Drew Doughty

baseball discussions and then down the list.

Good ol' rover position. That would be a good position for neifi. Designated fielder.

he sure seemed unprepared. "We like Giles, but we're going to pursue Furcal instead." *misses out on both* Ugh.

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/fifthbenpicture.jpg god that is a great picture

None of these teams are great, they're all flawed. Some of them can't bunt for outs. OTher's can't run into outs trying to steal bases. They're all flawed in some way.

My Ernie Banks signed baseball is probably my most prized position. I also wish I could have been alive to see him play.

Outside of Zito, I don't really want anyone on that list. Zito is going to be paid way, way too much anyways.

We could welcome them with a study kit :)

Yeah, I really don't know what to have going into this season. I'm usually a pretty pessimistic guy when it comes to sports (I root for the Cubs and the LA Kings (the hockey team that loses about 500 man games to injury per year) so it comes natural) and I'm not sure what to make of this team. The pessimistic side is saying "Eyre and Howry will suck, not only will Jones not get better, he'll get worse, Wood won't pitch this year, Perez is going to start everyday, and Z is gonna blow out his elbow." But the optimistic side is saying, "Eyre and Howry will be nice additions to a solid bullpen, Jones will be a strong aspect, Wood's going to be in 2003 form, Perez is going to blow out his elbow, and Z will win the Cy Young." Meh.

Walker is too "dumb" to hit second? That's new.

I'd take Thomas without much doubt.

I don't think many of us look at SLG at all when evaluating lead-off/2 hole hitters. Some may use it as a tie-breaker if two players are close, but most of us use OBP as the metric to judge top of the lineup guys. Speed, Power, Bunting (not as much) are all pluses (minuses?) if there's a tie-breaker. Murton put up a higher OBP in the time he got. Then after looking at other stats (SLG and BA more specifically) Murton had the clear advantage over Cedeno.

If Pujols is left, take Pujols.

I wouldn't mind having that black jersey. Looks pretty nice.

I have no clue when Ramirez took his place in the "Cub Whipping Boy 2005-6" line, but I just don't get it. He got hurt. So what? It happens. He's on a conditioning routine, and he's been the team's most consistently good player the past 2 seasons. BA aside, he was having as good of a season as Lee was having before he got hurt, but people don't remember this. People rag on him for "not running out ground balls". With a hurt quad and a sore hamstring. So, he ran hard down the line to beat out a DP and completely pulled his quad. And gets ripped for getting hurt. I've seen this pattern of "Can do no right" before, and it's crap. He's the best offensive player the Cubs have (Lee needs to do it more than once for me to think last season was anything but an aberration), and thusly, should be cut some slack. If he comes into camp out of shape (which I really doubt given the offseason training he's done), then rag on him if he gets hurt. But injuries happen. Let's not lose sight of that in a mad rush to have a highly paid scapegoat. Look at Aram's legs. They are obviously lacking in both size and muscle definition compared to a typical power hitter. I see no evidence of a real committment to fitness in those legs. I bet I could walk down the street and point out random pedestrians with more impressive legs than Aram's. That has to change. So what? He's working on it. Like was said, if he gets injured because of poor conditioning again, I'd start to get mad. He can hit the ball, and last year was the first year he had real problems. He's always had some minor issues, but I think last year was the turning point. He saw what happened when he didn't condition himself right. I think he'll be in shape and have a big year next year.

I don't think Hendry picks up on pitchers because of the Braves, he picks up on pitchers because "pitching wins." I think he can definitely throw seasons away well, so I agree there. He does avoid good free agents but overpays for mediocrity. I don't see anything that really puts Hendry on par with Schuerholz in strategy.

281/401/599 47 homers, 99 XBH, 112 RBIs, Pujols and Bonds miss some time due to injury, but Andruw Jones wins MVP (with a 247/333/501 line, btw) because he got "snubbed" this year.

that was supposed to work last year, though. Gammons had us and the Twins in the WS. Gammons needs to pick the Cards & ChiSox this year. :)

I think he'll be full time DH at the start of the season at least. If he stays healthy and productive, he could be there the whole year. I'm not positive though. The A's are looking strong this year.

As who promised? Some NSBB folks? Rhodes is a respectable arm that Philly needs. Michaels is a spare bench player. Rhodes, like all relievers, is inconsistant. Michaels is a spare bench player with a .380 career OBP. If the Cubs had a lineup full of "spare bench players," they'd have one of the better offenses in the league. Not a chance. If any lineup was full of .380+ OBP guys, it would probably be the best in baseball. If not the best, then really close.

Seahawks, they were my pick that I told my bro-in-law back when they beat the crap out of the Eagles on monday night.

I'm thinking: Zambrano Prior Wood Miller Guzman / Hill / Marmol Jerome Williams is not in my immediate plans for the rotation. I'd trade him if he's got any real value. Where's Maddux? I don't think he's going to the pen, or I sure as hell hope not. He's terrible in the first inning IIRC. I like this signing, A++, wish he would do it again. Z/Prior/Wood/Miller/Maddux would be my guess. Williams will be traded some time, and they'll probably use Hill out of the pen or as a spot starter, like Guzman.

Will Farell's imitations of him were gold.

Will get called up to start at some time in the year (probably around the time that Marcus Giles hits a line drive that is lined off of Wood and then ricochets to the dugout and hits Prior on the elbow.) to start a few games.

Easy yes for me. The Cubs are my professional sports team, and I don't care for basketball at all.