mcgoobs

I think the point of the thread was regarding whether he should make the playoff roster over Ward, not replace Lee as the everyday starter at first.

None of that really explains why it we should it as a bad thing for Ernie and his wife to adopt a baby.

Fukudome's defense alone should give him a spot on the roster.

NSBB is like a modern day, internet-based version of the Superfans. Instead of Ditka, Soto is our savior. We honestly believe that if Soto took on a hurricane, Soto would win. Unless of course, the hurricane was called hurricane Soto.

Awesome. It's a true statement, and one that, even announcers who actually believe it, would be hesitant to say. Keep up the great work.

Some other closer salaries out there: Wagner, agreed to in 2006: 4/$43M (club option for fifth year at $12.5M, $2M buyout) Nathan, agreed to in 2008: 4/$47M (club option for fifth year at $8M, $1M buyout) Hoffman, agreed to in in 2006: 2/$13.5M, option for a third year at $7.5M that vested at 45 games pitched in 2007 Jones, agreed to 2008: 1/$7M, previously he had a 2/$11M Lidge, agreed to in July: 3/$37.5M (club option for fourth yearat $12.5M, $1.5M buyout) Putz, agreed to in 2007: 3/$13.1M (club option for fourth year at $8.6M, $1M buyout) Ryan, agreed to in 2005: 5/$47M Looking at those, Wood shouldn't get the tenure or dollars as Wagner and Nathan given ther proven durability and better performance. Wood also shouldn't get anything near Ryan's contract because it's absurd. You'd like to be able to give him a 2 year contract with the annual dollars that Putz or Hoffman receives, which would mean Wood would be signed to a 2/$8.5M o 2/$13.5M. I'm not sure if Wood would be happy with that, and that another team would come in and offer Lidge money. If that's the case I would be inclined to move Marmol to the closer role, move Samadzja into Marmol's current role, and let Wood walk.

At the beginning of the season it would have surprised everyone if it was said that Fukudome would have by far the lowest 2nd half OBP of our regulars.

Orel Hershiser is furious.

If last year's Cubs team instead played this year, we would be watching a team that would basically be out of the playoff hunt. If this year's Cubs team instead played last year, we would have been trying to figure out how early in last year's September we would clinch the division.

Wow. I'm not sure there is a prevailing sentiment on the board that the Cardinals made a "fatal error" by letting Edmonds go. Clearly if he was still on the Cardinals he wouldn't replace Ankiel or Ludwick, and it's a toss up if he would be in there instead of Schumacher. And we all acknowledge his defense is a shadow of what it used to be. But Edmonds has clearly a great addition to the Cubs, and he's clearly enjoying his success against his former team and as Cubs fans we are sharing in that. I'm not sure how else you would expect us to react. Fantastic post though. I'm not sure how you transformed our attitude of "Edmonds is now a Cub" into "the Cardinals would love to have him back," but it's very entertaining.

I wonder why he was so ticked? If I were him, I would have been happy to interview and shove it right in their face. I have to admit that line made the Edmonds-hating Cubs fan that still resides somewhere deep inside me chuckle.

Went with Arizona as all of the others have injury histories (Harden, Sheets, Carpenter, Pedro) or haven't proven yet that they can be consistently good year-to-year (Matsuzaka, E. Santana, Saunders). In terms of pure talent that they currently display, it could be a toss-up between the Cubs, Brewers, Angels and D-Backs.

Not that I think you're wrong, but that doesn't diminish what it means about what Mariano has done. There's been plenty of unhittable relievers that have come and gone that never broke that list. Saying that a reliever is better as a reliever than Pedro was as a starter is a hell of a compliment. Regardless of the standings on that list, I don't think anyone will ever confuse Mariano as being more valuable than Pedro was to his teams. Also with Pedro you would get to have a "lucky charm midget" running around your clubhouse, which is always fun.

NSBB needs to chip in and get you the best DVR money can buy.

I'd be adverse to signing Edmonds to a two-year deal, which would keep him in a Cubs uniform until the age of 40, unless the second year was a club option. A 1-year deal for a small base and then laden with incentives, say $1-1.5 million base going up to $4-5 million depending on performance would be ideal, but unlikely. His current contract pays him $8M in 2008 and it's hard to say he's not earning something close to that now. I would imagine that Hendry will have to offer something along the lines of 1-year $5-7M, unless Edmonds continues his belief that he wants to remain a Cub to stick it to the Cardinals. I was part of the very large group of nitwits who thought Edmonds would be a colossal failure so it really doesn't matter what I think.

Give Hendry credit here. He could have very easily given in to the prevailing attitude of Cubs fans, which was eloquently expressed by NSBBers including yours truly, that Edmonds should not have been signed. Instead he took a riskless bet that Edmonds was in a slump in San Diego, would be productive against right-handed batters, and he was absolutely right. Side note Cubs CFers are the most productive in the NL. They're currently putting up a.372/.481/.853 OBP/SLG/OPS. 1st in the NL in OBP, 2nd in the NL in OPS.

Is the trade really that bad? It seems that the value of the move isn't as much about getting Griffey as it is about benching Konerko. The team goes from having a 96 OPS+ player in center and a 77 OPS+ player at first to a 104 OPS+ player in center and a 96+ OPS player at first. Konerko's RC/27 this year is a comically low 3.6 - to give people perspective, that's the same level as Paul Bako during the 2003 season. Compared to the way the trade is being portrayed in the media than it's clear the expectations are too high. But in terms of value it's not a bad trade for the Sox.

Given the openly contentious relationship between Stern and Cuban, it's surprising he's giving Cuban a supporting word.

Pre and Post ASB splits for the offense (avg/obp/slg/ops shown). Post-ASB is clearly a small sample size but its illustrative for how poor the offense has performed so far: Cubs Pre: .281/.360/.443/.802 Post: .231/.288/.406/.694 Soriano Pre: .283/.332/.547/.879 Post: .167/.211/.278/.488 Theriot Pre: .320/.394/.369/.763 Post: .306/.390/.389/.779 Fukudome Pre: .279/.383/.408/.791 Post: .259/.394/.333/.727 Lee Pre: .306/.372/.508/.880 Post: .179/.200/.308/.508 (!) Ramirez Pre: .285/.386/.515/.901 Post: .132/.175/.237/.412 (!!!) Soto Pre: .288/.369/.522/.891 Post: .125/.152/.250/.372 (!!!!!) De Rosa Pre: .283/.377/.453/.830 Post: .154/.290/.231/.521 (!!!) Johnson Pre: .268/.336/.376/.712 Post: .444/.500/.889/1.389 Edmonds (with Cubs) Pre: .269/.369/.552/.922 Post: .385/.429/.692/1.121 Our four best hitters are putting up OPS's between 350 and 500 points below where they were before the ASB. We should be thankful to have three wins in nine games. I don't think we should expect these dismal performances to continue. At some point Ramirez, Lee, Soriano, Soto, and De Rosa will come back to life and hopefully the pitching will continue to hold up well enough that the wins should come back. The Cubs offense that performed so well wasn't riding on the back of any specific hot bats - looking at the pre-ASB splits it's hard to point at any one player, save for Edmonds, and say they were performing way above their expectations. It's just an unfortunate coincedence that at six other positions the player is either in a slump or coming back from injury. It's also unfortunate that we are in this slump right before beginnig a four game set on the road against a surging Milwaukee team.

Why would Epstein & Co want to go from overpaying Ramirez for two more months to overpaying Soriano for six years? There's also the whole issue that Soriano is an inferior hitter to Ramirez.

The annual "Red Sox explore trading Manny" news story. Does anyone remember a few years back when Steve Stone suggested an Aramis for Manny trade?

Aside from last year, Pena has been a perennial under-performer.

We have had three one-run losses in nine games. There is some element of bad luck in our post-ASB record.

I love Fred. Congrats.

Assuming he maintains his performance and doesn't get injured, I think those numbers are in line with what a desperate GM would give Dempster. The Cubs would be wise to pass if Dempster is offered anything more than three years at $10M per. He's been a very pleasant surprise this year, but 4 years for a 31-year old pitcher who only returned to the starting role after a five-year stint as a reliever is too aggressive. You mean his "five-year stint" that lasted about 2 3/4 years? He was moved to the bullpen in 2005 after starting the season in the rotation and remained there for the rest of 2005 and all of 2006 and 2007. It appears we're both wrong. Dempster was a relief pitcher during his injury-plagued 2004. That would make him a relief pitcher for 4 seasons before returning back to the starting role in 2008.