Tim

Was chatting with Meph on Sunday and he threw the name out there as a target. I don't know what it would take, but I thought I'd pass it along.

It wasn't a great day for the Cubs, but Sean's 2008 debut was excellent. Mr. Gallagher, please pass on to Sean my congrats for the outstanding work today. I hope he continues to impress enough to get a shot at the rotation.

CUBS select right-handed pitcher chad fox from double-a tennessee OPTION righthander Kevin Hart TO TRIPLE-A; Outright righthander juan mateo to single-a daytona Friday, May 2, 2008 CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today selected right-handed pitcher Chad Fox from Double-A Tennessee. To make room for Fox on the 25-man roster, righthander Kevin Hart was optioned to Triple-A Iowa. In a separate move, the Cubs outrighted righthander Juan Mateo to Single-A Daytona. Fox will wear uniform No. 44 and be available for tonight’s game in St. Louis. Chicago’s 40-man roster is at 38 players. The 37-year-old Fox last pitched professionally in 2005 with the Cubs, posting no record and one save with a 6.75 ERA (6 ER/8.0 IP) in 11 relief appearances before landing on the disabled list on April 26 with a right elbow strain, an injury that ended his season. He had since been out of professional baseball before signing a minor league contract with an invitation to Cubs major league spring training on January 11, 2008. Fox made just one spring training appearance with the Cubs this season before being slowed by right tricep strain. In addition to time at extended spring training, he made four minor league relief outings, three with Single-A Daytona and one with Double-A Tennessee. Fox tossed four scoreless innings in Daytona, allowing only one hit, before allowing four runs in 0.2 innings in his one Double-A appearance. The righthander is 10-11 with six saves and a 3.57 ERA (89 ER/224.1 IP) in 214 major league relief appearances in all or part of eight big league seasons with Atlanta (1997), Milwaukee (1998-99, 2001-02), Boston (2003), Florida (2003-04) and the Cubs (2005). He has 261 strikeouts in 224.1 innings pitched, an average of 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings, and has limited opponents to a .231 batting average. Fox enjoyed his best major league campaign with the Brewers in 2001, going 5-2 with two saves and a 1.89 ERA (14 ER/66.2 IP) in a career-high 65 appearances. Fox was also a member of the 2003 World Champion Florida Marlins, going 2-1 with a 2.13 (6 ER/25.1 IP) in 21 outings after signing with the club that August. Hart, a member of Chicago’s Opening Day roster, went 2-1 with a 5.06 ERA (9 ER/16.0 IP) in 10 relief appearances with the Cubs, collecting his first two big league wins. Mateo has pitched for Iowa and Tennessee this season, combining to go 1-0 with a 16.20 ERA (15 ER/8.1 IP) in six relief appearances.

How the hell did bronx sign him when he's an unlisted player?

Juan, I've run into an issue with the "keep all fa on waivers" format we've gone to this year. since waivers only run on Sunday morning, it becomes very hard to make trades during the week. For instance, if someone offered me a trade yesterday that included Upton, I'd have to play without a second baseman for the rest of the week until waivers run Sunday night. With the relatively short bench, it's hard to keep backups for all positions. That means that you've either got to be willing to go a player short or only execute trades on Saturdays after games have started. Is there a point to keeping the players who have been FA's for more than a week on waivers forever? Thanks

They will run every day, starting on thursday. dropped players or new additions to the db stay on waivers for three days, then are eligible to be picked up. Initial waivers run will be in order of points last season, worst to first. in subsequent weeks, waiver order will be determined by inverse order of standings. If you want Bonds...you can have him Thursday morning if you put in your claim before then. :D

I'm really happy with my team, though I'll be a lot happier if Lackey comes back strong. My infield is incredible with Martin, Pujols, Weeks, Zimmerman & Tulo. My outfield + utility is good with Burrell, Pence, Franceour & Kosuke My pitching is strong with Beckett, Webb, Lackey, Daisuke, Lincecum, E. Santana, Villanueva I've got good bench depth with Alexei, Bradley, Cust, Ethier & Bonds I really strengthened my minors in the draft, too To win it all, I need Lackey to come back strong and I need to get expected steps up from some of the young players on the team. But even without some of those breaks, I think the team is good enough to reach the playoffs.

I have one report of someone loading the forum correctly since the move to the new server. Could anyone else report if they're having similar issues?

FrIday, March 14, 2008 Mesa, ARIZ. – The Chicago Cubs today reassigned infielder Andres Blanco to minor league camp, reducing the club’s major league spring training roster to 41. Chicago’s spring roster of 41 players consists of 21 pitchers (two non-roster invitees), three catchers (one non-roster invitee), 10 infielders (three non-roster invitees) and seven outfielders (one non-roster invitee).

No trades since the draft? Disappointing.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Mesa, ARIZ. – The Chicago Cubs today announced their second round of roster cuts, reducing the roster from 49 to 42 players. Right-handed pitcher Juan Mateo and outfielder Jake Fox have been optioned to Triple-A Iowa while right-handed pitcher Jeff Samardzija has been optioned to Double-A Tennessee. Three non-roster invitees have been reassigned to minor league camp: left-handed pitcher Ed Campusano, infielder Luis Figueroa and catcher JD Closser. In addition, right-handed pitcher Shingo Takatsu has been granted his unconditional release. Chicago’s spring roster of 42 players consists of 21 pitchers (two non-roster invitees), three catchers (one non-roster invitee), 11 infielders (four non-roster invitees) and seven outfielders (one non-roster invitee).

That's right, it's time for a bigger, badder server for the 2008 season. The new server will have double the memory, four times the hard disk, eight times the processing and 25 times the bandwidth. This should mean quicker response times and more reliable service for what promises to be a great season. It also means the site won't be available Saturday starting whenever I can get going on it. Sorry for the interruption, but it should be worthwhile in the long run. Thanks!

be sure to click on the "View more smilies" link to see them all (including the new and improved banned smiley)

We need to get these settled as soon as possible so that people can take any changes into account when firming up their rosters. 1) SB and CS points will be adjusted to .75 and .5, respectively 2) defense points will be dropped Anything else?

CUBS SIGN RIGHTHANDER CHAD FOX TO MINOR LEAGUE CONTRACT Deal Includes invite to 2008 major league spring training Friday, January 11, 2008 CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today signed right-handed pitcher Chad Fox to a one-year minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to 2008 Major League Spring Training. Fox, 37, is 10-11 with six saves and a 3.57 ERA (89 ER/214.1 IP) in 214 major league relief appearances in all or part of eight big league seasons with Atlanta (1997), Milwaukee (1998-99, 2001-02), Boston (2003), Florida (2003-04) and the Cubs (2005). He has 261 strikeouts in 224.1 innings pitched, an average of 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings, and has limited opponents to a .231 batting average. The righthander last pitched professionally in 2005 with the Cubs, posting no record and one save with a 6.75 ERA (6 ER/8.0 IP) in 11 relief appearances before landing on the disabled list on April 26 with a right elbow strain, an injury that ended his season. The six-foot-three, 190-pound Fox enjoyed his best major league campaign with the Brewers in 2001, going 5-2 with two saves and a 1.89 ERA (16 ER/66.2 IP) in a career-high 65 appearances. Fox was also a member of the 2003 World Champion Florida Marlins, going 2-1 with a 2.13 (6 ER/25.1 IP) in 21 outings after signing with the club that August.

This is kinda being talked about in a couple of threads, but I figured I'd start a clear conversation about this. Here is a view of the current depth chart for the team. I'm assuming the following: Dempster is in the pen Marshall is the 5th starter Lahey makes the team as the 7th reliever I think that's a pretty good team...with some definite strengths and weaknesses: Strengths: Outfield Defense: This would be the best defensive outfield the Cubs have had in a long time. That, combined with pretty good (though not as exceptional) infield defense would make this pitching staff look significantly better than it really is. Relief: Wood - Marmol - Wuertz is a really strong core for relief. Dempster is okay as closer. Eyre is a decent lefty option. The only thing I don't like the lack of flexibility with shuttling people to Iowa, where there will be several additional quality right handers. Nobody on that list has options other than Lahey, who would have to stay on the 25 man all year. Top 3 Starters - Z, Hill, Lilly are all solid options at the top of the rotation. Unless Z gets it together, it lacks a clear ace, but they're all solid guys. Options of Back of Rotation - There are a lot of options here, though they're either proven mediocre (Marquis, possibly Dempster) or unproven (Gallagher, Hart) or unable to go 32 starts deep (Marshall). But it is good to have choices. I predict one of Marquis or Dempster will actually get dealt during ST to a team needing a starter if one of Gallagher or Hart steps up. I don't think Demp or Marquis gets dealt until then. Weaknesses: Back of the rotation - good to have options, but better to have sure things! Risks in the Lineup - Hard to go into a season expecting to contend with a near-definite poor hitter plus two relatively risky rookie hitters in Theriot, Pie & Soto. The latter two guys have the upside to perform well, but they could also be major sinks in the lineup. Soriano, DeRosa, Lee, Ramirez, Kosuke are probably strong enough options to overcome two poor performers, but if both Pie & Soto join Theriot in the negative value category the lineup will really suffer. In short, the team would really benefit from an upgrade at SS. Another more sure thing in the rotation would be a good thing, as well, but not as pressing given the options there.

I heard that update on the 9:30am sportscenter this morning. Sorry, no links. Anyone brave enough to say I'm making it up? :twisted:

Probably just as talented, but has the legal & behavioral issues the other guys don't. I don't know if he'd be cheaper or not as a result. If we could get him cheaper as a result, I'd jump on that move in a heartbeat.

What is the most appropriate avatar size to balance personal expression with getting in the way of everyone trying to read?

Yes, we'll be having it again this year, though no prizes this time around. I'm working on updating the code right now. If someone can put together a list of the top 50 free agents and their VORP from BP, it would speed the process quite a bit. Thanks!

North Side Baseball trades Roy Halladay to Urinal Cakes for Colby Rasmus

As long as Holliday puts up 56 more points and just about everyone else on my offense tops 20 again, I think I could make the finals.

Announcing the grand opening of www.SecondCityHoops.com! Check the message board there and chat basketball with all your friends from NSBB! If nothing else, go there and get a preview of the new message board interface we'll be upgrading to here at NSBB in the coming weeks. Oh yeah, don't be shy about inviting friends, either! :D

Announcing the grand opening of www.SecondCityHoops.com! Check the message board there and chat basketball with all your friends from NSBB! If nothing else, go there and get a preview of the new message board interface we'll be upgrading to here at NSBB in the coming weeks. Oh yeah, don't be shy about inviting friends, either! :D

Announcing the grand opening of www.SecondCityHoops.com! Check the message board there and chat basketball with all your friends from NSBB! If nothing else, go there and get a preview of the new message board interface we'll be upgrading to here at NSBB in the coming weeks. Oh yeah, don't be shy about inviting friends, either! :D