davearm

Also for all of those Dunn fans out there, here are his monthly OPS's for August and September the last three years: aug 04 1000 sep 04 828 aug 05 795 sep 05 847 aug 06 700 sep 06 594 PA-weighted Average: 798

Well put me in the camp that's all in favor of the Brewers trading 3 years of Weeks (plus some other useful parts) for 2 months of Dunn.

Murton doesn't play first base. Fox does. And oh by the way, our regular 1B will be unavailable for the next 4 games.

Miller's already on the 60-day DL, and his roster spot taken by another guy. Dumping him doesn't open a spot.

Bump for the bolded part. The plot thickens....

First thought: Hendry's working the phones, and one or more teams have asked about Jake Fox, so he's getting an audition ahead of the trade deadline.

I suspect Kendall's next contract will not be very large. For example Mike Piazza signed for 1 year and $2M after underperforming the last few years of his 7/$91M deal.

As much as I dislike "Dyan," I have to agree with a lot of what he says here. The Cubs certainly could use an upgrade in one or two places, but they don't have out-and-out glaring needs that absolutely must be addressed. CF isn't great, but Pagan vs LHP, Jones vs RHP, and Pie in the wings isn't horrible. Regardless of what the YTD production has been from RF, I feel pretty comfortable with a Floyd/DeRosa platoon there. They could use a MI upgrade if an easy and obvious one presented itself, but the "Cajun Connection" has been more than adequate, and DeRosa solidifies this situation too. Like Kendall or not, they're done acquiring catchers. None of the starters is a glaring weakness. Another BP arm is always welcome, but there's help on the way (Dempster, Guzman, Wood, Mateo), or already available (the usual suspects that have shuttled back and forth from Iowa). So the bottom line is that there are places where they *could* upgrade, but not really any that they *must* upgrade. I guess CF would come the closest to a "must-have".

I didn't miss it, and thought it was wonderful.

With all the Kendall bashing going on here, I'm surprised that he's not taking heat for the Roberts AB in the 8th, specifically the 3-2 breaking ball that was nowhere close. Ohman's gotta groove a fastball there and make Roberts get a hit to beat him. If it was Kendall calling for the curve, then that's his mistake.

When? There are millions of babies starving in Africa, although if you wanted to challenge me on that, I couldn't name you even one. I can't recall the exact dates and times when ARam's standing at the plate while the ball caroms off the wall has bit him and the Cubs in the behind. But I can recall it happening more than once. Not good enough. You can't disparage a guy's reputation with absolutely no evidence to back it up. Name me one time where he's been thrown out because he jogged out of the box on a hard hit ball. I'll bet you can't. I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT I CAN'T!!! I also couldn't tell you the exact date and time that I last saw Seinfeld, or visited the Post Office, or ate at Applebee's, or had my car washed, or a bazillion other things that simply aren't worth committing to memory. This thing with ARam standing and admiring balls that end up not leaving the yard happens too often (IMO), and you're deluding yourself if you think it has never once cost the Cubs either an extra base or an out. It has.

Realistically, you're right. The 'pen has been great of late, and reinforcements are enroute (Dempster, Wood, Mateo, and/or Guzman) or available now (Gallagher/Petrick, Cotts, Rapada, Piggy, Cherry). But that said, the thought of adding a Gagne or a Grienke is mighty tasty.

His baserunning this year has been excellent. I've seen him run extremely hard on routine grounders all season. He got hurt trying to beat a ball out. You're taking one incident, where he thought a ball was going out and didn't, and saying that he's still a lazy, disinterested baserunner. That's completely wrong. Well I certainly hope you're right and I'm wrong in the general. Doesn't change my opinion of the specific. ARam's mucked things up in the past by standing and admiring near-homers. It's frustrating to see it continue even when it doesn't wind up costing the Cubs. When? There are millions of babies starving in Africa, although if you wanted to challenge me on that, I couldn't name you even one. I can't recall the exact dates and times when ARam's standing at the plate while the ball caroms off the wall has bit him and the Cubs in the behind. But I can recall it happening more than once.

His baserunning this year has been excellent. I've seen him run extremely hard on routine grounders all season. He got hurt trying to beat a ball out. You're taking one incident, where he thought a ball was going out and didn't, and saying that he's still a lazy, disinterested baserunner. That's completely wrong. Well I certainly hope you're right and I'm wrong in the general. Doesn't change my opinion of the specific. ARam's mucked things up in the past by standing and admiring near-homers. It's frustrating to see it continue even when it doesn't wind up costing the Cubs.

Agreed. I'd rather see the SP or Offense upgraded, especially considering what the price would be for Gagne. Who are you booting from the current rotation to facilitate an SP upgrade? I'm sure launching Marquis would be everyone's choice, but is that really realistic given his contract and his 4.03 ERA? I guess ideally you'd work a deal where Marquis goes along with prospects for an upgrade, but short of that, I think Hendry's hands are kinda tied on the SP sitch. Are you totally sold on Marshall as a starter? Enough so that I wouldn't be actively trying to find a replacement for him.

Agreed. I'd rather see the SP or Offense upgraded, especially considering what the price would be for Gagne. Who are you booting from the current rotation to facilitate an SP upgrade? I'm sure launching Marquis would be everyone's choice, but is that really realistic given his contract and his 4.03 ERA? I guess ideally you'd work a deal where Marquis goes along with prospects for an upgrade, but short of that, I think Hendry's hands are kinda tied on the SP sitch.

I agree with the last point. I agree with the fact that ARam had no chance to reach 3rd there, either. I'm also not really bothered by ARam's occasional displays of a lack of hustle. I'd rather he stay healthy and continue to mash the ball. Still, to be fair, it's not really about whether he would've made it to second or not. It's process over outcome. Just like a lot of us will criticize Hendry if he makes a bad pickup and it turns out roses. You want people approaching their jobs the right way so that they will consistently achieve the best possible outcome. We want Hendry to make smarter decisions because that way more of his moves will wind up good and less will wind up bad. It's inevitable that some will go either way, but the right approach will yield the most consistent results. In other words, the only point of my rant there was that, "He wouldn't have made it to 3rd anyway" isn't really a valid argument against anyone criticizing Ram for what he did. I'm also not bothered. I don't think it's fair to say ARam isn't approaching his job correctly because he watches his homers. Why does this make a player lazy, or bad? When I look at ARam, I see a guy who has become much more consistent at the plate than his days @ Pitt, and his defense is greatly improved. I sincerely doubt that just happened by him sitting around and doing nothing. He works hard -- it's just that he just likes to show off a little sometimes. I'm not going to crucify the guy for that when he's gutting out a bad knee and has upped his game several notches since coming to Chicago. Doesn't make sense to me, I think people are forgetting the good things ARam does and focusing on this one bad thing. Point 1: "He would not have made it to 3rd" is not the point. Not even Ichiro would have made it to third. The point is, he could've been out at second, or held to a single. And both have happened to ARam in this situation. Point 2: I agree that ARam seems to have shown a genuine dedication to improving himself and working hard, as evidenced by his consistency and his defense. And it's fantastic to see. He's made himself into one of the best cleanup hitters in baseball, IMO, and suddenly gold glove talk isn't unrealistic. But why can't this work ethic that's brought his game so far along be applied to his baserunning too? He sure seems to remain lazy and disinterested in that facet.

Bayless is a fascinating case study. It's clearly evident that with such a saturation of talking heads in sports today, the only way to separate yourself from the crowd is to come up with some unique and edgy schtick. Jim Rome, Stephen A Smith, etc etc all got where they are because of style, not substance. For whatever reason, Bayless has adopted "loud mouth babbling bafoon idiot moron" as his personal schtick. And amazingly enough, it's kinda working for him, considering that, as you note, he's still got a job. In short, he's got a job precisely because he's a douche. More like, he's got a job because he's chosen to portray a douche. I don't know what the guy's like in real life, but his whole act looks very contrived and intentionally over the top.

Wow. Just wow. Under no circumstances is such boorish and shameful behavior acceptable. FYI, you're part of the problem.

Bayless is a fascinating case study. It's clearly evident that with such a saturation of talking heads in sports today, the only way to separate yourself from the crowd is to come up with some unique and edgy schtick. Jim Rome, Stephen A Smith, etc etc all got where they are because of style, not substance. For whatever reason, Bayless has adopted "loud mouth babbling bafoon idiot moron" as his personal schtick. And amazingly enough, it's kinda working for him, considering that, as you note, he's still got a job.

Jesus H. Christ do you realize what this means!?!?! We won't be able to trade this guy in the 14 days between now and the trade deadline!!!!

Agreed. With Murton and Pie gone, two other catchers on the roster, and no signs of Izturis or Jones being dealt, Koyie is in desperate need of an immunity necklace right about now.

what exactly is Ryan Church without the walks? Well I suppose that would leave you with an early 2000s vintage Jacque Jones.

A big huge NO on Willis. He's showing all the signs of a guy that peaked in his early 20s, and his comp list is littered with guys that fit that description. The Marlins already have waited too long to deal him, and even at that, whoever gets him will end up regretting it.

And I thought the OF was a disgusting mess after the Police shows.