Transmogrified Tiger

They still have a poor outfield. If they want him, getting him and offering arbitration could be a good way to get something if they don't sign him on the open market.

Having lived in Cleveland until this July, and having spoken to a friend of mine who lives there recently, all I've heard is that their payroll isn't going to climb much if at all until their attendance goes up. Although they have some FA's leaving, they also have a lot of guaranteed(i.e. not arbitration) raises coming to players that mitigates much of their freedom. They aren't a team with the luxury of carrying Riske at nearly 3 million considering their depth in the bullpen, and the fact that he isn't the closer.

FYI, Site Suggestions is probably more appropriate for this question. Off the top of my head I don't recall the exact definition of what goes in Rivalries and what in Baseball Discussions, but I'm pretty sure that what you're talking about goes in one of them. Worst case scenario, start the topic where you think it should go, and if it's that big of a deal, the mods will move it.

Would you really rather build a team around which veteran is a worse option against righties? You may not have noticed, but Karros and Simon got the same invitation to leave that Choi got. I'm not talking about building a team around him, I'm talking about Baker's refusal to play young players, even when it's in the best short-term, as well as long-term, interests of the franchise. I'd rather have seen Choi play against RHP because we would have performed better and won more games, and at the same time been able to evaluate more how he fit into our long term plans. Who do you think Choi was facing when he put up these numbers ?? Choi AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS 05/15 - 06/07 50 5 10 4 0 0 14 2 7 18 0.200 0.298 0.280 0.578 06/30 - 07/31 67 4 11 4 0 1 18 6 8 23 0.164 0.282 0.269 0.551 How often was he playing? Tim outlined a while back that Choi would get a start, perform well, then sit 2 games, get 2 hits, then sit, and eventually he stopped producing. He had no consistent PT.

I assume since we are giving up 7 players for Garrett Anderson, the Angels are paying his whole salary. I like Anderson too, but 7 players for him????? Garret Anderson of the .315 OBP and .742 OPS? No thanks.

I never said a hit was meaninless. I said some at-bats are more meaningful than others. If you want to actually watch the game and understand what you are watching instead of cheerleading for a guy you "like" for whatever reason, fine. I am not saying that Barrett can't get better either. But at this stage he does not do his best when the heat is on. More than just today. See Philadelphia, a mental, not, physical, error. In fact, I think he admitted himself in a newspaper article this year that he pressed too much when he came up with bases loaded. Barrett with the bases loaded this year: .364/.364/.636/1.000, 3 doubles in 11 at bats.

Huh?? He thought the tickets were for Wrigley, in which case the location of the section you described would've been wrong.

I've never seen 1/3 innings posted that way. I thought it would be 1.1 for 1 1/3 and 4.2 for 4 2/3? /splitting hairs It's easier to add them up in his database I assume.

With Barrett having been drafted as an infielder, that means the 7 of the 8 positions players in the game are infielders. Stupid Burnitz.

Pffft. My logic is undeniable.

Yeah, Barrett decided to wait until after they were behind to pad his stats.

I think we saw enough of Hill to know he wasn't ready and needed another pitch or two. 04/04 - 08/24 IP H R ER BB K HR PC BB/9 K/9 HR/9 WHIP ERA Rusch 106.7 126 54 50 43 87 10 1907 3.63 7.34 0.84 1.58 4.22 Hill 21.0 24 20 20 13 21 3 426 5.57 9.00 1.29 1.76 8.57 21 innings? Seriously?

It was a foul ball that was nearly out of play. Doesn't seem like something that I'd get too mad at Jerry for.

he is when Aramis is on the DL. Check Barrett's numbers v. LHP. He absolutely crushes them.

Did he say something about the board? I'm stuck at work..... Look at the comments section below his recent blog entry. That's what people are referring to. Also, Len mentioned the site in a previous game in response to an e-mail, and obviously checked it out to report that there were articles on the site and such. If you search "Len + shout out" there might be a video clip of the reference somewhere around here.

Would you really rather build a team around which veteran is a worse option against righties? You may not have noticed, but Karros and Simon got the same invitation to leave that Choi got. I'm not talking about building a team around him, I'm talking about Baker's refusal to play young players, even when it's in the best short-term, as well as long-term, interests of the franchise. I'd rather have seen Choi play against RHP because we would have performed better and won more games, and at the same time been able to evaluate more how he fit into our long term plans.

That's not the point. Lawton having a bad 75 at bats doesn't make him less "fundamentally sound" than when he was with the Pirates. That's what the article is about, not predicting future performance.

Yeah i mean Lawton he just has no eye at the plate whatsoever. This is a bogus criticism. Is he supposed to be perfect. Whatta joke. Yeah, a player with Lawton's career resume swinging at a pitch like that is far from a fundamental flaw.

The Cubs won 90 games in 1998, 88 in 2001, 88 in 2003 and 89 in 2004. They'll be lucky to win 80 this year. They've already regressed back to the pre-2003 performances, and they did it by sticking with the theory of relying on "proven veterans" over "untested prospects". Did you read the rest of my post? It's one thing to play "untested prospects", but you need prospects that are any good in the first place. The Cubs don't have all that many that are close enough to Chicago to warrant such a drastic overhaul to get them on the team. They can't go all young, but there are plenty of spots to fit guys like Fontenot (backup 3b/2b), Theriot (utility/ss), Bacon (pr/backup OF), (Kelton backup of/1b/emergency 3b), Murton (starting corner OF or backup OF if they sign some studs), Sing (backup 1b/of), Greenberg (backup of) and not to mention all the possible pitching candidates. There's nothing wrong with going with some guys like that instead of going back to the well again to overspend on crappy veterans. I just have a big problem with equating "giving up" with "going young" it's a bogus line of reasoning. Of all the players you listed, all of them sans Murton you listed as bench players. I don't have a problem with that at all, especially since most of them have the ceiling of a good reserve/spot starter. What I'm saying is that throwing half those guys in the everyday lineup is a terrible idea. The positional prospects just aren't that strong, so unfortunately in this case, "going young" in that instance would essentially be "giving up", barring some unforseen breakouts.

Here's your Minor League POY, the artist formerly known as Carlos Enrique Nolasco. Why do you say? At age 22, he's been dominating in the Southern League. He leads the league in K's, he's 5th in IP, 2nd in Wins, and 4th in ERA. He's been a consistently strong performer. His 3.15 ERA, 9.68 K/9, and 4/1 BB/K ratio all rank better than his robust career totals. But honestly, what's a voting campaign without comparing yourselves to the candidates? Let's consider: Nolasco v. Eric Patterson: Nolasco is the same age as Eric, and yet he's TWO LEVELS HIGHER in the minor league foodchain, and having stellar results at that age. Also note the fact that Nolasco is so good that he skipped Low A ball altogether. Nolasco v. Brandon Sing: These two are at the same level, but Sing is TWO YEARS OLDER than Ricky. You want to know how well Sing did at AA when he was 22? 209/.256/.367/.623. Embarrassing, get him out of here. Nolasco v. Rich Hill: Ricky is THREE YEARS YOUNGER than good old Rich Hill, who before this season had never even been to AA. Rich Hill at age 22? 2.07 WHIP with a 8.36 ERA at Boise. No contest here. Nolasco v. Sean Gallagher: As has been stated before, Nolasco is so good that he never had to play in the low A Midwest league. Sure Gallagher's put up some nice numbers in Low A ball. But really, who hasn't? Justin Jones put up a great year at Lansing, now he's in obscurity, long gone for Nomar. Billy Petrick put up a fine season in A ball, now his arm is about to fall off. Andy Sisco had a good year at Lansing, then sucked it up at Daytona, and now he may never be a starting pitcher again. Jason Wylie dominated Lansing as a closer, now he has a 4+ ERA for Daytona 2 years later. The list goes on and on, pitching well in the Midwest league just doesn't cut it like doing it in AA. The Cubs obviously saw this and didn't demean Ricky's talents. Nolasco dominated a much higher level at a similar age appropriate-ness(that's a word). Let's see if Sean can make it to the big boys in AA before we anoint him with anything. As anyone can clearly see, Ricky Nolasco is the most deserving candidate for Minor League POY. He's been doing it for years, dominating levels at a young age, and he deserves the respect of this award. Do the right thing, Vote for Carlos "Ricky" Enrique Nolasco!

Why thank you. I figured a smear campaign would be necessary to overcome the biases of others. :D In depth praise of Nolasco forthcoming.

The Cubs won 90 games in 1998, 88 in 2001, 88 in 2003 and 89 in 2004. They'll be lucky to win 80 this year. They've already regressed back to the pre-2003 performances, and they did it by sticking with the theory of relying on "proven veterans" over "untested prospects". Did you read the rest of my post? It's one thing to play "untested prospects", but you need prospects that are any good in the first place. The Cubs don't have all that many that are close enough to Chicago to warrant such a drastic overhaul to get them on the team.

Just say no to Sing or Patterson! Nolasco for POY! Gallagher may also be considered an acceptable alternative in the case of Nolasco killing your dog

It's not hard at all to do around Wrigley. Half the time you have to try to not find him. :( There is a mysterious lack of him punching woo-woo in the face in that picture.

I wonder what it would look like with a larger sample, like all major league teams this year.