Outshined_One

I've always wondered what caused Jerome Williams to fall off a cliff after 2005. In the last month of 2005, he was pitching pretty well and seemed like he could have been a fixture in the Cubs' rotation in 2006. Then...nothing. I'm wishing him the best and hope he can salvage his career.

I like Vitters, but let's be frank with the guy here. He has not played a full, healthy, and productive season yet. The guy has a great ceiling and is clearly the top prospect in this system, but he's a long way away from the majors. I wouldn't have a problem seeing him go if that would bring Jake Peavy back. I'm not saying the Cubs should overpay for Peavy by adding Vitters to an already loaded package, but Vitters shouldn't be an untouchable.

Not really. He was one of a number of young names down in the AZ League who were intriguing, but no one was 100% sure what scouts and coaches thought of him, such as whether he'd stick at SS, would develop power, etc. If he starts in Peoria this coming season, then you'll be hearing a lot more about him.

As a general comment on your projections, I am enormously leery of putting much weight on batting average and runs batted in as a method of measuring a player's worth. I will grant that batting average has its place, but thanks to a lower quality of pitching and opposing defense Vitters will face in Peoria/Daytona/Tenn, it will be easier for him to sustain a higher batting average than you would see at higher levels. Don't get me wrong, an especially low batting average would raise a lot of red flags with Vitters. But, in general, it might be more worthwhile to look at his batting average in the context of other stats. BABIP, Line Drive Percentage, and Fly Ball Percentage are all good examples of stats that can illustrate whether a .330 batting average was luck or whether it was legitimate. On the other hand, where I see little value in measuring a major league player based on his RBIs, I see almost no value in evaluating a minor league player based on that same stat. It is heavily team-dependent. It does not serve as an effective measure of "clutch" or any sort of situational hitting skill. I do not see it as a future predictor of a prospect's production when that prospect reaches the majors. To me, the critical stats for Vitters' future lie in his IsoD and OBP. While I am enamored with Vitters' tools and potential, I worry that his hacking tendencies could serious detract from his pitch recognition abilities; that he'll be swinging at pitches he should lay off of. From what I have seen of Vitters and read about him, his aggressive approach at the plate and excellent hand-eye coordination have served him well thus far, but as he advances through the minors, he will face better pitchers who will know how to exploit those aggressive tendencies. We've seen this story a number of times with other prospects in this system (Dopirak, Harvey, etc...) and I worry that Vitters might not develop the pitch recognition skills he will need to reach his ceiling. So, with that in mind, I think a good standard for Vitters to maintain his lofty prospect status would be to replicate what Mike Moustakas did this past season in the MWL. My gut is that Vitters would hit for more power and walk less than Moustakas, but anything around that range would be a good year for Vitters. Anything better than that, well, that'd be a really good thing. :D

This Super Bowl was going to suck no matter what, given the Championship games.

Fox loves rubbing it in with us, don't they?

Don't the Cubs have a scout with a lot of connections to Lamar? The Cubs have drafted a sizable number of guys out of there in recent years, including Micah Hoffpauir and a few current minor leaguers.

Don't worry, we'll get Jake Peavy.

Friggin' west coast. I want football on my TV in half an hour, dangit!

Which of the city's beat writers is this at the microphone? :wink: :good:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2009-01/44565258.jpg "It goes where?!"

What, no "Wild Thing" jokes? For shame, people!

Pretty much this.

That honestly sounds really cool! Northwestern/Illinois isn't that great of a matchup, though. I'd prefer to see Northwestern/Wisconsin there. :D

It's always been that way. These deals have always been structured to avoid taxes and other considerations.

That would be because I am halfway across the world with a terrible internet connection at the moment.

Technically, whether you use a/an before a word beginning with an H should be determined by the letter after the H. Thus, "an hand" is technically correct. Only if the h is silent, if I'm not mistaken. It would not be correct to say "I want an hamburger." Nor "have an happy holiday." I believe you're right (such as an historic moment; the word is pronounced "istoric" with the "h" silent). Yes, historic and honor were the words that immediately came to mind. There are a number of formal "correct" English pronunciations which drop the h altogether when deciding between a or an. Link. Back in undergrad, one of my friends was a linguistics major who did a lot of work on this kind of stuff. There was an English grammar book he showed me which stated that you should always drop the h when determining whether to use a or an. It's a dialectical thing (as seen with some people pronouncing the "h" in history), but technically speaking, it is acceptable to say "an hand" or "an happy holiday."

Technically, whether you use a/an before a word beginning with an H should be determined by the letter after the H. Thus, "an hand" is technically correct.

Looks like we got two pretty good relief prospects and a decent SP prospect with big control problems. Considering we likely weren't going to get any of their Top 10 prospects for DeRo, it's not a bad deal for the Cubs.

Jeff Stevens Chris Archer John Gobbs apparently doesn't exist, but John Gaub does.

Aaron Miles is terrible.

I'm hoping Colorado throws us a bone with a prospect, even a mediocre one. Otherwise, it's a bit of a whatever deal from my perspective.

I'm guessing the money saved with Marquis being traded has something to do with this.

Mike Remlinger!

Holmgren too maybe? I'd love to see Shanahan given the moon and full control over the offense, but I doubt he'd take it or the Bears would offer it. What has Mike Shanahan done since John Elway retired that Lovie Smith hasn't? Been the head coach of a team with offenses ranging from slightly below average to very good since 2000?