don_kessinger_was_good

or they can just not suit up Petrick They might be able to do that tonight, but that would be it I think. I believe a minor league callup must report and be on the roster within 24 hours, but I could be wrong. Whatever the time limit, if he hasn't been rostered by that time, I believe the rule is that he becomes a minor league free agent. In other words, you don't call up a minor leaguer unless you intend to suit him up.

If no deal on Jones, but Petrick is already at the ballpark (has been confirmed), then the Cubs will need to DL Dempster before the game begins.

That's it? :shock: That's awesome if true. Cubs are also sending the Marlins a PTBNL, but that's per the Palm Beach Post. The circumstances were more than a little fishy given past hoaxes on this site, but at this point it looks like I owe you an apology redsfan for being too rash. Good job.

agreed Seriously. I've given seminars before at Ole Miss and Alabama, and my god--the coeds at these schools are not for the feint of heart. It's like a Hooters cattle call, nothing like midwestern schools. I was at Alabama on a warm spring day in April, and well....they dress rather suggestive nowadays, don't they? Whew! I think I saw more belly rings in one day than I have my entire life.

As a person that expects others to take your claims of having knowledge about KC at face value, I'd expect a bit more suspension of disbelief on your part. I heard baseball talk from Royals people that indicated they were gung-ho on getting a bat, instead of an arm, when all the mock drafts and pundits were shouting Porcello or others. I was told Wieters and late in the game, they were looking at Moustakas, and posted the same. Sorry if you find this uncredible. I also don't believe I started any threads professing my great "inside dope." I was very interested in KC's choices because of the impact it would have on the Cubs' pick.

Pssst...........my sources tell me the Cubs are about to sign Jason Schmidt for 3 years, $44MM. You heard it here first. I have the inside dope.

I have 15,000 posts on the Reds board, is that good enough for you? Wow, that's....impressive?

I'm sorry, but I called BS as soon as I saw the poster had 60 lifetime posts and the stated rationale was that he/she "knew people." Puh-leez.

I'm not making it up. No link yet, but it's true. And where did you hear it? I know people who work for the Marlins. :roll:

I'm not making it up. No link yet, but it's true. Um.......where have we seen this movie before?

Wade Miller is a waste of a 40-man spot. There is no reason the Cubs can't move him to the 60-day DL (or just release him), freeing up a roster spot for either Piggy or Prinz. I too do hope Piggy gets the call, he's earned it. A real trooper, Carmen has slogged his way all the way up through the Cubs system, from rookie ball to Iowa. And done just fine at each stop. Give the guy his cup of coffee, if nothing else.

Ken Rosenthal is a parrot, he has become Peter Gammons, Part II. He throws out a zillion items every week, well, a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile, too. It doesn't mean Rosenthal has any particularly keen insights to share. Shoot, Crazy Rumor Guy has just as much material, to be honest. All of these folks simply relate stories they've found in local newspapers, online e-zines, etc...If you take it for entertainment and discussion purposes, it's fine, but it doesn't mean it's fact.

4 to 1 odds sounds about right to me, too. The Cubs record should be better than it is, the bullpen alone (Howry, Eyre, Ohman, one big blowup from Wuertz and two from Dempster) you could argue there is a 5 game swing minimum right there. Yes, bullpens do not always get the job done, that is part of baseball, but our guys were HOPELESS the first two months of the season, just plain awful. They're doing better in June, and the results are predictable--we're over .500 this month (barely). Get five of those early season blowups back, and the team is six games over instead of four games under. Things would look a lot different, wouldn't they? Having said all that, the Cubs need another run producing bat to have a legitimate shot at catching the Brewers, IMO. Too many times, the Cubs are unable to bring in men on base, symptomatic of a team with not enough consistent, run producing bats. We need an everyday bat (not a platoon player a-la Cliff Floyd) that can hit 5th and drive in 45 runs the second half of the season. If the Cubs are serious about making a run at the Brewers then, a July trade for Junior or Miggy (if he gets healthy) would seem to be a necessity.

1. The Phillies are contenders this year, but they've lost ex-Cub Jon Lieber likely for the remainder of the season. They need a starting pitcher--now. Who does Philly have that could be of interest to the Cubs, either interesting prospects or useful veterans? With June 15 now past us, does Ted Lilly have a NTC for this year (I don't know if he does or not)? 2. Rangers are obviously in sell-mode. Felix Pie is the CF of the future, but his bat just isn't ready, that is pretty obvious. Meanwhile, the ageless Kenny Lofton just keeps producing. Would something like Ronny Cedeno and Mitch Atkins be enough for Lofton; would it even be advisable? If the Cubs are serious about trying to make a run in 07 at the Brewers, Lofton would be a fine stopgap to make that run, and give young Pie more time to work on his offense in Iowa.

Rich Hill for Stephen Drew, or Sean Marshall for Brandon Wood, please.

So when we trade for A-Rod, we'll have Soriano, Junior, Aramis, D-Lee and A-Rod in our everyday lineup. I can deal with that.

Be careful. His six kids with five different women seem to indicate he doesn't like to play safe. Well you can bat him cleanup even with our present rotating #5 spot of nobodies. Cause he doesn't need protection. Eh??? EH???? You forgot to add, "Try the veal, and tip your waitress."

For the sake of argument, I will assume something is brewing, rather than just another what-if thread: My opinion--Marshall is younger and (to me) has a more repeatable delivery. He is definitely more plain vanilla than Hill, but that bodes well for a long-term future as a decent #4 starter. I'll take that. Hill has a track record of being a hot/cold guy, and he's not so young. He has higher trade value than Marshall, given the position the Cubs are in with this lousy team, they should exploit that. Problem: Jim Hendry is a complete incompetent, so he'll botch up whatever he tries and we will not get maximum value for Hill. If you could get a long-term, youngish bat for Hill, I'd do it. Matt Kemp? Brandon Wood? Stephen Drew?

I believe Tejada is under contract for 2008. A smart GM--which we do not have--would make the trade for Tejada NOW, while he is hurt but before he goes on the DL. You'd get him cheapest that way. Cubs aren't going anywhere this year, but you'd be setup for 2008 just great at SS. You let Miggy take his team getting well for the remainder of 07 and simply plan for the future.

You just knew Sosa would hit #600 tonight. Against the Cubs. The pitcher? Jason Marquis, wearing #21. Something karmic there, I think.

I'll try. You're posting at the rate of 300 posts/week in your 6+ weeks of membership, I'd say you're succeeding. At what, I don't know.

Speaking of... Where did you hear this as he hasn't pitched in the minors yet? I've heard this speculated from a few people. He was a P/OF and many teams were split on whether he'd be on the mound or hitting, though I think more teams liked his hitting. I have no clue what the Cubs brass think about him pitching vs. hitting but he easily could convert to the mound. I think it's funny that what's his name is ridiculing people for posting conjecture, then he decides it's a foregone conclusion this guy is going to pitch. Pretty much every statement about the kid is about what he has done in the minors. That's not conjecture. You seem to enjoy posting as many comments as you possibly can in as many threads as you can, mr jersey is his name. Such fun! I think 50-page threads are much more informative than comments from actual baseball scouts, too. You keep posting, you!

Speaking of... Where did you hear this as he hasn't pitched in the minors yet? I've heard this speculated from a few people. He was a P/OF and many teams were split on whether he'd be on the mound or hitting, though I think more teams liked his hitting. I have no clue what the Cubs brass think about him pitching vs. hitting but he easily could convert to the mound. As you've likely gathered by now, the current Cubs "braintrust" has a distinct fetish for projects and conversion-type players. Former quality ML veterans coming off serious injuries; hitters converted to pitchers and vice-versa; players moved to new positions; etc.... Burke is yet another of these games. It's like buying a scratch-off ticket at the convenience store; once every couple of weeks, you find a winner, so you keep coming back and playing the game again (even though you know it's a sucker's bet). The recent success of Carlos Marmol will only get the Cubs to buy some more scratch off tickets. Bully for them. Prediction--Burke will indeed be converted to pitcher, perhaps yet this summer, and never be heard from again. But, there's always hope.....

It would be nice if some of the "experts" in this thread did some research before posting pure, conjectural blather. Burke was/is also a LHP with nice stuff, a low 90s FB and sharp CB in high school. Many scouts--including one Tim W., who I believe is now employed by the Cubs--liked Burke as a pitcher in last year's draft. The Cubs will send Burke to the mound (likely in Mesa) and convert him to a pitcher a-la Carlos Marmol. In the Cubs' opinion, they just picked up a young, 19 yo lefty pitcher with promise for free. I have also heard the Cubs are now this --><-- close to converting Ryan Harvey into a pitcher as a last-ditch effort at getting something out of his career. Harvey has always had a cannon for an OF arm (probably his best asset), and he dialed it up to 95 with the FB as a high school pitcher. What the hell, can't hurt, since Harvey will never make the big leagues as a hitter, that pipe dream is over.

Cy Young's numbers are pretty much impossible to match, but pitching numbers in the era before the existence of the American League (1901) are notoriously hard to interpret. The mound was closer, many pitchers threw underhanded (!), records weren't always fastidiously kept. Note that Cy Young had only 225 wins from 1901 onwards. However, two other pitching numbers from the dead ball era are IMO the TRUE unbreakable records in baseball. Jack Chesbro--41 wins in one season (1904) Jack Chesbro--48 complete games in one season (1904) Considering pitchers today only START about 32-33 games per year maximum, then yep--the above two numbers are by definition, unreachable. For hitters, my top vote goes to Sam Crawford's career triples mark of 309 (though the first 22 were hit in 1899 and 1900); ballparks aren't big enough anymore to accomodate so many triples. In Crawford's time, most stadiums were HUGE, with enormous power alleys. How about 454 feet to dead center in Cleveland? A fast runner with line drive power to the alleys could run all day in those stadiums, and that's exactly what Crawford did. And he was indeed fast: 366 career SBs. Plus, you need to play a long time and be a darn good hitter (Crawford had 2961 hits, 2821 from 1901 on) to even have the CHANCE to hit that many triples. And a manager that would even LET you try to stretch out so many doubles in this era of the long ball. Oh yeah: you'd need to average roughly 15 triples every year for 20 years to get to this record. Since 1990, the big league leader in any one season has made that mark just four times (two by Carl Crawford--no relation :-)