webjim25

Get a couple guys out there like Wainwight and Carpenter and they probably will.

Probably not. Ankiel and Lugo will quickly be replaced by Schumaker and Rasmus.

Speaking of the Cardinals and problems, the Cardinals are about a cat's hair away from trading Gerald Wallance and an Jason Motte for Matt Holliday. And they will not re-sign Holliday. How's that for having problems.

Less than 50/50? Guess thats a matter of perception. All of the Cubs have to do is go 43-31 while the Cards go 37-33. Ramirez and Harden are back. Glaus is still out and Thurston, Ankiel and Ducan are still in. The scenario is certainly possible, probably a little more than 50%.

Before I left for deployment, Five Guys was my choice for "last meal" with my wife. (we had better, "proper" last meals the entire week, I just wanted the last one to be 5 guys.) It was my second time ever eating there - her first. She couldnt believe it. We must had that look on our face that the workers must know so well because the guy asked us "is this yall first time eating here?" We both said yes..even though Id had it once before. He told us "yall about to be in for a suprise! I hope yall dont burn yall wrists off." I didnt know what the hell that meant. My wife got the bag from him, then I remembered. The wife was shocked that she had to push her hand through about 8 inches of fries to get to the burgers. She burned the [expletive] out of her wrist and forearm. She got the "small" size burger and was amazed. She wanted another one so bad but talked hersefl out of it. Who's been to both 5 Guys and In&Outs and can tell me which is better?

Every choice on this pole is not only a chain, but a major chain. Zero's is the only choice I expect wouldnt be to popular among people in the mid west. I see where I messed up. I assumed that all Cubs fans where in Chicago. How one could have the Dodgers and Angels and be a Cubs fan is beyond me. A little Cub/Card friendly humor there. :P I see that many of you live out west?? I wouldnt have expected that, and that is why these places are unknown to you.

What's your favorite Sub? For me, its Charlie's Steak and Cheese Sub with lettuce, pickle, extra onions and south west sauce. =P~

well wait, you can't say that dempster and a bunch of cub positioned players overproduced last year and can be expected to fall back, but assume that ludwick, skippy, the various third basemen (last year mostly glaus), wellemeyer, lohse and various bullpen pitchers will all be just as good. Truffle, this is what I mean. Skippy wasnt even that good last year. He was barely league average. In 07 he was better. Im not execting Skip to be Barry Bonds, just slightly above average like he was the last 2 seasons. The 'various' 3Bmen will be replaced by Glause, who is the model of consistency. 120 OPS+ the last 5 seasons. When he is back, I see no reason not to expect that from him. What Barden and Thurston are doing right now is a fluke, but Glaus is a blue print. Between Loshe and Wellemyer, I dont see what the big deal is. Last year they were both like 113 ERA+. That is hardly earth shattering. Dave Duncan has been making scrap heap pitchers servicable his entire career. It isnt that pitched like...i dont know, Ryan Dempster or something outrageous like that. The bullpen has to be better. I did not say great, I said better. Why do they have to be better? Because they were the worst in the league. They are going to be better on default alone. The bullpen can be worse. This "they have to be better" thing is garbage. Ranking wise they were last, but there is room for statistical regression. And guys like Pineiro, Wellemeyer (120 IP over his previous career high) and Lohse (his most IP since 2003) are important because they ate innings. A lot of them. You have a young, shaky pen. If those guys don't eat a lot again, it will put a lot of pressure and workload on that pen. It is very easy to envision a realistic scenario in which things get truly ugly. And don't forget Looper's 199 innings has to be accounted for, and Wainwright and Carpenter won't do it on their own. OK you make a legit point. Me and the wifey are going out to see Wolverine. You and I will finish this next week, and throughout the season.

XZero77, Man...come on. Add in Dempter and thats a whooooole lot of Cubs players contributing substantial production to that 08 success. so, Dempster, Soto, ....Fontenot(?), and _____ will all regress while Ludwick, Shumaker, Greene, and Ankiel will all get better. Right. This isn't even about getting better. Ludwick, Ankiel and Schumaker all had "career" years, one of whom is a converted pitcher, and another just blew up out of MiL obscurity. Any reasonable person would question whether or not these guys will even repeat their performances. In 07, Schumaker OPS'd better than he did in 08. Ankiel;s 08 season was identical to is 07 season. You have a case for Ludwick and only Ludwick.

well wait, you can't say that dempster and a bunch of cub positioned players overproduced last year and can be expected to fall back, but assume that ludwick, skippy, the various third basemen (last year mostly glaus), wellemeyer, lohse and various bullpen pitchers will all be just as good. Truffle, this is what I mean. Skippy wasnt even that good last year. He was barely league average. In 07 he was better. Im not execting Skip to be Barry Bonds, just slightly above average like he was the last 2 seasons. The 'various' 3Bmen will be replaced by Glause, who is the model of consistency. 120 OPS+ the last 5 seasons. When he is back, I see no reason not to expect that from him. What Barden and Thurston are doing right now is a fluke, but Glaus is a blue print. Between Loshe and Wellemyer, I dont see what the big deal is. Last year they were both like 113 ERA+. That is hardly earth shattering. Dave Duncan has been making scrap heap pitchers servicable his entire career. It isnt that pitched like...i dont know, Ryan Dempster or something outrageous like that. The bullpen has to be better. I did not say great, I said better. Why do they have to be better? Because they were the worst in the league. They are going to be better on default alone.

Reyes now pitches for Cleveland. All indications suggests that Motte will turn into a very reliable bullpen arm.

XZero77, Man...come on. Add in Dempter and thats a whooooole lot of Cubs players contributing substantial production to that 08 success.

Really? So its no problem that the production of Edmonds will not be dublicated and that Hoffpair and Theriot both hit just as well as Ludwick? And Dempster pitched like Pedro in his prime? Fellas dont get me wrong. I am not a blind idiotic Cards fan. However I am very confused. As biased as any fan can be, when I look at it objectively I really dont see how anyone would think the 09 Cards are not 4 games improved but the 09 Cubs are equal. Id bet anyone just about anything they want to bet that the Cards improve 4 games and th Cubs regressed 4 games. I honestly dont see how thats not glaringly obvious. For what its worth, that still makes you NL Central champs.

1. The overall pitching in the division is down substantially. Schumaker would have to have 0 improvment with the diluted pitching. Even if he does, the cards stay the same rather than regress. 2. The first time in history that has happened. Likely the execption rather than the norm. Even if he regresses to 120 OPS+, thats a difference in less than 2 wins. 3. The same can be said for about 4 Cub players from last year. 4. Right.Because Duncan hardly ever has below average pitchers pitch 10 ERA+ points above league average. If Carpenter pitches half a season and Wellemeyer regresses, the overall starting pitching remains the same at least. 5. Any team 'can' do anything when the play goes from on paper to the field.

so it would remain the same, not obtaing more losses than last year. so after these few amount of games, the poor overall D they have shown is the "truth" but everything else about them is going to "go back to 'normal"? Is 25 games a real indicator or not? If they come down to earth, like I expect them to, that would put them on the same pace as last year with reguard to offense. Schumaker and Greene will produce more O than Miles and Isturitiz, so when everything regresses back to 'normal' they are still improved from last year. That alone would likely equal 3 more wins.

OK. So you expect the cards to get a relative full year from Carpenter, blow at a minimum 5 less saves (it'll be hard not to), play in a division that has overall regressed substantially, but win the same amount of games. OK. Cool.

A front 3 of Wainright, Carpenter and Loshe may not be tops in the league, but it will be better than average. hypothetically, of course. As hypothetical as 90% of the discussions we have on sites like this, of course. I dont get it. The Cardinals were 4 games out of a playoff spot last year while leading baseball in blown saves, having Aaron Miles, Itzturis and Adam Kennedy as every day players, getting 15 innings from Carpenter but 200 innings from Braden Looper. All this while playing in perhaps the strongest division in baseball. If the Cards improved even a little bit on all of that and the Brewers, Astros and Cubs regress just a little bit, I dont know why anyone wouldnt expect St. Louis to compete. Well from last year you have already lost Glaus. by you I mean the Cardinals and replace him with two career minor leaguers who are out producing him. But, that would be one area where you would regress. I would also assume that most people, Cardinal fans included, expected guys like Ludwick and Ankiel to regress. Hence why you saw a ton of trade these guys posts on most Cardinal message boards this off season. I still don't think they can keep this up. I have a question for you, speaking of regressions. Do you expect guys like Fukadome(sp?) Bradley, Dempster and Fonteno(sp?) to refress?

A front 3 of Wainright, Carpenter and Loshe may not be tops in the league, but it will be better than average. hypothetically, of course. As hypothetical as 90% of the discussions we have on sites like this, of course. I dont get it. The Cardinals were 4 games out of a playoff spot last year while leading baseball in blown saves, having Aaron Miles, Itzturis and Adam Kennedy as every day players, getting 15 innings from Carpenter but 200 innings from Braden Looper. All this while playing in perhaps the strongest division in baseball. If the Cards improved even a little bit on all of that and the Brewers, Astros and Cubs regress just a little bit, I dont know why anyone wouldnt expect St. Louis to compete. Well from last year you have already lost Glaus. by you I mean the Cardinals and replace him with two career minor leaguers who are out producing him. But, that would be one area where you would regress. I would also assume that most people, Cardinal fans included, expected guys like Ludwick and Ankiel to regress. Hence why you saw a ton of trade these guys posts on most Cardinal message boards this off season. I still don't think they can keep this up. I do not expect Ankiel to regress. He OPS'd 119 in 08 and 120 in 07. Regress to what? 110? 120 isnt exactly setting the world on fire, especially for someone who's always shown above average power. I expect Rick to hit above average. Gluas is down right now but he will be back. And when he returns I expect him to hit on line with his career averages. That would be a regression from what Barden and Thurston are doing, but it would be inline with what the Cards got out of 3B last year. Even after reading your post 4 times, I still dont understand what you expect from the 09 Cardinals. Do you expect them to be worse than last year??? I just dont get it.

I honestly dont think you would be worried about DeRosa if DLee, Bradley and Aram were healthy and/or doing what they were supposed to do. Your offense will even out, and you wont miss DeRosa.

A front 3 of Wainright, Carpenter and Loshe may not be tops in the league, but it will be better than average. hypothetically, of course. As hypothetical as 90% of the discussions we have on sites like this, of course. I dont get it. The Cardinals were 4 games out of a playoff spot last year while leading baseball in blown saves, having Aaron Miles, Itzturis and Adam Kennedy as every day players, getting 15 innings from Carpenter but 200 innings from Braden Looper. All this while playing in perhaps the strongest division in baseball. If the Cards improved even a little bit on all of that and the Brewers, Astros and Cubs regress just a little bit, I dont know why anyone wouldnt expect St. Louis to compete.

A front 3 of Wainright, Carpenter and Loshe may not be tops in the league, but it will be better than average.

Rasmus is going to work out fine in the majors. I think Meph was just pointing out how ironic it was that the Cards got good hitting from just about everyone out of the gate, (while the Cubs didnt) and its good to see the rookie actually playing like a rookie and not an allstar. (yet)

of the douche variety LMAO! That was pretty witty. :-))

LOL. A little bit depressing, but thanks for the effort to create one. :good:

LMAO! good one. How about some other commercials?