Tracer Bullet

Is Blanco a reliable defensive SS?

Trade Wieters. Someone in your league surely expects him to hit like Manny did for the Dodgers last season. Shop him and get max value. Heck, I might trade Wieters for a stud player and a league average C just to maximize on the hype. Unless it's a keeper league, I'd be shopping him pretty hard. 10 teams? Surely someone will overpay greatly.

Yeah - it's your ML debut. You're likely going to feel a ton of pressure no matter where you are. At least at home there is some comfort in having it easier for friends/family to attend and the crowd will be wildly supportive (at least for the first couple ABs).

Longoria or Hanley.

Yet he has still been better than Bradley, Fontenot and Soto, and will be better this year than Fox or Hoffpauir would be on the field full-time. Lee might not be "that good" anymore, but why isn't he getting the benefit of the doubt when guys like Fontenot (who wasn't a highly regarded prospect and has never performed in a full-time role) and Soto (who had a mediocre minor league career until he blew up in AAA and last year in the majors) are? Wow, Hoffpauir has a much better stick than DLee and Derrek's defense doesn't make up for his lack of offensive production. What next, are you going to tell us that Koyie Hill has better pop in his bat than Nelson Cruz? Based on what?

Yet he has still been better than Bradley, Fontenot and Soto, and will be better this year than Fox or Hoffpauir would be on the field full-time. Lee might not be "that good" anymore, but why isn't he getting the benefit of the doubt when guys like Fontenot (who wasn't a highly regarded prospect and has never performed in a full-time role) and Soto (who had a mediocre minor league career until he blew up in AAA and last year in the majors) are? Because those guys are making close to the league minimum? Also, the fact he is taking up $13.25 million in payroll this year might have something to do with it. and that's a sunk cost. you don't bench a guy just because he's not performing up to the amount of money that he's making. That wasn't the argument. The question asked why Lee wasn't getting the benefit of the doubt. Of course it's the argument. If we're trying to figure out who should get the benefit of the doubt in terms of increased ABs going forward, why would contract matter but history of performance in the majors not matter? That makes no sense. The question isn't "why are fans frustrated with Lee?" In that case, it's obviously b/c his contract is ridiculous for his level of production. But taking him out of the lineup to take a shot that Fox can OPS 900 in the majors makes no sense. How much Lee and Fox make this year is irrelevant to that discussion.

Yes. :shock: Depends on how you look at it. If we played a 7 game series against a top AL team, we'd probably lose, but we'd at least have a shot to take 4 (with a healthy Harden). Getting the chance to play that 7 game series is looking less and less likely.

No, no it wouldn't. I know you're an optimist but let's be real. This team hasn't won a playoff game together. I think it's time to rebuild and build up our farm system. If someone offers great prospects for one of our players and we continue to look like we have this week, you take the deal in a heartbeat. It's time to rebuild and build a world series champion. So you want to rebuild and build up the farm system and your first action is calling up a 19-year-old prospect from A ball?

I haven't listened to a lot of the press conferences, but when I've heard him, I've never questioned his sanity. It's when he makes all his stupid in-game moves that I question his sanity.

How about you shut up and hit Milton. Jesus. You're the target audience of Paul Sullivan. He has the story he wants to write, he just needs the quote from Milton, so he asks him some questions to get him going and then writes it knowing a guy like you is going to be pissed that Milton's worrying about umpires rather than just playing the game. You're making Sullivan's job too easy.

Just how bad of a defender would Soriano have to be to make this a net negative? There's a lot of assumptions about the performance of Micah and Fontenot required (let alone assuming Soriano can keep hitting while playing 2B), but is there any way this would end in anything but epic fail?

He's certainly not the only one, but do you not think Lou makes panicky moves?

In Philly, they boo mercilessly, so that's one place that's worse than Chicago. Boston and New York do the same thing. Pretty much any big market fan base that cares (so that elminates the LA Dodgers). If there's one group of fans I don't want to emulate, it's Boston...Boston and New York. If there's two groups of fans I don't want to emulate, it's Boston, New York, and Dodger fans. Three. If there's three groups of fans I don't want to emulate, it's Boston, New York, Dodgers, and Philly... Four. If there's...among the groups of fans I don't want to emulate are Boston, New York, Philly, Dodgers, St. Louis...

I like Milton Bradley.

Yes, if we know 1 thing about Lou, it's that he's patient. And besides, it wasn't even Soriano's performance that got him moved from CF. He seemed to be doing just fine there and the coaching staff was saying things to that effect (and btw, it lasted into the regular season, not just ST) and then he got hurt diving for a ball in the middle of April, and Lou suddenly decided while he was out for a few games that his bat was too valuable to risk his legs like that so he moved him to LF. So Soriano playing LF has nothing (or very little) to do with him not being able to handle CF and all about Lou's thought process that a corner OF is much less susceptible to injury than a CF. Oh, I forgot the other reason. Soriano had been originally offered to move to left by Lou not because he was struggling with the glove, but because he was slumping at the plate, and Lou thought he might be more comfortable at the plate if he didn't have to concentrate as much on his defense. Soriano had declined but then he got hurt the next day and Lou made the move anyway. Here's Lou's quote on that from the day of the injury: Pardon me, a week into the season. What's Lou going to say? He moved Soriano because he couldn't handle the position and Lou thought it was also causing him trouble at the plate. Anyway, it's not important. Soriano is competent but he isn't good in the field. He routinely boots balls or doesn't cut the ball off because he runs to where the ball is and not where it's going to be. Fortunately for him his arm sometimes makes up for it. No, Lou moved Soriano b/c Lou jumps the gun on crap like this all the time. Do you have any evidence at all to support your claim that he was moved b/c he couldn't handle CF? The fact that he was moved from CF doesn't, in and of itself, mean that he couldn't handle the position. You're killing logic.

knuckler

Yes, if we know 1 thing about Lou, it's that he's patient.

it's back to ARam's picture, at least sometimes, with the following caption: Aramis Ramirez, the Cubs' leader in batting average, is healthy again.

Sure, he might be .280/60/20/80/0 again if he bounces back the next 4-5 months. But other than last year's OPS, that's pretty close to what you'd get from Molina for the last several years: .280-ish, 40 R, 16-20 HR, 80 RBI. Given Soto's weight issues and the fact that this slow start has lasted 6 weeks or so, I was happy to take a shot with Molina (with Inge as well) than hope Soto turns it around soon.

you're welcome. I dropped Soto to pick up Bengie Molina. If I were you, I'd have picked up Molina a few days before you picked up Soto.

I did not see this one coming. Thought he'd be a bullpen staple all season.

why can't people vent frustration with Lou's poor decision making? Is there really a limit on the number of things that can be wrong? If Lou's making bad decisions (and many people agree that he is), add it to the list of problems. As others have said, with the way the season has started and the injuries we've had, our margin for error for the rest of the season is minimal. Managers might not change the win total for the team by a great degree, but he can certainly cost us some games with his micro-managing.

If it keeps Fontenot at 2B when Ariamis gets hurt next time and keeps Miles out of the lineup, then I'm all for it. If I were the least bit superstitious, I'd fully support permabanning you.

um...Colorado

They sent 2 guys down and activated 2 guys. EPatt was one of the guys that got sent down.