noisesquared

Wow. I'm not sure I can keep listening to this - the SD announcers are jerks. The Walker comments were pretty uncalled for. One of the announcers, acting like he's talking to Walker said (paraphrased) : "Hey Todd, you been traded yet? How'd it feel to read in the paper that no one is interested in your services?" :evil:

That two HBP in one inning? Bradley reached on catcher's interference, per the A's announcer.

It still makes no sense. Healthy pitchers are not treated this way. I could see a little extra caution early, but this is getting silly. If you don't see anything odd about the way they are handling him, so be it, but there is definitely reason to worry, and justification for expressing concern. I agree that the handling of Prior is odd, but they've indicated that they weren't going to handle him normally this spring. Granted the Cubs track record regarding injury has been pretty spotty lately, but nothing has happened yet to make me thing anything is wrong. When Prior is scratched for a start or shut down for a week, then I'll start to worry.

This is what I don't get - all winter the mantra around NSBB was that Prior is not injury prone, he's been the victim of some freak plays. Now that the Cubs are being ridiculously cautious with him, the conspiracy theories start to come out. It's a pretty safe bet Prior has not taken a batted ball off the elbow or collided with any second basemen yet this year, so if he's not injury prone, there should be nothing wrong with him. Considering he's thrown all of his scheduled sessions this spring training, I don't see any reason to worry. All I've heard this spring is that Rothschild wants to take a different approach with Prior, and if that means he's on a different timetable than everybody else, then so be it.

Nice call :evil:

I think I need to stop listening to the game - the overwhelming sense of optimism I'm rapidly developing is starting to scare me...

Pat and Ron were absolutely correct - Z is in mid-season form.

Z starting the 3rd innning? Wow.

Hairston to 2nd on a pitch in the dirt.

Jones leads off with a walk, followed by a Haren balk :D

I second that. Here I was thinking I would have to settle for listening to the Sox game for my baseball fix today... Thanks Bruce!

Depending on where the teams are in the standings, I think the following could be moved: 1. Soriano. My guess is he's moved sooner than later, but if he's a National on July 31 and if the Nationals are out of the race, he's going to be finding a new home. 2. Moises Alou: If the Giants falter again, I can see Alou finding a new home. 3. Schmidt: See Alou. 4. Luis Gonzalez: He has a no-trade clause, and so he's a bit more tricky. I'm sure he'll be shopped if Arizona isn't in contention. 5. Adam Dunn: Yes, Dunn just signed a three-year deal, but the last year is voided if he's traded. That means the Reds simply bought out his arby years which could make him more cost certain for a team acquiring him. I don't assume he'll be traded, but it could happen. 6. Tejada: I figure this would be a long shot, but it could happen. It would be a costly move for whoever acquires him. 7. Huff and Lugo: Both of these will find a new home between now and July 31. 8. Zito: If the A's are out of it, yes, but I doubt the A's will be out of it. As the divisional races begin to shake out in June or July, this picture will become much clearer. A couple of opinions/observations: - I don't think one of either Vidro or Soriano will be a National by April 1st, unless Vidro is hurt. - Dunn will not go anywhere in '06 or '07, unless the Reds are overwhelmed by an offer, i.e. Prior or Z caliber starting pitcher. Dunn's contract actually works against a team trying to trade for him if the 3rd year voids if traded. - Zito will stay put and leave via free agency regardless of the standings. Beane seems to prefer to either let his players leave as FA and take the compensatory draft picks, or trade during the off-season.

I think the White Sox organization protected Thomas for so long - in regards to his selfishness and attitude which have long been in question - that the Sox felt Thomas at least should feel some debt to the Sox organization. Unfortunately, not only does Thomas not feel indebted, the Big Hurt still thinks the Sox should have showed him some more respect as they were kicking him to the curb. Seeing how this relationship has played out during the Williams-era, it really does not surprise me that Williams took the first available opportunity to lash out at Thomas. Right now, I'm happy to hear any news that'll make headlines on the Chicago sports pages that does not involve any Cubs' pitchers' health :D

While I agree that Pierre's not a sure bet, I tend to lean towards him putting up a .350+ OBP if he's healthy. Last year Pierre missed most of spring training and played hurt early. A healthy Pierre will be worth what was paid to acquire him. And I think there's a chance Pierre puts up a sub .340 OBP, but I think the chances are better he puts up a .360 OBP.

What does growing up have to do with believing that a fast guy on the base paths bugs the pitcher? There are very respected baseball men who would agree with the premise that a fast player on the basepaths can affect a pitcher, especially in the late-and-close type situation. Just because someone hasn't found a metric yet to validate the theory does not mean a believer isn't 'grown up' :roll:

Now, how much value does that have compared to the actual ability of getting on base? To me, the ability to distract some of the lesser pitchers isn't nearly as important as the ability to get on 1B. Obviously obp is more important, but ideally you want someone w/ good obp and speed. Pierre fits both. Except the two seasons he hasn't. Two out of his 5 1/2 seasons, he's had an unacceptable OBP for a leadoff hitter. But the other 3.5 seasons have been pretty good. What's the point? He's had more OBP success than failure. His career OBP is very respectable. And Pierre's worst season would still be a huge upgrade over what the Cubs got out of center last year.

Just got 4 bleacher seats to the 8/18 game vs. the Cards. So that's two ticket purchases in less than an hour and a half. Last year I didn't get in once before 5PM CST. I'm pretty happy this year, needless to say.

I got in right after 10, which still amazes me, got 2 aisle seats in row 2 of section 220 for the 7/14 game against the Mets, and nothing since. 12 windows open, BTW.

I think Pierre's lack of power works against him in several ways - the obvious lack of SLG, but also it hurts his OBP. It's hard to draw a walk if the opposition wants to throw you strikes. The opposing pitcher knows Pierre is not going to hurt you with his power and Pierre's not likely going to strike out. Therefore you throw Pierre strikes and let your defense try and get him out. Do not walk him and give him the opportunity to hurt you with his speed. I think if Pierre was able to consistently hit in the neighborhood of 5-10 HR a year, his OBP would benefit greatly. Turning on a few pitches could give pitchers just enough respect to try to pitch him a little more cautiously, and hopefully give Pierre the opportunity to draw a few more BB.

Runs at home - 469 (278/341/509/850) Runs away - 396 (258/318/430/747) This tells me if the Rangers had played all their games on the road, they'd still have been 3rd in runs scored, although by a much smaller margin (Cleveland was 4th at 790 runs).

I think there are several issues with Soriano working against him: - $10mil contract - this'll be tough for most teams to take on entering spring training without giving up a contract in return - Soriano's claim that he'll return to the AL next year, making him a rent-a-player to half the league - Soriano's refusal to play anywhere but 2B, which severely narrows the market So what is a potential 1 year, $10mil 2B rental worth in trade? Probably a bad contract and some low-level prospects, regardless of any statistical evaluation.

I agree that he probably won't on both accounts. However, I don't think it is a stretch that he could hit 30 HR. I do think it is a stretch that he keeps that line, especially considering he had a pretty crazy BABIP last year. The biggest obstacle to Murton even having the opportunity to hit 30HR is Dusty. I don't see any way Murton gets the number of AB to even have a chance. He'll be hard pressed to get 20HR in the 400-450 plate appearances he'll likely get.

Wood is also rumored to have been the boom box attacker. :lol: I saw that interview and Woody actually said something very subtle about Sosa; something like "no matter what you thought of him or what kind of person he was he always came to play." LOL, that tells me he was a troublemaker. Sosa wouldn't accept a Cubs bench position and, more importantly, the Cubs aren't offering. EDIT: Here is Kerry's exact quote:"The impact he had on the game -- he brought the fans back, him and McGwire," Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood said. "They filled the stadiums. That was fun to be a part of. Like I've always said about Sammy, he always came ready to play. No matter what kind of person he was, or what people wrote about him, or people said about him, he was ready to play for 162 games. I've still yet to see somebody prepare the way he did. He was a superstar." Sosa's work ethic makes Kerry look like a lazy dog. I think Kerry might have suddenly realized that. Sosa became a superstar by taking the field every single day----tired or not, hurt or not. Then there's Kerry: a man who was blessed with amazing talent, sat on his laurels, refused to learn how to pitch, and blew himself up in his mid-20's. Kerry should bow down and kiss Sosa's feet. Sosa's a Hall of Fame candidate and Wood is the biggest pitching bust of a generation. He has no place saying anything *BUT* what he just said. Biggest pitching bust of a generation? I tend to think a 70-54 record with a 3.67ERA and 1286K's in 1109IP aren't 'bust' numbers. Kerry's health has been disappointing, but he's not what I'd call a bust, much less the biggest bust of his generation. And how would being lazy have anything to do with labrum problems? If anything Kerry has impressed me the last few years with at least looking to be in excellent shape reporting to camp. He has been injury prone, but I don't know if any amount of hard-work can make his elbow, shoulder, or back not be problematic.

I dont think that his production+gate value will even equal a million bucks anymore. He's pretty much way out of the public eye at this point. If Neifi is worth 2.5 mil/year, Sammy is worth at least a mil :wink: I'd think some cellar-dweller would be willing to take a flier on having a future HOF hit his 600th HR in their uniform for $1mil. Who's in KC's outfield?

Why does Dunn get a free pass on his home/road splits? Soriano was beat up pretty bad around here because his stats seemed to be inflated by a hitter-friendly home park. Dunn's 3 year splits are .985 OPS home, .836 OPS away. A-Rod, Bonds, and Pujols 3 year split road OPS are all very solid (1.+ for Pujols and Bonds, and .940 for A-Rod). Granted an .836 road OPS isn't bad at all, but I don't know if I'd qualify a guy whose only impressive numbers come at home as a difference maker in the category of some other .900 OPS guys.