Tim

8IP and 15 K's? That's unreal, even for ST.

Speaking of Uptons... Anyone notice that Justin Upton, who has yet to have a regular season, professional at bat is getting some time in D'Backs camp? All he's doing is hitting .500/.563/.857 Ummm.... wow.

Yeah, they're stupid. With Huff moving back to 3B, RF is open for Young. I'm guessing this means they want more of Travis Lee and Sean Burroughs in the linuep, who hold the key to them turning their franchise around! I think they made the right decision - even w/ Huff moving to 3rd they still have Crawford, Gomes, Baldelli, and Gathright in the OF/DH. Spending another month or 2 in the minors will not hurt Young as a player and they will control him for another year. Gathright is a 4th OF. They should go Crawford, Baldelli, Young, with Gomes at DH. And if the franchise didn't have a history like they have, I would agree with you. They are going nowhere, and it's mainly because the way they overvalue their young hitters. There's no way a team with that low payroll and going nowhere in the toughest division in baseball should still be paying Lugo and Huff. Especially, when they have what are possibly the 2 most talented prospects behind them (Huff has been in the OF the majority of the last couple years). The interesting debate is whether the outfield should be Crawford, Upton, Young, with Gomes at DH. But BJ and Delmon should be in the majors, without question. For BJ, it isn't even a matter of his arbitration clock as that has already started. For him, it is nothing but defense holding him back.

And healthy Prior and Wood for a #1c and #1d. Hey, if we can dream about Clemens, we can dream about those 2 being at 100%, can't we? Might as well ask for a completely healthy Wade Miller and a circa 1995 Greg Maddux, too.

You can only hope. It's been many years since a Cardinal starter has wasted 10 or 15 starts, and it won't happen this year, either. How quickly we forget. :D Forget what? You think the Cards had better options than Stephenson that year? Well, I was just pointing out that Stephenson quite effectively wasted 10-15 starts in 2003.

The 2004 NSBB Top 30 prospects: 1.) Guzman - Injuries have stalled him. Still a high ceiling, but has to stay healthy 2.) Sisco - A good pick here, too bad he's with KC 3.) Jones - Health 4.) Pie - Still a great prospect 5.) Brownlie - Never regained college form 6.) Blasko - health 7.) Harris - Appears to have topped out at utlility player level. Wasn't ever able to take last step 8.) Harvey - Strike zone command big concern 9.) Nolasco - Doing great with FLA this spring -- 0.00 ERA 10.) Ryu - Still right around this level Health is obviously a big issue here. :(

Hoffpauir ran into a tweener problem. Not enough defensive ability to move up the spectrum, not enough power to play 1st in the bigs. Not hitting in the PCL didn't help much, either.

I'm guessing that they'll leave Dope up until Lee returns.

You can only hope. It's been many years since a Cardinal starter has wasted 10 or 15 starts, and it won't happen this year, either. How quickly we forget. :D

I'm interested in seeing if Dontrelle's 40 IP jump from 2004 to 2005 is going to have an adverse affect on his performance this year.

Why would we want Matos? If we're going to trade Walker for a speedy OF, how about that Patterson kid? I know he had a rough year in 2005, but I think he could rebound well.

Yep.

What about Gwynn?

i havent been keeping too close track(been watching more WBC) but doesnt Pie have several xtra base hits hidden in those #'s including a couple triples?That's an .800 slugging percentage, so yeah. He has three triples and a double, iirc.

His .294/.316/.471 would certainly beat out Pierre's .273/.304/.364 with three caught stealings. But Pagan's line isn't as impressive as the other OF's I listed. For example, Pie's .333/.375/.800 is pretty nice.

Yeah, I think that's the point I'm going after here. Plus, it's a nice way of pointing out a few surprising spring performances.

For fun, let's pick who is having the best spring at each position (min 10 AB's) and let that decide who should start for the Cubs in 2006. And we'll give Lee / Barrett / Zambrano the benefit of the doubt since they're playing higher level competition. C - Barrett 1B - Lee 2B - Hairston 3B - Ramirez SS - Theriot LF - Murton CF - Pie RF - Mabry C - Fox IF - Walker IF - Ojeda (yes, he's outplayed both Neifi and Cedeno this spring) IF/OF - Sing OF - Restovich OF - Jones SP - Z SP - Maddux SP - Marshall SP - Ryu SP - Brownlie RP - Eyre RP - Howry RP - Dempster RP - Novoa RP - Wells RP - Ohman There you have it...your 2006 Chicago Cubs.

Do you think my chances are good with my pick of the Illini winning it all? :D

If the Lord is willing and the creek don't rise... Too bad the Cubs pitching already appears to be on the wrong side of healthy. Be honest... you fear a healthy Cubs pitching staff. Z Prior Wood Miller Maddux I'll be honest. Z - Yes Prior - Yes (unless he's hurt. which I think he is) Wood - I have zero fear of this overated one trick injured pony. Miller - Yes (3 years ago... now, not so much) Maddux- Eh- He's a really good #5! So...if Wood has been healthy for the season and the Cubs and Cards are matched up for a decisive game 7 in the NLCS, you'd be more than comfortable with a Suppan/Wood matchup?

Alright! The losing picks have been entered. :D

Even though he wasn't an option, would you rather have Grissom or Restovich? I'd probably rather have Restovich. Although Grissom really isn't a bad option -- if he actually has anything left in the tank.

Hah, I'm one of the three that voted for Grissom. IMO, Sing needs time in AAA. He was productive in AA, but he still has some major holes in his swing that need to be closed. A part time role in the majors would be a huge adjustment for him. I think he'd end up with a worse-than-Dubois type performance. I'd like to see him get another season in with Joshua and be available to fill a full-time role in case of injury. I'm apt to judge Pagan by the entire history of his minor league performance as opposed to the two decent weeks he's had in camp. A few weeks ago, many here were complaining about him taking playing time away from prospects at Iowa. So I guess I'm questioning the decision to put him on the major league roster. Which leaves Marquis.

Just what we need---another deal where we give up a reasonably productive player and pay him to play for another team. I got a better idea, why don't we keep them and pay them to play for the Cubs. So...Hairston, Hill, Guzman, Pie + @2 Million for Miggy Cabrera. Sounds good to me. Walker, Hill, Pawelek, Dopirak, Pie, Marshall (or Gooz) + 2.5M for Cabrera maybe. Can't trade Pawelek until June.

I went with Pettitte. I think he'll be the least effective of the five guys when he pitches, but with the lousy back end of the rotation in Houston, I think they'll skip the back end whenever possible. Which, of course, leads to more starts for Oswalt & Pettitte.

Wow, that's a great job by KC. DeJesus is one of my top breakout guys for this year.