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UK1679666180

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Everything posted by UK1679666180

  1. UK1679666180
    I advocated signed Mark Sweeney as the LH'ed bat off the bench at the beg. of the off-season, but looking at the '05 numbers of Sweeney and Perez for a platoon situation. Sweeney vs. RH'ers/Perez vs. LH'ers combined 336ABs 96H 18DB 1TR 18HRs 3HBP 57BB 77Ks .286/.386/.506 Just food for thought. Adjusted 05' OPS for J. Jones-.736. Adjusted 05' OPS for a Sweeney/Perez platoon-.938
  2. UK1679666180
    Perez hits LH'ers better than Mabry hits RH'ers, Mabry has the ability to play 3B as well as the OF. Perez just creams LH'ers and the Cubs need that off the bench, if Hairston & Perez are you best RH options off the bench, you have aweak bench. Especially, if Mabry is the best option from the LH side, b/c his offensive numbers are pretty weak as well.
  3. UK1679666180
    Desmond Clark? Worst group of TEs ever, if he's considered to be in the top 3rd of NFC TEs.
  4. UK1679666180
    For me, it's more about the principle behind it. He needs surgery, they know he needs surgery, yet they put him in the pen, coming off a stint from the DL, he has never pitched from the pen, and always shown spotty control. It was a horrible decision both in principle and results. But, Wood should be the #3 starter on this staff behind Z and Prior and ahead of Maddux & Williams/Rusch. Now, if Wood was the #5 starter if healthy going into the season, then the Cubs have the best staff in MLB and I wouldn't be worried. Since they have Z (a legit #1), Prior (who knows anywhere from a #1-3), Maddux (a #5 starter), Rusch and Williams (likely 4/5 starters), this rotation is not looking very strong w/out Wood.
  5. UK1679666180
    Most frustrating game I've ever been to. They get shut-down by Milton, so I get somewhat excited of watching a no-hitter especially w/the Cubs involved which hasn't happened in 33 years and hasn't happened against the Cubs since Koufax. Then, Glanville botches an easy fly-ball so the no hitter is gone, Cubs get back into the game and Hawkins blows it in the 9th.
  6. UK1679666180
    This being typically known as a Hendry target long before he acq'd him. Well from an offensive standpoint, Barrett was the most productive C in the League. So.... yeah, he's "got a little pop for a catcher". :)
  7. UK1679666180
    That's good news, I'm glad that Hendry had absolute power and was unwilling to match.
  8. UK1679666180
    Bruce, to get back to old news with Furcal... In your opinion, when Furcal and his agent rec'd the generous offer from the Dodgers and they went to the Braves and the Cubs to match or exceed that offer, did Hendry have permission to exceed their current offer to get him? If he did have permission, was it his decision to not compete with the offer from LA or was it a decision from higher up?
  9. UK1679666180
    Alou fell into their lap in a way. There were two bidders, IIRC, Cubs and Yankees, the Yankees couldn't match the Cubs' offer and went after White instead. Plus, Alou wasn't a Hendry acquisition. That signing was much later in the off-season process as well.
  10. UK1679666180
    Watch the Cubs steal bases, they're horrible at it. It takes almost 1/2 of the game to get an idea of what type of move the pitcher has. That 1st baserunner never extends his lead beyond the typical 10-12 ft. to get the pitcher to show him his best move or the token throw over. You watched it with STL against Pettitte in the playoffs, they found something in his delivery they were able to spot and were able to run every time. Of course, Pettitte obviously balked and picked a runner off after that. But, I've never seen the Cubs look for obvious signs that a pitcher is tipping his intentions and execute them. Usually, the Cubs will run with someone fast and only on a bad catcher or a slow pitcher.
  11. UK1679666180
    I don't think managers make many mental errors, I just think he has a flawed system of beliefs that is pretty strict. Pitchers can run high pitch counts regradless of their fatigue level, all LH'ers will do better vs. LH'ers and vice versa. Hitters are best defined by avg., HR, RBI. But, Baker has every right to be upset with fundamental mistakes. Of course, he rarely takes responsibility for the lack of fundamentals while they occur on his team and would rather harp on players not having learned it in the minors, when they were younger, or if they were not on a team that was not managed by him.
  12. UK1679666180
    Of course, the Yankees went from building from within like Atlanta to building well... like the latter Yankees.
  13. UK1679666180
    Are they cost cutting moves or baseball philosophy? Given what they've paid for such mediocre veterans, the contract they gave Baker, the never ending stream of advisors to the GM and whatnot, as well as the money they've paid draft picks, I wouldn't say this is entirely cost cutting. I think they've shifted importance, it went from rebuilding to trying to win it all. I don't they had enough pieces from within or on the current roster to try and win it all when they did shift. They've cut expenses in the scouting/development and allocated towards the majors, if I was to guess as to what has happened. They'd be better off sticking with the original plan of building from within as they had planned in the late 90s and ealy part of this decade. They went from building like Yankees to building like the Giants and it doesn't work like that w/out enough of a core.
  14. UK1679666180
    I don't know why Intentional BBs and HBPs are not taken out of OBP in terms of IsoD. There's nothing there that indicates a special ability to draw a BB when you're nailed or given a free pass. If you take take out IBBs and HBPs, you have an IsoD of .52 If you did that in '04, you would've had an IsoD of .48.
  15. UK1679666180
    I would make that argument, platoon aren't used nearly enough. I think the difference between using Jones for 160 games 25%-30% vs. LH'ers and using E. Perez/Jones as R/L platoon with Jones playing in 120 games is a difference about .075 in OPS increase if you used that platoon over just throwing Jones out there.
  16. UK1679666180
    Also, if Perez is starting over Walker, I'd pencil in two less wins (82-85 wins).
  17. UK1679666180
    I have the Cubs between 84-87 wins at this stage. They'll get improvements from Murton and Pierre. RF will remain stagnet. Lee will regress, Barrett will regress, not much of a trend expecting Ramirez or the rotation to stay healthy. The improvements will come the pen, Murton, and Pierre. Probably good enough to notice a swing, not good enough to make the playoffs, or bad enough (for them, I know I would've) to make wholesale changes.
  18. UK1679666180
    They rely on the Major League Scouting Bureau to provide the info., I'm almost positive they do likewise in Australia as well as Europe. I don't think they've signed a player from Australia since Morrissey, I know they scouted some in '02, but I haven't anything since.
  19. UK1679666180
    Tillman has had a better year than Vasher, Tillman is the #1 shut down CB on the Bears. Vasher has a nose for the Fb and been more opportunistic as far as INTs and the return against SF. Tillman has improved game by game and been one of the better CBs in the League and I was critical of him early on. I'm glad to see Brown make it.
  20. UK1679666180
    Exactly, some will point out to the Cubs not having a top 5 picks nearly every other year anymore like 98', 00', 01'. (Patterson, Montanez, and Prior), Harvey is the only one from a top 10 pick to make the top 10. But, the biggest hit has been International FAs.
  21. UK1679666180
    I forgot to answer about Diaz, Diaz is diffiuclt to find b/c there's Jose Diaz and Joselo Diaz. There the same person, but they have different stats and the same stats according to the Baseball cube. But, he's a 25yo RH'er that convereted from position player to pitcher. Raw as a far as a pitcher has a mid 90s FB and is working on a changeup. If he ever locks down the change will be a quality ML reliever. His main problems are control and just inexperienced.
  22. UK1679666180
    Spivey would be considered if they trade Walker, but until then, I'd obviously be content w/Walker starting at 2B and hitting 2nd. Jamal Strong is probably the best version of Juan Pierre that you'd find in the minors, except Strong BBs and Ks more as well as being RH'ed, he knows how to get on base and uses his plus speed once he's on. He has a career OBP in the minors above .400 and is a better defender than Pierre, both have weak arms. His numbers going into this season were .309/.408/.374 with 271BBs and 236Ks. This year at AAA he hit over .300 with a .375 OBP. He's 5'10" 180 LBs and will turn 28 on August 5th. http://thebaseballcube.com/players/S/jamal-strong.shtml
  23. UK1679666180
    The numbers just don't support the notion that Jones has a LD swing or that all those GB last year were out of the ordinary for him. From 2003-2005, Jones hit line drives 12.9, 15.4, and 13.2% of his swings that made contact, respectively. That's well below the league average for full-time players, which was at 18.9% in 2005. His ground ball rate wasn't much higher in 2005 than it had been in previous years, either; In 2005 59.7% of his hits were ground balls, compared to 56.2 and 61.2% in 2004 and 2003. (With the league average being 48.6%.) Jones doesn't hit many line drives and hits many, many ground balls. He doesn't possess the great speed required to turn many of those GB into hits in Wrigley's long grass. Coupled with his high strikeout ratio, I think a batting average in the .250 range is probably about what should be expected out of Jones. The good news is that his improved walk rate looks to be sustainable as he's much more patient now than he was a few years ago. (His take/swing ratio has improved from .80 in 2002 to 1.02 in 2005.) Still, is a .250/.320/.440 line really what we'd like to see out of our starting right fielder for the next three years? His .251 GB/FB ratio is much higher than his career norm and was the highest of his career.
  24. UK1679666180
    I go fishing on Lake Michigan typically once a month during the Summer and there's a deli right there off the road to the lake on the IL/WI border. The owner is a die-hard Bears fan and the Packers fans decided to leave him a broom with the scores of the two games as well as the overall records and better luck next year. Angelo and other employees from the Bears go to the deli, Rich (owner) decides to show Angelo what he has to put up with. Angelo just said "that's ****!"
  25. UK1679666180
    In an ideal world, it would have been allocated towards the rapidly declining farm system. But it wasn't a Jones or bust scenario, overspending like he did indicates otherwise though. And had he done that the same people screaming about how he overspent for players this year would be screaming he should be picking up whoever he can to improve the club. Like who? Would "they" (whoever these imaginary people are) be yelling for Hendry to sign the same players that they are screaming that he overpaid for? You can improve the club w/out overspending on players, even in this market. Example... Sanders will likely not get the same deal as Jones both in years and dollars. Who is likely to be more productive? Jones or Sanders? Once again, it's not an all or nothing scenario. I would rather see them put it back into the weak farm, system rather than overspending on players.
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