brinoch

I liked it. I don't dislike Neifi. I just don't like him on the Cubs. Neifi to the Cards!

He probably shops there and wants a discount... ;)

They are in marketing, what do you expect? Sheesh. Give it a rest.

You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I see no evidence that he is weak-bodied, frail or brittle. You've done nothing to persuade me. He's a healthy young man who places an enormous strain on his arm in the course of pitching. Is Josh Beckett a wimp because of his blisters? What about Gagne and his multiple elbow surgeries (I believe he's on #3)? Kerry Wood? Jason Isringhausen? Injuries happen. Patricularly to pitchers. No, they're not wimps, they're liabilities at their contracts. Prior isn't at that point yet, but he will be in a couple years. Better to trade him before that happens. Guess what? Every pitcher is a liability in his contract. At any point, a pitcher could blow out his elbow. Pitching, by its very nature, is extremely hard on a human body. Injuries and breakdowns will happen. That's why you invest in additional pitching capability and develop young pitchers as much as you can.

Ah, yes the hamstring injury from running the bases. Indeed, he strained his hamstring. The one in his leg. The achilles injury was sustained in late 2003, but the effects carried into '04. Since we know that the elbow injury in #3 is the same as in #2, we can easily remove that from consideration as a strain. The achilles injury was inflammation in the tendon. Potentially a strain, and definitely something that caused problems. As discussed in #2, the elbow wasn't a sprain, it was an inflammation in the bone lining and nerves in the elbow. Missed a start. Some form of inflammation in the elbow. Missed one start. Shoulder strain. Will miss a month, and a goodly amount of time -- four starts at least. There are a lot of pitchers who miss a start every now and then, and a lot of guys who hit the DL once or twice a season. None of this means he's frail or brittle as you term it.

You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I see no evidence that he is weak-bodied, frail or brittle. You've done nothing to persuade me. He's a healthy young man who places an enormous strain on his arm in the course of pitching. Is Josh Beckett a wimp because of his blisters? What about Gagne and his multiple elbow surgeries (I believe he's on #3)? Kerry Wood? Jason Isringhausen? Injuries happen. Patricularly to pitchers.

Yes, I pitched. And even in ths short time I did, I learned to differentiate between normal soreness, strains and tweaks, and a tear. I strained my shoulder, wrist and elbow with unfortunate regularity because I overthrew a lot. I tore a ligament in my wrist, and I knew instantly that it was not just a strain. Unlike some of the others here, I am not bothered that Prior got checked out and was shut down. What bothers me is that a ML pitcher like Prior doesn't know his own body well enough to say outright whether something feels serious or not. Is he going to have to be sent to a specialist for every tweak he ever has? After going what I went through with own shoulder injury, I wouldn't mess around with it. If I feel anything odd, I'm heading to the doc.Seriously, my shoulder injury was the most serious thing to happen to me from sports and I didn't feel it until the next day. I thought maybe I slept funny, or there was a draft, or something. I wasn't sure. I should have gone to a doctor. Instead, it only got worse and worse as the inflammation around the tear grew. Two days later I couldn't sleep, do a push up, write, or even lift anything.

When I tore my rotator cuff, I had no idea what was wrong. It was sore the next day, but overly sore. I figured that something happened a little out of the ordinary and it would be fine. Well, it only got worse -- but I still didn't know what it was. It felt like a burning knot in my shoulder. Finally (a day or two later) I went to the doctor who ran the usual tests. He thought it was bursitis, and prescribed me some meds to calm it down. It didn't get better at all until extended rest, a cortisone injection and then lots of physical therapy and exercise. It's still not 100% back and this was like 9 months ago. On the other hand, with my ankle I knew right away. Sometimes you know, sometimes you don't.

Well, in the past two years of playing soccer, I've had a lot of injuries. Not counting the inevitable scrapes, bruises, and burns, here's the list: 1. strained left hamstring 2. broken upper right right rib 3. strained left groin 4. severely strained lower back (spasms included) 5. bruised right rib cage 6. sprained/torn right rotator cuff 7. Hyper-extended right elbow 8. severely sprained left ankle (re-"tweaked" twice in last three weeks) With the broken rib, I played, but out of position. I missed time for the back. I played with bruised ribs, though I took myself out of the game it occurred. The torn rotator cuff prevented me from throwing the ball, and I missed significant time. I missed one game with the sprained ankle after I reinjured it landing on another player's foot. In baseball terms, I've had the equivalent of at least 4 DL stints (probably 5) in two years. Can you find a soccer player with a similar list? And if not, what the heck does that mean? So, am I injury prone? Getting too old? Klutzy? Reckless? A wimp? Unlucky? The fact is that you simply don't know. You don't have a clue -- and you'll never know. Only I know, and perhaps my doctor. I feel the pain, and I can track the healing. I know when I can play, and when I can't. If I'm unsure, I ask my doctor and he lets me know. I have a game on Sunday, and I'm not sure I'm playing -- though I want to play. Am I pushing my recovery too quickly? Or am I ready to go back and play? How would you -- how could you -- know? Bill Frist tried to diagnose Terry Schiavo from a television screen. He was wrong. Let's not make the same mistake with Prior. Only he knows how his shoulder is healing. Calling him soft, injury-prone, and criticizing him for being injured so often doesn't mean anything. Pointing out his injuries doesn't make your assertion a fact. By the way, I'm a goalie -- for both indoor and outdoor teams. If you've never played goalie, it's both challenging and dangerous. My team calls me the suicide goalie. Why? Because I give up my body for the team. Here's how I was injured: 1. Unknown. Running to cut off a run, the hammy popped. 2. Kick to ribs. Came out to make a diving save, earned a kick in the ribs, breaking one. 3. Unknown. Came out to punch a cross out of the box. 4. Deep mud. Goal mouth was a deep mud pit, and my cleats stuck as I tried to push off and run. 5. Kick to ribs. Same side same place, same kind of play as #2. 6. Unknown. Probably on a dive. 7. Collision. Came out on a corner cross to punch the ball and the player headed my elbow as I was extended to deflect the cross. 8. Rolled ankle. Landed funny on an easy play. Being a major league pitcher is hard work. It's tough on the body. It's very hard on the elbow, the shoulder, the back, and it takes a lot of stamina. I doubt that Prior is soft. If anything, I suspect he tries to play through pain and the Cubs -- like my wife -- won't let him. Is my comparison anecdotal? You're damn right. But not more anecdotal than your injury evidence.

Jones sucks, but let's not overreact. If we didn't have Jones on the team Hendry could have given more money to players who deserve bigger contracts, like Neifi and Rusch... I'm fine with that, but Jones is Roberto Clemente compared to Patterson. What is this comparison based on? Ummm...Sorry but I'd take Jones over Patterson any day of the week. Patterson can't even start for Baltimore. Given that Jones plays RF and Patterson plays CF, why are we having this discussion? Apples to apples, please. Patterson v. Pierre and Burnitz v. Jones.

Well, crap.

What if Pinto, Nolasco, and Mitre pitch 3 out of every 5 days? Shut it, kitty-cat. Lest I offer the observation that the Marlins can field a rotation of Willis, Mitre, Nolasco, Pinto and Wellemeyer. I think I'd take that over Zambrano, Rusch, Maddux, Marshall and Williams. Granted, I like having that whole Wood, Miller and Prior combo... Boy, would a May-October of Zambrano, Prior, Wood, Miller and Maddux be insanely awesome. It really makes me drool. (And it brings to mind that JC was really quite correct about the Maddux signing. It's an expensive albatross now.)

I'm a big Sergio Mitre fan -- as evidenced by my defense of him for the past two seasons. I think he'll do very well in Miami's cavernous stadium. If the Marlins can score some runs for him, he'll do very well. Sergio will probably make a very solid 3 or 4 in the Marlins rotation for some time. By the way, Welly looked good today, too.

Yes. At least wait for him to suck for a few weeks first. He hasn't proven anything, that he sucks included. He still needs some time, but the early results aren't good. I know everyone wants our prospects to succeed, but Ronny looks absolutely overmatched at the plate. I just hope he can play great defense for the time being. Wow. He looked terrible in ST and in one game and gets labelled as overmatched. Meanwhile, he did fine last season everywhere he played. Let's give him a little time.

I think Len is very good. I like him quite a bit. I'm not really a fan of Brenly.

There's a thread discussing this in baseball discussions.

And you are an idiot. PERIOD! I will absolutely NOT blame Dusty Baker for this if it happens. That man gave all the opportunities in the world to Ronny Cedeno. He fricking GAVE him the job outright, and told him to relax. What does Ronny do? He lays eggs at the plate and commits 4 errors in the field in the spring! He doesn't deserve the job if he's going to commit errors like that. I want Ronny to succeed badly. Awesome skills, and a lot of potential. But I want to win too. And let's just get this straight now. NEIFI. PEREZ. IS. NOT. THAT. BAD! Now shut up and learn a little bit about baseball. That's an interesting way to make a first impression. This is your first warning. NSBB has a longstanding policy of debate and open discussion. That said, feel free to attack someone's post, but not the poster. If you disagree with what someone has to say, argue the point. Do not insult other posters. Do not call them names. Do not tell them to shut up and learn a little bit about baseball. Please click on the link in my sig and read the board's posting guidelines.

Can someone please rank the teams in order of srappiness, gamership and professional hitting please? I'll get on that right after I disprove Lavoisier and bring the Phlogiston theory back into modern science.

I love debates on about arbitrary values based on (at best) anecdotal evidence.

I don't buy that chemistry makes a difference in baseball games. It's not like a quarterback/receiver relationship in football, or a forward/attacking mid in soccer, or a team sport that allows direct cooperation. Baseball, particularly on offense, is a series of individual competitions between the hitter on the one hand, and the pitcher and his defense on the other. Football, basketball, hockey, and soccer all require player-to-player passing, movement without the ball, and such associated activity -- jointly and simultaneously -- against another team. Baseball is sequential and individual. Very different. I can understand the relationship among pitcher/catcher and perhaps SS/2B, but on offense? I don't see how a great relationship, understanding one another, playing together for a long time, and being friends makes a difference. Biggio and Bagwell are not like Manning and Harrison; there's no tangible advantage in having played together for a long time.

Why is his mouth such a disadvantage? I really don't care if he likes taking his clothes off a la Slap Stick so long as he's a good ballplayer and not doing anything completely inappropriate. He's paid to be a good player, not to tow the company line. Besides, listening to baseball players give interviews is about as exciting as watching golf. That is to say, extremely boring, uninformative and trite. Walker is interesting.

Right on, man! I'm sure you;ve said it before: AA is where the prospects are. AAA is mostly spare parts. I agree. But something to keep in mind is that the PCL is a hitter's league, so when a pitcher is doing really well in Iowa, that's probably a good sign. Likewise, when a hitter is dominating the Southern League, which tends to be a pitcher's league, that's also a good sign.

Very true. As bad an idea as this sounds, its (right now) their best option. I'd bat Rolen second.

There's a thread on this in transactions, so I'm locking this one. Welcome to the board, however!

Why not play Lee in minor league games and have him lead off every inning? This will get him a number of AB's very quickly and hopefully get his stroke ready for the season. The Cardinals were doing this with Junior Spivey the other day.