RockTheIvy

Good Cubs fan approach! Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith only show up about once every 25 years. :lol:

I hope that was the last time I ever saw Corey Patterson in a Cubs jersey. I hear ya man, but I'm also mixed. I've put so much fan energy (? I GUESS I'll call it that) into pulling for Patterson, so I want him to succeed. But geez, some of those pitches he was swinging at were so bad! He's not even close anymore. Heck, even the Astros announcers were making fun of how Oswalt couldn't strike him out!

How do you think Cedeno will perform next year? And do you think that Furcal's defense makes him more value than Nomar's (healthy, let's say) offense?

Three words: Clemens, Pettite, Oswalt. Two words: Dusty Baker. One word: D'oh!

I just about laughed my face off when the ESPN announcers said that the Astros season came down to this: Brad Lidge vs........JOSE MACIAS? GOD, I mean, Brad must have been pretty nervous.

Three words: Clemens, Pettite, Oswalt. Just like the 2003 Cubs. God, we were so close. :oops: :cry:

I'm not advocating resigning him. But what are some of the ideas of what will happen to him next year? Stay in the AL so he can DH? Any teams that might sign a stopgap OF? Cardinals? Just curious.

Why anyone would want Corey back in a Cub's unifrom next year is beyond me? He was the worst player on the Cubs this year hands down. Not even Macias or Neifi were as bad. Exactly what Roast said. Look, if Corey batted 8th, behind, say, Walker, Nomar, Lee, Ramirez, Abreu, Giles and Barret- things would be okay. Look at all the teams. Outside of the Red Sox or Yankees, every team has at least one low OBP guy. The Cardinals even have one, Molina. His OBP is below .300. Heck, the White Sox probably have 8 players that see the ol' .300 OBP mark in their rearview mirrors. Besides, I believe Corey isn't all that great, but I also think it's unlikely he'll be THIS bad again. But hey, if we've got an extra million, I'm all for signing Lofton.

What I find ridiculous is that the Astros took the wildcard with almost no offense, and a pathetic start to the season. I mean they have Berkman, and Ensberg had a great year. But the offense is similar to the Cubs, in that their OBP isn't all that great. IF WE COULD EVER GET A YEAR where everyone stays healthy, we should do no worse than second in the division. But instead, we finish behind the Brewers. This offseason will really test Hendry, because the Brewers are just going to get better, as will the Pirates and Reds, and our window is slowly closing. Sorry, ranting, but man, what a sad sad season.

Abreu would be fantastic, but it would take the farm...screw it, sell the farm, it's worth it. Abreu is one of the top 5 players in baseball. You play him in right, then sign Giles, as Tim said, pick up Walker's option, and you really have an offense that fixes just about all of the Cubs needs. Then keep Patterson in CF, re-up with Nomar, and I believe you easily have the best offense in baseball to finally go with some of the best pitching in baseball. Damn, that's almost video gamish!

There just have to be better NRI options than Reuter...like inviting Mel Rojas back. Reuter throws less than 85 mph, can't get lefties or righties out, had a K/9 of 2.1 (!) this year. Seriously, I don't want this guy anywhere near Dusty's "loyalty."

Jose Macias' Cubs career ended today. I was hoping for something more Macias-esque, like an emphatic strike out, but a lazy line drive does just fine. Can Hendry get on the phone to Jose and tell him to look for work elsewhere? Offseason time, here we go. RTI is hoping for a Braves-Angels (RATINGS DELIGHT) world series, btw.

Okay Kirk Reuter is terrible. This had better be wrong.

Like CubsWin said, it's all about cost. If he could be had for 5-6 million? I think you do it. I really don't think you can have too many quality bullpen arms. Remember the 03 Astros? The back of their bullpen went Lidge, Dotel and Wagner. That was insane. I don't think that can be easily replicated, but having BJ and Dempster would not hurt. But I also think Win is right again when he says that Boston or NY will pay close to double-digit millions for him. If that's the case, we should look somewhere else. But I still believe we need to find some bullpen guys who have low walk rates, because as it stands now, they walk far too many guys.

I'm pretty surpirsed to see that you dig Juan Pierre and not Luis Castillo? He might not steal as many bases, but he has a tendancy to get on base at a pretty high rate. He also is excellent on defense. I guess there is also a chance that FLA might be trying to dump him. But yeah, get Lowell away from here- they had their chance to give us Lowell a few years back and they missed it.

How good of a rumor? What's the source? I ask because I would gladly trade some offense for Jesse Crain. Any clue what the deal is with his K rate? The last time I saw a K rate that low was Kolb last year, and well, the wheels kinda fell off his following year. Speaking of Kolb reminds me just how many bullets the Cubs dodged last year by not acquiring Kolb, Benitez or Percival. If the Cubs had successfully traded for Kolb and he blew up like that, almost everyone on this board would have blamed somebody for ruining him or not being able to turn him around. Yet, the God of pitching coaches, Leo Mazzone, couldn't do it either. It just goes to show, our analysis of who to blame, isn't always accurate. Back on topic, I can't explain Kolb's blow-up at all. But I don't think there is much evidence to suggest that just because someone shares one characteristic with Danny Kolb, a low strikeout rate, that he will befall the same fate as him. It is true that both Kolb and Crain don't strikeout a lot of guys. Whether a low strikeout rate is a clear portent for failure in the future is a whole different matter. Let's look deeper. Kolb has never been much of a strikeout guy on any level of baseball. From rookie-ball all the way to the majors, he has averaged less than a K per inning. He never even come close. His ERA has also been consistently average to above average. At rookie level, he had his best ERA at 2.20. In A-ball, it was 3.77, and at AA it was 4.14. In AAA, it was 2.94. His career ERA in the majors is 4.17. Maybe, Kolb is just an up and down, inconsistent pitcher from year-to-year and '05 was one of his down years while '03 and '04 were both up years. Whatever the reason, his history shows a pattern of inconsistency with his norm being that he is an average to slightly above average pitcher. I think he is better than '05 suggests and now would be the time to trade for him, keeping in mind, of course, that he isn't normally as good as he looked in '03 and '04. Crain's history is quite different. He did average more than a K per inning until coming to the majors. It then fell off quite a bit, but his effectiveness did not. Crain has been getting guys out at every level. I'm not aware of his injury history. I don't think he has one. But I do know that he has been used exclusively as a reliever throughout his minor and major league careers. so, there shouldn't be a lot of wear and tear on his arm. He is only 24. Scouting reports have his fastball in the mid-90s with the ability to touch 100 and a wicked slider that was described as "unfair". He was the 2nd round pick of the Twins in the 2002 draft and between rookie and A-ball that year, he appeared in 18 games, pitching 27 innings and finishing with an ERA of 1.00. In '03, he started in High A, pitched 19 innings before being promoted to AA where he pitched 39 innings finishing with a combined ERA of 1.40. He finished '03 at AAA Rochester posting a 3.12 ERA. Before being brought up near the end of '04, he pitched 50 innings at Rochester compiling a 2.49 ERA. Since reaching the majors, nothing has changed except his K rate has dropped. His career ERA currently stands at 2.29. That's both player's histories in a nutshell. What do you think? I think the fact that he is only 24, and has a history of high K numbers makes him a totally different story. I was just wondering if there was any reason for his K numbers being so low. I don't think he'll be another Kolb. Also, for all the crappy moves the cubs have made, not shelling out for a closer (Percival or Kolb) was a pretty good decision. Also, that's some pretty good detective work. Timely too! Do you have like a business card or something?

How good of a rumor? What's the source? I ask because I would gladly trade some offense for Jesse Crain. Any clue what the deal is with his K rate? The last time I saw a K rate that low was Kolb last year, and well, the wheels kinda fell off his following year.

I disagree with the concept that a "proven" closer exists outside of Rivera. There are many of these "elite" pitchers that all of some question marks to them. I think that a closer is more made then purchased. I can't think of one successful closer that has been acquired on the FA market that has been worth their contract. Look at our history as a prime example. Our most successful closers are the ones that we didn't sign in that role. I think that developing a closer is much more important and I believe that Dempster has been an example of that development. Will he be successful for 3 years in that role? I hope so. If not, then it is important to continue to develop a closer as a setup guy, ala Dotel & Lidge in Houston while Wagner was there and Rivera while Wetteland was there. Successful closer stories come from being thrown into the fire or being taught specificall for that role. I believe that Dempster has an opportunity to become a "Percvial/Benitez" type of closer. He will have his ups and downs but overall be effective. P.S. I wouldn't count on having Novoa in the pen but I would count on Rusch being there. K-Rod, Wagner, Gagne- They exist, but just like everyone else, they can screw it up.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=4133 How is BJ Ryan a "stud closer" and Ryan Dempster is merely a "set-up" guy? The numbers suggest BJ Ryan is no more the 'stud closer', then Ryan Dempster. Ryan has also shown prolonged success as a reliever. Two years ago, his first year as closer, he held lefites to a 350 OPS, and righties to a 5something OPS. That's absurd. I say you sign BJ Ryan, and then have a ridiculous back end of the bullpen. Because Ryan Dempster has been very good for the Cubs. And no offense to JoBo, Dempster has more of the "closer" skills (ie, throws hard stuff). Hopefully this signing works out, though, as Cubs fans, we should be wary.

Speaking of Abreu, check out the scathing remarks about Bobby made by SI's Tom Verducci recently. I didn't realize how low is 2nd half power numbers have been. What's going on with him? http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/102-09302005-548673.html Hoops Don't know if it's playiing on his mind, but his fiance, former Miss Venezuela Alicia Machado, got caught doing the nasty with another guy on tape this summer. The steamy sex video has been all over the place. It was a major sex scandal. he was due to wed her in December. I would imagine that's gotta affect a guy's job performance. Good spot for a Normism: "Women, can't live with 'em...pass the peanuts."

Speaking of 2B, would Bill Mueller be a possibility?

My name is Matt Foley...

Baseball has never used defensive stats to determine Gold Glove. They rely more on offensive production, which makes little to no sense. I think your overstating that a bit. They do consider offensive production but if you look at Matheny and Ausmus at C or Lee (pre-this year) your theory doesn't hold water. How does one explain Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro played 28 games at 1b the year he won a GG. 28 games isn't even 1/5 of a season. It's the equivilent of 1 month of play out of the whole baseball year. Offensive production should have zero impact on a defensive award. Period. Steroids. IIRC, he was robbing HRs from 1B, playing a great CF, from 1B, and even doing a bit of catching. All while playing 1B. I mean, steroids man.

Just wanna say, sweet car.

I was watching the Astros broadcast of the game, and the announcers were talking about the Cubs asking Corey to see a sports shrink. Anyone else here that? And do those guys do any good for athletes?