Transmogrified Tiger

Two observations: 1) There's no reason at all for Sosa's name to be brought up 2) If McGwire was traded to the Mets instead of the Cardinals, half of these posts about him wouldn't have been made. I'll say it again. He was putting up HOF caliber numbers before he was traded to STL and the ensuing Andro/Steroid controversy. Take a look at his numbers, he was always good.

So because of the washed up, bullpen-battler signing the Cards are going to the series? Hmm. Well, makes sense to me! im pretty sure he was sarcastic. Yeah I read it too fast, so either it was all sarcasm or no sarcasm. I went with the former. GOD I'M AN IDIOT. GEEZ. Attack your post, not yourself. Yes, let's not call anyone an idiot even if it is yourself. :lol: Hahaha! Whoops! God that post was lamer than Roosevelt's legs. Too soon.

I noted that as bs as well...(from whomever said that at the convention..not you, Deuce). Also, Felix Pie having a tough time in winter ball isn't good news no matter how you spin it. Here's to hoping that Pawelek has another great year...where will he be pitching this season? high A? I'd guess low A Peoria. Andy Sisco did not really have that bad a season in his last year in the Cubs system. Interesting justification for not protecting him. Anyone hear of Andy causing problems in KC? Thanks, Deuce! Sisco wasn't terrible, but saying he had a bad year isn't a stretch at all. He set career worsts in ERA(4.21), WHIP(1.45), walk rate(4.64/9 IP), HR rate(0.79/9), hit rate(8.43/9), basically everything was worse except his K rate, which stayed the same. He also broke his hand, and wasn't young for his (pitcher's) league.

EPatt doesn't K a lot? Okay....

I'd second those comments about Delhomme. The whole game he didn't act with much class, then he sprinted to the locker room after the game without taking part in any of the post game handshakes and such. IMO he didn't carry himself very well at all.

A) easy to say when there's no way to know if you're right or not. Except that there is. Smith already had a step or three on Thompson or whatever his name is when he fell down on the 2nd score, and against Tillman, he was already level with him after about four yards, and you can't tell me that Smith couldn't outrun Tillman from there. Sure Smith had them beat, many receivers beat their man by a step or two on deep routes. That still doesn't mean that he would've scored. The defender falling down on those two TD's took the throws from "pretty difficult" to "criminally easy" for Delhomme to make.

I don't see the particular relevance to this discussion, but yes, I like Corey.

yeah his defense is not that good. Fielding percentage is a poor way to determine defensive performance. BP's fielding metrics rate him easily above average.

Lugo is a very good defensive player.

Absolutely infuriating. Also infuriating was CU making 13 three point shots. I would've rather McKinney lost the ball for a layup then have the ball taken out of our hands like that.

While it would have been fun to have both teams undefeated in the conference going into Monday, I'm happy with any result that pulls other Big XII teams towards the middle of the pack. Having a team of kU's caliber lose a home game helps too.

Does that specify whether the second game was a playoff game or not?

I have a hard time seeing the Cardinal bullpen repeating last year's performance. It would be difficult with the same personnel, and they've probably downgraded on the whole.

If she floats, then she's a witch.....

This is where you'd need a follow-up. Okay, so he said you couldn't do more damage, but given the likelihood that Wood will not be ready for opening day, would you not have been better off having him get the surgery a month earlier and starting his rehab earlier? And even though the doctor said he wouldn't suffer anymore damager, wouldn't common sense tell you that a pitching injury could be made worse by pitching? And given your terrible track record of having pitchers stay healthy, and get back to healthy after injuries, don't you think that taking the cautious approach with this one, would have been the wise approach? Common sense vs. Medical School & years of medical experience. Hmm Answer: Why does a $100 million team give up with 50 games to go. Wood pitched quite well out of the pen. He pitched 12 innings out of the pen before he had to go under the knife. The Cubs were 5 games out of the WC and behind 6 other teams when he started pitching in relief.

That seems like an odd combination of players. Richard Lewis played collegiately in Atlanta at Georgia Tech; and obviously Corey comes from a GT family and, like Barrett, is originally from the Atlanta area. Perhaps that's the link that had those three targeting to work-out together....Maybe they should have invited Nomar, Murton, and Eric Patterson as well (all former GT players). Ah, Barrett is from the area too, that makes sense then.

That seems like an odd combination of players.

I don't see a huge difference in salaries between Hawkins/Remmy and Howry/Eyre. It's the same situation as last year. It is different when you consider that Remlinger (and Borowski) wasn't available at the start of last season. Dusty also leaned on LaTroy too much. At this point, all of the key bullpen arms are healthy so I forsee Baker calling on them a lot. Remlinger didn't go down until a month and a half into last season, almost the exact time Borowski came back. Fox was there at the start of the season until his arm got blown out. We weren't hurting for the veteran arms in the pen.

I would not have a problem skipping the 5th guy early. I don't think the extra day off here and there is helpful that early in the season. I do think you should find way to skip guys by June/July though. 12 pitchers is dumb though, and 8 relievers is asinine, but very Cubslike as well. Why? Pitching is a tearing down process. They have 5 starters avail., there's no severe dropoff between Williams and Zambrano and certainly minimal difference between Maddux/Rusch to Williams, not to the point where it would have any impact of the standings. Early on in the year, it will take their bodies longer to recover, especially with the colder weather. I definitely agree with UK on this. Whenever you can give a guy a little extra rest we should always do it. With the way Baker rides his pitchers I think it is imperative to get them as much rest whenever possible. Seeing as Prior has yet to pitch a full season I think he most of all should get the extra days rest. Just an idea to throw out there but if wood is healthy in july wouldn't it be advantageous to go with a 6 man rotation for the month. That way Prior, Wood, Zambrano, and Maddux can all be primed to go for the stretch run. I also agree with saving the starters arms whenever possible. However, this year I think Baker will be more apt to go to the bullpen than in previous seasons. Not only will there be a good mix of veterans and youth in the 'pen there will also be some high priced arms (and even though Dusty shouldn't be influenced by salaries he does seem to take that into consideration when giving play time.) I don't see a huge difference in salaries between Hawkins/Remmy and Howry/Eyre. It's the same situation as last year.

Haha, an independent source verified the rumor, but he had the main player going to a different team. No big deal.

Being resigned to the fact that we are going to trade or platoon Walker does not change his past production and value as a player. Maybe his value to us is less, in which case it makes more sense "logically"(and it is a maniacally warped logic at this point) to deal him.

Williams is quite good. As I have said a couple of times, his numbers as a Cub place him as a 2 starter in the NL. That's very good, especially considering he's 24 and not yet reached arbitration. Lugo is a rental, and Williams would become the best pitcher in the Tampa Bay organization save Kazmir. Plus we're giving them Walker, who outproduced Lugo offensively, when we might be moving Lugo to 2B, where his defensive advantage is mitigated? Terrible terrible deal.

I was late to the anti-Hendry crowd, but he took a chance to vastly improve the team and made nightmarish decision after nightmarish decision. Barring an overhaul not yet seen in MLB history, there's not much to convince me that Hendry should remain GM IMO. Baker is an abomination, he's terrible. Problem is, there are far fewer managerial options than GM options that we know will not fall into some of the same traps that Baker did. That shouldn't prevent them from firing him yesterday, today, tomorrow, and the day after that though.

Wow. If that's really what TB wants, then LaMar's legacy of lunacy lives on.

The Cubs made the playoffs in '03. Once you make the playoffs, it's pretty much a crapshoot of who's hot. There's no reason to think that Thome alone would propel us to the World Series, and there's reason to think that without Lofton and Ramirez with Thome in his place, that we don't get the playoff position we get, if at all. Furthermore, there's no reason to think that Thome's production over Lee(forgetting that the salary constraints would keep us from adding other players to fill holes) would have propelled us into the playoffs in '04. And again, Thome has a horrible contract. Remember the Sosa fiasco? It'd be like that with Thome, only the contract is longer, more expensive, and he has injury questions. Not signing Thome was the right decision before, during, and after the fact.