cubweiser03

Why would any real playoff contender want Burnitz? Most of us didn't want him last spring. Bunt hit for Patterson. Now Henry "Hank" Blanco up. I like Blanco. left handed power bat off the bench...Boston, White Sox, St Louis and Houston all could use him....i'm not saying we'd get anything useful for him, but clearing the spot in RF would be worth the trade... I just don't see the same value in him as you do. St. Louis basically restricts itself to only one home run or nothing type of hitter on their team per year. They have that in Reggie Sanders, but he's DL'ed. I think the Red Sox and White Sox don't need a lefty power hitter off the bench, and Houston wouldn't pay him the nearly $600,000 he's owed for the rest of the year. Burnitz just isn't that good to me. I agree. Burnitz has been available at the deadline a couple years, now. Except for Hendry, I haven't heard word one about any interest teams have in him. Has he had success as a PH bat off the bench? I don't know. Regardless, if where there is smoke there is fire, where there is no smoke, I dare say there is no fire. Boston could really use him. They were looking for a RF even before Trot went down. I gotta believe they would rather have burnitz than jose cruz jr patroling RF

Jeez.....when was the last time the Cubs got a lead this early. whatta relief

I dont think Hill was as bad as his stat line indicated last night. The hits he gave up were a lot of bloopers or infield singles. I thought the mets were clearly sitting on the curve ball (see cliff floyd). Going to majors for hill has shown the limits of his fastball. MLB players arent afraid of 89-90 mph fastball, they can react to that and then sit on his curve, this i think is why he isnt getting as many ks as the minors. If he can improve on the fastball with location or movement (velocity likely wont happen) he can still be a good player. Using a changeup would probaly help too. Im not giving up on him yet.

Cubs are on TV and im really not looking forward to this game. Maddux has really pissed me off lately....well ok this whole year. Im going to try and remain calm. I did enjoy seeing williamson pitch last night, ive been a fan of his since the reds days and im happy hes on the Cubs, that was the only good thing about last night.

The Thrill. Raffy was really pissed at Wil Clark when he signed with Texas. Said something like, why would he sign here, we already have a firstbasemen. Well Texas didnt resign Raffy and he went to Baltimore becasue of the Wil "taking his job". More useless stuff. Bob Brenly gave Wil Clark the nickname The Thrill.

Only theorizing here: March 20: New steroid policy takes effect. "The key issue was a provision allowing for fines instead of suspensions. Under the draft, a first offense could cost a player $10,000 and/or a 10-day suspension without pay. Prior to this revelation, MLB and the union never mentioned the "and/or" provision." Raffy was on Winny during spring training, about 1 to 2 months pass before he is tested in May. During the time he was on Winny he thought all he would get was the 10k fine and no one would hear of it.... so shoot up, and then boom comes this surprise change in the language. 1.5- 2 months passes, not enough time for it to clear his system and he gets caught using Winstrol. At the time he administered Winny he thought 10k at the time of detection 10 days suspension. Ooops. One more thing about Winstol. It is probably the only anabolic steroid that will effect your fast twitch muscles. Track athletes love it for the strength gains without the weight gain but also because you literally can run faster. For baseball i could see one probably having an improved bat speed while on Winstrol. Its also used by AIDS patient to help them maintain muscle mass without all those nasty side effects as other anabolic steroids, and also you can be on Winstrol much longer than other steroids because of the side effect profile. 6 months (a season wouldnt be too long).

Im pumped about lawton being in the lineup.

Yeah but what is it the next time 30 days? Thats a lot of cash and if he gets caught a second time that has got to hurt when its his turn for free agency.

Macias wouldnt be so bad.

Id like for them to resign Lawton. Corey isnt a leadoff guy and that leaves ss or 2b to fill that void. Id hope they get Nomar back. There isnt a good FA 2b available next year that id want to lead off. So the leadoff guy is LF or RF. Lawton OBP is pretty damn impressive, and even if he isnt a prototypical 'power' corner his OBP in the Cubs lineup is much needed. Sign Lawton and go after Giles hard. If Giles doesnt work out, Murton in LF or resign burnitz if its not too late.

I'm going to tonight's game here in Portland - here's hoping for an encouraging performance for our future bullpen help! Let us know how he looked!!! I hope hes ready after this game. No more AAA. There were earlier reports that he'll pitch back to back (Mon/Tues) games here in AAA before coming up. Im down with that. Wed/Thurs off. Fri. NYM. Wood/Nomar/Williamson all on the same day (crossing fingers). Very cool

I'm going to tonight's game here in Portland - here's hoping for an encouraging performance for our future bullpen help! Let us know how he looked!!! I hope hes ready after this game. No more AAA.

Well, I was origionally not in favor of this trade either. Not so much because I didnt like it, but moreso because I wanted somebody bigger. Now that I've had a night to think of it, I really do like this deal. To answer some of your concerns. - I doubt Lawton will simply be a rental. I could see him sticking around a few more years. And Gerut was young, big whoop. He had a good but (according to those who interpret stats such as babip better than I) insanely lucky year. And he hasnt come close to returning to those numbers. - A ton of salary?? The pirates are giving us 1 million to go towards his salary. So, that takes it down to 6.5 million dollars. Thats hardly a ton. - This move alone does not. But This combined with getting Nomar back in the lineup. And williamson and wood in the pen, that very well might. The only thing that concerns me is his pre/post ASG splits. He is always very good the first half, and very bad teh second. But we will see. I still like the deal very much. I believe we are only paying 3 million or so, since half his salary has already been payed plus 1 mil. Can someone post the total amount of salary we are paying? From the Trib. Because the Pirates were involved, this was a deal about money. Lawton, a free agent after the season, is still owed about $2.25 million this season, with the Pirates believed to be picking up about half of it but getting an inexpensive player in return. FWIW, i dont think the Cubs have had to pay much of nomars salary this year up to this point. Since hes been out longer than a month i think the insurance would of kicked in.

Except the loogy would be put in against lawton first, which means we pinch hit murton!!! Yes. But if you have walker in the 2 hole the loogy could work around or IBB murton to get back to walker. Nomar prevents this from occuring. Plus with the pitchers spot at 9, you could potentially have 3 lefties in a row with hollandsworth. I know nomar might be rusty but i also like him in front of lee/aram. He should get pitches to hit more up there than down in the order. Walker 3 year splits .258/.315/.361 .296/.354/.460 Dude is a loogy target, especially for an extra base hit.

Lawton-L Nomar-R Lee-R Aram-R Burny-L Barrett-R Walker-L Hairston-R I dont like Lawton/Walker because both those guys get hammered by lefties and would be an easy target for a loogy. Dusty would pull walker for neifi if a loogy came in and that would suck. If a righty came in for hairston dusty could come with holla or neifi and then come back with murton for the pitcher's spot. Id rather replace hairston in the lineup than barrett so i move michael up to the 6 spot.

Carpenter is a stud. Im afraid we are going to have to get use to the 'new chris carpenter' for a couple more years.

Kasper just noted that Lawton has made 85 career starts in CF

I may be wrong, but didn't the Ramirez/Lofton deal happen in mid-July? I know Simon was aquired after the deadline, though. Yep. July 23.

Yeah, i gotta believe boston is pretty pissed off. Jose Cruz or Matt Lawton.....hmmm.

Im pretty happy about Lawton. Very good OPB. Not many Ks. Good speed. Better than Hairston at the top of the order and bats left. He's a big upgrade in LF. (I like Murton but he wouldnt of played everyday)

I caught a little of the ceremony. 2 things. Kirby Puckett is HUGE. He's easily 300 lbs. I mean he is HUGE!! Stan Musial tried taking over the podium before it was his time. Gary Thorne, 'step back man, i have more people to introduce'. Stan The Man is now Stan The Old Man.

Poor sap. He left totally teased. He went to the prom with an eye on the prom queen. She danced her ass off and then he realized hes got no chance at stealing her after her performance.

What is this about? Seeking Soriano Jul 30 - Jayson Stark reports the Twins are making a big push to acquire Alfonso Soriano. Rumored names heading to Texas: J.C. Romero, Kyle Lohse and Bret Boone. Although Rangers officials have been downplaying the odds of trading Soriano, an official of one interested team isn't convinced. "I still think this talk that they're not trading him is a bunch of baloney designed to keep the price up," he said. "I still think they have to trade him, for the best pitching deal they can make. If they keep him, who's going to pitch? I know Chan Ho Park is no big loss. But who are they going to replace him with -- John Wasdin?" The Cubs also continue to check in Soriano, according to Stark. But one baseball man who has been speaking with the Cubs says they get the impression that Texas would rather trade Soriano to either the Mets or Twins than to the Cubs. "If they're looking for arms, they should be talking to the Cubs," he said. "If not, they should talk to someone else. But the Cubs definitely have arms." The Cubs have told the Rangers they "would like to be in this" if Texas trades Soriano, but so far haven't gotten much respon Why the hatred from the rangers? That team is pissing me off.

Dude you are a Cub fan. Go to work, aint nothing going to happen. In fact its better to work so you dont get pissed off waiting for crap to happen. Yeah, nothing happened last year either. Yes. That was pretty cool. But that was like a suprise party, you come home and.....holy schmoly. Dont get surpise party too much or it wouldnt be a surprise.

Wow that sucks. 89. So is his 'hard' slider 81. oohhh