USSoccer

Jozy=Awesome.... I dunno if I'd want him in the Prem, though.

Wait, so a US coach told a talented youth player to stop dribbling, taking on defenders, and told him to pass the ball more? Stunning. Our coaches/player development people suck.

I was doubting his inclusion in even pointless friendlies at Monaco.

Outstanding. There's no reason that he shouldn't be playing. That team is terrible. That said, Freddy needs to work a lot harder, as 1st team spots in Europe aren't just handed out.

I wish we were Rays fans

You go, Rongen. Make sure to burn those bridges before they leave. Maybe get them economy tickets back to their big professional clubs or something. You tell those u-20 players to go back to their Bundesliga, Bundeslia 2 (soon to be promoted probably) and Seria A teams. Don't take care of it in house, just kick 'em to the curb. Tell them to say hi to Subotic when they see him. You're fricking kidding me. Rongen is so damn dumb.

Technically it is the product of OBP & Slugging Pct. But BOTH are greatly influenced by the opportunites afforded through the BATTING ORDER! "Technically" it's the product of OBP and SLG because that's what it is. Neither are influenced much by the batting order because they are hitter dependent. But hey, you used to be on Cubs.com and you are old and have old timey contacts, who I'm sure know all about OPS. There is nothing "old timey" about baseball common sense. But then you young "whipper-snappers" never have shown much patience to really learn before you speak! I suppose you think that players assigned to hit first, second or eighth have the same slugging opportunities as the other slots? Is that what you would have me believe? Is that what is "old timey"? Leadoff hitters have a primary goal of getting on base for their whole AB. That's one of the reasons Soriano isn't any good at it. Second hitters are NOT free to slug with runners on base, their first responsibility until they get strike two is moving the runner! Eighth place hitters don't get much opportunity to slug because they don't get pitches to hit while hitting ahead of the pitcher! Inbetween any hitter with a good hitter hitting behind him and/or with good OBP hitters ahead of him, will get better pitches to slug... as opposed to hitters in the same slots (perhaps on poorer teams or differnet days with different lineups on the same team) who do not have these advantages. So you see there is much more to having a good OPS than being able to get on and slug....Batting order has a HUGE affect on the OPS opportunities of every hitter! Alfonso Soriano can't slug for crap. Oh, wait. My brain must have been distracted by all the whippers I'm snapping.

If Miles is such a bad defender, why is LaRussa upset at his front office for dropping the ball and letting Miles get away???? I'll take his evaluation of Miles over yours! Even "good people" pout sometimes when they feel unjustly treated, are frustrated or sometimes on a bad day, even when they just don't get their way...kind of like you right now! Holy hell you're making such terrible, awful arguments. I could care less what a manager says about a player. Neifi saved us once, remember? Sam Fuld is untouchable. Etc, etc. I'll forget what I read on Baseball Reference about Aaron Miles being awful at baseball. If Tony LaRussa thinks he's good, that adds an invisible 30 points to your OPS+. And BTW...you still haven't addressed that Milton Bradley will miss time (from both sides of the plate-i will concede that.) and that Soriano has played in 135 and 102 games as a Cub. He'd see time in both spots, and while you may have supreme confidence that Mike Fontenot is an everyday option, I'd rather hedge my bets and keep the versatile guy who, at worst, could make one half of a highly effective 2B platoon. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go grow up and read Baseball for Dummies so that I might understand horrible logic a little bit better.

Since when was Mark DeRosa not going to get 500 PA's? What the hell are you talking about? Are you really that DENSE? There are only so many ABs in a season. Roughly 600 at the top two slots in the batting order and diminishing as you traverse down the lineup to closer to 500 in the 8th slot. With regular everyday players at 1b, SS, 3b & LF, along with his inability to catch, play SS or CF, at best he was going to see some PT in RF and 2b plus a few ABs at 3b (maybe) to rest Ramirez. But THIS season with a switch hitter coming in to play RF there would be far less platoon ABs for DeRo or anyone else. The Cubs are putting a premium on LEFT HANDED ABs this year, and have already stated, MANY TIMES, that this is a priority that will mainly be seen in LH ABs at 2b & RF. DeRo would not even get late inning replacement ABs in the outfield with better outfielders like Johnson & Gathright on the bench, except for temporary short term assignments in double switches. He would have had more ABs as a PH than anything else, and you can't do that more than ONCE PER GAME! When you add up the possibilities, at best DeRo would have gotten about 200 to 225 ABs in the coming season, at a time in his career when he needed to be playing every day to get the most from the waning days of his career! THAT is what I am talking about...a point that nearly everyone on this board got except YOU! Now if you can't figure it out from there, come back when you grow up, or when you know enough about the game, to enter in without wasting our time! You are seriously the worst debater here-and that's saying something. This is bordering on embarrassing. Mark DeRosa had 505 AB's last season. He played 95 games at 2B, 38 in RF and 27 in LF. 22 at 3B. Discounting his 2005 season, he hasn't had fewer than 250 AB's since 2002. Even if you cut his role on the team by 50% (which would be staggering and unlikely) he'd still get 250+ AB's. And again, you're overlooking the fact that Milton Bradley would be the everyday RF. Milton Bradley is brittle. So, to sum it up, you've said DeRosa would pout, yet said he's "good people". You've said he wouldn't get more than 200 AB's, yet you overlook the near certainty that we're going to need a decent RF for 60+ games, and a decent 2B for probably equal that number. You've not backed up anything at all you've said, nor have you addressed any counter points with anything except standard old-timey crap like "grow up" and "come back when you understand the game" or whatever. Are you going to make any valid points in response, maybe backed up by fact or reasonable hypothesis, or are you just going to thrash about saying a whole lot of nothing?

Wait wait wait...if he's "good people" why is he sitting on the bench pouting because he's only getting 200 ABs? Also, Aaron Miles is a bad defender.

Technically it is the product of OBP & Slugging Pct. But BOTH are greatly influenced by the opportunites afforded through the BATTING ORDER! "Technically" it's the product of OBP and SLG because that's what it is. Neither are influenced much by the batting order because they are hitter dependent. But hey, you used to be on Cubs.com and you are old and have old timey contacts, who I'm sure know all about OPS.

Holy God. Milton Bradley isn't going to go 162 games without getting hurt. Mike Fontenot isn't going to hold up against LHP all season, and even if he does, we're still going to face plenty of LHP within the division to provide even a straight platoon with AB's. Alfonso Soriano isn't going to go 162 games without being hurt. The only person who thinks Aaron Miles is better than DeRosa is Aaron Miles' mom. He's worse than Neifi Perez in some respects. We didn't luck into anything there. You're "projection" is pure, unadulterated bullplop. Even if everything broke the way you said and he'd be a platoon 2B against LHP and an occasional spot starter in LF, he'd still come close to 400 PA's. Again, you are completely out of your mind. You're living in a delusional fairly world. You see unicorns leaping majestically over waterfalls. And this doesn't even address the whole "Mark DeRosa would turn into baseball's Stephon Marbury" thing, which is so out of this world you'd have more credibility if you said that Mark Prior would win 15 games next season. There is no baseball universe that anything you're saying makes any kind of sense. I'll ask again-do you have any actual facts to back any of this up? Numbers, projections, anything?

No no, EJ, let this go. I've got this.

Oh, now you've gone and done it. If you seriously think that DeRosa was going to get less than 200 AB's you're out of your mind. That's 8 AB's per week, roughly. On a team which is probably going to have Milton Bradley in LF. On a team with a RF who has missed time in each of his first 2 seasons. On a team that has an All Star 3B who needs rest from time to time. Not to mention he'd certainly be the starting 2B against LHP. Which probably on its own gets him to 200 AB. You're horrible. Horrible. Please, please bring some facts to the argument so I can tear you apart.

Since when was Mark DeRosa not going to get 500 PA's? What the hell are you talking about?

I'd bet that with insight like your's, you can't see beyond the end of your nose! DeRosa, barring injury, would have had GREATLY diminished PT and would have been UNHAPPY if he stayed. The Cubs are going to balance the lineup with more lefty hitting, PERIOD! Hendry has BIG IDEAS, but is at least temporarily, restricted to a $145M budget, and he wants to save $5-7M of that for July, in case he needs it. So of course he is going to "dump" salaries where he can get the same or better for less. So far he has done a GREAT job of moving the money around, to get what he wants. Miles is NO downgrade! His only negative in comparison with DeRosa is power. They are the same type player and personalities, Miles hits a little better for average, and would be more effective in the 1, 2 or 8 spots in the lineup, is a SWITCH hitter and plugs the same holes for less money, which means Hendry has about $3.3M more to use in trying to fulfill those BIG ideas! Miles best OPS is .753. DeRosa has surpassed that in every year but one. DeRosa is a much, much better player then Miles. OPS is a product of power and batting order. They hardly ever would be used in the same slots in the lineup. Ask yourself this question: Just how much "better player than Miles" would he be sitting on the bench, pouting about his PT and getting 200 or so ABs? If you're referring to DeRosa, he'd probably play everyday on this team as the starting 2B and fill in RF/LF/3B. Seriously, this is awful. This has to be a joke account.

This is like a critical thinking class gone horribly wrong.

You are not factoring in Lou's wishes. I thought Lou was smarter than this.

Talk about exactly opposite styles in QBs. Miami would go from a weak-armed, smart game manager to a strong-armed, flaky gunslinger. That'd be interesting to see. Pennington's rep as a game manager is crap. He managed his way to 4 interceptions today. He can't stretch the field, which kills them against good defenses. Not that I think Rex is all-world or anything, but he'd instantly make that offense less one-dimensional.

Rex Grossman is going to look good in Miami next season.

I see why you are having such a tough time grasping this. YOU are the one that's NUTS! It is BOSTON that is desperate, not the Cubs! The Cubs would be dealing from a position of strength, and regardless wouldn't be putting Soto or any regular, other than Soriano, in such a package. Most teams wouldn't be willing to give up such an offensive threat, and that makes a deal for Soriano even more attractive. Remember, I didn't say this was GOING to happen, only that it might. But if the Red Sox were indeed willing to see Beltran as a real offensive threat, how much more valuable would Soriano be to them? How exactly is Boston desperate?

Boston is one of the best run front offices in the game. There's no way they'd trade for Soriano. None.

Hendry has apparently forgotten how we won 97 games and wants us to go back to fighting to win 88. Aurielia is total crap. Old bad crap. If he took $500k or $1m, fine, but sooner or later paying garbage like Miles, Vizcaino, Aurilia, et al a million here, $2.5 m there is going to keep us from getting someone worthwhile.

HAHAHA Man Citeh 0-3 to Nottingham Forest. That team super sucks.

We have a lot of midfield depth beyond the first choice players, and unlike past years, the depth has some upside. Holden Rogers Szetela Adu Edu Clark Torres There's real talent there (albeit raw), which means if we have injuries or a dip in form next summer, we don't see a massive drop off that results in the midfield we saw against Ghana: Dempsey--Beasley--Reyna--Lewis (crap in bold and italicized) Our backups were Convey and Ben Olsen, both of whom played. That's crap.