Garwilly

Yes you did put it in quotes...but no citation? I guess some people have better things to do than watch Gaffigan's Beyond the Pale every time Comedy Central re-airs it. Thats who it was. I knew I had seen it, but could not put a name with it. Hot Pockets.

Yes you did put it in quotes...but no citation?

Marquis wore Nos. 38 and 51 in Atlanta before he took No. 21 in St. Louis. I don't see anything short of a no-limits cage match between Zambrano and Marquis (Zambrano wins by default when Marquis forfeits) over number 38, and I would hope they keep Sammy's 21 unofficially retired for now, so if Marquis wants one of his old numbers, he can take 51 from Mateo. Then what will Ichiro wear?

:shock:

Done.

Well cubs.com will never break a story.

Marquis Grissom?

I'll pitch, league minimum, use the money elsewhere.

That's what I said. But stronger than what they were doesn't mean good. I'd be shocked if the 2007 doesn't tack on .015-.020 to the 2006 team OBP, which would put them in the upper half of the NL. I'd be shocked if the Cubs are in the middle of the pack in terms of OBP. Soriano is a career .325 DeRosa is a career .331 Sure the addition of Lee may help, but the Cubs haven't done much in the way of addressing a major weakness, yet. A weakness that they've had for the run of the Hendry GMship. And if Soriano is leading off and DeRosa bats in the two slot I don't see a whole lot of improvement in the runs scored department aside from a lot of solo HRs from Soriano. The Cubs will score a lot more runs in 2007 than they did in 2006. -Pierre was horrid in the first part of last season -Cedeno and Neifi comprised the middle infield for most of the season -Lee missed nearly the entire season -Ramirez slumped badly in the first half -Barrett missed a lot of time Look at some of the OBPs that spent significant time in the lineup last year: Cedeno - .271 Perez - .260 Mabry - .283 Bynum - .308 Pierre - .330 (.289 in April, .267 in May) Blanco - .304 Only Blanco will be back, and figures to spend less tim in the everyday lineup. Izturis is bad too, but the Cubs OBP will not be nearly as bad next season, barring major injury. For most of last season, the lineup looked something like this: Pierre Perez Ramirez Jones Barrett Murton Cedeno Pitcher As of right now, the lineup would be this: Soriano DeRosa Lee Ramirez Jones Barrett Murton Izturis That is a much better offense. Lets say some of the rumored acquisitions take place: Soriano Lofton Lee Ramirez Barrett Murton/Floyd DeRosa Izturis Also a much better offense. Either would be good for at least another 100 total runs over the 2006 version. . While I don't disagree with you, you should put a first baseman of some sort in the 2006 lineup.

I'd have to see them, beacause I can never understand them aurally.

He's also been as good as Meche has ever been. And he's much less expensive. Risk is more than the player's ability, but his cost. Ryan Dempster is Meche in 2 years. Live arm, has shown glimpses, but never put it together. The biggest difference is that Dempster put together 3 straight years of 200+ innings, while Meche never did, and Ryan is far less expensive. When was the last time Dempster was as good as Meche has ever been? 2001? 2000? He last pitched 200 innings in 2002, and he was bad. I understand the spirit of what you are saying, but saying Ryan is no bigger a gamble in the rotation than Meche is a real stretch. I'd wager that someone from the group of Dempster, Cotts, Marshall or Guzman could match Meche's numbers next year. I'm not confident of that. Not remotely. meche's era+ the last three years have been 86, 85 and 97. marshall's was 83 last year. you could say that meche is/will be better, but he's not $9.7 mil better. if meche is $9.7 mil better than marshall, zambrano is going to get a $600 mil contract. I am fine with this.

Bruce isn't even here. You got my hopes up, I quickly scrolled to the current;y active list. Bah.

Is there some new news they reported on either pitcher? Or is just the same Lilly stuff we've been hearing for a few days? Bruce Levine reports the Cubs are making a run at Jason Schmidt. Where does he report this? It was on the 3:20 update I am still waiting on the 3:30 and 3:40 updates, almost time for the 3:50 update.

Z/Schmidt/Hill/Lilly/Miller-Prior That's a rotation I could be happy with. Now go get a SS and a CF Hendry. How hilarious (not in a good way) is it, that even after the two biggest FA signings come to Chicago, signing the top FA pitcher, and a middle of the rotation guy gets us halfway to our goal.

Brian Peters

In 2002, my then girlfried (now wife) went to a Sports Authority autograph signing of his while I was out of town. Shortly there after they annonced his season ending surgery. Of course, me being the gentleman I am, blamed her for thr whole thing, saying if she hadn't gotten his autograph his arm would be fine. She has felt bad for him ever since, and I have found it hilarious. :D

Why? He looked so dreamy in the photo that accompanied the column.

co-sign I've heard people say that, but what does co-sign mean? You completly disagree with the poster's opinion Is that a joke?

Uhh... Are you joking? I thought it was clear. Sorry, less subtlety next time.

http://www.fireloupiniella.net/ Ran across this.

So he was playing pro ball at age 13-14. Unreal.

We could also go with a seven man defensive lineup so Lee, Aram, etc bat more often :shock:

"The damage... would be relatively minimal?" Pagan was pretty bad for his 200 AB. Not that I support the idea in any way, but seeing how bad Pagan was shows that the fan vote has a limited amount od damage. How much worse can there be?

If he failed because he was out of shape, yeah you make a good point. But this is because of his shoulder.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CUBS-DIAMONDBACKS-MARK-GRACE-HOF-SIGNED-BASEBALL_W0QQitemZ330054042560QQihZ014QQcategoryZ27260QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Ummm....