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Houston_Cub_Fan

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Everything posted by Houston_Cub_Fan

  1. Bottom Line: There's no polishing this turd. Jones was not a good signing. We can all hope he performs well, but there's not much to back up that hope.
  2. I agree that it is a small sample size, but 13 Ks in 8.3 innings is impressive none the less. I'm not saying he's back. But I'm optimistic that he can be a strong contributor to this bullpen.
  3. I seem to rmember someone posting Williamsons stats over his last 9 innings or so last year. It was pretty impressive. Something like 13ks and 1 earned run. If that's indicative of his health level/arm strength, it would be foolish to trade him, unles he was part of deal that could help us immediately. EDIT: Sorry Penguin. I didn't see that you posted the same thing.
  4. And Soriano isn't exactly a defensive upgrade at 2B either. If he were willing to play OF, I'd say maybe. But his K numbers are CP-like.
  5. Sometimes you just have to say that the truth hurts - though I think he's being a litle harsh. Hard to totally disagree, though.
  6. Sully, in the context of my post I was using execution to mean hitting with RISP. I promise never to do it again. :)
  7. By execution, I mean getting hits with runners in scoring position, not bunting. I'm also not saying we don't need to take more walks. Clearly we do.
  8. That's my point, Goony. We were dead last I believe in team average with RISP. You can't acquire cliutch hitting. But you can give your team more chances. Hence my statement that it comes down to execution.
  9. This team lost last year because it couldn't get a runner home from third with less than two outs and the bullpen ws a mess.We need clutch hitting. Did we add it? Hopefully with a better one-two (praying for no Nefi), Lee and Aram will get more RBI opportunties than last year. But speed is useless if you leave that runner stranded at second. Execution is the key (Insert Dusty joke here.) I think we did address the bullpen.
  10. Why not just let him start on a strict pitch count and have Rusch/Williams ready to go in long relief?
  11. Right now, I think the only wrong turn has been Jones. If we had a real RF, this team would be pretty good. While I doubt we will see an MVP calibre season from Lee again, I'll almost garuntee he will surpass his RBI numbers from last year. Basically, that will be the major difference in the offense: table setters in front of Lee and Aram. Hopefully the young guns will produce, but ultimatly they're no worse than our options last year if they don't. As always it will come down to the health of the starting staff and the solidity of the pen. War pitching and defense (and benching Nefi)
  12. If we did a deal for Beltran, Pie would be expendable. That's reason enough in my mnd not to do the deal. I'm happy waiting for Felix and either sticking with Corey for one more year or signing Lofton short term. I was as intoxicated with Beltran as everyone else after 04, but a closer look at his numbers (even excluding 05) sobered me up. He's certainly not worth what the Mets paid or even what the Astros offered. If it's true that Hendry offered something in the mid $90M range, then he too would have overpaid. The Cubs original offer of $85M was dead on if you ask me. The Mets would have to pick up more than a couple million a year to get it down to a reasonable range and make it worth the innevitable trade of Pie - no matter what he brought in return.
  13. With its stock losing a quarter of its worth in the last year, Tribune Co. may be considering a sale of non-core assets such as the Cubs. That’s the speculation from one of the Tribune’s top-five investors, Chicago-based investment firm Ariel Capital Management. “If their stock gets into the $20s, I think their management would have to look to sell non-strategic assets, including the Cubs,” said John Miller, senior vice president of portfolio management at Ariel, whose firm holds 10 million shares of Tribune stock. Its stock settled up 46 cents on Monday at $31.37. Its 52-week high is $44.32. Non-core Tribune assets include the Food Network, WB Network, CareerBuilder.com and the Cubs, with an estimated value of $2 billion. Core assets would include broadcast stations such as WGN-TV and newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Hello Mark Cuban.
  14. I'm pretty sure Beltran has a no-trade clause. So he probably wouldn't be included in any deal for Manny.
  15. Sign B. Giles Sign K. Lofton Sign K. Millwood or A.J. Burnett Sign any quality set up guy available CF Lofton SS Nomar 1B Lee RF Giles 3B Ramirez 2B Walker LF Murton C Barrett Zambrano Prior Millwood/Burnett Wood Maddux
  16. Actually, the BBWAA guidlines simply say "most outstanding rookie" which, like the MVP award itself, is open to pretty broad interpretation. I'm not saying that Taveras will win it, I'm just saying that I think he deserves it. I will garuntee you that a few writers agree with me and he will get several votes. This is not to say that the other names mentioned in this thread are not deserving. This is simply my opinion of who should win what is, after all, a fairly subjective award.
  17. I hate to sound like I'm overreacting, but if Baker gets a two-year extension, I'm not going to waste my time on the Cubs for a few years. I can't take it.
  18. If we are looking at the ROY as the " Rookie MVP" and not simply the rookie who had the best statistical season, Id have to say Houston's Wllie Taveras. At the beginning of the year, it looked like the Stros would have a huge hole in center after Beltran departed. Not to mention that they would have no speed in the outfield (Berkman, Lane, Palmeiro was projected), or on the basepaths at the top of the order. Taveras filled that hole better than could be expected. He had a pretty good average, got on base with a lot of infield hits, stole a lot of bases and basically acted as the sparkplug for an offense that could of been a lot worse than it was (and it was pretty bad). My point is that if you take Taveras off the Astros, they don't make the playoffs. That's a huge endorsement for ROY in my mind.
  19. If we're 3.5 out by this weekend, I might start to believe that there is a glimmer of hope. That means we have to sweep the Reds and win the first game against the Cards while the Marlins and Astros split their four-game series. Meanwhile, the Phillies have to lose a couple of games to make sure they don't take the WC lead. If that happens, and if Ramirez comes back, and if Rusch and Williams can pitch like they did this weekend, and if Dusty benches Patterson, and if he plays Murton and Cedeno more, and if we can somehow go two weeks without an injury and if, and if, and if.......
  20. The only thing that needs to be blown up is the pen. Otherwise, all we need is a true lead-off hitter at either short or center and a true power/rbi guy in either left or right (or both, though I'd like to see Murton get his chance). We have the payroll to address all of these. The ball is totaly in Hendry's court. Unfortunately, it's a weak FA crop. He'll have to get pretty creative. P.S. Why does everyone love Barrett so much. I like the guy and all - nice bat - but he costs us a half a run a game on average when he's calling the pitches vs. Blanco. Not that I want Blanco starting, but it would be nice to find a happy median.
  21. I've been an advocate of keeping Kerry going until the Cubs were out of it. They're out of it. Shut him down. Let's play the kids the rest of the way. Let them know that there is no real pressure to win this year and to just go out, have fun and see what they can do. I'd like to see Pie and Murton in the OF Cedeno at SS and Hill in the rotation.
  22. Healthy skeptism is good, but I think it's unfair to point fingers like this. If he did it, we'll find out. Until then, he's earned the benefit of the doubt.
  23. cbbryan - You're absolutely right. Morris had the same surgery in November of last year and has still had a very productive season. This is not major surgery. It is not a torn labrum, it's a frayed labrum. If you have to draw a medical analogy, it's like getting the cartiledge cleaned up around the knee - clearly not as invasive as needing to repair torn or detached cartiledge. The fraying causes the inflamation. It just needs to be trimmed back a little. But if the Cubs do fall irrevocably out of the race, then I would advocate for a quick shut down. Until then - let's see what he can do.
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