Outshined_One

Lee took two hard swings in that AB.

Wait, Estes is the #2 for San Diego? Wow, and I thought our pitching was badly off...

That was a dumb decision. Bunting over a 6'10 pitcher doesn't typically work.

Wind howling out, short fences in LF and RF. Should be a fun night. Pierre Walker Lee Rammy Jones Barrett Murton Cedeno Marshall

Do you think Len got carded at the blackjack tables?

http://www.orlyowl.com/upload/files/OwlButtsecks.png

Anyone got lineups?

Thanks for the update! If you happen to know Gallagher or some one who knows him well, wish him luck for us! :D

Go Marshall!

Their AA team last season was deeper than a number of systems in baseball.

Is it me, or does that picture make it look like Julian is doing the Ride the Pony?

He already was added to the 40 man to avoid the Rule V Draft, as I recall.

There's always that danger. Hendry has managed to assemble a team that doesn't flat-out suck, at the least. Granted, this franchise is still inept in certain areas, but an 80 win season is preferable to a 70 win one, ya know?

If there is one player who said ask for a trade, it should be Church. I could see Bowden trading Church to the Cards for Marquis, or some other Cards scrub. Shhhhhhhhhh! Don't give him any ideas...

Zambrano on his way to hitting for the cycle. ;)

Seriously, is there some way the Cubs could work Zambrano into the lineup every day? :D

Considering his reported demands for Lugo and Huff (which weren't much different from LaMar's), I really don't think it was premature.

Meh, I figure he could be a decent 25th man off the bench.

He also was a Mets prospect, which automatically boosts his credibility by a factor of 10. At least Cubs prospects seem to only have it by a factor of five or so...

Rumors that Bowden wanted him to play fifth base are unconfirmed at this point.

I thought LeMar was fired after the 2005 season? He was, but his replacement (Hunsicker I think?) hasn't been much of a step up.

Ladies and gentlemen, this system may well have its very own Bill Brasky with Holdzkom!

I have a couple of things to throw in there... 1) In spring training, a number of guys are not trying to be competitive or go all-out. With some pitchers, they might just be tossing pitches down the middle of the plate to build up arm strength. I think there is some credence to the idea that guys who are fighting for spots will try harder, but I don't think they're going to go out there and go all-out. That'd just kill them over the course of a long season. 2) Wasn't Dusty talking about starting off the season with a four man rotation thanks to the off days? What ever happened to that? 3) Since he pitched at VCU starting in 2001, Marshall has never thrown more than 100 innings in a season. The closest he ever got was 94 IP last season. His finger and shoulder injuries factored into this heavily, but I would be concerned for his endurance over the course of a season. He seems like a prime candidate for dead arm syndrome come July or August, assuming he stays healthy. 4) Guzman hasn't thrown more than 100 innings since 2002, when he combined for 150 IP between Lansing and Daytona. Since then, he's had a number of arm injuries holding him back. I'm not linking his arm injuries with his workload, but again, I worry about his endurance. There's something to be said for having these guys last over the course of a season and not burning them out in a hurry. I'm not saying it would be unwise to have Guzman and Marshall 4-5 for this very reason, but perhaps it is something that should be taken into consideration considering their respective injury histories. If they're in the minors, no one would care if they were kept on pitch counts and didn't rack up many innings early in the season. The same can't really be said for games in the majors.

I understand that this thread is dedicated to Zambrano, but come on, you're making it seem like he has a unique problem. You've discounted a number of Roger Clemens' antics on the field by saying he only had one emotional outburst during his career when he did something a number of times worse than anything Zambrano has done in a much more pressure-filled situation that could have had long-term ramifications if it weren't for the fact that the Mets sucked a little less than the rest of the NL that year. Heck, the only thing Raj ever got for that was Shawn Estes' hilarious retaliation that next season when Estes tried throwing behind him and failed miserably. As most Red Sox fans will tell you, Roger had his share of outbursts on the mound during his time with them. When Zambrano's antics get out of control, he'll go and do something out there like call out the umpire or throw at an opposing hitter. That will get a player ejected or at the very least warned. I cannot recall many instances of that happening last season. As it was mentioned above, he was ejected only twice in April; that was it. He didn't antagonize the umpires to the point of losing it after that. You're unfairly singling out Zambrano here. A number of pitchers throw tantrums on the mound. In the dugout and in the clubhouse, pitchers and position players will call each other out and get into arguments and, on occasion, fights. Grudges can be held. Things can get completely out of hand and spill into the media. At the very least, Zambrano is willing to man up and apologize for his actions. He also is well-liked in the clubhouse, from all accounts. Those are things I haven't seen or heard Roger Clemens do very much of in his long career. You're treating Zambrano like he's a cancer on this team because he does nothing but complain and that his emotions are out of control when things aren't going his way. Maybe you're not saying it, but you sure as heck are implying it. Guess what? It happens to most pitchers in baseball. Guys who were even more animated and intense than Zambrano managed to have long and productive careers. Zambrano has managed to grow up since he broke into baseball and also has grown up a ton in the past two years alone. The fact that he was a legitimate Cy Young candidate in 2004 and that he managed to improve on a number of statistics in 2005 (IP, K/BB, K/9, BAA) along with reducing his number of hit batters from 20 in 2004 to 8 in 2005 should say quite a bit about how together he is. If you can't see that, well, I don't know what else is left to say.

Thank you. :D One of the things that stuck out about last season was how Zambrano progressed emotionally over the course of the season. Instead of screaming curse words at the ump or opposing team, he'd turn around and do it into his glove (much like Maddux does). There was one particular instance where Zambrano was absolutely spectacular on the mound with CB Bucknor behind the plate and squeezing him (I want to say he helped cost Z a no-no), but Zambrano managed to keep his cool on the mound and didn't explode at CB. When Dusty came out to remove Zambrano, CB complimented Z by telling Dusty that he threw one heck of a game out there. We also have to remember that Zambrano is still only 24 years old (!!!). Most pitchers at his age are either in the high minors or just getting called up. While Zambrano is almost a veteran in terms of his major league experience, he still is a young man who needs to work on his emotional maturity. I think he has progressed by leaps and bounds since The Edmonds Incident two years ago. He still has some rough edges to work out, but I don't think he's any worse than some of the players who constantly bark at the umpires, show up other teams, and feud with players on other teams.