badnews

Alright, I've got this link in a favorites folder, I'll see ya in the offseason. I can't see him signing for Vicente Padilla 2 years ago money.

4/60, that'll be it.

I admire teachers, because they're the real heroes.

Oh yeah, the guys at the top of the season hits list are always unimpeachible. That's like the "Juan Pierre had 200 hits for the Cubs!" argument. Anyway, having some good seasons back when doesn't do anything for him now.

Ichiro is having an awful year, by the way, does anyone know why? He's 34 and was vastly overrated in his prime anyway? Ichiro fans claim he can't be overrated because he makes every person with any Asian heritage whatsoever watch every Mariners game and cut the Mariners a $100,000 check every year. Apparently it's like the Mormons and their tithe.

I still don't see much of a track record for high school position players drafted as high as Vitters and still in short season more than a calendar year after the draft. I haven't done any research into that, just going on memory, which is asking for trouble but I'm also curious. I just think if you draft guys that high they should be moving like Chris Marrero and company. I hope somebody posts the list of high school position player high draft picks who were in short season a year after they were drafted. Maybe there will be some reassuring names in the list.

Theriot reminds me a little bit of Luis Castillo. Castillo had a couple of productive years even ignoring steals. Then some not so productive ones. What's different about this year vs. Theriot entire career in the majors and minors is that he's hitting righthanded pitching now. That's the rub on Castillo too - he'd beat up lefties and not do well against righties. Of course, you can't ignore steals, when Castillo was stealing 50, 62, 48 bases that helps and Theriot is not going to do that.

When I say something like that though I'm the bad guy. That's what I don't understand. High schoolers drafted in the same draft as Vitters, who are pretty much the same age as him are succeeding in Advanced A. That is something to be more legitimately excited about. I mean you expect more out of Josh Vitters than Nick Noonan, right? I don't know. I think if Brewers fans were being obnoxious about a prospect of theirs like that that's the first thing I would point out. How many top high school position prospects drafted so highly were in short season more than one full calendar year after the draft? Another thing, I see some people have latched onto the "Howie Kendrick with power" comparison in the other topic, but 7 or 8 months ago I floated a name up there no one seemed to want to commit to: Nomar Garciaparra. Isn't Nomar Garciaparra in his heydey "Howie Kendrick with power?" Look at Nomar's numbers 1998-2000 and 2002-2003. High average from a "swing early, swing often" line drive approach, more power than you can imagine Kendrick to have, fewer walks from putting the ball in play early... can someone explain to me why Garciaparra doesn't fit better than "Kendrick with power?"

Ryan Zimmerman, BAH.

I balk at the idea that you can't put DeRosa at right and Fontenot at second because going from Kosuke to DeRosa is too steep a decline in right field. Plus, I'm curious about Fontenot. What is he? .725 OPS guy? .750 OPS guy? .775? .800? I'd like to have a better handle on what he is. Does he just go through crazy fluke streaks? More playing time would clear up the picture.

As I've said before I've seen too many hitters look good at Boise and suck elsewhere to get excited about Boise hitters. Look what happened with Russell Canzler, he had awesome power at Boise.

How is Dempster *not* going to get 4 years, $60 million? I seriously doubt he'll take less total money than Carlos Silva. These guys have pride.

And now Fukudome has a worse OPS than Burnitz in 2005 or Jacque Jones with the Twins in 2005.

Wow, thanks for that analysis Dr. Freud. Here I just thought it meant that K-Rod was cavorting around like a fool and celebrating like he won the World Series after every save, no matter how insignificant, reflected on him, turns out it just reflects on everyone who doesn't share your point of view. How about that. The difference between K-Rod and the home run watch is that no other closer has a Punch and Judy act even close to what he does, whereas all the home run watchers are more or less in the same ballpark. Plus you have to actually respect a home run a lot of the time, a one out save with a 4 run lead against the Mariners, wow, incredible.

Let's hope Dempster doesn't win it, he's already going to require an assload of money to re-sign.

So if it's the Cubs vs. the Angels in the World Series and K-Rod closes out Game 1 with an amped up times 10,000 version of his imbecilic act since it's the World Series, it won't bother you, all the hopping around and chest thumping and gesticulating?

Again, I think Tabata has been overrated.

Is anyone else really annoyed with Francisco Rodriguez? He acts like a complete jackass whenever he gets a save, he's got like, what, a 1.27 WHIP which isn't the most dominating thing ever, and he seems to have a share of cheap saves. Take a look at this boxscore and defend the statistic of the save: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore;_ylt=AuzzWyC8jBOkyWIHBTWpddKFCLcF?gid=280812103 Is that the lamest save in history? Heck, even a guy with a 30 run lead has to get off his ass and pitch three innings. That's a joke.

I predict Rundle doesn't make the list.

When Willie Harris is slugging the crap out of Derrek Lee, then yes, I think it's more than "just a bad stretch." I mean, when did you guys decide Andruw Jones wasn't just going "through a bad stretch" and that he just wasn't the guy he used to be? We're talking about how bad he's been since the beginning of May. We're talking about a .750 OPS. And I just don't understand all this mock horror: "No way can Hoffpauir do better than Lee's great .750 OPS!" Just like there was no way Dempster could be this good, or Theriot, or Fontenot, or Edmonds, etc. etc. The White Sox had a decent lead on the Twins when they cut Konerko's playing time. I like that. The fact that they don't just blindly give out playing time even though Konerko has long been a producer for them. What about this is hard to understand? Since May, Konerko and Lee have about the same OPS. You know what? I'm not even as strongly in favor of this idea as you think. What I am strongly against is dismissing the idea out of hand because "There's no way Hoffpauir can do as well as Lee." How the hell does anyone know that? Lee's got 2 home runs since June 21st. That's terrible. But how do people know Hoffpauir can't do better than 2 home runs in 194 ABs? The answer: they don't know. Since May 1, Derrek Lee has a .734 OPS I know it's heresy to think that there's a possibility that Hoffpauir could do better than that.

Wow, that's way too harsh a response, I think. You know what's a ridiculous joke? The fact that we can talk about Placido Polanco and Willie Harris outslugging Derrek Lee in such a long time period. What is this stuff about "even close to the same league" as Derrek Lee? Since May he's basically been a .750 OPS hitter. There's nobody out there who has a chance at reaching this lofty benchmark? You've gone out too far on a limb and I don't think you've really bothered to look at what Derrek Lee has become. I don't think the idea that Hoffpauir can do better than a .750 OPS playing against righties is any sort of madness whatsoever.

I don't know what the answer is but I think we've run with "status quo" long enough, and it may be time for "not status quo."

I'm actually not 100% sold on the idea of doing so but I think the idea deserves consideration. Since May 13th, Derrek Lee has posted a .743 OPS. That's not good enough and it's been going on too long. In the same time period Soto has posted an .804 OPS and Aramis an .878. Since June 1st, Lee has had 4 home runs. In that time period, Skip Schumaker, Fukudome, Jose Reyes and Placido Polanco have had 5 in that time period. Jody Gerut has 10. Ronnie Belliard has 8, Geoff Blum has 8, Jose Lopez has 8, Mark DeRosa has 9, Willie Harris has 7, Freddy Sanchez has 6, Fontenot has 6... come on. I know this is a radical suggestion, but should the Cubs expect more out of their 1b than defense? Should a 1b be able to outslug Willie Harris playing half of his game in Washington? Also since June 1, Paul Konerko and Lee have basically the same OPS, and Konerko has seen his time cut. The situational numbers don't look great, .859 OPS with the bases empty, 13 home runs, .741 OPS, 1 home run with RISP, .589 OPS with RISP 2/outs. Lee is hitting lefties a lot better than righties, maybe a modified platoon with Hoffpauir? You don't need to give Hoffpauir more than enough rope to hang himself, but just see if he can catch fire and maybe light a fire under Lee. What do you think?

Since July 13 Howry has a 9.81 ERA. There's no time it's safe to use him.

Howry has been awful. I don't think there's anywhere left to hide him. Because of him, the Cubs had to bring their setup man and closer into a game they were winning 11-4. Give me a break.