Danny82

I just saw both guys on MLB Network (not sure who they were) say they thought Lilly would stay with the Cubs. Nice job Jim. Some guy at the bus stop said he thought I would get aqua socks for my birthday. I hate my mom so much. =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

They could do far worse than Happ. I think he would be a good return for Lilly. The guy has a solid record, outside of his performance in AAA in 2007 and for all we know, he could have been dealing with some sort of injury. Also, FWIW, I see nothing to indicate that he was pitching over his head last year.

I think we've gotten the better of Billy Beane trades in the past. This is probably the first time he got the better of us as far as I can recall. Whether Beane got the best of the Cubs is still open to question at this point. Gallagher has gone from No. 2 starter to out of the rotation for Oakland, as his velocity dropped as spring training went on. Eric Patterson is in the minor leagues, as is Murton, with Colorado. If Harden stays healthy and makes 25 starts and most of them are of the quality variety, then I think the Cubs get the better of this deal. But it's too early to judge now. Don't know where your getting your facts but nothing wrong with Gallaghers velocity as of the other night. Would expect him to be back in the rotation shortly. Id expect Gio Gonzalez to be in the rotation before Gallagher Not sure why. Gonzelez struggled greatly in his call up last year, didn't do all that well in AAA last year, and had a rather poor spring.

Does anyone know whether Rotoworld was started by some overly cynical Cubs fans? Check out today's comment on Rich Hill: Rich Hill was placed on the DL at Triple-A Iowa due to back spasms. "I don’t think it’s serious," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "Probably more of a mental break than anything, I’d assume. That’s just my assumption. [The break] may not be bad. It might be the best tonic of all. But I haven’t heard anything wrong of a serious nature, anything fundamentally wrong with his back." Except the knife buried in it, of course. Putting aside the validity of this comment for a second, these kinds of cynical comments toward the Cubs management are a seemingly constant in Rotoworld's player comments. I check this site nearly every day and have a hard time recalling similar examples for other teams. At least not more than a time or two. Anyone have any background that might explain this? (other than the predictable "Cubs management sucks!" responses?) The Cubs management certainly seems to have the Rotoworld bulls-eye on their back.

According to Rotoworld (which cites the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

I'm not sure if the last three posts could exaggerate any more than they already do. Can we try again for more dramatic effect?

I'm fairly certain that the quality of the players involved is more important than the number involved.

Good god that is so incredibly stupid. There was just a report by Peter Gammons who said that the Cubs OBP out of the 1-2 spots was something like .338 last year. So to give Lee and Ramirez more RBI spots that Fukudome might bat third with Lee and Ramirez bat fourth and fifth. Yes let's do it this way rather than use common sense and just drop Theriot in the order and bat Fukudome second. This isn't rocket science (though to some people in MLB, it might as well be). Personally, I think Fukudome should lead off with DeRosa hitting second.

Considering that other than HR's, those are worthless stats,...I'd be indifferent, I guess. Let's not go overboard here. Batting average is hardly worthless.

Never pitched in one game with the team ahead? You might want to check the box scores from August 9th, August 13th, September 21st, and September 23rd. Surely you shouldn't have to misstate facts to make your point.

Personally, I think the "Swell Season" album is better than the "Once" soundtrack.

The point is, we already know they are a horribly run franchise. And my point is, if it's so widely-accepted that the Cubs are such a horribly run franchise, then one should have a very easy time pointing to concrete examples to support such an assertion rather than what amounts to essentially grasping at straws.

Yeeeeah, OK. I think using some unsupported, hypothetical situation as evidence that the Cubs are a horribly run franchise involves the use of quite porous reasoning.

Geez, relax. Are you really that comfortable making huge assumptions in coming to your conclusions?

While I have no real opinion either way on the potential trade that is being discussed, I think in order for people to properly evaluate the ramifications of the trade, they need to look at not only how much of an upgrade that Roberts is over DeRosa, but how much of an upgrade having DeRosa on the bench would be over someone like Fontenot. Maybe it has already been discussed in this thread, but I didn't fee like searching through a hundred pages to find out. However, all I've seen in the past few pages is talk of how "Roberts offers a marginal upgrade over DeRosa" and no further discussion of the trickle-down effect.