wade

I've been thinking that the Tigers would be a good match for Walker. Detroit acts like they want another left handed bat, not necessarily a starter. Walker would be a good pinch hitter or DH for them for not too high a price.

Is this dissention among the ranks? :D

If Dunn really tried to kill Miller, Miller would be dead.

That's a great point!

TOYS IN THE ATTIC, PEOPLE.

Never heard of White Stripes in my life.

What if the Cubs could offer a little more in the way of talent and get the Phillies to eat some salary? It's not the way things are usually done, I don't think, for a failing team like the Cubs to trade now and build for next year, but it could give them a head start on 2007 and good leverage at the negotiating table. I.E., they don't have to trade to stay in a race, other teams might shy away from the contract, etc.

Guilty pleasure, here. Bon Jovi is one of my favorites.

My son learned the "Let's go Cubbies" chant at Great American Ballpark! It sucks when fans from the other team cheer for their team at your own place, but it goes both ways. We (Cub fans) do it all the time. I just wish this year we could be doing it more than we are currently. :evil:

Do the Cubs play today? Rational, I have a question- who do you cheer for in the N.L. Central? My point is, how can any White Sox fan act incredulous when Cub fans cheer for someone other than the Sox in the A.L. Central? I mean, you do know Cubs fans and Sox fans generally dislike the other team, right? The Cubs play the Brewers, by the way. Who you pullin' for? :D

Doubt it. Wood is due for $13.5 million if they pick up his option. Obviously thats not going to happen. So the next best thing would be to buyout his deal for $3 million and then sign him to a reduced deal...probably $3 million more, meaning we'd be paying him $3 million to play catch in Mesa next season. No thank you and if Hendry does this, I am going to beat him down with a boot. I was thinking more like a million dollar base. Like you say, the Cubs are already out 3 mil on his buyout. Hendry takes million dollar flyers all the time on other guys, why would he not on Wood, who came up in the system? Now, if other teams offer more then the Cubs should let him go. I just wonder who would offer him a lot of money for that kind of risk.

It's probably a little early for this type of prediction, but I think this makes Wood a lock for the Cubs next year. Hendry has no problem taking a flyer on injured pitchers. Does anyone doubt he'll give Wood a one year, incentive-laden deal? At this point, who else would gamble on him? It'll be an interesting (and hopefully healthy) off-season for Kerry Wood.

That's the weed, dude. :D

I've always thought Prior exuded maturity/ mental toughness. But, this is an interesting question you pose. He's been heralded as Roy Hobbes without the gunshot wound since he was drafted. He had some outstanding games fairly early in his career (I think there was a 16 strikeout game in 2003) with a great all around year that helped lead an historically bad team deep into the playoffs. Maybe those high expectations paired with some crazy, some frustrating injuries have him a little shell shocked. Maybe he looks at the Bartman game as him unraveling a little under the poor circumstances. Maybe his shoulder problems have him still a little afraid to air it out. Who knows. It's a good question, I think, and all this is off the top of my head. He's still pretty young and maybe he's forward-thinking enough that he knows he has ace stuff and he wonders if there's a mental roadblock.

Good thing we've taken this oft-injured kid who's finally healthy and slowly, but steadily built up his stamina so he can pitch 200 innings in a year or two. /sarcasm off

I think it implies that the number two batters of late are not really threats to get on base. It is an anal pun. HA! It took me a second to catch that one. :lol: :lol:

I think it implies that the number two batters of late are not really threats to get on base.

I guess you just didn't look at the numbers. His "clutch" stats aren't routinely better than his regular stats. Sometimes they are a little better, sometimes a little worse, and in the case of this year, his close and late are much worse. He's the same hitter virtually all the time. And that's a very good hitter. So, when you give a very good hitter lots of opportunities to have a bit clutch hits, which is what a great team with great team OBP will give a guy, you will have numerous instances where he'll come through. You'll also have a lot of times when he'll fail, just like every ballplayer has lots of times when they fail. ESPN showed a stat consisting of the most "walk-off" hits since 2003 this morning. Guess who the other leaders are? Pujols and Miggy. Wierd. Good hitters knock in runs when there is no where to put them. This is shocking. But, as Abuck pointed out, Alex Gonzalez was on that list, no? You're point is valid though, as he was the only poor hitter in the group. No, he wasn't. Also, abuck didn't point anything like that out. He said that he would imagine A Gonz was high but he hadn't yet looked at the stats. What ESPN showed this morning said Papi had 10 "walk off hits" Pujols 9, and Miggy 8. There were more than three guys on the list I saw, and Gonzalez had 7, I believe. EDIT- The only thing I could find had him listed at 8 career extra inning homers and 5 "walk-off" homers. I still think he was 5th or 6th guy on the list, maybe for the most in the past so many years, or something.

I guess you just didn't look at the numbers. His "clutch" stats aren't routinely better than his regular stats. Sometimes they are a little better, sometimes a little worse, and in the case of this year, his close and late are much worse. He's the same hitter virtually all the time. And that's a very good hitter. So, when you give a very good hitter lots of opportunities to have a bit clutch hits, which is what a great team with great team OBP will give a guy, you will have numerous instances where he'll come through. You'll also have a lot of times when he'll fail, just like every ballplayer has lots of times when they fail. ESPN showed a stat consisting of the most "walk-off" hits since 2003 this morning. Guess who the other leaders are? Pujols and Miggy. Wierd. Good hitters knock in runs when there is no where to put them. This is shocking. But, as Abuck pointed out, Alex Gonzalez was on that list, no? You're point is valid though, as he was the only poor hitter in the group.

Ortiz 2006 Overall .264 .374 .551 Runners on .298 .388 .583 RISP .279 .398 .523 Close and late .231 .286 .667 2003-2005 Overall .297 .383 .600 Runners on .309 .409 .575 RISP .328 .425 .555 Close and late .326 .408 .724 When you are a really good player, and you player for a really good team that is really popular and really emphasizes OBP, you are going to have a lot of chances to have meaningful hits. All it takes is a handful of walk offs or other heroics to give you the label (just as Jim Leyritz), and the more chances you get more likely you'll cash in on a few. As long as your failures don't stick out too much, and your team enjoys success, they will forget those and concentrate on the big ones. This explains why Jeter is excused for coming up short so often and considered clutch, even though his postseason numbers mirror his regular seasons and he has come up short repeatedly in recent postseasons. Has anyone ever pulled his close and late numbers at home vs on the road? While I a completely on the side of the argument that believes there isn't anything out there right now that can show that certain hitters are consistently clutch, it just seems like a lot of his walkoff hits and HRs have been at Fenway. Well...he can't hit a walkoff HR or hit unless he's at home. :wink:

Tigers are my second team. They were my first as a kid.

What do I win?!?! Now, whenever people say "great minds think alike", you'll know exactly what they are talking about. :D

Jones has been the Cubs best hitter during the past two months. Right now, based upon his stats and his salary, he is a relative bargain. Also, he is just entering his prime, so I believe (though many disagree with me) that he can keep this up. Right now he is on pace for a .290 average with 30 hrs. That's pretty darn solid for $5 mil. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=4085 I'll have to disagree your your statement that he's entering his prime. He is having a good year so far, but he is 31. His best seasons were 3 and 4 years ago, when most players do reach their prime, at ages 27-28. He's been downhill since, and I'm just afraid he's having a hot few months. He may prove me wrong, but I don't think he'll produce like he is now for the next 2 1/2 years remaining on his contract. If the Cubs can get anything for him, they should do it. EDIT - beaten by one post.

You've heard of WHIP. That's RIP. Run per Inning Pitched. Rusch is almost up to 1.00!

Probably Prior on Sunday. i'm just going by what Len and Bob said last night, as they said the decision on Prior wouldn't be made until after his side session on Friday The paper said his side session is Thursday, and they would make the decision on Friday, but that barring any setbacks, that he would pitch on Sunday. We'll just have to both say we're right. :) Will Carrol wrote about Prior's start in New Orleans and thinks Prior may pitch one more time in the minors before coming up.