dew1679666265

The offense would have to be good enough to put Blanco in at SS, I think. Unless you want to rush Castro, and I'd prefer not to.

What deals have Hendry and Cashman done in the past? Keep in mind that Hendry is generally very good at trades. I would not be in favor of acquiring Melky, though. Stick with Cameron. I know Brian Cashman and the Yankees dont give up guys for nothing. And Hendry very rarely gets taken in trades. He's backed out of deals for plenty of players he's wanted because the opposing GM was asking for an arm and a leg (or more). Melky is vastly overrated, along with all the other supposed young studs the yankees have in Hughes, Chamberlain, Cabrera, etc. The media blows them up but none of those guys has had a decent season other than Chamberlain. I don't disagree at all.

How did that prove your point? Zambrano has a better winning percentage than 41 of the the 68 pitchers in the HOF. Are you saying that Zambrano is a HOF pitcher? $2 million+ per win in 2009. What a bargain, Hendry. Oh wait..his VORP and WHIP were great. =D> =D> Again, this season is the only season since Z was 22 (I believe) that he has not won at least 13 games. If you want to put stock in pitcher wins, then Z has been extremely consistent over his career in that stat.

What deals have Hendry and Cashman done in the past? Keep in mind that Hendry is generally very good at trades. I would not be in favor of acquiring Melky, though. Stick with Cameron. I know Brian Cashman and the Yankees dont give up guys for nothing. And Hendry very rarely gets taken in trades. He's backed out of deals for plenty of players he's wanted because the opposing GM was asking for an arm and a leg (or more).

What deals have Hendry and Cashman done in the past? Keep in mind that Hendry is generally very good at trades. I would not be in favor of acquiring Melky, though. Stick with Cameron.

Yeah, you beat me pretty mercilessly. The tie-breaker is based on points, right? If so, I'm still going to get in, I believe and I should have a decent seed.

The options for upgrading SS and 2B are not very good this offseason. Whereas, Mike Cameron would be a very productive addition, both offensively and defensively, to the team. As for Fuld, he OPSd .777 in the minors and his 2009 numbers were influenced very heavily by 13 games where he OPSd over .900. It's unlikely that he'd be a good option over the course of 81 games. Also, I don't feel like intentionally starting the season with a weaker starting lineup is a very good idea. If you want to try some guys like Fuld and Colvin on the ML bench and then upgrade if needed at the deadline, that's fine. Or if the options for upgrading now were poor and you decided to wait, that'd be understandable as well. But if there's a very good option to add to the team (which Cameron is) it doesn't make much sense to intentionally make the starting lineup worse in the hope that maybe if we're in contention there might be a player better than Cameron who might be more affordable (or as affordable) as Cameron is.

Am I the only one really excited about watching Iowa/GT? I think it'll be the best BCS bowl. And TCU/Boise got thoroughly screwed.

They did one year . . . . Yeah they did. :) Even if it's only in my mind, Peyton won that award.

They did one year . . . .

On Z being a leader: As long as he performs - which he has - I'm ok that he may not be a leader (which I don't know either way). Every high-priced player on the team doesn't have to lead. On Z winning more than single digit games: He has won single digit games one time since 2002. That was this year and we were not a good team this year. Otherwise, every year he's been a Cub since he was age 21, he's won 13-16 games for us. Wins for a pitcher are also not a particularly good measure for how good that pitcher is. On Z being an above average pitcher: I used VORP here because that was a nice tidy, singular stat. If that's not good, you can use something else. In 2007, Z was 29th out of 139 pitchers who logged 100+ innings. If you expand that to 150+ innings, he remained 29th out of 90. In 2008, he was 39th out of 140 who logged 100+ innings and 36th out of 95 who logged 150+ innings. This year, he was 54th out of 126 who logged 100+ innings and 51st out of 82 who logged 150+ innings. Two out of the three years of his deal so far, he's been well above average to very good. One year he's been average in VORP. He hasn't quite pitched up to his contract, but he's certainly not a bad contract. On putting Z on the open market: I'd be ok with that if he brought a very substantial return. I wouldn't just dump him for anything, though. If you count Kosuke as a corner outfielder, he's a below average hitter and an excellent defender. If you count him as a center fielder, he's a below average fielder and a very good hitter. He was also paid $11.5 million this year, a large sum no doubt, but not that huge in today's environment. He'll be paid $13.5 the next two years. In OPS, Kosuke was 7th in the majors in center fielders with 400+ ABs (full time starters all year).

Not sure if this was posted already, but here's an interesting interview the South Bend Tribune did with Charlie Weis after his ouster.

That makes no sense. TCU is not going to jump both SEC teams, no matter what happens. An unconvincing win gives a greater chance of both these teams having a rematch in the championship game. That's not gonna happen. Even though this year's SEC is more respected than '06's Big 10, if they didn't give Michigan a rematch against Ohio State, I can't see them giving this loser a rematch. Michigan lost by 3 on the road, dropped to 3rd, then the 2nd place team (USC) lost, and Florida jumped them both just so that a UM/OSU rematch didn't happen. I'm pretty sure the title game is mostly set at this point. It's either SEC winner vs Texas or (if Texas loses) SEC winner vs TCU/Cincy. I don't think there's a chance of a rematch. If this game is close, I bet the pollsters won't drop the loser of this game too far down the ranks. I wouldn't be shocked if there was a rematch if Texas falters. That's absolutely wrong, but that's the way it is. That would be awful.

That makes no sense. TCU is not going to jump both SEC teams, no matter what happens. An unconvincing win gives a greater chance of both these teams having a rematch in the championship game. That's not gonna happen. Even though this year's SEC is more respected than '06's Big 10, if they didn't give Michigan a rematch against Ohio State, I can't see them giving this loser a rematch. Michigan lost by 3 on the road, dropped to 3rd, then the 2nd place team (USC) lost, and Florida jumped them both just so that a UM/OSU rematch didn't happen. I'm pretty sure the title game is mostly set at this point. It's either SEC winner vs Texas or (if Texas loses) SEC winner vs TCU/Cincy. I don't think there's a chance of a rematch.

That's Verne.

Here we go . . . Roll Tide!

East Carolina just upset Houston 38-32 to win back-to-back C-USA titles. Skip Holtz is only gaining in popularity in coach searching circles, I'd think.

Not much defense being played today.

When the QB just falls down or trips like that in college football, doesn't the tackle or sack just get awarded to the closest man to the ball? I think I remember hearing that since a tackle/sack has to be awarded to somebody.

I don't know how to feel about that. Gut feeling that Lane Kiffin is picking against Florida moreso then picking Bama. I just think this was another jab from Kiffin to Mey Probably a bit, but I doubt he picks Bama if he doesn't think they have a good chance to win. Ingram's going to have to have a monster day for the Tide to win. Two words: Trent Richardson. Watch out for this young man today. I like Richardson, but Ingram's probably the better player right now - if he's not injured, that is.

I don't know how to feel about that. Gut feeling that Lane Kiffin is picking against Florida moreso then picking Bama. I just think this was another jab from Kiffin to Mey Probably a bit, but I doubt he picks Bama if he doesn't think they have a good chance to win. Ingram's going to have to have a monster day for the Tide to win.

I'm torn on the Pitt/Cincy game. Otherwise, I'm the same - go Bama and Huskers. I really want to see a Bama/TCU BCS title game. I think that would be quite enjoyable.

I really like this news. I hope it happens.

It will take a miracle for Zambrano to earn his contract. He is at best break even production vs salary now and it is much more likely his value goes down before it goes up. More importantly giving a long contract like that to any pitcher is a bad idea. Fukudome it is still too early to tell but I think that one will work out ok. Both Z and Fuku contracts are bad. Z has shown he's not even our best pitcher(Lilly probably is). Fuku has been a major disappointment. I keep hoping he'll got back to Japan and decide to stay there. But it goes back to the Hendry regime having no plan and being unable to evaluate talent. It's not Z's fault that Lilly has pitched out of his mind since coming to the Cubs. Z has been a very good pitcher for the Cubs for multiple years and is only 28. Just because another pitcher is excelling doesn't make Z's contract a bad one. As for Fuku, he's had OPS' of .738 and .796 so far with the Cubs. He's also been worth more than his salary for both his seasons as a Cub. He's certainly not been a major disappointment and with another season like he had last year, his contract will look pretty good.

It will take a miracle for Zambrano to earn his contract. He is at best break even production vs salary now and it is much more likely his value goes down before it goes up. More importantly giving a long contract like that to any pitcher is a bad idea. Fukudome it is still too early to tell but I think that one will work out ok. It's very likely a 28 year old pitcher will decline from here on out? That's odd. Z has been a little overpaid so far, according to Fangraphs, but he's been close to worth his contract so far and has been a very productive pitcher for the Cubs. A bad contract to me is someone who is significantly overpaid or someone who is not providing much production for his salary. Z fits neither of those criteria. If Fuku has a year anything like last year, he'll be worth more than his salary. If anything, the likelihood - barring a big decline this year - is that his contract in and of itself will be a good one.