Cubsmodano

I also went to HHS. Class of 96. Interesting. Nice, don't suppose you had Mr. Schmidt or Mr. Decker for any s.s. classes? You'd think that for as big as Homestead is, that we'd have more quality athletes than Bowen and Kevin Mitchell.

Thought I'd give my own scouting report on Bowen. I went to high school with him (he was a Senior when I was a Freshman), but he definitely got drafted for his athleticism behind the plate. Even in High School he wasn't known as much for his hitting, but supposedly his time throwing to second was elite by major league standards even then. Not sure why that hasn't translated into the big leagues yet, but I'd guess that has more to do with guys like Maddux and Young being terrible at holding runners than anything else.

Lou has said that he won't be skipping any starters right away.

Sorry if this has been brought up lately, I haven't been online much this offseason. Anyways, I've got the Wii and the Gamecube (I'm a Nintendo supporter in case it isn't apparent) but I haven't been able to find any baseball games coming out this year for either system? On a related note, it appears that Stats Inc. quit publishing the MLB Scouting Notebook as well. Does anybody have any knowledge of good MLB games coming out for those systems, as well as a good replacement to the Scouting Notebook? Thanks for any help.

Pagan had a lower OPS than Juan Pierre. If there was a time he was hitting, I totally missed it. I gotta agree with the first poster... Pagan brings some nice qualities to the back of the bench, and I don't have any problem with having a speedy, switch hitter that can play all three outfield spots provided that he's not the number one option for either left or right handed pinch hitter. Ward can fill one of those spots, Craig Wilson for the other maybe? (Or Phil Nevin even?)

Honestly, there's been so many names mentioned at this point, I'm having a tough time figuring out which two pitchers I want the Cubs to grab. Especially now that Westbrook looks like he's staying put with the Indians filling out their bullpens. I'd guess overall, factoring how I think they'll do next year, overall price, and cost of prospects, something like this... Lilly, Suppan, Penny, Zito, Meche, Jennings and Marquis dead last. Am I forgetting anybody?

My guess is LA would love to get their hands on a guy like Izturis. And if they did get their hands on him, they'd certainly hold on to him for the long haul, because he'd be so important to them.

So when do we find out what you chose? (I'd pick Wii btw, just because form the people I've talked to the 360's improvemenets over the original X-box aren't really that noticeable... and Zelda, like everybody else is saying.)

What great starter are you talking about? They weren't going to get Schmidt, he wanted to stay on the West Coast. Just because the Cubs want a guy doesn't mean they are destined to get him. Also, just as many "experts" are picking Lilly to be a better deal than Zito for the course of a deal... this is a weak class, and I think Hendry's doing as good as he can, although losing out on Lugo hurt.

What lack of professionalism? Has this been big news? Did JJ go public and bash the team? No, he quietly went to Hendry and requested a trade. Pretty much the same as he quietly went about his business and had a good year for us last year despite the majority of the fans acting like idiots and booing him in April.

I like that logic. Lilly is a decent to slightly above average starter and would definitely help the team. Signing him now is a good thing, as it would eliminate one more concern and allow the team to focus on other areas (Lugo, bench help, one more starter...).

I was reading where Keith Law picked Ted Lilly as one of the best pitchers on the market. Basically saying that you'd get close to Zito value for a lot less money. Personally, he's been my top choice all along for starting pitchers, and signing him wouldn't affect a trade for Westbrook. I think Hendry (as much as he's hurt the team in the past) is improving the team for next season. If the team gets sold, then the new owners will have to adjust to all these contracts and we'll get new leadership. If not, I have no problem with Hendry going out and spending money to get players that will help out for next year.

Dunno, but I would do Murton for Westbrook straight up, especially if we ink Soriano and Drew as rumored. Only if Westbrook was locked up longterm. Even then, I'm not sure. It's probably fair, but I'm just really bias toward Murton. He's my fav. player. Besides, I don't think the Indians really want/need an outfielder. We really need to trade from our strength, which is bullpen pitching and even young arms. Yeah I am also not a big fan of trading Murton. I understand that you have to trade value for value but if Carlos Lee is gonna get atleast 5/70 then I dont' see how you would trade someone who put up better numbers than him for just an average starter. Especially when this players will only be making like 500k. It just makes no sense to me. Matt Murton .297 .365 .444 13 HR 62 RBI OPS-.809 Carlos Lee .300 .355 .540 37 HR 116RBI OPS-.895 Not sure that I'd call Matt Murton better than Carlos Lee.

You could be on to something. I don't know... I get the feeling she doesn't do a lot of reading when it comes to baseball. Personally, I don't have a problem with her saying Neifi's (few) finer points, I just think she should have backed up her statement or just admitted it to be a bit, oh, preposterous.

Hey, I sent a letter to Muskat last week, and she wrote back which was nice. I was surprised to see she printed it in the mailbag though. Anyways, I'm Brent E. from Bloomington. When she wrote back I was showing it to some buddies that thought she really avoided the question of how Neifi saved the Cubs. Yeah, had to cash in on my 5 seconds of fame.