RockTheIvy

If your car is on blocks and your house is on wheels...you might be a White Sox fan... Could we please stop ripping on Sox fans for socioeconomic reasons??? I find your post elitist, classist, and racist. Quite frankly, these comments make me embarrassed to be a Cubs fan, and even make rooting for my hometown Rockies seem more appealing. Please beware that you're turning off other fans from the team we all love... Thanks. Just a joke, sorry to offend. I understand someone seeing that post as elitist, but racist? I dunno...

Of SLAM magazine fame? THE SCOOP JACKSON? Yeah I passed too.

That is if the four horsemen don't roll by first... Right. I thought I heard a trumpet last night... If you live in Oak Park/River Forest like I do, the sound you heard was fireworks and cheering Sox fans. Oy! #-o If your car is on blocks and your house is on wheels...you might be a White Sox fan...

:cry: :cry: :cry: more cowbell :cry: :cry: :cry:

That is if the four horsemen don't roll by first... Right. I thought I heard a trumpet last night...

I think Burnett is the "sexy" option for a team. He throws real hard, and has shown flashes of brilliance. But I think there are more intelligent ones, that will provide equal or better performance at a discount, and still be damn good looking in their own right.

Maybe the only good part about a White Sox sweep!

Man, really? :lol:

I haven't read the zillion other responses, but here's mine anyway. I think Cammy is a GREAT guy and a terrific fielder, and if you want another feast-or-famine whiff king, by all means he should be a Cub this year. My opinion is the Cubs are better off saving $4 mil and keeping Patterson. Even if he isn't re-tooled swing-wise, he'll give you Cammy's range on offense and defense while being scads cheaper. That said, as of this writing, I'd rather see Murton in CF than either of them. The difference between Patterson and Cameron, who both strike out a lot, is that Cameron works counts and will walk. He has shown the ability to keep his OBP above .340. He is by no means Adam Dunn, but his strikeouts aren't necessarily hurting him. Add to the fact that he had an OPS over .800 and can play a ridiculous CF, I'd say if the Cubs aren't gonna use that 4 million anywhere else, why not use it and improve the outfield, both offensively and defensively.

So, who would want Epstein if he became available? Not me. Other than bring in Schilling, what has Epstein done for the Sox? Not much, IMO, other than allow his world championship team to become significantly worse. Of course, it was Epstein that put the World Championship team together. :-s Did he? I am probably wrong, but wasn't the core of that team already there when he took over? What exactly did you want him to do? He did what no other GM for Boston had done since before my grandfather was born. Won a World Series. What has he done since? He made it to the playoffs again this year, and almost beat out the Yankees for the division. If I'm Epstein, I'm thinking that I deserve quite a bit. Why should he make less than any of the guys who work for him (at least the starters)? If Towers goes to Arizona, Epstein would probably be welcomed back to San Diego. He won't get Boston money, but by standing his ground, he's dictating the situation rather than letting it be the other way around. As young as he is, he'll make a lot of money before he's done. For what he's done so far, he deserves every bit he can squeeze out of them. He did a good job. He got Schilling. Paid top dollar for Foulke. Signed Renteria for a 4/10 contract, the same to Varitek (which should bring him to his age 37 season). I think he did a good job, but he also had a 140 million dollar payroll to work with. He is not Schurholz (sic) or Beane, though.

Rock.... here's a quick approximation for you: Our left fielders (Hollandsworth, Dubois, Lawton & Murton) had about 20 more plate appearances (roughly 3%) than Adam Dunn, so there will be a greater degree of inaccuracy with this one. Also, I've made no adjustments for games that these 4 players played somewhere else other than LF or for any other players playing left field for us. Here's what their lines look like: 04/04 - 10/02 AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Hol/Dub/Mur/Law 632 65 166 34 4 20 268 76 45 132 0.263 0.315 0.424 0.739 Dunn 543 107 134 35 2 40 293 101 114 168 0.247 0.387 0.540 0.927 The gain in OBP is .072 for left field, or divided by 9, .008 for the team totals. OPS gain .188 for left field, or .021 for the team total. The net effect then, would look like this: CUBS with Hol/Dub/Mur/Law Dunn OBP .324 .332 League Rank 11 8 Difference from mean -.006 .002 Z Score (# std dev from mean) -.78 .16 The effect on OPS is even more dramatic......... CUBS with Hol/Dub/Mur/Law Dunn OPS .764 .785 League Rank 4 1 Difference from mean .020 .041 Z Score (# std dev from mean) .90 1.66 Now for the ultimate what if question...... What if the CUBS had traded Burnitz for Giles AND Hollandsworth/Dubois/Murton/Lawton for Adam Dunn a year ago ???? In addition to adding the appriopriate gain to the CUBS' line, let's also make the appropriate reduction from the stat lines of Cincinnati & San Diego. This is what the league totals would look like...... 10/02 BA OBP SLG OPS Chicago 0.273 0.343 0.458 0.801 Philadelphia 0.270 0.348 0.423 0.771 Atlanta 0.265 0.333 0.435 0.768 Cincinnati 0.263 0.331 0.433 0.764 St. Louis 0.270 0.339 0.423 0.762 Milwaukee 0.259 0.331 0.423 0.754 Arizona 0.256 0.332 0.421 0.753 Florida 0.272 0.339 0.409 0.748 Colorado 0.267 0.333 0.411 0.744 NY Mets 0.258 0.322 0.416 0.738 Houston 0.256 0.322 0.408 0.730 Pittsburgh 0.259 0.322 0.400 0.722 Los Angeles 0.253 0.326 0.395 0.721 San Francisco 0.261 0.319 0.396 0.715 San Diego 0.252 0.322 0.386 0.708 Washington 0.252 0.322 0.386 0.708 Maximum 0.273 0.348 0.458 0.801 Minimum 0.252 0.319 0.386 0.708 Average 0.262 0.330 0.414 0.744 Notice, that now we have the CUBS leading the lead in BA, SLG & OPS, and trailing only Philadelphia by .005 in OBP. That difference can easily be overcome by replacing Corey with Hairston. In any case, Mr Hendry, you have your work cut out for you. Go CUBS !! Wow, thanks a lot! All that we have to do now is foward that to Hendry.

Oh, I agree that he is the best available CF, if he's available. But I have my doubts about the 3-some, at that price. I'm also not so sure the Mets will deal him. They might be more interested in moving Beltran, especially if they are interested in Manny. 3somes are always trouble, especially if you arent a velvet guy :lol: I agree though. I would like to see someone more productive than Floyd, and an under 40 pitcher.

You're not sure you want Glavine, Floyd, and Cameron. Well, we could go with Rusch, Burnitz, and Patterson. I'm not sure I want to pay $22m for those three and give up talent in return (I'm guessing Walker to start, plus a solid bat and at least 1 arm). Glavine has been a disappointment in NY. Shea helps him quite a bit, in Wrigley I'm not sure how well he'd do. Cameron has a shaky history, with OBPs as low as .285 as a 25 year old (sound familiar?), while Floyd has as bad an injury history as anybody that got hurt for the Cubs in 2005. I'd be more than happy to have either one of those OF on the team next year. Cameron is fine for CF. Floyd can be a major improvement over Burnitz. But all 3 for $22m? I'm not sure you solve enough of the team's problems after spending all that, and I'd guess you'd open up other holes after making the trade. Cameron has sustained pretty solid OBPs since then. The only reason I brought him up was that I feel he is the best CF that is available, barring some out of the box thinking, ie, trying Murton in center. Also, assuming the Cubs sign Furcal, it allows for the Cubs to make up for some power they might lose if they used, say Hairston in center.

Didn't know that about Floyd, interesting. Thanks! I would love his bat in the lineup though.

I would imagine that Cameron might be available. Say we get an impact bat for RF. Would you take Cameron in center until Pie is ready? He strikes out a lot, but will take some walks (.340 career OBP, Ruth compared to some Cubs hitters) and plays a fantastic CF. He had an .819 OPS last season playing in Shea, managing to hit 12 HRs in 308 ABs. I realize that improving our offense is priority to number 1, but given the CFs available, I think Cameron would be a good fit. Thoughts?

Vance.... here's a quick approximation for you: Given that Giles & Burnitz had nearly identical plate appearances (664 AB+BB to 662 AB+BB), and Giles had an OBP of .423 to Burnitz's .322 ....... that's a difference of .101 for RF. If you divide that by 9 positions on the team, that's a difference to the team rate of .011. The net effect then would be: CUBS with Burnitz Giles OBP .324 ,335 League Rank 11 5 Difference from mean -.006 .005 Z Score (# std dev from mean) -.78 .59 Giles alone would have leap frogged us past half the league. Doing similar calculations on Burnitz & Giles' SLG, the net effect on OPS would bring the CUBS from .764 (4th place) to .780 (2nd place) just .005 behind league leading Cincinnati. I don't have the formulas to extrapolate all this to additional runs and expected wins, but you get the idea. I'd certainly be willing to pay an additional 7 or 8 million per annum for this kind of additional production. :shock: =D> That's awesome! Any chance you could tell us what Dunn would have done for us?

How come?

But, as you have suggested, some of our money should go to the bullpen. Seeing Dotel, Seanez and Dempster, in addition to Ohman, Wuertz and Novoa would make me pretty happy.

Is he worth 9 mil?

"Instant Karma" and "Karma Police" aren't bad tunes though.

The minor league buses kept getting flat tires on the side he sat on. Haha. They showed him getting interviewed on TV yesterday and the man has hugeeee legs. George, can I pet the wabbits?

"Exile in Guyville" is a great album. But what in god's name was "Why can't I?" I think I read that she used the same song writers who do Avril Levigne stuff...so not only did she sell out, she also decided to suck. She has the same songwriters as Avril. She said she did it because she can't afford not to have a steady income now that she has a daughter. Which Fox star that has ties to Chicago you think will be at game 2? Artistic integrity traded for responsibility, hmm. Good call I guess. I'm sure it will be some lame Fox star. Like the guy who does Hank Hill's voice.

And the fact that they only built half of the McDonalds logo at about 600 ft. Fools.

I dont know what "Winnetka" is. In Minnesota, its a town....Is that a studio in Chicago? if so...cool. I love Phair's music, and alot of the "alternative" music of the 90's. but I hated the way it was marketed....I felt it was unfair to the artists.... Town on the North Shore. About 7 miles north of the city.

and RockTheIvy...same middle school