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I'd like to see more development from Pawelek before putting him ahead of pitchers like Marshall and Pinto, LHP's at his age with his talents are very rare, but I'd like to see more than glimpses of plus secondary pitches and locking down his mechanics before being ranked in the top 3. His ceiling is likely higher than anyone in the system, including Pie, but at this point, I'd like to see him cont. to progress as well as face tougher comp.

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Articles/ArticleText.php?ArticleID=111 Well, someone seen this coming. :)

Soriano has an EqA of .273 over the last 3 years and Wilkerson has a .280 EqA over the last 3 years. You gave me the choice based on production, I'd take Wilkerson. Then, you factor Soriano acting like a selfish jerk, give me Wilkerson every day of the week.

You have to question the desires of a player who is unwilling to help his team. He's being purely selfish and that type of behavior should not be tolerated. Bowden should've done further research whether or not Soriano would shift to the OF, all early indications were that would not support a move to the OF. Despite Soriano's talent, this isn't the situation where Bowden should cave in to Soriano.

It might be, even when adjusting his Florida stats, they don't match up with a .960 OPS. Hopefully, the jump can attributed to an improved swing (more open stance) rather flukish hot 2nd half. (Obviously he was hotter in the 1st half, but I can't see him repeating)

I think that .960 is on par for what he'll produce this year.

You still haven't adjusted for Park Factors: The adjusted OBP for the League for Perez has been .364 since most of his career has been played in Colorado. For Walker, the adjusted league OBP has been .349. For SLG, The League avg. has been .464 for Perez and .445 for Walker You adjust Perez's OBP if he played in the same parks as Walker his OBP drops to .289 and his slugging drops to .361.

Please tell me that Beloit decided to put the visiting teams somewhere else besides the Econo-Lodge? :) At least, Peoria sends the visiting team to the Holiday Inn. Top prospect Joel Zumaya in '03 thought that Phil Regan (frmr Cubs PC) was punishing the team for lackluster play and sent them to the Econo Lodge rather than a nicer Hotel.

72 runs above avg. for his career defensively, Perez is at 103 runs with most of it being at SS. Of course, Neifi is about 221 runs below avg. for his career offensively, while Ryno was 260 runs above avg. This indicates to me that Neifi is best used as a late inning defenisve replacement.

I've always said, that Harvey reminds me of Borchard. Obviously, at this stage Borchard was a good QB at Stanford as well as a gifted OF. Despite the knee injury his senior year in HS, Harvey is more athletic than Borchard.

Never learned to hit a breaking ball, he can hit FBs or hanging breaking pitches very well, but throw a good slider and he'll reach and miss.

Not if you look at their career. Walker has been about 81 runs better than Perez, while having played in 130 less games.

=D> I don't know why they didn't adjust it earlier, it does fall into the line of my thinking that I presented awhile back about his mechanics getting worse and that they needed adjusting.

Interesting, how about how many runs below average Walker let up? Same for Neifi with offense? Last year or their careers? Walker was 6 runs below avg. on defense, 10 runs above avg. offensively. Perez was 16 runs above avg. on defense, and 16 runs below avg. offensively.

It's impossible to find out an exact number. Based on FRAA (fielding runs above avg.) Perez saved 22 more runs last year above avg. While Walker scored 26 more runs above avg. than Neifi last year. I expect each of those numbers to sway more in Walker's favor this year.

I wouldn't be shocked if this was a move based on Pena's behavior. The one thing Krivsky is trying to bring is discipline. Pena might've not met the standards of Krivsky/Narron. They've already released players for being overweight.

Neifi had the second best offensive season of his career last year and the second best defenisvely of his career. Walker had either his best or second best season offensively last year and probably his second worst defensively. Depending on how well Walker has recovered from his knee injury, it is more likely that Perez will regress more offensively (which was well below avg) and defensively. I expect Walker to regress offensively, but not as much as I expect Perez to. Perez definitely has the lower margin for error b/c A)He is the inferior player and B)His offense last year was decent for backup middle infielder, if he goes back his career numbers, his only value will be as a late inning replacement.

Do I miss the future OF of Rhodes, Roberson, and Zambrano.

What fan doesn't make conclusions w/out all the information available? I'm judging Hendry on his track record, I've factored into the equation the sudden improvement of '03, the improved talent of '04, the regression of talent in '05, and the disappointing off-season of '06. I don't see this team making the playoffs in '06 and at this stage of the season it factors into my equation. Jocketty has the Cards poised to win a 3rd straight NL Central, Williams has the Sox coming off a WS and then unlike most GMs, he actually improved the club. If Hendry had those results, improved the club like Williams did, or was the favorite to win the division, I would be more optimistic. Both, too many years, too much money on a player they didn't need. Hendry wanted Maddux, don't kid yourself in believing or try to imply that he didn't. Maddux had very little interest, the Cards were the closest other team, but they pulled out of the bidding when the Cubs raised the stakes. At the end, it appeared the Cubs were bidding against themselves. They had similar amounts of injuries in '01 and '02 in the farm system, then you start losing players to Rule 5 (Sisco for nothing). I'm sorry, you would notice that the farm system dropped in overall talent b/c they had high amounts of injuries when it was doing well, they just had more overall talent. Once again, they haven't signed anyone from the Pacific Rim since 99-00, and hasn't signed anyone worthwhile from Latin America since '01. Tim Wilken should be an asset, but Stockstill's strength was the draft. Without improving the international scouting, there will be very little potential improvement from Stockstill to Wilken.

Yes, they did improve the team over the year before. I thought they progressed over the previous season. They improved at 2B, RF, C over the previous year as well as the bullpen, I didn't think Hermansen would do what he did, but I've always liked Cotts and Garland and I liked the Jenks pickup when it occured. I'm pessimistic Jenks can handle a full season of closing b/c of his violent delivery, but if used properly, he is a great opion out of the pen. Then, you have to factor what he did this off-season. If Hendry had the off-season that Williams did, I would feel more confident in Hendry, but two sub-par offseasons after a 10 win decline has left me questioning which way this team is going. Why even sign Maddux to that deal in the 1st place? What potential Cy Young winner has Williams traded away? What impossible situation has Hendry been handed that he did not create?

I'll give Hendry if Jones rebounds, I think Dye had a more likely chance to rebound over Dye, b/c he is a better hitter. Pods for Lee was a good move b/c of how it freed up the budget. Did Contreras not have a very good year? They got him for another expensive unproductice pitvher and was able to get something out of him that the Yankees couldn't. I give Williams and Jocketty the benefit of the doubt, b/c Williams followed up a WS win while able to improve the talent of a team that won it all. Jocketty has had led the Cards to how playoff appearences now? If Hendry had cont'd building success, I would be optimistic about his ability to lead the Cubs beyod this year. Fully healthy, this team is still 2nd best to the Cards and behind Atlanta and NYM overall. FWIW, I never "bitched" about the Pierre trade, I've said it improves the club, just shouldn't be counted on to take this team to the next level. I do think they gave too much as well, but it gives them leadoff hitter and a CF'er. No one predicted the Sox to win the WS at the start, but finally something clicked with Garland, Garcia has been a very good pitcher for most of his career, Mark was strong as usual, and Contreras finally got his production to match his talent. Iguchi was a solid addition as well AJ. I thought he did a good job last off-season, I didn't predict them to win the division, but I did note improvement. When have I blamed Hendry for holding onto injury prone players, when you have an injury prone player at a key position, you need an above avg. back-up. Nomar had Perez and later Cedeno who was benched in favor of Perez. Look at the injury history of Pujols compared to Wood, Prior, and Nomar. He's going to deal with a bad foot and a bad arm for most of his career, Pujols has shown the ability to play thru pain and play very well. Wood, Prior, and Nomar have not. With all the potential injury risks STL has, someone who hasn't followed baseball over the last 2 years would wonder how STL has been 37 games better than the Cubs over the last 2 years. What is hindsight about it? I said last year, the Cubs don't have the talent to make the playoffs. I've said it this year, the Cubs don't have the talent to make the playoffs. I didn't think Nomar would hit like he did in his prime, if the question was put to me, do I think Nomar will replace Alou's '04 production? I would've said no. You're also comparing it to an offense in '04 that needed improving, it was a better offense than I expected it to be in '05, but I didn't expect Lee to take off. I know they ponied up the extra cash to get Maddux, I have never seen evidence that the someone higher up than Hendry led the negotiations or overstepped Hendry's boundaries as GM. Like I said before, where are the Latin signings? Pie was a top prospects 3rd in the Cubs system as recently as '03, were heading into '06 and he was the last one. To me, the lack of international scouting has had a greater impact on the regression of the farm system than injuries. The Cubs had just as many injuries in '02 and '03 as they do now. Christensen, Jackson, Krawiec, Webb, etc.

I haven't been critcal of the Nomar signing, I don't think it was a substitute for Alou's offense in '04 and they should've been more prepared by having better depth at SS, b/c Nomar even heading into last year is a higher injury risk than most. Drew is a much better player than Nomar even with Nomar playing a more difficult defensive position. I wanted them to go after Floyd via trade, whether or not he was avail. is to opinion. He was rumored to be avail. for of the off-season yet did not get traded. There is a rather large offensive difference between Perez and Gomez, you just have to factor for Perez taking advantage of Coors. That 22 point difference of EqA is greater than the defensive difference. Had nothing to do with luck, Gomez has been the better player over his career, last year just followed a consistent trend. Look at their difference in EqA or OPS+ and you'll have the stats you need.

Gomez is still better despite Perez being better defensively. Why not? How did I predict that Gomez would outproduce Perez. When I said I would rather have Gomez over Perez, that was during the Winter of 04-05, before last year. I was right, Gomez had a better year than Perez. Also, Gomez was much cheaper than Perez. Time for another prediction concerning Jacque Jones being the best option avail. I'll say that a platoon of Mark Sweeney and Marrero will outproduce Jones this year. This platoon will be cheaper and more productive. Willing to make a fake wager? :) As much as I like Dubois, I did not want him handed the starting LF spot, I wanted him to be platooned. It would've been mistake to start Dubois unless they had more offense (like a better RF'er). I would not be upset if they signed Drew, even after last year, I would not be upset. Conceptually, it would've been right.

You're not butting in, this isn't a two person conversation. I think Hendry hired the wrong one, Baker needs a certain type of team to excel, he had that in SF w/Sabean. That's not a knock on Hendry, b/c I prefer Hendry's outline better than Sabean's, despite Sabean having the better track record. But, Hendry should've been cautious on how Baker ran Bill Swift into the ground, Van Landingham as well, how Estes was overworked and had his FB go from the mid 90s to the upper 80s under Baker. Baker's track record of overworking pitchers was clear and was probably my #1 complaint of Baker, he's not a very good in-game manager either. So, yes if you believe that Baker has hurt the Cubs more than helped them, some blame goes to Hendry despite the glossy appeal of Baker. How much? I don't think that much.

Nothing positive can come from an injury to the shoulder, you just have to hope it's nathing major at this stage. It appears to be "minor", not sure how any injury to the shoulder is really minor though.