mcgoobs

All four #1's made it for the first time ever. Which one wins it?

GlenAllen Hill is clean now, and always just a phone call away. In a best case scenario the Cubs starting pitchers prove very durable and one of Marshall/Dempster/Marquis/Lieber/Gallagher turns into another infield bat or CF.

As long as the hole in his swing on the inner half of the plate doesn't reappear, you would have to assume he'll have a season like last year. Maybe something along the lines of .390/.500?

On the face of it, two starts in the minors shouldn't hurt him. That being said, this is still a little surprising, and doesn't bode well if Liriano doesn't show improvement in his conditioning.

That's what Silver was talking about when he said "uncreative use of resources."

Let's hope Z busts out the fist pump after every HBP this year.

Jason Marquis is basically guaranteed mediocrity. He'll probably pitch 200 innings unless he gets seriously injured, and he'll probably give you nothing better than a 100 ERA+. Dempster is a great unknown as a starter. He hasn't pitched more than 92 innings since he was moved to the bullpen, and his most recent seasons as a starter were abysmal. I'd rather take the known mediocrity over the pitcher who will likely be very very bad.

If it's specifically in regards to stolen bases: He was 19 for 25 on stolen base attempts, or 76%. At that rate it would be better if he didn't run at all. If it's spefically in regards to his speed: He's 32 and this had to be expected.

Rollins won because he was getting loads of press when the Phillies went on their run at the end of the season. Had their situation been different - say the Phillies having a huge lead in the East dwindle away to nothing before barely holding on to win the division - there's no way Rollins wins that award.

I would like to see anything that could back up this statement. Statistical breakdowns of each player's performance show Kobe's best seasons roughly approach the level of play that MJ averaged over the course of his career.

The only good thing about this move is it would presumably decrease Piniella's overusage of Marmol.

Z isn't anymore, hes middle of the pack. Maddux gets more GBs but I wouldnt categorize him as a GB pitcher. In 2007, Z was 23rd amond 76 NL pitchers with a GB/FB ratio of 1.37. In 2003, Z was 6th among 77 NL pitchers who pitched 100 innings with a GB/FB ratio of 2.28. He was also a much better pitcher then.

LaDanian Tomlinson could be available and the Bears still shouldn't make that pick. With the passing game eroding and the offensive line coming off a relatively weak 2007 performance, defenses will be keying in on the Bears running game. The team should focus on solidifying the offensive line before any other offensive moves.

With Marquis it's a given what you'll be getting: 200 IP, ERA+ that finishes near 100 with weakening performance during the year, bad attitude. The last time Dempster was a regular starter 2003, when he put up an ERA+ of 63, following seasons of 86 and 77. His last two seasons as a reliever he's put up ERA+ of 96 and 99. I'll take Marquis's guaranteed mediocrity over the chance that Dempster is awful. I would put Dempster's ceiling as a starter as Marquis's expected performance.

I could this initiative getting stopped based off fans' reactions. It would be similar to Bank One relenting when they wanted to have the Bears introduced as "Chicago Bears football presented by Bank One."

My two cents having lived here for years now. Yankee Stadium: If there's not a specific game you're looking to go to, and I would think only the BoSox or Mets would be ones you would specifically look at, I would try to go there on a weekend instead of a weekday. The times I've been there on the weekdays a larger portion the crowd has been more of the corporates going to the game as a business meeting. The bleachers are fun, but dry. I wouldn't sit in the left field bleachers under any circumstances. The seats are just too far away. The right field bleachers bring in the rowdier crowd anyways, and they're the fans who take attendance of the Yankees players in the top of the first, which is always fun to see. If you want to drink and still want the bleacher atmosphere try to get seats along the first base line so you can listen and see all the ruckus from the bleachers but still drink $8.75 beers. Also there's no signature food item. The only good thing is they let you bring food in from outside, so you're not limited to what's inside the stadium. Aside from that I'll echo that it's nothing special. Shea Stadium: Nothing special to see. You'll deal with planes flying into and out of LaGuardia the entire game, so be prepared for that. I actually don't mind the upper deck seats at Shea if you're looking for a cheap option. I've sat there and the bleachers and would prefer the upper deck actually. I don't remember if you can bring food into Shea. The fans seems to come live for the Yankees, Braves, and Phillies. In general if you can find Yankees-Mets tickets at either stadium those are good buys. I've been to those games at both stadiums and paid simiar prices to what you would find on Stubhub for weekend games at Wrigley. The City: I'll echo that Times Square, Empire State Building, etc aren't that exciting, but if you want to "check the tourist box" then feel fre. I would absolutely recommend checking out Ground Zero though. It's hard to walk by Sears Tower and imagine it not being there, but it hit's you quickly when you go to Ground Zero and see a giant hole in the ground where the equivalent of two Sears Towers used to stand. The other thing I generally tell people is try to head to a comedy club here. Caroline's on Times Square pulls in some decent names, but even some of the smaller venues have funny people performing every night. Aside from that I'm one of those people that JCF referred to about not going above 14th Street, at least on the weekends. I lived in Midtown for three years and never understood that mentality, but after moving to Little Italy I found out what people meant. Head to East Village, the Lower East Side, Greenwich, Village, West Village, Tribeca etc and just walk around - grab some random food, drink a few beers, do some random shopping. For Roast, Garwilly, and any others who want recommendations feel free to PM me. I've lived in the city since I moved east and make good use of my time at restaurants and bars here.

Les Lancaster.

I've never understood the point of having a salad (healthy) and layering on creamy dressing (very unhealthy).

The Cubs had a .341 OBP out of the #1 spot last year (primarily Soriano, with Theriot getting over 150 PAs as well) and a .336 OBP out of the #2 spot (primarily Theriot, with DeRosa, Jones, Fontenot, and Pie all getting over 50 PAs). Our OBP out of the #1 spot was 9th best in the NL, out of the #2 spot was 7th best in the NL. Our OPS out of the #1 spot was 2nd best in the NL though. Moving a .370 hitter into the #2 spot would add ~25 baserunners (I'm sure Meph or another stathead could give better numbers) in front of Lee over the course of a season. If Fukudome was a stud and gave us a .400 OBP out of the #2 spot, that's ~50 more baserunners in front of Lee over the course of a season.

Kermit? Phenomenal.

Chicago and Cleveland signed individual players to long-term contracts that over paid each. Realizing their mistake, they trade one for the other (Hughes for Wallace). Weird. Anyone else upset that the Bulls gave up Joe Smith? He's played relatively well and had a good contract through next year.

I love this site. Just being able to compare Ryan Howard and David Ortiz's HR spray chart side by side makes me happy. Howard http://www.hittrackeronline.com/parks/Howard_Ryan_2007_scatter.jpg Ortiz http://www.hittrackeronline.com/parks/Ortiz_David_2007_scatter.jpg

I remembered the Tribune had an article about GlenAllen's workout and supplement regimen. Looking back on it now it's pretty funny. Some quotes: I pulled this from Factiva so I don't have a link. It's the May 25th 2000 article written for the Tribune, written by Teddy Greenstein.

This is just a question, but what percentge of offensive players today do you think would put up better numbers than Ruth if they were put in a time machine and shipped back to the 20s? I'm just trying to get a sense of your view of the difference between the eras.

i think the prevailing theory is "build the ballpark, and the restaurants will follow". How has that worked out at The Cell? I'm not sure that was the thought with Shea, considerng Flushing Meadows has been a complex for large events (i.e. Worlds Fairs, the U.S. Open, Shea). I might be mistaken but I don't think there has been a strong effort to build up the area around Shea/Flushing into a Wrigleyville type, or even Fenway type atmosphere. Shea is still a dump though. The new stadium will rectify the generic feel of the current stadium, but it will still have the proble of low flying planes consistently overhead.