KyHen

Number of seasons with a sub-.700 OPS in Juan's career: zero. Average line the last three seasons: .320 / .434 / .754 I will concede that Juan sucks -- I really disliked the guy and the signing. I'm not saying this in retrospect, but I did prefer Jones (simply because with a guy like La Russa, he could at least give him favorable splits and get a halfway productive player). However, a .589 OPS from a 5th/6th-place hitter is detrimental, to say the least.

Why does liking Walker scare you? 'cause I like a Cub? (as a Card fan)

One thing we all can agree on: much like the Cardinals, the Cubs have now been Womack'd. I really liked the guy when he played for us. Lot of slap, line-drive hits. And you gotta love that speed. I seriously think it was a good pickup... but once Lee gets back, I hope he doesn't take time away from Todd "professional hitter" Walker. In summary, I like both Walker and Womack, which scares me a little bit.

Wade Miller makes Wood and Prior look like iron men. Really... it was a good signing (tons of upside!) but there is a reason he was only signed for $1 million or whatever. Let's face it: this was a low-risk, high-reward deal... but the chances of it paying off were more bad than good.

EDIT: this isn't worth the fight. On-topic: uhm, I thought Jim Thome typing in caps was novel at first. Now I don't really think it's funny... but, whatever.

He's approaching respectability, but how long throughout the season was Encarnacion going to put up a .600 OPS? How long was Edmonds going to bat .200 points below his career OPS average? Is Mulder going to finish the season with a 4.71 ERA? I see what you're saying, but the law of averages works both ways, man.. If Pujols admires, then Lee does too. He has a mini Sammy Sosa hop when he homers. In summary: a lot of players pose, so call if both ways. But as long as it's not excessively dramatic (eg: Pujols vs. Perez, who he showed up intentionally prior to being blasted by Rolen), why make a big deal out of it? And as far as the SI Curse: the Pujols thing is ironic, but how is the Pistons thing remotely prophetic? There was a 50% chance they lost (unlike the Pujols injury, which came out of left field). I don't really think it's a coincidence at all. And I think the 6 week thing was ESPN stirring the pot by providing the worst-possible scenario. I don't know how it will play out, but this is from an article today: Now let's hear about how this is another example of "luck" in favor of the Cards. :roll:

You realize I'm talking about Chip Carey, right? I sure as heck hope you're not defending him. But my guess this is all a big confusion and you think I'm insluting the legend. Which I'm not.

Dan McLaughlin I like. I think he's got a good voice and calls a pretty fair game. As expected, he is biased... but I think he calls a good game. I'd compare him to a Cubs' Steve Stone. Respectable, but not the best. And then there's Hungo. Oh, Al Hrabosky. God I do hate this guy. I feel like muting my TV every other line that comes out of his mouth. Most biased son of a **** I've heard in my life. I can't stand this guy. His groggy voice, his idoitic comments... pure kool-aid flows out of his mouth. Needless to say.. Hungo : Cards as Carey (was) : Cubs.

While I ocassionally find them funny, I do think that Dugout's are DRASTICALLY overrated. It's like a psychological disorder, or something. Just because you get the premise of the joke doesn't mean you have to find it funny. I think that people feel obligated to laugh at Dugouts because if they don't, it makes it look like they don't get the joke, which can damage their sports ego. Psychoanalysis 101.

Timo Perez I posted this on another board and I thought it was funny. Most of you will probably think it is lame though. ST. LOUIS, MO -- The Cardinals will not let the Cubs out-do them. They just will not let it happen. On Friday, the team announced that it had called up outfielder Timo Perez from their minor league affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds. "During the offseaon, the Cubs tried to pull a fast one on us by signing a crappy right fielder," Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty said, referring to the Cubs' signing of outfielder Jacques Jones. "I knew we couldn't be out-done, so we scrambled and signed a crappy right fielder of our own, [Juan] Encarnacion, to a similar deal." While it looked like the teams were even, the Cubs knew they still had a heads-up in the rivalry. "The news? It's a surprise. A surprising dissapointment, I guess," Cub manager Dusty Baker said Friday, in response to the Cardinals most recent roster move. "Now the Cardinals also have a vastly below-average, crappy, washed-up player with the last name Perez on their roster, it evens the score. Jocketty just will not be beat. I guess this is why they've held such a stranglehold on the division the last three years." Perez, 31, has a career line of crap/sucky/ugly for his career. It is speculated that Jocketty will attempt to add an overpaid, washed-up, immobile first baseman in the coming weeks, in an attempt to emulate GM Jim Hendry's acquisition of Phil Nevin. It remains to be seen which players he is targetting at this time. "[brian] Daubach is an option," Jocketty said, "but we're not convinced that his production -- or, lack-there-of -- will be detrimintal enough to the club or not."

Yeah, you're right. Bernie faults Pujols for defending Bonds Bernie cautions the hype of Pujols on a record-breaking pace, noting it's only May Bernie, for 18th time during the year, rips ownership for being cheap So, again... you're right. Bernie is all Kool-Aid. Nary an adverse word out of his mouth.

Felix Pie (Apparently) Beltran Mike Cameron

I watched the end of the game. Extra Innings cut out on me for like an hour and a half but I did catch the 9th and extras... Even with a loss it was still a really good game.

The funny thing is that, had he not blown 2 or 3 saves this year, Cards fans would be saying, "Just another night with Izzy on the mound." While his WHIP (historically) seems to suggest otherwise, it alway sseems that Izzy finds a way to make it interesting. Bottom line is that he got the save and that's all I care about.

What a great topic. This is why I love this place. You hear the extremes of both sides (blatant bias from both Cub fans and Cards fans), and then you're able to get a good idea of the "truth," as you're pretty sure it lies somewhere in between. Lemme go over a few things after skimming the 10 pages of this topic... For starters, I really liked this quote: Who was it that said that the pitcher should retaliate and show Pujols a lesson by at least buzzing him inside? I realize that's not really showboating, but it's still along the lines of something that, well, doesn't really make much sense. Pujols clearly stated that the reason he did what he did was due to Perez "dancing around" after getting outs in the previous year, or something. How is a batter supposed to send a message back to a pitcher? Hit a line drive past his face? I think the whole notion of the double standard for a pitcher to be able to retaliate but not vice versa is really silly. And again, like I said earlier: a bat flip is not comparable to throwing a little chin music to a player, but I still think they do parrallel each other more than most are saying.. Second, having seen every Cardinal game this year, let me say this: Pujols has been overly emotional this year for some reason. Maybe not too emotional, but it just seems like he's more fired up than usual. Hell, in the games preceding this "showboating" he was even flipping his bat 8 feet in the air when he was being walked. I'm not kidding. And I'm not even talking about intentional walks, I'm talking about regular old walks. Third, I have never heard Pujols given the label of the type of guy that "puts his head down and runs the bases." That is and always was (at least for Cards fans) Scott Rolen's routine. Scott Rolen is an old school ballplayer. Pujols really isn't. Pujols and Rolen both respect the game tremendously.. but their attitudes are polar opposite. Rolen is really quiet, Pujols has always been known as the type of guy who plays with as much emotion as anyone. After the home run, to be honest... I was disgusted. And I thought to myself, "wow, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come." When the PD article was released, I was kinda relieved. I don't think it was really just Pujols trying to cover for himself, namely because of the mention of Rolen commenting to Pujols. I think that was a very admirable thing of Scotty to do. Bottom line is that, no, the bat flip was not warranted. But, for a player as emotional as Pujols is, it's understandable to some degree, because he does have some justification. That said, it still does not make it right and I hope we don't have to continue discussions like these, becase I think the guy is better than that.

Maddux is filthy.

OK, I wasn't trying to. I'm just saying that I don't believe a minor league system is as important as you think they are. If it means giving up a ton to get someone of Miguel Cabrera's caliber, I would do it. I do. In fact, I'm one of the people that went off on a a rant talking about the Beckett/Red Sox trade yesterday. Were you talking about me in your last post? That said, I view a Cabrera trade as very, very unlikely (I think a team like the Angels or DBacks are the only ones with much of a shot), but if you can take the a team like the Cubs (who were ranked like 20th by Baseball America, weren't they?) and piece together a deal for Cabrera, I thin you're getting your worth. But it is very difficult to speculate how much it would take to get Cabrera, even using Beckett (and the rest of the firesale) as a precedent.

At this rate, Cabrera is on his way to the Hall of Fame. While a lot can change, I would say that, yes... Miguel Cabrera is worth it. Do you think Pie projects to be a Hall of Famer? Hill?

For a player entering his prime, I think it's a lot more likely that Mulder will pitch more closely to his "glory days" (per se) than compared to what he did last year. Why did the Cards get Mulder? For October. In the playoffs, he had a 1.96 ERA. And yes, Haren is more valuable for years to come, but the Cards are clearly in a win-now mode, whereas by trading Mulder and Hudson, the A's were in a rebuilding mode for the future. (Even though they did contend) Granted, I did say that Haren and Mulder pitched comparably, but I also said one could reasonably expect Mulder to pitch better this season. In the second half of 2005, he had a 2.77 ERA. Maybe saying the trade was even is a little off. But I do think it's a lot more even than it is a "fleecing."

Lemme offer my two cents on some of the things I've read: Wood, Prior, Miller coming back. Definitely a plus. Prior is not good, he's great. When healthy, he is one of the best pitchers in baseball. The Cubs will have co-aces in Zambrano and Prior in a month or two. Now... from there, I'm not as optimistic. Wade Miller has great stuff, but his arm is the epitome of brittle. He misses... a lot... of starts. Don't get me wrong, I believe it was a good, solid signing, but I don't believe you can expect a lot out of him. And then there is Kerry Wood. He has a career ERA of 3.67. The thing that always strikes me when I watch Kerry Wood is how inconsistent he is. He's lights on one game, lights off the next. That said, all three of those guys are upgrades over the current state of the rotation. Can they stay healthy? If I was a betting man, I would say it is unlikely that all three stay healthy... especially Wood and Miller. I'm hesitant to call Prior injury-prone, because he last couple of injuries (well, before the Spring Training one) were flukes. The Mulder trade. On the surface, it does look like the Cardinals got fleeced in the Oakland trade, but there are a number of things to consider: For starters, you cannot compare it to the Atlanta trade at all for a number of reasons. First of all, Mulder was the more valuable pitcher. He is younger, he is a lefty, and most importantly, he was under contract for two seasons (whereas Atlanta risked another JD Drew one-year-rental). So clearly the Cardinals were going to have to give up a lot more. Dan Haren has emerged as an awesome starter, there's really no doubt about that. He's got filthy stuff. What about production? What did Mulder/Hudson do? In his first year with the Cards, Mulder posted a 3.64 ERA with a 1.38 WHIP. Solid, but not ace-material. Hudson had a 3.52 ERA with a 1.35 ERA. Good, but also not ace material. Now factor in the perspective. Who did the Cards give up? Haren, Calero and Daric Barton. Barton was a catcher at the time, and was regarded as one of the best hitting prospects in the minors. He has since converted to first base, because he doesn't possess an athletic build. What good does another first baseman do the Cards? They've got that Pujols fella. The only other logical place to put Barton would be in the outfield. The problem with that? Nothing -- but an elite-hitting catcher is a lot more valuable than an an elite-hitting outfielder. Since advancing to AA, Barton's power numbers have not developed nearly at the rate as expected. It's starting to look like Barton will be a DH with a good eye but average power for his position. Good? Yeah. But certainly not as highly-regarded as he once was. And furthermore, you've got to remember the Cards had enormous question marks coming into 2005. Carpenter and Morris were both coming off of injuries. Who would be the ace of the staff? Mulder was certainly an intriguing candidate... In hindsight, I think that the trade came out pretty even. Mulder and Haren put up comparable numbers, but it's more likely that Mulder will go back to his career averages and become the type of pitcher you can anchor a rotation around. Barton didn't do the Cards much good (except as a trading chip), and Calero (who missed a ton of 2005 by the way), was kind of like a throw-in. Derek Lee's injury. It's huge. This is not comparable to losing Rolen, it's comparable to losing Pujols. I think the Cubs still have a shot, but they need the three injured pitchers to get back, and get back fast. And not only that, they need them to be productive, they need them to stay healthy, and they need some other bats to step up and fill the void.

Is there a link to a video of Lee/Furcal anywhere?

That's a great point.

Red Sox essentially gave up Anibal Sanchez (their 5th-best prospect), Hanley Ramirez (a Pie-esque prospect), and also Jesus Delgado and Harvey Garcia -- both low A prospects. Delgado had a lot of potential. Garcia had a very good fastball (96 MPH). Now, you say, "the Sox got Mota and Lowell, too!" Right? Well, those guys have negative trade value. They made a lot and they were horrendous in 2005. So you figure the Sox gave up all of that for oft-injured Josh Beckett. What do you think they'd want for Miguel Cabrera, arguably the most valuable player in the game?

Tough to say. They are in the market for pitching, obviously, but Texiera is one of the best young htiters in the game. For reference: ESPN recently ran the "top 100 most valuable players" list recently. It takes into consideration age and whatnot. Texiera was the 7th-most valuable player in the league. I don't think that Prior cracked the list at all (top 100 players). Zambrano was 11th. And, obviously, take this with a grain of salt.. I'm just saying that Texiera is going to take... a lot.

Prior has started 48 games over the last two years. He's missed a lot of starts. Maybe around 16 or so? Miguel Cabrera has missed a grand total of 6 games over the last two years. Prospect-wise, Hanley and Pie are right around the same (top 20-30 prospect in the game), but Cabrera is Pujols II... while Prior certainly has that type of potential (to be one of the best players of this era), he is way too big of a question mark. I really don't think the Cubs have what it takes to get Cabrera. You're looking at a team like the Diamondbacks or the Angels with absolutely loaded systems if you wanna see a team make a run at Miguel.