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srbin84

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Everything posted by srbin84

  1. I've always been a huge Hairston fan and yeah, I know Patterson wasn't in the leadoff position the whole season, but when he was, we had to have had more than 25% of our losses. I think Pierre and Hairston at the top would be a nice little combo, perhaps a poor mans version of the 2003 Marlins with Pierre and Castillo. I like what Walker brings too much to bench him though. For anyone who is interested, Patterson's leadoff numbers last year: 128 ABs .211/.263/.359 37 Ks 8 BBs 14 runs (5 on homers)
  2. Very creative idea however unlikely it is. I think the best way to go about doing your plan would to sign him to a major league min. contract with a signing bonus (that would be his real salary) and then giving him his unconditional release whenever he wants to go.
  3. I think people aren't used to seeing a good leadoff man on the Cubs that they forget the importance of having a prototypical leadoff man in the lineup. I just can't see how putting a guy like Wilkerson at the top would help us score more runs than Pierre, even if he does have a higher OPS. We'll have to wait until the season starts to see for sure though, but if Pierre scores 100+ runs, I'd consider it a very good trade.
  4. I only have a limited understanding of that ligament, but I think it is like a rubber band. You can stretch a rubber band out for a long time and it snap from wear and tear (small outings piling up) or you can do it quickly by ripping it apart (multiple starts of 150+ pitches in a row for example or three inning outings for relievers). It seems to be pretty clear Ayala was the first case.
  5. I've read a lot of criticism of Pierre since we made the trade. Are there better leadoff men in the league? Yes. Can we come up with stats that show Pierre isn't as effective an offensive player as he is perceived to be? Sure. But despite all of that, he is going to completely transform the offense and make help the Cubs score more runs and win more games this year. He is replacing Corey Patterson, probably the worst starting position player in the majors last year and possibly the worst leadoff man in Cubs history. Replacing him with Pierre (and I think the Pierre is a slightly above average leadoff man) is like replacing Jacque Jones with a 2001 fully juiced and healthy Barry Bonds. That's just how bad and detrimental to the team Patterson was in the leadoff spot.
  6. There is no way this injury wouldn't have happened anyway.
  7. I wish we could still do the Tejada for Prior deal, actually. Prior is a great pitcher, but I just can't see him making 30+ starts in a season if he isnt willing to pitch through pain.
  8. I think he's a great pitching coach. He gets the most out of his pitchers when they are healthy. Look at what he did with guys like Borowski, Farnsworth, and Clement.
  9. I can blame the Cubs for lying about Prior's injuries but not for them happening in the first place. Prior has had some freak injuries, but the achilles (2004), elbow (2004) and shoulder (2006) would have happened whether he was on the Cubs or not. Prior doesn't even pitch enough to be overused, and I am not going to blame everything that has happened over the last 3+ seasons on Dusty's pitcher abuse in 2003. The Cubs had a lot of good, young talented pitchers and kept the wrong ones. Many people predict Willis' arm to fall off every season and he rarely if ever misses a start and just keeps getting better. Almost everybody predicted Prior would have a great career and rarely if ever go on the DL because of his flawless mechanics, but he just keeps missing more and more time as his career progresses and the quality of pitching has declined as well.
  10. I think we can count on Prior and Wood combining enough starts this year to equal the production of one ace. Add Zambrano and we still have a good 1-2 punch. I think Williams is an above average starter we need to keep and of course Maddux isn't going anywhere. The situation really isn't that bad. It's what I expect every season from these two. Prior has been on the DL every season he has been in the big leagues and Wood has an even worse history so no surprises there. So our rotation is: Zambrano Prior-Wood Maddux Williams Miller/Rusch/Hill/Guzman If the top 4 spots pitch their averages from the last 3 years (no reason to believe they won't), we still have a very good rotation.
  11. Looking at things purely from Hendry's position, it makes perfect sense to not extend Baker for now. If the team gets off to a rough start, he may need to do something to save his own job, in which case he can try to get the team rolling with a new manager (Lou Piniella?).
  12. I don't really buy the fact that Pierre would be a more effective player if never ran at all vs. what he does now. I do hope he will be more efficient this year though. Patterson and Lee have been pretty efficient under Baker, hopefully we see the same from Juan.
  13. Why would you expect better efforts? That would imply they weren't really trying prior to this year. Well, I certainly don't believe they were because they are pretty incompetent if that has been the case, which certainly cannot be ruled out.
  14. They probably do not put the ending years on the banners until the player is retired, since the possibility exists they could return if they are still active. I know that a Sosa return would be about as likely as the Cubs winning the series, but I would expect it to be updated this year now that he is officially retired.
  15. I really like the approach the Cubs are taking with Hendry and Baker. I hate in sports how so often teams extend their GMs and coaches too early just because of a little success. Few could have really argued against extensions for these two after 2003, but the Cubs decided to wait things out and see what happens. As it turns out, they both have a lot to prove to earn new contracts this year just like Wood, Pierre and others on the team, and with that, I expect better efforts from both this year.
  16. Why didn't we go after Cintron instead???
  17. Yeah, Sing is good probably better since he is older and Dopriak hasn't advance in the minor leagues despite playing there for 4 years but he looks like he has rerturned to his 2004 form or is even better. He should have been promoted to AA that year anyway. The only reason I want to see him play a little this year is because I think Lee will not be resigned and I dont want to lose a player from the 40 man. If we dont resign him, I think we should trade him at the deadline if we are out of it again.
  18. C Barrett 1b Lee 2b Walker 3b Ramirez SS Cedeno LF Murton RF Jones CF Pierre SP Zambrano SP Prior SP Maddux SP Williams SP Guzman Bullpen CL Dempster Howry Eyre Ohman Wuertz Williamson Rusch Bench C Blanco IF Perez IF/OF Hairston OF/CI Mabry 1b Dopirak
  19. Oh yeah, by the way, Marquis Grissom looked terrible. He looks old and slow in the field and didn't drive the ball much at all the whole time I was there, despite significant playing time in every one of them.
  20. I just got back from AZ and was very impressed with the team, particularly the young players that played. Brandon Sing and Brian Dopriak took turns hitting homers the whole time I was there. Angel Guzman's stuff looked tremendous. He was a little wild, but I think this is a guy we need to hold onto, even before Hill. Felix Pie looked excellent as well, particularly in the field. He made a very nice running catch and throw to double off a runner in one game while playing right field. If you have any questions about the last four games or players I saw, feel free to ask.
  21. If Lee was hitting leadoff, you would also have to factor in the extra opportunities to drive in runs the guys behind him would have.
  22. So you would have given it to Santana?
  23. If the Astros start off bad and have to pay Bagwell's salary, are they even going to want to give Clemens over 10 million for 5 months? Has Clemens said he will take much less to play with them?
  24. And he started doing that in his 20's. The decline came in his mid 30's as expected (and happened when he moved to an extreme pitcher's park). He's also missed a lot more games in his early years than recently, he only has one season with less than 150 games since 2000. 159 and 158 at 33 and 34. Boone didn't blow up until he was 32. It's very different. He missed about 30 games in 03 when he dropped over 100 points in his SLG. I'd just like to see some other players who had a similar rapid decline if anyone can find some.
  25. Unfortunately, also going on recent history, they will go off in the second half and still make the playoffs. :x I'm just saying our best hope is that they suck at the start again and Clemens will be disuaded to go there so will not be able to have that run again.
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