Little Slide Rooter

And another thing Ive said since they atarted making the All Star game count to WS home field advantage is that WS home field advantage should be decided by A. the team of the 2 with the better regular season record or B. whichever league as a whole has the better record during interleague play should get home field advantage. Its too important to be decided by an exhibition game.

I wonder if that mess of a team in Canada would have any interest in trading Aaron Hill for the right package. They game him a 4 year extension at 12 mil, which is a great deal for them, so theyd ask for a hell of a lot in return, but I cant see them competing any time soon.

We agree on something, how about that.

2 leagues. 2 divisions each. The best team in each division makes the playoffs as do 2 wild cards, the 2 teams with the best records in each league regardless of the division.

That pretty much sums it up.

Not being an ace and being a "drain on the club" are 2 very different things.

Have you had secret meetings with Tom Ricketts that no one else knows about? For anyone to speculate anything about the Cubs payroll at this point is pretty much ridiculous. Okay. Please explain why you don't expect the Cubs to add any payroll then. The thing is, they shouldnt have to spend big money considering the talent they have. Soriano, Fukudome, and Bradley should all be producing much more tha they have been and we wont be able to move any without gutting a lot of salary. I dont think that 2008 Soto was a fluke, and I can see him stabalizing somewhere between his 2008 and 2009 numbers, say .265/.350/.475 would be acceptable for catcher. If we could get our hands on Hudson or Figgins for cheap or land Brian Roberts in a trade, thats worth looking into, but if not, you could do worse than a Fontenot/Baker platoon at the 8 spot. The only money that I could see spent is if they resign Harden. Otherwsie, Z, Lilly, Dempster, Wells, and Gorz/Marshall is still a solid rotation. PLEASE dont spend money on bench players again. Between Fox, Hoffpauir, Fuld, Blanco, Hill, and Scales, we already can piece a very nice bench offensively and defensively. Let Miles go far, far away. As far as the pen goes, maybe hang on to Heilman, to go along with Marmol, Gooz, Gaub, Caridad, Stevens, and Marshall/Gorz. If we can resign Grabow for cheap, thats fine. If not, let him walk. Dump Miles. Johnson and Gregg both walk.

Replace the AL Centrals playoff berth with the best AAA team that doesnt make the playoffs.

Geovany Soto had a great all around game last night. This being said, Id be willing to bet that Koyie Hill starts behind the dish.

He still could have been out of that inning with the lead if we have a real shortstop. I realize it was only one occasion, but Randy Wells seemed to be ok escaping a 3-error inning with only 2 runs. The defense may not have helped Zambrano, but he shouldn't completely fall apart whenever something bad happens. Look at Zambrano's unearned run totals in his career. Look, the guy melts down like crazy. When on, he has Ace stuff, but as soon as you see him start sweating and stomping around the mound its time to warm up the pen. This year has been worse than others, probably because hes frustrated by the way the season has gone as a whole, but looke at Lilly and Wells who keep their cool in the same situations aside from an isolated glove throwing incident.

This was part on ESPN play by play, so can someone please explain to me how a team can get a "negative error"? Runs gloved in are counted as negative errors. I think its because Theriot was charged with an error but they reversed it the following inning.

Lee is having his 2nd best year yet, and I really hope they dont pull the same sell high crap they did with DeRosa last year, which I can see happening. Even last year when he was the double play machine, and it was clearly an off year for him, he posted a .291/.361/.462. Even when hes not hitting, Id like to see Micah Hoffpauir field some of those throws that Theriot and Ramirez make. And next year, if hes struggling to reach the mendoza line in early May, I suggest that all of us, myself included show a lot more patience before calling for Hoffpauir, Fox, or the AAAAer dejour to take his place. I can guarantee he gets some MVP consideration this season. Obviously, the guy in St. Louis will take the trophy, but Lee deserves to be in the top 5, maybe 3.

Yes, Ted Lilly has been better than Zambrano this year. Zambrano has had bad year, no question. He had a mediocre year last year, but the fact remains, we know what hes capable. Last night, we saw everything thats wrong and right with Zambrano. for 4.2 innings, he had the best stuff of any pircher in baseball. Then he gives up a 2 out single, which should have been a double to the pitcer, then he wals the next guy, and a few 2 out baserunners became 5 2 out runs way too quickly. When Zs on, you can call him Snapple because he has some of the best stuff on earth, but when he starts his little tantrums, you better make sure someones warming up in the pen real quick or things can get very ugle very quick.

If theres a guy on earth who can make an 8 run lead in the 9th interesting, its Samardzjia.

The Brewers bullpen just plunked Bob Dernier.

After The Smokies scored 1 in the 10th, Schlitter gave up a tying home run with 2 outs.

Hes bringing in Mahoney

How nice of Geovany to finally join the team, and it only took almost losing his job to a career minor league journeyman.

Damn, Coffey makes Soto look like Alexei Ramirez.

Some Brewer is SO getting plunked.

I have never seen a pitcher melt down as bad as Carlos the minute things start not going his way. What an idiot.

Maybe its time to make him and Bradley a really expensive platoon and find a center fielder.

I takw it the wrist is fully healed.

Between Eyre, Howry, and Remlinger, surely our organization has learned not to give big contracts to middle releivers/set up men so I doubt that theyd do the same for Grabow. I say sign Grabow to a modestly priced 2 year, use Gaub as the other lefty, Marshall or Gorzalanny as the long man/backup starter and trade the other. Marhshall or Gorz could be enticing to a team looking for a back of the rotation starter, especially a lefty and if one of those enticed teams has a decent middle infielder to offer, that would be a match made in heaven.

If the Yankees hadnt dropped the bug bucks on Sabbathia and Burnett in the offseason, that could have been a realistic possibility.