baseball7897

I believe South Carolina had a really good recruting class in 06.

Da Bengals!!!!

I think Wichita was, again, without their best player. Still, they're struggling right now. Well, that explains that then. Nope.. Couisnard played. Wow. There goes that then. SIU should definitely be able to beat them at the Arena on New Year's Day. $IU would lose to Lamar. How's Kish doing? 10-1

I think Wichita was, again, without their best player. Still, they're struggling right now. Well, that explains that then. Nope.. Couisnard played. Wow. There goes that then. SIU should definitely be able to beat them at the Arena on New Year's Day. $IU would lose to Lamar.

That it was. We EASILY should've won by at least 3 TDs. Another game where we outgain the opponent heavily, in terms of total yardage, and we still barely win the game. We outgained Detroit by over 200 yards last week and only won by 8 and we outgained the Bills by almost 200 yards and still found a way to lose by 14. Regardless though, our D is improving as the season goes on. Aaron Kampman is becoming a stud and we're actually starting to get pressure on the QB now. I'll take the W. We have a decent chance at finishing 8-8 as we will more than likely play against the Bears 2nd and 3rd stringers for about 3/4's of the game next Sunday. Hopefully the Giants, Falcons, and Rams lose on Sunday... Packers suck meathead.

:shock: Poor reads, poor first step, terrible lateral acceleration, no vertical leap... I think it'd be one of the worst defensive shortstop contributions we've seen in quite a long time. :lol: I think it would be a very fun experiment. You have the choice of a butcher defensively or an automatic out in the line up. Which one hurts the team more? The butcher on defense.

Not going to happen.

Not sure I like this trade for the Sox.

But what does this portend? My thoughts are that the Cubs will use the Floyd money to go after a bench/stopgap CF'er. It is the smart play since it is now well known that CF'ers are in short supply and if/when Pie becomes a full time player Cubs could deal a wily veteran. Who are the options: Erstad: 34 (injured and LHB) a punch and judy hitter he is barely adaquate Finley 41 yrs old (LHB) once a solid everyday player he is was adaquate as a part timer and as recently as '04 a gold glover. Next year's FA possible (trade possibilities) Mike Cameron (CF at SD) and RHB and excellent all around OF'er...hmm? Brady Clark (CF at Milw) and RHB great platoon candidate in CF...hmm? Torii Hunter (CF at MN) and RHB, great OF'er but that puts Pie in AAA...unless Cubs trade Murton and more, probably unlikely Andruw Jones (CF at Atl) this would be another blockbuster and probably involve Murton and more Ryan Church (CF at Wash) back up LHB Corey Patterson (CF on Balt) redux....probably not Aaron Rowland (CF on Phila) now this is another possible or Victorino their RF/CF switch hitter My thoughts are that the Cubs are exploring a trade with Jones and AAA pitching for a multi purpose OF'er to either back up/platoon or stop gap with or for Pie. Floyd appears to be a back up back up if/when Cubs trade Jones where Jones will play CF if not traded for a CF'er and also if Pie doesn't make the team in ST. Here are my scenerios that appear on paper: #1 Cameron (because Piniella likes him and he can play all three OF positions and hit for power). This could be a platoon with Pie or allow Pie to go to AAA. Trade scenerio; Jones, Pagan or prospect & AAA pitcher choice. #2 Aaron Rowland (good defender and non block platoon mate for Pie, he too can play all OF positions), Trade scenerio Jones & AAA pitcher choice. #3 Brady Clark (fair defender and non block platoon mate for Pie), trade scenerio Jones and Pagan. Milw then ships Jenkins. #4 Last option, Cubs sign Finley Who is Aaron Rowland? :wink: You could probably get Brady Clark for Angel Pagan straight up.

Why do you hate depth? That really makes no sense at all.

I made ND over LSU my lowest. I made Florida beating Ohio State as my highest :D That would be a smart choice. :wink:

Throw in Halladay and then you would have a deal. :D

http://turntwo.mlblogs.com/photos/cards_vs_pads/jason_marquis_practice_swings_as_pinch_h.JPG

The above is a short excerpt from an article up on Baseball Prospectus right now. In baseball, maybe more than any other sport, I would not give up on a guy with personality issues. Jeff Kent is a huge jerk, but I'd rather have him at second base than Mark Derosa. I'd rather have JD Drew than Willy Taveras and Ryan Church than Angel Pagan, too. Really? I don't think anyone is going to have a hard time making those choices either. Btw, I would rather have Vlad Guerrero over Jacque Jones.

WOW! Wouldn't that be a story!!!!!!! Especially if it translates into Drew only getting a 1 or 2 year deal at less money! He probably snapped his hamstring while taking his physical.

Drew may have failed his physical. http://redsox.bostonherald.com/redSox/view.bg?articleid=172329

Just because we "aren't looking for power out of him" doesn't mean it's okay to have absolutely none. And he doesnt' have any potential. He is what he is, which isn't good. He's the same player he was in the minors, which is nothing. The last thing the Cubs need to be doing is acquiring guys for their defense, they haven't sucked because of defense. They've sucked because their lineup has sucked and their rotation has sucked. Taveras was worse than Pierre last year. His OBP ticked higher last year, barely, it was just .008. He also had a decline in AVG and SLG. That's not a sign of a guy who's poised to show off his potential. He doesn't produce worth a crap, and the Cubs don't need anymore people who don't produce. This would be a horrible acquisition, as usual. It's more of the pitcher's have a game plan against Willy. Now it's time for Willy to make the adjustments. I didn't realize that adjustments can only be made during the offseason. Where did I say that?

Just because we "aren't looking for power out of him" doesn't mean it's okay to have absolutely none. And he doesnt' have any potential. He is what he is, which isn't good. He's the same player he was in the minors, which is nothing. The last thing the Cubs need to be doing is acquiring guys for their defense, they haven't sucked because of defense. They've sucked because their lineup has sucked and their rotation has sucked. Taveras was worse than Pierre last year. His OBP ticked higher last year, barely, it was just .008. He also had a decline in AVG and SLG. That's not a sign of a guy who's poised to show off his potential. He doesn't produce worth a crap, and the Cubs don't need anymore people who don't produce. This would be a horrible acquisition, as usual. It's more of the pitcher's have a game plan against Willy. Now it's time for Willy to make the adjustments.

Taveras is a career .284 hitter in his first two years in the majors. He did start to show some patients at the plate last year.

It appears the Cubs have shown interest in acquiring Willy Taveras from the Rockies. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061214&content_id=1761487&vkey=hotstove2006&fext=.jsp

Just in that group, you have 4 pitchers that missed sign. amounts of time due to injuries. It is too dependent on the health of pitchers always being injury free. That'll leave 3 relievers for spare parts. That'll give you approx. only 4-5IP of Z, Lilly, Hill, and Prior. If Z is doing well and get thru 5, you're leaving 4IP at the hands of likely of a lesser pitcher with the game still in doubt most of the time. It's one thing to take the ball out of his hands in the 8th b/c of health concerns, it's another to do so after 5. It doesn't allow the team the luxury of being able to fully capitalize from the occasions of a starter having a real good outing. Well said.

Where do you come up with this stuff? I agree with him. You can't just go to a 4 man rotation b/c it makes statistical sense. If we brought guys up through the minors using a 4 man rotation, the mental approach and physical approach (limiting pitch counts, getting your body adjusted to the different strain and healing processes) would be different. Expecting to take a crowd of guys raised on the 5 man rotation to go to a 4 man rotation and put up similar numbers and avoid injury is silly. I'd be all for going to the 4 man rotation in the minors and raising the next gen of pitchers on it, but converting current ML pitchers to the 4 man is just asking for injuries. Except in the playoffs when it really counts. BTW: I'm not supporting a 4 man rotation. My question had nothing to do with a 4 man rotation. It has to do with the bolded above. Being a pitcher means you have to have to put in a tremendous amount of work. And it all starts with a simply having a practice routine that you stick with no matter what. Having a regular routine is critical for being successful as a pitcher. Barry Zito's thoughts on a regular routine: "It's unbelievable. I see guys who don't have a routine. And they bounce from team to team. When you have a solid plan that you have been doing for years and years, you just don't ever get stressed out because you know you are prepared."

Where do you come up with this stuff? Someone by the name of Tom Glavine.

Actually, using tandem starters would probably free up a bench spot. You'd have two guys ready to throw 90 pitches (ideally - with guys returning from injury you may want fewer than that), so you'd need maybe three bullpen guys, tops. Also, history shows that a guy that starts on Sunday could throw an inning or two of relief on Tuesday instead of throwing a side session. GM's and managers don't do such things not because of science but because of the scrutiny involved when one stands out. I am not a fan of that idea. The whole idea of a bullpen is for you to work on the things you didn't do well in the game. The majority of the SP's in the league don't throw a bullpen at maxium effort. For example; Tom Glavine will throw a bullpen for 10-12 minutes at 70% effort. During that time he will be working on his command. He will also work on backdooring his curveball, and he might also work on staying on top and behind his 2-seemer so it's more solid. At the end of his bullpen he will work on throwing specific pitches in various count situations.

I'd rather see a 4-man rotation than a 6-man rotation. Why is that? Too hard to get your good SP's the appearances they need to lift the ballclub on their shoulders. Also---many people believe SP's start to get rusty after too much time off. There's a school of thought that says the old way (4 man rotations) was actually better because it taught SP's to lay off their arms and learn to pitch, and it also made them do it more often so they got better at the "art" of pitching. Now guys take the extra day of rest and just try to destroy everyone without investing the energy into learning to hit spots, choose the correct pitch, etc. I'm not saying I totally buy it, but I accept it as a decent argument. Really hard to put together 6 good pitchers, too... Pitcher's have their routines. The mechanical work, the conditioning and throwing phase and the mental game are part of that routine. Now, if you take that pitcher out of a routine he has been using for years, he is not going to have the same results in my opinion. The single most important thing when you look at a pitcher is his daily routines.