be a superstar, while Dunn (and others) are already bonafide star players.

Didn't see the game, but Suhr was excellent last night. 10 points, 5 assists, 0 TOs, 3 off. rebs. Vaden did a lot without scoring a bunch. Marco finally rebounded like a 6'8" 260lber should. The team as a whole did a great job rebounding. Vaden and Killer were 1 short of the entire rebouding total of the entire NW team.

Catcher B, D, C, A 1st Base G, then you could go either way with the other 3.

Moneyballer! :lol: I'm sure his down year last year has something to do with it. I don't think he's a bad choice if he's still available in the 4th round. Then again, I don't know who you already have and who else is available. So far, Santana, Bay, Jeter. I know 3rd base is deep, but I show him as tied for 3rd with Aram (and Aram, Arod, and Wright are already gone). I'm thinking of Felix Hernandez next though. I'd go Felix next. Didn't you say it was a keeper league? Like Pedro said, Blalock, Glaus, Ensberg, and Mora could be good later round picks.

I'd do Murton, Pie, and Williams for Abreu. I don't know how Contreras is so much better than a guy like Williams. And I don't know why anyone would want Dye over a combo of Murton and Pie, without having to give up a young pitcher in addition. I still don't think that the Phillies would do it, though they would be wise to if they want to get rid of Abreu and save about $12M.

I think that was just for 2005 according to the original post. Can't disagree with that.

Forgot about Abreu and Ortiz. My guess is Ortiz, Abreu, and Wright will be gone. Lee may be gone too. I'd probably go Utley. That'd give the best 2 players at 2 positions (SP, 2B), which nobody else in the league looks to have. I'd see if Beltran's down year pushes him to the 3rd round. I wouldn't worry about a run on SS. If that happens still draft the best player available. People will likely be overdrafting if there's a run on SS, and you can get huge steals. Victor Martinez is another option. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I am a fantasy guru. I'm not by any means. I think I draft well, but make crap trades. Still don't know why the hell I traded Felix Hernandez for Jason Lane in a keeper league.

I want to do the Cubs/Cards league too. You may still be able to get David Wright in Round 2. I'd go Wright, Bay, Utley, Soriano, or DLee. And don't sleep on Carlos Beltran.

Best username ever! T.R.O.Y. is the greatest hip-hop song ever made.

I'd probably take Santana. Best pitcher out there. You can still get offense. Especially, at OF, 1B and 3B where your other choices are.

If Pujols or Arod are available at #6, you will win the league because you are in it with some crappy players. I'd probably go with David Wright if Santana is not available. Cabrera loses some points with a crappy team around him.