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Definitely. Fox is the very definition of an inconsistent reliever. He had those terrific years I mentioned, and then mixed in years of a 70, 104 and 108 ERA+. His rookie year with Atlanta he had a 127 ERA+.

I will concede that Soriano has the tools and he could be a good left fielder if he gave maximum effort at all, but how can you say he is a good left fielder when half of the time, it does not seem like he even wants to be out there. I assume that you watch more Cubs games than I do (I only watch about 30-40 a year), so I will be willing to concede the point if you can justify why you think he is a good outfielder. I have watched him half ass it after too many flyballs that should be caught and nonshalantly throw balls into the infield to consider him a good outfielder. Kendall's "triple" on Sunday is a prime example and Weeks "double" on the Brewers home opener were both plays that could have been made or in Kendall's case, he should have been held to a double. He plays very deep in general and can't go back on a ball very well from what I have seen and I remember a number of instances last year where balls dropped in front of him that should be caught. Again, this is just in limited observation, so I may be wrong, but I would find it hard to believe that you can be satisfied with Soriano's effort on defense night in and night out. Soriano is easily an above average left fielder. He does make the occasional boneheaded play, but generally I have no problem with his effort. He gets to the balls he should and, barring the occasional bonehead play, he fields them cleanly. I don't put a great deal of stock into fielding metrics, but UZR had him as a +18.4 fielder in left in 2007 and a +2.5 fielder in left in 2008. For comparison's sake, using the same metric Braun was a -3.4 left fielder in 2008 and so far (very small sample size) he is a -11.1 left fielder this year. UZR also had him in 2007 as a -35.5 third baseman.

Yeah, I think it was July '03. He'd just been chosen to be on the all-star team and then blew out the knee at 1B. That was the reason we acquired Kenny Lofton in the Aramis deal at the '03 deadline. Corey was having a great year in CF, but blew out his knee and was basically done for the year - necessitating an upgrade in center as well as third.

We couldn't trade him in the offseason. Lee has a no trade clause that he appears unwilling to waive and until he does, we can't trade him. He also has 10/5 protection (10 years in the league and 5 with his current team) which allows him to veto any trade.

I really do not remember that Chad Fox. He never made an appearance with us, but in 2003 he had a 141 ERA+ (38 games) and in 2001 he had a 228 ERA+ (65 games).

Yeah, I'm a bad typer and that slows me down a bit on some of them.

You could change Miles to Freel and still be right. We're only paying Freel $800,000. I don't see how that's overpaying.

Yeah, I've never heard the Black Mamba either. The NHL and NBA really hurt me on the nicknames. You obviously don't read Bill Simmons too often. Basically never.

Yeah, it's real easy to patch together a good bullpen. That's why there are so many good ones in baseball. The point is, you can bemoan Aramis' loss all you want, but a bad bullpen has been giving away leads even while he was playing. You can't do anything about Aramis, but you can try to address the bullpen. It won't replace Aram, but a bullpen that does the job will make the hurt much smaller. I never said it was easy to patch together a good bullpen, but it is easier to find 2-3 more decent arms (or rotate a few in and out) than it is to find a third baseman who can OPS in the .800-.900 range. Keep in mind, we've already cut two decent bullpen arms this season - Gaudin and Vizcaino. In a perfect world both the bullpen and Aramis are just fine, but when we have some pretty major questions with key offensive pieces (Lee, Soto, Bradley) the potential is there for the offense to be crippled (though I don't think it'll get that bad). The key pieces of the bullpen - Marmol and Gregg - are pretty much fine. Plus I expect Guzman to settle into a role and Heilman to settle in.

According to Cots he can opt out after 2010. If he does not, the Cubs owe him for 2011, and then have a team option for 2012, or $2m buyout. Ah, sorry. I was going off memory when I should have checked Cot's. At least I was right that something significant happened with his contract after 2010. :)

Yeah, I've never heard the Black Mamba either. The NHL and NBA really hurt me on the nicknames.

Fantastic. I got 49 out of 84, this one's tough. Athlete nicknames

He's only signed through next year, so if it were a condition that hampered him long term his contract would only be an issue in 2010.

Based on what? He hit them well in the minors. Since 2005: vs. RHP (1024 AB): .296/.358/.516 vs. LHP (379 AB): .293/.338/.509 Where did you get those stats? I looked around everywhere, but couldn't figure out how to get minor league splits. http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/ Awesome. Thanks!

I have no idea why he's currently unsigned. He'd be a terrific pickup by Hendry.

I prefer football, but not by that much of a margin. Omar makes a good point about the excitement/anticipation being greater in football due to the shorter season.

Based on what? He hit them well in the minors. Since 2005: vs. RHP (1024 AB): .296/.358/.516 vs. LHP (379 AB): .293/.338/.509 Where did you get those stats? I looked around everywhere, but couldn't figure out how to get minor league splits.

I think it can be a problem. Batters have a scouting report on pitchers, but if you haven't seen them you don't know exactly how much their breaking pitches break, their tendencies, etc. It's definitely easier for a batter most of the time the more he sees a pitcher. That's a good point on being there in 2006, but there's been some pretty good turnover I'd say. And DeRo did not seem to have any problem adjusting from AL pitching to NL pitching after the Cubs signed him. Good point. He had an .865 OPS in March/April in 07.

That's how I feel, too many holes in this team. There are issues with key injuries, shaky (at best) bullpen, lack of timely hitting, lack of general offense, and questionable defense. It's not a matter of wanting to jump ship, just wondering if you're even on a ship at all! Bullpens sometimes improve dramatically over the course of the season. It could happen for the Cubs. And fixing that bullpen would be a huge help. I'm not throwing in any towels, but I agree -- it's difficult to get past the present gloom and think about glory. Both Angel Guzman and David Patton are candidates for major improvements throughout the season given their youth (Patton) and inexperience (both). I think Heilman will settle in as well given time.

I don't know that I'd put MLB on par with the NFL. I love baseball, but the NFL is just lapping other sports in interest right now, I think. Maybe in Tennessee. :) I put them on the same level because, for the most part, their seasons don't overlap, meaning the average sports fan can be completely dedicated to both MLB and NFL. Also, a lot of this tiering was in relation to its Olympic counterpart. MLB and NFL are pro sports that don't even have an Olympic counterpart they're so insignificant in comparison. NBA and PGA golf have Olympic counterparts, but certainly not important on the same level. NASCAR is a different beast altogether, and maybe it's more significant to the rest of the country than I'm thinking, but it's definitely not big around here. You may have a point that MLB isn't as big here in Tennessee. We don't have an MLB team in the state and I think that hurts popularity. As for NASCAR, it's comparable to the big 2 here in the south but probably not on the list in other areas - thus I think it's placed well in your list.

That kind of confirms something I've been saying for awhile: people like to say the NHL doesn't belong in the "Big Four," but the NBA is slipping itself. Really, it's more a series of several tiers: NFL MLB, college football NBA, college basketball NHL, golf, soccer Other niche sports I'm not sure where I'd put NASCAR in there, and I may be wildly wrong on a few placements, but the principle of tiers is sound, imo. We're talking US only and not globally, right? If so, I'd probably go more along the lines of NFL, MLB NBA, College Football, College Basketball, PGA Golf when TIger is involved NHL, NASCAR, World Cup Soccer, Olympics MLS, MMA, AFL, Rodeo, Poker, PBA, WNBA, etc I don't know that I'd put MLB on par with the NFL. I love baseball, but the NFL is just lapping other sports in interest right now, I think.

That kind of confirms something I've been saying for awhile: people like to say the NHL doesn't belong in the "Big Four," but the NBA is slipping itself. Really, it's more a series of several tiers: NFL MLB, college football NBA, college basketball NHL, golf, soccer Other niche sports I'm not sure where I'd put NASCAR in there, and I may be wildly wrong on a few placements, but the principle of tiers is sound, imo. I'd say NASCAR goes in with NHL, golf and soccer only because of the large following it has in the south. I have no evidence to back myself up, however. The rest of your list appears to be sound.

This was a really interesting one on a wide array of stuff. Famous foursomes

I'm not talking about straight up production though. DeRosa's value was that he could be productive and fill numerous positions on the field (obviously not at once . . . ). That would be even more valuable this year with Bradley being added. We've already seen the defensive hit we took when Aramis went down and Fontenot had to play there (though he seems to have improved somewhat). Already Miles and Freel are getting at bats that we didn't know they'd be getting (with Aramis out til August) and DeRosa could have filled that void.

I think it can be a problem. Batters have a scouting report on pitchers, but if you haven't seen them you don't know exactly how much their breaking pitches break, their tendencies, etc. It's definitely easier for a batter most of the time the more he sees a pitcher. That's a good point on being there in 2006, but there's been some pretty good turnover I'd say.