NCCubFan

Harper has been promoted to AA, skipping A+, and will make his debut tonight.

Today in 1939 Lou Gehrig gave his famous farewell address when he said "today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth." Until I saw it mentioned in a "this day in history" column in my local paper I never realized he gave that speech on the 4th of July.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110703&content_id=21339686&notebook_id=21370600&vkey=notebook_chc&c_id=chc Fortunately it sounds like a short-term issue for Dempster. He is expected to make one more start before the All-Star break. Coleman will probably go back down on Tuesday to make room for Ortiz.

Cashner is expected to begin rehabbing in about 10 days. The article says a realistic return date may be about Sept. 1 and he may pitch out of the pen for the rest of the year.

Fukudome (RF) Barney (2B) Castro (SS) Ramirez (3B) Pena (1B) Byrd (CF) Soriano (LF) Soto © Lopez (P) Game is actually televised on WGN, but with the Sox announcers.

And he's the only Cub on the All-Star team (unless someone gets added later as an injury replacement).

Pujols is recovering faster than expected. He's now expected to return by July 15, after the All-Star break, if not sooner.

In anticipation of actually having a season I have renewed the league for this year. Last year's members should have received an invite through Yahoo, but if you were in the league last year and didn't get the invite (for example, if you changed your e-mail address and forgot to update it in Yahoo) send me a PM and I'll reply with the registration information. If you have not participated in the past but would be interested in doing so please express your interest by posting in this thread. Most years there are a few vacancies to fill due to previous members not returning, and if that's the case this year I'll fill them on a first-come, first-served basis. There are only two requirements for participating. One is to be committed to remaining active even if you fall out of contention. The other is to deal with the fact that I always win the league championship in odd-numbered years. :P I have tentatively set the draft for 9:00 P.M. Eastern time Monday, Aug. 27, but that's intended mainly as a placeholder to get the league set up. It can be changed if desired. Also, for now I've copied the scoring settings from last year, but again that's just intended as a placeholder for now. I know there was some discussion last year about having too many points for passing completions and return yards, and there are a few new scoring categories available this year (such as long TD passes and pick six thrown), so I anticipate tweaking the scoring before the draft. Feel free to post any thoughts about scoring in this thread.

Byrd has been activated and is starting in CF.

The only starter from the opening day roster that has not yet been on the DL this year.

Dumb, especially since Mateo won't be available for a few days. This puts the pressure on Wells since they're short at least one reliever (after pitching two innings yesterday I wouldn't expect Marmol to be available either). They could send Mateo down now, then if they do need to DL Zambrano they could bring Mateo back up before the normal 10 days.

The Dodgers issued some rubber checks this week.

Yes. He was committed to play both baseball and football at UNC but signed with the Padres instead. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donavan_Tate

Full lineup: Fukudome (RF) Barney (2B) Castro (SS) Ramirez (3B) Pena (1B) DeWitt (LF) Campana (CF) Hill © Zambrano (P) We stinks.

I'm a bit late to the most recent drama because I didn't have Internet access for awhile (I was returning home from vacation yesterday, then found that my modem died while I was away and I had to replace it). I agree that rule changes should generally be made during the offseason unless just about everybody is in agreement otherwise. It's fine to discuss changes during the season, and it's fine to make rulings interpreting the spirit of the rule or for situations that have not come up in the past. As far as Adam is concerned, he is a jerk all too often and doesn't even seem to realize it (or else realizes it but continues anyway). I've had many run-ins with him over the years. That doesn't stop me from being willing to trade with him (see: Lincecum, Tim). I don't think a member should be kicked out of the league midseason just for being an [expletive]; the only reasons I think a member should be replaced during the season (unless it's by the member's own request) is for nonpayment (and that should probably be handled before the season starts anyway) or becoming inactive. Replacing members for other reasons should take place during the offseason, and I think forcing a member out should require a clear consensus of the league members, not just a majority (I might think differently if this were an annual league rather than a keeper league). I wish Brian could tolerate Adam's jerkiness, but some people have more tolerance than others. I know that several years ago Brian left a league I'm in because he didn't like the managerial style of one of the league members, and this is a different league than the one he mentioned where he couldn't get along with the commish (I wasn't in that league, but I think I know who the commish in that league was). This isn't meant to be a dig at Brian; it's just that different people have different tolerances for handling conflict. Given that Brian doesn't feel he can continue as commish, though, I have full confidence in Tim (except for the first-round draft picks :P ).

Former NC State player Lorenzo Charles was killed this afternoon while driving a bus. Charles hit the game-winning dunk to beat Houston's Phi Slamma Jamma team for the 1983 national championship under Jim Valvano.

I don't remember how long his contract is, but my hunch is that he's basically a caretaker until Kerry Wood retires as a player and moves into broadcasting.

Count me in on this line of thinking. Adam is a hypocrite when he pouts about Brian changing a rule when he himself drafts a player, then gets the commish to change the rule AFTER the fact when others don't have fair notice (I hate to continue to bring up Sheets over and over and over and over again, but it seems appropriate for pointing out Adam's hypocrisy, which he doesn't seem to get). I'm not sure I'd go as far as suggesting he be kicked out of the league, but he does take away a lot of the fun all too often. I've had multiple clashes with him. As far as the DL issue is concerned I have no problem with a mid-season change, although I agree with Clint that one day's notice probably isn't enough (some people may be online more during the week while at work). If there's any interest in changing during the season (I wouldn't give up on that idea just because of Adam's tantrums) a better approach might be to bring it up for discussion at the beginning of the week with the idea of implementing it the following week. That would give a week for discussion and time to make roster moves. With it being a couple weeks away, maybe discussing it now with the idea of implementing it at the All-Star break would give sufficient notice. As far as reserve spots are concerned I understand the points against increasing that, so no big deal. I don't think anybody will like every rule, but those of us not named Adam probably don't take fantasy baseball so seriously that they make a federal case if they don't like a specific rule.

Third highest score of the week, only 15 points off the lead. Hamilton returning and Pena heating up is making a difference.

I have no objection to increasing the DL spots either now or for next season. My first choice, though, would be to increase the number of reserve spots. That would provide more flexibility for situations like injured players who are day-to-day but not on the DL. It can be hard to manage those situations with only three reserve spots, especially if two of them are used for pitchers to ensure 7 starts. Another option might be to change the rule so you can put injured players on an expanded DL even if the player is not actually on the major league DL, but with the stipulation that you can't put that player back into your active lineup for the remainder of the week in order to prevent abuse.

Can't someone just give Beckett an Imodium? :roll: This is killing me in my other league! Now I have to start Bailey @ Baltimore coming off the DL or Tyler Chatwood. :-k For my sake in this league I hope Chatwood is a good decision.

In other words, Bum's a bum. :D

I get my 3rd win of the year, thanks largely to 56+ points from Bud Norris this week. Looks like my patience with him is paying off.

Hagerty was returned.

I got Miller in a trade last year (it may have been the Miggy Cabrera trade, but I don't recall for sure). I then traded him to Tim in the Josh Hamilton trade. He definitely seems to get around in this league (traded three times in less than a year).