Tarver

I guess this paves the way for Jeremy Pappelbon. RHP? when Campusano was in Peoria in 2005 and 2006 he threw (rather well) with his left hand. If he switched to his right, maybe that was why he was released... Maybe his left elbow never really recovered from TJS so he decided to try to make it as a right-hander. Or maybe Carrie Muskat doesn't know what she's talking about. I'll go with the latter. That's almost always a safe assumption.

Personally I'm inclined to agree that it's a wash. But I'm not above citing the numbers just to stop the stupid argument dead in its tracks. No [expletive]. Arguing about guys that may have had some value when turf was the norm. The '85 Cardinals couldn't compete nowadays, kids. The [expletive] Astros don't even play on turf, and they invented it.

Mike Scioscia and Baker have pretty much identical philosphies about offense.

"Sadberg" that's just too much

sadly, no. for some strange and inunderstandable reason, tennessee is considered the reds market. who knew? oh, yeah, try living here in louisville. this is NOT a reds town, despite the bats being the AAA affiliate. i know of more cubs, sox (both), and (explitive deleted) cardinal fans here than reds fans and yet we are stuck with reds broadcasts over the cubs games. and yes that is important. do any one of you want to listen to 9 innings of jeff brantley and thom brennamen female doging about the cubs and/or cubs fans 3 game straight? its bad enough that if i ever wanted to catch the game on radio, bitter old marty brennamen comes out the speakers. thankfully when the games are on wgn, they aren't blacked out here (strangely enough). it's only when the games are on espn or tbs when i really don't have much of a choice. Memphis is considered a: Reds market Cardinals market Astros market So I get those games blacked out any time the Cubs play them. It is maddening. How in the hell is Memphis considered a Reds or Astros market? That's probably the biggest Cardinals town outside of StL. But the whole thing is absurd, period. Let fans follow who they want. Be happy that they're watching MLB instead of the innumerable other options available.

and the Indians don't? My gripe isn't about the Indians, it's how much the Twins (and to a lesser extent, Chicago) are being discounted. That division is up for grabs. TT explained that their methodology has difficulty in projecting younger players contributions, which would explain why Detroit is so grossly overrated.

Is there any doubt '06 goes down as the worst year of FA contracts ever? Zito Schmidt Pierre Matthews Lugo Roberts Soriano-TBD Somehow Sabean and Coletti have managed to keep their jobs.

This has to almost be it for him. Hard to imagine him ever getting a call up to Washington, and no one else has shown interest. Too bad, but while he was certainly rushed, he never displayed any willingness to abandon/alter that terrible swing.

http://www.replacementlevel.com/stuff/sg/DMBProjections/2009/cairo/ALCentralPie.jpg Tango Tiger is either living up to his namesake or he has a lot of family building Fords. Detroit's pitching staff has WAY too many question marks to warrant that kind of projection. I'm not that sold on the Yankees, either.

Not that I disagree, but we're not exactly in a position where we have anyone who can fill the void in house starting with the 2010 season. It's probably a good year and a half before Josh Vitters will be ready if he's still with the organization. Big time free agent first baseman are rare. Next year there's Adam LaRoche and Nick Johnson. In 2011 there's Carlos Pena and Adam Dunn. None of those guys are really any better than Derrek Lee, by then they may be, but none of them are great. Adrian Gonzalez can be an FA after 2011, but I can promise you he never goes on the market, he'll be snapped up in a trade before then and signed long term by someone. Really the Cubs' best bet to replace Derrek Lee after next season is do stop gaps until Vitters is ready or make a trade. If the first method is the desired course of action and Derrek Lee's productivity slips (to the point where not a lot of teams would want him), then he's not going to be a bad guy to extend for a season or two until Vitters is fully ready to take over. If the Cubs sour on Vitters or he doesn't pan out or he's traded then the Cubs are probably going to have to make a move, unfortunately our system sucks and shows very little signs of improvement so we're going to be at a disadvantage to Boston or whoever is in the market for the same bats in 2011. You're not taking into consideration opportunity cost. Is 1b the only position that can be upgraded? $26 million is going to go a long way the next couple of offseasons.

That definitely qualifies. You mean getting rid of a mop up guy, a guy who will never make the Cubs aside from September call ups, and a PTBNL type of pitcher for a guy whose looked great in ST and a solid back up infielder who can play multiple positions? The base of the deal would be Gaudin for Baker, which doesnt sound bad at all to me. Exactly. Colorado would laugh then hang up.

That definitely qualifies.

He may have needed to pick him up, but there was no reason he needed to compound it by throwing away $33 million.

That sounds reeeeaal promising. Quite a fall from grace, but gimmicky pitchers like him never last. Why the hell did Dombroski give him that huge contract?

Surfing the internet is "work friendly"? Sure it is. Taking time out to surf the net every now and then helps people relax, therefore making them more productive during the rest of the day. Reasonable, but good luck selling it to your boss.

Juan Pierre might have a little value if he could play SS adequately. And I mean just might.

Busch III was funded almost completely with private money. DeWitt is paying close to $17 million every year in debt service alone. While he can be cheap, this is not entirely his fault. Had Centene not backed out, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But the condos were always a bad idea. They can't give away the ones down there already.

There's absolutely no way that's going to happen.

So Detroit should retire Smoltz's number? No, they should retire Glavine's. Snark aside, you don't see the difference between Maddux's Cub career and Smoltz's Tiger career? Or their careers as a whole? Of course it's two completely different circumstances, but the bolded part of his post is ridiculous.

So Detroit should retire Smoltz's number?

Their plan was too ambitious, but this isn't entirely the Cardinal's fault. A majer corporate partner backed out, and downtown StL is absolutely flooded with condos no one wants and will take years to sell existing stock. There simply isn't any market for more living space, and probably won't be for quite awhile.

I think it's rather ridiculous to dismiss the inordinately heavy workload and mistreatment of Prior simply because the evidence isn't conclusive. At his age, the amount of high pitch count games, back to back, and going back in after a shoulder injury, was bound to contribute to injury. It's not just three random games. It was something like a 20-game stretch of just ridiculous treatment. Ask yourself this: Why is a 120 pitch count a high pitch count? Ask yourself this: what's your personal projection Meph? How many innings do you think he can throw, just this year?

At least Fontenot has some upside. With Miles, what you see is what you get, and it's likely to be jack [expletive].

You don't give pitchers in their 30s who have an injury history and are already locked up for two years a big extension. And Young was, again, already under contract and clearly in decline. As Daniels is one of the worst GMs (probably the worst) that contract isn't too shocking.

The old rest n' rehab. Will these guys never learn?