Tracer Bullet

I actually made up a very not nice version of Take Me Out To the Ballgame near the end of Harry's career, essentially making fun of him. Though, I feel the same way about Ron Santo at this point. He lives & dies with the team, it's a crime that he's not in the HOF, but he has no business in a broadcast booth...though he does give Pat some great material.

Hughes and Stone are my favorites. I like Len & Bob and hope they're around together awhile. Joe Carter and that Dave guy on FSN were unbearable (when I used to get FSN Chicago).

By George, I think you've got it. All personnel decisions should be based solely on the 2006 season. Or, more accurately, solely on comments made in the game threads, which are known for their accuracy, during the 2006 season.

Man, I'd love to get him without giving up Hill. That would be a nasty rotation 1-4. Left handed heavy, but yes, it would be dominating. I don't really care what hand a guy throws with. I don't care if he throws with his foot. Just as long as he can get people out. I'm not sure the rules allow for that. But otherwise, I agree.

I don't care if they're sorry. I don't think they're looking for my forgiveness.

I can't speak to Roberts since I haven't seen the story, but I don't think Pettitte gets any credit for his "admission."

pujols

I didn't see it either. Also didn't see Pujols.

A search of the report for Prior and Wood did not return anything.

http://files.mlb.com/mitchrpt.pdf

Looks like it (I'm watching CNN's live broadcast). Wonder who gets the "confirmed" list up first.

I thought he had already been named in the Grimsley affidavit. So it shouldn't be a surprise to any GM if he's in the report.

I love this idea, but didn't someone in the Roberts thread say that one of the reasons Fukudome chose the Cubs was their commitment to play him in RF. And Hendry basically confirmed that's where he's going to play. But trading Pie for a good SS and playing Murton in one of the corners is such a great idea.

Not that he'll be a Cub on Opening Day, but I'd like to see Murton's projections.

nice article, but it strikes me that at least 1, if not 2, of the guys you mentioned either won't be on the team at all or won't be starting next year. It's really just Lee, ARam, and Fukudome that are certain to be there. Though, to be fair, if DeRosa isn't starting, it's likely because he's replaced with Roberts, whose OBP would likely be even better than DeRosa's.

Wow? I didn't ignore the age of the players, because the age of Cedeno and Theriot is insignificant - unless the Cubs are banking on either one of the two guys to being the SS of their future. So, why should the Cubs suffer through having Cedeno learn "on the job?" Sure he has plenty of talent, but mentally he is not a mature player - as you can tell if you note his baserunning miscues, his mental errors defensively, and his mindless approach at the plate. I'd love for Cedeno to pull it all together and take the SS job, but until that happens Theriot is best option on the Cubs roster. It's not a "man crush" or hate for Cedeno. Because you don't lose anything, Theriot is already the baseline of performance. If Cedeno fails, then he's Theriot. Perfect way of putting it. Hell, even in Cedeno's TERRIBLE 2006, the difference in OPS was only .610 to Theriot's .672 of 2007. I wouldn't quite go to that level. 62 points is a pretty dramatic difference. If you added 62 points to Theriot's total, you'd be getting close to Cedeno's upside for this year, wouldn't you? I can't see him suddenly figuring out major league pitching and becoming an .800 OPS SS, at least right away. Plus his 2006 included some terrible defense from Cedeno, and also an 8 out of 16 SB ratio (Theriot's 28 out of 32 SB's does add value, although not as much as the people who think he should be a starter think it does). Those have to be factored in. So Cedeno's ceiling is much higher than Theriot's, and his floor is also lower than Theriot's. The Cubs need offense enough to warrant giving Cedeno another chance to gamble on his upside, but it definitely is a gamble and I don't believe for a second that Cedeno at his worst is Theriot. Take out Theriot's 1 huge month and does that change anything? I frankly don't think Theriot's 2007, as bad as it was, is his floor. You could say the same thing about Cedeno's April 2006 month where he had a .815 OPS, which happened to be the only month that season where he was above .665. Cedeno's floor could definitely be below his 2006 numbers, especially since he had 4 straight months where he he had OPS numbers of .599, .605, .467, and .465 while playing everyday. Except that was 2 years ago, not last year - Theriot was horrible last year. Cedeno was really good in AAA last year, really good (from what I hear) in winter ball right now, and he's at an age where you would reasonably expect improvement. So telling me his terrible age-23 season is his floor 2 years later isn't really reasonable.

Wow? I didn't ignore the age of the players, because the age of Cedeno and Theriot is insignificant - unless the Cubs are banking on either one of the two guys to being the SS of their future. So, why should the Cubs suffer through having Cedeno learn "on the job?" Sure he has plenty of talent, but mentally he is not a mature player - as you can tell if you note his baserunning miscues, his mental errors defensively, and his mindless approach at the plate. I'd love for Cedeno to pull it all together and take the SS job, but until that happens Theriot is best option on the Cubs roster. It's not a "man crush" or hate for Cedeno. Because you don't lose anything, Theriot is already the baseline of performance. If Cedeno fails, then he's Theriot. Perfect way of putting it. Hell, even in Cedeno's TERRIBLE 2006, the difference in OPS was only .610 to Theriot's .672 of 2007. I wouldn't quite go to that level. 62 points is a pretty dramatic difference. If you added 62 points to Theriot's total, you'd be getting close to Cedeno's upside for this year, wouldn't you? I can't see him suddenly figuring out major league pitching and becoming an .800 OPS SS, at least right away. Plus his 2006 included some terrible defense from Cedeno, and also an 8 out of 16 SB ratio (Theriot's 28 out of 32 SB's does add value, although not as much as the people who think he should be a starter think it does). Those have to be factored in. So Cedeno's ceiling is much higher than Theriot's, and his floor is also lower than Theriot's. The Cubs need offense enough to warrant giving Cedeno another chance to gamble on his upside, but it definitely is a gamble and I don't believe for a second that Cedeno at his worst is Theriot. Take out Theriot's 1 huge month and does that change anything? I frankly don't think Theriot's 2007, as bad as it was, is his floor.

Does the increased expected revenue from having a marquee Japanese player offset some of that cost? I have to think so, but anyone have any idea by how much?

Are you suggesting Theriot is the sole or even primary reason for the Cubs winning the NLC?

If DeRosa reverts to the pre-2006 version, it would be good to have a another solid 2B on the roster. I could support Tad. But Meph, your chart from another thread suggested the year's winner would have 3 or more Japanese-born players. Even with Tad and Fukudome, we have just 2. Who else you got?

Bedard's pretty much on record saying that he's going to test free agency no matter what though. He's not going to make the Cards contenders before that happens, and then he'll be getting his payday, which we know won't be coming from St. Louis. Lot can change in 2 years. I'm not saying he will change his mind, but if he's a moron and falls in love with the Cardinals...

Theriot's love was displaced hatred for Izturis (or more accurately, for the fact that Izturis was acquired and then playing). No Izturis = no love for Ryan.

I thought the title meant he was going to greet people that had come to see the Dr. At least that makes a little bit of sense.

Yeah, I'm guess they either have it backwards or just don't know what they're talking about. um...4 > 3 and 40 > 36. It's guaranteed money, so it's more. The per year is less, but the contract amount is bigger. Not saying it's a better deal for the player, but it's certainly more. If that's really Fukudome's choice, I'd take the Padres offer. Unless he flops, he's going to make more than $4m in that 4th year after his Padres contract expires.

Maybe my favorite thing about message boards: condescension with spelling errors.