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Yeah, I don't think the 12th pitcher is coming today (nor does it need to after the off day).

I'd probably put Soriano ahead of Dunn. Dunn's been a little better offensively, but Soriano's defense (both his better range and his 10 assists so far) probably at least make that a wash, if not a slight edge to Soriano. I'd probably also put Gorzellany ahead of Z if I were just going on performance so far this season.

In 43 June at-bats. Now his line looks like this in June-.277/.319/.400. So the Cubs might have actually traded him at higher value. If they had waited a few weeks like one poster suggested and he turned cold again (like he has right now for the Padres) that simply further depresses his trade value. This is hindsight. At the time of the trade, his offense was improving. The Cubs didn't have any reason to beleive that he would all of the sudden slump again. To think that they should be commended for trading him because they somehow saw a slump coming, is silly. Which is exactly what the article is doing by saying the Cubs traded these players too late-hindsight. There was no reason to believe that Sosa would fall as far as he did so fast and lose the city, or that Patterson would suddenly do worse at 25 than he did even at 22, or that Walker's offense would drop like it did. He blames the Cubs for waiting to sell until after their dropoff, which is quite a bit of hindsight.

That whole list is a joke anyway. 10, 11, and 12 is a good example. If you said you could have any one of three receivers this year-Randy Moss, Reggie Wayne, or Torry Holt-I'm not sure which name would come out of you, but I'd be pretty sure it wasn't Moss. As for Moose and Berrian, it's hard to put Moose on there when he's only had 1 season above 900 yards in his last 6, and that was 3 years ago. Berrian's 775 can't really be considered either. Here are some people that probably should be on the list: Isaac Bruce-he put up almost 1100 yards last year! I know he's declining, but he deserves to be there low on the list. Mike Furrey-this is the Lion that should have been on the list, not Calvin Johnson. 98 catches, 1086 yards last year. Joey Galloway put up his 2nd straight 1000 yard season in an awful offense in Tampa, and yet didn't make the list. Terry Glenn put up his 2nd straight 1000 yard season, and didn't make the list.

In 43 June at-bats. Now his line looks like this in June-.277/.319/.400. So the Cubs might have actually traded him at higher value. If they had waited a few weeks like one poster suggested and he turned cold again (like he has right now for the Padres) that simply further depresses his trade value.

Well, OPS, but you didn't list that. Here is how the league stacks up in that this morning (the runs category is per game) Phillies-1st in runs, 1st in OBP, 2nd in SLG, 1st in OPS Milwaukee-2nd in runs, 5th in OBP, 1st in SLG, 2nd in OPS Florida-3rd in runs, 6th in OBP, 4th in SLG, 3rd in OPS Cincy-4th in runs, 11th in OBP, 3rd in SLG, 4th in OPS Colorado-5th in runs, 2nd in OBP, 8th in SLG, 5th in OPS Cubs-6th in runs, 7th in OBP, 5th in SLG, 6th in OPS Mets-7th in runs, 4th in OBP, 7th in SLG, 7th in OPS Astros-t8th in runs, 9th in OBP, 9th in SLG, 9th in OPS Dodgers-t8th in runs, 3rd in OBP, 12th in SLG, 10th in OPS Atlanta-10th in runs, 8th in OBP, 6th in SLG, 8th in OPS Padres-11th in runs, 15th in OBP, 11th in SLG, 13th in OPS Arizona-12th in runs, 12th in OBP, 10th in SLG, 11th in OPS Cardinals-13th in runs, 10th in OBP, 13th in SLG, 12th in OPS Giants-14th in runs, 13th in OBP, 14th in SLG, 14th in OPS Pirates-15th in runs, 14th in OBP, 15th in SLG, 15th in OPS Nationals-16th in runs, 16th in OBP, 16th in SLG, 16th in OPS

I'm more worried about tomorrow than Sunday. Marquis will probably give up 3-4 to their offense, but I think the offense has a good chance to do that to Bush as well. I'm not sure what they are going to do against Sheets-he has allowed only 6 runs in his last 5 outings combined.

The strange thing-the Rockies hit a homerun to take the lead in the top half of the inning. Hit by who? Troy Tulowitski. Sound familiar? This has to have been an absolutely crushing week for Rockies fans-they had just come off sweeping the Yankees, right in the middle of the race for the West, and now they have lost 7 in a row including 2 absolutely crushing losses.

A lot of people like to read what people's thoughts were back then to what they are now. BTW, check a couple threads down in the "Hall of Fame" thread started by Derwood. I think you are proposing basically the same thing as he did.

Probably the key plays of the Smokies game tonight: Top of the 8th, Smokies down 3-0, 1 out: Ouch. Edit: It was 3-0, not 1-0. Still pretty ridiculous though.

Noah probably does make Wallace expendable, but I doubt Wallace has much trade value. In fact, he probably has negative trade value with how much money he makes and declining skills.

Was it Allen straight up for the #5? Or was Theo Ratliff somehow involved? I know Delonte West is going to Seattle and there was one other player but I don't remember who it was. I think Wally is supposed to be the other player.

Also Florida is right in front of us in the WC They aren't in front of us anymore-they are 2 games behind the Cubs now. The 4 teams ahead of the Cubs in the WC are 2 of (LA/SD/Arizona), Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Philadelphia and Atlanta are each only 2 games ahead of the Cubs, and so hopefully Cincy can steal one from the Phillies tonight and the Cubs can move closer. The Cubs schedule is a lot softer over the next month than any of the 4 teams ahead of them in the WC, so I really would hope that they could gain some ground.

He only dropped him to 7th one day. He went back to 6th the next day, and then he's spent the last 3 days in the cleanup spot.

Yeah-he says that the only player the Cubs got back in the Bellhorn, Patterson, Sosa, and Walker deals is Fontenot. However, what he fails to say is that Bellhorn is out of the league, Patterson is the worst OF in the major leagues this year, Walker is out of the league, and Sosa is only back in the league after taking a year off. Two of those players were run out of town because the city hated them (Sosa and Patterson), and the other two are probably the organization's fault, although Walker being in his walk year and not being great last year probably did more to depress his value than anything the club did. His next paragraph is also confusing. Soriano's defense was never the problem-for right or wrong, the Cubs felt it was his offense that was suffering because of the position change, and have not changed in that decision. Pie was not supposed to be up for good the first time he came up, so I do not know why the writer would say that the Cubs determined he was ready and then decided he wasn't ready. For all the problems in the article, the overall point is true. The Cubs try one thing, and then at the first sign of trouble move on to the next thing. They need to be more patient overall if they plan to have sustained success. The author makes a very good point, he just doesn't use great examples to support it.

He is eligible to be taken off the last day before the break, but the Cubs are just going to wait until after the break to activate him to allow him an extra 5 days to make sure it's healed.

To be fair, this is the reason why: http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070627&content_id=2052129&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

Apples and oranges-neither of them were DFA'd because of their on-field play.

I thought I'd just toss this in here, an ok article filled with some new stuff and some I've heard before: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070628/SPORTS/706280472/1247/SPORTS

They wouldn't be messing with Z's days of rest-they would be using the off game today to move him up one day and pitch on normal rest instead of one extra day. With that said, I hope they don't. I think Z should pitch the last game before the break, and then he can pitch again the first game after the break. With the way the Cubs are going right now, it would really be nice to have two Z games in a row, and it would be normal rest for Z.

Fontenot was one of the players that came over from Baltimore in the Sosa deal.

If Lee drops the appeal he has to sit out five games. With the appeal, he may have it reduced to four or three. I know the Nats/Pirates have been bad and teams we should beat, but I wouldn't go automatically marking a bunch of "W's" with our without Lee. No, but I would rather play the Nats/Pirates 5 games w/out Lee than someone else 4 games without him (and let's face it, it probably doesn't get lower than 4 games). Is there a big difference between them and the Astros though? the Giants? the Cardinals? the Reds? Those are 4 of the first 5 teams the Cubs play after the break, and I really don't think the Nats/Pirates are much if any worse than those teams.

I don't see why. The Cubs don't face many good teams at all, so he might as well let the appeal play out and hope to get it reduced by a game or two.

Guzman is throwing in Mesa. He'll go on a rehab assignment to Iowa when he is cleared by the medical staff. It was reported in an article I read a day or two ago, but I cannot remember which one.

Yes, he did yesterday. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070627&content_id=2052202&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc