kroth1342

I guess Prior spent that 2003 trying to break the land-speed record instead of exceeding his previous high in IP by over a hundred in hopes of winning us the WS... oh, thats what actually happened?

Since no one felt like giving a real serious answer, rather failed attempts at sarcasm (save Mephistopheles), I'll fill you in on some info: As Mephistopheles correctly said, our farm system is ranked in the middle of the pack by Baseball America and I would assume other talent ranking systems. On the pitching side, our top prospects include *Sean Gallagher; AA Tennessee; 3.38 ERA, 9K, 2BB in 2007 *Donald Veal; AA Tennessee; 9.39 ERA, 5K, 10BB Hitters *Felix Pie; OF; AAA Iowa; .440/.483/.600 *Eric Patterson; 2B; AAA Iowa; .286/.333/.321 *Tyler Colvin; OF; A Daytona; .429/.429/.786 For more info I would check in with the Minor League forum, Baseball America, or Baseball Prospectus

Everybody stop freaking talking about it! I have absolutely no idea why an person not playing in the game, let alone posting on a message board, thinks they can affect a game. *Jimmy voice "I mean, come on"*

Are you calling Felix Hernandez nameless? Have you been following baseball the last couple of years? I can't bring his minor league stats up right away, but he's been dominant at all levels of pro ball, except for the first half of last year.

nas's boss>>>>>>nas http://z.about.com/d/animatedtv/1/0/i/T/stan_Woodland_Critter_400.jpg it never ends does it

I loved that album when it first came out, but the constant mentioning of Dre really started to annoy me after awhile, and now I can't even listen to it. I'll have to co-sign this. I was definitely feeling Doctor's Advocate when it came out, but for some reason, it didn't have the staying power that the Documentary had - even though there's a ton of good tracks. That being said, some of the stuff on the Stop Snitching, Stop Lying mixtape was hilarious.

you might be right, we'll see if it gets moved

It's an interesting time in rap right now: sales are down, and there really isn't one rapper who's officially running the game. What we do have, however, is a group of several rappers all vying for the title. So you gotta let me know, who's the best rapper alive? Some potential choices: Jay-z - even though Kingdom Come was a disappointment, Hov is on top of the endorsement game, partnering with Bud Select and GMC. Nas - always considered the more lyrical of New York's battling titans (him and Jay-z), Nas dropped a slept-on album, Hip Hop is Dead, around the same time Jay-z dropped Kingdom Come. TI - the self-proclaimed "King of the South" is having more success than anyone right now as far as sales are concerned. His last album, King, was the only album of 06 to go plat, and he's seeing a successful start to protege Young Dro's career. Lil Wayne - once "the best rapper alive since the best rapper [Jay-z] retired, now Wayne considers himself the true "best rapper alive." Few can match his prodigious mixtape output, and streets are fiending for his new release, the Carter 3. Lupe Fiasco - with a huge amount of hype and internet buzz, Lupe had to deal with bootlegging problems before the release of his major label debut, Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor. Winning critical acclaim right out of the gate, this Chicagoan has the ear of the backpackers and the streets.

I would assume that the most talented person on the planet is going to make tens of millions of dollars per year in any entertainment-drive/large money industry. Johan Santana is no different.

Wuertz is a good pitcher, and your point would hold water if the Cubs had an unlimited supply of him. But Wuertz is on the Cubs right now. They wouldn't be replacing Howry by Wuertz, they'd be replacing him by Novoa or Marmol, and there is a big difference between those guys and Howry. Nice point. Further, I'll stick with the man whose last three seasons: 2004 - 2005 - 2006 ERA: 2.74 - 2.47 - 3.17 K/9: 7.4 - 5.7 - 8.2 BB/9: 2.3 - 1.9 - 1.3 For a large payroll team like the Cubs, I consider the money spent on Howry well spent to add consistency and performance to our bullpen. Obviously every bullpen can't be filled with FA pickups, but rather a mix of the two. Let's give Howry the benefit of the doubt, and if he's still having bad outings in June, we need to revisit the situation.

nice, good work

If your strategy is to hoard SP to accumulate W and K thats fine. My whole point was that I didn't feel it was worth giving up 2 quality closers for two SPs who aren't top tier fantasy players. Considering you have a 6 team league, unless each team is hoarding SPs, there should be pitchers comparable to Verlander and Willis (if not slightly lower quality) who you could obtain without giving up much value.

I wouldn't make it. I don't think it's smart to get rid of half your closers, and considering you have a 6 team league, I would think each team should have 4-5 closers. That being said, I'd check the waiver wire to add pitching. You should be able to add dependable 150+ strikeout guys with slightly higher ERA (3.75-4.1), because your four closers should keep the overall team ERA down.

Can anyone check a Northwestern paper?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lillyte01.shtml http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/padilvi01.shtml He said, "explain," not "post links." If you have an opinion, bring it here. And if he has a problem with me posting links providing the obvious explanation, allow him to defend himself. Otherwise, mind your own business. Well maybe I would like to hear your explanation. Here's a thought: maybe other posters thought the same thing! Until you know what I'm thinking, STFU, and http://community.allhiphop.com/images/smilies/aktion034.gif

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lillyte01.shtml http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/padilvi01.shtml He said, "explain," not "post links." If you have an opinion, bring it here.

http://encyclopedia.quickseek.com/images/thumb/180px-Curious_george_ether.jpg

http://www.users.muohio.edu/rothkr/fdup.jpg You really need to think a little bit before you post, or at least research your topic. As the posters above have clearly explained, Radke has no shoulder.

I recall a month ago when I created a post that said that a Tribune exec. was 99.9% sure the Cubs would be sold before the start of the 2007 season began and was ripped apart as a liar and chastized as a "troller." My post doesn't look so bad anymore does it Giles Bros. and Vince the Cub Fan. The fact that I knew of the impending sale of the Tribune's assets before it was made public was legitimate. Anyway, here is an update from the same source: About 2 weeks ago the Tribune started taking bids on all of their assets from potential investors to gauge the demand/value of each asset. The bidding was to last for 2 weeks and then they were going to have a meeting of the top exec's and make a decision before they presented it to the board of directors at the monthly meeting. This all should happen quickly, oncew the decision is made to sell off the assets and go back to its core competencies because the bidders are already out there. yeah, that vince is a real jerk sometimes you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on this board who likes Vince the Cub Fan. Good one, you've never made a mistake typing I assume?

Clearly the amount of debate regarding Soriano's OBP and whether or not he will perform at a 2006 OBP level or regress towards his career average echoes the desires of this board for the team to increase their OBP overall. I think some work by Nate Silver can enlighten us as to Soriano's value towards increasing OBP and the Cubs' run scoring ability. In an article from 2005, Silver attempts to quantify the value of a SB compared to a time reaching base (TRB). Referencing only leadoff situations, Silver found a SB worth 36.6% of a TRB. As he put it: "20 steals are about as valuable as 7 walks." He further goes on to describe a formula to calculate stolen base adjusted OBP (SBOBP): (H + BB + HBP + (SB * .366)--CS) / (PA-SH) For 2006, Soriano's SBOBP: (179 + 67 + 9 + (41 * .366) - 17) / (716 - 2) = .354 an increase of .003 from his .351 OBP For his career: (1091 + 224 + 55 + (210 * .366) - 60) / (4189 - 8) = .331 an increase of .006 from his career .325 OBP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Potentially just as important, however, is factor in a player's ability to use his baserunning skills to score runs at a rate higher than the replacement level runner. To accomplish this, Silver alters his metric slightly to account for the aforementioned stat, Equivalent Basestealing Runs (EqBr): New SBOBP (H + BB + HBP + (SB * .366) - CS + (EqBr * 2.27) / (PA - SH) (179 + 67 + 9 + (41 * .366) - 17 + (1.4 * 2.27) / (716 - 2) = .358 A note: the value used for EqBr is from Soriano's 2005 season. I am not sure how much these metrics fluctuate from year to year, but an increase to 2.0 EqBr means a .360 SBOBP, and to 3.0 means a .364 SBOBP. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clearly, with a player like Soriano, OBP is not and never will be his primary addition to the ballclub. What I think is important, is that we recognize that if he steals bases and runs the bases in an efficient manner, he will be doing his part to increase his (and the Cubs') scoring chances for 2007 and beyond - regardless of OBP. Link: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4344

Don't know if this has been announced/posted already, but it is 8 years guaranteed?

Strong contenders we are not... yet. Exactly, lets not get too excited just yet.

Kengshill Pujols' gangster > your favorite rapper

We also need pitchers who are slightly above average, innings eaters.

How about 4/$80 for Soriano to help prevent us keeping him during his big decline years?