CardsFanInChiTown

I wouldn't mind Rueter on the cheap. Dave Duncan (our pitching coach) is great at reviving veteran's pitchers.

Ahh, the Brewers - everyone's sexy sleeper pick! Although Zambrano is more durable Sheets has been the better pitcher the last two years with WHIP of 0.98 and 1.07 compared to Z's 1.22 and 1.15. I'm not knocking Z - he's awesome but Sheets has been better IMO. I would say Capuano > Maddux mostly because of age. That's a really close one though. That said, I think people overrate Brewers, they look a year away to me. If the Cubs can get a servicable RF bat I would expect them to be a better team. If you could add either Z or Sheets to the Cards right now, who would you pick? Great question, from a pure baseball standpoint Z because of age and durability. However with money concerns Sheets would because tempting because he seems willing to take sign friendly contracts while Z has Boras and WILL test the FA market. Z is going to get freaky money.

Ahh, the Brewers - everyone's sexy sleeper pick! Although Zambrano is more durable Sheets has been the better pitcher the last two years with WHIP of 0.98 and 1.07 compared to Z's 1.22 and 1.15. I'm not knocking Z - he's awesome but Sheets has been better IMO. I would say Capuano > Maddux mostly because of age. That's a really close one though. That said, I think people overrate Brewers, they look a year away to me. If the Cubs can get a servicable RF bat I would expect them to be a better team.

OK, I'm going to hijack this thread. Let's post the silliest trade proposals we've seen on NSBB. Don't name names please! I remember a A-Rod for Pie trade idea because the Yankee's need a CF and payroll relief. Madness!

You guys just wait. :D

I would sign a position player up to 7 yrs depending on his age, injuries, body type, etc. However, considering insurance can only be 3 yrs in length I wouldn't sign any pitcher to more than a 4 year deal and he's have to be pretty special to get 4 yrs.

Semantics, basically. No player is untouchable, it'll just take a heck of a lot to get him. Yep, I'd want a player like Miguel Cabrera and a stud prospects in return. Maybe I'd trade AP and Cabrera straight up. Interesting to think about.

If I were a GM I'd never consider any player untouchable.

I'd trade Pujols, Rolen, and Edmonds to the Royals for Matt Stairs and Elmer Dessens. Adding a Canadian and a dude named Elmer make that deal too tempting for any team to pass up... :P No offense but unless you think DLee is going to repeat his 05 numbers you are vastly overrating him. Again, I'd do the deal.

That settles it -- WHIP of .79, ERA at 1.06, Izzy goes down & Looper steps in to save 51, Cy Young sure to follow Bring back that hot chick avatar you use to have, it brightened my day.

That pretty much says it. Maybe he was injured or something...

Yeah, I grew up in STL and I say soda. Anyone who says "pop" is just flat wrong, by the way. Get with the times people. Yeah, when I moved up here people could tell I was from out of town because I called it "soda". Pop is a noise not a friggen' soft drink.

He was an elite player last year, no denying that. Will he keep it up? I'm not certain. History suggests players who have huge years like that tend to regress but still play better then before.

I would trade Lee for Julio Lugo, Aubrey Huff, and Jonny Gomes. Gomes alone would make that deal tempting. I think the real kicker is what kind of numbers you expect from Huff. Lee is a very good player but he's not at an elite one IMO. I expect a .925-.950 OPS from him next season.

Patience is a virtue. Hendry’s last off-season was bad however I wouldn’t completely lose faith in him just yet. If he doesn’t turn things around by next Oct then Cubs should look for a new GM.

I agree, in fact I don't always agree with the conclusions drawn from stats by posters on here however it's always nice to see a method to the madness.

First of all, you can throw out his Iowa numbers. 34 ABs isn't going to tell you anything. In '04, Murton hit .292/.370/.428 in the FSL. That's a solid line in a pitcher's league, although he was a year old for it. In West Tennessee and Chicago in '05, his numbers are very much BABIP driven. In his larger sample at AA, he didn't improve his power or his patience(patience went down actually), but performed better because he hit .342. Murton's not going to hit anywhere near .342 at the major league level. He'll be lucky to hit .300, at which his numbers would be .300/.360/.440. That's an .800 OPS, which is okay for a corner OF, as the high end of what to expect from Murton. His BABIP issues continued in Chicago. He did hit for more power, which was a promising sign. However, he did so in about a third of the PA's as he had at AA. More worrisome was that a much larger than expected number of his hits came on infield singles and the like. We can't expect those to continue, unless he's mastered the art of hitting an infield single, which I doubt. So, one can probably expect a line much closer to .280/.340/.420 from Murton next year than his line from last year, which is decidedly subpar from a LF. Wow, great post. I really respect how you back up your opinions with interesting stats.

It would be inhuman if Hendry doesn't trade him.

Hah, I use Miggy because I'm always worried I'll misspell Tejada (I copy and pasted his name).

Isn't Garland going to be a FA next year though? Would the Orioles want to trade for him not knowing whether he's going to be around for a while? A trade could be made on the contingent that they can sign Garland long term. That said, I'm not sure the Sox can afford Miggy.

Horrible news.

Hey thanks man! I'd tell you to give CardsTalk a chance but it sucks so bad it'll make your head explode.

I am stupider for having just read that. How many runners in scoring position did Houston leave on base in that series again? Now tell me that St. Louis's offense would have "Cubbed" away that many opportunities, and say it with a straight face. IMO St. Louis would have lost that series. Their offense and bullpen both looked gassed.

holy poop is that a big trade!

Unless their names are M. Cabrera and D. Willis :wink: