USSoccer

Wow...Delino was Neifi before Neifi was Neifi.

Don't forget to measure the size of his heart. Nah, it's all about guts. That's why Ponson won the fifth starter job in StL. No doubt. He ate him alive.

Don't forget to measure the size of his heart.

Ducks aren't a stat....yet. I'd say WHIP, ERA+, k/9 and BAA are good ones. The best is probably ERA+

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team Stats and Scoring 1. Number of Cubs wins, 2006 86 2. Number of Cubs wins, Cardinals season series (19 games) 11 3. Number of runs scored, 2006 733 4. Number of runs allowed, 2006 669 5. Final Place in the NL Central Division 2nd. Player Stats & Scoring 1. Number of DLee Home Runs 38 2. Number of Juan Pierre Stolen Bases 38 3. Murton's Batting Average .291 4. Aramis' RBIs 112 5. Maddux's Wins 12 6. Zambrano's ERA 2.54 7. Kerry Wood's Ks 188 8. Mark Prior's Games Started 15 Tiebreaker: Michael Barrett's OPS .821 ------------------------------- ------------------------------- 1. 86 = +0 2. 11 = +150 3. 733 = +200 4. 669 = +0 5. 2nd = +0 1. 38 = +0 2. 38 = +10 3. 291 = +40 4. 112 = +30 5. 12 = +20 6. 2.54 = +0 7. 188 = +0 8. 15 = +20 Tiebreaker: .821 Team Points: 350 Player Points: 120 Total Points: 470

It is interesting that our Pitching Delta is still at a +60.

I thought his giveaway for goal #3 was much worse. In fact, I figured that Ballack was Olsen's man for goal#4. I forgot we even had a back line after the 2nd goal. It looked like a complete breakdown, from the mids not being able to control pace to the back 4 not marking anyone. And for all the propers being thrown at Cory Gibbs for supposedly playing well despite being out of position, well...it's not rocket science, nor even rocket sauce. You don't get caught upfield and in the center when you're the right back. If Germany didn't suck, they'd have scored 7 with all the opportunities they had flying down a wing uncontested. And this isn't a new problem. It's a problem going back to the earliest parts of CONCACAF qualifying. Our defense is a huge question mark. Gooch is nails, but after him, you have Cherundolo, who's a nice player, and then what? Pope? I don't trust him to be anything but Jeff Agoos 2002 redux. Gibbs? If he gets back into shape, maybe, but until then, i dunno. Mastroeni is tenacious, but is he a 90 minute player? Hejduk scares me to death-if I were Keller I'd pray that he's not a starter. Too many stupid touches and giveaways more than outweigh his hustle. Eddie Lewis is going to end up being one of our defenders when all is said and done, which hurts the midfield. Then, our midfield has issues, too. Reyna's hurt again. Beasley has been poor as you noted. O'Brien will be lucky to be on the roster. Dempsey is good, but he can't go getting into fights with his team captain if he expects to start on the right side. Convey has guts, but is he a top-flight player? Zavagnin sucks. Conrad sucks. Olson sucks. Ralston is okay, but again, is he a top flight player? Noonan isn't good enough. And then up front, who scores? Watching the highlight montage from the Germany game in 2002 brought back the memories of how Donovan should have scored at least twice in that game's first half. He's not a great finisher-he's a setup guy. Upon my re-watching the game, Johnson looked worse than he did when I watched live. Unless he finds his previous form, he's almost a liability out there. McBride is getting long in the tooth. I like Twellman, but again, he's not top flight. Then you have Wolff, who's worse than Donovan at finishing, although he gets himself into position to score a lot, and Ching, who won't make the roster. I'm becoming much less optimistic at our chances. I need to see the entire team rounding into form soon, and not against scrub teams like Jamaica. Reyna has to stop going to the Cubs' trainers and keep himself on the field, because as much as I don't like him, he's invaluable to our midfield. *EDIT* I think Convey would get knocked around in the center of the field. He's a little undersized to be winnning 50/50 balls in the air. The fact that he's pretty strong on the ball, sort of fast, and not afraid to make runs at people would make him, for me anyway, the next-in-line choice for the right mid spot if Dempsey goes completely Artest and doesn't start. In fact, Demspey would make a better central AM than Convey. Klein is terrible. There's a giant gap between the MLS players and the guys with international experience. Our MLS guys could qualify in CONCACAF, but any good team they'd go up against would destroy them. The league is a lot better than what it was last WC cycle, but it's going to take anoth 10 years-at least-before we could hope to field a competent squad of MLS players in a European enviroment. I think what Arena will have to do is ditch the 4-4-2 and find a better formation that maximizes Donovan's strengths while hiding his weaknesses as much as possible.

Take heart, Seth: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=362678&root=us&cc=5901

The last time I checked it wasn't too good. I think he was hitting in the low 200s. But ST numbers don't really mean the much. Corey is hitting .250/.286/.365 with 1 home run and 8 strikeouts in 52 at bats. It makes me happy to hear this. .250 would have been an improvement...

Aramis would win, but he'd fall over in the process. He runs like a runaway truck.

:lol: Priceless Rocket should write for the Onion.

Interesting. Imagine the explosion of anger if he goes there and plays well.

Well, I guess I wasn't being objective. :D Seriously, though, good research. You corrected my dodgy memory on their numbers from last season. Well done. We'll see how this season plays out.

Instead of trading Walker, just platoon him with Hairston, or at worst have Walker be your first option off the bench late in games. There's no reason to trade a valuable offensive player who doesn't make much money. You could PH him, DH him in AL parks, and have him spell Hairston and he'd get 300 AB.

I disagree with this -- here's why: OPS+: Lee 2001: 113 2002: 131 2003: 135 2004: 114 2005: 177 OPS+: Ramirez 2001: 125 2002: 069 2003: 107 2004: 136 2005: 137 Even taking Lee's '05 spike out of the equation completely (which is sort of ridiculous), he's got a leg up on A-Ram. So you weigh the season and a half that Aramis was injured against him? In years that both were healthy he's quite a bit better. He was better in '01 and (especially) '04, yes. Lee was far better in '05, as we know. And Lee's '02-'03 are right there with A-Ram's '04-'05. Also, it seems a bit unfair to punish Lee for his durability. Over their careers, Lee has a better OPS+ and a better RC/27. A-Ram's great, but up to now I don't see him as being better offensively. I guess it just seems weird to me when people presume that Lee didn't really do anything until last year. He had some very good seasons in a terrible hitters park, especially for a guy with power to the gaps. It's not a question of durability. Durability speaks to who is the better overall player, which is Lee. If you're talking about who the best offensive talent is on the Cubs, it's Ramirez. He would have had a better season that Lee had in the power and RBI catagories last season had he not gotten hurt. Are you serious? Really? Lee had 99 extra base hits last year, which is tied for 16 all-time. Aramis, projected to the same number of games, would have had 78. Fewer home runs projected, as well. Lee had a nearly .100 point advantage in slugging to Aramis. RBIs, yes, A-Ram had a slightly better rate per game than Lee. I'm sure some of this had to do with Lee and his +.400 OBP being on in front of him, of course. What were their numbers the day Aramis got hurt? Aramis had more HR's and more RBI. The projections are skewed by the fact that Ramirez sucked in April and struggled in May. He was unreal in June and July, and was continuing that play into August when he got hurt.

I disagree with this -- here's why: OPS+: Lee 2001: 113 2002: 131 2003: 135 2004: 114 2005: 177 OPS+: Ramirez 2001: 125 2002: 069 2003: 107 2004: 136 2005: 137 Even taking Lee's '05 spike out of the equation completely (which is sort of ridiculous), he's got a leg up on A-Ram. So you weigh the season and a half that Aramis was injured against him? In years that both were healthy he's quite a bit better. He was better in '01 and (especially) '04, yes. Lee was far better in '05, as we know. And Lee's '02-'03 are right there with A-Ram's '04-'05. Also, it seems a bit unfair to punish Lee for his durability. Over their careers, Lee has a better OPS+ and a better RC/27. A-Ram's great, but up to now I don't see him as being better offensively. I guess it just seems weird to me when people presume that Lee didn't really do anything until last year. He had some very good seasons in a terrible hitters park, especially for a guy with power to the gaps. It's not a question of durability. Durability speaks to who is the better overall player, which is Lee. If you're talking about who the best offensive talent is on the Cubs, it's Ramirez. He would have had a better season that Lee had in the power and RBI catagories last season had he not gotten hurt.

I disagree with this -- here's why: OPS+: Lee 2001: 113 2002: 131 2003: 135 2004: 114 2005: 177 OPS+: Ramirez 2001: 125 2002: 069 2003: 107 2004: 136 2005: 137 Even taking Lee's '05 spike out of the equation completely (which is sort of ridiculous), he's got a leg up on A-Ram. So you weigh the season and a half that Aramis was injured against him? In years that both were healthy he's quite a bit better.

IIRC the only evidence against Sosa was his size and the fact that Manny Alexander was caught with steroids in his glove box. Grace is probably still bitter about his departure from Chicago, the fact that he was always second fiddle to Sammy, and is just piling on the speculation.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-sosa24.html The title of this thread should be "Clubhouse lawyer piles on speculation train".

Is there a stat that has swings and misses? It seems like ARam's P/PA is effected by the fact that he doesn't swing and miss that much. He also may be really good at hitting his pitch when he sees it. Last year it really helped having DLee on base in front of him alot, he probably saw better pitches early in the count? Aramis is an example of a player that doesn't need to see a ton of pitches per AB. He's a good contact hitter, and a good power hitter. He can hit for average. He slugs. About the only thing he doesn't do exceptionally well is run, which he emphatically cannot do. Realize that Ramirez is the best offensive baseball player on the Cubs in 2006, Lee's "show me" year pending. He's very good. That he doesn't see closer to 4p/ab on average nonwithstanding.

Hey now..I've been in that position, and it sucks knowing your career is over. Even if you're a Cobra Kai-er, Dukie. Isn't that Melchionni? Looks like a double digit jersey. In the foreground it's Melchionni. I have no idea who it is in the background.

2005 NL average walk rate = .0845 2005 Aramis Ramirez walk rate = .0694 2005 NL average K/BB ratio = 2.01 2005 Aramis Ramirez K/BB ratio = 1.71 I don't think Ramirez is patient at the plate. He's pretty average, IMO. I don't know. He may not walk as often as he could, but he also does not strike out very often.

I think that given the body of quotes from this coaching staff on hitting, walks, patience and pitch selection, one can safely say the context of this comment by Clines means very little.

Hey now..I've been in that position, and it sucks knowing your career is over. Even if you're a Cobra Kai-er, Dukie.

I think the legal term is that Bonds would have to prove that the authors showed reckless disregard for the truth. I think.