rawaction

i don't know what's worse, the coaches calling for that bunt, or Hairston doing it on his own. That could not have possibly been a called bunt. Dusty's not that dumb....is he?

I don't ever want to see a player attempt a bunt on a 2-0 pitch with 2 outs and the pitcher on 1B, again. That's playing into the dumb baseball theory, Jerry Jr.

SLG is total bases/ at bats Total bases = singles + (2 * doubles) + (3* triples) + (4* HRs)

thats one of the things that always confuses me- all the (seemingly) random letters. i know some of the more basic ones but others ive forgotten, or never knew. is there like a baseball glossary of some kind online? along with whats quoted above, whats WHIP, LHIP, RHIP or whatever? and anything else you'd like to throw in OPS is slugging plus on base percentage (OBP). I think you calculate OBP by: walks plus hits/PA(plate apperances) OBP also adds in HBP and sac flies. So, basically its: Walks + Hits + HBP/ ABs + Walks + HBPs + SF ( or total plate appearances)

1. No. He's a good pitcher. Always has been when used properly. When he has been bad, it's been a 2nd half thing....after he was used a ton in the 1st half. 2. Probably has something to do with it too. 4. I don't know. If he was a problem in the clubhouse, I don't think they'd want him back. If the move was just performance based, then probably. #3 is very interesting to me. I don't think the coaching staff is good enough to help a player get thru struggles with basic mechanics. We've seen it with Patterson, Farnsworth, Choi, and even Wood. Of course, then there are guys like Barrett, Rusch and Ramirez who have thrived in Cub uniforms. But I credit those guys' improvement more to the fact that they all had previous flashes in other organizations and that the whole change of scenery thing may have helped. Not sure that's fair, but I don't trust this coaching staff's ability to help out a young slumping player.

there's no way milwaukee is trading carlos lee to anybody, let alone the chicago cubs Plus, Carlos Lee isn't really that good. He's barely better than Jeromy Burnitz this year....and that's with Lee having a huge power year (ISOP nearly 40 points higher than recent years of his career). Take out Lee's already career high 6 intentional walks and his below average .334 OBP for a middle of the order hitter is even worse.

The IF fly rule is very stupid. It basically rewards a bad at bat. It doesn't make any sense that a guy can hit a 50ft popup and only get 1 out, but a guy can rocket a ball to the 3B and possibly make 2-3 outs. I understand that it protects the runners (if they run, they'll get doubled up....if they don't run, they'll get doubled up), but it's the hitter's fault for having such a weak at bat. His team deserves to take whatever consequences result from a popup.

It's not that people want to get rid of Walker, just that the Cubs have to be able to get something out of the deal. Patterson doesn't have much trade value right now, but combined with Walker, they could bring back a decent package. Walker has the playoff experience that the Yanks would value. However, I wouldn't do it unless a 3rd team was involved. I don't want their mediocre prospects. My original trade proposal had the Cubs sending Patterson and Walker to the Yanks, a couple of pitchers to the Reds, and getting Dunn and a Yanks pitching prospect.

Maybe a 3rd team would have to get invovled. I see one player we want from the Yanks, Hideki Matsui I'd take Matsui, ARod or Jeter. None are likely available anytime soon, though.

There's no way he doesn't add an OF. It may not be somebody we want, but he will bring in an OF. I also hope he doesn't make the mistake of NOT bringing in a reliever again.

Yeah, but Hollandsworth should be used to it. He's a career bench player. He was a bench player for 1/3 of this season. And if it affects Hollandsworth this way, imagine what it could do to a kid that has played pretty much everyday since little league, thru HS, thru college, and in the minors.

I figured he would start to hit soon. Kinda like Adam Greenberg. He will hit. He will take a walk. He'll put the ball in play. He'll hustle his tail off. He'll play better than average defense. He has no power to speak of. Right now, I think he projects as a backup CF, with a shot in the right organization to be a leadoff man and starter.

Williams, Patterson and Marshall is at least the equivalent of Backe, Lane, Patton. I really like Marshall, and would hate to do that deal, but I'd probably throw in Pinto instead.

I wouldn't mind if he played everyday. I wouldn't lead him off, though. Although, Hairston is doing well right now and I want him playing and definitely don't want Walker out. I want him up in September for defense and speed, and for the simple fact that every team he touches wins gold.

I can't say how realistic it is that he'll be dealt to the Cubs because I just don't know. I can say that the Cubs are very interested, and that the Reds do acknowledge that trading Dunn is their best option for bringing back a boatload of young pitching talent with high potential. I still feel that if the LA Dodgers gave the Reds some of their AA players, the Reds would be most inclined to trade Dunn there. But that leaves the question will Dunn put them back in the race. With all their injuries and pitching woes the Dodgers would improve with Dunn but not enough to get back in the race. I think the Dodgers see Dunn as much a move for the future as they do for this year. But at what cost do they give up Guzman, Chad Billingsly, Edwin Jackson to get Dunn?? I just don't see it happening. I think they might. Jackson is still young (21), but hasn't been very good at all since 2003. I think he's losing fans in the LA organization, ala Jerome Williams. I think they would need something along with Dunn, though. Maybe Randa?

Floyd is under contract for 2006. Huff and Dunn are only under contract thru 2006 also, I believe. Of course, Floyd is older, thus much less likely to be re-signed than the other two (if traded for). But it's still not a complete rental.

Very rough draft of my top 10. 1. Pie 2. Dopirak 3. Marshall 4. Harvey 5. Murton 6. Hill 7. Petrick 8. Pawelek 9. Cedeno 10 Take your pick (Pinto/Gallagher/Marmol/Moore) BTW, Farm Report should be returning Monday or so.

He's just a good pitcher. He's shown he can be a top 10 pitcher in baseball with a screwed up delivery. But he won't stay healthy doing it. If he can keep his delivery sound and stay on the mound, he will perform well. Too much talent not to.

Not me. I've never been an Ibanez fan. He's a better hitter for average than Floyd, but Cliff runs circles around him in the power department and is a more patient hitter. Ibanez is also a little older than Cliffy.

I think the Pirates should have traded Wilson in the offseason. He has major holes in his game (anything offspeed and defense) and last year was his Rick Wilkins year. He'll never be that good again. He'll be servicable, but the Pirates would have been better served trading him to a team for an up and coming LH power hitter last offseason.

I've alwasy liked Floyd. I still think if used correctly (only against RHs and other random days off), he could get thru a whole season and play 120 productive games. He is better than Huff, IMO.....but is a few years older. He has a good .100 career BB/PA. Wouldn't be the final answer to the OBP problems, but would be a pretty good complimentary player. I would probably do Looper and Floyd for Williams, Sing, Nolasco, and maybe a guy like Fontenot.

Jerome Williams, Corey Patterson, and Renyel Pinto? Welcome to Chicago Adam. (Although I'd try real hard to sub Mitre for Williams) I'd rather keep Mitre. Also, I always include Williams first, because the Cubs already had a deep stable of SPs before he came aboard. Trading him is like having a free arm to trade, because frankly I might have done just Aardsma for Hawkins.

Jerome Williams, Corey Patterson, and Renyel Pinto?

This is unwarrented critisicm. He has owned the team for 5 years and you are saying that in order for him to be considered a good owner he must have won a championship in that time? That's absurd. If you read my previous post, it's not a World Championship, but at least make it to the Western Conference Finals - they may have done that once. But my point is what could he do that the Trib hasn't done in the past five years? And I'm an NBA fan, and it's my opinion that the Cubs are closer to a World Championship right now than the Mavericks. I would disagree. The Cubs are going to have to get extremely lucky to even make the playoffs while the Mavericks consistantly get to the second round or further. I'm a basketball fan as well, and I think that a lot of this criticism of Cuban is based on his Reality show, his jumping on the floor, etc. You really can''t dispute his success as an owner. That being said, I really don't think he would be the missing link, I just think that he doesn't diserve to be trashed like he is being here. Over half the NBA makes the playoffs. 8 teams make the MLB playoffs. Not a fair comparison. And the Mavs don't get further than the 2nd round. They have never made the West finals. They don't even compare to the Spurs and Suns, and the same was true for the Lakers and TWolves in recent history. They are the Minnesota Twins or Oakland As of the NBA. Yeah, they make the playoffs, but they are a huge step behind the real contenders. But isn't that more due to the financial constraints put on both clubs? Maybe. But the Cubs don't have the financial constraints and could only pray for that type of success. What would Cuban do to change that? The Cubs already spend. They need to spend wiser. Obviously, Cuban doesn't do that as well as people think.....considering they've only gotten past the 2nd round once in his tenure.

This is unwarrented critisicm. He has owned the team for 5 years and you are saying that in order for him to be considered a good owner he must have won a championship in that time? That's absurd. If you read my previous post, it's not a World Championship, but at least make it to the Western Conference Finals - they may have done that once. But my point is what could he do that the Trib hasn't done in the past five years? And I'm an NBA fan, and it's my opinion that the Cubs are closer to a World Championship right now than the Mavericks. I would disagree. The Cubs are going to have to get extremely lucky to even make the playoffs while the Mavericks consistantly get to the second round or further. I'm a basketball fan as well, and I think that a lot of this criticism of Cuban is based on his Reality show, his jumping on the floor, etc. You really can''t dispute his success as an owner. That being said, I really don't think he would be the missing link, I just think that he doesn't diserve to be trashed like he is being here. Over half the NBA makes the playoffs. 8 teams make the MLB playoffs. Not a fair comparison. And the Mavs don't get further than the 2nd round. They have never made the West finals. They don't even compare to the Spurs and Suns, and the same was true for the Lakers and TWolves in recent history. They are the Minnesota Twins or Oakland As of the NBA. Yeah, they make the playoffs, but they are a huge step behind the real contenders. I would agree if you weren't completely wrong. Alright you got me! Once in 5 years, when they had homecourt and got their monkey arses handed to them by the Spurs.