Tracer Bullet

What the heck...I'm in.

He's still a 2B. His offense is great for 2B, but his OPS is under .800. I don't know if the stats being counted are weighted equally or what, but it's going to be hard to make up that 100 points in OPS. Cuddyer's .900+ OPS for the year (and his 1.000+ OPS against lefties, of which he'll face at least 2 this week) is the difference to me. I certainly think it's a close call, but I'd still go with Cuddyer (and Alou).

I agree w/ Alou & Cuddyer. Cuddyer kills lefties (OPS over 1.000) and will face 2 against Pittsburgh. Alou is still hitting pretty well, despite not quite being 100%.

When does Encarnacion get off the DL?

This is the kind of information that makes some people fear stats. If you try, you can find stats to support almost anything.

If he throws 126 pitches every time out, it just might.

How many times must this be proven false until people stop saying it? Well, it's technically false. But it's also been written by nearly all the writers, including Bruce, that there's a handshake agreement that Maddux won't be dealt w/o his approval. So it's effectively a NTC, though not technically one. Sure, JH could go back on his word. Although I think he's done a pretty bad job as GM (at least recently), I don't think he'd throw away his reputation with all players by dealing Maddux against his wishes.

Yes. How about the Cubs stick with one pitcher and let him have more than a few token starts before calling up the next one? What a novel idea. I love it!

Lord help us all if Grant Johnson and Samardzija make it to the majors with the Cubs. The ND fans would never shut up. Go Irish!

He has baseball DNA. MLB needs more Carney's.

I think: Sah-MAR-zja Though I've heard that his nickname is Shark.

First round money and letting him play football doesn't strike me as the greatest of plans. It's not like WR's ever get injured... :wink: and he is a pitcher, getting tackled and having your sholder driven into the ground is great for your fastball Unless he's soft, he should get up and go right back to throwing 94.

First round money and letting him play football doesn't strike me as the greatest of plans. It's not like WR's ever get injured... :wink:

They don't let you steal first base. Exactly - 480 PA and only on base 25% of the time. Not a whole lot of chances to steal. On the other hand, in '04 he has 32 SBs and a 78% success rate. Not that stats mean anything...

=D>

Given Dusty's past quotes, I don't think anyone can be blamed for making fun of a statement like that. If there was more to it that was left out, that's one thing, but to just come out and make a statement like that sounds dumb. It just can't be true that pitching to MiL hitters is more difficult. It probably seems more difficult b/c the only time you're facing them is ST or during a rehab start, when the pitcher doesn't have all their pitches in mid-season form and doesn't have a scouting report on the hitters. If all you're throwing is fastballs (esp mid-80s fastballs, like Prior was in his first outing), even A-ball hitters are going to hit you. And I would think that for many of those guys, facing Prior is the highlight of their young career and may end up being highlight of their career (many of them will never get to face another great pitcher) - so they're going to be swinging. So the combination of aggressive hitters and a guy trying to get some arm strength back, throwing almost all fastballs (and not 100 mph fastballs) is going to result in a lot of hits. But if Prior v.2003 was pitching to MiL hitters v. ML hitters, I'm pretty sure he'd say that the ML hitters were more difficult.

Why does liking Walker scare you?

I'd go: Womack Murton Barrett Walker ARam Jones Cedeno JP If every time (which isn't that often this year) JP gets on base, Dusty is going to have the next guy bunt, might as well have that be the P's spot. I'm tired of seeing our #2 guy bunting w/ JP on and 0 outs.

I went to college at Drake - so I have a few good ideas. Adventureland will amuse the kids, I just hope it's cleaner than the last time I was there. There's also a place in West Des Moines (or thereabouts) called Living History Farms. Depending on the age of your kids, it might be a good place to kill some time. I remember thinking it was interesting as a young kid. As for eating places - there's a great breakfast place called Waveland around the 4700 block of University Ave (near the Waveland Golf Course). On weekends, it used to get busy very quickly (by 9 AM there'd be a line out the door), so keep that in mind. People also rave about the 801 Steak & Chop House - which is in the 801 Grand Building downtown (tallest building in DSM, or was 5 years ago). That can be pretty pricey - I never ate there. There also used to be some good casual dinner spots on Court Ave, which is right near downtown DSM and very close to the ballpark. For lunch - there's a great deli in West Des Moines called Palmer's Deli - around Westown Parkway and 50th (there are a few other locations in DSM, but I only ever went to this one). This area is also where you'll find a lot of chain restaurants in the Des Moines area. There's also an AK O'Connor's in that area. Kind of like an Irish pub, as the name implies - pretty good burgers. As I understand it, the Jordan Creek Mall complex that recently opened just Southwest of DSM is really nice. There are some other restaurants out there, though it was built after I left, so I can't tell you much about it. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Not well. Compared to the average CF or JP?

he's more useful than Jerry is at this point, IMO. Probably true, but still seems like shuffling deck chairs.

fixed

[falls out of chair] That's the best laugh I've had all day. You're apparently confused - he's not going to St Louis, where he'd put up career best numbers for 4 months, he's coming to the Cubs. Baker is going to beat whatever plate discipline Nevin has right out of him.

You clearly didn't read the whole profile page. He's clutch! :roll:

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