XZero771679666304

The inning started and my wife said "so if this guy (Castro) hits a home run here, the Cubs win, right?" to which I replied, "Yeah, but I'd kinda like it better if he just got a hit and the next guy hit one instead." It worked out nicely.

He had been for the past couple years, but I don't recall anything since the new regime took over. He had a lot of egg on his face over the Theo hiring, too.

I expected LaHair to regress, but it's been a brutal, precipitous decline.

It doesn't seem like any of the Chicago media does. A lot of [expletive] being thrown at the wall.

And Theo won the crapshoot twice. Meh. Dude. You were a better poster back when you were putting Hak Ju Lee and Andres Blanco as the same piece in your 3 team trades. At least those posts were good for something, even if it was just comedy relief.

But it doesn't. They're averaging ~22,000 per game this year. Everything's relative, particularly when it comes to Sox fans.

Here's my question with Texas: they want an ace type, but with Hamels and Greinke out of play, is there really one left? Johnson is only one of the remaining lot with an "ace" profile, but he has the aforementioned issues. Not to mention Miami's asking price. Daniels was unwilling to surrender Olt even for Greinke, who while not under control beyond this year, is much less of a gamble than JJ. And with Lewis down for the year, L.A. having added Greinke and Oakland playing possessed, I don't think they can afford to do nothing.

Well, the asking price for Johnson is apparently outrageous (especially given that his shoulder is still a question and his velo is down), Shields has been...not good, and Vargas has red flag h/r splits. Johnson and Shields will remain under team control beyond this year, but not cheaply (and again, Johnson is question mark to some extent). Maholm isn't on the same tier as Garza, Dempster, Shields, etc., so I regard him differently. For the remainder of this season, I see Dempster as the best bet to help a team down the stretch, with Garza/Johnson in the same area when taking everything into account (JJ clearly has more upside, but I'm far more confident in Garza's health). Shields took a big step forward last year, but he's taken a big step back this year, which makes his 2011 look like the outlier. So I guess what I am saying is that at the end of the day, even after all the crap that has gone in over the bast 5 days, I think our guys are as attractive as any to a contender.

I'd be mildly surprised if at least a few didn't show up.

it's totally normal because people didn't start making it to 40 with regularity until very recently, thanks in part to synthetics. You are correct that synthetics have played a role in lengthening the human lifespan, but not as big of a role as people like to think. Mostly just eliminating mass diseases/plagues. In general, antibiotics are WAY over-prescribed and also very harmful. Really, the reason that we live longer today is because of our infrastructure. Food is widely available and regulated. We don't have to go around hunting and eating/drinking whatever we happen to find that day (risking all sorts of diseases, etc). Also, we don't get eaten by bears and lions and stuff as much anymore. The bottom line is that people get things like cancer, Alzheimers, diabetes, autism, food allergies, etc at astronomically higher rates today than ever before. It's because of all the toxins we put into our bodies. Boy... now I'm really off topic. people have been mass farming for 10,000 years and food has been widely available since. the very existence of farms implies that they have cities to feed. people living on top of each other in cities is a far better way of spreading disease than people hunting and fishing for food in small reclusive communities. after withstanding plague after plague, we finally figured out a few tricks to improve our chances at survival, antiseptics (thank you, Donnie Darko) and antibiotics. what you're bemoaning isn't pharmaceuticals, but the necessity of pharmaceuticals. but the only way we can live without them now is to trade the plow for the spear, which isn't going to happen. you'll have to live with it. the older our population gets, the sicker it will get. To be fair, there is an over "dependence" (more like over-usage of) pharmaceuticals (particularly psychotropic drugs, which Americans consume at a prodigious rate). And antibiotics are over-prescribed. But your overall point stands. Improved healthcare tools like vaccinations and antibiotics, along with the basic understanding of medical pathology that led to them, are more responsible for our increased longevity than any other factor, by far. They're not remotely perfect, but their role can't be understated. The far more grievous threats currently posed to general health are overprocessed, chemicalized food and environmental pollution, as well as communicable disease. Cubbie swagger says food is well regulated, but this really isn't true. Compared to Europe and many other developed areas, our food regulation is an absolute joke (less of a joke if you buy organic). Of course this is also a symptom of larger populations. It's hard to properly source and make affordable good foods for some many people. You also say the older people get, the sicker it gets. This is obvious. But there is increased incidence/diagnosis of diseases like cancers in younger people, which is a result of two things: improved diagnostic procedures/tools, and increased environmental hazards. There is a tradeoff when you talk about moving from hunter/gather societies to centralized urban/argrarian societies, but not all of the negative effects we see are present as a matter of cause or necessity.

4 out of 5 games. Vitters' developing patience is really getting to be encouraging.

Do you have that Guy Pearce Memento thing? I'm telling you guys, he's output only. Too busy posting to actually let information in.

Just when you think Phil Rogers has reached the peak of stupidity, he comes up with this gem. I would love it if this trade would happen. We could then try to flip Pena to the Dodgers along with Dempster or Garza. Unfortunatley, last I checked The Rays had not yet replaced Andrew Friedman with a chimpanzee. Totally plausible. I believe that scenario is accurate to within one tenth of a plausibility unit.

I think he's saying they won't get that kind of value from anyone else, which is kind of obvious. He also explicitly said the Cubs won't get Delgado himself in another tweet (not that he'd know).

Holy [expletive], it disappeared into the night, literally.

Yeah, when it comes to inside info/market evaluation KG is not a source I'd go to.

They'll probably promote him when he starts displaying some patience.

Maybe by the time Vogelbach is ready they'll have introduced the DH to the NL.

That's a big plus for us. I like Johnson a ton, but who's giving up 3 prime pieces for him? Heck, there aren't many organizations that can offer three prime pieces. Now, let's hope for some luck on Dempster and the Braves, and then see if the Dodgers/Rangers (and maybe the Blue Jays) can bid up Garza. Granted, Garza's health situation right now doesn't help, but let's hope. If this were the 2009/10 deadline, I could see Miami getting a haul for Johnson, but not now. Garza is probably safer than he is at this point.

Yeah, that system is very top heavy, to say the least.

The Rangers' sights are set a lot higher than Dempster, and they have the ammo to get it done. If the Cubs have any chance at getting some of their talent, it'll be for Garza, which looks doubtful at this point.

I understand that, and probably has something to do with who he works for. But instead of presenting his stuff as confirmation of what is invariably all over the web already, he often presents it as breaking news. It just makes him look silly, imo. You can't constantly play it safe and hedge and be a "breaking news" reporter. I almost feel bad for the guy.

I know it's totally implicit at this point, but Jon Heyman is absolutely prodigious at reporting news everyone has already heard, while presenting it as breaking.

Good. Better the Angels than the Dodgers or Braves.

It's a faint hope, but I'm not ruling Delgado out until the Braves add another SP.