Transmogrified Tiger

I don't understand, that's like saying "I'd like to see what our offense would do without Lee, Ramirez, and Hairston". There's no reason to think Prior will get hurt, unless we're counting on another line drive off him, or another collision on the basepaths. Also, if Mad Dog's money isn't there, then you sign Millwood to be a better pitcher for as much or less than Maddux is making.

Speed most can certainly slump, it's a fringe benefit in most instances that shouldn't be a priority. Walker was a leadoff hitter last year for around 250 PA's and had great results. He's been there before, not that what other teams have done should guide what your team should do.

Octavio Dotel: signed deal for 2005 season worth 4.75M on 1/18/05 Agent: Danny Horwits Service Time: 5.113 Source: http://mlb4u.com/oak.html He's protected for one more year by Oakland. If the A's tender him a contract, he'll be back, otherwise, yes, he's a FA. At 5.113, he didn't need many days on the active roster to reach his 6th year. He still accrues service time on the DL, so he'll definitely be a FA after this year.

Giles' numbers are up from last year, and the year before when he had an injury. His numbers away from pitcher's park Petco are OUTSTANDING. As has been said before, Giles would be a good 3 year investment. He keeps himself in great shape, and his plate patience(and therefore OBP) aren't likely to severely decline with age. Walker is just as good a leadoff man, if not better than Furcal. Many people are blinded by speed in the leadoff spot. It's just not that necessary as long as the player isn't a complete stiff, and can hit for as many extra bases as Walker does. Cedeno is likely to come relatively close to Furcal's numbers. Even if he isn't as good, he'll be much cheaper and won't burden us with a long-term contract that will pay more than he's worth. I'd disagree. Giles has been the far superior hitter, and he won't cost any players to acquire. Huff has been worse than Burnitz this year, and he provides no value as a defender as well. A-Rod was just a name to throw out that would be a clear upgrade. Lugo will likely give you almost identical if not better production to Furcal, but he'll make several million less. Nomar if healthy is a superior offensive player to Furcal, which has been a much bigger problem than defense. And again, neither will hamstring you with a bad valued contract like Furcal will. Possible trade targets could include Griffey, Dunn, Kearns, Gomes, Church, Wilkerson, Guillen, etc. There's plenty of upgrades available, you just have to find the right situation to exploit.

You can still improve the offense without going off the deep end. Sign Giles to play a corner, trade some of the excess arms to get another quality OF. If you trade for a CF, put Murton in LF. If it's a corner OF, then you consider the likelihood of Patterson bouncing back, or consider an outside option(trade, FA like Jacque Jones, etc.). If you can't reconcile all 3 corner OF spots, then attempt to upgrade at SS, whether it's bringing back Nomar, going after Lugo, throwing everything at NYY for A-Rod, etc.

I don't think that lineup is much better at all than this year's.

West Tenn still has playoffs to deal with, so we won't see any call-ups from them for a while more. We've already seen Cedeno, Murton and Van Buren up before September 1st. The only other guys who are on the 40-man roster in Iowa are Fontenot and Leicester. Ice had a real tough year, even if hes called up, he probably wouldnt get any time. Although I dont see how it could hurt. Id like to see Fontenot as our 25th guy next year, but Id rather see Nomar and Cedeno than him, plus I dont think we really need to see him hit in sept to decide if hell be a 25th man. But again, i dont see the harm in it. Fontenot needs to learn to play well enough in AAA before they should even think about bringing him up. Fontenot's .375 OBP looks plenty good to me to be a utility infielder.

Now everyone knows Jon did the image.

Cut for Cap Space takes Tampa Bay Defense

I'm disappointed in the lack of Cubs ear phone radios in this thread.

I figured you would say that. Murton has spent a little over a year in the Cubs system. In that time, he has put numbers way beyond anything he ever did in the Boston organization. But, you're right. There is no way, shape or form that Matt Murton learned anything in the last 12 months. You are absolutely right that the Cubs instructors have nothing to do with his growth as a player. It is absolute coincidence that the numbers he has put up with the DJaxx and Cubs this season were much better than any of the stats he put up in 2 1/2 years with Boston. Thats just luck or baseball variance, right goony? Murton has a ridiculously high BABIP, which accounts for much of the difference between this year and last year's performance. Well he has had it consistently all year long then. Yes, but it's still only a couple hundred plate appearances. I'm not saying the Cubs didn't do anything to help Murton, but if you want the main reason his numbers are so much higher, and why they aren't likely to stay that way, that's your answer.

I figured you would say that. Murton has spent a little over a year in the Cubs system. In that time, he has put numbers way beyond anything he ever did in the Boston organization. But, you're right. There is no way, shape or form that Matt Murton learned anything in the last 12 months. You are absolutely right that the Cubs instructors have nothing to do with his growth as a player. It is absolute coincidence that the numbers he has put up with the DJaxx and Cubs this season were much better than any of the stats he put up in 2 1/2 years with Boston. Thats just luck or baseball variance, right goony? Murton has a ridiculously high BABIP, which accounts for much of the difference between this year and last year's performance.

Another reason why Carlos is so much fun to root for. How did Raw put it? There should be a Carlos Zambrano forum.

Fontenot's a comparable player.

I think the Louisville Silver Slugger award(s) should only go to players who were born, lived in, or played in the state of Kentucky. Also, if the player won a gold or bronze medal in previous years playing for Team USA or some other nation, they are ineligible.

Even worse, now they can't use Harris because Bowden/Robinson are criminally stupid by sending out Castilla and Carroll(while Vidro was hurt). He's 25 now, he really deserves a shot.

Miguel Cairo is close, debuted with Toronto.

That's only offense, not pitching.

All that matters is how many runs they score and they rank 6th in the NL. Whereas their ERA is ranked 10th. Hmmmmm, guess the hitting is the main culprit. Just a little factoid, in 2003 the Cubs ranked 3rd in ERA and 9th in runs scored. So contrary to popular belief the offense has got better. I pointed out the reasons to be concerned with our offense(Lee regression, a complete lack of production from the OF) and reasons to think our pitching will improve(No freak injury for Prior, Dempster for a full season, healthy Wood, etc.). In 2003 the Cubs scored 724 runs. This year they are on pace for 725. I guess you could consider that improvement.

Can we all agree that it was pretty unexpected that ALL of those things went wrong?

The same Benitez who has 15 IP this year? Yes, the same one. Like I said, you do not know how it would've turned out if he was a Cub. If you say that, then someone can just as easily say "you do not know how it would've turned out if Wood, Prior, and Nomar wouldn't have gotten hurt".

The same Benitez who has 15 IP this year?

He was bad that year, an 85 rate. Since coming to the Cubs he's posted 94 and 97 rates, and 98, 97, 95 in the 3 years prior to his stint in Boston. Looks like an aberration to me.

I don't think Cinncy would want to do such a deal w/in the division. We'd fill a hole in the OF, and dump a sucky reliever on them. It was a joke. Bruce Miles came on here when Adam Dunn rumors were flying around and said that Hendry wouldn't trade Hill straight up for Dunn.

Grand slam in a pinch hit appearance, I assume it's his first major league at bat.