rawaction

Crain's numbers look a lot like Danny Kolb's from last year, except Crain walks more people.

I've heard his name, I've yet to hear an explanation of how he becomes a Cub. And even if he did become a Cub, I still see no reason why Giles shouldn't hit 2nd with that OBP. OBP is the only thing this team should be worrying about. SLG is not a problem, anywhere. Nomar's numbers since coming back, .314 .347 .541, compare favorably to the top 3 team 5th hitter splits in the NL. Even if he's down considerably from there he's easily top half. And the Cubs would be near the top at 2-4. Walker is more adaquate of a 2 hitter than Nomar is a 5 hitter. OBP should be the topic. Worrying about 5th hole SLG is misguided and unnecessary. This team needs OBP atop the order, plain and simple. Giles, if he came here, would be top 2 on the team for OBP, and would be best served in front of Lee and Ramirez. I guess it really doesn't matter in the long run, but coming off a year when Lee's super human production was wasted with bums hitting 1/2 much of the year, it would be baseball malpractice to go into 2006 with whatever .330-.340 OBP CF they find and .330-.355 OBP Walker in front of Lee, and waste Giles .375-.430 OBP after Lee. Odds are they won't get Giles and a decent CF, I'd much rather have Giles than the decent CF, and in that case, Giles is without a doubt the best option for 2nd. It's really the same argument. You want the OBP 2-4, UK and I want it 3-5. You're probably right in saying that the Cubs won't get good OBP up-and-down, so having Giles 3 or 4, would put a low OBP hitter either 2nd or 8th. Having Giles 2nd would eliminate temptation.

Ensberg has Hidalgo disease. Big breakout year in 03, followed by horrible wasted 04, followed by huge year this season. He'll probably get a huge raise, suck and get traded midseason like Hidalgo too.

Any worry about Michaels getting full-time ABs for the first time in his career? And I would like to hit Giles 3rd. I like Lee's power more to score Giles than vice versa. Of course, Ramirez ain't a bad option to knock him in either. I'd settle for a mediocre, stereotype leadoff guy that will put up a .340 OBP (Lofton, Hairston) and put Walker/Murton 2nd and keep Giles 3rd. He still has some power. He's not Mark Grace......yet.

Could have a very productive offense just from adding another .400 OBP in there. Nobody else may ever get on base, score, or knock in a run, but the combo of Giles, Lee, Ramirez, and Barrett should put up a lot of offense. Add Walker and a healthy Nomar, and the offense has the chance to actually be good.

GMJ in '05 Home: .218/.289/.369/.658 Away: .299/.358/.506/.865 I was gonna point that out.

I think LA wows them for Dunn. Couple of those pitchers and Cincy will jump.

GMJR would be ok, but I see him as more of a 4th OF. I wouldn't want him getting too many starts. He's a near great fielder. He's a better LH hitter, but has tons more power from the RH side.

Zambrano's pretty underrated. I think he's the 3rd and sometimes 4th starter mentioned when "experts" talk about the Cubs.

If I were the Brewers, I'd actually hold off on Fielder til about mid-season. Now that Hardy has started to hit, they are a dangerous team. 1 more innings eater, that can get them a sub 4 ERA and they'll be very competitive. I'd really try to push Carlos Lee on someone who values those RBIs, and put Hart out there. I'd also look into getting Overbay some reps in LF.

I think Cabrera too. For all the talk about how great Pujols is, Miggy is better at a younger age. He can also play both corner OF spots decently, is a good 3B, and could probably play a slightly below average SS if needed.

Forgot about Lowe, but I thought Weaver, Perez, and Penny were done. Gagne and Izturis are arby eligible right?

1. Andy LaRoche, 3b, Vero Beach 5. Matt Kemp, of, Vero Beach 8. Justin Orenduff, rhp, Vero Beach 11. Tony Abreu, 2b, Vero Beach 12. Chin-Lung Hu, ss, Vero Beach 17. Chuck Tiffany, lhp, Vero Beach Um...yeah. Then there's Jacksonville, which might have Chad Billingsley, Joel Guzman, James Loney, Russell Martin, and Jonathan Broxton qualify for the SL Top 20. If their ownership is willing to increase the budget this offseason, they're a team that seriously worries me in the trade market. They could legitimately afford to bring in pretty much any player in baseball (namely Adam Dunn) with their prospects. Don't they still have just Drew and Kent under contract for next year? I see them as major players for anyone they want. I think they will be major players for Nomar, B. Giles, and Burnett. And if M.Giles, Dunn, and Delgado are gonna be available, they will be in the thick of things. They have a ton of money and a ton of prospects at their disposal.

God, I hope not. I've played in leagues with him, and he hasn't used Bruins yet. What's the next step?

LT is crazy. If anyone wants to trade him to me....I wouldn't complain.

Raisin is very interested.

NO. The Cubs could have never had Vlad. Don't make me think of the possibilities.

Dopirak and Pinto. Yeah, Pinto was the pitcher, but in 03, was it Pie who was Offensive player of the year? I thought this was only the second year of the player/pitcher of the year. Yeah, you are probably right.

You were saying that the players from my first years in peoria weren't good cause it was the Cardinals org. and i was pointing out that there ar emore players from 2002-2004 Peoria in St. Louis right now (winning a division) than there are from 2002-2004 Lansing in Chicago right now... This makes me a sad panda... a lot of the talent on the Lansing club was supposedly going to make the Cubs a consistent contender in the NL Central for many years. Oh well, we are the Cubs after all, you don't go almost 100 years without winning because good fortune is smiling upon you. That 99 team had the most talent I've personally seen in the minors. Patterson, Choi, Kelton, Zambrano, etc were awesome. It's sad to see how few of those guys are making an impact now.

Dope is a better prospect than Moore.

Dopirak and Pinto. Yeah, Pinto was the pitcher, but in 03, was it Pie who was Offensive player of the year?

First, why does everyone think Lee is going to regress back to his career norms. He worked hard to make adjustments in his swing and plate coverage, so there isn't much of a reason to think he will revert back to a .270 hitter. Secondly, what guarantee that any young players we get in return for Lee will be the superstars that everyone is making them out to be. Finally, will a team like the Diamondbacks trade 3 very promising, young players for one excellent player when they are in a rebuilding situation. I think he'll settle in for 2-3 years at my prediction for this year .290/.380/.570. Still a very good player.

What a sad season. The Cubs have too much payroll at their disposal and too deep a minor league system to be picking in the top 1/2 of the draft.

Cool. Congrats to both. Weren't Dopirak and Pie the last 2 POYs from the MWL Cubs?

Do you disagree with Baseball America's list, Raw? Where would you rank Patterson? I don't necessarily, disagree. I haven't seen as much MWL baseball as I have in previous years, so I really can't say where I would rank him. I would have guessed he would come in at about 8-12, though