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Backtobanks

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Everything posted by Backtobanks

  1. Backtobanks
    Boy, I hope you're right. Personally, I see the Cubs winning it with 84-78.
  2. Backtobanks
    I don't agree with your "out of the box" thinking. First, let Kendall go and start Soto with Blanco in reserve. While I like Kendall offensively, he has shown to be terrible on defense. I would love to get Either, but Loney is a big downgrade, offensively and defensively, from Lee. Your idea of trading Howry, Murton, and DLee for Loney and Either and we would probably have to throw in some money and a couple of young arms is unbelievable. The 3 players you mentioned for Either and Loney is so one-sided in the Dodgers' favor that to add cash and young arms is outrageous.
  3. Backtobanks
    How many FAs at any position are worth half of what they end up getting?
  4. Backtobanks
    Soriano is a #5 hitter, not a leadoff hitter. It really is as simple as that. How Lou doesn't see that is beyond me. I'm hoping Lou will convince Soriano that batting 5th and playing RF will help the 2008 Cubs. Doing those 2 simple things gives you more power and RBIs in the middle of the order, gives you a higher OBP guy leading off, strengthens your OF defense in both LF and RF, and allows Murton to play everyday. Make Soto your starting catcher and you've improved the defense at that position too. Obviously, these changes won't be enacted for the rest of this year.
  5. Backtobanks
    Well that equates to a 4.50 ERA and a good amount of pitchers do better than a 4.50 ERA. Not sure what you mean by "do better than the 6/3 QS". What I'm simply asking is. What percentage of starting pitchers have a 6 inning 3 run line or better game? If it's a low percentage than it might be considered a qualty start. I realize that a 4.50 ERA is that that good and that giving up 2 runs should be a quality start and 3 should be called something else but as I wrote, I wonder what percentage of games have starting pitchers keep the other team from scoring more than 3 runs in 6 innings? I would think that a 6-inning 3-run start by a pitcher that is your #5 starter is pretty darn good. I would think that most managers would be happy if their #4 and #5 starters would give them 6 innings with only 3 runs.
  6. Backtobanks
    When I started this thread, I didn't think there would be all of this discussion over semantics. My point is that Lilly has been the best Cub starter all year, has been the starter to break all of the losing streaks, and continues to be the pitcher who gives the Cubs the best chance to win games this year. To me, that defines the "ace" of a staff. I'm not talking about next year, who has the best stuff, his flyball ratio, or whether he would be the "ace" on other teams.
  7. Backtobanks
    Ted Lilly has left no doubt about who's the ace of the Cubs' pitching staff. Congrats to Lilly and Kudos to Hendry on this one.
  8. Backtobanks
    I'm not defending Trachsel, but his last outing was actually pretty good and would have been very good if Lou would have pulled him instead of leaving him in to try to get a win. I'm not sure what Trachsel's record against the Pirates was, but I thought they were going to use him in specific situations (against a team that kills lefties). I think the idea of a modified 6 man rotation might work if you mix Trachsel and Marshall according to the other team's weaknesses.
  9. Backtobanks
    I lookat the talent on that list and try to figure out what package I would ask for in return and then I try to think of happy thoughts. I have to believe that any talks involving Hawpe or Eitheir would start with Hill+. Burrell and the Seattle duo would also cost a bit and they are more like consolation prizes (a little less so with Burrell). Church, Quentin , and Baldelli may not be any better than Murton in the long run. With the right deal, I could see the Cubs thinking about trading either Hill or Marshall. They've done a pretty good job, but I'm not sure the Cubs want to go into next year with 3 lefties in the rotation. Also, one of their strengths seems to be young pitchers, so they might be expendable for the right player.
  10. Backtobanks
    He does look like an interesting option, especially as a platoon player. My original suggestion was to convince Soriano to play RF and bat 5th for the good of the team. That way Murton or a Murton platoon would be more than adequate in LF.
  11. Backtobanks
    Ya, you're probably right about the impact SS not being signed or traded for but I'm not sure about the Vet middle guy and don't they already have Blanco signed for next year? As I mentioned in my post, Renteria or Tejada might be options depending on what salary the other team will take back in trade (Eyre or Jones) or eat as part of the deal. Another possibility would be to trade someone like Eyre or Jones first and then go after Renteria or Tejada.
  12. Backtobanks
    It wouldn't surprise me to see the Cubs go make a deal for someone like Renteria or Tejada, with Theriot sliding over to 2B. I would make Cedeno part of the package along with some young pitching. I was hoping Cedeno would make it, but he seems to be totally overmatched at the major league level. Also, I'm not sure where Patterson fits into the future of the Cubs, so he might be trade bait. I would think Jones, Murton, Ohman, Cedeno, Patterson, Marshall/Hill, plus prospects could be mentioned in trade talks depending on the other players involved. The other moves I would make would be to let Kendall go (start Soto) and move Soriano to RF and bat him 5th.
  13. Backtobanks
    You know, he's not in control of that. There is a manager around. If taking a day off today means he'll play the rest of the way, I'll take it. A manager? Really, what's that? Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. Come on, if Ramirez wanted to play badly enough today, he would've been in the lineup and you know it. You do realize that he said just a couple days ago that ramirez said in the paper that if it was up to him he wouldnt take any off days until the end of the year because he feels the team needs him this last month. I would think that Aram would have begged Lou to put him in the lineup when he saw the flags blowing straight out. We watched the Dodgers take batting practice and just about everyone hit 2-3 homers.
  14. Backtobanks
    I don't understand resting Aram on a day against a tough team with the wind howling out and the offense in the tank for the last few weeks. I do understand resting Aram at certain points, but this looked like a day he should have been playing.
  15. Backtobanks
    How about Mark Grudzalanek? I always thought that he was underrated.
  16. Backtobanks
    I understand what you are saying, but I still think that Zambrano got booed for losing his concentration and focus and not for performance or lack of effort. Booing may not be the answer, but professional athletes should be able to concentrate and focus on their task for 3 hours.
  17. Backtobanks
    Zambrano got booed for losing his focus and concentration, not for having a bad game. I'm not a big fan of booing the home team, but fans should be allowed to voice their displeasure when a player with a ton of talent isn't concentrating on the task at hand.
  18. Backtobanks
    I wouldn't call walking a ton of batters antics. I'd call it bad control. I'm more concerned with that. I think it's more being a complete headcase which leads to many of the walks. The guy just can't control his emotions. It is a case of not being able to control his emotions. Look at how many walks, hits, and runs come immediately after a bad call, an error, a botched play, or a mental mistake. It throws off everything for at least an inning while he tries to get his emotions back under control.
  19. Backtobanks
    Zambrano has a $100,000,000 arm and a $.50 brain. I'm starting to think that the fight between Zambrano and Barrett was a battle of mental midgets. Maybe Trachsel should replace Zambrano for a start to send him a message about getting his head out of his arse.
  20. Backtobanks
    This ties into the thread on how bad KW is as a GM. If Eckstein is their #1 target, they will positively be a 4th place team next year.
  21. Backtobanks
    You gotta go with who's hot and look for good matchups. If you were a manager with a soft-tossing lefty, wouldn't you try to pitch him against the Cubs?
  22. Backtobanks
    Moore was a top prospect for the Cubs????? Moore wasn't even going to get called up this week. Both Cherry and Moore are old AAA players who had no future with the Cubs. To put it another way, if Trachsel wins 2 games this month the deal would be considered a steal. If he wins 1 game, that would be fine because Cherry and Moore weren't going to contribute anything this month. Also, consider the fact that this was a 30-day rental, because Trachsel, Moore, and Cherry wouldn't be part of the 2008 plans anyhow.
  23. Backtobanks
    Well, if he passed waivers, than that means everybody had a chance to take him for nothing but didn't. That's not necessarily true, is it? If someone claimed him, the Phillies would then try to work out a deal with that team. Maybe nobody wanted Burrell at his salary and what he would cost in trade if they claimed him.
  24. Backtobanks
    He'll probably homer off of Trachsel in the DH game.
  25. Backtobanks
    I think Lou had a lot to do with this deal and the last few deals. Lou has done a good job of incorperating some kids into valuable members of the team, but when push comes to shove, he trusts veterans at this point in the season. It has worked with Kendall and the jury is still out on Monroe. We'll have to see what happens, but the Cubs didn't give up anything of value.
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