goonys evil twin

It will be televised in NY on WWOR 9, which is the UPN, I believe.

I rather have Sing play everyday in AAA than have him be our 5th OF. If he was an inexperienced young professional who needed the at bats that would make sense, but because he's older, with plenty of time under his belt as a pro, there's no value in sending him to AAA instead of the major league bench.

I think it is the perception of cost, not necessarily the cost itself. People think they all need their own bat and the most expensive model. But then again, a lot of kids who get into basketball think they need the new $200 shoe.

I can agree with this. What I don't agree with is him trying to swing harder. It's not going to happen. He can increase his OBP via discipline, not by scaring pitchers into thinking he has power. And players can gain patience as they get a little older. I wouldn't count on it happening, but it could happen if he tried.

What do the Cubs fans have to do to get some HONEST people up in the front office. This cloak and dagger crap when it comes to injuries, is simply mindboggling frustrating. Exactly. I bet he's dead - they're just saying he's alive so they can sell more Mark Prior jersies. That would be a lot funnier if it didnt actually seem like a possibility. :x He's not dead. He just went on a bender in Tijuana and is trying to sober up.

Pay no heed to those rumors, they are a joke. All insider does is take the gist of articles and try to draw conclusions from them. Much of the time, these are illogical, senseless, or have little to do with the article WHATSOEVER. I'm not even sure they take the gist. I think they usually try and find one line in the article that can then be manipulated into a catchy headline.

Not a good sign for our offense either. People have to stop trying to read the tea leaves via the first week of spring training games, or any spring training games for that matter. The results of these games aren't a sign for anything.

I don't think there's anything to be gained by talking about Juan changing his game. He is what he is. Sure his game leaves a lot to be desired, but it's not going to improve. Increased production would have to be achieved by surrounding him with better personel.

I agree. I would rest a lot easier if this thing was either confirmed or denied by a credible source....I.E. Bruce. I would say don't get your hopes up unnecessarily. Repeat.

I'm not taking the worst case, nor am I saying it'll be pretty bad. What I'm saying is that when you take into account all that can happen, it'll probably be pretty similar to how it's been for years. I think CF will be significantly better than last year (although Florida's CF production was only better than the Cubs last year, so Pierre has to improve on those numbers), LF will be better, SS should be a little better (I fully expect Neifi to start a lot, and I think Cedeno will be fine, but nothing special), 1B will be a little worse. 2B depends on Walker (with him, it'll be same, without it'll be worse). 3B will be same, maybe a little better. C will be same, maybe slightly worse. RF will be just as bad. The bench will suck. Overall the offense should be average to slightly above average. It'll take a whole lot of fortunate circumstances to be top 3. And we're going to have to burn up all our fortune on the pitching.

The key word in that statement is the Angels said NO. Miggy could be the final peice of the Cubs puzzle. I say you gotta give it a shot. Of course you give it a shot. JH would be [expletive] if he didn't. We just don't have a great chance of pulling it off (if Cabrera is truly available). We really don't have that dynamite sure thing prospect to get this done. Dynamite sure thing prospects won't be traded. The very top tier of prospect most likely wouldn't be involved. The very next tier might be involved, but teams aren't going to line up to trade that guy, plus significant other prospects. So, while Florida might be able to get the 10th best prospect in baseball, along with another marginal prospect, well out any top lists, the Cubs could offer a couple top 100 prospects, plus a few others that aren't down the list. And they could throw in a cheap young major league bullpen arm.

Why does everybody forget RF when talking about blackholes last year? Cubs RF ranked 13th in the NL in OBP, 15th in OPS. LF was 14th and 12th in those two categories. Furthermore, while we can hope for improvement from LF and SS, there is nothing close to a guarantee on that. Cubs SS had an OBP of .307 (10th in the NL). Will Ronny beat that? Hopefully, probably. But will Ronny play 162 games? No way. Neifi will have a chance to drag whatever Ronny does down, not to mention, Ronny could struggle to a .315-.320 OBP, which wouldn't help much. Then you have LF, where the Cubs had a .319 OBP last year. Again, Murton should do better, but by how much? And what about the guy Dusty inevitably plays in his place? Not to mention the Cubs could easily see their 1B OBP drop significantly, even if Lee has a great year. Plus, we could see serious decline from 2B (.346 last year) if Walker isn't playing. Of course you always have to worry about Barrett, if he is unable to match his career year, the C OBP could decline as well. You can't just say LF, SS, and CF have been solved, all is well. There were positions that overachieved last year that could decline this year. And some of the replacements won't necessariliy light the world on fire. Of course, Dusty could ruin any chances of improvement himself by overplaying undeserving veterans, his specialty.

So is this like the equivalent of minor league or independant league baseball, or maybe arena football? Or is this like MLB and NFL? I'm not 100% on the state of the German League, but I think its probably minor league baseball; certainly not MLB level. In Germany it goes Bundesliga>1st division>second division How much gambling is going one for that low of a level of sport?

So is this like the equivalent of minor league or independant league baseball, or maybe arena football? Or is this like MLB and NFL?

I could have read further. Weren't there also some German refs who got busted? The arrests are the latest in a growing scandal that has involved at least five Belgian teams. Last month a former coach of Lierse admitted he fixed two matches because his family was threatened. He and two former Lierse players were sacked by their new teams. Belgian investigators have also said they intend to arrest a Chinese businessman in connection with the scandal and have asked Britian and Finland for permission to extend their enquires into those countries.

That's part of the reason why you shouldn't get your hopes up.

So where do they go now that they've come to an agreement? It sounds like some conflicting reports are coming out about how active they will be. More money for the Bears means they can possibly fit more guys in. But more competition from other teams also means prices will be driven up. I personally have no interest in a lot of the backup QB options out there. I think all the talk about the lack of backup QB killing the Bears has been way overblown. I'm not quite sure how Gus Frerotte or Josh McCown helps this team. I'd like to see them get their backup QBs from the draft. You should draft a QB at least every other year. See what you can find, and see if you can develop a diamond in the rough. But I'm still hoping they get some sort of offensive weapon via free agency, offensive line depth (and youth), and some sort of defensive help as well.

I agree that part of Pierre's value is it means Dusty won't be able to bat some piece of trash in the leadoff spot. But it doesn't mean a thing when it comes to the 2 hole. Neifi will still get his shot there.

fear isn't stopping scouts from basketball and football teams from going into the inner cities and watching kids play. good article, but i'm not feeling that quote too much. i'm surprised by the cost of playing baseball...i was in a little league team in '94 and it didn't cost THAT much. maybe $250-$300 at the most. all we had to do was show up for practice with a bat, glove, cleats and some flexible clothing. the jerseys and gameday clothing were part of the fee you paid at the begining of the season. how much is it to play baseball on a high school or college team? i'm guessing it'll be in the $1000-$2000 range? My high school team all you needed to buy were cleats and a glove, but that was in the late 80's. Personally I think a lot of this is the difference between "have to buy" and "want to buy". In Dusty's quote he referred to the kids all wanting bat bags so they could fit in. You don't have to go all out on baseball equipment. Teams don't need more than 2 or 3 bats and 5 helmets. There's no reason for little league or even high school players to all have their own bat. I went to a relatively well-off school and we had maybe 4 guys with their own bats. I just grabbed one of theirs or the school's.

I know this isn't World Cup related, but it is futbol related. I feel like this is the 3rd or 4th match-fixing story I've read in recent months. Is euro-ball in a dilly of a pickle or are these just small fries? BRUSSELS, March 9 (Reuters) - Police arrested three players from Belgian first division side Sint Truiden during training on Thursday and took them for for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged match-fixing. "I can confirm that Cyril Ramond, Marco Nijs and Ilija Stolika were arrested by police this morning and are currently being questioned while their houses are being searched," a spokeswoman for the Belgian federal prosecutor said.

I agree. I would rest a lot easier if this thing was either confirmed or denied by a credible source....I.E. Bruce. I would say don't get your hopes up unnecessarily.

Root for small ball? This isn't going to be a small ball team. Juan Pierre will slap some singles and steal some bases, but other than that this is not a small ball team. It's a baseball team. Why do people insist on trying to pretend it's one or the other. Everybody wanted to call the White Sox a small ball team despite the fact that they relied so heavily on homeruns to win games. The Cubs have been for years among the league leaders in sacrifice hits and bunts yet people said they never tried small ball stuff. We shouldn't pretend this offense is going to be immensely different than it has been in years. Pierre isn't going to change everything on his own. Anyway, of course Cubs fans are going to root for Pierre. I personally wouldn't have gone so hard for him to be on the team, and I think many people grossly overvalue him. But I like him and think he can help the team and will be pulling hard for him, and all the rest of the team.

Willis got hit hard by some good hitters and some crappy ones. Bay is the best player on the field. The US hitters are doing nothing. Leiter is in and likely to get rocked.

He doesn't know about steroids but he knows they killed his friend Alzado and are really bad and he was one of the most outspoken people against steroids. This doesn't mesh. It's more Baker BS. He's got the integrity of a politician.

CC Sabiatha dropped out. And Leiter was the next best option? He was freaking horrible last year, there's no way he should be on this roster. That's baseball people for you, all hung up on the "proven veteran". There are 1000 better options than Leiter, but because he's a name who was good once, he gets the call.