jersey cubs fan

So, what does it look like the Cubs can do with their top 15 pick next June?

Trade Lilly and Fukudome to the Mets, get Beltran back.

http://cubs.scout.com/2/871803.html Also interesting was that one of the questions said that the Cubs had 7-9 guys scout Jackson and he was a pretty unanimous decision for the team. Interesting in that it seems to indicate all of their scouts are overly interested in athleticism instead of baseball playing ability. He sounds like a kid that is counting on a professional coaching staff to teach him selectivity, admirable, but I'm not sure the Cubs staff is the one to get the job done.

They were "fine", but they were still just 14th. I'd like to see them at least move to top 12, and really they should be top 10 if we're going to think of them as real contenders. Defense was 16 in points allowed, and again, that should be more like top 12 and ideally top 10 as well. That's when you can start talking about the team comparing to 2006.

If you've made it clear you will accept 6-round money, and are considering an offer because it's close, then yes, it is so much about the money.

You do realize that you can never speak to him again if they sign him, right? I think that depends on how close of friends they are/were. I had friends that were best friends with Jim Thome in high school, and they continued to be great friends well after he signed his first monster major league contract. I haven't seen any of those guys since I moved to California, but Thome bought property in Bartonville for hunting, so I would guess they are probably all still pretty good buds today. Thome signed with Cleveland right? This guy signed with the Cardinals. I don't think he's making a "screw you peons I'm a pro now" comment, he's talking about the rivalry.

I believe they were either 1st or 2nd in points scored (but that included special teams and maybe defense), but somewhere around 15 in yards. I think you are right that they will gain more yards than that team, but I'm not sure they will score any more points. And while I understand the problems with NFL unpredictability, I don't think have any problem saying the defense won't be as good. It's the same personel, plus a few years of wear and tear. They've added zero impact defensive players since then, only a couple role players. And this defense relies heavily on athleticism, a young man's strength. This is not a scheme defense that will get better with age. Saying this is the best team he's ever seen in shorts completely ignores the very obvious decline in athleticism from the 2006 defense to today's defense.

The 2006 team was excellent. I doubt this team is going to be better. The offense might be slightly better, but the defense is not nearly as good, and the special teams won't have as big an impact.

As for the bolded, definitely. It's a June fluff piece. But it's not just about the time on the field. It's the situations. Yea, a quick TD puts the defense right back on the field. But leads also = putting the opposing offense in passing situations. Bigger leads (obviously) do this even more so. Whenever we'd build those leads, we'd tee off later in games and get flurries of sacks/picks. That's our specialty. Pressuring the QB and getting turnovers. It's much easier to do that when you know what the other team has to do. This is all pretty obvious, though. Can the season start already? Eh, they knew when other teams were going to throw last year and couldn't do a damn thing about it. I think Cutler gives them a little more room for error and probably a little less time on the field.

Sure it's fair to say it has hovered around 800. I'm just saying the general trend has been down since about the middle of April. Like a stock index it seemed to pause after falling below 800 and briefly go back up to the low 800s, but he's got a 600-something OPS in June and his overall OPS has only been 800 on one day in June. Pushing 800, to me, sounds like a guy on a verge of breaking over that mark due to recent success that is generally expected to continue. We know he's not an 800 OPS guy. I just don't see the point in "justifying" his approach by suggesting it has created an 800 OPS, when in reality its trending down and it's a safe bet that it will stay below 800 (even if it climbs over that one day this week). If anything, he should maintain that pull conscious approach on occasion because it's unlikely he can maintain the numbers he put up last year if all he does is shoot it to right. Everybody seems willing to say a power hitter has to go the other way on occasion, to take what the pitcher is giving you. I don't know why you can't say the same thing about an inside out hitter like Theriot.

I think that overstates the effect Cutler can have on the defense. I believe the likely offensive improvement will help, but he's not a dink and dunk QB who will keep the defense on the sideline for 20 minutes at a time. He's going to have a lot of quick strike TDs, and his fair share of turnovers, both of which put the defense right back on the field. Where he's going to make the difference is hopefully fewer 3 and outs, and he will give the team a chance to A) pile on points instead of taking a small lead and trying to hang on, B) Come back from deficits. Last year the defense seemed to hang tough for 3 quarters a game hoping to win a close one at the end. That takes its toll. But the bulk of the defensive improvement is going to have to come from the defense itself.

How has Lou been the single best thing? Aramis Ramirez has had by far a greater impact on the team, same with Zambrano. I heard the same nonsense about Dusty back in 2004 when people were all giddy about actually finishing over .500 in back to back seasons.

I stopped to chat with friends at the local bar on my way home yesterday. They don't serve food there, but people have wings and pizza delivered all the time. Two guys walked in with bags from five guys and everybody there started drooling. The aroma completely changed the atmosphere. I had to leave.

His slugging is nearly 100 points higher than last year and his OBP is still respectable (.358 - 30 points below last year). With an OPS pushing .800, I'm fine with what he's become. Especially since last year's OBP wasn't based on discipline and patience as much as it was a high BABIP. Pushing 800? That's a fairly loose interpretation of that concept. You could also say it's in the process of falling well below 800. Theriot isn't going to OPS 800 this year. However, the fact that he has struck out more frequently this year is not a meaningful complaint about his approach. He needs to mix it up between shooting the ball to right and turning on pitches when possible. If he strikes out a bit more, so be it. Just "putting the ball in play" isn't an accomplishment, especially when you consider all his GIDP (and despite last year's high BABIP). A Theriot strike out is no worse than a Theriot pop out to 2nd.

It's weird, because guys force trades and holdout and generally combat with management all the time, and a lot of the time the media, especially former players will defend their right to do that because the guy has to look out for himself and everything. Yet here you have nearly universal hatred for what Cutler did, which was in effect caused by a dumb coaching decision (who tries to replace a stable QB situation?). And many guys are absolutely offended that Cutler didn't follow phone tag protocal with the owner. Exactly, and Brett Favre has basically done it twice in the last 2 years. He quit because he didn't like his GM. He cried because he wanted to pick his team. Then he quit after this past season so he could get out of his contract with the Jets. Yet the only time you hear Brett Favre and crybaby in the same sentence is if you are in the GB city limits, and I think even most of them have gotten over it. To be fair, I think you hear that about Favre a lot, just outside the mainstream media. ESPN's Page 2 will make jokes about it, but that's the extent of the national media's take. By that I mean, blogs like deadspin and Kissingsuzykolber often call out Favre for his antics even if the closest thing the big dogs has done is a guy like Peter King finally expressing frustration that Favre constantly lies to him. But at the same time, those blogs rip on and hate Cutler right alongside the national media.

Why? It's not going to accomplish anything unless he erupts as a human fountain of delicious PED's. I'd rather it be nauseating fountain of PED's, that way these bastards will have to suffer for what they've done while they work to improve.

He has absolutely no room to be mad at others.

His numbers are impressively bad, especially considering how ridiculously good his April was. Well he gets more at bats than anyone else and he doesn't walk so when he isn't hitting he's going a guaranteed 0-5 for days straight And we're lucky enough that we'll get to see him playing LF and leading off for years to come. Soriano is on pace for a near career record pace 64 walks. And I doubt he'll be leading off for years to come. He's well on his way to losing that "right" already. I'd predict he spends the back half of that contract batting 5th or 6th.

The pitcher wants you to swing at "his pitch". On gameday the one to Fukudome looked outside. The one to Lee created an out. The one to Hoff was a ball. A first pitch fastball is not a no brainer swing away situation. Yea but how many times do we see them take a first pitch fastball down the middle of the plate then swing at strike 3 low in the dirt. Id rather them jump on that first pitch if they can. I don't know how many times, but this time you freaked out after what appeared to me (via gameday) on a first pitch fastball that was at best, on the outside corner.

The pitcher wants you to swing at "his pitch". On gameday the one to Fukudome looked outside. The one to Lee created an out. The one to Hoff was a ball. A first pitch fastball is not a no brainer swing away situation.

Absolutely. The only relievers worth allocating the limited resources toward are the elite ones who won't be available. They need to score runs.

It's weird, because guys force trades and holdout and generally combat with management all the time, and a lot of the time the media, especially former players will defend their right to do that because the guy has to look out for himself and everything. Yet here you have nearly universal hatred for what Cutler did, which was in effect caused by a dumb coaching decision (who tries to replace a stable QB situation?). And many guys are absolutely offended that Cutler didn't follow phone tag protocal with the owner.

The Cubs have a CF platoon, and in this game, the lefty faced a lefty with men on 1st/3rd while the righty faced a righty with men on 1st/3rd. In other news, no runs were scored in either situation.

Use Marquis to pinch run!!!

The? "The" suggests there is only one obligatory Carlos Marmol walk. He is obligated to walk at least one more and hit a batter.