Outshined_One

If he has a great year in 2007, something tells me he won't be eligible for this list next offseason. :D

Here's a list of all of the Cubs pitchers who've been on BA's Top 100 Prospects list since 2000: Mark Pawelek (#85, 2006) Angel Guzman (#88, 2005) Angel Guzman (#24, 2004) Justin Jones (#56, 2004) Andy Sisco (#77, 2004) Bobby Brownlie (#92, 2004) Angel Guzman (#47, 2003) Andy Sisco (#53, 2003) Mark Prior (#2, 2002) Juan Cruz (#6, 2002) Carlos Zambrano (#80, 2002) Juan Cruz (#18, 2001) Ben Christensen (#37, 2001) Carlos Zambrano (#68, 2001) Note that Hill was never on any of these lists. Believe me, the Cubs have had plenty of really good pitching prospects who never lived up to the hype.

Kyle Farnsworth can always be thrown onto this list if we want to play this game.

Kudos to Raisin for the list: Made it to the majors but never lived up to the hype: Juan Cruz, Andy Sisco, Jae-Kuk Ryu Never made it to the majors: Bobby Brownlie, Luke Hagerty, Chadd Blasko, Matt Clanton, Justin Jones, Ben Christiensen Wild Card: Angel Guzman, Billy Petrick

Do you want the list of guys who made it to the majors and didn't live up to the hype or guys who were hyped but never made it to the majors? Believe me, there's plenty of both over the past few years.

He's up there in terms of having the highest pure ceiling along with guys like Pawelek, Ceda, Huseby, and Veal. I'm hesitant to put him above Veal ceiling-wise, but that's about it. As for being the best prospect, nah. I want to see what he can do over a full season before going as far as that.

Samardzija is more refined. Ceda's likely to start next season at Boise while Samardzija is reportedly going to start off at Daytona.

Remember your Andrew Brackman comp? :o

Quickly: -Reports on his fastball velocity vary, but he was working in the low to mid 90s and apparently was able to dial it up to 98/99. -His breaking ball and changeup are both works in progress. Both have the potential to be good pitches, but he needs to work on them a bit more extensively. -Being a guy who played WR most of his life and had the potential to be a first round draft pick, he has a solid frame that's pretty well filled up. The guy keeps himself in good shape. -He's really raw. While he's been a two sport guy for most of his life, he's focused primarily on football. On the upside of this, it means that he has less wear and tear on his arm than some other guys his age, which is a nice bonus. -He's likable and coachable. Boise's coaches were impressed with him during his limited stint down there. -The one downside that I've heard about him that merits keeping an eye on is the fact that his fastball apparently doesn't have much movement to it. This could change now that he's focusing on baseball, but it's something worth noting. It's a good pickup for the Cubs, imo. The biggest step for him will be pitching a full season, given his limited time as a pitcher. If he is able to pitch 150 innings next season without any health or conditioning concerns, he'll have a really nice future.

I believe he's pretty much as filled out as he can get. You need a fair amount of muscle mass to play football, especially the way he plays WR in going over the middle and whatnot.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand now BA is backtracking on that story. Link So, that clears a good deal of confusion up. It also explains why a ton of other sources were reporting the $7.25m deal.

There is a positive point of view you can take towards this. Let's say that Prior is mostly healthy (misses maybe the first month of the season), but his stuff is not at the same level as it was back in 2003, posting something like a 110 ERA+ (above average, but not particularly stellar). Considering he's actually throwing and the Cubs are under the impression that he'll be ready to go, and also considering this insane pitching market, raising his salary a few hundred thousand dollars would be an outright bargain. Perhaps it won't happen, but these reports and the Cubs' recent activities give me some hope.

That's just sad.

Be careful with using hits as a measure of a hitter's value. Juan Pierre led the majors in hits last season and that didn't do the Cubs a whole lot of good. That's not to say Colvin will end up like Pierre, but it's a problematic way of viewing hitters.

He's basically begging the Bears to draft him, imo.

Bo Ryan never plays Northwestern well. I can't explain it for the life of me. Oh well, a win is a win. :D

Until proven otherwise, St. Louis is the favorite to win the Central.

Did you watch his game today? I would too. :shock: The sad thing is it looks like the Bulls will no longer be in the Greg Oden sweepstakes...the Knicks aren't bad enough. :x I have my doubts about Oden's offensive game after watching the Badgers contain him. His right hand isn't fully healthy yet and he has a long way to go when it comes to scoring and ball handling. He could come around over the next few months, but he might be best served by staying another year at Ohio State, imo. Then again, if Gasol is the best they have underneath, maybe they'll take Oden #1 overall after all. Yikes. Kevin Durant and Brandan Wright have both been pretty darn good so far, though. :shock:

Stats like ERA+ and OPS+ are simple. The higher over 100 a player is, the better he is. It's another one of those useful stats that compare players' performances to other players in their era. So, a 120 ERA+ would make Wade Miller a well-above average pitcher compared to his peers.

They'll probably want money and a prospect. I really can't think of anyone on that team or in their system who'd be worth Jock and would be useful to the Cubs. McLouth and Duffy are trash.

I was at the game tonight. Some thoughts... -Rudy Gay, once an uber-prospect, didn't start and basically loafed the entire time he played. He was constantly out of position under the basket and basically spent most of his downtime either with his hands on his hips or his knees, meaning he might have conditioning or injury issues. He also was making eyes with one of the Luvabulls, including on one play where he took his eyes off the rim to check on the woman. -Pau Gasol is an oddity. He gets some nice touch on his shots, but avoids the inside like the plague. On a particularly sweet play, Tyrus Thomas managed to block one of his shots, despite the height disadvantage. He reminds me a bit of Dirk Nowitzki, only without the killer instinct. -The game was a laugher by the second quarter. My buddy and I were hoping for the Bulls to get 100 points by the third quarter, but it was not meant to be. We still got free Big Macs, though. :D -I don't think the Grizzlies can do anything right. No one on that team really gives a crap. Errant passes went flying into the crowd, they have bad ball-handlers, and I think they didn't even really have a game plan. It was like one of those AYSO games for six year olds where all the little kids flock to the ball and there's no rhyme or reason to any of it. -Despite being without Wallace and Nocioni, the Bulls looked pretty solid out there. Deng, Hinrich, and Gordon have good chemistry with each other. PJ Brown is solid underneath and didn't have much trouble with anyone down there (neither did Sweetney, hilariously enough). Thomas is definitely an exciting player, but he needs to keep his focus and not make stupid mistakes. Skiles was chewing him out for two particularly dumb fouls tonight, which was fun to watch. Sefolosha is a star in the making. He has such a natural way of moving and hitting his shots that it's eye-opening. Once he gets consistent, he'll be a force. Fun game tonight! Bears tomorrow!!!! :D

I see more Jacque Jones in him than Luis Gonzalez.

If we're assuming health, I think he'll put up an ERA+ somewhere between 120 and 125 with a WHIP around 1.30. He's got the goods to be an effective pitcher when healthy. Having him around for 180 IP next season would be a HUGE boost. However, I'd be leery of making that assumption. This is the rotation as things look now: Z Hill Lilly Marquis ? Granted, Miller could beat out all of the other candidates in spring training, but I have a feeling that guys like Marshall and Guzman are going to put up a fight. Moreover, if by some miracle, Prior's ready to go at some point next season, he's going to have to boot someone out of there. This depends on Hill's own performance, as he still can be sent down without being exposed to waivers, but if he's pitching up to expectations, he's going nowhere. Someone could get injured and make this moot, but I'd rather not go that particular route. Plus, there's the fact that Miller hasn't gone over 100 IP since 2003. His four highest IPs in his career are 212, 187.1, 164.2, and 105. If he's healthy, great! But, we'll see if that happens.

Have we figured out what the heck caused Jerome Williams to fall off the map like he did last season?

That's pretty darn impressive. I enjoy the fact that Zambrano has gone out of his way to help out some of the young pitchers, such as how he took Guzman under his wing and this. A guy like Zambrano is worth his weight in gold. :lol: