goonys evil twin
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Everything posted by goonys evil twin
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I was annoyed, but the "free pass" was because he had produced before, and I expected his numbers to improve by the time all was said and done. So for me personally, Ramirez is not a fit for this team. When it really matters, he doesn't show up or care. Bury him on a top 5 offensive team where he can fly under the radar. The Cubs need someone capable of being a carry-the-load guy behind Lee and they need a big time producer, so it has to come from 3B, LF, or RF next year. I once again feel the need to ask, what team were you watching in '03 and '04. Or for that matter the beginning of 2005, when the team still had a chance, in theory. I wasn't a big fan of his from the start. But the guy has performed in a Cubs uniform, other than the beginning of this year, when everything went bad. You can't justify a "he doesn't show up when it matters" with Ramirez.
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I was annoyed, but the "free pass" was because he had produced before, and I expected his numbers to improve by the time all was said and done. In an interesting coincidence, the same can be said of Juan Pierre. Both players will likely end up with stats under career norms (but not by leaps and bounds), but Pierre's lack of productivity in the first half will be lamented far more than Ramirez's because of the standards set by those career norms. It goes back to the acceptable production line. The difference is Ramirez's expected norm is quite good, while Pierre's sucks, and the Cubs gave up lots of talent for Pierre.
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Tejada is already 30, and quite bulky. His time at SS will not, or at least should not, be long, certainly nowhere near as long as Aramis at 3B. Plus, Ramirez has been the superior hitter the past two years, and is still in his prime, while Tejada is leaving his prime and likely to decline. I don't see the Cubs finding a good enough 3B to replace him in order to take advantage of their position differences. Plus, Tejada is more expensive, and would have the option of demanding a trade or getting to go to free agency again if he is traded. At best this trade is a push near-term, but it's almost assuredly a negative long-term.
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Rumor has it that he walked off the set right after that argument (your memory is correct, it was over A-Rod) -- they cut to commercial, came back and he was gone. Who was arguing which point?
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Maybe it is a cliche (I've never heard it), but it's certainly not true. Guys act out of character quite frequently. Temper is a big part of attitude, and people vary in their ability to control that. Desire can come and go, as evidenced by the frequent listless days players and teams experience. Exhaustion can negatively affect both your attitude and desire. This is especially true in a sport like baseball, which is a marathon. That type of talk might work in football, or lower level baseball that has fewer games, where you prepare for a limited amount of contests. But in pro baseball, attitude and desire will fluctuate throught the long season, no matter how macho somebody wants to talk about always giving 110%.
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You can certainly make that claim, but that doesn't certainly make it true. OBP and SLG are simply far more important than speed and defense. And defense is most likely more important than speed. That is not to say I'd prefer guys who are slow and can't field. Certainly you'd love a .300/.450/.600 hitter who can steal 40 bases (at an 80%+ rate) and field with the best of them. The problem is those guys are very hard to find. What you need first and foremost is OBP, followed closely by SLG. The guy needs to be competent with the glove, but he doesn't have to be great. And it would be nice if he was fast, but not particularly important.
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I value stats as much as the next guy, and I also typically watch hundreds of games every year at all levels. I do not put a lot of stock in defensive metrics. Watching players and their reads, lines, quickness, etc all give a better idea of their value on defense. Outfield assists do not tell me how strong or accurate a player's arm is. Stolen bases do not always give an accurate representation of a players speed. Stats typically cannot show where corrections can be made to improve aspects of a players game. There are plenty more, I'm sure. There are a lot of things stats cannot measure and/or predict. Aside from some listed by Pedro, there's the big one, playoff series. Playing the odds gets you into the postseason. But once in, anybody can get hot, or lucky. Stats don't determine who will win before the season begins. But a smart GM can look at stats and use them to create the best odds for his team to get to the postseason. This is where Hendry has failed. He's terribly inefficient, and puts the team behind the eight ball repeatedly. It's not that it would be impossible for the Cubs to win with Hendry's style, or with Baker for that matter. It's just very difficult.
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I was annoyed, but the "free pass" was because he had produced before, and I expected his numbers to improve by the time all was said and done.
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Pierre?
goonys evil twin replied to dvdd127's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
I see what your saying now. You would only do this trade now... and not necissarily in the offseason. I would trade Dempster anytime, anywhere for a solid return. Non elite closers come and go. And Dempster is far from elite. The idea that he did it well one year and therefore can never be replaced is misguided. -
But the fact is he is a productive hitter. Who is to say that if he hustled more on groundballs he wouldn't tire himself out quicker or get hurt more frequently? That might sound absurd, but simply hustling more doesn't guarantee greater productivity in the long haul. Yes, I'd like to see him give it his all as well. And maybe as he matures he will do just that. But remember, Sammy Sosa gave it his all the vast majority of his career, running around like a madman. Lots of people still criticized his effort, selfishness and recklessness. The problem is there are so few ideal players, and no perfect players. Everybody has flaws.
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Baker chewing out Cedeno on Saturday?
goonys evil twin replied to Sammy Sofa's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Since June or maybe even May... he is a crappy hitter yes...... but overall I think he still has a lot of potential.. keep in mind its still his first FULL year in the bigs. Having potential and being a crappy hitter are not mutually exclusive. He does have potential. But as long as he's been a professional baseball player (that means minors plus majors), he's been a crappy hitter most of the time. -
I think "acceptable" is a stretch. I want the Cubs to do whatever they can to motivate Aramis to hustle more. And I really wish he had the self motivation to do it on his own. I am not happy with the laziness. But I want to see them win over all else. And Aramis's production is far too difficult to replace for us to justify running him out of town based on laziness. If this team had more good hitters, but were still coming up short, I might be more open to the idea of replacing him. But unless you can guarantee similar or better production, you simply cannot get rid of Aramis. And when the media and fans gang up on a player, it can affect management decisions. They already think speed and defense are more important than OBP and SLG. I don't need them feeling comfortable dumping a guy based on laziness when he's one of the few capable of providing OBP and SLG.
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Hill to start 7/27 / The Rich Hill Thread
goonys evil twin replied to soccer10k's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Should be Maddux, after the normal 4 rest days. That's what I had originally thought, but the Cubs site has him slated for Sunday. Cubs site lists Maddux as the probable for Saturday, TBA for Friday and Sunday. -
Not okay, but not worth going bonkers over. I've seen the collective wisdom of fans run players out of town, and I don't trust Cubs management to make smart decisions. So I'd rather not see the fans and media do all they can to run Aramis away. Neifi Perez's abysmal numbers are enough to blast him about, the hustle thing would be a small sidebar. The fact is, the most important thing to winning games is productivity. Productive players win games, even some lazy ones. Hard working guys who don't produce don't win games. And my number 1 goal as a Cubs fan is to maximize wins, not effort.
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Hill to start 7/27 / The Rich Hill Thread
goonys evil twin replied to soccer10k's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Should be Maddux, after the normal 4 rest days. -
Kind of. Although it's not really arbitrary. Basically, if you are productive, you are helping the team, and I don't care too much about all the side issues. If you are not productive, you are hurting the team and it's a lot harder to look past other flaws. Ramirez is far from ideal. The ideal player produces, hustles every play, fields flawlessly, is a tremendous teammates, always stays healthy, never complains, gets his teammates to work harder and play better, has a good relationship with the fans, etc. But there aren't too many "ideal players" out there. So, it's a lot smarter to concentrate on the overall productivity.
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I must have missed the meaning of that stat. What is FRAA? Fielding Runs above average?
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Pierre?
goonys evil twin replied to dvdd127's topic in MLB Draft, International Signings, Amateur Baseball
umm... who would our closer be then??? Howry, a better pitcher than Dempster. -
join this is a start, i guess. they should get rid of kruk and phillips too. I think he was a shade less dumb than Kruk, but still a moron. Take a guess: 1) Slept with the wrong person 2) Sexual harrasment and/or assault 3) Drugs/alcohol 4) Management realized his incompetence (hard to believe since Kruk and Phillips are still there) Item #2 didn't get Mike Tirico fired, but perhaps they're taking a stronger stance on that at ESPN these days. Or it was a different level.
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I don't know that I'd call him as big of a moron as Kruk and Phillips. I don't agree with a lot of the stuff he said on that show, but at least he had personality. He did tend to say a few things now and then that actually made sense, whereas the other two have yet to do so. From post article: "Reynolds was known for a smooth style that usually was player friendly. He never found himself in too much controversy for what he said on the air. " I can't stand the "everybody is just great" tendancy of broadcasters. The worst players in MLB are bad MLB ballplayers. Just because they are established veterans doesn't mean they can't be among the worst in the leagues. Analysts who have nothign but great things to say about every veteran player in the game are simply not doing their job, which is analyzing. Professional sports is about competition. Competition is about winners and losers. You can't have a great player withouth comparing him to an average player or a poor player.
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join this is a start, i guess. they should get rid of kruk and phillips too. I think he was a shade less dumb than Kruk, but still a moron. Take a guess: 1) Slept with the wrong person 2) Sexual harrasment and/or assault 3) Drugs/alcohol 4) Management realized his incompetence (hard to believe since Kruk and Phillips are still there)
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Well said! It is fun discussing some of these rumors, but I've seen pages and pages criticizing the Cubs for thinking about Craig Wilson, Carl Crawford, Abreu, Soriano, etc. for a variety of statistical reasons. Meanwhile, back at the ballpark, the Cubs are on their way to losing 100 games. Hendry is an idiot for wanting Soriano and Kenny Williams is a genius for getting him. You've seen pages and pages of criticizing the Cubs for thinking about Craig Wilson or Abreu? I sure as hell haven't. I'm not even sure there are pages criticizing them for thinking about Soriano. It's not the type of move I'd like to see them make, but I'm not adamently opposed to it either. I've seen Crawford brought up on occasion, usually in the positive.
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Is it possible Hendry may want to fire Dusty, but can't because his hands are tied fiscally by MacPhail, and the Tribsters? Possible, but doubtful. They've fired people before, and wouldn't necessarily have to spend too much for an interim the rest of this season. Plus, all signs point to Hendry genuinely believing in Dusty. He's the one that overbid, he's the one who has stuck by him. Andy has always said the Dusty decision is Jim's to make, and I believe it. Hendry hitched his wagon to Dusty in November 2002, and he probably doesn't realize what a bad decision that was.
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Do the injuries preclude a trade?
goonys evil twin replied to Southpaw191679666239's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
A good example being Jeff Fassero whom the Cards wanted for some reason. Fassero was pretty decent the year before he was dealt (124 ERA+) and didn't have the contract Rusch has. Glendon had a 94 ERA+ this year, has been worse this season and has a lot of money coming to him. -
OPS Home/Road - 1.042/.879 Doesn't seem to be bothered by the size of his home park. exactly. imagine how he'd be doing if he was hitting in a good park. Didn't they make some changes to the dimensions of RFK this season?