Little Slide Rooter

you can't be sure if the Indians are tied for first or have sole possession of first? Seems to me that's the type of thing that would be pretty easy to be sure about. Seems to change everyday in that sickly division.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b365/nico_demus420/i_aint_even_mad_493.jpg

Yes, I'm big-time concerned. He's shown no progress in this area and has gotten much worse this year. After his draft summer, I'd hoped that some mechanical corrections or whatever that he coud become more adequate as a contact guy, and that between his HR's and walks it would more than offset. He's got some BP HR-power, and some game HR power too, but there is limited indication that his HR-rate is enough to really counterbalance SO many K's. If the only skill is walking, and he hits a decent but unspectacular number of HR's, and his defense is CF-OK/average while he's young but he really needs to play corner to be a defensive asset, I don't think he projects very well at all. He's kind of relied all along on a super-BABIP to keep his average afloat. That might be a true reflection of a patience approach, swing only at pitches I can whack, so when he does both to put the ball in play he whacks a lot. But I admit I'm kind of afraid he's just going to be a contact-challenged low-average hitter who won't have enough special HR power or defense to justify the low-average. Hopefully he makes some adjustments and gets better. I am somewhat afraid that when guys are giving away AB's to the K all the time, that one of the adjustments is to be more aggressive. So that eventually in an attempt to keep his average anti-awful, he may end up sacrificing a lot of the walks that are currently his one asset. ouch.

I'm too lazy too, but my guess is Junior was younger. Yeah, you're right, The Kid was 20. I cant even imagine what his career numbers would look like if he hadnt been injured for the majority of the Reds years.

I would be happy with an incredibly amazing offer for anybody. But the one for Castro would have to be so incredibly amazing I'm not sure why anybody would offer it. Jim Hendrys final [expletive] you to Cubs fans will be when he knows hes on his way out and trades Castro to the Cards for Ryan Theriot, Kyle Lohse, and a 26 year old AA reliever.

My guess is if they move him, they'll want at least a big league 2-3 starter.

Im too lazy to look it up but would...sorry, will Castro be the youngest All Star ever?

If I am not mistaken when the cut was shown to audiences Jonah Hill's acting was widely praised. Do Seth Rogan, Jason Segal, and the tall, skinny kid from Undeclared have cameos?

-Justin Morneau is out until mid August with neck surgery. I wonder if they see themselves an contenders enough to go after Fukudome or Pena. I say Fukudome because at this point, Michael Cuddyer is on the top of their depth chart for both RF and 1B, and hed probably get really tired manning both. -Shin Soo Choo suffered a broken thumb last night, and with LaPorta on the DL as well, they could also use Pena or Fukudome. Most people dont take them seriously, but they are still in 1st, ot maybe theyre tied for 1st, I cant be sure.

They actually made a documentry about Bartman? Was it about him or just that game? Id be kind of interested to see it. Hopefully they paid him for it, as its about time he cash in on that [expletive].

Lovely. He was hit in the head. While that's not good news, judging from the fact he isn't laying on his back clutching at his face or anything he's probably not hurt too bad. My first thought was a broken wrist or something... Never fun to be hit on the head by a rock traveling 85-95 MPH, but as long as he doesnt have a concussion or a broken face like Marlon, Im not to wooried about him. Hopefully hes back in by today or tomorrow as hes making his way back into our top 3-5 prospects by default.

yay, we won. yay.

Unless of course YOU come to bat twice in crucial situations and whiff on 3 stright pitches each time. Koyie Hill is like having a pitcher come to the plate every time, but not just any pitcher, more like a late inning reliever who sees maybe 2-3 at bats per season.

If he keeps pitching the way he is, Matt Garza is an ace. didn't he already stop pitching the way he was? He's taken a noticable step back since returning from injury. Good point, he has been pretty mediocre in June (xFIP is still solid, but not much else). I was referring to season as a whole numbers, but the trend isn't promising. While Im not sabermetrician, I like to believe all of the people who said that he was a really good pitcher whoed had some bad luck, but even BBR has his WAR at 0.8. To me, hes in that same boat as Zack Greinke and Mark Burhrle where he'll look like an ace one day and Jason Marquis the next.

After the last series, I dont think there are enough people who care enough for any kind of fallout.

I wish our manager would resign.

Wonderful. He's been out for like a month, hasn't he?

I think that would be the equivalent of NSBB civil war. It would definitely be a very angry place.

The thing about Soriano and Z is that while they may not be good enough to make the money they are, theyre too productive to be paying them to play for someone else and getting nothing to show for it. If your going to pay players big money to go away, they better be Carlos Silva, Oliver Perez, or Luis Castillo bad.

I found this on MLBTR If they want Baker, more power to them. Reed Johnson might be a good target as well. However, we might consider offering Marlon Byrd as well.

Whilem I think Pujols is possible, I think hes more of a pipe dream, and Prince Fielders our guy, and thats who se should be going for right out of the box. The reason I say this is while teams know that Fielder wont be cheap, they also know how much more expensive Pujols will be in years and in money, so theres a good chance that while were messing around with Pujols, someone else will scoop up Fielder, and we'll be left with Carlos Boozer in blue pinstripes. While it might be in Fielders best interest to wait until Pujols is off the market to sign, he knows he wopnt be getting the same money, and may very well appreciate a team who doesnt take him as the consolation prize. Id say 6/108 or even 5/95, considering Princes body type seems like the type of a guy who will need to be DHng by the time hes Pujols' age.

I just never thought there was a realistic chance they would get him. They could, sure, but they weren't going to. :-s

I hear a lot of talk about what a great clubhouse guy and motivator that Pena is, and as good as that is, I really hope that doesn't deter them from trying to trade him. As far as I'm concerned, this team has one untouchable player on the big league roster, and I don't think there's any question who that is.

You can't see getting much for a guy on pace to hit 30 HR who plays excellent defense and has a good OBP? He's 33. What do you see the return being? He strikes out a ton and has a low average. That common for a power hitting like Pena but do you think teams will give up much for him? He has a good OBP, can clobber the [expletive] out of the ball (and is), hits LH, plays excellent defense and is only signed through this year. That's going to be appealing to any team in the race that needs help at 1B or DH. Yeah, but he has a low batting average and he's 33.

Personally, when it comes do Dunn, it should have been a big red flag that he'd said all along that he didn't want to go to the AL and be a DH, but Kenny Williams didn't care, he just wanted his guy.