MeatampPotatoesMan

Damon is overrated to begin with. I'm glad he still wants 5 years. No way Hendry gives it to him. Thank God. Fielding isn't the most important aspect of baseball, but his rainbows from CF pain me.

I hope at the beginning of every year and am bitter at the end of the season. There's nothing like the perennial letdown this team offers. :D

air mail!! man, the angels are choking. where's ozzie?

No, our first rounder is protected. what rule makes it protected? :? that puts a fuzzy feeling in my heart though. :D The top 15 picks are protected from being lost to FA compensation. Thanks. So if we acquire a type A FA, then the team we deal with only gets the sandwich pick? :)

No, our first rounder is protected. what rule makes it protected? :? that puts a fuzzy feeling in my heart though. :D

Stats don't tell the entire story? How many years have they been keeping good track of baseball (not just box scores)? since stats inc. in the 80's? that's 15+ years of data. i humbly submit that whatever phenomena exist in baseball has been captured in that period of time and can be far better explained with math (i.e. logic) than someone's biased POV (fans, managers, scouts, and GMs included). look objectively at the problem. if there is an error in the "stats" side, it is either from lack of the necessary data (which i doubt) or incorrect application of statistical methods (not likely as human beings have been using these methods for many years in many aspects of life: engineering, economics, etc.).

The BoSox had good enough O, but their pitching was horrible. Letting Pedro go might not have been the best thing to do. Having Schilling injured for most of the season (and still not 100%) was the death knell.

The fat lady sang, Boston.

there's some pictures on the WGN Baseball Blog: http://wgntv.trb.com/sports/wgntv-sports-100705cubs-gallery,0,6480264.photogallery

If we get Giles do we have to give up our 1st round pick and a sandwich (as a type A)? IIRC, that's what would happen. Ah, this year's class sucks anyway. Welcome to Chicago, Mr. Giles.

Prior wasn't exactly "homegrown." He spent less than a season in the minors...he was basically a finished project out of college and just had to go through the motions to reach the bigs. We're proud of the job our system has done with Wood? ...the man with all the talent who either can't correct his mechanics or is suffering from something our system can't solve. We did develop Z. Good job there. He's a stud. Francouer doesn't have plate discipline and it's going to catch up to him. Pitchers aren't stupid. Word of where your hole is gets around and everyone has a hole. Pitchers in the bigs leagues know how to exploit that hole and hit it (they don't make the bigs if they can't). Francouer is in for a monster flop unless he adapts, which is possible.

i love when he costs his team runs by getting picked off. :D

So is the economist/mathmetician argument ~ speed's not useful?? That's not it at all. Attempting to steal bases is not useful unless you are incredibly good at it. speed is useful, but it's overrated on the basepaths.

The trouble is that he's not likely to have much trade value, and even if he did, it would mean he was healthy and then the Cubs would be insane to trade him. I'm not saying Angel isn't talented, because he is. The debate (in my mind) is how we can best use Angel and his talents. IMO, assuming he can be a starter is taking a real risk, because he's had a history of arm issues. Putting him in the pen would be a different, possibly lower stress way to get him contributing to the ML team. It wouldn't hurt to try something different. All he has to do is be healthy for one full season and then we should pull the trigger. Baseball is full of fools (read: scouts and GMs) who imagine what a guy can do based on what they see. They'll overlook injuries and stats (WHIP, etc) and go with gut feeling. Saying that we can't trade him b/c of injury history is ridiculous. we won't get the same deal we would have gotten dealing him before injury, but he can be dealt (if we don't just decide to go with him hell or high water). How is putting him in the pen going to help? This last injury he suffered on the first or second pitch he threw. That would have happened if he was a RP or SP.

I think the figure for having a man on second (getting on first and stealing second) with no outs is 1.1 runs (on the average team). When you get caught stealing you effectively cost your team 1.1 runs (obviously the numbers change for 1 and 2 out cases). Stealing doesn't give you enough runs (on average) to cover the times you are caught stealing. You might as well play station to station baseball, and if you do steal, you'd better do it with upwards of 80% to break even (it's somewhere around 80%, IIRC).

We can either decide to keep him as a starter, and accept the fact he's injury prone, or we can trade him for a prospect with less talent and better chance of contributing at the major league level. Hopefully he gets his stock up enough that we can get a decent prospect (w/o injury concerns). Why waste someone with a great set of pitches in the bullpen? His stuff is too good for the pen.

Pie is 20 years old. 20. Put 20 years old under a magnifying glass. 2 years out of high school for most. Sophomore's in college for others. Finishing up JUCO for others. Do you honestly expect Pie to be completely refined at 20 years old? We certainly don't have Atlanta's success. I sure wish we did. Bag on the weaknesses of our farm director's all you want, but please don't use Pie as the scapegoat for everything that is wrong. And why must we always compare Pie to Patterson? They aren't twins. They aren't even from the same country. Assuming every guy with little plate patience will just be another Corey Patterson is ridiculous. Some turn into Hall of Famers. When did I use Pie as a scapegoat? I simply mentioned him as an example of what this organization does wrong. Dispatch sentimentality for a moment and tell me how Pie's stats justifies the hype. He's a free swinger, like many of the people from his neck of the woods. They're taught from a young age to swing for the fences...basically to ignore plate discipline. We may yet luck out with one of these "talented" individuals eventually (Montanez, Pie, CPat, others), but it isn't likely. I'm not saying it won't happen some day, just that the odds of it happening are very low. Some of these talented individuals make it to the Hall of Fame? How many failed? What's the success rate? It isn't good. Do I expect Pie to be "refined" at his age? You don't learn plate discipline at this stage in the game. You can develop power, but you're not going to suddenly see the ball better.

you don't have to have homegrown talent, but you do need to be able to recognize it. all this organization and its scouts do is dream. pie will be another cpat. no plate discipline is what we teach in our system. walks are overrated and strikeouts are the same as any other out. pfff thank God Murton came from another system. he might actually succeed at the big league level. i'll take plate discipline over the five tools any day.

I want the Cubs to take the player they feel is the best at their spot, whether they are HSer or college kid, pitcher or hitter. BPA is the best strategy to drafting. And the Cubs draft BPA, they don't emphasize either HS or college picks. It doesn't help much to draft the BPA if he's a high schooler...he's many times less likely to make it to the big leagues than a player out of college. That's a statistical fact....and even that is assuming the high schooler signs in the first place. BPA is not the best strategy. You have to take into account the probability of a player making it to the bigs.

i really don't want to see Furcal as a Cub. his obp is cheaply replaceable. Todd Walker anyone? ...as far as Walker not stealing goes, I'd rather not have my leadoff hitter gifting the other team an out (and therefore a run). Furcal's D is easily replaceable as well...by Cedeno. I can't fathom a reason we need Furcal. If we get him it will be b/c he is a "big name FA" and not b/c it will actually help the team.

Hendry, you'd better be all over that like a fat kid on a cheeseburger.

I love Bruce Bochy. his lineups make as much sense as some of dusty's. ...yeah, i said it, dusty's. SLAM!!

true, but man is it fun to watch. and it's wonderful to watch it not work and throw away a run. :oops:

God works in mysterious ways. :twisted: :lol: good luck.

:lol: