Tim

pfft. Sounds like Helton can't even beat out a little competition to me.

It could have been worse... Perhaps Furcal hits some pitcher's better than Giles?? Or perhaps you're really reaching to support a position without substance. After all, it's more likely that a pitcher who has already allowed one guy to reach is going to be a hittable guy.

Okay, so if having Furcal on first helps Giles so much, he obviously must have much better splits with runners on base, right? Well, not so much. His OPS actually goes down with runners on base. None on: .296/.353/.482/.835 (328 ABs) Runners on: .285/.379/.434/.813 (249 ABs) But that's all runners on all bases. Surely, the at bats he had with a runner on first would be more indicative of the effect Furcal would have, right? Again, not so much. On First: .278/.355/.361/.716 (108 ABs) Now, I recognize that not all of those 108 at bats with a runner on first were with Furcal. But surely, enough of them were that if having Furcal on first base actually helped Giles, it would show up in the numbers. It actually looks like Furcal on first base hurts Marcus quite a bit. But don't let data get in the way of a good theory.

If somebody comes to the Cubs and makes an offer that makes the team better in the short and long run, I hope that Hendry would do the deal. It shouldn't matter who you are trading away if it improves the team over the entire foreseeable horizon.

The .340 was Murton. What I meant to say about Wilkerson is you might not get much better than that from him. I wouldn't pencil him in for a near 900 OPS. Things have been down in recent years, and while I love the patience and walk totals, I don't trust a guy who relies so heavily on the walk, while playing for Dusty. Make no mistake, I'd love to have him in center and leading off, moreso than Furcal actually. I was just talking about total OF production, and making a point that an OF of Murton/Wilkerson/???RF??? better have a very production RF in it. Murton/Wilkerson/Burnitz wouldn't cut it. Gotcha. I thought you were inferring that Wilkerson would be around those numbers, as well. While I wouldn't expect a .900 OPS out of him, I would expect something around .850 if he's healthy. His four OPS numbers are: .839, .844, .872, .756. The last was accumulated, again, while playing injured in a dreadful home environment (yes, I also know his road numbers were worse this year -- I consider that an anomoly). Hey, my offseason priorities still begin and end with paying Giles enough money to leave the west coast. If we had Murton, Wilky and Giles across the OF, I'd be okay with going with defense in the MIF and signing Furcal & playing Cedeno at 2B. Wow, you really have the expectation bar set high. If the Cubs get Giles and Wilkerson you are "okay" with them going with Furcal and Cedeno up the middle? That would only mean that the Cubs wind up with arguably the two top free agents on the market plus a high level CF via trade. I would be more than okay with that, I would be ecstatic. You misunderstand. Or I didn't state clearly, which could also be the case. :D I've been a big advocate of keeping Nomar + Walker at SS/2B because we simply need the offense. However, if we could line up Murton/Wilkerson/Giles across the OF, I'd be okay with taking a more defense-oriented approach on the infield and fielding Furcal/Cedeno there. If we don't strengthen the OF as much as I've suggested above, I'd much rather stick with Nomar/Walker in the IF for the offense they'll generate.

I didn't say that. I'm still a big believer in his potential.

Quite a battle there, salary advantage-Guzman and the production advantage goes to Neifi. If I was Washington and that was the battle at starting SS, I'd want a 3rd option. That's why they moved Zimmerman to SS. Did you see some of the comments made about 2B Howie Kendrick of Anaheim? Aybar, Cabrera, Wood, Callespo, Kennedy and Kendrick... Quite a surplus of MIs. Yep. You can ad in Maicer and Figgins, as well.

Quite a battle there, salary advantage-Guzman and the production advantage goes to Neifi. If I was Washington and that was the battle at starting SS, I'd want a 3rd option. That's why they moved Zimmerman to SS.

The .340 was Murton. What I meant to say about Wilkerson is you might not get much better than that from him. I wouldn't pencil him in for a near 900 OPS. Things have been down in recent years, and while I love the patience and walk totals, I don't trust a guy who relies so heavily on the walk, while playing for Dusty. Make no mistake, I'd love to have him in center and leading off, moreso than Furcal actually. I was just talking about total OF production, and making a point that an OF of Murton/Wilkerson/???RF??? better have a very production RF in it. Murton/Wilkerson/Burnitz wouldn't cut it. Gotcha. I thought you were inferring that Wilkerson would be around those numbers, as well. While I wouldn't expect a .900 OPS out of him, I would expect something around .850 if he's healthy. His four OPS numbers are: .839, .844, .872, .756. The last was accumulated, again, while playing injured in a dreadful home environment (yes, I also know his road numbers were worse this year -- I consider that an anomoly). Hey, my offseason priorities still begin and end with paying Giles enough money to leave the west coast. If we had Murton, Wilky and Giles across the OF, I'd be okay with going with defense in the MIF and signing Furcal & playing Cedeno at 2B.

I thought Jose Vidro is their most popular player. I always assumed Livan was the face of that franchise. At least that's the 1st player that comes to mind for me when people talk about the Nationals. I could be wrong though. I'll happily take John Patterson, instead!

Goony, What is it that you don't like out of Wilkerson's offensive production in CF? His OBP's for the past four years are: .370, .380, .374, .351. This year he supposedly played injured, which lowered his numbers across the board. I wouldn't call him a stud, but I'm not sure why you'd expect him to put up a .340 OBP, either.

et tu Tim? What can I say? Of course, it doesn't help that I haven't seen him pitch. Unless the reports (and performance) are glowing from all directions, I'm generally unwilling to assume that a player is headed for all-star performances in the future until I've seen his stuff firsthand. Especially when guys are 12th round draft picks, they simply need to prove everyone wrong and tend not to get the benefit of the doubt. I hope to see him pitch next spring (or maybe next summer if he can reach West Tenn) and then I might change my mind.

I, as well as many others, disagree with this assertion. Wrigley CAN be a hitters park, but it can also be a pitchers park. Overall, it is very close to neutral, or slightly leaning towards a hitters park, IMO. Not a 'heck of a hitter's park'. Back in the 70's, Wrigley was a heck of a hitter's park. Compared to the caverns of the day, anyway. With the bandboxes of the past 20 years, Wrigley is fairly neutral when compared with other parks. But not back then.

I don't think Gallagher really has that kind of potential. I could be wrong, but my impression of why he did so well in A-ball this year is that he's really advanced, not that his stuff is overwhelming.

Harvey has superstar potential, but has a LONG way to go to get there.

Chris Shelton begs to differ with your argument.

Our system is very deep, but lacks the punch at the top.

Who's going to break the guys out of the bathroom now?

It's the points for the whole year. To find the points, go to sortable stats and click on your team. When the page comes up, switch the "Source" from fantasy to MLB.

That's my understanding too; an exemption means keeping a player after the year without counting against the point limit for keeping players for the next year.Right. You don't use exemptions for someone before they even debut. This is Bonderman's third year, so this is his third, and final, exemption. Adam, of course, is very interested in this conversation with Teixeira and Matsui being third year players. :D

That's the correct understanding. Each player gets three exemptions to begin his career.

My keepers this offseason. I'm done trading. Player FPTS Keep? Points? Roster? Total Pujols, Albert 1B STL 676.8 1 1 1 676.8 Abreu, Bobby RF PHI 585.5 1 1 1 585.5 Wright, David 3B NYM 522.8 1 0 1 0 Berkman, Lance LF HOU 457 1 1 1 457 Jones, Chipper 3B ATL 385 1 1 1 385 Gomes, Jonny J. DH TB 319.8 1 0 1 0 Weeks, Rickie 2B MIL 248 1 0 1 0 Barmes, Clint SS COL 247 1 0 1 0 Bonds, Barry LF SF 53.5 1 1 1 53.5 Cedeno, Ronny SS CHC 49.2 1 0 0 0 Marte, Andy 3B ATL 16.8 1 0 0 0 Upton, B.J. SS TB 0 1 0 0 0 Martinez, Eddy SS SF 0 1 0 0 0 Markakis, Nicholas OF BAL 0 1 0 0 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 5 9 2157.8 Player FPTS Keep? Points? Roster? Total Bonderman, Jeremy SP DET 329.8 1 0 1 0 Cain, Matt SP SF 111.2 1 0 0 0 Liriano, Francisco RP MIN 34.6 1 0 0 0 Reyes, Anthony SP STL 25.7 1 0 0 0 James, Chuck H. P ATL 8.4 1 0 0 0 Hansen, Craig RP BOS -1.7 1 0 0 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 0 1 0 ====================================================================== 20 5 10 2157.8 I go into the draft with all of my picks, plus: NC's first & fifth round picks SOS's first & third round picks

Now he throws six shutout innings. Where was that the last two weeks? Bastard.

Is that you Tim? Nope, I'd be Tim from NSBB if I submitted a question.

Ha, thanks Tim! I like how Fox's power numbers improved as the year went on. I think Fox has a lot of potential. PLUS he's a Michigan guy, which is always a plus in my book (I used to go to all the UM games). Any reports on how Fox is progressing defensively? Any big changes you would make to the list Tim? Yes, but my top 30 list won't be coming out for a while! :D I'd move Aardsma down - but I always am tough on relief prospects. Marmol is too low. Pawelek is too low. There's more, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. ;) Yes, but you actually never came out with a list of your own last year! :wink: PLUS I challange you to come out with a list BEFORE Baseball America (among others) comes out with their lists. After all, it's too easy to see how the others do the rankings...and then do them, right...? I like the group moderator top 30 prospects that you came up with...however, I'd welcome you doing your own list as well this year. I wanted to have Aardsma a little further down as well to be honest. I also wanted to fit in McGehee somewhere...he's in there with the 20-30 group I believe. I'd be interested to know how you rank the lefties: Marshall, Hill, Pawelek, and Pinto... I'll see what we can do to get something out earlier this year. We were considering a much larger project last year and I think that delayed things a bit. But we'll see what we can do this year. The lefties... (off the cuff and subject to change) Upside: Pawelek Hill Pinto Marshall Closest to ready: Hill Marshall Pinto Pawelek Likeliest to contribute something meaningful: Hill Marshall Pinto Pawelek Overall: Hill Pawelek Pinto Marshall