fromthestretch

Is there a reason why? Neither is going to hit for much power (Jones hasn't shown any power since 2006), although Murton's second-half splits the past couple years indicate he'd probably provide more power than Jones. On top of that, Murton has shown the ability to at least get on base, something that Jones has never done well.

Because Hamilton is incredibly talented and turned his life around and he would like to see Bradley do the same. Granted Hamilton's issues were substance issues and Bradley's as far as we know are not. MB was taunting fans at the ballpark the past two night in KC...pulled himself out of the game and took his time doing so with an out or two left on Tuesday night...jumped around like a crazy man after driving in runs on Tuesday. He just needs to chill out. But Hamilton's issues kept him off the field for how long? Cost him how many millions of dollars? He's had half a season of success thus far? Milton Bradley may be a headcase, but he's been successful on the field, and despite his antics hasn't done anything that has kept him off the field for longer than a few game suspension here or there. It's really a pretty awful comparison. The only way you could really compare them is to say that one seems to have been embraced by fans with his last two teams, while the other seems to rub fans the wrong way. Other than that, their situations are completely different. One had a substance abuse issue, the other has obvious anger management issues, which could have been caused in part by a rough childhood. Not really comparable. Does any of this justify Bradley going after the broadcaster? No. However, there are many ways the guy could have talked up Hamilton on the air without bringing Bradley into the discussion.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother though since every time I respond to a post I am challenged by someone as a no nothing. Oh, that's right...I'm a female. got it. Exactly how big is that chip on your shoulder? The person you responded to has all of seven posts on this site. Not to say that their response to you was exactly polite, but my guess is gender played absolutely no role in their response since I doubt they even knew that you're a female.

I don't believe that is an injury that can heal on its own. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if something like that tears away from the bone, I believe the only way to fix it is surgery.

From a broadcasting standpoint, I agree 100%. As a fan though, you have to appreciate his genuine enthusiasm and love for the Cubs. I'm not looking for a great broadcaster in the color man. Harry was the same as Ron. He was a horrible announcer, but he was well loved because it was like one of us was in the booth. He got excited when something great happened and he got pissed when something terrible happened. I didn't like Santo when I first heard him call games on WGN, but he really grew on me. I think he wants this team to win more than all of us combined and I love that. Brenly is boring and unfunny, despite countless attempts at humor. Kaspar may be OK with a different partner, but I doubt it. I didn't like Caray either. I heard some broadcasts of him way back when he first started with the Cubs and earlier, and I was shocked at how good he used to be. We got him at the end of his career when he was way past his prime. I wish you could have heard Harry Caray doing Cardinals games with Jack Buck back in the fifties. You simply would not believe it was the same person. In the 50's, Harry Caray was the quintessential baseball announcer. The guy who came to the CUBS in '82 was a bad caricature of that announcer who then began to degenerate into buffoonery. While I was never a big fan of Harry's during his years with the CUBS, I have to give him credit where it's due. His enthusiasm for baseball in general and the CUBS in particular was genuine and unparalleled. I don't believe the braintrust at WGN ever considered that hiring Harry Caray would be a good thing because of Caray's great broadcasting talent and knowledge of the game, but rather, because he could stir up the fans like few others ever have, and they could use that to sell their product. The same argument, to a lesser degree, can be made about Ron Santo. From that perspective, selling the CUBS, there was no greater success that Harry Caray. Ten years after his passing we still have a caricature of his likeness on display in the ballpark, there's a statue of him outside the ballpark, and we still have guest celebrities doing his 7th inning stretch bit. Best hire ever. Kudos to WGN. Harry was still pretty sharp in his early years with the Cubs. He was never the same after that stroke in '87 though. But if you hear some of his broadcasts from the '84 season, he was still on his game.

I'm listening to the White Sox radio broadcast right now on XM. Danks gets to 0-2 on a hitter, and Stone, as if on cue, just said, "A good slider low and away probably gets the job done here."

He redshirted this past season. Cales was the closer at UIC in '07. http://uicflames.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/stats/2006-2007/teamcume.html (as well as the SS) Gotta like the fact that he walked only one hitter in 36.1 innings.

From a broadcasting standpoint, I agree 100%. As a fan though, you have to appreciate his genuine enthusiasm and love for the Cubs. His enthusiasm for the game in big moments? Sure. But for the 10 times a year we get to hear him yell "YES!", there's 10 times a game where his stupid, rambling, incoherent stories cause Pat to ignore three plate appearances. You can sense his enthusiasm even when there isn't much going on. The good thing about their broadcasts - and one of the things that makes Hughes a great play-by-play guy - is that Hughes know when and how to interrupt Santo to give play-by-play without being rude about it. Whenever I get annoyed with Santo's style, I remind myself that it could be much worse. We could have Hawk Harrelson in the booth.

From a broadcasting standpoint, I agree 100%. As a fan though, you have to appreciate his genuine enthusiasm and love for the Cubs.

Hughes is great, don't get me wrong. However, his strength is on radio. He does a great job describing the action in detail, which is something you don't need to do as much on television. He's probably a little too dry for the majority of the television audience. And as much as I like Santo as a person, his broadcasting style (for lack of a better term) would be downright awful on television.

If he could do that all the time with an occasional at the head, I can't imagine the K numbers he would have had. probably something ridiculous like a 10.76 k/9 ratio for his career. I know, he's been amazing. I suppose the "I don't know if this thing is going to hit me or be a slider" was pretty effective, obviously, as it is. That is the career record for K per 9, correct? Johnson's BB/9 hasn't been above 2.75 since '98. His control was bad early in his career, but he was able to refine his command around 1993, keeping his BB/9 in the mid-3s for a couple years before getting it below 3.0 in 1995.

Didn't Varsho make his debut in '88?

Alex Maestri just died a little inside.

Maybe not as a starter, but he's still an AS at this point, don't you think? Given that Bengie Molina has a pretty good chance of being the obligatory Giants representative, there's a chance that only one of Soto and McCann will make it. I mean, it's almost certainly going to Soto because there's no way he'll lose that lead. However, I'd love to have him deserve it. I think Lincecum would be going ahead of Molina if the Giants only get one player in.

From a performance standpoint, he's not tarnishing his career. When he's healthy, he's still as effective as he ever was during his career. From an "it-would-be-nice-to-have-a-fully-functioning-right-arm-for-the-rest-of-my-life" standpoint, he probably may want to call it a career. He's already had multiple surgeries on that arm, and he's on the wrong side of 40. Get it fixed and enjoy retirement. Maybe he's hoping to close for a year or two to become the first 200 win/200 save pitcher.

Both budhouse and wrigley23 have been oddly silent lately.

Along those same lines, let's not forget the other rumored part of the Roberts' deal: Jay Payton .239/.284/.367

I read the bold and immediately thought whaaaaaa??? They don't have a rookie in their rotation, and surely they aren't replacing one of their starters right now... What Steve was TRYING to say is that this is the 7th Cardinals rookie (position or pitcher) to make their debut this season. Way to just completely butcher the facts Steve. It's almost like he blames the Cubs for only being 2.5 games ahead. The Cubs have the best record in baseball. I hate to say it, but the fact that St. Louis is only 2.5 games back is a credit to the Cardinals, not a fault of the Cubs. St. Louis has kept pace with a team that has played better than anyone else through the first two months of the season. It's not like the Cubs have kept them in the race by playing poorly.

210-147 career record 154 saves 127 ERA+ (that puts him in the top 50 all-time) 1.17 WHIP 7.98 K/9 (23rd all time) 3011 career strikeouts (16th all time) One Cy Young award If you think his numbers are borderline HoF, ok. However, when you factor in his postseason numbers, (15-4, four saves, 2.65 ERA in 207 IP), I think he definitely gets in.

I like the sponsor quote on Shane Andrews' page: http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/andresh01.shtml

The way he's throwing, let him pitch the ninth. THIS!!! I'm all for using Wood as the closer, but when Marmol strikes out the side on a 10-pitch inning, just let him keep going. Save Wood for tomorrow if they need him.

The way he's throwing, let him pitch the ninth.

I hope Santo brought a clean pair of pants to the ballpark.

I just had to highlite that because after Santo, Quisenberry is my pet "veterans committee really should put that guy in the HoF" candidate. He had a 5-year run in KC that was just unbelievable. And he did it with an insanely low strikeout rate of 3.3 K/9 IP for his career.

That's good for Notre Dame, but as a Purdue fan, I'm not happy. I think he was poised to have a very good sophomore season.