Have a seat, Neifi

Legit question for those who were more in-tune with Pie's scouting as a minor-league; what is his ceiling in terms of power potential at the ML level? Are we talking 20-25 HRs? More?

3-layer Pie, please.

Jock walked? I think everyone's supposed to take a shot now.

FYI - Baseball America's Alan Mathews had this say to about our possible draft choice at #3:

I remember that too. IIRC, Fox had a few of his pitches in the 98-100 range. Honestly I think that's more Fox than anything though; I believed they have been 'outed' for spicing up the velocities on the stadium radar gun for their TV broadcasts...

Agree...saw him get up to 96 on a few fastballs.

Great. Eyre's awesome and Wuertz is hurt by a blown call. Go figure.

Ok, sorry about that. I wasn't sure, so I just posted the whole thing...my apologies.

FWIW, just posted on ESPN.com...did give us at least some credit for nabbing Rich Hill in the 4th, but we take a beating everywhere else (particuarly with the Brownlie pick)...read at your own risk: Note: Edited by moderator for copyrighted content.

Is there a way to see what each of their catcher's ERA is? I know that's obviously very dependent on who's throwing to them, but I'd imagine Blanco calls a better than Barrett.

Eyre wasn't wearing enough flair.

Too bad Ricardo Rincon's unavailable.

Preferably a lefthanded one who is past his prime and wouldn't take a walk if Jessica Alba were standing at first base wearing a french maid outfit.

Nice play by Izworthless.

That ball was absolutely annihilated.

Heckuva game by Sori so far. A SOS, GIDP and an error on a routine single to left. Maybe he should take a dump in the Gatorade cooler and go for the cycle.

Have we gotten a ball out of the infield yet?

That was the most pathetic display of OF defense I've seen this year.

Guzman getting stuck with mop-up duty inferiorates me even more after last night. Why did we do this again?

Good player. Bad signing. Terrible contract.

My fear is that even if the Cubs are 8+ games out of the WC or division lead in late July and thus are in a position to shop Z, teams will be reluctant to give up as much considering how well-documented his "issues" are thanks to the national media. Everyone and their mother seems to think Z has a combination of 1) mechanical flaws, 2) emotional instability, 3) mental hangover from looming contract, and have said as much on a variety of internet portals (Hard Ball Times, BP) and on ESPN.com or Baseball Tonight. If his ERA is still floating above 5, teams may think to themselves "Well if Rothschild couldn't get through to him, why would our pitching coach be able to?" Obviously any team seriously interested in Z will do their fair share of in-game scouting to make their own assessments, but I feel like the "he's a proven #1, he just needs a change of scenery" angle loses a bit of steam every successive start in which he gets knocked around and pundits then immediatley break down his sloppy delivery and loss of velocity.

Think you misspelled John Kruk. 8-) (Though to Kruker's credit, I was appreciative of a huge breakdown he did on Baseball Tonight a few weeks back arguing that the Cubs' woes the last 2-3 seasons have been because our hitters didn't walk enough while our pitchers walked too many. Good to actually hear someone in the 'media' acknowledge the painfully obvious for once.)

To add a bit of fuel to the fire, Steve Phillips at ESPN (who I think talks a lot without saying much of anything, but maybe that's just me) posted this in his Insider chat today- Paul (Wilmette, IL): What do you think about the Carlos Zambrano situation? He hasn't pitched like a $17 million dollar a year player and the Cubs needed the Sunday game against the Sox before they go on the road. I would rather use the money on everyday players. Steve Phillips: Every championship team has an ace, and Zambrano has been an ace. He is not pitching as well this year, but I think it's mental and mechanical. We broke down his delivery on BB Tonight a few weeks back, where we showed how he's leaping toward home plate in his delivery and opening up too soon, causing him to drop his arm slot and get under his fastball and slider. Everything seems to be flattening out, and he's had difficulty commanding his pitches and putting the ball where he wants to. A lot of times, when a pitcher leaps toward home plate, it's because he is emotional, trying too hard, and jumping at the hitter. When Zambrano's contact got pulled off the table, I think it affected the emotional righthander, and he has been over-trying instead of just pitching. Someone is gonna give him a lot of money this winter, and I believe he'll return to ace form.

FWIW Lou also was quoted as saying after yesterday's game that he might still consider moving Dempster into the rotation later on this year, despite the fact Dempster will remain as closer for now.

FYI the Twinkies have jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Brew Crew...would be great if Z could settle down and give us a chance to shave another game off that lead.