Brett

:rotfl: Was I the only one who found this hilarious? Yes. If it was intended to be one of those jokes that is knowingly and intentionally cheesy, then it was funny.

It'll just be "mild" clap.

Hes a starting 1b on a non-playoff team and a very good #1 PH off the bench/back up 1b on a playoff team agreed, that's how i view him. actually he probably doesn't project to be much worse than lee over the next three years so if we could find someone dumb enough to take lee off our hands at full price, i'd be all for it. That's exactly it. And I hate thinking it, because I've been duped by the Dave Keltons of the Cubs past, but I really can't see Hoffpauir being THAT much worse than Lee over the next few years.

Yeah, it makes no sense for a whole host of reasons. But I'm getting very nervous.

There's an article on SI that Zambrano IS going to participate this year (noted here). The SI article is from this evening, and says that the Venezuelan team lineup was just released today. Is it bunk, or what's the deal? So you don't have to click, the two relevant quotes: And

I think you're being sarcastic, but one of the fallouts from the 'scandal' is that what you described is what will happen- guys with these huge outlier years will be scrutinized a little. And you know what, I'm for the most part cynical anyway, so I don't see a big problem with it. Unless I have the guy on my fantasy team and he can't repeat the numbers. Baseball brought it upon itself and it is fair to question everyone. That's the really unfortunate consequence of this whole thing. I feel like there is no one I CAN'T question. Heck, I question Jose Macias now.

Albert Pujols as backup catcher. Sorry Bako; been nice knowing you. :-))I thought it was a pretty nice subtle jab at Sullivan asking about Manny.

How about just Marissa Miller? Nice video, though. Seriously.

Jake Fox can't play C. At present, I imagine he can back up catcher about as well as he can back up third.

I just don't understand why Derrek Lee is seemingly wedded to that three-spot. He's OBVIOUSLY mired in decline, he's a brutal ground-ball hitter, and he no longer has a whole lot of pop. I just don't understand it.

Bingo. The WBC is competitive play. Spring Training games - for guys whose roster spot is already assured - are not.

I would be his Bandit.

I'd say that's the second most realistic, and perhaps scariest, concern facing the Cubs. The first is Milton Bradley having the same problem.

The thing that really makes me mad about this is apparently the Cubs only recently learned about this issue. Seems like he should have told them immediately that he wasn't having the procedure done in January like everyone thought.

Huh. Obviously he's got some power and a little speed but that appears to be about it. Career minor leaguer then? He posted good numbers before last year. Probably won't ever be a star or starter, but he could turn into a decent bat off the bench if he turns it around. Kinda sounds like Kroeger.

He has definitely said in the past that he'd prefer not to move from leadoff. He has definitely said in the past that he'll hit wherever they tell him to. No word on whether he was saying that while muffing fly ball in front of the under armour sign. He said he'd hit anywhere they asked him to, but then he muffed some flyballs in front of the under armor sign, and he was probably wearing an under armor shirt when he did that, and the irony is too much for me, so he was probably lying when he said that. And he makes 138M dollars. he probably just wanted to go home to his mansion MansionS. The thing you wouldn't want to see is a discontented, already paid guy batting somewhere he's not happy, and translating that to poor effort. I'm not saying coddle him, but it's a concern.

That's what I was just about to post. I don't know. The first "C" kind of looks like a sideways "Y."

Exactly. Should be mighty entertaining.

Fontenot's jersey looks so lily white and clean. I mean, I know they're all clean, but his really sticks out.

All I know is I love watching him throw, hate watching him catch.

He's the one that people speculate is most likely to be willing to take on Peavy.

yeah, i agree. i just remember thinking the Gathright signing indicated that Pie was probably part of the Peavy deal. They have too many CF'ers as it is. i didn't say my thought process was well thought out. Well it's not as if every "CF'er" is hog-tied to center field.

Hendry doesn't get it. The problem wasn't Marquis, it was Marquis contract. He was a very good 4th or 5th starter but he was payed like #1 or #2. Sabathia 7 years, 161 million Burnett 5 years, 82.5 million Lowe 4 years, 60 million Dempster 4 years, 52 million Moyer 2 years, 13 million Silva 4 years, 48 million Eaton 3 years, 24.5 million Hernandez (Orlando) 2 years, 12 million Igawa 5 years, 46 million (including posting fee) Lilly 4 years, 40 million Marquis 3 years, 21 million Matsuzaka 6 years, 103 million (including posting fee) Meche 5 years, 55 million Mulder 2 years, 13 million Mussina 2 years, 23 million Padilla 3 years, 33.75 million Schmidt 3 years, 47.5 million Suppan 4 years, 42 million Williams (Woody) 2 years 12 million Zito 7 years, 126 million There is every multi-year starting pitching deal given in the past 3 years. Every player who was considered a possible #1 or #2 at the time he was signed (Sabathia, Burnett, Matzuzaka, Schmidt, Zito, and possibly Lilly) got a contract that was much different from the one of Marquis. Just think about that. The best comparable contracts to the ones of Marquis on the market today? Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton, Mark Mulder, and Woody Williams. Is Marquis worse than that group? Absolutely not. Does spending money on average starting pitchers not make sense instead of dipping into the minor leagues? That argument has some merit as starting pitching gets a premium on the free agent market and the money might be able to be better spent in other areas. But as far as value on the market, Marquis was not overpaid. In fact, of the 20 contracts listed above, the one for Marquis will probably be ranked 6th or 7th when all is said and done for effectiveness. At the time of the contract Marquis was severely overpaid. He's still overpaid and now the Cubs will be paying him to pitch for someone else. How exactly was he severely overpaid at the time of the contract? It's easy to say, but when you look at the other contracts that were signed that same year the argument seems to fall apart. The biggest reason that the Cubs are paying him to pitch for someone else is because they backloaded the contract. They got a bargain in 07 and they had to pay that difference this year. Exactly. That list is a bit misleading because 3/21 sounds quite a bit different than 1/10. And the Cubs aren't paying him but what, $800k to pitch for someone else? They just have to pay Luis Vizcaino a little bit more than he deserves.

They're announcing the Jake Peavy trade at the Convention, right?

Restovich sucks ass. Not as hard as JVB. He's just an injury after injury. I think he's probably very talented, but when both of your shoulders are broken, it's hard to pitch well.