imb

dammit, i had no idea it was me already HERE GOES

Being a great hitting catcher is like being a tall midget. No one needs him bad enough to give us enough value to make it worth our while.

zambrano is from another freaking planet

He's going to get at least 10m a year come next year. It's what the current market demands. I mean is Furcal worth 13m a year? Is AJ Burnett worth 5\60 million? No and no. Just b/c people are stupid enough to pay average players crazy money doesn't mean you jump into the stupid pool. He may get $10m from someone next year, in fact I'd be surprised if he didn't, but he'll be 31 next year and he has a career .835 OPS. For a corner OF, that's above average, but not $10m worth. Put it this way - the team that pays him $10m next year is not going to get a good return on their investment (disclaimer - if he moves back to 2B that helps, but I still think $10m is too much - Walker had a better OPS each of the last 2 seasons). OPS or no OPS, Walker isn't even in the same universe as Soriano (except when it comes to defense). 2004 .820 2005 .829 2004 .808 2005 .821 Who is who? Obviously Soriano is having a far, far superior year in 2006, but the last 2 years I would much rather have had Walker at second base.

IMB takes Ron Dayne

IVE BEEN BUSY

Because they are terrible, like I explained in the original post. I'm not expecting top flight stuff for Williamson, just not the garbage we ended up getting. If the roles were reversed and the Cubs were in contention and had just given up 2 of their top 20 prospects for a pitcher with equivalent numbers to Williamson people would be ripping Hendry. Hendry has been shopping Williamson for a while now and if there was a better deal out there I am sure he would have taken it. To assume a strong market exists for a middle reliever that has an era over 5.00 and a questionable elbow is quite a reach. Those guys are top 30 prospects because San Diego's system is a joke. They're terrible, and if we had given up players with their numbers and their careers to get a reliever for a pennant chase, everyone would've been plenty fine with it because no one would miss Todd Blackford and Carlos Perez. that system may be garbage Tiger but you'd have no idea... please enlighten us on San Diego's system then. These players are terrible, but Williamson was pretty terrible too. The best news is that it cleared up a spot for Wuertz on the major league roster, so all in all, no big deal. It's a backassward way to go about it, but we traded trash for trash and replaced it with someone (Wuertz) that should actually improve our team.

lol i love political humor

no wait, it was WMDs

the second thing was monica lewinsky's panties

I don't blame him

He better be the best pitcher on the roster, he's pitching against 18 year olds.

I don't see what the Blue Jays ex-draft guy has to do with appreciating walks. That organization turned more sabr-centric when he wasn't there. You can point out little individual reasons why you think it's not true, but the big picture suggests otherwise. They are last in walks, by a wide margin, and the organization is dominated by overly aggressive hackers. There just is not enough to support the notion that he's coming along. Maybe he values walks to some extent, but the evidence shows he values them less than any other organization in the league. And that's what matters. the Blue Jays ex-draft guy is relevant because of the good discipline and walk rates of the hitters he drafted. the big picture does suggest otherwise Hendry has not valued walks in the past. that is why I suggested that Hendry is coming around, not that he valued walks all along. my point is not that Hendry absolutely, without a doubt values walks. my point is there is evidence that he's gaining a greater appreciation for walks. the fact that evidence has not shown up tangibly in the lineup to this point is really not material. further, 5/8 of the lineup that should be out there day in/day out are historically pretty good or vastly improved at taking walks. not great, but pretty good (Walker, Lee, Aram, Barrett, Murton). Who has Wilken drafted that has great plate patience? Rios? Wells? Both are allergic to walks (Wells less so).

Obviously the close calls of 2003 and 2004 make this season even more unbearable. This season has been one continuous series of haymakers to the nuts. Close calls in 2003 and 2004, an injury-plagued, wasted 2005, an offseason of getting nothing accomplished followed by poor managing, poor playing, poor planning and more and more injuries to just about every above average player left on our depleted roster. I thought 2000 was bad, but this season has been a constant tea-bagging.

Tapani

Why, you expect the Cubs to even make an offer? Why waste team talking about a player, when you KNOW in your heart the Cubs have no interests in. Meaning even if Ichiro is available, the Cubs ain't interested. Willy Pierre Juan Taverez Makes me no never mind. I expect the Cubs to acquire SOMEBODY else with Taverez to make a deal worthwhile, I would love to take Brandon Backe off their hands. why are you so sure the cubs aren't interested? He's fast, a great defender and bats leadoff - all things the cubs value. How about the fact that Ichiro has a career .377 OBP, and the fact that the Cubs simply don't understand that getting on base is the object of the game. They would view Ichiro as a baseclogging, and instantly deem him "not a good fit." I would love to have Ichiro, but with the current regime, he would be tremendously WASTED. The quote was, "unless you can run, walks just clog up the bases for the guys who can". Not that it matters cause it was a stupid quote, but everyone gets it wrong.

Yep, #10 pick. C'mon Commish! Uh, what I meant to say was...good pick Raw.

Uh, Plaxico.

pearl jam v pink floyd might be a contest

GLENDON KILL THOSE SNAKES

Pfft, play MLB2K6. In the little dialog that goes on while the game is loading, if you're playing as the Cubs, every once in awhile the announcers will mention that the Cubs struggled last year because they were last in the National League in walks.

I had Roy targeted for my third pick, I was really surprised to see him go that early, though he should be a strong wideout this year.

A lot of problems with that. First off, Pattersons "blossoming"? Corey Donald Patterson is at .278/.315/.426 on the year. The steals are nice...if you're in fantasy baseball. He's 14th out of 20 qualified CFers. Eric Patterson is 23, he strikes out too much and walks too little. I'm not too excited about his status as a prospect.

Scott, I think that literally your brain may not work correctly. Let's make a prediction. Lots of people die in the middle east due to this war stuff. That doesn't mean that I want a lot of people to die, it just means that it is likely that they will.

Your thoughts on Bush and Addai were the same as mine. Droughns is an interesting guy. He's going to get yardage and if he gets the scores, he'll be good. I looked at him at the times I made both my Dillon and McAllister picks. I'm taking a huge risk with those two, but I like to have a stable of RB's. I'll see how it works out. Droughns was the top rated guy consistently in the mocks that I saw for the RBs that were available. I was worried about his long-term prognosis and Cleveland's offense (or lack thereof). But I debated between him, Dunn, and Bush. I went with Bush because of the keeper league factor. Yeah, I'm at a weird point, really, as my keepers are probably set for the next few years. Manning, Cadillac and Jackson should be first rounders for awhile, barring injury.