jersey cubs fan

He has definitely said in the past that he'd prefer not to move from leadoff.

That's exactly my thought on this potential deal. That, or the Padres may prefer taking Heilman instead of Marshall in a Peavy deal. it's gotta be one of the two. the cubs certainly have enough pitching depth as it is. there's no reason to add heilman and not make a corresponding move. I don't know if they have all that much pitching depth as it is. They have a whole bunch of guys with major league experience, but I think it's more of a quantity thing than a quality thing. And Hendry has never been shy about stockpiling pitching depth.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/heilmaa01.shtml http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/H/aaron-heilman.shtml Strikes out a little under 8 per 9, walks a little under 4 per 9, gives up a little over 8 hits per 9, 2.1 K/BB, 1.33 WHIP He threw 180 innings (mostly in the minors) in 2004 but has typically been much less than that relieving in the majors. He often throws more than an inning per outing, making him the go to guy in extra inning affairs. Aside from typically being available whenever the manager wants him, he's really done nothing all that well in his career. He did cut back on the walks for a couple years as a reliever. I believe he's somewhat of a fly ball pitcher; he hasn't been killed by the longball, but he may have been helped in that regard playing in Shea most of his career, which has a reputation, at least, for being a tough park to hit it out of. Hendry probably views him as a poor man's Ryan Dempster, although I think he'd probably be more like a Jason Marquis if he transitions to a starting role. He's definitely got swing man written all over him for this team, similar to Gaudin.

need anything else?

he was in the Putz deal

That's not how you judge the age of a prospect during the season. That's not how some publications have arbitrarily decided to display a player's age, but he turned 19 during the season, so it's hardly a sin to say he was 19 last year. It is universal in baseball to "age" a player according to their age on July 1st each season. It isn't "some publications". It is how seasonal age is officially listed by MLB, MiLB and every stat outlet out there. I realize that, but it's still arbitrary, and ridiculous to chastise somebody for saying a player was 19 in a season in which he turned 19.

Please don't fall into a downward spiral.

i'm with rocket here: Except that's a dumb slogan, since there a plenty of company's who make the same stuff. and i guarantee there's at least 1 person in this world who does not like sara lee. And that person is a nobody.

On that note, keep track of how many times the Cubs make an out on the basepaths. That's also a very good idea. Obviously CS is already a stat, but there's no stat for getting thrown out at a base for being way too aggressive (either trying to take extra bases or trying to take 3rd on a ball hit to the left side). http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=421535 Care to translate? Each stat in the middle corresponds to a different part of baserunning. One deals with stolen base attempts, another one deals with advancing on groundouts, another one deals with advancing on flyouts, another one on advancing on base hits, and finally advancing on things like wild pitches. The value of the extra base is compared to how many outs are recorded and then it's calculated how many runs were created or lost in each category compared to an average runner. Each is factored into the stat on the very right, which is how efficient the player was on the bases overall. Is there a category for outs made on the basepaths?

On that note, keep track of how many times the Cubs make an out on the basepaths. That's also a very good idea. Obviously CS is already a stat, but there's no stat for getting thrown out at a base for being way too aggressive (either trying to take extra bases or trying to take 3rd on a ball hit to the left side). http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/sortable/index.php?cid=421535 Care to translate?

On that note, keep track of how many times the Cubs make an out on the basepaths.

He's going to be way too expensive for us. I have no idea what he's going to cost, but one thing is certain, guys are going to be signing for a lot less than they thought they were going to sign for back in November.

i'm with rocket here: Except that's a dumb slogan, since there a plenty of company's who make the same stuff.

I guess it could be adjusted, but it shouldn't be abolished. In a non-cap sport, small market teams have no way of competing with any sort of regularity unless they can get help via the draft. So perhaps you can remove the idea of losing a 1st round pick for a player, make it 2nd and 3rds. But before this seaosn, this never stopped teams. Hell, the Cubs lost picks signing middle relievers. This offseason is weird because of the economy, plain and simple.

Is their top 15 pick protected this year?

Do you want this? Because I can get it fairly easily. Sure, although unless you have PBP data, I think it would difficult to find out whether or not a pitcher hit his spot. i have pitch by pitch data, location, spin, speed, who bat, who pitched, who's on 1b/2b/3b etc. ill throw it up together sometime this week. it's on my computer at home. How would you determine if he "hit his spot". Better yet, how would you determine what "his spot" was?

i've never seen it before and i always heard it as "nobody does it like sara lee." i like that way better. down with double-negatives! exactly! "nobody doesn't like sara lee" just sounds stupid. if that's what they wanted to say, then "everybody likes sara lee" rolls off the tongue better and doesn't sound stupid. \ it's "nobody does it like sara lee" despite what the company may say. You are dumb. attack post not poster plz I was talking to the post, not you. Seriously, you thought it was the wrong answer? I was wondering.

Who, aside from Milwaukee, has taken a step back? Did Cincy, Houston, Pitt or STL really lose anybody?

Varitek.

i've never seen it before and i always heard it as "nobody does it like sara lee." i like that way better. down with double-negatives! exactly! "nobody doesn't like sara lee" just sounds stupid. if that's what they wanted to say, then "everybody likes sara lee" rolls off the tongue better and doesn't sound stupid. \ it's "nobody does it like sara lee" despite what the company may say. You are dumb.

Is that even possible? You wouldn't think so, but look at the NL teams especially the contending ones and there wasn't much improvement at all. The Dodgers lost Lowe and Manny as of right now. The Brewers lost Sabathia, Torres and Sheets as of right now(added just Hoffman). The Phillies swapped Burrell for Ibanez, Utley could miss the first month or two, and Romero is suspended for the first 50 games I believe. The Diamondbacks lost Hudson, Dunn, Johnson, Cruz, Lyon and only added Felipe Lopez. The Reds added Willy Taveras? The Cardinals only added Khalil Greene, Trever Miller, but lost Looper and Miles. The Astros lost Randy Wolf, Ty Wigginton and replaced them with Mike Hampton and Aaron Boone. The Rockies traded away Holliday, the Marlins traded away players, and that Nationals/Pirates/Giants still suck. So other then the Braves and possibly the Mets, nobody has really done much in the NL. Of course the Yankees, Indians, Rays and A's have improved in the AL, but thats still not really alot of teams. There's still alot of free agents out there, but as of right now I don't see how these teams have gotten better. So the Cubs have had a solid offseason all things considered, and I still think we will add another player or two. I think the Cubs have taken a small step back as of right now. They're probably going to win the division still, but I don't see how the offseason has been solid. There's been significant movement, but not a lot of improvment.

Keep track of the team's record when the fat old man in the pink hat is behind home plate.

Is that even possible?

This became more true when they made the move to Petco. Qualcomm got decent enough attendance even when the team sucked. You're always complaining about Petco, but man, I like that place. Wasn't part of the point of Petco to build a little smaller stadium, because the Murph was a huge stale football stadium? From 1990-2003 they were getting between 1.7m-2.5m, with yearly declines from 98-03, closing at just 2.0 million. They've gone up and down in Petco, and had 2.4 million this past year, the low. But my guess is the revenue from the new stadium is much better than what they were getting in the old place. 2.0 million at Petco is worth more than 2.0 at the Murph.