b_wiggy_66

How the mighty have fallen. Can we go back a year and do the Prior for Tejada and Bedard trade? :lol:

Is this really baseball discussion?

I wonder who the Middle Infielder is that they may be talking about. Do you know anything about this Bruce?

God some of you just don't get it. I'm not one to name a starting pitcher's role. The simple fact (FACT, NOT OPINION) is that every single starter in baseball has the same damn job. What difference is there between an "ace" and a "5th starter" when it comes to baseball? Are the Cubs spotted a run when their ace goes? No, they have the same job. Naming them means absolutely nothing and is a waste of time. When I say dominance, I don't mean going out there and pitching like an "ace." K:BB dominance is no more than being the best pitcher you can be. There's maybe one or two other factors, but K:BB is one of the most important if not the most important thing when evaluating how good a pitcher is. Quite frankly, Marquis is not very good at it, never has been and never will be. The ability to strikeout guys without walking them is by far the most important skill a pitcher can possess. It has nothing to do with his "role" it has everything to do with his job - getting people out. Capable to living up to his contract? Come on, let's not be naive, I'm not looking at his contract and saying he sucks. I'm looking at him and saying he sucks. It doesn't make a difference if he's making seven million or 1/7th of a million. At the end of the day he's the same pitchers so I am going to evaluate his pitching looking at that, not the number of zeroes on his paycheck. Does it really make a difference? For the love of God it's nine innings. We all saw what Ryan O'Malley could do for about the same time. :lol: K/BB ratio is not one of the most important stats for pitchers. Maybe walks but not K/BB. Some pitchers just don't strike a lot of guys out and have good success. Look at Chien-Ming Wang from last year. He had one of the lowest K/BB ratio's but was one of the better pitchers in the league. You have to pitch to your strengths. Your job as a pitcher is to prevent runs. If you do that by striking out 15 guys then good job. If you do it by inducing 15 ground balls then good job. Just get the batters out.

Might be a late round fantasy sleeper

Not bad your lineup is pretty old and oft-injured. Pitching is solid though.

I think thats the first time I've ever seen Z wear the white jerseys. Great to see Murton have a huge day. I'm really hoping he tears it up in ST so we can have him starting in LF and batting 2nd.

I don't like seeing quotes like this :shock:

I was just looking through a season preview article and saw their rotation. Rotation John Patterson Tim Redding Jerome Williams Joel Hanrahan Shawn Hill/cast of thousands Patterson was out most of last year, but is a solid pitcher who still has some health question marks. Redding hasn't had a win since 2004 and was never really good Williams.......well we all know about him I have a feeling this team could lose 110-115 games this year. This rotation is ugly. If your having doubts about the Cubbies this year just thank god your not a Nats fan.

Maybe Bruce can enlighten us, but it seems like there are a lot more quotes from Lou everyday than there ever were from Dusty. It seems like Lou is getting along much better with the media. Glad to see he has some personality as well.

I wouldn't mind taking his salary to play 2B for us. He would be great in the number two hole and a second(and he's lefty). Unfortunately, Jim and the crew had to jack around with him the whole time he was here. Todd was a real class act and a good ballplayer.

Thanks

He was on with Mac, Jurko, and Harry. Did he say anything new?

Pretty solid team. Lineup is good. You should trade some of your gitting for a closer. You will need more saves and more wins from your pitching staff.

Let's hope so

I think Barrett or Murton would be better in the 2 hole. Maybe if Jones was there he would run more on the bases. I'm not really happy that they were talking about the OF and made no mention of Murton at all

And people thought the Marquis signing was gonna be bad

I think we would be better off if Izturis wasn't healthy :lol:

Yeah but they are never throwing off the mound and working with the other players. They usually say that they are OK but are going to take it slower. This year they're doing what everyone else is doing.

You better find the closes piece of wood, and knock on it until your knuckles bleed! I will gladly knock til I bleed if it works

I know it's early still, but many of the question marks from this offseason have already been answered. Prior, Miller, and Lee are all healthy and ready to go. Wood is "hurt" but it is just minor. I can't wait to see this pitching staff put together. We finally have to many pitchers and not enough spots. We have two people who could play 2nd and two people who can play LF and put up good numbers. Once again I know its early, but I'm starting to feel very optimistic after all of these early reports.

Jim looks like he has lost some weight. The Cubs must have a contract with bally total fitness or Jenny Craig, everybody is losing weight.

Agreed

As much as I love Zambrano I would do that trade in a heartbeat. Get a guy with potential as good as Zambrano in Santana, and get two studs in Wood or Aybar and Adenhart. Well worth giving him up and getting these guys to fill spots all over the field. I hope Jim wouldn't pass that up. I don't think the Angels would give up that much though.

*CONFUSED* :oops: Couldn't this be a big disadvantage for the batter? Took me a second read on the first one. The first part is meaningless since such a scenario never would have resulted the runner getting called out. The second part basically means that if the batter starts to walk back to the dugout, once they leave the dirt, they can't then start to run to first base. But that's pretty meaningless, as well, since the odds of reaching first after casually starting to walk back to the dugout aren't too great. I do believe that is how the Sox got to the World Series.