jersey cubs fan

I disagree, especially for the bolded part. Hendry thought he was getting a 40/40 guy who still had room to improve, because Hendry doesn't understand the concept of prime years and past your prime decline. Hendry thought he was getting a leadoff hitter who could justify his spot at leadoff with a bunch of stolen bases because Hendry had been looking for a base stealing leadoff hitter for years. He also thought he was getting a great athlete who was going to get better and better in LF over time.

Even Edmonds himself probably knows that he is done. But he's not stupid enough to retire as long as someone else is stupid enough to give him a job. Exactly, if he retires he doesn't get what is left of his 8 million! I know 8M would keep me in the game. But what if he doesn't officially retire, just no team gives him a job this year. He still gets his full salary, right? I wonder if anyone would pick him up if Hendry cut him. He's kind of like Mahoney in Police Academy, he can't quit because he'd lose his money (or, like Mahoney, go to jail), but he's trying to get himself fired (kicked out) so he doesn't have to such anymore.

Felix? He's fast, but he's not a good basestealer.

why, because he hasn't hit in a handful of games? trust me, he'll be gone soon and he won't have caused even a particle of the damage that any of the guys you named did. i've heard of meatball hate, but this is ridiculous. actually it's ridiculous to keep calling people "meatballs." you supported the signing of edmonds; time to take your medicine. i don't get it. i wasn't telling anyone that this was for sure an awesome signing. i was saying that it was, at worst, a pointless signing. but you've decided to put words in my mouth, apparently. i'll not deny that one of my favorite pastimes is ridiculing the poor slobs who hate edmonds not for his offensive decline, but for his past with the cardinals and because he's apparently gay. if you hate him for one these meatball reasons, you're a meatball and you belong with da superfans. that's all. You were dying to get Edmonds on this team.

It looked to me like another ump not doing his job properly and trying to create trouble instead of diffuse it. Sutcliffe seemed to expect that sort of behavior out of Davidson.

While I agree there are several less than pleasent issues involving Soriano, bringing up the idea of moving him to AAA is pointless.

Why won't they be able to afford him? They may not want to pay what he'll get, but they would definitely have the ability to afford him.

Would the obligation to pay that deferred payment transfer to any team who trades for him, or would the Mets still be on the hook for it? I would assume the obligation to pay the portion he has already accrued would stay with the Mets, while the new team would take on the obligation for the period of the contract yet remaining.

It certainly made Ryan Harvey something special.

I'd love to have him in CF, but man, the last few years of his contract are not pretty. Also, can anyone explain the money deferred thing? I remember it was what killed the Diamondbacks for a number of years, but I can't quite remember the mechanics of it. After June he'll have essentially a 3.5 year 64.5m contract, but the team won't have to pay him that money all at once, they can defer it. This would be no problem for a team like Chicago. Arizona was struggling to grow revenue and that's what hurt them.

Send Marquis back to NY, and let them have DeRosa to help with their 2B situation, and Murton to help in the corner OF. Then let them takeover the Pie experiment. Throw Hoffpauier in to make Delgado sweat.

Right before they called him up somebody, Dusty or Hendry, said they were not going to give Corey the yo-yo treatment, but that is exactly what they did. They did all sorts of things like make him sit for days at a time for no good reason, then get sent to AAA to work on slapping the ball and being a bunter. Patterson started 72 out of the first 79 games in 2005. I'd hardly call that jerking him around. His line after July 2nd of that year when he lost his job: .236/.274/.387 in 305 AB's. I don't agree with what they had him work on in the minor leagues, and believe that was a mistake. But I don't think they gave him the yo-yo treatment. They also didn't start him as much as I'd like after he came back, but he did start 37 out of the 50 games. Baylor and the injury were the worst things to happen to Patterson. He got a fair shot in 05. And, btw, fixing Pie's swing this early is a mistake, no matter how bad he looked. They're taking a huge gamble before even seeing how well he can adjust on his own. That's nice, but Corey was first called up to the majors in 2000. He went back to AAA in 2001, then got called up where he platooned for a while and then more or less turned into a pinch hitter for 2 months. The names you mentioned were Dusty and Hendry. I would agree that Patterson was yo-yo'd back in 2000-2001, but you said that Dusty and Hendry did it, and neither of them were in the key decision maker spots back then. Did you mean Baylor and MacPhail? I don't recall who said it actually. I meant Baylor or Hendry. Andy was the key decision maker, but Hendry was heavily involved and quoted. I just know somebody specifically referred to "yoyo treatment" when Corey was first called up. When he was drafted I believe it was Andy who essentially said, "he's a fast centerfielder but he's not a leadoff hitter. We think of him as a middle of the order run producer."

Most of those things will get you noticed, but hardly any of them guarantee you any sort of success. Running that fast will make it a pretty good bet that you can succeed in track, but I've never been interested in competing in what is essentially practice for other sports. 300+ in golf is fairly meaningless, I've done it and I suck. We had a big fat backup center who could throw the ball almost 80 in high school, it's kind of a meaningless without accuracy and the ability to read defenses. Kicking the ball for distance sounds like you are referring to football place kickers, and again, you have to wonder about accuracy. Lifting a bunch of weight could ensure a nice career as a bouncer or security guard, but I don't know about how it would help in sports. Throwing 98 still requires accuracy, movement and some sort of durability/stamina to make anything of it, but considering I always had good location and the ability to change speeds, adding that kind of heat to my reportoire would have made it realistic that I could have done something with my pitching career (which ended early and unceremoniously). At the bare minimum you'd get a chance to play professionally, even if you flame out in single A. Then again, if everything else was the same, being that fast really would have helped in football.

Right before they called him up somebody, Dusty or Hendry, said they were not going to give Corey the yo-yo treatment, but that is exactly what they did. They did all sorts of things like make him sit for days at a time for no good reason, then get sent to AAA to work on slapping the ball and being a bunter. Patterson started 72 out of the first 79 games in 2005. I'd hardly call that jerking him around. His line after July 2nd of that year when he lost his job: .236/.274/.387 in 305 AB's. I don't agree with what they had him work on in the minor leagues, and believe that was a mistake. But I don't think they gave him the yo-yo treatment. They also didn't start him as much as I'd like after he came back, but he did start 37 out of the 50 games. Baylor and the injury were the worst things to happen to Patterson. He got a fair shot in 05. And, btw, fixing Pie's swing this early is a mistake, no matter how bad he looked. They're taking a huge gamble before even seeing how well he can adjust on his own. That's nice, but Corey was first called up to the majors in 2000. He went back to AAA in 2001, then got called up where he platooned for a while and then more or less turned into a pinch hitter for 2 months.

They probably would think of the Cards as a bigger rival since they were the 2 best NL East teams during the 80s. Actually, the rivalry could become better now as both teams (hopefully) look to be good for the next 3-4 years. Yet its hard to be a rival when you play 6 times a year and don't reside in the same time zone or division. The Mets only came to Wrigley 2 games this year. How can you be a rival of them? The rivarly has faded significantly. But there's definitely some leftover animosity when the teams do meet, and I think a playoff series or two could spark some more interest. NY/Chicago is a natural rival in any sport, or other venture. As a NJ resident I'd much rather see them come out here at least twice a year, instead of having to road trip to Philly, Pittsburgh and DC to catch games.

They probably would think of the Cards as a bigger rival since they were the 2 best NL East teams during the 80s. Actually, the rivalry could become better now as both teams (hopefully) look to be good for the next 3-4 years. I don't know about the Mets staying good for 3-4 years. Their core group is relatively young, but a lot of key components are very old. Santana and Maine are good, and Perez is inconsistent but decent. The rest of the staff is a huge question. Their RS/RA is nearly 1/1, with both stats sitting roughly in the middle of the league. They are a pretty mediocre-to-average team that doesn't really do anything all that well. I've got a couple friends who are just going bonkers about this team. I still don't hate the Mets nearly as much as I've hated the Yankees though. They are kind of inconsequential.

And you sort of predicted this, right? It's a nice little stretch, but it's still very little. His season long and May OPS are still just 702 and 707, respectively. He's going to have to sustain this for a while to impress me.

He would have had a bad week then they would have sent him down to the minors and signed a 38 year old outfielder who just got cut by the worst offense in baseball to take his place. ba-zing. (standard Pie is a much better prospect than Corey ever was) corey was regarded as one of the top 3 prospects in baseball; pie was never really close to that. In a subjective sort of way, that's true. But in terms of actually playing baseball well enough to justify the acclaim, I think Felix is probably a better prospect than Corey ever really was.

What? He won't be an NBA power forward if he is 6'7" or 6'8". What? Going to have to elaborate. Why?

Right before they called him up somebody, Dusty or Hendry, said they were not going to give Corey the yo-yo treatment, but that is exactly what they did. They did all sorts of things like make him sit for days at a time for no good reason, then get sent to AAA to work on slapping the ball and being a bunter.

Only an idiot would think otherwise.

If he's a giveaway, sure, but the Cubs don't have enough good prospects to justify giving the few they have for a player like Ibanez.

Wait a minute. When Buerhle is on? It's easy to say that at his best a guy is better than somebody else is at their non-best. But come on here, Buerhle/Vazquez are not more solid than Zambrano/Lilly. Zambrano has been the most consistently good pitcher of that group, while the rest of the three have had their ups and downs. I think they are. I say when Buehrle is on because he tends to be inconsistent, but not on a start to start basis, but a half season to half season sort of basis (don't have the stats handy, but this is what I've noticed). I think bar none Vazquez is better than Lilly. So together, if Buehrle is throwing well, I would take them over Z and Lilly. You are right though, Zambrano is easily the most talented off the 4 pitches. Try and justify it all you want, but when you compare guys by using one pitcher's "on" stats vs another pitcher's average stats, it's completely bogus.

And what an important fact that is!

Wait a minute. When Buerhle is on? It's easy to say that at his best a guy is better than somebody else is at their non-best. But come on here, Buerhle/Vazquez are not more solid than Zambrano/Lilly. Zambrano has been the most consistently good pitcher of that group, while the rest of the three have had their ups and downs.