Clem Fandango

Someone should update the title to make it say "Roberts: ERROR!ERROR!ERROR!100110101"

awesome Agreed. Nicely done, sir.

Here is mine... Group A: Ryan Howard Group B: Albert Pujols, Ryan Braun Group C: Nick Swisher, Aramis Ramirez, Derek Lee Group D: Chase Utley, Jack Cust, Hunter Pence, Nick Markakis, Jason Bay Wild Card Josh Hamilton

Unexpected? Theriot at leadoff has been about the only clear-cut Lou decision for the past couple weeks. Then color me uninformed. I was expecting to see Soriano and Theriot swapped

Perfect world? No way. Gallagher isn't ready for a full season in the bigs. I'd rather take a risk on upside than go with guaranteed crap You and everyone else here. Marquis is not "crap." He's probably going to be about league average, or maybe a little worse, over the course of the full season. Gallagher isn't a lock to even do that. If it doesn't work, out, in the end , the results will probably still look the same no matter who you start... "L". There is no upside to Dempster or Marquis. They're not going to come out of the gate and dominate, as if they drank some magic potion that gave them incredible skills. They're going to be mediocre or worse. Gallagher has the potential to be much better than them, if Dempster and Marquis means pretty much meaning on every 5th day the Cubs are going to give up 4 runs minimum, I'd like to see what the kid can do if given a consistent opportunity. Marquis PECOTA Projection... 100IP 17GS 5.14ERA 1.50WHIP 5-5 5.1 VORP Gallagher PECOTA Projection 55IP 10GS 4.98ERA 1.56WHIP 4-5 5.5 VORP Yes, I know the IP and GS aren't equal, but if Gallagher isn't ready for the big leagues, why are we trotting someone out there who would likely do no better or worse than him? The difference between the two is that Gallagher has room to improve while Marquis is pretty much a lock for awfulness. Putting Gallagher out there will at least get him prepared for what he has to expect in the big leagues. Dominating AAA players isn't going to help him succeed in the big leagues. But this is all just my opinion. I just really don't like Jason Marquis

Perfect world? No way. Gallagher isn't ready for a full season in the bigs. I'd rather take a risk on upside than go with guaranteed crap.

Well... Theriot at the lead off spot is a bit unexpected. And disappointing

It's funny you mention that, because I've been seal clubbing with Steve Kline before.

He had only 3 blown saves, if memory serves me correctly. Baseball Prospectus says that as a starter, PECOTA predicted Dempster having a 4.78 ERA, but his WARP increased slightly from 8.2 as a closer to 10.9 as a starter, fwiw. Not that I care. Who knows. In a perfect world, the rotation would be closed out by Marshall and Gallagher, but it had to come to two of Dempster, Lieber, and Marquis. Honestly, I think Dempster will out perform Marquis as a starter but that's not saying much, he's just the lesser of two evils.

That doesn't mean he has to continously talk to the media about it. You want to voice your displeasure once or twice and let it be known how you feel? Fine, but I think he needs to shut his mouth now. What he's saying is true, but that doesn't mean he needs to say it over and over again. He probably gets asked about it every chance the media gets. It's not like he goes to the media with an agenda to talk about it, I'm sure the media brings it up all the time.

They already got Pudge 2.0 in Paul Bako. No real need for him now Imagine grouping those two together? Dustnasty. Then they'd have Pudge and Sludge... [rimshot]

http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=MLB30qchc It's their 30 Questions for 30 Teams question... "Who ends up with the most saves for the Cubs?" They predict Kerry Wood will close to begin, get injured somehow, and Marmol gets the nod the 2nd half of the year, essentially

They already got Pudge 2.0 in Paul Bako. No real need for him now

Depends, how many teams are in your league? I'm in an 8-team league, and most teams have at least 2 closers, some of which have 3 or 4, and there's still maybe 3-4 closers available in the FA market. http://www.scoutingbook.com/closers/ That is a great website for MLB closers. Up-to-date usually, and gives advice on who is next in line, etc.

Chien-Ming Wang has a 8.44ERA this Spring. Erik Bedard has a 9.69ERA. The spring numbers... they mean-a-nothing. Some days a pitcher is on and some days a pitcher is off. Hill was off this time. He was off a few times last year, too. No biggie.

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=47337 Either way, this is all too hilarious

Uhhhh, well, you see, what the problem is... what had happened was... you don't get it, do you? The dude's back all but gone, stick a fork in him!

Well, here's what PECOTA says about the two... Gallardo: 180IP 30GS 4.00ERA 1.33WHIP 179K 11-8 (28.8 VORP) Liriano: 140IP 22GS 3.25ERA 1.22WHIP 146K 9-6 (39.1 VORP) So you have a choice to make. Liriano appears to be better for a shorter period of time, but Gallardo will be more available, according to PECOTA anyways. Liriano is clearly better, and those numbers might not be too far off considering Liriano may or may not have slight issues with his injury and won't start probably for a week or two into the season depending on how much they want to ease him back, and the Twins management have said he'll be under a strict pitch count to save his arm. Based on this and the fact you need to win this year and not in the future, I might go with Gallardo then, although Liriano might come up big. Tough decision based on that. Don't really know who I'd choose if I were in your situation knowing this now.

if it's a keeper league and you're choosing who you're planning on having for your team's future, I'd go with Liriano, although indicators are showing that he's going to start the year in long relief to ease his way into the rotation, and he's not throwing at 100% for safety precautions kind of sucks, but in the long run he's still the better pitcher, if not one of the best pitchers in the game if he avoids health issues and gets back to form

Yeah, I don't see anybody talking end of times. Major hindrance is not sky is falling. It will be possible to field a winning team, just all that much more difficult. Alright then, I just misinterpreted everyone's concerns on this thread and took them as a little more serious than they all probably thought it was

Too bad firedustybaker.com is still run by Cubs fans. They should concede ownership to a Reds fan

That doesn't mean anything. You still have to replace those players, in addition to replacing what you thought you were paying Soriano for in the first place and will never get. Soriano's contract will hurt, there's no point in sugarcoating it. The fact that Lee and Ramirez might not be here for the last couple years does not change that. The point I was making that when those players' contracts are expired, we may have some very acceptable cheap in house replacements, and the money saved from their exiting contracts could be used to get a free agent to compliment the declining skills of Soriano elsewhere. Kosuke will be a free agent by then. There is no realistic in house replacement for Lee. Even if Vitters does come in and replace Ramirez at a high level, you're still going to need to be playing for middle infield help (cubs don't have a SS in the system). If Soto is any good he'll be making a ton by then. Plus the pitching. The fact that Lee and Ramirez's contracts (which are both reasonable) come off the books during the second half of Soriano's contract doesn't make his contract any less of a hindrance. I'm not saying it won't be a hindrance, it will be, that much is clear. I'm just saying I don't think it's going to be the end of times like a lot of people are saying it will be. To each his own, though I suppose

That doesn't mean anything. You still have to replace those players, in addition to replacing what you thought you were paying Soriano for in the first place and will never get. Soriano's contract will hurt, there's no point in sugarcoating it. The fact that Lee and Ramirez might not be here for the last couple years does not change that. The point I was making that when those players' contracts are expired, we may have some very acceptable cheap in house replacements, and the money saved from their exiting contracts could be used to get a free agent to compliment the declining skills of Soriano elsewhere.

I read something about a peeled up hood, and from what I saw on Comcast sportsnite, it looked like something more than bats did the work. I'll tell you who it was, it was that damned Sasquatch