jersey cubs fan

So you would rather have a hitter K with a man on third than hit a deep fly ball to the OF with 1 out? I understand what you're saying but an out isn't an out straight across the line. Yes, Cuse, that's exactly what I said. By writing that I believe in the out is an out theory, I was really saying that with a man on 3rd and less than 2 outs I would prefer a strikeout to a deep fly ball to the OF. What were you saying then? I think that's obvious. What I'd like to know is why you purposefully and obnoxiously added an obviously baseless "so you would rather" assumption into your response when nowhere in my post did I come anywhere close to even suggesting I would prefer a k to a deep fly in that situation.

Yes, if the purpose is for filler it's a waste, but if the purpose is to allow more opportunity to see the better guys in action, it may have value. Then again, it's not like I have faith in the Cubs' ability to run an efficient operation.

Cabrera would probably be no bigger than an upgrade than Roberts would be. If it were just Cabrera vs Theriot and Roberts vs DeRosa, Cabrera would be a little bigger of an upgrade, but adding in the factor of DeRosa taking away 200 AB's or more from Fontenot and Roberts becomes the better upgrade. I would tend to agree.

Yeah, I'd take a team full of Pujols bats if I could as well. But I'm not going to scoff at a producer who also happens to K a lot, regardless of spot in order.

So you would rather have a hitter K with a man on third than hit a deep fly ball to the OF with 1 out? I understand what you're saying but an out isn't an out straight across the line. Yes, Cuse, that's exactly what I said. By writing that I believe in the out is an out theory, I was really saying that with a man on 3rd and less than 2 outs I would prefer a strikeout to a deep fly ball to the OF.

I must have been remembering 2007 totals with AAA and majors combined. I will revise that part of my statement to say that while they may have improved, they are still awful numbers.

I'd just quote this post, but I think that might qualify as "groupthink." By the way, have I mentioned that the next groupthink meeting is for this Thursday at 4:00. I will have to attend telepathically, as usual.

I want all 9 guys in the lineup to see many pitches to: A) Improve the chances that they'll see a mistake pitch in their at bat. B) Tire the pitcher so that he may make a mistake later in the game and/or become less effective with fatigue. C) Get to the bullpen. I don't think there's any value in letting other guys see what he's throwing.

I think the stigma is explicable. It's the dogmatic obsession with the strikeout once logic has been entered into the discussion that is inexplicable to me. I'm a firm believer in the "an out is an out" theory, but my initial reaction to almost all strikeouts from Cubs players is still a little more vitriolic than most any other outs.

The opinion on Pie is widely varied. There may be 2-3 people whose dislike for Pie as a prospect can come anywhere close to hate. If anybody has proposed trading him for crap, I haven't seen it. And if you believe that the names that have been mentioned are crap, then perhaps you are as guilty as anybody who hates Pie of unfairly hating on those players. While those rates may have improved, the numbers themselves are still bad. His OPS got good, but his walk rate and strikeout rate, red flags for a prospect in my opinion, did not suddenly become good. What's the point of listing Hill's age? I think the vast majority would have a problem with Fuld in CF. I'm not sure sure Pie will be above average within the next couple months or for the next couple years. He's got significant red flags that have to cause concern in the short and long run. Regardless, even if he does turn out reaching his potential, his age alone is enough to cause doubts for that to happen this year. Lee at 2nd is in no way shape or form similar to Fukudome in CF. Baseball in a vacuum is just a meaningless empty phrase. There have been an extraordinary number of Cubs prospects who have won at multiple levels of the minors, and it would be a mistake to think that has provided any value whatsoever to their major league success. None of what you wrote in paragraph 5 should be given any consideration when considering what to do with Felix Pie this year.

Sure you're not recallin Adam Everett? Cabrera is good defensively, I don't recall him rating out as great. EDIT: And now I see Cabrera wasn't even good last year. Although according to the Sports Guy, Theo's greatest sin was letting him get away, as Orlando's grittiness and defensive prowess were the reason the Red Sox won it all the first time.

Well if Jon Garland = Orlando Cabrera, perhaps Kenny would be interested in a guy who, if he ever improves, may one day be Jon Garland Jr., Samardzija.

:-k

If I had to guess, I would say a big part of the reason why he agreed to go back to single A is because other teams weren't exactly banging down his door with better opportunities. Ryno was a great player and fun to watch. I hold no expectations for his future as a coach/manager.

I hope it's more of what you said in the first paragraph because it seems awful expensive to field a second team primarily for roster filler. Is it? What are the biggest costs? I would assume, building a facility, employing scouts and signing the really good players. Assuming the 2nd team would share the facility and be watched by the same scouts, is it really all that expensive to field another team of Dominican filler?

Ichiro and Lou can both speak Spanish, I assume Lou better than Ichiro. That's how they communicated. In other words, Lou doesn't speak Japanese.

I would assume that's up for negotiations if Boras had nothing to do with the contract itself.

In the unlikely event that we're able to pull off that deal for that package, I will voluntarily go on a one month Jim Hendry criticism embargo. That's not a light package. Murton is the Cubs 3rd best OF at this point and best RH bat not being paid at least 12M for this season. Gallagher may be the Cubs 5th best starter. Patterson, admittedly, doesn't have much value unless he can handle 2B adequately. Not saying that it's too much, but it's far from robbery. Roberts for two seasons at a very friendly price, then let him walk for two high draft choices. An excellent deal. I like Sean Gallagher, but a good farm system should be able to pop out a Gallagher every couple of seasons. Roberts seems like the type to accept arbitration, being that he won't get much of a raise if he hits the market, so I don't know that you can count on those picks, even if he is a type A. And yeah, I'd do the deal, but it's a far cry from the Aramis trade. Thankfully it's a far cry from the Pierre trade too. Unless Roberts is horrible as a Cub over the next two seasons, there's essentially zero chance he would accept an offer of arbitration. Yeah, even if he isn't able to secure a significant per season raise with a new contract, he's not going to choose to play on a one year deal at age 32, when he could sign a 3-5 year contract that guarantees him so much more money.

Man, you sure do love Carlos Silva.

What was best for ARod was getting out of NY. Boras could have gotten him that. But Alex did end up with as big a contract as anybody could have realistically imagined.

The Peter Principle at its finest. I used to think the same was true with Hendry. I liked him as the minor league guy, back when I thought the system was very good. But when all was said and done, it didn't produce much under Jim.

I don't like being grouped with 40 year olds. Most surveys I see give me the option for 25-35.

Not even with HGH? Seems to me like that's how the snake oil salesmen got these dudes to buy it. The stock answer has been, "I used HGH once or twice for rehab purposes only, and never used steroids for performance purposes." I don't buy it. Sure, they were probably sold on the rehab benefits of the stuff, but these aren't just a bunch of innocent country bumpkins being misled by those snake oil salesmen. Although now I was just reminded of the most asinine defense of these guys by a couple stooges on espn radio last night. Michael Kay was the voice of reason more or less saying what truffleshuffle said above, but a couple ex-jocks on the broadcast were throwing out strawman after strawman to try and discredit the story. One guy, said, "What's the difference between this report and me saying Michael Kay is a heroin addict?" And they said these freaks of nature can't be users because Ironhead Heyward could lift 400 lbs without ever going to gym and exercising.

I thought the Goldman Sachs guys negotiated his deal.

Except the Cubs have no business merely being "pretty hopeful". There's no excuse for such a high payroll and such weak competition to leave you with anything short of extreme confidence that the team is great.