Transmogrified Tiger

Nope. As a second baseman Hairston is an average defender, and he's not an abomination at the plate.

Abreu home/road splits in '05 (even worse that Burrell's): Home: .304/.423/.535/.958 Away: .268/.387/.417/.805 check this out (click on the different tabs to compare OBP, K/BB, etc): http://www.fangraphs.com/comparison.aspx?playerid=949&position=OF&page=0&playerid2=945 '04 Abreu Home: .314/.451/.552/1.004 Away: .290/.405/.535/.941 Burrell Home: .286/.398/.519/.917 Away: .231/.336/.399/.735 BABIP Abreu 2004: .334 2005: .335 Burrell 2004: .310 2005: .341 IMO, Burrell's year is a fluke, as are Abreu's splits from this past year.

The Phils give up two great offensive players and a quality SP and get a similar SP, and two borderline starters in return, plus they pay money. I don't think that's a very good deal at all.

Pat Burrell in '05 Home: .293/.416/.557/.973 Away: .269/.358/.447/.806 BABIP: .341 Caveat emptor

Wow, that's ridiculous(best score thing). I think OSU and Florida are in a pretty appropriate spot in the polls, I wouldn't argue much either way if they were higher or lower. Take OSU for example. They lost a tight game to an undefeated powerhouse at home(much like ND), and a tight game to another top 10 team on the road(much different than ND). The record of the teams OSU has beaten is one game under .500, ND's is 13 games under, neither have a real high profile win. Now Florida, two road losses to top ten teams, one close, one not. The record of teams they've beaten is 5 games under .500, and they have a high profile win, handing Georgia their only loss. If ND is BCS/Top 10 caliber, then I think you have to put OSU and Florida in there, and probably in front of them(not saying you are saying the opposite).

I disliked their roles and not them. ditto. both are solid bench players. oh, and i'd like to add Dusty Baker, Tony LaRussa, and ARod to my list. Actually, I don't even think Macias is a solid bench player. He really has no business even being in the majors. The Cubs pay him nearly a $1 mil/year to suck. So yes, I hate him. he makes wood and prior feel good during all their sim games. keep your studs happy. Didn't he go 0-7 during a A or AA spring training game? He makes all the pitchers happy.

The Indians don't really have a lot of(any?) high walk guys. Betancourt K's a lot of guys, he's the only one that K's more than one per inning.

Okay, now I'm confused. If the BCS picks the team that's most popular, then why do the BCS rankings exist? Are they not obligated to give the at large bid to the team with the best BCS score? My main point is revolving around how much respect ND is getting in the polls. Look at the one loss teams that are ranked below Notre Dame. Georgia, Virginia Tech, how in the world do you justify that? UCLA, Oregon, and to a lesser extent Texas Tech are unjustly below too. Never mind all the two loss teams that have a better profile than ND(OSU, Florida, FSU, Wisconsin, maybe even Auburn). Like I said before, this is a lot like the Cal situation last year. They played USC close, and everyone thinks they're BCS caliber. Except this year they lost a second game at home to a team that's fighting for bowl eligibility. But since everyone loves/respects Notre Dame, they're top 10 material.

Yeah, they love him, fans love him, he's young, cheap, and they have no one beating down the door to replace him. Similar to David Wright in availability IMO(i.e. nonexistent).

What would it take in addition to Walker to bring in Betancourt and Crisp?

Well, if we have to see Walker get dealt and Cedeno at 2B, then try to get one or more of their relievers. If Walker gets dealt to Cleveland and neither David Riske or Rafael Betancourt comes here, I'm going to be upset.

To be quite honest you could make cases for all those teams being more deserving than Notre Dame, right now. However, VT, Georgia and LSU all have shots at missing their conference title game, Wisconsin will probably end up finishing 3rd in the Big Ten behind PSU and OSU, and UCLA will have another loss after the USC game. (Oregon is liable to get screwed if they win out, unfortunately.) IMO you really can't say that a team is more deserving of ND if they can't finish among the top 2 of their conference. And why is that? There's a good chance that several of those teams can finish outside the top 2 in their conference, and still have only two losses. Notre Dame also has 2 losses, and likely will have a much worse schedule than many of those teams. If Notre Dame was in a conference and was in the top two I might be able to see that, but to disregard a team because they aren't in the top 2 of the conference is as ridiculous as disregarding ND because they don't have one.

What the heck has Roy Oswalt done besides be a damn fine pitcher? Was 2004 that long ago? That whole debacle is probably why many hate him.

Yeah, it's kinda dumb, I always have, he's always rubbed me the wrong way. Certain smugness I guess. Mainly I wanted to have a third to go with Edmonds and Buehrle.

Edmonds, Buehrle, Chipper Jones.

what does deserving have to do with it? The point is to make lots of money - that's it. I was under the impression that they are obligated to go by the BCS standings for placing the at large bids.

It boggles my mind how Notre Dame could be more deserving of an at-large BCS bid than VT, UCLA, LSU, Georgia, Wisconsin, OSU, or even Oregon.

Good for Neifi. I hope he never puts on a Cubs uniform again.

Hmm. Tell that to Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles. Football is very very very different from baseball.

And that should do it. 38-12. Too many shots to the foot on offense, nonexistent defense, poor special teams, and bad breaks on penalties. Not much has gone right. Hopefully Senior Day next week will be the week we get that bowl eligibility.

I'm still miffed to how you can call roughing the kicker when he lands on a defender, but not call a personal foul when Smith gets thrown into the kicker's net when he's already several yards out of bounds. Mizzou's defense is terrible enough without giving CU more downs and more times with the ball.

I'm gonna have to say I disagree with you. They can add Furcal, get Lofton for 1 year for cheap (who will probably have a very good season) and still afford a great RF through trade if not FA. Furcal is strong DF, steals tons of bases, and gives us that constant threat on the bases that people keep saying "shakes up" pitchers. We NEED that next year. We do not have anybody waiting in the wings to give us that next year at SS. Lofton is actually very likely to be much worse next season. He was very lucky due to his high BABIP, and at his age and past performance in that department he's likely to come crashing down production-wise. I don't really subscribe to the philosophy that speedy baserunners "shake up" pitchers. I haven't really seen any evidence to support it. Therefore, I think it's far from a NEED. Ronny cedeno is waiting in the wings at SS, and while I don't wish for him to be our starter quite yet, he's certainly capable of stealing a base or two and potentially putting up solid SS production. That's the difference between you and me. I think we out to go for it NOW (you know while we still have zambrono and prior relatively cheap compared to their production).. Furcal gives us a positive boost at SS immediately, making us stronger immediately. And increases our chances at the playoffs, immediately. Yet you want to be patient and do what? Sign Nomar and take a chance he doesn't get injured in the first month? Have Neifi keep it warm for Cedeno so that when Cedeno is finally ready, Dusty doesn't play him? I'm sorry, I think the Cubs should be trying to win the World Series NOW. We are not building for the future. We are ready, and we only need a FEW peices and some luck (wood). I never said not to go after Furcal. I'm not necessarily opposed to getting him, but I wouldn't make him my top priority. I was only responding to your insinuation that we didn't have anyone waiting to play SS. No I didn't say that. I insinuated that we don't have any body who can offer Furcal's production next year (highlighted in bold). . We don't have someone who can possibly steal 30-50 bases and provide that constant speed threat. Furcal is a significant upgrade over Cedeno at SS. And I think we should go out and get high calibur players while we still have a strong "core". That's what I was referring to, I paraphrased, sorry for the confusion. I addressed that in my previous post as well, about speed, and about Cedeno.

I'm gonna have to say I disagree with you. They can add Furcal, get Lofton for 1 year for cheap (who will probably have a very good season) and still afford a great RF through trade if not FA. Furcal is strong DF, steals tons of bases, and gives us that constant threat on the bases that people keep saying "shakes up" pitchers. We NEED that next year. We do not have anybody waiting in the wings to give us that next year at SS. Lofton is actually very likely to be much worse next season. He was very lucky due to his high BABIP, and at his age and past performance in that department he's likely to come crashing down production-wise. I don't really subscribe to the philosophy that speedy baserunners "shake up" pitchers. I haven't really seen any evidence to support it. Therefore, I think it's far from a NEED. Ronny cedeno is waiting in the wings at SS, and while I don't wish for him to be our starter quite yet, he's certainly capable of stealing a base or two and potentially putting up solid SS production. That's the difference between you and me. I think we out to go for it NOW (you know while we still have zambrono and prior relatively cheap compared to their production).. Furcal gives us a positive boost at SS immediately, making us stronger immediately. And increases our chances at the playoffs, immediately. Yet you want to be patient and do what? Sign Nomar and take a chance he doesn't get injured in the first month? Have Neifi keep it warm for Cedeno so that when Cedeno is finally ready, Dusty doesn't play him? I'm sorry, I think the Cubs should be trying to win the World Series NOW. We are not building for the future. We are ready, and we only need a FEW peices and some luck (wood). I never said not to go after Furcal. I'm not necessarily opposed to getting him, but I wouldn't make him my top priority. I was only responding to your insinuation that we didn't have anyone waiting to play SS.

Mizzou continues to shoot itself in the foot. Fumbled snap kills one drive, lazy fumble another. Defense is reminiscient of the Texas game. 21-6 Colorado.

I'm gonna have to say I disagree with you. They can add Furcal, get Lofton for 1 year for cheap (who will probably have a very good season) and still afford a great RF through trade if not FA. Furcal is strong DF, steals tons of bases, and gives us that constant threat on the bases that people keep saying "shakes up" pitchers. We NEED that next year. We do not have anybody waiting in the wings to give us that next year at SS. Lofton is actually very likely to be much worse next season. He was very lucky due to his high BABIP, and at his age and past performance in that department he's likely to come crashing down production-wise. I don't really subscribe to the philosophy that speedy baserunners "shake up" pitchers. I haven't really seen any evidence to support it. Therefore, I think it's far from a NEED. Ronny cedeno is waiting in the wings at SS, and while I don't wish for him to be our starter quite yet, he's certainly capable of stealing a base or two and potentially putting up solid SS production.