Banedon

"I've never seen that in my whole career...coming up from little league..." ha!

Terrible news. Beck was a very easy guy to root for. One of the most memorable Cubs "characters" of all time. RIP.

waiting for proof He won a WS? So did Kenny Williams, technically. Would you gys all want him? If Walt was bringing the St. Louis coaching staff with him and Pujols, I'd like it. Since he wouldn't be, I can't take or leave him. He leans too much on scrapheap picking for my liking. I don't get this...it wasn't just one fluke WS. Like I said in my previous post, it's 7 of 11 divsion titles. Pujols has only been around for 6 years, and Jocketty is the one that made that selection in the draft. He has to do some scrapheap searching because of a more limited payroll than the Cubs. If he had a longer leash, who knows what he could do? The Cardinals payroll is 90 million. It has been 85 million or more 4 out of the last 5 years. Until the Cubs spent all the money this year, the Cardinals payroll has been pretty consistent with the Cubs (some years more money, some years less). Looking over the Cardinals payroll as well, there is plenty of dead money. Edmonds at 9.5 million, Isringhausen's great, but 8.75 million worth? Encarnacion making 5 million, Eckstein making 4.5, Looper making 4.5, Mulder making 4.5, Wells making 4, Kennedy making 2.5. First the payroll thing... http://chicago.about.com/b/a/257521.htm Last year the Cubs payroll was about 8 million more than the Cards. The Cubs were ranked 6th, while the Cards were ranked 11th. That may not be a massive difference, but it is a difference, and all reports are that the Cubs had far more payroll flexibility to add to the team during the season if necessary. And it's funny how you're picking on this one season of the Cardinals payroll...whoopie. Honestly, how many Cardinal fans do you know that are sweating this year? They just came off a freaking World Series! I'd live with a little dead payroll if that was the price for a WS banner. The point here is that Jocketty over time has been massively better than any GM the Cubs have had. He's gotten big name players, he's put together a coaching staff that always seems able to turn crap into a servicable player. I think the likelyhood of Jocketty joining the Cubs in nill...but it's I would definitely welcome such a marriage.

One could argue that's what the Barrett trade was. That was tossing deck chairs off the titanic, because they thought the deck chairs were weighing the thing down. Well done.

One could argue that's what the Barrett trade was.

waiting for proof He won a WS? So did Kenny Williams, technically. Would you gys all want him? If Walt was bringing the St. Louis coaching staff with him and Pujols, I'd like it. Since he wouldn't be, I can't take or leave him. He leans too much on scrapheap picking for my liking. I don't get this...it wasn't just one fluke WS. Like I said in my previous post, it's 7 of 11 divsion titles. Pujols has only been around for 6 years, and Jocketty is the one that made that selection in the draft. He has to do some scrapheap searching because of a more limited payroll than the Cubs. If he had a longer leash, who knows what he could do?

I still like the bug-eyed Alou looking at the remains of his shattered bat.

Any updates on this?

http://www.sopwithproductions.com/art_litho/1.jpg http://petcaretips.net/IGotARock.jpg

I'd have no problem with Jocketty. The Cardinals have worked with a much tighter budget than the Cubs have, and have made the playoffs 7 out of 11 times since 1996. Jocketty was hired in 1995.

When I read it, I took the "talents" thing to be sarcasm...maybe I was giving him too much credit.

On occasion I can convince myself that being a professional golfer some day in the future is a possibility. Everyone deludes themselves in some ways.

I'd consider getting rid of Soriano and his ridiculous contract. That doesn't mean I don't like Alfonso or his play this year, I just think its ridiculous to be paying him $15 million when hes 38. There is no team out there that's going to take on Soriano's contract. We're stuck with him. just like we're stuck with Marquis. Since that complete game shutout his ERA is around 5.35. Real Marquis isn't fun. I have to wonder. Is anyone surprised Marquis didn't continue on his Cy Young pace? I'm not. A Cardinal fan buddy of mine warned me of this exact situation. He'll start out great, hit some high moment, and then crash for the remainder of the season leaving you scratching your head.

You afraid this is CM??? http://www.imsai.net/Movies/WOPR.jpg

I went with the overreaction option, and said never.

I went with CM because of his love for CERA.

Oh and slightly unrelated to the Bears, but Mike Greenberg, Mike Golic, and Mike Ditka will be in the booth for the second game of the start of the season MNF doubleheader on ESPN. I could do without Ditka to be honest, but Greenie and Golic should be pretty good.

Can you imagine if he could stay healthy for 16 games + playoffs? *drool*

What does that mean for the Cubs?

The hooker thread was Yeti's brainchild I believe. And Leon Durham is my all time favorite Cub too...:D

It shows his athletic ability, organizations use the SPARQ tests in baseball. Vertical leap is one aspect of it. It's just another tool of many to grade a prospect on. http://www.crossoveracademy.net/sparq.htm Well I'll take your word for it....I still have difficulty though seeing how dunking a basketball translates into hitting a baseball. Michael Jordan didn't exactly turn out too hot as far as baseball goes... :P

he didn't write it up - it was a scouting report. I guess to show his athleticism? I understand, my point is why is anybody listing it. It's useless info that tells us absolutely nothing about his ability to play baseball. Because athletic ability has nothing to do with baseball. Random athletic feats have nothing to do with baseball. It's like being able to jump over a car. Although winning your high schools slam dunk contest is even less impressive. The guy who won my high school slam dunk contest never played a minute of sports beyond high school. Don't get me wrong, I understand your point, but I fail to understand how being able to do any feat like that is unimportant to include on a player profile. Also keep in mind its a young kid, there's probably not pages and pages of material to work with here. But it's an athletic feat that doesn't have any bearing on the other. It'd be like putting that you once solved a Rubik's cube on your resume. It may show you're good at something that requires a level of intelligence, but it doesn't show you have the experience to do something else that requires intelligence.

I was thinking the same thing. It's the new sample size. I don't think you can all hyperbole the word of choice in this thread because of sample size. This thread is a lock to go another 10 pages. hyperbole? Educated guess from experience more likely.

Is that in comparison to other catchers only then?

By itself I don't think it makes the Cubs better. If this is the first in a series of trades, that could change my mind, but right now...I'm just kinda "meh" about this. Barrett wasn't lighting the world on fire this season, and he was a FA after the season, so....meh.