SouthSideRyan

It's really the road games where he could be helpful, with the DH. And he's eligible to be called back up for that since it will have been over 10 days by then. I thought it was 15 days. Am I mistaken? Nope, 10.

that part won't last But that's just icing, right? Miles can't hit and his defense is worse than Blanco's. If 2 middle infielders can't hit, might as well take the great defensive player. this. having said that, Miles isn't getting DFA, IMO. they didn't give him a two year deal just so they could give up on him 2 months into the season. And there lies the problem with this organization. They won't cut ties when it's apparent that the player they signed is no longer capable of doing the job. No siree, they won't admit to making a mistake. Of course, the Cubs never admit making mistakes, or so they say. Except for when they're paying Marquis, Gaudin, and Vizcaino like 80 million dollars to not pitch for us.

So we found the guy who likes Corner Gas.

You know who hit: 320/.397/.594/.991 in 147 at bats (or with a homerun once every 18 at bats)? You know what he followed that up with: .204/.260/.339/.599 (with a homerun every 34 at bats). Yeah, we didn't need to watch that happen again with a 2nd retread Cardinal player. I appreciate what Edmonds did last yr, but to hope/expect him to do it again would have been foolish. The reason you don't re-sign Edmonds is because he's a bad defender now, not because he's a good bet to be a bad hitter. Gary Gaetti wishes he was anywhere close to Edmonds as a ball player.

Who?

Ooh, ooh, I got it. Aaron Miles. Get used to him, because we'll be seeing a lot of him over the next month. enjoy. Look, I hate Aaron Miles, we all hate Aaron Miles, it's fun to hate Aaron Miles. He's a better hitter than both those guys, not to mention the fact that he can fake defense somewhere other than 1B.

Could always dump Patton for the extra MI, but that likely won't happen. With al of the extra inning games weve been seeing lately, I wouldnt suggest playing with 11 pitchers. However, it makes one wonder if they could throw a hail Mary and dig up someone like Morgan Ensberg or even Shea Hillenbrand. Granted, thered the chance that theyd be no better if not worse than the garbage brigade. However, with one of these guys, if they cant produce, you just cut ties having given up nothing in the process. I don't think somebody like Ensberg or Hillenbrand would be worth wasting the roster spot on. And surely these extra inning games won't continue at this pace, though the likelihood of us dropping down to 11 pitchers is extremely low. If were going to waste a roster spot, why not be it on someone who has had major league success at one point, although they are quite a ways removed from that success. Because they're so bad they can't even get a minor league job at this point? I mean, Shea Hillenbrand?? Holy [expletive], I can't wait to hear the next one.

Could always dump Patton for the extra MI, but that likely won't happen. With al of the extra inning games weve been seeing lately, I wouldnt suggest playing with 11 pitchers. However, it makes one wonder if they could throw a hail Mary and dig up someone like Morgan Ensberg or even Shea Hillenbrand. Granted, thered the chance that theyd be no better if not worse than the garbage brigade. However, with one of these guys, if they cant produce, you just cut ties having given up nothing in the process. What is your obsession with bad minor leaguers?

I'm shocked he couldn't qualify at a university. Yeah, but what about Missouri.

If they actually get those players, then yeah its a success for Auburn. CNS didn't want any of those guys, so they're not good enough.

You might want to re-read the title :) It's still valid though. Ramirez probably won't be out the entire season, so you have to think about where Tejada would play when Ramirez returns. The logical answer is shortstop. If you still want to keep Theriot's bat in the lineup then, you could move him to second, with Fontenot getting some time there against right-handers. Yea I was thinking ahead. They could trade Theriot for Tejada but I think both Lou and Hendry really like Theriot. That would be a really stupid trade. And would still leave us with Scales/Blanco playing everyday til Ramirez comes back.

there's no way that's true. sorry. you're essentially saying that pitchers KNOW they can get soriano out by throwing sliders in the dirt, but their cockiness (?) for some reason, leads them to throw him fastballs that he hits 400 feet. come on. You got it wrong. Pitchers believe in their fastballs. Why don't they believe in their sliders?

If Soriano goes on one of his hot streaks during October he could carry a team to a World Series title. I'm not convinced that Soriano has "hot streaks" so much as he has streaks where pitchers are giving him a lot of good pitches to hit. That won't happen very frequently in the playoffs, so the chances of him getting on a "hot streak" are very slim. so if all you have to do to get him out is not throw him "good pitches to hit," then why doesn't every pitcher do that to him all the time? Because pitchers are cocky bastards who believe their stuff can get anybody and they can't necessarily put it where they want it every time. In the playoffs they stop being cocky.

I was a Dunn supporter in the offseason, but keep in mind you have to weigh his offensive production with his awful outfield defense. That defense negates at least some of his value offensively. Not to step on your point here, because it's valid, but it's not like Milton Bradley is Kosuke Fukudome out there in right field. He's pretty mediocre himself. Bradley's an above average defensive RF and Dunn is well below average. There's a sizable difference. Dunn's durability is the difference.

It's foolish to say the Cubs are 3 players away from the world series when there's a nonzero chance they could win the world series without making a move al year.

Who? Carroll or Fox? Fox. He has a bit of a reputation of being a jerk and some people think he's uncoachable because of it. I was talking about Carroll.

He's a horse's ass.

Are we talking just this year or all time. Cause all time, I don't see how it's not Jim Edmonds.

Meanwhile were looking at a washed up Rich Aurilia, a journeyman Russ Branyan or a bust Wilson Betemit to help save us. I think you're the only one looking at Aurilia and Betemit. Journeyman or not, Russ Branyan would be a solid pickup. When you have a hole for a month-month and a half you don't go out and acquire a starter.

Well, he tries to. He's much like Aaron Miles in that sense. True, he's not much worse than Miles at it, though. Plus he'll likely hit better than Miles. Aaron Miles is a bad SS. Being worse than him at it, means you're not even faking it. Scales is probably a better defender than Betemit at this point at any position.

Wilson Betemit is absolutely a worse baseball player than Bobby Scales.

Seems to support the notion that Pittsburgh may not have gotten as much as they could have gotten for the guy. What does that idiot know, he's not an NL GM. Unless he is, then my brain just exploded.

In case anyone's wondering the last time Milton Bradley, a 765 OPS joker, had an OPS that low was 2002.

How bout, Huntington's an idiot, he values tools goofs like Gorkys Hernandez and guys who throw hard and can't control it like the A-ball guy. What constitutes more depends on what the individual values. When Dave Littlefield traded Rajai Davis for Matt Morris and his awful contract could he not gotten more for Rajai Davis.(Yes, he could've just released him) When Jim Duquette(Or Jeff Wilpon or Rick Peterson or Al Leiter or whoever pushed that trade through) traded Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano, was that the best deal he could get for Kazmir, or did whoever pushed for the trade irrationally overvalue Victor Zambrano/irrationally hate Kazmir. Look let's say Huntington sold McLouth for the baseball equivalent of $1. It's been suggested in this thread that some other team would've gladly offered him more than $1, which strikes me as foolish and naive. There's no need to argue whether the actual players involved are actually worth $2 or 2 cents. The Pirates rated them at $1, and more to the point, they didn't have another offer over $1 out there, or else they would've taken it. So you're gonna ignore my 2 real world applicable question and make a bad analogy. Baseball players aren't evaluated the same across the board. Neal Huntington may feel the 3 "prospects" he got in return are worth the hypothetical $1. Jim Hendry may feel those 3 are worth $.05, while thinking some offer the Pirates turned down was worth $4. Your definition of value says that every trade ever made was all a GM could get because the GM in question valued the return as equal to that which went out. It's absurd.

I change my opinion then. If McLouth is dead, this was an ok deal for the Pirates.