Sammy Sofa

Why are people complaining about this being a long transaction thread? There are no other Cubs transactions even rumored at the moment.

Why are so many people acting snotty and prickish towards the Orioles' message board? Nobody is forcing you to read this thread, nor are their attempts at tracking down news doing you any kind of harm or are being done out of spite. Why talk about them so insultingly or dismissively? If it bugs some of you so much, ignore the thread until you see the title change, which it has with every significant update. Why continually post about how much this thread annoys you or how you're tired of posts not about the deal?

It's freakout time. Why? You seriously think Hendry would do that just for Roberts? Come on... It's not.

3rd party.

Like it was said, what does this have to do with the trade? The issue is what the Cubs have to give up to get Roberts in players, not money.

That phone call has me starting to wonder if Roger might be telling the truth. Well, Clemens himself taped it. The one thing that gets me is this. Throughout that entire conversation, he never asked the other guy "Why did you lie?" or, when asked "What do you want me to do?" he didn't say "Tell them I didn't do it!" Exactly. Very telling. "How can you be saying this?" "Somebody needs to stop lying/start telling the truth."

No. No it has not been the one glaring need. Leadoff hitter is not a position, it's just a spot in the order that any of the 8 position players can fill. This team's most glaring need for a very long time has been walks, and players who are both willing and capable of taking them. A little more generally, they've lacked OBP. And to the extent that a new hitter can significantly improve the OBP by replacing somebody who is already here, that player would have considerable value to the Cubs. You're right, a big need for this ball club is OBP, and you're dead wrong if you think one of the other 8 guys on the team can fill this role. I think you need to take a step back to a few years ago, year 2003..... We took off once we got Kenny Lofton, and all he did for us was get on base, steal bases and play solid defense. I believe Roberts is the same type of player, considering his OBP was .377 last year. He is what will spark this team, it also allows us to move Soriano down, where he needs to be. He is clearly not a leadoff hitter. I know now you're going to come back at me with DeRosa's OBP, which is also very good at .371. I guess, for the less of another argument here, we can say thats even. The one thing, which I dont understand why even is saying does not matter is stolen bases. The guy had freaking 50 last year, good lord! We havent had that many stolen bases since Pierre, and he didnt even get on base. Stolen bases are huge, that will lead to more runs, more runners in scoring position. Roberts would be a huge asset to this team. I am also very confident that DeRosa can still play SS, just as good, if not better than Theriot. DeRosa came up as a SS, and he still has a spectacular glove, his range worries me a little, but I believe lots of work in the offseason will make him a solid SS. This trade makes the Cubs an even more potent offensive team. I hate to say this, but ask them White Sox how they won their World Series. They won it with OBP, stolen bases, and timely hitting, and great pitching. Our pitching is strong and will only get stronger, Roberts is a player that will make us stronger offensively. With him, well score more runs, hell score a butt load of runs, and our 3-5 hitters will drive in significantly more runs. They won because of solid pitching and a crap load of home runs. Their team OBP was .322. That's not all that great. But, they always had a man in scoring position, meaning they always had someone on base, and then stole a base. The stolen base seems to be forgotten in this sport now. The stolen base is a key category that not every team can posses. This team would be a lot more successful with a player like Roberts getting on base, stealing, and the scoring on a hit. They didn't always have someone on base. See their OBP stat. The stolen base is largely "forgotten" because the game has evolved beyond it in many ways due to how much hitting power has increased. Guys that are fast enough to steal a bunch of bases are almost as likely to score from 1st as 2nd if they're getting on in front of mashers. How is your "steals = more gooder" argument not just a carbon copy of someone's argument for Pierre being on this team?

Do all those home runs count for nothing? You could very easily argue they won because they went on a tear that season and hit the hell out of the ball power-wise.

"Everyone?" "EVERYYYYYYYYONNNNNNNNNNNNNE!!!" http://splunge.net.au/events/gary-oldman-film-festival/the_professional.jpg

I see no problem with any of this.

Yes, the guy who took fewer pitches than anyone else on the team has a "good eye at the plate."

QFMFT.

Fixed.

Yes, there's a slew of trade talks/rumors out there, but we're refusing to post them here just to drive people bonkers. Do you want us to make things up? It's between Christmas and New Year's...little, if anything, happens now.

This is an important thread.

To me, it's always going to be supremely frustrating if Cuban does end up with the team and he and ARod basically passed like ships in the night by ultimately a matter of months. I have little doubt that if he had control during this offseason that the combo of him and Lou would have had ARod here in no time.

This implies there are pictures where he doesn't look terrible.

Just finish toppling Cabrini-Green and build a new stadium there.

I'd be perfectly happy with a brand new stadium not called Wrigley in any way.

Do you really care what the place is called? It would bug me, but ultimately, no. It's not like it had some non-advertising name in the first place.

Roberts and Fukudome make a lot of sense hitting #1-2...anywhere else isn't knocking my socks off. Both players were/are sought seemingly because of the OBP...so why waste tha further down in the lineup? Sorry, Sori, it's time to move down.

Despite his posting "quirks," Meph typically is able to back up his points very well. You pointed it out yourself...he made a excellent argument regarding Greene's splits that show he is typically going to do very well offensively away once he's away from the Padres. Combine that with his very good defense and he fills a massive hole on this Cubs team. Most of the people you listed are able to back up their arguments. That's going to make them very persuasive. It's not a stretch at all when people tend to agree with people like that as opposed to people just generally speaking with "it seems to me" or "I think maybe" or various examples of "gut-think" analysis.

I don't think so. The reason Jaque got booed was his attitude. I never got the sense that he had a bad attitude. He just sucked. You missed all the times he talked about the fans and their "lack of support" in the press? You mean when he told the truth to the media? Things like being honest about being upset when the home fans boo don't exactly scream "bad attitude" to me. I doubt any of his teammates thought of him as a bad guy. I've never been bothered by such nonsense, though. You call out the fans when you're playing like crap, it's not going to go over well.

I don't think so. The reason Jaque got booed was his attitude. I never got the sense that he had a bad attitude. He just sucked. You missed all the times he talked about the fans and their "lack of support" in the press?

Crap? Like who?