mul21

Are these still available? And $185 is pretty much face after they hose you on all the convenience fees and everything.

Not that I disagree with the point in general, but Caminiti had a whole lot of contributing factors besides steroids involved in his demise. I guess we'll have to wait and see if guys like McGwire, Palmeiro, and Sosa have problems in the next 10 years or so.

Um my um name um is um ryan um freel um, um.

He's got the slider working on both sides of the plate. Filthy.

Great AB. That's why I like to see the ball in play.

JJ looks like corey jr swinging at all these high fastballs

The difference being the hockey players are already in shape as it's the middle of the season. The pitchers especially are nowhere near where they need to be. I think that's why more people would be in favor of doing this at the end of the year when guys may be tired but are at least accustomed to the workload.

Not as bad as when Joe Carter kept discussing how bad it was that Delino was stuck in the a-hole. I'm pretty sure that was Madden on MNF talking about the offensive line. Then they corrected him after commercial and told him to say the a gap.

The biggest problem the fans have is not that the payroll isn't going up much if at all, but the fact that Cardinals management used increased payrol to stay competitive as a reason to build the new stadium. Now their crying in their beers about the expense of the stadium and the revenue it brings in having to be used to pay for it. As good as the organization has been, this was kind of a backhanded move on their part. Too bad most of the fans down here are so blinded by their love for the team that they won't have a problem with what's going on.

Maybe, but that is often where people let impressions take over reality. People who watch Jeter everyday claim he's one of the greatest with the glove. But nearly every other source puts him in the middle of the pack at best, and quite often in the bottom half. I'd like to see somebody break down video from every ball put in play. Take all the plays that went between the 2B and 3B, time every ball from the time it leaves the bat to the time it hits the OF grass (or is fielded), measure the distance from where the SS was. There has to be a way to translate that into seeing who really were the better fielders and which guys that may look flashy actually don't get to as many balls as they should. That'd take a lot of time though, and I'm not sure if it would work. this isnt really fair though. the shortstop might be able to see what pitch the pitcher is going to throw, or have a good handle on the batter's scouting report and adjust accordingly. i think bill james wrote about this is one of his old abstracts. i think he referred to it as "invisible range." Don't all shortstops have the opportunity to do that though? yeah, but i think it's safe to assume that some shortstops are better at it than others. therefore, measuring only how far the player had to go to get the ball would overrate a player with great visible range but poor invisible range, and underrate a player with great invisible range but poor visible range I agree and since we know that Perez likes to peek at the catchers signs when he hits I'd assume he is pretty good at it when he's playing SS. Ripken was suppose to be very good at postioning himself by seeing the sign and knowing the batter. I have to agree with Cuse here. In his later years of playing SS, Ripken was nowhere near the athlete he had been and got by on positioning to still get to a lot of ground balls. He may not have gotten to as many, but was still well above average because he knew where the ball was likely to be hit based on pitch and batter tendencies. I think that is what makes defense so hard to quantify is how much of getting to balls is athleticism vs. how much is positioning.

Well, nothing major was really done.. Say what you want about where the guy writes for, but the real reason people are hurt by it is because its true. A lineup of Pierre, Walker, Lee, ARam, Jones, Murton, Barrett and Perez/Cedeno exactly wasn't what I had in mind when the offseason began. That is the lineup of a 4th place team, not a contender. Who's going to hit for Jones against lefties? Why did we end up with Jones in the first place? Whos going to be there in case Murton isn't a MLB calibur starter? Even if Ronnie beats out Perez, is that even really an upgrade? And if Walker gets traded or injured, then are they just left with a Perez, Cedeno combo? The pitching staff really isn't that much better. There's Zambrano, Prior and...well, not much else worth mentioning at this point, at least, not as a positive point. Wood is obviously someone I am not counting on. Maddux, though I love the guy, is on his last legs, Williams is hardly going to scare anyone. The pen has Dempster as our closer..it will be interesting to see if he can duplicate his success. Then we have Howry and Eyre, who could be great, or could be busts. The rest are pretty much the same ragtag group from last tear. Was the DRay comment harsh? Yea, it was. But it's just not as far off as people here are taking it. While I agree with much of what you said, the bullpen is the exception. Just having a couple of more guys down there that Baker feels comfortable going to should be a huge plus. It will result in guys pitching in spots they're accustomed to (hopefullly) and also guys like Wuertz not being sent out there every day for 2 weeks straight so they'll be fresh. The Cubs lost at least 10 games (estimating) last year because of an inadequate BP.

Having Rusch in the rotation is not good, that's a hole. RF is the one empty position, but depending on how it is filled, it might not be the only hole on the team. A mediocre RF, and no significant upgrade elsewhere, would leave this team still very much lacking on offense, and a rotation with Rusch, Maddux and Williams likely all getting starts in April is not good enough to mask the failings of that lineup. i disagree. rusch will be an above average #5 imo. as far as the upgrades on offense, pierre in cf, a full season of murton, cedeno & walker are all upgrades from last year. The Cubs don't just need to improve upon last year's team. They need to drastically improve on last year's team. They didn't finish just out of the race, they were destroyed in the race. I don't know how people define average #5 starter, but Rusch would probably be the #4, technically, at least to start the season. And I'm talking about trying to make the Cubs great, not average or above average. Their lineup right now is bad. Add a mediocre RF and it's no better than average, and probably worse. The only way you can win with that kind of production is great pitching, and no team with Rusch starting 33 times could be considered to have great pitching. He's a terrible option for full time starter. He's okay as a swing man, but if he goes out there everyday he's very likely to give you another season of terrible results. Murton, given 700 PA, probably outperforms the LF class of 2005 (.265 .319 .418), but Dusty will find a way to let some crappy veteran get too much time out there, and Murton might have a bit of a sophomore slump. I wouldn't consider LF to be a guaranteed significant upgrade. Cedeno might be able to outproduce the SS class of 2005 (.274 .307 .369), but again, he could struggle a little in his first action, and Neifi will get lots of time there regardless, so the overall SS production is probably not going to be much better than last years. In CF, the Cubs were 16th in the NL in OPS last season, the Marlins were 15th. They aren't getting a huge lift with Juan coming here. He should be better than last year's CF group, and he could be better than he was last year. But he's not extremely productive. Take LF, CF and SS, and you'll be lucky to get 150 total OPS points of improvements, combined. You'll probably get more like 100. Hendry is apparantly trying to trade Walker so he can get a better glove there, sacrificing what little offensive help ARam and Lee have. Then you could easily lose some from OPS, 2B was at .291 .346 .442 last year (interestingly, better than LF, CF, RF). And you are going to lose some OPS from Lee. The question is how much. Take off 100 points and he's still 120 points above his career norm. Be nice and only take away 50, and he's still MVP caliber. Take those away from the other improvements (if they even end up being improvements) and you get marginal improvement over the 2005 team. If you fail to get a substantial improvement in RF, you run the risk of being as bad or worse than the 2005 offense. And the pitching staff is still a big question. I wouldn't want to make it worse by trying to depend on the unreliable Glendon Rusch to hold down a spot, and offset the still lagging offense, all season. The problem with this line of thinking is that while the sum total OPS might not be a lot better, there shouldn't be those gaping black holes the lineup had last year. There will be more guys with higher avg. OPS and probably not the astronomically high outliers like there were last year. If you have better balance thoughout the lineup and not just one or two horses in the middle that have all the burden on them and can be pitched around, you'll likely have better production. That being said, I agree that a solid bat still needs to be found for RF and they should keep Walker if at all possible. As many people on this board have said, why create one hole to fill another, it just doesn't make any sense.

For whatever reason, I kind of like Suzy Kolber.

Chad Tracy, please. I believe he can play RF if I'm not mistaken.

I lost a tv remote that put a hole in the wall when A-gon booted that ball in game 6. I had been dating my girlfriend for like a month and a half at that point and she was watching the game with me. I guess she figured it couldn't get much worse than that because we're engaged now.

Somebody on their message board at the post dispatch is saying espnews is reporting the burnett to cardinals deal is close to done.

I say no freaking way. It's too hard to find legit top of the rotation guys who can STAY HEALTHY and pitch 200+ innings a year. It would be great to have Abreu, but I don't like giving up the one sure thing in the rotation.

You mean he's going to quit after the last 2 years he's had? No way! Or is he going to re-sign??? Sorry, I'm an idiot I am just amused by the nuances of the english language.

The 2 guys were Petit the pitcher and a 1B who is expected to immediately replace Delgado. Deal pending physical and approval from the Budmeister.

And if he is only seeking 3 years/$30 million, why are people suggesting JH offer him $39 million over 3 years. I think the 3/30 is perceived as the home town discount given to the Padres and everyone else will be expected to pony up a little more than that for his services.

That is light years ahead of last season. Actual major league players at every position, as opposed to Holly and Patterson in the OF. That lineup would make me happy. Not necessarily the huge splash everyone wants, but it's solid all the way thru with no glaring weaknesses. You add another good SP and you've got yourself a contender.

Actually he turned down 3/$25.5 from the padres, but there is still no way that 2 yrs plus option would get it done. I think he'd be willing to go for the 3 yrs if it averaged between $11-12M. Just speculation, no sources though.

Did everybody see the consistent power from Wilkerson from 02-04? I think you could easily expect 20-25 HR's from him if he's not playing in Washington. He looks to me like the poor man's version of Adam Dunn with a better glove. That said, if you get Furcal and another guy like Wilkerson (with less K's) for CF or RF, I think the offense will be fine no matter who plays 2B.

Sorry, I liked it and didn't have time to find my own. I don't think Waiwright will be ready to start next year, but the Reyes kid they have is in their plans for the rotation. Wainwright has had some injury problems that slowed him down.

Just heard a guy (Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch) on sports radio in STL talking about Cardinals off season moves. It sounds like nobody in the know is real confident of the shot they have at Giles. There was also talk of moving Jason Marquis as part of a package for either Kearns or Huff to fill their outfield hole(s). Mentioned a 2 yr deal for Grudz might be close to happenning and that they were taking a wait and see attitude on Morris.