A New Era

That was the most exciting foul I've seen in awhile. .

Does it matter?

Dude, it's raining, and it's just not hot enough out there for him.

So you don't want to rely on Hill as more than a #5, but will do so with Prior as a possible #3 or 4? Call US crazy for counting on Hill. Let me ask you, what has PRIOR shown this year that he can be counted on as more than a #5 (if we are lucky he's healthy)? It just seems a little inconsistant of you to call us out for penciling in Hill as atleast a #4 yet count on Prior as even as high as a #3 as you just stated above.

Sure...Duke was 43-17 with a 2.38ERA and Rich Hill was 19-19 3.90ERA. Why can't you compare the two again? So did you not read what he said, or did you do that on purpose? Duke had a Minor League K/9 of 7.25, Hill's is an obscene 12.59. I didn't read the K part...Sorry 'bout that...I thought it said look at their minor league stats... I'm just saying you can't rely on a guy to be your 2-3 starter that has had a good 2 month run. So are you siding with Goony and saying we have to go out and sign a #2, #3, and #4? Regardles if you think Hill is a 2,3,4, or 5th starter you still need a 3 more starters right? Unless you are counting on Prior to be healthy... So we need to sign 3 veteran starters. a #2 quality one. And the other 2 which are #3 and #4 quality?

Sure...Duke was 43-17 with a 2.38ERA and Rich Hill was 19-19 3.90ERA. Why can't you compare the two again? So did you not read what he said, or did you do that on purpose? Duke had a Minor League K/9 of 7.25, Hill's is an obscene 12.59. I didn't read the K part...Sorry 'bout that...I thought it said look at their minor league stats... I'm just saying you can't rely on a guy to be your 2-3 starter that has had a good 2 month run. So are you siding with Goony and saying we have to go out and sign a #2, #3, and #4?

See? Tim likes Hill. Nuff said.

Marshall and Hill. 2 of the "rookies" I most look foward to pitching. Though, Mateo is slowly becoming very interesting. .

I got lost somewhere along the way here. Anyway, the Cubs do have enough money to get a couple of good starting pitchers this offseason. What they must do is cut bait on expensive, but unproductive players, elsewhere, and stay away from wasting a million here and there on roster filler, when $350,000 guys can do the same job. Whether or not Hill pitches the third game of the season is irrelevent to me. I just feel like a lot of people are going overboard in what they think he's likely to do next season, along the lines of those who thought Murton was a shoe-in 850 OPS guy and Cedeno was going to be great. You have to build contigencies into your team, and plan for setbacks. You can't build teams with too high of expectations for individual players, otherwise you are setting your team up for failure, in terms of meeting your expectations. I agree here. My arguement is mainly that I feel safer relying on Hill then I EVER did Wood and Prior. (after 2004) We must get rid of and stop signing guys like Rusch, Pierre for $7 million, ect. . And go with a guy like Murton who will likely put up above .350 OBP and possibly hit 15-20 homers next year for less than $400k. If we consider Hill "icing" as you say though. Then you have to go out and sign a #2 like Zito, a #3, and a #4, as well as 1 big bat. We simply do not have the money for that. Hill should be projected to be a #3 or #4 and anything else he gives us would be a bonus. Z is your #1, you sign a great #2, have hill as the most promising of the #3,4, and 5 guys. Then either sign one innings eater, or just use the rest of the most promising rookies for #4 and #5.

JonMdavis has one of them on his website. Find one of his posts, then visit his website. . I think it's the one with him throwing the "broom" down.

I'm just throwing out names, as I haven't been paying too much attention to baseball recently, oddly enough, except for some Hill starts. I just know Padilla was a relatively consistent 100+ OPS+ guy for a few years, then suffered a downturn, which I believe was due to going straight from bullpen work to 200 inning as a starter in back to back seasons. And I thought he was having a nice bounce back season with a low 4 ERA (good in Texas) 7+ k/9 and low 700 OPS against. I see him as sort of like that prototypical innings eater who is also relatively effective, as opposed to Traschsel, who can give you 200 innings, but suck in the process. It doesn't have to be Padilla. But there a quite a few pitchers who the Cubs could get, that they could rely on to give them many solid innings. Hill could give them many solid innings as well, but his range of expectation is going to be quite wide, and the Cubs can't afford to expect too much out of him. They've got to build with him as frosting, not part of the cake. As opposed to how JH used highly injury prone Wood and Prior as icing instead of part of the cake? No matter how you feel, JH will use Hill as part of the cake. And my arguement here would be, atleast he is likely to not be injured. And I'd rather rely on Hill as a #3 than Prior even being IN the rotation for atleast half a year. Another point is, the Cubs do not have enough money to consider Hill "icing". They will be going into 07 with no Wood, and as Prior as a "bonus". I'd rather consider Prior your #5, because he is likely to go down and when he does, atleast a #5 is easier to replace. If HILL is a #5 then what the heck are Marshall and Mateo? #7s!?!?

Who was this made by, and when was this predicted. Even though the Cubs are close to their prediction, I find it hard to beleive anyone predicted that record before the year, and before DLee's injury. .

Oh man, nasty. :lol:

LOL. First I thought the text ad program was just random. But Cubs always comes up as a hair loss advert. Now Bobby Cox comes up as hair loss too. :lol:

I'm gonna beer open a crack, right now.

Shoes? The suxorzs?

Hill get's Bobby Cox' endorsement. "He's tough," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said of Hill. "He's going to be a real good one. He's a good guy to have in your rotation, that's for sure."

Which Derrek is playing SS? Because #7 Derrek has much better wheels than the rest. :lol: oops, just found out I spelled Derrek's name wrong. :oops: Thank you for not saying "I don't know about Derrick, but Derrek Lee would do good."

He should be thinking about preparing a resume and whether or not he wants to manage next year if another team offers him a job. Dusty, please fish. .

Derrick Lee Derrick Lee Derrick Lee Aramis Ramirez Derrick Lee Derrick Lee Derrick Lee Derrick Lee Carlos Zambrano Could that team win the WS? :wink:

They're gonna have to change his name to Slow Freddie (because he's always walking).

What the hell has happened to Bynum!? 3 walks!!?!?!?!?!? :shock: As Len said, 6 walks prior to today. :lol:

"Rich hill, "transacted" into a #2" I'm sorry you can delete this. Or move this to social. Please forgive me. I'm just really happy about Hills progression. :lol:

Yes I'd love to have 9 guys with no power, spaghetti arms, that take horrible routes to fly balls, and whose OBP is strictly based upon Batting average, and who run into the most outs in baseball. Does this guy have ANY clue? At all? Seriously. I hate Dusty, alot. And I pick apart things he says, honestly sometimes I do. But I think he just meant having players that perform at about where they are expected and give it their all every day like Pierre does.

Amazing considering how high it was in July. He's been pitching like an all-star these last 2 months.