big_shooter17

Haha, yeah, the same ballpark village that is/was scheduled for completion prior to the 2009 all-star game.

A big part of owning a sports team from an economical standpoint is the value of the team. Owners look at the investment not from a cash flow basis, but rather from the future value of the team at a point in time when they are willing to potentially sell. It is the appreciation of entities such as sports franchises that makes them attractive to billionaire investors.

I'd say that Kevin Gregg is better than Lyon at this point for similar money.

I looked at Dunn's numbers against the Cubs when they had more LHP on the staff, 2006 is the year that stands out to me in this regard. In this season, Dunn had a poor year at Wrigley in relation to others. What is interesting, though, is that Dunn did substantially better against LHP than RHP in this season. The same is true in 2003 when the Cubs had a couple of good LHP that Dunn would have faced. This season is far too small of a sample to use. Really, all of these samples that we are looking at are probably too small, but when look for reasons that Dunn has had success at Wrigley, these are factors that must be observed. In some of these years, though, the Cubs have had pitchers like Will Ohman as their LH relief specialist, who was not as good as some of the other loogies that Dunn may have faced. What would be more useful may also be to look at Dunn vs. RHP, for example. Not sure if this makes it any clearer for myself or if anyone thinks that these factors may play a role in Dunn's success or not.

In this argument, I think that it is best to look at overall home/away stats. Then look at what the impact is of the games played in parks such as Petco. He hits home runs at the majority of parks within a reasonable range of what he does at GABP. Wrigley, Miller, both Busch's and Minute Maid are all within a reasonable range and those are parks with among his largest sample sizes. What is interesting is that in supposed pitcher friendly parks, Dunn appears to have a better BA. There isn't enough there to fully believe that there is anything to that more than luck, though.

Let's all relax, if he is just coming to spring training, what does it hurt? Billy Crystal got to play in spring training for a major league club. Let's just kind of treat it like that unless if he impresses or something really changes down the road. Personally, I'd rather have him and trade Pie to get something useful, but before we even go that far, he has to earn a spot. Something that is no guarantee.

I think that we may be jumping to conclusions. I know that it is early for the kind of thing, but this may be a minor league contract for all we know and he will be a contingency plan for if Pie can be traded prior to spring training.

From what I gather, the hanging sox hat is an alternate hat. If you go to MLB Shop, they list that hat as the Red Sox alternate cap. I am not so sure that they are doing away with the classic B that they have used for a long time now.

I noticed on the MLB.TV ticker that the Rangers have expressed interest in Randy Johnson who was Hendry's backup plan, I guess.

Who is this guy doing the announcing of the names for the rule v, his voice sounds kind of like John Malkovich.

Gets me more excited but Clement has the edge over Dempster for me I would take Lilly over Estes or Maddux, though. I think that is a greater difference than Clement or Dempster, either way you go.

Hendry hasn't done anything wrong. In fact, I don't know that I have even heard him say DeRosa's name once. It isn't as much a question of right or wrong. I just wonder how long he will leave his name out there. Maybe I look at it differently, but I do think that he should let his players know where they stand. I don't think that he necessarily has to do it now, but if this Peavy deal is anything like what happened last year, Derosa won't know where he stands until opening day. How do you know what he has told DeRosa? I know that last year, Derosa made statements about how he didn't know what was happening in regards to what his position would be with the team.

Hendry hasn't done anything wrong. In fact, I don't know that I have even heard him say DeRosa's name once. It isn't as much a question of right or wrong. I just wonder how long he will leave his name out there. Maybe I look at it differently, but I do think that he should let his players know where they stand. I don't think that he necessarily has to do it now, but if this Peavy deal is anything like what happened last year, Derosa won't know where he stands until opening day.

Has there been a Cub treated worse by Hendry in the last two offseasons? Last year, he leaves him out in the cold wondering whether or not the team is going to acquire a 2b that will take him out of the starting roster. This year, he is shopping him around in another deal looking like the BRob one as far as how everyone is saying something different every 5 minutes. I know that the life of a ballplayer, especially one of Derosa's type can never be sure where they'll end up, but still.

Did it sound like a separate trade or that this RF would come as part of the Peavy deal

Bruce Levine looks nothing like I expected. I didn't picture used car salesman crossed with bob barker, that's for sure.

I am not sure which one I'd take, but I do think that CC is being wildly overrated by the media based on his NL numbers last year. Just my opinion though. And not just regular NL, most of those games that he pitched were against the likes of the Pirates. He will definitely come back down to earth once the Yankees have him facing good teams.

The Twins? Hmm.. I'm not surprised that more teams are interested in getting involved with DeRosa now sounding available. It would be nice if we could get Kubel out of this deal Kubel's bat would be great. With a chance to start everyday and a couple more years of experience, the guy could end up hitting 25 to 30 home runs. The only thing is that he is not a good fielder at all. If given a chance to play everyday, though, he may be as good as Abreu or Ibanez.

Considering that Toronto gave BJ Ryan 5/47 a couple of years ago, this doesn't sound too expensive at all.

If it is true that they have to wait for the new owner to approve, the deal won't get done. That said, I don't know if this is true especially if Marquis is traded.

Someone in the Mark Loretta, Ray Durham, Alex Cintron category, I would assume. You know what, looking at Loretta's numbers, he may actually be a legitimate option. He hasn't declined much over the years and he can play any position in the infield. looks like he is a dodger now anyway.

Someone in the Mark Loretta, Ray Durham, Alex Cintron category, I would assume. I've said it a couple places now, but Clint Barmes is my guy for that spot. Good defender that has always hit LHP, in an overcrowded infield situation in Colorado with Atkins, Baker, Stewart, and Tulowitzki all competing for 3 spots. I'd like Barmes. He can play all the positions Derosa can as well. He has seen time in RF and CF in his career, and both as recently as the last 2 years. I don't imagine him in CF would be a good idea, but no reason he can't play some corner OF in case of injury or days off. Barmes sure has an ugly OBP, but with what Perry has done over the last two years, there may be some hope for him. I just worry that if we give up both Marquis and Marshall, who will be the spot starter when injuries occur. They will happen and I don't know if Angel Guzman can do it or anyone else in the system. Gaudin might be the next best option, but we don't even know if we're keeping him.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8886182/Sources:-Red-Sox-ink-MVP-Pedroia-to-extension?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49 I see this and I wonder what the Cubs will do with Geo. I am all for him playing on the cheap right now, but I also would like to see the team do something like one of these deals with him. Once he does start making money, Soto could be a 10-15M/year guy yet. If we could try to get a deal like this where he makes more now, but allows for a few reasonably priced years down the road, I would be interested. I also think that these deals are likely to help keep the players around long term.

I remember going to KC to see the Royals play near the end of '06. Between stat lines, highlights, and what I saw in those two games, I really believed that Teahen was going to be one of the next great superstars and the kind of guy who could have lead that team out of the basement. Now, I don't even know if he'd be worth Cedeno like some other people mentioned. Looking at his production makes me wonder why Hendry would make this move. Teahen's numbers in RF don't look any better than Fuku. I also think that Fuku will improve while Teahen has a downward trend. I know that Mark can play more than one position, but we already have DeRo. I really think that if the new RF isn't an impact guy, the Cubs should go with Hoff tentatively and if that doesn't work, you are really going into the beginning of the season with the same team that broke camp last year. I also am looking forward to a time that Marshall can get his shot in the rotation again. I think that he would be starting for the majority of teams in the majors, and probably not just as a number 5. I know that with Marquis, there isn't really any room and he is a similar guy in comparison with Lilly in regards to his stuff, but I like the kid and I think there is potential. He has shown some in his past performances. Anyway, let's hope that this is unfounded or not close to the names actually being thrown around.

I think that they could just eliminate off days during the season. Force every team to play on Thursdays. Make Monday the only off day for teams. Eliminating these games should save a few days. You then cut all of the off days in the playoffs and it could be done. Also this is being discussed a lot because of a fluke. I think that they said that October has the second lowest amount of precipitation of any month in Philadelphia. So, just because it rained those days means nothing, there could be rain in September also.