Northside Blues

You mean the "Jim Hendry Special"? The same. There has to be another player out there whose on a similarly bad contract, but an all around inferior player that we can trade him for. Yeah but the Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva swap has certainly been a good move.

Yeah. It had to be a game I was at, too. I'm happy with where Soto's at right now. Lol, you are ok with him being the best offensive catcher in baseball? That's good to know. I hear that that Joe Mauer guy still plays. I might be mistaken.

my focus this year has turned to castro winning the batting title as the youngest player in the league....that would have to be a first. he's currently fifth in the league trailing carlos gonzalez by 12 points.wouldnt it be great if castro ruined an albert pujols triple crown? it would make this season somewhat of a success.

Well, it's nice to now that OBP and OPS are now thrown under basic stats these days. Joe Morgan would not approve.

hes probably as good as byrd next year, byrd's going to regress a bit

Apparently people do http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/rank?versionId=2&listId=533#topOfList While placing Griffey ahead of Bonds is inexcusable, that's one thing...but really Tony Gwynn?

Sheff was never really that close. Some sorta close ones. 2009: Albert Pujols: 1st in HR, 3rd in RBI and BA 2005: Albert Pujols: 2nd in HR, RBI and BA 1998: Albert Belle: 2nd in HR and RBI, 3rd in BA 1997: Larry Walker: 1st in HR, 2nd in BA and 3rd in RBI 1995: Albert Belle: 1st in HR and RBI, 8th in BA some 40 points back. 1994: Jeff Bagwell: 1st in RBI, 2nd in HR and BA 1993: Barry Bonds: 1st in RBI and HRs, 4th in BA

That's not entirely accurate. He's been on some bad teams, no doubt. However in his time with the Reds they were in the top half in runs, leading runs one year. Really the reason that he doesn't have a high RBI total is because he doesn't mind taking walks. If you take a lot of walks it's going to hurt your RBI total, since you're walking some instead of driving in runs (and making outs in the process). It's the anti-Andre Dawson effect. Similarly, if you don't walk a lot you're going to have inflated RBI totals. His run total isn't very low, all things considered. He's actually fairly good there, but he has lost a bit because he's not the best base runner in the world (he isn't terrible either). Either way for a hitter who has spent the majority of his career in the four or five hole, he's got very good run totals.

I can't be the only one who has noticed that the Kosuke Fukudome who flailed at outside pitches routinely in 08 and 09 hasn't shown up even when he's looked real bad. Who knows maybe next year will be the year he finally puts it all together. Probably not, but maybe.

I don't think Dunn's skill set is valued enough by anyone to get a five year deal. He's probably going to get a long hard look at a 3 year deal, maybe a four year deal. Either way he should be relatively fine the first three years after this, he might start to slide in the fourth (or a potential fifth) but if you're signing him to a four year deal, that's just a price you have to pay (in addition to his salary) for his production in years one through three. Part of the Adam Dunn allure here is that he's the Anti-Cub. For years the lack of walks by the team and several managers and GM's not appreciating them has become the Cub m.o. Years of this has driven this board to appreciate it and single out Adam Dunn as the opposite of that, hence the falling in love. Not to mention we became relatively close to acquiring him before (rumored deal was nixed on a Rich Hill for Dunn swap iirc). While the appeal for him here may overrate him to a certain extent. You're painting a picture that's way to bleak. He's not a great player overall but he certainly is a difference maker on the offensive side of the ball. He's been .300 TAV hitter his entire career, half the time being in the .310 range. For comparison, Alex Rodriguez's career TAV is .310 or so. He's a top ten or so hitter in the National League. Sure he has slipped a bit walks wise this year, but he's hitting for more power and it has balanced out to give him another .310 TAV year. You can look at whatever statistic you want, but Adam Dunn is without a doubt one of the top 20 or so offensive players in baseball. He, however, is a brick in the field and that takes away some of his offensive value. There's no reason to suggest that he will decline abruptly, he will probably plateau at this level for two or three more years.

Unfortunately having three or four guys best profiled in CF for our OF killed his trade value.

sure it'd be expensive, but i'd love to have put a claim on carlos beltran. 2011 is the last year on his deal, I believe.

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise for the Nationals. Strasburg has the same inverted "W" arm action that has plagued Mark Prior and countless other pitchers, often leading to labrum issues down the road. Perhaps the 12 months of no pitching on his arm will allow his labrum to recuperate any small tears prolonging an eventual disaster that happened to Prior. If anything it would delay the inevitable by at least a season or two which is good for the Nationals because it makes it more likely they will be out of rebuilding mode and key pieces such as Bryce Harper will be able to play with Strasburg at least another season or so giving the Nationals a more likely chance to break through from mediocrity. Of course it's never a good thing to see someone with his talent hurt, but this is perhaps a silver lining in the bad news. If only there existed National fans to console. They're like mirages, I hear.

The Astros are notorious for bringing up guys in the bullpen first. Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller did. There is nothing wrong with lettong him get his feet wet in relief. It won't stunt his growth any. Now if they do it the entire season that is another issue altogether. Letting him pitch in the pen for a couple months and then moving into the rotation or back to Iowa to work on things is probably a good thing.

This is depressing. We should be about 21-17 right now. That's how well we've played. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/standings.php

In 3 weeks he has pitched 6 innings. He has pitched in a save or hold situation once. He has come in more blowouts than close games. I know you all agree with me and I'm beating a dead horse.

What a stupid move.

In 2007 Brett Myers was he Phillies Opening Day starter and was moved to the bullpen after 3 starts. Two years later .... Atleast Z got to 4.

Holy Garland for Karchner Batman! Many people still vIew Cashner as a RP prospect. It is vey unlikely for him to make it as a starter. He gets gassed and his poor command will hurt him. If you work under the assumption that Cashner at the end of the day is a RP then what are the chances that he ever passes Soria's level? Nilch. What are the chances he reaches it, pretty small. Soria would be his upside. So we would essentially be guaranteeing his upside and we would have it for three years. Soria won't e a free agent until after 2012, I don't think. It is a very good move for us if you don't like Cashners likelihood of becoming a decent SP.

Speaking of KC, I wonder if we could dangle Cashner for Soria.

The guy was a serviceable mrp before moving into the rotation. He can't possibly be worse than Samardzija. This would be a good idea as long as he his workouts went fine.

Ryan Dempster?

A real thing to be optimistic about would be that we could be the Houston Astros instead. They have scored 13 runs in 6 games this year. The Diamondbacks scored 13 runs in the fourth inning yesterday. Of course they will probably score 13 against our bullpen this weekend.

And they both suck but which bullpen is worse: ours or the KC Royals. I am beginnig to believe that our bullpen is google to be bad enough to single handedly ensure we don't win half our games.

Hmm something tells menthat the Indians would be entertaining offers for Grady Sizemore in July.