Outshined_One

What ever happened to that 3B everyone was giddy about this past season, Iwamura?

The NL starter was announced as being Chris Carpenter.

Yep, I'm leaving early tomorrow morning! My first stop is in Boston, then it's a short stop off in New Haven, followed by staying with my sister and brother in law in NYC for a few days. Then after that, we're going to Philly for a short stay, then Ann Arbor as the last stop on the trip. I'm bringing my laptop with me and should have internet access at the very least in Boston and NYC. However, I will probably only be on minimally to check in on some things. I'll be back home likely in little over a week (probably a week from Tuesday). Until then, BOCF is in charge of these threads. You kids be good! :P

Actually Hill has been pitching since his Freshman year at the University of Michigan in 2000. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/rich_hill.shtml My apologies, I must've been thinking of someone else. Carlos Marmol, imo.

Sad to hear that about Connolly. How's Buck Coats looked in CF?

The Reds Zone kiddies don't seem to like this trade idea since they think they're giving up too much. We seem to think we're giving up too much. Guess this deal's even, then. :D

Don't forget Boof. Lerew is now in for the World Team.

I like Wood and Zambrano, but a guy with a high of 14 games won in 6 plus major league seasons and a guy that is too emotional to ever win a big game are not exactly untouchable. Wins are one of the most overrated stats in baseball as it is. Considering the offenses and bullpens that this team has had, it's a miracle anyone has ever won 15 or more games in the past 10 years. Wood's an enigma to me. There are times when he'll flash moments of dominance and seem to have turned the corner. Today was a pretty good example of the pitcher he could be when he's on. When he keeps his pitch counts down and keeps his mechanics in line, he can be a dominator. He's a gamer. Games 1 and 5 of the 2003 NLDS were both terrific examples of the kind of pitcher you'd want him to be. But then there are the injuries and inconsistency. He has yet to show even a three month stretch of dominance. He loses his release point, then it completely wrecks his mechanics. When his mechanics go, the injuries happen. Wood no longer lives in the Texas area (I think he lives in AZ now?), so I don't think a trade to the Rangers would cause him to jump up and down with glee. He and his wife love it in Chicago, so the likelihood of him being traded is not all that good. That said...if he were willing to waive his no trade clause and the right deal came along, I wouldn't mind trading him. Especially if the Cubs land Burnett (who has similar problems to Wood, fyi).

Okay, here are some of my assumptions coming into the 2006 season. 1) The Cubs end up being sellers at the 2005 trading deadline. Corey Patterson, Greg Maddux, Todd Hollandsworth, Glendon Rusch, Jerry Hairston, and Mike Remlinger are all traded at some point. 2) Dusty "retires" following the season. 3) Nomar Garciaparra thanks Cubs fans for their support, but leaves for greener pastures in free agency. 4) Due to the Rule V crunch, Jim Hendry will decide to trade certain guys away in order to make room for players such as Sean Marshall and Felix Pie as well as to get value for them. Out the door are a decent number of AA and AAA starters and relievers, which will likely include guys like John Koronka, Jon Leicester, Bobby Brownlie, and Ricky Nolasco. Jason Dubois and David Kelton will also be traded. 5) Acquired in these trades will be offensive help, including a CF and a RF. The players: LF Matt Murton CF Vernon Wells RF Trot Nixon 3B Aramis Ramirez SS Ronnie Cedeno 2B Todd Walker 1B Derrek Lee C Michael Barrett Bench IF Michael Fontenot OF Adam Greenberg 4 other players including a backup catcher, three utility guys, and another lefthander. Rotation Mark Prior Carlos Zambrano Kerry Wood Jerome Williams Rich Hill Bullpen Closer: Ryan Dempster Setup Man: Michael Wuertz Long Man: Todd Wellemeyer 3 other pitchers including a LOOGY and maybe Scott Williamson Vernon Wells is in a similar situation to Corey Patterson in Toronto right now (although with less strikeouts), so I think a change of scenery might not be the worst of ideas for him. Boston has shown willingness to deal their players to the Cubs in the past with Nomar and I think they might be interested in taking Corey Patterson off our hands, plus Nixon would add a nice lefty bat to the lineup. Other than that, I think this team could compete in 2006 and beyond. The offense would be potent, the bullpen would be solid given the right acquisitions, and the starting pitching would be pretty darn good.

Doable, but problematic. 1) I think Sergio Mitre's best value to any organization is as a starter. Sinkerball pitchers tend to need an inning or two to find their right mechanical groove and to get everything set, typically. Having him as a reliever would just be problematic, imo. 2) That would be one of the worst collection of arms in an OF I've seen. Murton was a LF coming up through the Boston system; clearly they knew his speed and arm limitations would be a non-issue in Fenway. Damon would be a nice acquisition, but I'd be leery of the contract he's been seeking. Jerry in LF wouldn't be ideal, in my opinion. 3) We're unsure of whether or not Williamson will come back 100%, if at all. If he comes back ala Dempster last season, then yes, that'd be a nice pickup. 4) With the emergence of Dempster, I'm unsure of whether or not this team really needs to splurge on a closer like Ryan or Wagner. Closers tend to be overused and expensive...I'm not so sure I'd like seeing that. 5) Aside from Wagner/Ryan, you have no left handers in that bullpen. I'll be posting my own lineups in a moment...

Come on Jack, start Lenny Harris over Mike Lowell! You know you want to. :D

Box Scores West Tenn won 4-3 Box Score 2B R. Theriot 0/4, BB CF B. Coats 1/4, R 3B C. McGehee 0/4 RF B. Sing 3/4, R, RBI, 2B (25) 1B M. Craig 1/4, R, 2 RBI, HR (8) LF M. Hoffpauir 2/4 C J. Reyes 1/4, R, RBI, HR (2) PH D. Bacon 0/1 PH JK Ryu 0/1 (heh) SP R. Nolasco 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 6/2 Peoria lost 12-10 Box Score CF S. Fuld 4/5, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B (20) 2B E. Patterson 3/5, BB, 2 R, 2 SB (27), CS (9) DH R. Harvey 0/5 LF B. Flowers 1/5, R, RBI, SB (8) SS J. Simokaitis 0/3, 2 BB, 2 R SP C. Shaver 6 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 5/1, HR Boise won 4-2 Box Score CF D. Gregg 3/4, BB, 2 SB (16), CS (5) LF A. Joseph 0/4, BB DH K. Reynolds 2/4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR (2) 1B C. Gaskin 1/3, BB, R, 2B (4) C J. Muyco 1/3, BB RF J. Valdez 1/4, R, RBI, 2B (2) 2B S. Hode 2/4, RBI SS J. Mota 0/2, BB SP J. Yepez 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3/2 Daytona, Mesa, and Iowa all are off today. OVERALL: 2-1

He's still clearly on a limited pitch count. I have no problem with the Cubs keeping Pawelek down in Mesa for the remainder of the season so he can improve his game and iron out his mechanics as much as possible. He may see Boise at some point this season, but Peoria is just unrealistic, imo.

Macias comes through!

Always hilarious to see Z chug around the bases. :lol:

Carlos Zambrano is pinch running for Greenberg.

That was just scary. He's smiling and laughing, though.

Holy mackeral. That sucked.

Strikes plz.

Pawelek posted another nice line today.

And there goes my fantasy team.

1 Jerry Hairston Jr., CF Juan Pierre, CF 2 Todd Walker, 2B Luis Castillo, 2B 3 Derrek Lee, 1B Carlos Delgado, 1B 4 Aramis Ramirez, 3B Miguel Cabrera, LF 5 Michael Barrett, C Paul Lo Duca, C 6 Jeromy Burnitz, RF Jeff Conine, RF 7 Neifi Perez, SS Mike Lowell, 3B 8 Matt Murton, LF Alex Gonzalez, SS 9 Kerry Wood, P Scott Olsen, P

Where'd you get your numbers?

Box Scores Iowa is off until July 14th West Tenn won 4-3 in the 10th Box Score CF D. Bacon 1/5, R, 3B (3) 2B R. Theriot 0/4, RBI 1B M. Hoffpauir 0/4 3B C. McGehee 0/4 RF B. Sing 1/4, R SS B. Coats 2/4, R, 2B (19) C J. Reyes 2/3, BB, R, 3 RBI, 2B (8), HR (1) SP S. Marshall 8 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 8/1 RP D. Aardsma 1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2/2 Daytona's DH PPD: Rain Peoria lost 10-5 Box Score CF S. Fuld 1/3, 2 BB, 2 R, 2B (18) 2B E. Patterson 2/4, BB, R RF R. Harvey 1/5, 2 RBI, 2B (17) LF B. Flowers 1/4, RBI, SB (7) 1B D. Larsen 0/3 SS J. Simokaitis 0/3, BB, R, SB (2) SP G. Johnson 4.2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 1 ER, 3/3, HR RP M. Weber 4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5/0, HR Boise lost 6-3 Box Score CF D. Gregg 2/5, 2 RBI LF C. Quinones 1/5 SS K. Reynolds 1/4, R DH E. Puello 1/3, BB, R C J. Muyco 3/3, BB, R 1B C. Gaskin 3/4, RBI SS J. Mota 0/4 SP M. Atkins 4.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3/2 Mesa won 7-3 Box Score 2B E. Serrano 2/5, R, RBI, 2B (1) CF R. Brown 0/5 RF D. Lewis 1/4, R, RBI, 2B (2) LF R. Episcopo 0/1, 2 BB, R 1B R. Canzler 3/3, BB, 2 R, RBI, 2B (3) SS S. Baez 0/3 SP M. Pawelek 3 scoreless, 2 H, 2/1 OVERALL: 2-2

Let the record show that Cabrera's body never touched the ball and he intentionally kicked it foul.