Bruno7481

He sucked in Chicago too...

please elaborate....

Maybe this will be the year that the Cubs can actually hang an "L" on old RJ. Doubtful, based on past history.

Cubs already have a simliar player in Ryan Theriot. I think Burke is better than Theriot. A lot better, compare the numbers through their minor league careers. Honestly surprised Houston hasn't given him a regular shot yet. 2B is his natural position, they moved hiom to the OF to move Biggio back, and now they have signed Loretta. I think Burke would provide more than Loretta anyway.

Trade for Chris Burke

Will another Illini fan please tell me again how "ugly" IU's offense is? The definition of "ugly" is currently being displayed in Ann Arbor.

working the count to get a good pitch>walking>swinging at the first pitch If that were the case then guys who walk and strike out a lot should have the highest LD%s. Last season LD% and (BB+SO)/PA had an r of -0.06157, so nope on that one. BB/PA? 0.06227. So really no. ummm... e= mc2?

True. And so is Jacque Jones, though most won't admit it. Actually, if you've spent any time at NSBB (and I know you have), "most" people are not saying that anymore. If your definition of "most" is a couple of people, then clearly your definition of "most" is not the same as "most" of the people here. If you want to say "I told you so" for those of us who said that it was a bad signing last year, I suppose you do still have that. With that said, he still should be sitting the bench against LH pitchers. It's not an "I told you so" at all. I was skeptical at first, but realize Jones at roughly 5 million a year is a bargain for what he produces. Maybe "most" isn't the best word, but rarely is Jones' name mentioned in a positive light. There has been plenty of discussion about trading him away, despite his relatively low price tag in the current market.

True. And so is Jacque Jones, though most won't admit it.

Now that I think of it more, he probably would be the same type of player Theriot is. There probably isn't much room for him, just saw that article though and thought I would post it.

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2006/12/22/news/doc458bc42c21c77874593024.txt Was DFA by the Reds, will either be traded or released within 10 days. I think he would be worth an invite to Spring Training. Could be a useful 24/25th man.

Cedeno's OBP was .005 higher than Neifi's. That is pretty darned insignificant. Ronny was just as bad as Neifi. Seriously. It cracks me up when people try to say that Cedeno was better than Neifi last year. I'd take .254/.266/.343/.610 over .245/.271/.339/.610 every day of the week. Some people seem to forget that a hit is better than a walk. What do you consider a better AB.....a 10 pitch walk with no one on base or a first pitch single with no one on base? Obviously I'll take the 10 pitch walk with no one on base in that particular situation. My point was that I'd prefer to have a team full of guys that can hit their way on versus a team full of guys that can walk their way on. The ability to hit is more valuable than the ability to take a walk. Batters do not have the ability to hit...they have the ability to make contact. Some hitters make more quality contact than others which usually results in more hits, but you are forgettting that once the ball leaves the bat, the hitter loses control of the outcome except for a home run (and using speed to stretch doubles into triples, etc.). The ability to take a walk is more valuable than the ability to simply put the ball in play. I beleive 100% in finding the right pitch to hit, whenever that pitch presents itself in the course of an at-bat. A hitter has to know what pitch he can hit, and which he can't, even if they are strikes. I have absolutely no problem with a hitter going after the first pitch if it is in that zone. Being selective is part of that, but I don't want a hitter to feel like they can't be aggressive either. Hitters, through repetition, practive, and mechanics most certainly do have the ability to hit, and not just make contact. Being selective and recognizing your strengths and limitations are most important, whether that results in a base hit or a walk. The ability to to take a walk is NOT more important than a player's ability to hit.

It appears any Todd Helton trade would be off the table and the pie in the sky deal of Figgins for Jones will live as only a message board rumor. Why would anyone want Figgins over Jones? .267/.336/.376 last year. That was worse than Pierre. I knew people didn't like Jones, but this is getting ridiculous.

Wow. Surprised they moved Mccarthy.

Kevin Durant is not so bad either...

Chris Lofton is an amazing shooter. How Rick Pitino or Tubby Smith let him escape the state of Kentucky is beyond me.

Very true. But wtf happened to Helton's power last year? He clearly took steroids but somehow gets away with it Let's avoid Salem witch trials, please. As you may have read in my other post, Helton had a scary stomach condition. For awhile, it looked like he was deathly ill and possibly finished as a ballplayer. To say that steroids was the issue proves one's ignorance, as well as one's willingness to jump to an inaccurate conclusion. Pretty sure he was being sarcastic. OT - I'm here in Denver visiting/meeting my girlfriend's family and can't get out of here until Tuesday, which sucks. But I have to say, this city is beautiful. Haven't seen much of downtown besides a couple of bars last night. Some place named Opal is hands-down the most hilarious bar I've been to - and that counts townie southern Indiana bars. It's like a trendy-but-feels-like-a-cocaine-scene bar with a collection of bad characters from a really crappy movie, my favorites last night being the drugged-out asian guy all in white wearing a low hat with a cohort all in black, ski cap to boot, who would disappear whenever the other guy said something to him and mysteriously reappear 5 minutes later. Very weird scene. Not worth the saki. Hope you enjoyed the rant. you from So. Indiana? where? Not the poster you asked, but I'm from New Albany.

I'd love to see Hill establish himself as a successful major league starter. But despite his succes in the 2nd half of last year, eveyime I think of him I can't shake the images of all of the poor performances prior to that. I'm not expecting him to pitch as well as he did in the 2nd half, but I hope he is good enough to be a solid #3 or #4.

And as Chip Caray liked to say everytime he stepped to the plate, his hobbies include playing the violin.

The Clubhouse is plenty veterany as is. If you want to argue they need a veteran for the bench because none of their young guys are good enough, okay. But they don't need veteran presence, they need production. What's Shea Hillenbrand doing? Prank calling John Gibbons.

These points are all true, well made and well argued. But Ryan Church is not a free agent. The fact is, the Cubs have talked with Washington about him (as have other teams). Perhaps the Nationals are asking way too much (this is what I hear) for Church from the Cubs and other teams. This goes back to my point about taking two sides to make a deal. The Cubs aren't alone in not being able to pull off a trade, either major or minor. I was at the winter meetings, and there was virtually NO trade activity. All these GMs face to face, and the most that was going to happen was that somebody was going to catch a cold. Getting a trade done assumes that the team wants to move the player and is asking for a reasonable amount in return. I don't know if the Nats want to move Church. I do know they've fielded calls and have asked for a lot from everybody who has called. So it isn't as easy to trade as it is in fantasy baseball? Surely Bruce you must be wrong, Hendry's just an idiot. When will you get this? :lol: (back to the pub now...London rocks!)

Yeah, I touched on this and then touched off a few pages of debate on another thread, the one that speculated on Hendry having to step down. I'm in the minority around here who thinks Gary Hughes is a darn fine baseball man and evaluator of talent. I might be a little biased because I know him and have talked a lot of baseball with him. He's got a pretty cool World Series ring from helping the Marlins procure some good players. But he didn't know what "DIPS" meant, and that made him an idiot to a lot of people. I don't think anyone doubts Hughes' scouting prowess. I think what that roundtable showed was a dismissiveness and a lack of tolerance for new ways of evaluating performance. That's pretty much what I took out of it. I've got no problem with Hughes being the #1 man on the scouting side, but I'd like for a GM to be the guy who mixes the opinions from the scouting side with the stats side. Hughes just hasn't given me any indication he'd be up for that role. And many of the stat guys people want dont mix the opinions from the scouting side either. It cracks me up how people can read one article about a guy (who they have never had one conversation with or even met) and automatically evaluate his qualifications and ability to perform a certain job.

Jim was pretty darn reluctant to give Rich a spot in the rotation when they needed starting pitching and the season was already in the toilet. If Rich doesn't blow Miller away in Spring Training and Prior is ready to go, I'd imagine Hendry would be more likely to stick with the "proven veteran" than a guy who still has an option left. Maybe his reluctance (which I don't 100% buy anyway) had more to do with Hill's previous abyssmal efforts at the major league level? I think Hill has earned a spot, but I'm not as ga-ga over him as some has been. He had a great 2nd half last year, but I want to see a little more of it before I truly believe that is the "real" Rich Hill. Jim had other young guys up who were certainly struggling and didn't have the AAA numbers that Hill had. The way they trashed him through the media over the Barrett/AJP situation was certainly telling. I certainly think that Hill was treated differently than everyone else, so I wouldn't be surprised if that hasn't changed. I just think his performance at the ML level was the biggest thing, despite how good his numbers were at AAA. He tanked, over and over again. I would have probably brought up some other guys form the minors to see what they could have done also.

Jim was pretty darn reluctant to give Rich a spot in the rotation when they needed starting pitching and the season was already in the toilet. If Rich doesn't blow Miller away in Spring Training and Prior is ready to go, I'd imagine Hendry would be more likely to stick with the "proven veteran" than a guy who still has an option left. Maybe his reluctance (which I don't 100% buy anyway) had more to do with Hill's previous abyssmal efforts at the major league level? I think Hill has earned a spot, but I'm not as ga-ga over him as some has been. He had a great 2nd half last year, but I want to see a little more of it before I truly believe that is the "real" Rich Hill.

These are the Cubs, someone will undoubtedly get hurt. It will probably works itself out anyway. I don't see the Cubs trading Hill.