Outshined_One

Wonder why the hell I put Neifi Perez in my lineup. ;)

As a general rule, I tend to disfavor stolen base attempts. When you have a guy who is 65% effective, that suggests to me that he either is a below average baserunner in terms of judging reads (or something comparable) or that he had a moron for a manager. However, there are some cases where I'm fine with stolen bases, even if a guy does not have ideal speed. There are plenty of pitchers (Maddux) and catchers (Piazza) who are poor when it comes to holding and throwing out baserunners. These instances tend not to pop up very often. More often than not, I'd rather not have guys try to steal bases.

Meaning? I'm aware of the small sample size but how often do you continue to steal with him? What if he gets thrown out the next time and is now 2-5? When is the sample the correct size? I don't think anyone on this board goes by pure numbers Cuse, you know that. Nobody is going to send Adam Dunn on a bunch of stolen base escapades over the course of the season in order to determine whether he'd be 75% successful or not. Pie has an established history in the minors and the coaches know what he is capable of doing on the basepaths. Once Pie gets a reasonable sample size, then we can make the judgment as to whether or not he should be stealing with any regularity.

What precisely is it about Ichiro that you think causes pitchers to become careful with him and more likely to make mistakes than with Murton? Assuming that Ichiro and Murton both see the same mistake pitch, which hitter do you think has a better chance of making that pitcher pay for his mistake? While Ichiro has the upper hand in batting average, Murton is a much greater power threat than Ichiro. While Ichiro is not quite Juan Pierre-like in that pitchers could simply throw him fastballs down the middle without worrying about the consequences, Ichiro still is primarily a contact hitter without much power. While Murton isn't a hulking monstrosity, he still has a good chance to put up 20-25 HRs in a season. Look, I'd understand your argument if we were talking about someone like Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, or Barry Bonds. Some hitters in the game get special treatment from pitchers because of their good eyes and ability to hit the holy crap out of a pitch. I don't see Ichiro in nearly the same category as those guys. That particular package would seriously hurt the Cubs offensively (and pitching-wise). The defensive upgrade would not nearly be enough to offset the difference in runs.

I understand your win now attitude, but this statement is puzzling to me. While a number of people discard statistics beyond your typical AVG, RBI, R, and so on, I think a number of traditional people would have a problem with something like perception. Following what you sad, if you asked these same pitchers to name the Top 5 leadoff hitters in baseball right now, I'm willing to bet the vast majority would have Juan Pierre among those names. However, those of us who watched Pierre day in, day out all of last season would almost certainly exclude Pierre from that list. Perception does not get you wins. Perhaps those 90 some-odd pitchers would rather face Ichiro, but I'm willing to bet Murton would get better results against those pitchers than Ichiro would next season. Also, future and salary issues aside, this would not be a straight up trade of Murton for Ichiro. The original poster advocated Murton+J.Jones+Marshall+Gallagher as an opening package. Assuming the Mariners took the offer, you'd have the following OF (assuming Pie is in AAA to start the season): Ward/Floyd - Soriano - Ichiro That OF would be much less productive than Murton - Soriano - Jones (with Floyd and Ward on the bench). Given Floyd's fragile body, there's no guarantee that he would be able to play LF most days, leaving Ward as the everyday LF. Maybe Pie can come up and make the OF Soriano - Pie - Ichiro, but it's difficult to say whether Pie would be an improvement over Floyd/Ward, given that he has yet to play in the majors. Secondly, you'd be giving up Marshall and Gallagher. While both have their share of question marks, depth might well be a critical issue this season. After Prior's panic-inducing performance yesterday, a nagging doubt about his ability to start every fifth day is coming to the forefront. If the fifth starter spot becomes a legitimate issue, the Cubs might face some serious problems if they do not have any workable options. Lord help us if someone else goes down with an injury in that situation. In essence, by trading for Ichiro with that package, you run a substantial risk of reducing your outfield's total offensive output and reduce potentially critical pitching depth in the process. That's not a risk this team can afford to take.

He was paid a big bonus, had a good season at low-A at age 17, has a high ceiling and has a relatively good idea at the plate. You forgot the fact that he's a Met. If he were a Royal, he wouldn't be sniffing this list.

If there's anyone who knows Hill with the Cubs, it'd be Wilken. Wonder what he'd think about picking Hill up?

Ronny Cedeno - Ron Ce Mark Prior - Mark Previous Carlos Zambrano - The Lawnmower Cliff Floyd - Cliffy, Pink Floyd, Tim's Brother from Another Mother Cesar Izturis - Izzy, Hail Cesar, Little Cesar Angel Guzman - Gooz Carlos Marmol - The Marmot

Can someone please explain to me why the heck Fernando Martinez is getting such an ungodly amount of hype?

Ronny walked? Wow.

Soriano with the old question mark route.

Heh, Gonzalez nearly swung out of his shoes on that one.

Nice job turning into that, Mackowiak.

Nice K!

Seriously, the hit & run is one of the most counter-productive managerial moves in baseball. Why do people even bother with it?

Hit and run?! :x :evil:

so you like that low and outside strike called on DLee. :lol: I'd like it better if he called that same strike when Hill was facing Konerko!

Ump has a weird zone today...as always.

Patience? Who needs patience? :D

It's pretty much looking at the system in a vaccuum, without accounting for trades or drafting. Think of it like, "If the Cubs have the exact same major and minor league team in 2010 as now, what would the lineup look like, accounting for age and development?" In other words, it's not something really worth reading into. Cripes, this is the Florida Marlins' projected lineup:

They traded Sheffield and RJ for a bunch of right handed pitching prospects, which could mean they're positioning themselves for a deal at the deadline, considering their system lacks much depth.

Any reports on Miller's velocity?

PETA must love the guy. ;)

I've been watching Washington/UCLA. Something tells me CR is twitching at the moment.

*Breathes out* Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh! MSU is going to be dangerous in the tourney.