Sammy Sofa

SAMPSON SIMPSON. LORDAMERCY.

What anti-gamers. Did they not take their grit pills? I'll bet tomorrow they don't even make it to the ballpark while Theriot shows up 9 hours early.

Oh, you know. Science and studies and stuff and junk.

HOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! AAAARRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

people say "a whopping 683 plate appearances" as though it's extremely uncommon for players to reach the majors having had fewer than this many plate appearances at the more advanced minor league levels. it's not. it's actually quite common. and he performed at a decent level in west tennessee in 2005 (it's a pitcher's league and a pitcher's park), beat up pitching in iowa during 2005, and played well for the big club in 2006. it was time to see if he would sink or swim in 2006; starting him out at iowa would have been pointless. in if ronny was "rushed" then i would guess you could say that most of the starting players in baseball were also "rushed." Ryan Theriot wasn't rushed. He was a 27 year old rookie. If only Ronny was afforded the same luxury. He could go mash in AAA for another couple years. And what good would that do? (I assume you were being sarcastic) I agree that Ronny is probably a better player than Ryan, but he played an entire season at SS in 2006 and was Macias-level awful in over 500 AB's: .245 .271 .339 In virtually the same no. of AB's last season, Theriot put up: .266 .326 .346 The argument that Cedeno is so clearly better than Theriot is belied by the facts. The argument is that Cedeno's ceiling is higher, not that he's necessarily better at this exact moment. Given Theriot's age and minor league history, that line in 2007 is likely around the best you can expect from him. Given Cedeno's age and his minor league numbers, it's reasonable to expect that he underperformed in 2006 and has a great chance of doing much better if he gets to play.

Good Lord. Can we stop plunking batters, please?

Look at his dramatic and consistent away splits over his career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=greenkh01&year=00 Stop pretending he isn't hampered by hitting in those giant ballparks out west for most games each season. i don't know who he was referring to, but it wasn't khalil greene. khalil is 28, not 29, he's had a hell of a lot more than 975 ABs, and his OPS is .756, not .683. Yeah, it confused me too, but I figured maybe he just made a mistake. It's definitely not Theriot, either.

lol. and i gave one example (want more? jose reyes. hanley ramirez. khalil greene. miguel tejada. rafael furcal. derek jeter.) who were similarly "rushed" to the majors at or before the age of 23, but performed admirably at the big league level and were able to continue playing productively at that level. It's a false point to compare Cedeno to almost all of those players. Even his biggest supporters here aren't saying he's Jeter or Ramirez or Tejada et al. To put up their career tracks as standard or expected models is absurd.

Yes and yes, especially if it means Marmol was moved for a serious impact player. Hording excess relievers while the team has gaping holes in everyday starting positions is just flat out stupid and supremely Cub-like.

Look at his dramatic and consistent away splits over his career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=greenkh01&year=00 Stop pretending he isn't hampered by hitting in those giant ballparks out west for most games each season.

White chocolate hustles more. "White chocolate" technically isn't chocolate. That's just media favoritism towards brown chocolate making white chocolate look bad. Nobody would even care about chocolate if it wasn't brown. Are you honestly telling me that chocolate would have gotten its spot as the keynote candy of Valentine's Day if it was white? Ultimate winnar.

You're not going to get anyone of Greene's level for just Marmol straight up. Again, unless it looks like he can be stretched into a starter, as good as he is, he's still just a reliever. He can help push a deal to completion in abi way, but he's not going to be the main part of the deal. And the others I mentioned? Murton is stuck as a man out of place, yet he's a great trade piece, especially with the Padres, who have shown interest in him. Cedeno would have to go becase the need the SS depth with Greene going, and the Cubs could handle that easily wih Greene coming back in return. I'd trade Marshall or Gallagher as the final part...I could really go either way. Bottom line, you're not going to get a quality and valuable player like Greene for nothing. You're severely overvaluing Marmol. i suspect a lot of trade partners would severely overvalue marmol, however. but likely not kevin towers, since he's smart. Even by those that would overvalue him, he's still better served as part of a trade than for anything straight up, short of the rare miracle deal falling right in the Cubs' lap. "Our best reliever" is still just a reliever. It would be a diferent matter if the Cubs clearly had a crappy bullpen besides Marmol, but they don't. It's much easier to fill a bullpen with passable or better players than it is to seriously upgrade at a position spot...and Marmol has the shine to be a big part of a deal to do so, and the Cubs have the luxury of parting with him. A reliever right now, even one as good as Marmol, IS a spare part, and one that can ad should be traded for maximum value. Not that it matters. Hendry never sells high. He's gonna glom onto Marmol because the fans love him and relegate him to the closer role after Wood breaks down for good this year or the next.

White chocolate hustles more. "White chocolate" technically isn't chocolate. That's just media favoritism towards brown chocolate making white chocolate look bad.

You're not going to get anyone of Greene's level for just Marmol straight up. Again, unless it looks like he can be stretched into a starter, as good as he is, he's still just a reliever. He can help push a deal to completion in abi way, but he's not going to be the main part of the deal. And the others I mentioned? Murton is stuck as a man out of place, yet he's a great trade piece, especially with the Padres, who have shown interest in him. Cedeno would have to go becase the need the SS depth with Greene going, and the Cubs could handle that easily wih Greene coming back in return. I'd trade Marshall or Gallagher as the final part...I could really go either way. Bottom line, you're not going to get a quality and valuable player like Greene for nothing. You're severely overvaluing Marmol.

Trading Marmol wouldn't make this bullpen stink. The Cubs have the luxury of selling high on a player like Marmol and still having a competitive or better bullpen. Greene's numbers are dragged down by playing half of his season in the cavern that is Petco. Look at his splits. His away OPS was .840 last year. .863 the year before that. Get him out of Petco and into a place like Wrigley and his numbers overall will soar. He's a serious power threat, especially for a SS, and he plays excellent defense at a position where we could use it. Plus, as opposed to Marmol's one inning every other game, he'll play almost every game. If you can use a reliever as a package to get a young, excellent everyday player like Greene, you do it.

Frostwyrn loves his cereal mascots like he loves his presidential candidates...delicious and chocolatey.

It would take a LOT for the Brewers to pass the White Sox, Mets and Cardinals in my book. As it stands right now, they just happen to be the competitor du jour, but there's no history or anything "real" to it.

Look, the argument for Greene has been spelled out clearly over and over again. If you're going to sit there and reply that him having a lower BA compared to Ryan-freakin'-Theriot is the main argument against him and ignore everything else, this is over before it even begins. Secondly, trading Marmol for the right player is about as far from idiotic as one could get. On the contrary...if the Cubs wised up and sold high for once, Marmol as part of a package could net a very juicy return to fill holes the team desperately needs to fill. At the end of the day, Marmol, as great as he is, is a reliever. You don't choose to horde a reliever when he could help net you desperately needed upgrades. The only way I'd want the Cubs to keep Marmol is if it looks like he can be stretched into an effective starter or if the bullpen suffered a slew of injuries. Short of either of that, he should be packaged up and sold high. To me, netting Greene in return for such a package would benefit the team much more than Marmol's relief appearances. I know a lot of people here would agree with that.

Even Neifi hit that grand slam that one time.

Yup, thats kinda his thing. yeah it's just funny to watch. i think he realized after the first pitch, "uh oh this guy has good stuff, i got no shot unless he throws four balls." So Kerry oblidged and slapped a couple of huge ones in Kendall's face.

He needs to be a gamer and grit it out. Does everything wrong, lounges around, and eats orphans. That's right, HE EATS ORPHANS.

I LOVE YOU, SHAM CLOSER!!!

YEAH!!!

Uh-oh.

Blargh. Redemption time, Kerry. Shut 'em down.