Hosak8

Year Ag Tm Lg W L G GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP IBB BK ERA *lgERA *ERA+ WHIP +--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+ 2003 22 CHC NL 18 6 30 30 3 1 0 0 211.3 183 67 57 15 50 245 9 9 863 4 0 2.43 4.33 178 1.103 MVP-9,CYA-3,AS C'mon, UM... did you really just post his line from 2003? Are people here aware that 2008 is around the corner, and that he's coming off major shoulder surgery? If he comes close to repeating this line by 2010, I will tattoo a cardinals jersey on my upper body, complete with a #15 on the back.

as an alumnus, i'm totally excited with this seemingly last-minute turn-of-events. all the rumors about brady hoke made me want to burn my diploma. the fact that he's bringing gibson (db coach) and magee (oc) might mean debord's gone. excellent. DeBord was on his way out anyway. Run left hasn't worked for years. I'm also excited about Rich Rod bringing our strength and conditioning program into the 21st century as well. I do hope they keep Ron English on as DC. I wasnt so sure about what would happen with Debord. His status caused a lot of consternation after reading all the rumors of what was going on in this process behind the scenes. I was never so sure until RR was hired. The new guard at AA won on this one. As for Mallett ill be surprised if he transfers. He burnt his redshirt and transfering would cost him another year. Plus after listening the RR's presser this morning there were at least 3 questions about his offense and how it will fit in. He said that his spread offense is moldible to the talent of a passing or running qb and in the past they have geared it towards a throwing qb and utilizing the skill position players. I thought Mallett was a true freshmen this year. Yeah, if he transfered he only has 2 years of elgiblity remaining but had he redshirted like a lot of Qbs he would have 3 left which isnt so bad. And its not like hes played all that much this year to granish a year of experience. At the same time a lot of qbs dont get their first start until their junior year so who knows. IF he transfers it will definetly hurt UM. Waht are you talking about? If he transfers, he still has 3 years to play. Not redshirting actually helps him keep a year.

You're gonna be sad when Mallet transfers, but thrilled when Pryor signs with Meeechigan. Pryor in that offense would be nasty.

Making trades with me, of course!

Why does no one pay attention to their teams in the offseason?

You gonna respond to my offer? Come on, now... don't ask for an offer if you're just gonn ignore it!

Bad, bad, bad. They lack an identity and that's the wrong type of team for Gillespie. Ummm... have you even watched Kentucky play? Without Jasper and Meeks, of course they lack identity. Any team that hs to start kids like Coury and Porter would lack identity. Don't get me wrong, I HATE Kentucky and their arrogant, delusional fan base. I hope they lose 20 games this year and Gillispie gets canned. I would delight in that. But, no team that has 2 of its starting 5 injured, and one of its dynamic freshmen who has left the team should have an identity. OH yeah, and my Vols beat the best team in Kentucky tonight (Western), in their first game without Sophomore post Duke Crews and with Sophomore transfer JP Prince. This team is also looking for their identity, and if they find it, watch out...

How's Kyle Cruze doing this year?

remember how we all agreed that alan trammell's 129.4 career warp3 was really good? ozzie smith's career warp3: 139.1 ozzie's one of the rare players whose defense is so good it really does make up for his crappy to mediocre bat. Well, that probably puts an end to that line of thinking....

I'd rather have Hochevar and Butler, but whatever.

Not really. It was reported on CBS.Sportsline 3 days ago.

There are rumors of Blanton (and Haren) being available, as there are about AJ Burnett. Why not aim for both? We currently have Marshall, Gallagher, Marmol, and potentially Guzman who would interest the A's and Jays. We also have a Canadian whom the Jays allegedly covet, in Dempster. We have a LF who should draw interest (Murton) and a couple of other prospects (EPatt, Fuld) who could draw some interest. So, why not deal Marquis to the Mets for a prospect that Beane actually likes, and then flip that prospect to Oakland with EPatt, Marshall, and Marmol for Blanton? (Try for Haren, be happy with Blanton.) Then deal Dempster, Murton, and Gallagher for Burnett. Voila. Zambrano, Lilly, Blanton, Hill, Burnett. Turn your attention to SS, call it an offseason.

So people are now taking rumors of appearances in the Mitchell report as fact that said player used steroids? I'm going to bump this post in 30 minutes. Bump :lol: I did say I really don't care if he used or not. And yet, you called it a "fact" that he did.

And people wonder why some of you guys get reputations for being smartasses?

People want to believe that an AL pitchers numbers would look better in the NL because they'd be facing lesser hitters in the NL, and that NL hitters numbers would be worse in the AL because they'd be facing better pitchers. I don't think you can have it both ways. People go beyond overboard in bringing up differences in the AL and NL. The main difference in pitcher numbers is the presence of the DH. Mediocre AL hitters don't just come to the NL and flourish because it's the NL. The DH versus a pitcher is the biggest difference, as the top hitters in the NL absolutely equate to the top in the AL. Pujols, Cabrera, Holliday, etc stack up to ARod, Manny, Vlad, et al. However, you cannot argue the fact that NL pitchers as a group usually end up with lower ERAs and WHIPs than their AL conunterparts.

That situation is by far the exception to the rule, not the norm. By your standards, baseball is mostly populated by "non-men" who don't take less money because they've been hurt. How is he sabotaging them? You have ridiculous man-love for Prior. Are you his Physical Therapist, or something? I just think the vitriol and hyperbole directed at him is beyond ridiculous. But the euphoric man-love and expected return to the dominance of his career year are somehow less ridiculous? I mean, people are talking about killing animals over this decision. Yeah, that's warranted.

That situation is by far the exception to the rule, not the norm. By your standards, baseball is mostly populated by "non-men" who don't take less money because they've been hurt. How is he sabotaging them? You have ridiculous man-love for Prior. Are you his Physical Therapist, or something?

Exactly...Look at Kerry Wood..Loyal, Dedicated guy...Mark Prior...Bottle and bib.. Yeah, heaven forbid a guy doesn't have loyalty for as team that fanned rumors of his "wussiness" which ended up delaying a surgery he needed for two years. Yeah, the Cubs probably knew he needed surgery, but instead of allowing him to have it (and more quickly returning to his 2003 level), they let his arm rot off, all the while spreading info that Prior was a giant sissy, just to keep him pitching at his 2004 level. Seriously... do some of you guys really believe this?!?

Mark Prior wanted a raise. He wanted 3.5 mill plus to sit on his butt until July at least. No, he wanted it as part of a deal where he'd ideally be pitching the 2nd half of the year and onwards. Do you REALLY think his goal is to get paid to not pitch? Stop for a second, think about that, and then answer. He's not negotiating for the first few months of 2008. He's negotiating for the next step of his baseball career. I don't think that is his goal, but thats definitely part of his problem. Hes not willin to budge on this, and he doesen't care about it. If he REALLY thought that he'd be able to come back and pitch games, then he would have accepted the contract. But he didn't because he knows theres more then a good chance that he won't pitch in the majors in 2008. BTW, hes not negotiating for the next step of his career, because he has the prove himself healthy first in order to get a long term deal. Teams won't give him alot of money or years, to be on the DL. Either way, Mark Prior has to prove himself a healthy baseball player, which is why this entire contract situation stinks of money and his unwillingness to work with the Chicago Cubs. He IS negotiating for the next step in his career, since he's still very young and only has one year left on his contract. There's a good chance he wanted to secure his future as much as possible. Again, we're not talking on the level of most major MLB contracts...you keep going on like he was undoubtably asking for a huge payday. Unless it was some massive increase, it was likely a raise requested still within the context of someone who has something to prove, but wants to secure his income at this level as much as possible, just like almost any other player in that spot with his demonstrated capabilities and potential recovery would do. He's not some kind of isolated incident in this regard. People keep talking like he was robbing the Cubs blind with some massive contract. Why are you so quick to question what others write, and then in the same breath, turn right around and offer NOTHING but your own pure speculation, and treat it as though your speculation should be treated as fact? I'm sorry, but you don't the details of what Prior asked for any more than you'd know what a hummer from Jessica Alba would feel like. And you sure don't know more about the details of this deal than anyone else on this site, so why do you try so hard to act like you do?

A 4.02 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP is "damn above average"? I get that in 2003, the kid was just dominant. In 2005, he was pretty good as well. 2004 might count as decent, though a #2 pitcher racking up those numbers in less than 120 IP hardly counts as "damn above average." Hell, if you're gonna trumpet Prior's good years, you're much better off pointing out 2002 than you are pointing out 2004. I'd happily take Prior at what he'll likely make for those 2004 numbers over guys like Marquis or Dempster. And the end of the 2004 season he was clearly back on track. Besides, he was making peanuts. Rating him as a "#2" starter is ultimately meaningless. If he was being paid to be one, alright, fine...but he was being paid a tiny sum in MLB terms. Yeah, you would. You'd pay him $2 million, hoping that once he finally is able to pitch again in July that somehow, magically, after not pitching in almost two years that he'll duplicate what he did FOUR YEARS AGO. Only a Cubs fan could even dream something like this up.... Really? For a pitcher as young as he is, with a ceiling as high as his and as much money as this organization has, that's nothing. I'm not looking for "magic" at all...I was hoping tha this club would be able to take a chance on an injured pitcher, as they have many times, for relatively little money, in the hope of some return. The upisde of tha with Prior, as opposed to others they've done it with (Dempster, Williamson, Miller, etc.) is that his ceiling is so high that even a Prior with reduced capability would be incredibly useful, especially at that price. Combine that wih him finally having surgery where something was determined to be wrong and ideally "fixed," it's not too much of a stretch to think he could have possibly been productive at some point in 2008, and cheap. Unfortunately, it appears something gummed up that idea. Please explain what is so fantastic about this. Few people were expecting him to come back and pitch like he did before 2004. But to talk like anything less is useless, especially at how little he would cost, is absurd. How do you know what his ceiling is? I mean, how do you really know? Look, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree here.

Hendry said he tried to gauge interest at the winter meetings in a Prior trade and there was none. I thought the Rangers and Padres had/have interest? Reds did, although I think we've "shown interest" in everyone. He's not a relief pitcher. You guys know that, right? (Somebody had to say it...)

A 4.02 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP is "damn above average"? I get that in 2003, the kid was just dominant. In 2005, he was pretty good as well. 2004 might count as decent, though a #2 pitcher racking up those numbers in less than 120 IP hardly counts as "damn above average." Hell, if you're gonna trumpet Prior's good years, you're much better off pointing out 2002 than you are pointing out 2004. I'd happily take Prior at what he'll likely make for those 2004 numbers over guys like Marquis or Dempster. And the end of the 2004 season he was clearly back on track. Besides, he was making peanuts. Rating him as a "#2" starter is ultimately meaningless. If he was being paid to be one, alright, fine...but he was being paid a tiny sum in MLB terms. Yeah, you would. You'd pay him $2 million, hoping that once he finally is able to pitch again in July that somehow, magically, after not pitching in almost two years that he'll duplicate what he did FOUR YEARS AGO. Only a Cubs fan could even dream something like this up....

A 4.02 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP is "damn above average"? I get that in 2003, the kid was just dominant. In 2005, he was pretty good as well. 2004 might count as decent, though a #2 pitcher racking up those numbers in less than 120 IP hardly counts as "damn above average." Hell, if you're gonna trumpet Prior's good years, you're much better off pointing out 2002 than you are pointing out 2004.

Remember that? The guy obviously has a piss poor attitude. After what the Cubs have done for him, if he wasn't willing to do the Cubs a favor by giving them the 2nd year, then screw him. I know it's sad to see him go, it's sad in a way for me too. But at the same time, we're talking about the 2008 season and a guy who hasn't been decent since 2005 and who hasn't even pitched since 2006. Maybe he'll come back and be great, but that's incredibly unlikely. It's pretty foolish to waste three million on a guy and HOPE that you get half of a season of decent starts out of him before he bolts for free agency. The Cubs are obviously sick and tired of waiting on Prior to come around. Can't say I blame them. i'm sorry, what have the cubs done for him exactly? seems to me he's done more for them (ie win them the division in 2003 at a bargain price). Paid him millions of dollars to do absolutely nothing for the team over the last couple years? After collecting millions for doing nothing, if he's not willing to give the Cubs another year of control (that they lost by paying him to sit on his ass last year), then I'm fine with letting him walk. well, you obviously weren't in the country during 2003, so i'll give you a pass on this one. carry on. Well, that's a pretty condescending comment, especially since you only bolded the words that would prop up your point, and not the pertinent point that was being made. To be helpful, I went back and bolded the actual point behind the original post.

Yeah, boy, 3 years of doing nothing. He sure didn't pitch at all in 2004 or 2005. Oh, wait, he did. Quite a bit. And very well, too. Weird. Ahhh, yes, the trademark condescension that was discussed in another thread earlier... Actually Prior was not very good in 2004. A 4.05 era and 1.35 WHIP is "very well"? 118.2 IP is "quite a bit"? For a #2 starter? Really? 2005 was okay, though. I'll give you that. A