Outshined_One

Prior to this picture being taken, So Taguchi was walking out of the shower with a towel around his waist. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong time to walk past the buffet table.

I notice Tim is conspicuous by his absence. :D

They'll get him for John Rodriguez. Just watch.

What, no mod edited my post to put stuff in it? Boo that. I'll be updating this after dinner.

Sorry about that folks, I was in Cleveland and thought I'd have wireless access at the hotel. Turns out, I had to pay $10 for one night's use...no thanks.

The entire coaching staff and front office should have been fired on the spot when they pitched Wood the day before he was scheduled to undergo surgery while the Cubs were firmly out of the playoff hunt. There was no reason for him to even be available on that day! None whatsoever!!!

Past #1 & #2 picks since 1980: 1980 - Darryl Strawberry (#1), Gary Harris (#2) 1981 - Mike Moore (#1), Joe Carter (#2) 1982 - Shawon Dunston (#1), Augie Schmidt (#2) 1983 - Tim Belcher (#1), Kurt Stillwell (#2) 1984 - Shawn Abner (#1), Bill Swift (#2) 1985 - BJ Surhoff (#1), Will Clark (#2) 1986 - Jeff King (#1), Greg Swindell (#2) 1987 - Ken Griffey Jr. (#1), Mark Merchant (#2) 1988 - Andy Benes (#1), Mark Lewis (#2) 1989 - Ben McDonald (#1), Tyler Houston (#2) 1990 - Chipper Jones (#1), Tony Clark (#2) 1991 - Brien Taylor (#1), Mike Kelly (#2) 1992 - Phil Nevin (#1), Paul Shuey (#2) 1993 - Alex Rodriguez (#1), Darren Dreifort (#2) 1994 - Paul Wilson (#1), Ben Grieve (#2) 1995 - Darin Erstad (#1), Ben Davis (#2) 1996 - Kris Benson (#1), Travis Lee(#2) 1997 - Matt Anderson (#1), JD Drew (#2) 1998 - Pat Burrell (#1), Mark Mulder (#2) 1999 - Josh Hamilton (#1), Josh Beckett (#2) 2000 - Adrian Gonzalez (#1), Adam Johnson (#2) 2001 - Joe Mauer (#1), Mark Prior (#2) 2002 - Bryan Bullington (#1), BJ Upton (#2) 2003 - Delmon Young (#1), Rickie Weeks (#2) 2004 - Matt Bush (#1), Justin Verlander (#2) 2005 - Justin Upton (#1), Alex Gordon (#2) 2006 - Luke Hochevar (#1), Greg Reynolds (#2) Uhhhhhhh...define "great". A-Rod and Ken Griffey Jr. are first ballot HOFers...but after that, the list gets a bit dicey. Some very good players are on there...but great? It's a bit early to cast judgment on a number of guys on this list, though. We'll see how they pan out over the coming years.

If they swing a trade for a good starter, they'll be in the hunt. I wonder if they'd swap Kerry Wood for Bailey and Bruce? Hmmmmm... :D ;)

I especially enjoy the fact that his throws back into the IF from shallow center take at least four bounces to get there.

It's not so much reading the message board as it is seeing a general fan reaction to guys. Cripes, pitchers such as JK Ryu and Rich Hill have been ripped on sports radio even though neither of them have pitched very much. It's like Cubs fans absolutely demand that these guys be veterans, you know? As unfortunate as it may sound, adversity and taking your lumps is part of the maturation process all pitchers go through. Proclaiming this guy as the next big thing is not a very good approach to take both from the fan's perspective and from Marmol's perspective.

Box Scores Iowa lost 3-1 Box Score SS/2B/SS R. Theriot 1/4, 2B (7) CF F. Pie 0/3, BB, 3 K RF M. Restovich 1/3, BB, R, 3B (2) 1B M. Hoffpauir 1/2, 2 BB, RBI 3B C. McGehee 0/4, 2 K 2B M. Fontenot 0/2, BB 2B B. Coats 0/1, K LF L. Montanez 1/4, K SP JK Ryu 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 8/0 K/BB, 6-4 GO-FO West Tenn won 6-4 Box Score RF C. Walker 1/5, K 2B E. Patterson 3/4, BB, R, RBI, 2B (13), 2 SB (18) LF N. Jackson 1/3, 2 BB, R, RBI, HR (1), SB (9) 1B B. Sing 2/5, R, RBI, K, E (1, missed catch) 3B S. Moore 1/5, 2B (18), 2 K DH R. Lewis 0/3, R, K, PO (1B), HBP C J. Reyes 2/3, BB, R, RBI SP M. Prior 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4/2 K/BB, HR, 1-9 GO-FO Daytona lost 2-0 Box Score CF S. Fuld 1/4, 2B (10), K 2B N. Spears 0/4 C J. Fox 0/4, K 1B M. Craig 0/3, BB, K RF R. Harvey 0/4, K SS J. Simokaitis 2/3 SP C. Perez 7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1/5 K/BB, 13-6 GO-FO Peoria won 2-0 Box Score CF D. Gregg 1/4, K, CS (7) SS D. Johnston 1/4 LF J. Valdez 0/4, 2 K RF Y. Carter 0/4 DH R. Norwood 2/4, R 1B M. Reed 0/1, BB, CS (4) 3B K. Reynolds 1/3, R, RBI, 2B (3) C J. Muyco 0/3, 3 K 2B J. Mota 1/2, BB, RBI SP J. Yepez 6.2 scoreless, 4 H, 0/4 K/BB, 12-7 GO-FO RP E. Campusano 1 perfect, 2-1 GO-FO OVERALL: 2-2

There's nothing wrong with enthusiasm. However, this board has been overreacting to the recently called up rookie pitchers quite a bit this season. Given that these guys are rookies and have not had a whole lot of meaningful time in the big leagues so far, I think that is quite unfair to them. Marmol has done quite well in his limited time so far...but I think people can afford to be patient before passing that kind of judgment on him. Things such as unrealistic expectations can really hurt a guy, ya know?

Funny thing is, he apparently is related to the actor Ray Liotta.

It's a complicated issue at this point in time for me. A couple of things that are noteworthy: -He wasn't going to be available in the 5th round, as rumors had placed him going as early as 29 to the White Sox prior to the draft. -In BA's Top 200 prospects, Colvin was ranked around 147 or so. Their initial scouting reports on him talked about how he was probably going to be a guy selected in the first three rounds and was solid all-around. However, that report was a bit out of date since a bunch of guys were seemingly overdrafted and slipped to impressive degrees (LaPorta, Walden, etc). Stocks change all the time with these things. -There were some more desirable bats and arms on the board when the Cubs picked. Guys like Travis Snider, Chris Parmelee, Matt Antonelli, Jeremy Jeffress, Kyle Drabek, Daniel Bard, and Hank Conger were all names thrown around in the past few weeks as possibilities. We knew more about those guys, as places like BA, Milb.com, and Brewerfan all focused on them. -Colvin started out the season in some obscene slump, going something like 4 for 36. However, as the season went on, he vastly improved his contact and managed to bring his numbers up to respectable levels. He was playing really well going into the tournament and his stock was clearly on the rise. Had he performed at that level all year, his stock would have been significantly better. -During that tear he went on, his power managed to jump a tick as he began to hit more line drives into the gaps than he had in previous points in his career. If he can hit 15-20 HRs in a season and do a decent job in CF, there's something to be reasonably interested in with this guy. -His K/BB numbers are somewhat respectable, but they will have to be monitored closely as he switches to wood bats and faces more advanced pitching. I'm going to wait and see with this guy. He should sign relatively quickly, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Boise or Peoria by the end of the month at the latest. Everyone should have a better idea of what he could bring to the table by the end of the minor league season, needless to say.

From the 6/4 game thread:

He threw 124 pitches in the process, too. Man, Felipe loves running that guy into the ground.

Ironically, Pawelek signed for a really reasonable price, which was announced about two rounds after he was drafted. He's a Boras client, to boot. The Kotsay comp might not be a bad one. His K/BB is something that merits watching, though.

Box Scores Iowa with an off day West Tenn lost 5-4 Box Score CF C. Walker 2/4, R, 3B (4), K, CS (6), PO LF N. Jackson 2/4 2 2B (13), 2 RBI 1B B. Dopirak 0/3, BB, K 3B S. Moore 0/3, BB, K RF B. Sing 1/4, R, K DH R. Lewis 1/3, BB, RBI, 3B (1), K C J. Reyes 1/4 PH E. Patterson 0/1, K SP JR Mathes 7 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 5/1 K/BB, 11-4 GO-FO Daytona lost 7-2 Box Score CF S. Fuld 0/5 C J. Fox 2/4, R, 2 RBI, HR (13) 1B M. Craig 1/4, 2 K RF R. Harvey 3/4 2B N. Spears 1/4, K SP M. Billek 4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2/2 K/BB, HR, 4-7 GO-FO Peoria won 5-2 Box Score 2B R. Chirinos 0/4, BB, R, K SS D. Johnston 1/5, RBI, K, CS (3) LF J. Valdez 3/5, 2 R, RBI, K DH R. Norwood 1/4, BB, 2 K RF Y. Carter 0/3, BB, RBI 1B M. Reed 1/4, RBI, 3 K 3B K. Reynolds 0/4, 2 K C J. Muyco 3/3, BB, R, 2B (4) CF D. Gregg 2/4, R, 2B (5) SP T. Blackford 6 scoreless, 2 H, 4/5 K/BB, 12-2 GO-FO OVERALL: 1-2

He's a career minor leaguer who's 29 years old who's been bounced around the STL, KC, and FLA minor league teams, including a brief stint in the majors with KC where he got shelled. I'd like to see the guy succeed and everything, but the odds of that happening are really slim.

Michael Vick and Mewelde Moore were taken in the 2000 MLB Draft, as memory serves me. I think both were taken on the second day as position players, though. Samardzija is not "far and away" the best WR in this upcoming draft class, though. In terms of seniors, Jason Hill (Washington State) should be able to push him for that distinction. The junior class is absolutely filthy, though. If he came out, most people would give the "Best WR in the Draft" distinction to Calvin Johnson out at Georgia Tech. Some people think he could be the best player in the 2007 draft, period. Other people really like Dwayne Jarrett (Southern Cal) and Sidney Rice (South Carolina) over Samardzija. Granted, we'll see what happens in the fall. It pretty much hinges on who comes out and who doesn't, along with injuries and production (much like any other draft). Given his speed limitations and possible commitment to the Cubs, I have a feeling he might slip in the draft.

They basically gave up in Asia when Leon Lee left. They're doing a pretty good job in Venezuela and the DR, though. I'm curious to see how guys like Mario Mercedes and Johnny Mota turn out.

Cal Poly strikes again!

LaPorta is still on the board.

I particularly enjoyed seeing him swing and miss on a few occasions. That made me have tremendous faith in the pick.

L/L CF Andrew Rundle, Bend HS (OR) Another all around decent guy with no standout tools who can play CF. Weeeee.