bjsands

What TBS deal? They are going to be broadcasting non-Braves games, including some playoff games I believe. I think they will have games every Sunday afternoon, the Division Series and the NLCS.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-070403morrissey,1,2470040.column?coll=cs-home-utility It's no mirage, Rick...

It's kind of funny that the line-up displayed on the same page has Soriano leading off while the article has him in the middle of the order.

I'm just glad this hasn't turned into a Lance Briggs kind of situation. Very glad.

I've highlighted the nonsense in your post. It doesn't matter what the Cubs say or don't say about a player's injury. You don't know if this will keep happening or if it won't, and even if your aboive scenario takes place, it means the Cubs got some decent outings from him before he gets hurt again, whicxh was the whole point of signing him for next to nothing to provide some bullpen depth. Seriously, if this were Wade Miller being hurt (at the same salary, BTW), no one would be making stupid declarative statements like "he's a tease" and "release him". How long have you been following the Cubs and Kerry Wood? What makes you think this scenario won't play out? If I remember correctly, isn't one's past performance the best predictor of his future performance? And by decent outings I meant one or two. I should have made that clearer. But, even if he is somewhat healthy, he will not be able to throw on back-to-back days. What's the value of a middle reliever who cannot do that? The only reason Kerry Wood is taking up eight pages of this board, and plenty of time of my spring break, is that we still remember the 20 Ks and parts of the 2003 playoffs. But that Kerry Wood is gone and will never come close to returning. The one that is left is an injury-proned and overrated pitcher. BTW, the definition of a tease is to arouse hope, desire, or curiosity without satisfying them. Kerry Wood is the definition of a tease. What, again, is so stupid about that? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tease If you took a pol of the people here at NSBB as far as if they expected big things of Kerry Wood this year, you'd get about 10% yes. It's kinda hard to be a tease if no one really expects anything of you. Yes, past performance is indicative of future performance, but then again, we didn't sign him to 3/$21. We signed him for what amounts to a rehabbing pitcher's contract, which is exactly what he is. IHe elected to rehab rather that surgically repair his shoulder. If he misses the enitre year, big deal, we wasted a million bucks, but if he misses a couple months and gives us 15-30 appearances out of the pen, I'd consider that a successful investment. And since we don't know if he'll be out for weeks or months yet, it's hard to label this a faied investemtn. Spring training is a time when you see if rehabbing pitchers have anything left. I don't think he does have anything left. Time to move on. And, as for the "no one really expects anything of you", if you are slotted into a 7th or 8th inning role, somebody is expecting something of you. Probably not the members of this board, but the people actually making the decisions. Why is 30 appearances by a middle reliever a successful investment? Those are pretty low standards, frankly.

I've highlighted the nonsense in your post. It doesn't matter what the Cubs say or don't say about a player's injury. You don't know if this will keep happening or if it won't, and even if your aboive scenario takes place, it means the Cubs got some decent outings from him before he gets hurt again, whicxh was the whole point of signing him for next to nothing to provide some bullpen depth. Seriously, if this were Wade Miller being hurt (at the same salary, BTW), no one would be making stupid declarative statements like "he's a tease" and "release him". How long have you been following the Cubs and Kerry Wood? What makes you think this scenario won't play out? If I remember correctly, isn't one's past performance the best predictor of his future performance? And by decent outings I meant one or two. I should have made that clearer. But, even if he is somewhat healthy, he will not be able to throw on back-to-back days. What's the value of a middle reliever who cannot do that? The only reason Kerry Wood is taking up eight pages of this board, and plenty of time of my spring break, is that we still remember the 20 Ks and parts of the 2003 playoffs. But that Kerry Wood is gone and will never come close to returning. The one that is left is an injury-proned and overrated pitcher. BTW, the definition of a tease is to arouse hope, desire, or curiosity without satisfying them. Kerry Wood is the definition of a tease. What, again, is so stupid about that? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tease

I've taken the liberty of highlighting the parts of your argument that don't have any argumentative weight. His salary as compared to yours and mine, options for other players, and your frustration at the failure of his body to hold up doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand. Yes, it sucks Wood is hurt. However, this isn't 2004. He was slated to be a late inning reliever. Losing him for a couple weeks isn't going to hurt the team, and the fact he's making-what, $1.5m?-isn't going to hinder the team. We paid Wade Miller just about as much to do nothing last year. Resigning Kerry was a gamble, and I wouldn't be so quick as to label it a failure because he's had 2 arm-related setbacks before April. And for the record, even if he doesn't throw another pitch this season, it was a gamble worth taking with the small amount of money he's getting. (A couple weeks? I think we all know better.) It was a gamble worth taking if it was going to pay off. There's no reason to give this guy a roster spot if he cannot get through spring training, especially given his history. And doesn't that $1.5 million make him easier to release? Why release him though? The money is a sunk cost. If he is on the DL, how is that worse than being off the team? Because this is going to keep happening. Wood will come back saying his arm is healthy, then his stuff will look good, then the Cubs will start to use him, then he will get hurt just as the team starts to trust him, then the Cubs will lie about the injury, then it will be revealed he is hurt and gone for the long term... We should all know better. He's nothing but a tease. Why is this guy worthy of so many chances?

I've taken the liberty of highlighting the parts of your argument that don't have any argumentative weight. His salary as compared to yours and mine, options for other players, and your frustration at the failure of his body to hold up doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand. Yes, it sucks Wood is hurt. However, this isn't 2004. He was slated to be a late inning reliever. Losing him for a couple weeks isn't going to hurt the team, and the fact he's making-what, $1.5m?-isn't going to hinder the team. We paid Wade Miller just about as much to do nothing last year. Resigning Kerry was a gamble, and I wouldn't be so quick as to label it a failure because he's had 2 arm-related setbacks before April. And for the record, even if he doesn't throw another pitch this season, it was a gamble worth taking with the small amount of money he's getting. (A couple weeks? I think we all know better.) It was a gamble worth taking if it was going to pay off. There's no reason to give this guy a roster spot if he cannot get through spring training, especially given his history. And doesn't that $1.5 million make him easier to release?

Angel Pagan will be called up in May after Daryle Ward is released or Cliff Floyd gets hurt.

Couldn't disagree more. What'd be the point? To get rid of an undependable (or is it non?) and injury-proned pitcher who is trying to change positions on the staff. If he weren't a Cub but some FA off the street, would you want to sign him? probably not. but he's already signed, so your question is pointless. Why is that a pointless question? It gauges his value to us if he wasn't the former Kid K who many of us thought was the heir to Nolan Ryan. I would rather have a guy who is going to stay healthy and be decent than a guy who probably will get hurt (quickly) but has a chance to be excellent.

Couldn't disagree more. What'd be the point? To get rid of an undependable (or is it non?) and injury-proned pitcher who is trying to change positions on the staff. If he weren't a Cub but some FA off the street, would you want to sign him? He seems like a great guy who loves being a Cub, but he's just taking up space on the 25 and 40-man rosters. If that ST article is true, I think it's time...

not really, then it wouldn't be the median... I know. I'm just using my intuition. Carlos Zambrano's 50th percentile is projected to be 13-8 with a 3.80 ERA. I think (and hope) those are off. Just to be objective, Johan Santana's 50th percentile is 16-6 with a 3.06 ERA. However, Z's 90th percentile projections are 17-7 with a 2.95 ERA and Santana's are 19-4 with a 2.16 ERA. I think those 90th percentile projections may be more likely, actually. (The 90th percentile means there is a 10% chance a player's stat line will have that much value. A player's 75th percentile rating means he has a 25% chance of having that valuable a season, and so forth...)

A lot of those projections, especially PECOTA, are known for being especially pessimistic. Even the BP guys acknowledge that. Those player projections are the median projections. The better the player, the better chance they exceed the median. PECOTA projects the most wins any team will get this season is 93. There is NO WAY 93 wins is the most any team will get this season. Just remember that when studying the PECOTA projections. They are notoriously low.

Amen to that.

Bob Howry replaces Ryan Dempster as closer by June 1