abuck1220

there's a good chance wilson will outproduce murton, so i wouldn't mind starting wilson in left and making murton the big name prospect in a tejada deal.

if he misses time this year, it's not his fault. the cubs were flat out fools for pitching him out of the pen last year, and that's the reason he won't be ready by ST.

that would be a good deal for the pirates. not so much for the cubs. but since they seem so hell bent on getting rid of walker, anybody that they get to keep jones off the field is fine by me.

no. they either take it inside the stadium or at hohokam in the morning.

they were out there on a sunday last year. i've never been there when they weren't out there, but that's not a guarantee that they're out there every day. they practice in the morning...i usually get there around 9:30, but they probably start stretching by 9. they walk off around 11-11:30 and eat lunch in a little fenced off area. spectators can't go in that area, but you can definitely talk to them/take pictures/get autographs as they walk from the field to the fenced area. games start at around 1. they usually send half the guys (split up by levels) to an away site, while the rest stick around and play at fitch. though i have been at fitch when there were four games going on (meaning that whoever the cubs were playing probably had an empty minor league facility that day), so i suppose it's possible that all the levels could be on the road.

Which park is better, the Angels or Mariners? i've only been to peoria (mariners park) once (the game where alf slipped and hurt his groin), but i've been to tempe (angels park) a couple times. in my opinion, the angels park is better. the angels take BP on a practice field right outside the stadium. people stand out beyond the fence and catch homeruns. then they walk to the stadium right by the parking lot. before they won the WS they didn't have any boundaries set up and you could run right up and tackle chone figgins on his way to the field if you wanted to. but the year after they won the WS they had the little path roped off...you could still get close to the players and get autographs/take pictures, but the crowds were definitely bigger. the inside of the park is cool too. there's a big mountain looking thing out beyond LF.

eh, roughly two hours. i do remember being surprised at how quickly the drive went, so it may have been less. however, it was rush hour by the time we got to the interstate, so that slowed us down a little. we'll be going to two games in tucson this year. i've never been to a game at the d-backs facility before...i think that's the only cactus league park i haven't been to.

i've stayed in a phoenix hotel during my four (?) trips there. getting a hotel in mesa isn't really all that important because the cubs obviously don't play all their games there. i've found the hotel in phoenix to be a good middle spot for traveling to games in the area. and since i go w/ my dad and brother, we're not really concerned about the night life scene. don't shy away from going to non-hohokam games...the games in scottsdale, phoenix, peoria, maryvale, etc are all pretty close. surprise is kinda far from the mesa/phoenix area (maybe 45 mins), and tucson is at least two hours away (though i went to a cubs/rockies game there last year and really liked the park -- best food in the league -- and i didn't mind the drive). and, as i've said before, hohokam is the worst cactus league park. parking, food, crowds, all suck there. there's not even really a close 2nd worst park. and it's the toughest park to get good seats for. fitch is a great place to hang if you're at all interested in the minor leaguers. it's free to park/get in there, and you can watch the teams practice in the mornings with games in the afternoon (sometimes as many as four going on at once). the players walk through the spectator area as they get on the field and as they leave, so you can talk to them, get autographs, take pictures, etc very easily. none of the minor leaguers have ever been the slightest bit rude to me (or anyone else that i've seen). they all have names on their jerseys too, so you can tell who's who. it's kind of a long walk from fitch to hohokam, by the way. if you (or anybody else) has any more questions, feel free to pm me.

not with either of those guys you aren't.

yeah, prior definitely = kurt ainsworth. and i'd have a hard time distinguishing prior's #s from luis rivera's.

so what are you basing your feelings of hill on? solely what you've seen of hill during his short stint in the big leagues? seems to me that you're basing much of your feelings on what you've heard and read.

from BA... so you won't give him credit for having only one year of good control, but you think he has to fix his HR problem even though it's only been a one year thing?

Rusch's season bears some closer scrutiny. The first line below covers 15 IP in relief in April and 5 starts in May where Rusch was pretty effective while posting a 4-1 record. During those 5 starts, Rusch put up pitch counts of 81, 90, 99, 108, and 113. Then came his 6th and best start of the year on 02 June (2nd line below). Take note of the pitch count... 122 !! The next section, line 3, covers four very bad starts followed by 7 weeks in the bullpen, followed by four more starts in late August (the ones you referenced above). All of that is followed by the five September starts I mentioned earlier and repeated on the 4th line below. Rusch IP H R ER BB K HR PC BB/9 K/9 HR/9 WHIP ERA 04/04 - 06/01 46.0 45 12 12 23 33 1 787 4.50 6.46 0.20 1.48 2.35 06/02 9.0 4 0 0 1 7 0 122 1.00 7.00 0.00 0.56 0.00 06/03 - 08/31 58.3 92 54 49 23 52 10 1142 3.55 8.02 1.54 1.97 7.56 09/02 - 10/02 31.7 34 13 12 6 19 3 511 1.71 5.40 0.85 1.26 3.41 Seems to me, that Dusty pushed him until he broke, and it took him fully 3 months to recover from the resulting "tired arm". So the question is, in my mind, how will we use him this year ??? i admire the work you've put in, and i don't mean to trivialize it by saying that i'm more inclined to attribute rusch's inconsistency to the fact that he's just not a very good pitcher...as opposed to a one time PC abuse by baker. sure, he had some good outings, but he also had his fair share of bad ones. and given his 2005 #'s, the bad far outnumbered the good. that, combined w/ the fact that his career #'s just flat out suck lead me to believe that he's just not very good, abuse or not. i'm starting to think that hendry has to irrationally 'repay' the guys who he took a chance on that worked out (rusch, neifi, dempster). if he doesn't, then they don't look like such great finds.

can anyone else who has watched iowa state football this season explain to me why they don't throw to blythe AT LEAST three times per drive? he catches a TD in the 1st q, and they don't go back to him till late in the 3rd. result? three catches and another TD. as far as i'm concerned, their refusal to throw him the ball more is more frustrating than anything stupid the cubs do. dude's a stud.

this much is clear...black/latin guys play better than white guys in the heat. it's science.

09/02 - 10/02 IP H R ER BB K HR PC BB/9 K/9 HR/9 WHIP ERA Rusch 31.7 34 13 12 6 19 3 511 1.71 5.40 0.85 1.26 3.41 i had my dates wrong. looks like rusch was acceptable once the cubs were comfortably out of it. this is the run i was referring to (8/15-8/31)... vs. hou 3 2/3 ip, 10 h, 5 er vs. col 6 ip, 7 h, 3 r (2 er) vs. fla 4 2/3, 8 h, 5 r (4 er) vs. la 2 ip, 7 h, 7 er his era went up nearly a run during that four game stretch. i guess that gets you a shiny new 2 year deal and likely a spot in the rotation.

not even close, actually.

ah, this takes me back to the time when the cubs sent hill down to absolutely dominate in AAA while rusch completely flopped in the #5 spot over the last month of the season. most of the time, i was watching rusch get rocked on tv and listening to hill post 10 k games on the radio. memories...

i want to know how he's gotten this reputation as being some kind of clubhouse leader extraordinaire. this behavior ain't helping the baltimore clubhouse if he's not traded.

Angels > A's The Cubs need a 5 hitter & a #3. fine, they're one of the better teams in the west. plus, they have this thing called the wild card now. in any event, the a's are better than the cubs, and i think it'll take more than prospects to get him. the only reason i want him is to spin him for tejada. The AL Wild Card's reserved for either Boston or New York. well, i don't think oakland's ready to concede that fact in december, especially since it took ny/bos til game 160 or so to clinch the WC last year.

Angels > A's The Cubs need a 5 hitter & a #3. fine, they're one of the better teams in the west. plus, they have this thing called the wild card now. in any event, the a's are better than the cubs, and i think it'll take more than prospects to get him. the only reason i want him is to spin him for tejada.

and the o's still think they can demand two impact players in exchange for tejada. when are they gonna see that they have NO leverage?

i'm not feeling so confident about the bullpen. if everybody repeats their 2005, it should be solid. but eyre, howry and dempster have all had a few iffy seasons in there, and if those guys all happen to have one of those iffy seasons in '06, the pen could be a disaster. none of them have been consistently lights out over the span of their careers.

he did get wilkerson and sledge for the wildly overrated soriano. so i'd say daniels is having a better offseason than hendry.

if they get him, you'll hear hendry talk about how he's a once in a lifetime type guy, and you have to go after him if he's available. then, in a perfect world, someone will ask, 'then why the hell didn't you sign him in 2004 when he was a free agent?'