MeatampPotatoesMan

You just rotate Hairston out there and stick Walker/Neifi at 2B (assuming Hairston starts).

Link So Guzman/Hill gets the #5 spot (most likely Hill b/c of the injury issue)?

Rusch's last two starts were very good and good. I'm not a Rusch fan, necessarily but maybe he's coming around? I thought so too, but if you look at his competition in that start against Seattle, he didn't face hardly any of their studs.

They have a new GM, don't they? I'm not sure when that happened, but LaMar was a dink.

That article really surprised me. OK, now I'm in the crowd wondering why Rusch isn't on the bubble too. Well, I guess he got that swanky contract. :roll: Zambrano Maddux Rusch Marshall Hill Oh lord.

I hear that Julio Lugo's wife hits harder.

But he can punch someone while they're on the ground? I love his quotes too. some garbage about being the first one to throw a punch wins. :roll: What a grade A tool.

So Williamson only pitched to 1 batter? That's not a good sign... He pitched one and a third innings, if I'm not mistaken. That's what I'm not sure about. If you look up the box score posted on this site, the Cubs pitchers combined for 10 innings. I was just going by Fred's box score. Fred doesn't make mistakes...ever. 8) :lol:

So Williamson only pitched to 1 batter? That's not a good sign... He pitched one and a third innings, if I'm not mistaken.

& what way would that have been that your aware of? I would have kept Nolasco, overpaid for Furcal to get our "leadoff hitter" (who i didn't want until i realized we were going to go with Pierre for decent talent, and blocking Pie in the process). Pie is mediocre in a corner OF spot and a possible stud in CF. I also would have picked up Michaels and stuck him in RF instead of Jones. The next good long term RF option to come on the trade market would be ours. muahahahaha :lol: I also liked Nolasco & his #'s LY impressed me more than did Hill's. However, I'm glad JH didn't pay 13 mil. + a year for Furcal. It gives him more room to resign Lee, pay Zambrano when he becomes a FA after the 07' season. I 'm not a huge of the Jones signing, but I also realize options were very limited. The Phillies got Arthur Rhodes who is an experienced LH set-up man in the Michaels trade. Sounds to me like the Cubs didn't have that to trade & therefore the Cubs were not a good fit for the Phillies to trade Michaels to the Cubs. Pie is 21 & still developing & it's unknown what kind of corner OF he will turn out to be. The Cubs did overpay prospects slightly to get Pierre. Pinto & Mitre, in my opinion, don't seem to be that big of a loss. However, the Cubs had plenty of good pitching prospects in their system. The farm is there to improve the big club & that is what JH did. I can more easily stomach 13M/3years for a guy entering his prime than I can a 50M/5 (that was the rumored Cubs figure, right?). The difference is a whopping 3M/year, which isn't going to prevent us from re-signing DLee (I don't think he deserves Konerko years anyway) or Z. Not retaining someone like Rusch and using a young arm who isn't yet arbitration eligible almost saves that amount. Instead we gave up a good arm (i agree that Pinto and Mitre were nothing special). What stud arms do we have now (that are healthy)? Zambrano. Maddux is gone after this season. Rusch is...Rusch. Williams could be a decent number 3 if he stops getting off to slow starts. We'd better start developing some ML ready pitchers (Nolasco was a good option) b/c the FA market for SP is going to be either ridiculously expensive or barren. Hill, Marshall, and Guzman are all decent bets to make the Cubs rotation eventually, but they're not sure things (especially considering injuries). You have to throw crap against the wall and see what sticks. Nolasco would have improved our odds of getting a cheap ML SP from our farm. He's certainly got the stuff. Pie had better not be a corner OF. I'd like some power in a corner OF spot. Just b/c the Phillies settled for an experience setup man doesn't mean that's all they were looking for and we didn't have the players the Phillies wanted for Michaels. Yeah, JH did improve the ML club with his Pierre trade - short term. Long term, it looks like a boneheaded move just b/c we needed that "hard to find leadoff guy."

Did he get sent to AA or AAA? He's going to rake this year. I think it's sad he won't get a shot. A shot at what? Rotting on the bench? It's a blessing in disguise, career-wise. I know. I don't argue it. I just like him. I hope he does well in the future on a team we never play 8) Yeah, I don't see him in Wrigley. :( But hey, we have Jock Jones! Cheer up. :D

& what way would that have been that your aware of? I would have kept Nolasco, overpaid for Furcal to get our "leadoff hitter" (who i didn't want until i realized we were going to go with Pierre for decent talent, and blocking Pie in the process). Pie is mediocre in a corner OF spot and a possible stud in CF. I also would have picked up Michaels and stuck him in RF instead of Jones. The next good long term RF option to come on the trade market would be ours. muahahahaha :lol:

*&$% !!!!! :evil:

Nomar is a beast? Nomar is a shell of his former self with no chance of being a solid full-time shortstop. His spring training hot streak fooled a lot of people into thinking he was back to his original self. Who's to say he wouldn't have been over the full season had the Groin Rip not occurred? After all, he started raking when he came back in a much larger sample size of AB's than his pre-injury season. Who's to say Patterson wouldn't have become a hall of famer if he came up with some other organization? Nomar is done as a star SS. His spring was not indicative of what his regular season could be. The point is spring numbers are meaningless. How is the point you are making from the evidence you cite logical? Nomar had a great ST, slumped to start the season, and then was injured. He's done as a starting SS. Somehow all that = ST performances in general don't matter. :? I seriously don't get it.

Did he get sent to AA or AAA? He's going to rake this year. I think it's sad he won't get a shot. A shot at what? Rotting on the bench? It's a blessing in disguise, career-wise.

Why not Scott McClain? He's like 33+ years old and spent less than a year in the bigs. Can you say AAAA? He didn't help himself with his 14 ML ABs last season either. At that age you don't get the benefit of the doubt. He also doesn't play a decent OF, much less all three OF spots. We already have Mabry. DLee isn't going to need a whole lot of games off and Aramis actually looks fit. We don't need another corner IFer. ST stats should have some bearing on who gets a ML job. You reward performance. For those younger guys trying to get a bench spot, it's like a job interview. Come prepared and impress if you can. I don't need to represent everyone's opinion, if there is a singular opinion representing the group's thoughts. I simply said your characterization of a popular opinion did not exist.

He stunk to start the season. That is why ST doesn't matter. They don't which is why he would have made the team if he showed anything this spring. .278 .334 .373 and a whopping 15 HRs in five seasons. He stinks. Pagen is no defensive specialist and he can't hit. What exactly is he good at? Oh, yea he is fast and looks good in a uniform. He Can't Hit He was relseased by the Mets after five subpar seasons. At least Restovich has power. Pagan has showed more power than Kenny Lofton did in the minors, so I'm not sure why you even brought up HR. He's not going to be on the team to hit HR. Does Pagan = Lofton? Obviously not, but HR aren't everything. Restovich is a butcher, plain and simple. He'd be a DH, but he isn't good enough offensively. Why do you insist on saying ST doesn't matter? You could take a sample size from the 162 games in the regular season for a particular player and make the same argument as everyone goes through highs and lows. The only difference is time and competition. All that is taken into consideration when evaluating a player and his ST numbers. Pagan is fast and isn't going to lose games on defense. He's a bench player, not a starter. You don't stick decent prospects on the bench.

Where did anyone say ST numbers are that important. Strawman alert. People have been using stats to suggest Pagan make the team, and in this thread people have been debating the usefulness of spring training stats. Just because no one said "ANGEL PAGAN'S SPRING TRAINING NUMBERS ARE VERY VERY IMPORTANT" doesn't make my comment a strawman argument. But people love to use the word strawman, so I guess it will continue to be carelessly thrown into debates. There's a difference between using ST stats to justify giving a kid a shot in the bigs vs some off the wall statement about McClain being locked up for 5 years. The difference between what people said and the argument you made is astounding. Yes, that's a strawman argument, as you set up some bs statement to represent the opinions of others. Next time don't be so careless. Construct a reasonable argument devoid of ridiculous exaggeration.

When Blanco told Pagan that Grissom retired, Pagan cried. He was so happy and said that Grissom was such a great guy to do that, to give up a spot for a youngster, especially after trying to pass on all the knowledge he could to the kids in ST. I guess Grissom spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Pagan, Cedeno, Restovich, etc.

Pagan down on strikes on a 2-2 breaking pitch out of the zone.

JH looks like he came to ST in better shape this year. :lol:

Pagan, Restovich, and Theriot are all in the starting lineup today.

Did he get sent to AA or AAA? He's going to rake this year.

Where did anyone say ST numbers are that important. Strawman alert.

No, those numbers don't mean a thing actually. Using them to determine who makes it is just as good as arbitrarily pulling a name out of a hat. They absolutely should count when comparing him to Grissom for a bench spot. It's "what have you done for me lately." ST numbers should have less impact when evaluating Pagan WRT Theriot and Restovich, but if someone shows they can put out when the pressure is on, that has to count for something. ST counts for so little it is hard to measure. Remember Nomar's spring last year? That is but one example. Half the time these guys are playing against worse players then thay are. As in most area's, size matters. Grissom was on the team to see if he still had anything left. I was painfully obvious he didn't. If he would have put up just a little better numbers he would have made the team. Pagen stinks and has no power. All he has is speed. Restovich stinks but he has power. In instances like these one has to choose between the greater of two 25th man. Nomar is a beast and hit a slump to start the season after a monster Spring. I wouldn't read anything into it beyond that. I thought ST performances don't matter. If so, it doesn't matter what Grissom did this spring. Small sample size. You can't have it both ways. Pagan doesn't "stink." He had one hiccup in his firt full season in AAA. Our scouts seem to like him too. What else do you want? We should only buy high? Restovich can't even play average defense from what I've seen. I'd rather not sub someone into the game and have them blow it with shoddy defense. If you can't rake, you'd darn well better be able to field your position well.