Transmogrified Tiger

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.

how many ab's did jeff bagwell have in the minors to prove he couldn't hit for power? Well, I guess you could bring up the one exception when there are hundreds of examples otherwise. Koronka had the best season of his career that was on par with one of Mitre's worst, and he's a year older than Mitre. I'd be really interested to see what Koronka's GB/FB ratio is. Because if he doesn't get ground balls, then there's not much hope for sustained success, since he doesn't K a lot of guys, and has pedestrian stuff. EDIT: Bagwell only had 731 AB's total in the minors, that's not much at all for an entire minor league career. actually he is just the first one off the top of my head. guys like moyer & tewksberry were horrible in the majors until they were in their late 20's. ryan sandberd didnt have a spectacular minor leauge career either but he did pretty well in his major leauge career. i bet albert puljos didnt have any where near his major leauge #'s in his minor leauge career. Pujols had a .921 Minor League OPS reaching every level before age 21. Both Moyer and Tewksbury had good to great minor league numbers. I don't understand why we're trying to make Koronka out to be the exception to the rule here. He hasn't impressed at any level, he's 25, he doesn't have great stuff, and he was terrible in his short stint in the big leagues. EDIT: Sandberg's minor league numbers are pretty similar to his career numbers, and like Pujols he did it at a very young age.

Brad Smith just became the all-time leading rusher for a QB. Mizzou in the red zone down 7-0 w/ 3:30 left in the 1st. EDIT: Smith connects with Franklin for the TD. Crossett misses the PAT. Infuriating.

how many ab's did jeff bagwell have in the minors to prove he couldn't hit for power? Well, I guess you could bring up the one exception when there are hundreds of examples otherwise. Koronka had the best season of his career that was on par with one of Mitre's worst, and he's a year older than Mitre. I'd be really interested to see what Koronka's GB/FB ratio is. Because if he doesn't get ground balls, then there's not much hope for sustained success, since he doesn't K a lot of guys, and has pedestrian stuff. EDIT: Bagwell only had 731 AB's total in the minors, that's not much at all for an entire minor league career.

To me it doesn't really matter. Koronka is terrible, he doesn't belong on our roster. 13 AFL innings don't change what he's proven over 936 minor league IP.

I go to school close enough to Kansas City, DeJesus is good, Sisco's over there, it couldn't be that bad. Or at least any worse than Neifi getting a two year contract. At least it's Rosenthal.

Not if you are a Cubs fan. It's all relative brah. Hey mods, how much is premium, and is the price worth it for the ignore list alone? 5 bucks a month, or 50 bucks for a year. The latter I can't help you with.

That sounds like a Dusty quote. Taking a chance and giving a few promising rookies in the lineup some playing time seemed to have worked out alright last year for Atlanta. The only difference is that the guys that we're suggesting to put in there hit over .300 in their first year in the majors, albeit in limited playing time. I would feel more comfortable with both of them in the lineup if we had good to great production in those other positions, but I wouldn't say that I don't like having them both in there if we don't. If we don't have good to great production in those positions, it's likely we won't contend anyways, so why not give the kids some playing time and let them develop? We don't have the Braves system. It's one thing to let the kids play when its April and all we've done is resigned Neifi and Burnitz. It's quite another thing to plan on two unknowns who don't have more than one year of great minor league production to start on an offense that was subpar to begin with, at the beginning of the offseason.

Who would you prefer? Between having either Murton or Cedeno? Murton.