Fred, do you have the P/PA numbers handy from 2008? I'm particularly curious about Fukudome, Soriano, Lee and Soto. I'm not sure where to find those numbers (other than asking you, of course).
i'm far more annoyed with the half-inning interviews. i was driving during her half-inning with Pat and Ron and it was agonizing to listen to (until Theriot hit a GS).
what about getting him up and starting him tomorrow and pushing everyone else back one day? just throwing ideas out. i'm not sure what's preferable. they may not want to throw the other starters off of their regular routines.
I haven't seen anything concrete so I just went with the current scheduled starter. Just speculation that it'd be Ascanio or Wells. Wells obviously lines up better with Z's spot in the rotation. Yeah, I wasn't trying to question your reasoning for putting him there, just curious. I wonder if a decision will be made on Zambrano before Iowa's game. If the Cubs are still unsure I'd imagine they hold Wells back until they know what they're going to do.
i look forward to BB explaining away the offensive struggles with the old "It's a big advantage for the pitcher if they've never faced each other" routine. really though...win please.
Soto obviously made a pretty huge leap in 2007 (in both AAA and the majors), but I don't think you can call two full seasons of fantastic production a fluke. It may not be reasonable to expect Soto to do what he did the last two years, but I'm not worried he's going to OPS .417 all season either.
Yeah, an AL team desperate for a DH (due to injuries or whatever) might have some interest. I'd guess his greatest worth would be with the Cubs as a PH while he's hot like this.
hahaha...we're already praying for a backdoor into the playoffs? 10-10. Went .500 for a month last year (12-12 in September) and somehow still managed 97 wins. I'm not saying they're surely a 95+ win team, but they don't need divine intervention to win the division. 90 win team at best?