jersey cubs fan

It's not the end of the world. TJS usually isn't a huge deal and a lot of pitchers actually comes back stronger after having it and fully recovering. Yeah, this means they won't see him next year, but next year was going to be another step in their rebuilding process anyway. This actually has a good chance of prolonging his career (and thus the money that the Nats can make off of him) and hopefully will line up nicely with when it's time to unleash Harper. this must be covered by insurance, right? so the Nationals aren't losing all of the money they're paying him for next year. Though, if you're the Nationals, while you don't want to wear him down to nothing, are you really concerned about his career when he's 30+ more than the next several years? What are the chances that he's pitching for the Nationals after this contract runs out? If he's anywhere near as good as advertised, very small, so this is pretty much the worst thing for the Nationals. It's not like a normal rookie where it's a cheap year. And if he never really comes back to 100% (or doesn't for 3-5 years), they can't even trade him for before he's a FA for nearly as much as they thought they could. I don't think there's a silver lining here for the Nats at all. He doesn't accrue service time next season right? This would extend the age at which they will lose control over him. And since they are more likely to be contenders later than next year specifically, it's not all bad.

If they are smart he won't pitch until then. But if they are desperate and dumb they might try and get him in by next September.

WAR is cumulative no? Doesn't it hurt Castro that he hasn't played the entire season? Also the fielding hurts, so this doesn't say much about how his actual hitting is. But I do think he's sacrificed a little power with a lot of "put the ball in play" singles. And the patience is a little disappointing, but not a huge problem.

Why was I thinking he was supposed to be a ground ball pitcher?

Yes, I did. I suggest they quit whining and play the damn game. I understand why they're upset but I don't completely agree with them. The NFL intentionally hurt the play on the field in order to keep the umpires safe. Even though now more penalties will be missed (except for offensive holding which will now be called a lot more) and the no huddle offense won't work nearly as well, I can respect that decision. I do wish the NFL had tried putting equipment on these umpires first though. There's no reason to hurt the game until you have tried another easy option first. And it's hard not to notice that the NFL isn't completely caring about their safety because they're in their old spot during the last two minutes of the half. Equipment does not keep players safe, it won't keep umpires safe. The only protection is the helmet, everything else just makes it easier to make bigger hits.

he doesn't give up many hits because he's been absurdly lucky. he has a .237 babip. besides a good pop-up rate, there's nothing in his peripherals that suggests he should have a super-low babip. his FIP is 4.34, which is a lot more indicative of how he's pitched this year than the ERA/WHIP he's currently sporting. 9 fly outs to 3 ground outs, 4 BB to 3 K, but only 3 ER in 5.2, does seem a bit lucky in this game.

I'm an idiot, the first time I read that I didn't even pick up on the Dibble hasn't seen Strasburg's records and he's not a doctor so he should shut up about it. I was just thinking he was being coy about a suspension or something.

No, you won't be delightful, you'll still be miserable. He said it'd, not I'd, although I'm not sure if it'd is real.

Yes. You don't need freaking managers inserting pinch runners for Hall of Fame hitters to get an extra step. You need a GM to get the right players and a manager to get the hell out of the way.

top notch

Not really. He rebounded, but he did not salvage his season. The season still stinks. I said you could argue that he salvaged his season. And it really depends on what your definition of "salvage" is. For a guy to improve his OPS from what it was to over 200 points in less than two months during this time of year is commendable to say the least. Don't forget how bad he was early on. And a 200 point jump should salvage most seasons, but since he was so bad early on (early and often actually), 200 points leaves him in significant disappointment territory.

http://deadspin.com/5622674/john-buccigross-whore-problem It was a real marriage, for whore.

Hank Blalock/Xavier Nady platoon, come on down.

Not with a NTC and lack of options.

I might be going to see him play Friday night.

Did he kill a Mountain Bluebird?

Not really. He rebounded, but he did not salvage his season. The season still stinks.

It may have been possible, but it clearly hasn't happened.

How much of that lack of productivity/efficiency is actually Cutler's fault? Especially last year. All those QBs you mentioned have MUCH better surrounding players than what Cutler has now and probably what he had in Denver. Marshall is the only offensive player that stands out to me who played with Cutler in Denver. A lot of it. The guy makes a lot of bonehead errors. He did it in Denver when he had good receivers and the best pass protection in football (although not to the extent he did last season). I've been driving the Bears WRs stink bandwagon for over a year now but saying Cutler doesn't shoulder a large amount of the blame for his play last year is pure revisionist history. If you can watch Cutler and then watch a game where those other QBs I mentioned and say this guy is nearly as accurate and smart with the football as them...you're delusional. He's obviously not as good but you said he's not on the same planet. That's inaccurate.

It's especially troublesome when it doesn't fit your pre-existing bias on a player. Or when it's propped up by SLG and has a really bad OBP.

Cutler is on the same planet with them and running games are vastly overrated.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2010/08/stan_kasten_on_rob_dibbles_two.html He's taking some time off.

Where are you going to strengthen the team? Colvin is very likely to be a huge disappointment offensively as a 1B. 1B is the most glaring need.

Do you mean like current manager and heir apparent in the same dugout? If so, I'd say Torre/Girardi and Torre/Mattingley that I can think of off the top of my head. No, I mean two candidates for the same job, Girardi/Sandberg, ending up as manager/bench coach. Girardi played under and then coached under an established Torre.

What's my assumption? The logic in passing on Dunn is that I'm hesitant to give a four year, big money contract to a guy who will be 32 before we likely will be competitive again. I was a huge Dunn supporter 2 years ago when we signed Milton Bradley, but I don't know that potentially overpaying for Dunn now would make a lot of sense when there very possibly could be better options available a year later, when we'll actually (from my point of view) be competitive again. The assumption that you would get more years or production from Gonzalez. I understand your reasoning, I just don't see the logic. You try and field the best team you can on April 1 every year, unless you are Pittsburgh. You don't hold back in hopes of maybe having a chance at somebody else a year later. This team is struggling to put butts in seats this year. They will be hit hard if they don't make a splash this offseason. And if they are also rans in 2011 the level of disinterest will return to the mid 90's levels when seats were easy to come by on game day. It would be an uphill battle, but it's still the NL Central and it's still quite possible this team could pull off another 85 win title next year. This isn't the NBA. You don't throw away seasons for a shot at one guy, and the Bulls failure to ever land a good free agent is only going to make it more difficult for the Cubs to justify passing on a quality guy because of the outside shot that they might have a chance to sign somebody who might be a little better a year later.