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Tracer Bullet

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Everything posted by Tracer Bullet

  1. Tracer Bullet
    I have a number of guys from the mid-80s to early 90s. Can't even remember them all. Jerome Walton - thought that would be big. Guys like Grace and Stoney. Hawk refused to sign after a game in St L on the walk back to the Cubs' hotel, said we could walk with him though - he talked about the game with us. Always loved Hawk after that. I just remember how huge he was in person. Got Wild Thing's autograph and sat with him while he waited for a pizza in the hotel lobby (sans shoes). That's when I got Walton's. I just remember how many huge gold chains he had on. Williams was making fun of him (I think it was his rookie year). But the best Cubs-related story I have is that Hector Villanueva hit on my sister when she asked for his autograph in an Arizona restaurant (during spring training). She was 15 at the time (and not one of those 15-year-olds that looks 20). Not Hector's finest hour.
  2. Tracer Bullet
    He always seemed to kill us when he was with the Cards...I hate that guy.
  3. Tracer Bullet
    ditto
  4. Tracer Bullet
    Neifi, Hairston, and Walker played some catch last week. First one to not catch the ball was 3rd on the depth chart. Neifi threw the ball into the ground 5 feet in front of Walker. Dusty said, "Sorry Walk...tough luck. Neifi - nice throw, DLee would pick that clean. You start." I can think of no other possible explanation.
  5. Tracer Bullet
    You meant Pie, right?
  6. Tracer Bullet
    Would you trade Williams for Lidge? I wouldn't.
  7. Tracer Bullet
    Fernando Vina. He was (is?) a pretty bad player, as much as I can remember, but he always seemed to kill the Cubs. I don't mind as much when guys who are good against everyone hit well against the Cubs. It's the crappy guys who always find a way to hurt us that kill me. I hate Vina. Oh, and my #2 would be Carlos Lee. Not only for his continued success against the Cubs, but also for the leg whip he put on Walker last season. I'm all for playing hard, but there's a difference between playing hard and sliding with your legs up around the knees. I hate him too.
  8. Tracer Bullet
    Done deal. Is it just me or does $37.5m/4 years seem like a lot for Washburn?
  9. Tracer Bullet
    I don't have time to run all the numbers, but Walker had a .355 OBP last year. How is a guy w/ a .335 OBP a better fit in the 2-hole? Don't we want as many guys on base for DLee and ARam as possible? I don't see the point of giving up Walker (who I think is a better hitter) and Welly and a prospect for Omar. Especially since we have Cedeno at short and if we're going to trade Walker we should do it to improve the team (SP, RF) not hurt the team.
  10. Tracer Bullet
    ESPN has it now.
  11. Tracer Bullet
    Yes all players are evaluvated by how much they make relative to their production. Professional baseball is a busines. What does Sammy Sosa have to do with Miguel Tejada? I took your previous post to mean that Tejada was a great player because he made more money than other players at his position. Hence, the reference to Sammy (not a great player last year, despite making tons of money). I may have misunderstood you, if so, I apologize. I guess I don't understand the point of this statement: Are you saying that we can't argue that Tejada isn't a top 10 player because his contract is reasonable compared to contracts signed by other SS's (Furcal, for example)? If you want to argue that Tejada gives you the most "bang for your buck" so to speak - that's one thing. But if you're talking simply the top 10 players in the league (which I think was the question), why does it matter what he's paid?
  12. Tracer Bullet
    I think a pretty good arguement could be made that he is not one of the top ten players in the game. If he is not he is close. And he is the best SS in professional baseball, until Rodriguez decides he wants to play short again. Tejada was 39th in MLB in OPS, and he plays average at best defense. And what were his offensive numbers compared to other SS? I'll take average defense with the numbers he puts up. You are going to have to break off this obsession you have with demonstrating that Tejada isn't that good. It does not hold water, especially given his contract in compairson other top of the line SS. So now players are evaluated based on how much money they make? How much did Sammy make last year, in comparison to other RFs?
  13. Tracer Bullet
    love it
  14. Tracer Bullet
    Hill, Williams and Patterson for Green or Tracy? That seems high even for JH.
  15. Tracer Bullet
    Depends. If a Cubs prospect fails the physical and Hendry gives up another good one, you'll see a lot of the same. If Pierre fails his physical and the trade falls through, I'll be happy. What he said.
  16. Tracer Bullet
    Fixed for you. .329 Okay, I fell asleep, but now I'm up. How do you know that Pierre will run as much as he did with the Marlins? Again, Baker isn't as aggressive as McKeon was. I'd be willing to bet that his attempts go down and his percentage goes up to about 75-80%. Why the ridiculous emphasis on acquiring a protoypical speedy leadoff hitter if they're so uninfatuated with his running game that they'll ask him to tone it down? They probably think that between his career OBP and his potential to steal bases they've upgraded the position. I just posted it in response to another post, but I'd be willing to bet that his SB attempts decrease, since Baker just is not that aggressive. Does that change his success rate? Maybe, maybe not. But to the Cubs, running 50 times with Pierre is still an upgrade, and Pierre gives them lineup stability. That might begin to explain their efforts. If Baker's not that aggressive, why can't he just bat Todd Walker leadoff and be done with it? Exactly. If Baker didn't want to use Pierre's speed, he would have had Walker lead off. I would be surprised if Pierre doesn't attempt 60 or so steals next year.
  17. Tracer Bullet
    I for one am praying this is only a 1-year rental. It's bad enough to have him for 1 year, let alone 3. Don't give Jim any ideas.
  18. Tracer Bullet
    You should be careful when mentioning the words speed and Neifi together. Neifi was up there because he could bunt, I guess (I have no other logical explanation). I should have been more clear. I wouldn't say Neifi has a ton of speed, but I'm guessing he's faster than Walker. That's the only reason I can see for Dusty having him lead off instead of Walker.
  19. Tracer Bullet
    Either that or it's purely chance.
  20. Tracer Bullet
    Why is an intelligent discussion from people who disagree about a particular subject such a bad thing?
  21. Tracer Bullet
    The reason no one was on base was Dusty's infatuation with speed at the top of the order - so he used CPatt and Neifi. It's not like we didn't have better options. I'm really afraid that Pierre will have another .326 OBP year, but b/c he's fast, Dusty will keep playing him and hitting him in front of Lee.
  22. Tracer Bullet
    Really? .276/.326/.354 - that's not a "good hitter." As predicted, the first response focused on last year. What about his career line? 305 average, 355 OBP. Also, are you aware that his career OPS in day games is .824? Juan Pierre is a good hitter. His career line also includes time spent in Denver, which as others have pointed out, inflates the offensive numbers of even slap hitters. It's true that Pierre has been good at times (if he gets on base at that .360-.370 clip from 03 or 04, I'd be happy - unless he gets caught stealing 25% of the time he tries to steal). But he's also been quite bad not only last year, but also 2002 (.332/.343 OBP/SLG - and that was in Coors). If I knew which Pierre we were getting, I might be happy. But I don't think you can categorically say that he's a good hitter - at least not with such dismissiveness. I'd say he's a very inconsistent hitter. If only we had a guy on our team who could get on base at a .355 clip, wouldn't cost us 3 prospects, and will make less money next year...oh wait.
  23. Tracer Bullet
    Really? .276/.326/.354 - that's not a "good hitter."
  24. Tracer Bullet
    To put this in perspective, that's only 4 runs scored behind Furcal and second best among national league leadoff hitters last year. :shock: As such, it's hard to fault his runs scored. Except Furcal wasn't hitting ahead of Castillo, Cabrera and Delgado, or an equivalent trio, Furcal played 8 games fewer while amassing 29 fewer plate appearances, and Furcal's effective OBP at .333 wasn't that hot. A good leadoff hitter hitting in front of three fine hitters and playing every single day should score at least 120 runs. If Pierre played in front of ARam and Lee last year 120 runs would have been attainable. Ditto if Walker and his .350 OBP had hit in front of them the entire year.
  25. Tracer Bullet
    That's not necessarily true. Hendry really wanted Pierre and made it well known that, after Furcal, Pierre was his biggest priority. Hendry showed his hand too early - so he wasn't going to be able to get Pierre cheaply. I don't know who else he offered these three guys to, but the fact that they were traded for Pierre doesn't mean that they weren't valued by other teams. In addition, the Marlins are rebuilding and wanted young, inexpensive players, so they probably wanted some of the Cubs many young arms. I'm not sure that's what teams like the Dodgers, Nationals, etc wanted. Some people, myself included, think we overpaid. Maybe other teams don't value these prospects as much as people on NSBB do, but these guys have some value - and we think that value is more than Pierre's. Plus, even if other GMs don't value these 3 guys as highly as we do, that doesn't mean they would have made this deal if they were Hendry. Finally, if people want to argue about the merits of the trade, who are you to tell them to stop? If you don't want to read the posts, don't.
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