Outshined_One

Cubs don't have a top 5 pick though. If only they could take Alvarez at 19...sigh. But, I was talking about Pedro playing for the Pirates.

Yeah, right. Isn't there some closer who projects as a middle reliever that they can snatch up to save money instead? They usually reach on a LHP. Christian Friedrich would fit the bill. However, the new management stated they were going to make a statement in this draft and take the top player on their board, regardless of salary demands.

Pedro Alvarez just hit a bases clearing double. Rather than go back in time, I prefer to look to the future!

I think your son could go 3/4 against Marquis with two home runs at this point. :lol: Bobby Bonilla just went yard. It was a three run homer. Marquis gave up a double to Sid Bream and a walk to Doug Drabek earlier in the inning.

I think your son could go 3/4 against Marquis with two home runs at this point. :lol:

It was about medium-depth. There probably would have been a play at the plate.

Cashner is probably going to be the second college closer taken after Joshua Fields. He's good enough that he could be a September callup. For those of you interested or bored, Witchita State/Missouri State is on Comcast right now. WSU 3B/OF Conor Gillaspie is a player of note and could be a possibility for the Cubs with their sandwich pick. In watching this game, I see why scouts are torn on Gillaspie sticking at 3B. He has a very good arm and soft hands, but man, his instincts are crap. One game does not make a player, but it looks like he needs a good amount of coaching and reps out there. However, Gillaspie's bat is very good. He chokes up slightly and has an exaggerated crouch in his batting stance. Quick trigger, good pitch recognition. He just hit a no-doubter home run, to boot. The guy also has some nice speed on the basepaths. He's definitely the athletic type that fits the Wilken mold, imo.

Tampa's 8 run ninth against Daytona:

Box Scores Iowa lost 6-0 Box Score 2B E. Patterson 0/2, BB, 2 K, HBP CF F. Pie 0/4 LF M. Murton 3/4, 2B (5) RF J. Kroeger 0/4, K 3B C. McGehee 0/4, K SP K. Hart 4 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4/2 K/BB, HR, 4-3 GO-FO RP C. Shaver 2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2/1 K/BB, 2-2 GO-FO RP C. Pignatiello 1 scoreless, 1 H, 0/1 K/BB, 2-0 GO-FO Tennessee won 3-2 Box Score 3B K. Reynolds 0/4, K, E (8, throw) CF T. Colvin 0/4 1B M. Craig 1/3, R RF D. Deeds 1/2, BB, R, 2 RBI, HR (4), SB (1) LF J. Fox 0/3, K C S. Clevenger 1/3, 2B (5) SS/3B M. Matulia 0/3, R, SB (1), E (3, fielding) PH/SS M. Camp 1/1 SP M. Atkins 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6/0 K/BB, HR, 5-8 GO-FO RP J. Samardzija .1 IP, 2 H, 0-1 GO-FO Daytona won 4-2 Box Score CF J. Wyatt 1/4, BB, RBI, K 2B T. Thomas 1/5, R, 2B (8), CS (3), E (5, fielding) DH T. Wright 2/5, R, RBI, K RF Y. Carter 0/3, BB, K C W. Castillo 1/4, RBI, 2 K, E (5, throw) 3B J. Lansford 2/4 SS D. Barney 2/3, BB, R, 3B (1), SB (2) SP M. Mateo 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2/3 K/BB, WP, 2-5 GO-FO RP A. Harben 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3/0 K/BB, 2 WP, 1-5 GO-FO RP C. Lambert 1 scoreless, 1 H, 2/0 K/BB, 0-1 GO-FO Peoria won 5-4 Box Score DH E. Lara 1/5, R, RBI SS N. Samson 1/3, 2 R, 2B (6), E (12, throw), HBP LF B. Guyer 1/4, K, CS (1) 3B J. Rosa 1/2, BB, RBI, HBP 2B M. Smith 2/4, RBI RF D. Johnston 1/3, BB, R, RBI, HR (7), 2 K CF L. Johnson 1/4 SP A. Cabrera 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5/2 K/BB, 5-5 GO-FO OVERALL: 3-1

There are other Nolan Ryans?

I'm just as confused as you are. But hey, if Colvin ends the season with an OBP over .400, I don't think any of us will complain.

Except that it's not. He never had a season with a significant number of starts where he's more than 2 games under .500. Look at who else has been number 5 or better on the Cubs recently -- Rusch? Mitre? Estes? Maddux? Clement? They are all still floating around, and though Maddux is a wonder, Marquis is a clear upgrade on the others. Look at it this way, if your #5 starter is two games under .500, and your #4 starter is at .500, it's reasonable to expect your team to be at least 20 games over .500, with a strong performance from the pan and the rest of the rotation. Zambrano and Dempster have held up their ends this year, the others haven't. Yet, the problem in the rotation is the number 5 starter, even though they are .500 in his starts, and he has a better ERA than Lilly? There is every reason to believe Marquis will get bumped in the second half. Until then, he is performing exactly as would have been expected -- as a major league #5 starter. And no one has done enough to take that job away from him. We're picking starters based on W/L record? Wow. Well how else is one supposed to value a pitcher's worth? You act like there are other statistics (that are not team dependent) that are indicative of a pitcher's performance as an individual contributor. :blink: This should be in sarcastic green. Sorry, I'm from St. Louis. Morans around here must be having a negative influence on me. I fixed the post. Just for clarification, I think Mojopin's post should also be in green. :lol:

:lol: at AZPhil calling him the "mighty mite". Well, it's nice to have someone in this system who can hit for power and does so during games!

I did a bit of digging on Z vs. Bay. Here are some fun numbers to take into consideration. Bay's line versus Z by year... 2003: 3 PA, 3 H, 1 2B, 2 HR (1.000/1.000/3.333) 2004: 10 PA, 2 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 BB, 3 K (.250/.400/.750) 2005: 11 PA, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K (.255/.455/.250) 2006: 8 PA, 2 H, 1 2B, 1 K (.250/.250/.375) 2007: 9 PA, 3 H, 1 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB (.429/.556/1.429) 2008: 3 PA, 1 BB (.000/.333/.000) Amusing how these things tend to fluctuate back and forth.

Frankly, with this offense performing the way it has been, the Cubs can afford to let Gallagher develop at the major league level. Perhaps he might benefit from a few more starts at AAA, but if keeping him in the majors for this season means he'll be a bit more developed come 2009 and 2010, then all the better. At the very least, there are some long term benefits to be had. With Marquis...we pretty much know what to expect out of him by now. Frankly, it's pretty bad. Gallagher might be equally bad now, but I'll take the potential long term benefits over that.

Box Scores Iowa won 1-0 Box Score 2B E. Patterson 1/4, R, 2B (9), 2 K, SB (6) CF F. Pie 0/4, K LF M. Murton 2/4, RBI, SB (2) DH J. Dubois 0/4, K RF J. Kroeger 0/3, BB, K 3B C. McGehee 0/3, K SP R. Keisler 8 scoreless, 3 H, 7/3 K/BB, 13-3 GO-FO Tennessee won 8-3 Box Score CF S. Fuld 2/5, R, RBI, 2B (1), K SS M. Camp 1/5, R, CS (6), PO (1B) RF T. Colvin 1/4, BB, R, RBI, K 1B M. Craig 1/3, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI, K LF J. Fox 0/3, R, K, HBP 3B K. Reynolds 1/4, R, RBI, K 2B M. Matulia 0/3, BB PH D. Deeds 0/1 SP J. Russell 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 6/1 K/BB, HR, 3-6 GO-FO Daytona lost 12-8 thanks to an 8 run 9th by Tampa Box Score 2B J. Mota 2/4, R LF T. Wright 2/4, R, RBI CF J. Wyatt 0/1, K C W. Castillo 2/5, R, RBI, 2B (6), K PR/1B M. Reed 0/1, K, CS (2) RF R. Harvey 0/2, 2 BB, K DH R. Canzler 1/4, RBI, K PR/DH T. Thomas 0/0, R 3B J. Lansford 1/4, R, K, SB (1) SS D. Barney 1/4, 2 RBI, 2B (9) SP M. Carrillo 6 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4/2 K/BB, 2 HR, 8-6 GO-FO RP J. Papelbon 0 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 0/1 K/BB Peoria won 5-2 Box Score LF C. Andersen 0/4, 2 K SS N. Samson 1/4, 2 RBI DH B. Guyer 0/4, K 3B J. Rosa 2/4 2B M. Smith 1/4, R, RBI, HR (4) RF D. Johnston 1/2, BB, 2 R, K, E (3, fielding), 2 assists (3B, home) CF L. Johnson 1/3, 2 RBI, SB (5), CS (5) SP C. Siegfried 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1/1 K/BB, 2-3 GO-FO RP K. Kreier 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4/0 K/BB, 3-4 GO-FO OVERALL: 3-1

That can easily be construed as a death threat, especially when done to a teacher.

He had mono. I remember getting it in college. It's bad. My body felt like a lead weight. Moreover, certain people here are ripping him non-stop. They happily contribute their two cents any time something bad happens to Vitters.

For those of you interested... Destin Hood MiLB Draft Report From later in Blood's chat: Tim Melville... Brewerfan Sickels MiLB Draft Report Robbie Ross MiLB Draft Report

Doubts? Everyone had doubts! Yet, when I check out other sites, I don't see anything close to resembling the same overreaction for other underperforming prospects from that draft. It's been less than a year. It's ludicrous to label this guy a bust. It's ludicrous to rip on the guy non-stop without giving him a chance. People here need to take a step back and stop going nuts over this guy.

Here's my question about instant replay... Let's say a hitter has a hit which is erroneously ruled a home run by the umpires, where the ball bounced back onto the field of play. Let's also say there are runners on first and second at the time. After going to instant replay, the umpires determine there was no home run. What is the proper ruling? It's a pretty easy call when the ball turns out to be foul or turns out to be a home run, but what if it turns out to be fair, not a home run, and in the field of play?

Supposedly power potential type guy with questionable contact skills and hasn't hit at any level at all. He looks like a poor man's Ryan Harvey Coming into his draft, Harvey's power potential was freakish. It was easy to imagine him hitting 40+ HRs at his peak. He had a long swing coming out and his ability to draw walks and overall plate discipline had lingering questions. He was also supposed to be a five tool guy. Coming into his draft, Vitters' power potential was lower (likely a 30 HR guy at his peak). Vitters also had very good plate discipline, a terrific right handed swing, and a good ability to make contact. Vitters' defense and speed were not at Harvey's level. Comparing the two like that is a bit of a head-scratcher, especially considering Vitters' age and lack of experience. Injuries have held the guy back. We don't have very much to go on statistically speaking. Frankly, I think there maybe are about 3 or 4 people total on this board who have seen Vitters in person and can give us a good picture of what he is capable of. With such a small sample size, that's the best we can ask at this point. It's one thing to dislike Vitters because you wanted Porcello or Wieters in the draft. That's understandable. It's another thing altogether to hate the guy because of what he's done since being drafted. That's just ludicrous.

They ended up saying no. I think that's something worth noting. They had talks, but we're not privy to the specifics. Was it Rios for Cain straight up? Rios plus prospects? Cain plus prospects? Lincecum plus prospects? Did the Blue Jays approach the Giants, or was it vice versa? Which side pulled the plug? Any team would be foolish to brush aside trade talks for a certain player because they consider the player untradeable. If the Cubs offered Lee, Ramirez, Marmol, and Zambrano for Cain and Lincecum, the Giants would be fools to pass on that package. Those two teams had trade talks, but the specifics of those talks are critical to assessing any potential availability of those two. Frankly, I have my doubts that the Cubs could get either. The minor league system is really bad right now and the young players of interest are either critical to the Cubs' success (Soto, Marmol) or are struggling badly enough to significantly lower their trade value (Murton, Hill, Pie).

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=195315 The draft basically looks like this talent-wise, imo. 1a) Rose 1b) Beasley ... 3) Brook Lopez ... ... 4) Jerryd Bayless (I think he's got an awesome upside. Another year at AZ would have solidified him as the #1 overall pick, imo.) 5) OJ Mayo (Love his talent, although his brain needs a lot of work.) ... ... ... ... ... ... Everyone else Basically speaking, after those four, you're rolling the dice. The guys with polish have really low ceilings (Hibbert) and the guys with high ceilings have major flaws (Anthony Randolph's 10.5% 3 point completion percentage despite being a wing, Donte Greene's laziness). You might get an All Star, you might get a decent bench guy, or you might get an outright bust. The odds with the top five are rather favorable, but the rest...well, better hope you have a good scouting department if all of those guys are off the board.

Gordon was hilarious. He kept racing ahead of the music, realizing he was ahead, pausing to let the music catch up to the next lyric, then singing too fast again, realizing he needed to pause again, etc. It was like he wanted to sing it as a fast punk rock song but the organist wasn't cooperating. I started booing him the moment he said, "Wrigley Stadium." The entire crowd followed suit in a hurry. Link!