Transmogrified Tiger

120 pitches, wow. I'd be furious if I were a Card fan. No one's going to care if Carpenter wins the Cy(which btw, Clemens still deserves IMO) if he gets hurt and can't get them to the WS.

You make it sound like those things are completely untrue. Many people came to these conclusions based on the ample quotes and decisions by Baker that confirmed that suspicion. Baker is a guy who doesn't choose his words very carefully, we all know that. Some of his sentences only make sense when you consider what he was trying to say, but in order to do that, one has to give him the benefit of the doubt. It is very easy for anyone who wants to support an already held belief to twist his not-very-carefully-chosen words around to do so. It has been my experience that some fans have done exactly that and don't give Baker the benefit of the doubt very often, if at all. Maybe you aren't one of them. I don't know. I don't pay close attention to the name of the person doing the writing. I pay more attention to what is being written. But it seems clear to me that some fans have an already held belief that they are seeking to support by assuming the worst about a certain quote or twisting the words around to make them mean what they want it to mean. I remember the Baker quote about tall guys having more moving parts. His words were poorly chosen and you kinda had to visualize what he was talking about to understand what he meant, but once you did, you got the gist of what he was saying. Some guys jumped on him for that quote and used it as evidence that he is an idiot or something, I don't know. His quote about walks clogging the bases was twisted by these fans, too. Baker was referring to the fact that a hit can drive in someone from 2nd base, but a walk doesn't advance the runner with 1st base open instead, it creates a double play opportunity for the other team. If you give him the benefit of the doubt that he isn't an idiot, you can understand what he was trying to say. But, if you have an already held belief that he is an idiot who hate walks, then it is fairly easy to twist Baker's poorly worded statements into evidence for your hatred of him. That said, I think Baker could have done a much better job of getting his hitters to take more walks. I think he could have emphasized it a lot more. I don't think it is a coincidence that the Cubs have walked as little as they have under him and I think he should be fired. But the twisting of his quotes and extreme viewpoints expressed with hatred towards Baker by some fans I think is unsupportable. I would agree with that if Baker's actions and decisions didn't support the supposed forgone conclusions that posters apparently twist his words to come to. It's one thing to interpret a Dusty quote to say "Dusty hates walks" or "Dusty hates kids". It's another thing to come to that interpretation after watching Bellhorn get run out of town, approaches like Neifi's continually rewarded, the PT situations of deserving young position players the last few years, etc. in addition to the supposedly twisted quote.

guess what "certain manager" will be back to use neifi in the problematic way? if neifi is signed as a backup next year, he'll still get 2-3 starts a week under dusty. no, not really. the only reason Neifi started so much is b/c our starter went down for a long period of time. Dusty knows neifi's not a starter on a $100M team. You end up playing what you have. A healthy starter (be it Nomar, Furcal, Cedeno, other) puts Neifi back where he belongs...on the bench. There have been 134 games this year, and Neifi has played SS for 95. That means 39 games Neifi hasn't been the SS, and he's STARTED at 2B in 16 of those remaining 39. That's basically 3 starts a week at that rate, at second base, his secondary position. There's only been 8 games ALL YEAR that Neifi has not played at all in. Dusty loves putting Neifi in the lineup, and there's no reason to think he won't continue to find ways to put him in there next season.

You make it sound like those things are completely untrue. Many people came to these conclusions based on the ample quotes and decisions by Baker that confirmed that suspicion.

No transaction, but we may be close to an anti-Maddux-bashing ordinance.

I assume that Cedeno's bunt was a sacrifice attempt? Twice in two games Baker's done that garbage with Cedeno on the SECOND BATTER OF THE GAME. Good thing Cedeno beat it out. That inning is why sac bunts are so wasteful this early in the game.

Looks like Murton and Cedeno are getting Dubois'd. Even when the alternative to Murton is right handed.

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.