mcgoobs

Larry Bowa from his playing days deserves a mention. It's not baseball related, but if the stories about Roberto Alomar not telling his long-term girlfriend that he has AIDS are true, he needs to get a starting nod.

I might be mistaken, but I thought UZR and UZR/150 were 'runs saved' concepts.

Is anybody familiar enough with fielding stats to explain why there's four second basemen the top 20 of UZR/150? Intuitively it would seem that second basemen would be less important than the other positions, and the run differential between the best vs average second basemen would be much lower than for outfielders.

I skimmed the four pages - was anyone able to validate what Olney said on Mike and Mike? The most recent item I found on ESPN.com was this which was posted today: Link

No.

I agree that having Lee/Hoffpauir in a platoon situation would probably be best for the Cubs offensive production, although I wonder how Lee would react to that. Next year (2010) Lee will be 34 and in the final year of his contract, and I wonder if he would react strongly to being put into a platoon.

Creed got my vote, but the writers have done well incorporating Kevin and Darryl's characters into the stories more. Also David Wallace should get a nod, just for his exasperated conversations with Michael.

But we did get 1 unproductive season out of Juan Pierre in the deal. I hope this doesnt go down in history as another Brock for Bolio type of deal. I'm guessing that Ricky isn't HOF-bound. To be fair, Brock shouldn't have been either. Speaking of HOF bound, to be fair, we did get young Ryne Samberg as a throw in for Ivan DeJesus. Dallas Green said years later that Sandberg really wasn't a throw-in, he was the player the Cubs were actually interested in. They just billed it as DeJesus for Bowa with Sandberg as a throw-in so Sandberg wouldn't feel pressure the same he might if he thought he was the main target. Regardless, it was one of the biggest steals of all-time. If I were Dallas Green, I'd say the same thing. Haha. Yeah, let's see when he actually made that quote. My recollection is that he made it after Sandberg showed that he was a good player, and after Bowa retired, but before Sandberg became a superstar. That's a long time ago, so my memory could be a bit off. Dallas Green managed the Phillies from 1979-1981, and likely knew about the talent he had in the minor leagues. Also the story is that Green wouldn't agree to a trade unless Sandberg was included in the deal. I would be surprised if Green didn't have a lot of faith in Ryno and he was only a throw-in.

And the companies that used those tickets to take out and wow a client or customer are cutting back too.

Carlos Zambrano finishes the season with the worst ERA out of the five pitchers in our starting rotation. Carlos Marmol suffers an injury that keeps him out for over half the season. Sean Marshall hits two home runs. At some point Soriano, Bradley, Aramis, and Lee are injured at the same time. The Cubs are forced to put out a lineup looking something like: RF: Gathright 2B: Fontenot 1B: Hoffpauir C: Soto LF: Johnson 3B: Miles CF: Fukudome SS: Theriot P: Harden That day the Cubs score 14 runs.

I would imagine Fukudome is on a relatively short leash and if he struggles him and Theriot get swapped in the lineup.

I'd give anything for Greg Maddux, David Wells, and Hector Villanueva to be on the list. why? Pretty sure he's joking. I was.

I'd give anything for Greg Maddux, David Wells, and Hector Villanueva to be on the list.

Watched the game last night. Larry Bowa left whatever range he had in Philadelphia two years prior to that game.

Bob Costas the play-by-play man is much much better than Bob Costas the baseball history rambler.

OPS+ last 3 years: Ibanez: 124, 121, 125 Anderson: 97, 114, 94 They are not the same player by a long shot. Does Anderson makes some of that back with his defense? He's no stud but I thought I remember reading that Ibanez was a butcher in LF.

That would/will be one of the more memorable HOF speeches.

Fangraphs would agree with your assessment of Pujols. Isn't Howard not eligible for free agency until 2011? Isn't this just their way of avoiding arbitration for this offseason and the next two?

Durham's had three years worse than Miles' best year. Almost every year he's been significantly better than Miles' career year. Durham, over his career, has also hit lefties better than Miles in his career year. If he does sign a cheap deal, he most certainly would have been a better option from what I can tell. Yep - we're saying the same thing. My quote regarding Durham being a quality option if we hadn't signed Miles wasn't regarding who is the better player as much as who Hendry has already gotten for the 2009 team. If the money was comparable I'd rather have Durham next year.

Article on ESPN.com about Ray Durham still being available. The knocks on him are that he turned 37 and his defense is questionable. The positives are that he's put up an OBP above .350 in every season but 2 going back to 1998. He would have been a nice option for backup middle infielder if we hadn't already signed Miles.

Murton would be a good platoon partner for someone who can hit RH-pitching. Don't know if Carlos Gonzalez is that partner, or if Murton is insurance in case Gonzalez struggles this year for the Rockies.

During his three years in Texas he was teammates with Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, and Ken Caminiti. If he started in Texas any of these three could have been a potential introduction.

What happened to the theory that batting order doesn't matter, and it's more important to bat your best players higher in the order to get them more PAs? Has that been debunked?

http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2009/01/cubsrumor012409.php I personally don't think that is a lot to give up. Vitters- Still at least 2-3 years away and not a sure thing, we are in a win now mode and by the time he could arrive we might not be a contender Olson- Likely a bullpen guy/spot starter at best with the Cubs this year, Marshall is better and would start the season in the rotation. Stevens- Good minor league numbers, but doesn't have overwhelming stuff and it might not translate to the majors. Bullpen guys are a dime a dozen. Hart- See Stevens Castillo- Blocked by Soto, probably 2-3 years away as well, wouldn't more than a backup with Soto around might as well trade him while he still has value/perceived potential to get better. Overall I think that's a fair trade it would suck giving up Vitters but you need to give up quality to get it. I agree that with Sheets still out there we should look into it, if he is willing to take 1@8-12 or 2@16-20 it might be smarter to sign him and keep the prospects. Sheets is just as good as Peavy. Also I found it interesting that bit about Cedeno for Heilman. Heilman wouldn't be a bad guy to add to the bullpen/spot start. Hendry needs to take into account what he thinks he could get for those prospects in a separate trade if he signed Sheets. Peavy vs Sheets straight up is pretty clearly in favor of Peavy given the injury history of Sheets. Peavy vs Sheets + midseason acquisition that could beef up the outfield should Fukudome flame out, or cover an injury to one of our other key players isn't as clearly in favor of Peavy.

In June. On the 23rd.