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goonys evil twin

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Everything posted by goonys evil twin

  1. goonys evil twin
    So the NFL set is going to be more like college gameday, on location at the site of the game of the week so that Joe can go straight from that job to the playbyplay. NFL pregame shows are just background noice for me on Sundays. They are all awful, offering nothing to the viewer. It's just a combination of butt-kissing interviews, melodramatic sob stories and half-assed analysis. This is the time when I'm prepping the meat for the grill, testing the bloody mary's and checking the keg.
  2. goonys evil twin
    Are you claiming this is about building up Z's arm strength? That's not even close to the issue. Z's arm strength is built up, Dusty's been pushing him to the same limit nearly every outing of every year he's been able to abuse him.
  3. goonys evil twin
    I didn't Zambrano laboring at all. He looked as strong in the 7th and 8th as in the 1st. He was laboring all game, getting into and out of jams. It wasn't an easy 120 pitches, it was a very difficult, very erratic 120, that involved mid game tightening and getting banged up physically.
  4. goonys evil twin
    I'm saying stereotypical leadoff hitters are ridiculously overrated by some in baseball, including Hendry and Dusty. I'm not talking about your prototypical leadoff hitter, the guy who will get on base 40% of the time, take lots of pitches, walk, steal at an efficient clip, etc. I'm talking about stereotypical leadoff hitters, as in Dusty's insistence that the short fast black centerfielder must be the leadoff hitter, or that the leadoff hitter must be a short fast guy. Juan Pierre is a stereotypical leadoff hitter. The Cubs willingness to trade a lot for him was both obvious from the start and absurdly ridiculous. It would be similar to paying big bucks for an innings eating starting pitcher who doesn't pitch effectively at all, and is, in fact, below average in terms of ERA+ in comparison to the rest of the league. When the Cubs decided they needed a leadoff hitter, aside from putting themselves behind the negotiating 8-ball by letting the world know what they were hot and heavy for, they foolishly decided that the most important aspect of the leadoff hitter's game was his speed, and that everything else was secondary. Any short fast dark skinned athlete can be a stereotypical leadoff hitter. But there aren't many prototypical ones. If you got one, great, but don't go bidding heavily on stereotypical leadoff men thinking they will be as good as a prototypical leadoff hitter.
  5. goonys evil twin
    Ugh. Ok so I have 2 questions... 1) Does this mean Joe won't be announcing games? Because I can watch the ESPN or CBS pregame shows, and then not ever have to see Joe, which might make this a good thing. 2) What happened to James Brown? JB moved to CBS I believe.
  6. goonys evil twin
    You might've spoke too soon... Looks like Mike Brown hurt his achillies again. It is said to be just a "twinge" (i hate ambiguous injury descriptions), they aren't too sure but they think he'll be back for the openner. Losing Brown in 2004 and late last year hurt big time, hopefully he can get back to 100% quickly. I believe that this year's offseason strategy was partly based on the assumption that Mike Brown is completely unreliable and may be close to done in the NFL, due to health reasons. They've got loads of DBack help now, and can probably withstand losing Brown for at least a few games.
  7. goonys evil twin
    Everyone is over-reacting. 120 pitches for Zambrano is not a big deal. 120 pitches for Wood is a big deal. This idea of a fixed pitch count ceiling for all pitchers without regard for the specific pitcher is silly. The idea that Dusty's treatment of Zambrano is fine is what is silly.
  8. goonys evil twin
    Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. It's not just 20 pitches in one games. It's 20 pitches when he was laboring, after he was spiked by a runner, during a stretch where he's been pitching poorly in a season when he's been extended every single game and struck in the elbow by a bat, and when he struggled a lot after the WBC.
  9. goonys evil twin
    You attempted to back it up, but it's still wrong. The Cubs didn't need a stereotypical leadoff hitter. They didn't need to get into a bidding war for marginally productive hitters. They weren't forced to give up big time talent for Pierre when they lost out on Furcal. It was Jim Hendry's incompetent management decisions that put this team into the position it was, and currently is, in. It was not some imagined need to sign Furcal. They could have and should have completely ignored the stereotypical leadoff hitter "position" and just gone out and found the best 8 hitters they could at each actual position. In other words, when I ask you if you'd like me to kick you in the balls, or slap you across your face, your answer should be neither, not whichever one you think will hurt less.
  10. goonys evil twin
    Brian Sabean replaces Dusty with Felipe Alou. He must have a fondness for pitcher abusers. Sabean also doesn't build his team around very young pitchers. The combination of using young pitchers, building your entire team around those young pitchers, and allowing excessive abuse of those pitchers is a disaster waiting to happen. People who didn't have their heads stuck in the sand, or 1973, were well aware of this before Dusty was brought to Chicago.
  11. goonys evil twin
    He could have had a leadoff guy(Furcal) w/o giving up Nolasco and Pinto if he would have ponied up 3 mil more per season... yet he gives 6 mil/year in contracts to Rusch Perez Wade no arm Miller. It just doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense is thinking you have to have a leadoff guy, letting the world know you're desperate for a leadoff guy, and show a willingness to pay heavily for a leadoff guy, and insisting that leadoff guy be a stereotypical leadoff guy. It's plain old stupid management. What's that about a fool and his money? Your point does hold that wasting millions on crap like Rusch and Neifi is what keeps him from paying a little more for guys that really matter, but thinking that Furcal was a guy that really mattered is just wrong.
  12. goonys evil twin
    I hope to hell Zambrano doesn't turn into Livan Hernandez in a couple years.
  13. goonys evil twin
    even after watching the 2006 Chicago Cubs, I had no idea such offensive ineptitude was possible. They probably just lacked some aggressiveness at the plate.
  14. goonys evil twin
    Throwing really hard is cool, but sucking as a pitcher is somewhat of an obstacle to having great success as a closer. Aardsma walks too many and is too hittable. He's had a moderately successful minor league career, but it hasn't translated to much in the majors, not with a career WHIP of 1.88. He needs a lot of development before he'll be a reliable reliever.
  15. goonys evil twin
    Maybe that is true, but if it was, he had the perfect opportunity around the all star break. Dusty has already allowed the team to underperform. It wouldn't make much sense to give him another couple months if your intention was to defend letting him go by pointing at how poorly the team played when the chips were down. Plus, I really don't think Hendry is such a conniving guy. I think he honestly believes Dusty is the right guy for the job, and if anything, he's holding onto him to the end because he's having such a hard time convincing himself that Baker needs to go, because that would mean admitting he was so very wrong to go so hard after him in the first place.
  16. goonys evil twin
    From what I can tell, Colletti is a bit anti-Dusty following his years of working alongside him in San Fran.
  17. goonys evil twin
    I think Dusty's jabs will be much more subtle. He is never up front with a straight answer. It's always a bunch of jibberish. It will be clear to those who pay attention, but he'll be able to look back at the quote and point out that he never directly insulted the GM or made excuses.
  18. goonys evil twin
    Neifi could still contribute on a team for 2007 with a different manager. He's never going to contribute to a team for 2.5 million dollars-that's for sure, but if you release him you have to pay his salary anyway. So, that's a mistake that's in the past-so we might as well keep him and use him in the role that he was intended. Neifi is playing hte role that he was intended, maybe not intended by God, but by Hendry and Baker. He was supposed to play a lot from the very beginning. That was the plan. You don't pay a guy that much money for a guarantee of 2 years if you don't plan on using him a lot.
  19. goonys evil twin
    How he's hitting recently should not matter. But for what it's worth, he's hitting .261/.320/.304 over the past 7 days.
  20. goonys evil twin
    Nothing like playing for the 1-run loss. That run means nothing.
  21. goonys evil twin
    Melky? Definitely not. He's a pudgy, defensively challenged player with a mediocre minor league career to date. He's similar to Ronny Cedeno in a way, without the luxury of playing a position where offense is an afterthought.
  22. goonys evil twin
    I wouldn't call it a glaring hole, at least not in relation to the rest of the positions. The middle infield is the glaring hole. The Cubs are getting the 16th best production in the NL from both SS and 2B, in terms of OPS. That's worst in the league. LF and CF are each providing 13th highest OPS from their positions. Certainly all 4 spots (along with the struggling 1B position) need to and can be improved. 1B will be improved simply by having Lee return, even if he reverts to his pre-2005 form. LF could improve simply through normal progression that you'd expect from a 24 year old player with a good approach. 2B could improve in the same manner. SS and CF, however, are not going to improve by sticking the players who are there now. And when you factor in cost of the guys who might fill those spots, you should really get more bang for the buck than those guys are capable of providing. That doesn't mean LF can't be improved, clearly it could. They could go out and trade for Pat Burrell if Philly is still dumping salary in the offseason (he's affordable now, but due for big raises). Or they could sign one of the bigger name free agents who will provide solid SLG, if not spectaculiar overall production.
  23. goonys evil twin
    Should we assume a different starter?
  24. goonys evil twin
    I share your opinion. Nothing can be gained from a trip to Iowa. If he's healthy enough to pitch, let him pitch his way through this. However, if there's a real injury issue, then shut him down. My opinion is that he has to get his feel back for pitching, at least, that's my hope.
  25. goonys evil twin
    You have to be accustomed to the 4 man rotation, not just whip it out when you feel like it. And you also have to be cautious with individual game pitch counts. If you refuse to rest a guy who is obviously not 100%, then you better not add to the problem by having him repeatedly go out for 110+ pitch counts in games that mean absolutely nothing.
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