Sammy Sofa

Nice move.

This has me all a-Twitter.

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/watchdog/blog/sigh.jpg

Baseball and steroids rule. I miss 'em.

Eh...he'd have to make the team. Probably not gonna happen.

no, of course he's not. no one is suggesting anything in that ridiculous scenario. i think the notion that he's spending "hours upon hours" working out is equally as absurd, though. knowing the mark prior that we all got to know in his brief time in the cubs organization, i cant see the guy busting his ass to get back. dont you think that he'd be back and healthy by now if he had tried busting his ass in the past? it's a pretty fundamental approach. to getting healthy, that is. We aren't talking about a guy with weight issues who needs to get on the treadmill. We're talking about a guy who withstood serious abuse by a horrible manager and who sustained very serious arm injuries in the process. You can't just decide to bounce back from those things with extra effort. sure you can. you either commit yourself to do something or you don't. i'm questioning his commitment. i don't doubt that he wants to be a major league pitcher for one second. i do, however, doubt his effort to do so. This is nonsensical. Did you just completely ignore what was spelled out for you? How does one "commit" to "do" an undiagnosed shoulder problem, a basepath collision and a line drive off the elbow? You're talking like he can just will himself to overcome those if he just "tries" harder.

hours upon hours? definitely not. i'd be surprised if he works out daily at this point. Man the class of 2008 users is quite prolific. the northsidebaseball welcome wagon sure is full of great guys! LIVE TO WIN.

Rickey's the only one of this class that should be there. The next 3 years look even worse.

Of the 3, he's the one I want to win the least. By far.

Ricketts it is. Make it so.

AKA "PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Klaff sounds like a bad James Bond villain.

I've changed my mind. Keeper does live up to his name.

:( That...is beyond depressing.

Overall and specifically so far this offseason, a high C.

The name "Keeper" is terribly ironic.

Gee, I wonder why.

Last year he had alot to prove. His 2006 and 2007 seasons weren't that impressive. He was being given the chance to go back to starting in 2008,which has been his preference. It was the last year of his contract and he has a career year. I hope i'm wrong but.... You're still making a huge leap without explaining why. You keep saying "career year" like it's some magic cure-all that allows a pitcher to have an Cy Young-sniffing year. I understand why the perception of the "career year" exists, but how would he have just turned it on like he did and then either totally forget all of his changes or, what? Choose to suck or be mediocre because he got paid? What is the thinking here? The why matters a lot less than whether or not the phenomenon has been observed. Right, and typically you can find or track reasons for the player's downall. Dempster made it through the year with phenomenal results after making very noticeable changes. He didn't breakdown. He didn't have to rely on luck or be saved by the defense. Obviously, repeating or exceeding last year isn't likely, but people just keep tossing out "career numbers" or "career year" like it negates what he did last year and makes a huge regression all but inevitable with little else to back up such declarative assertions.

Last year he had alot to prove. His 2006 and 2007 seasons weren't that impressive. He was being given the chance to go back to starting in 2008,which has been his preference. It was the last year of his contract and he has a career year. I hope i'm wrong but.... You're still making a huge leap without explaining why. You keep saying "career year" like it's some magic cure-all that allows a pitcher to have an Cy Young-sniffing year. I understand why the perception of the "career year" exists, but how would he have just turned it on like he did and then either totally forget all of his changes or, what? Choose to suck or be mediocre because he got paid? What is the thinking here?

Yes, and he maintained it all season (single playoff game at the end aside). That's not say he'll regress, but again, to say he's likely to fully regress to a Marquis-like season would be a really impressive downfall. 13 wins,era 4.00-4.60 ? What did you see last year that indicates you think that's likely? And what about the other pitching stats that are far more valuable to evaluating a pitcher...what's your prediciton for those? I know his past history as a starter, but what do you base such regression on besides that?

Yes, and he maintained it all season (single playoff game at the end aside). That's not say he'll regress, but again, to say he's likely to fully regress to a Marquis-like season would be a really impressive downfall.

The space between how excellent Dempster pitched last year and how Jason Marquis usually pitches over a season is pretty gigantic. I agree he almost certainly won't repeat last year, but to just assume he'll plunge all the way down to Marquis' level is incredibly pessimistic. Dempster and Marquis both have a 4.55 career era. Marquis career 198 starts 79 wins,Dempster 195 starts 76 wins.Marquis has averaged 13 wins a year for the last 5. Dempster was a regular starter from 98-03. Only once in that span was his era under 4.50. Dempsters history suggests that if he makes 30 starts,he'll pitch more innings than Marquis. But,Marquis making 30 starts is more likely. So your basis for this argument is wins and ERA? Partially.Last year was a career year for him. It was a contract year and he was able to keep the walks down (until the playoffs). If his walks per inning reverts to his usual standard,most likely his era will rise,win total will drop etc. The playoffs was only one game for him and clearly he was trying to be too perfect and that threw him off his game. I think from the way he pitched and what he said last year he figured out that he has to pound the strike zone and get ahead of hitters early in order to be successful. I don't think it is unreasonable to believe that a guy could figure out as he matures a better approach to pitching and that could make him more effective. Hope so. Marquis never had a year like Dempster did last year...not even close. It seems unlikely Dempster is just going to forget to keep his walks down simply because it's not a contract year. Will he repeat? Probably not. But looking at his year, it's pretty clear he wasn't just lucky or that it was the result of smoke and mirrors.

The space between how excellent Dempster pitched last year and how Jason Marquis usually pitches over a season is pretty gigantic. I agree he almost certainly won't repeat last year, but to just assume he'll plunge all the way down to Marquis' level is incredibly pessimistic.

Is that the batting order? Please...no.

That's ridiculous. You'd rather the Cubs not regularly be a playoff team?