Transmogrified Tiger

If he can't make it here, then he's a commodity that can be sent to the teams that can use him. Why do you want Welly cut from the organization, yet clamor for Rueter to be signed? What can the Cubs get for him?? Seriously? Could catch lightning in a bottle w/ Reuter. At least he's had success in the majors, and can't be much worse than Hill, Mitre or Welly. Not by himself, using him as part of a package he's a valuable component. Besides, he's not taking anyone's space that's needed before the end of the season, no need to be wasteful by cutting him. Rueter has been terrible. We're better off seeing what we have in Rusch/Hill/Mitre/Welly/etc. than hoping to get 4 good starts out of a guy who never had good stuff whose age is catching up to him. I'll give Rusch a shot. The other 3 shouldn't be starting in a wildcard chase. IMO, if you still think you're in the hunt, you play matchups with the 5th starter. For a team like the Astros, who are heavily right handed and whose best hitter is a switch hitter, I'd go with the Right hander(Welly/Mitre). If you're facing a team like the Reds or Phillies, teams whose best hitters are LH, then you go with the lefty(Rusch/Hill). If you don't think you're in the hunt(which is the likely case if we lose this series), then I say you start the younger guys to get them experience and evaluate what you have.

If he can't make it here, then he's a commodity that can be sent to the teams that can use him. Why do you want Welly cut from the organization, yet clamor for Rueter to be signed? What can the Cubs get for him?? Seriously? Could catch lightning in a bottle w/ Reuter. At least he's had success in the majors, and can't be much worse than Hill, Mitre or Welly. Not by himself, using him as part of a package he's a valuable component. Besides, he's not taking anyone's space that's needed before the end of the season, no need to be wasteful by cutting him. Rueter has been terrible. We're better off seeing what we have in Rusch/Hill/Mitre/Welly/etc. than hoping to get 4 good starts out of a guy who never had good stuff whose age is catching up to him.

If he can't make it here, then he's a commodity that can be sent to the teams that can use him. Why do you want Welly cut from the organization, yet clamor for Rueter to be signed?

It doesn't matter. Wuertz is shaky but Welly should not be here (period). If you can't keep your ERA under 4 in the minors you don't belong in the MLs. I was shocked when I saw that Koronka was sent down so quickly in favor of Wellemeyer. Don't get me wrong, I don't think Koronka is the answr. Actually, I'm inclinded to think that Hill out of the pen is better than as a starter because of his limited pitches. Bring him back. Welly has got to go! Since Wellemeyer went back to AAA to start, he had an ERA below 3 IIRC.

Amazing.

Matsui would be great, but he isn't necessarily a free agent. He has a clause, but he most likely won't become a free agent, I forget the circumstances.

Good to go for me. Thanks for setting this up Tim.

I wouldn't hesitate one second to sign him to a 2-year deal. As for 2B, I'd like us to acquire Kent or Soriano. Todd Walker doesn't do much for me. I'm surprised to hear you say that Hoops. Walker has been very good this year, better than Soriano by some metrics. Kent has been better, but is he 5 million dollars plus the cost to acquire him better than Walker?

I agree we can find a corner outfielder. Question is can we find two? Unless Lawton is kept or Murton starts we are stuck having to find two corner outfielders for next year. In a weak FA class and not wanting to sell the farm I really think that an outfield of Nomar/Patterson/Giles or Nomar/Patterson/(Kearns or Huff etc.) could put up some acceptable power numbers. While maybe not perfect it will be far better than what we have now. I think that Nomar can easily put up better numbers than Lawton and Murton in Left. But then we have to overpay for a SS who probably won't produce as much as a healthy Nomar. Nomars prodution would be average for a LF'er, plus you're asking him to play a position he's never played before. He could take to it quite well, but the chances are equal that he could be absolutely brutal, too. I'd rather have Nomars numbers at short and abover-average production in left than average to below average production for a LF'er and below average at short. you're not going to find anyone in this offseason better than Nomar at short. Lawton BA OBP SLG .269 .370 .421 Nomar BA OBP SLG .320 .368 .544 If Lawton is considered average than Nomar would be above average for OF. Plus Lawton isnt exactly a GG caliber OF either. Nomar hasn't hit that well since 2000. Lawton has put up numbers better than his career marks this year, and Nomar's numbers have declined for several years running. Fortunately, Nomar is falling from such a high level that he'll still be above average for a SS, but not for a corner OF.

You're team looks pretty solid. One of those rookie RB's comes up big and you're in very good shape.

I agree KC is a good fit, but they moved the fences back prior to last season, making it more of a pitcher's park than a hitter's haven.

I am going to disagree with you and say this is vastly oversimplified and thus incorrect. You must consider the player in question. There are plenty of hitters, some power hitters included, that can still clear the fence with a cut-down swing. Homeruns that come as a result of bat speed more than power. A high percentage contact hitter can easily hit a gapper with a cut-down swing. Power hitters that are also BA-minded can increase bat speed instead of increasing bat power. To say the options for a cut-down swing are Out-PO-Single is just wrong. I'm glad to see Beane adjusting. The biggest issue I have always had with his approach was the lack of situational application. Good managers and baseball thinkers will recognize that building a team capable of playing different styles of baseball against various opponents and situations is what wins ballgames. Box thinking or 'all the eggs' will not win championships. The idea is that you lower the likelihood of the worst thing happening, but also the likelihood of the best thing happening. My point is that a K is not that much worse than other outs that it's worth sacrificing the possibility of the best possible outcomes.

It's .343...with 1 HR and 1 RBI. Pretty expensive to pay $8 million+ for a singles hitter with a fading glove. He's a singles hitter based on his first 20-something at bats back? More like 32 AB..since he got back. He's not the Nomar of old by any stretch and not worth the $8 million+ he is making now and will seek next year. Wentzville, huh? I used to call on customers off of Highway N near 40. How can you say that he's not the Nomar of old? He's always hit for great average and good power for a SS, and he's already off to a great start hitting for average since his return. Funny you mention N, I think I may be headed there later today.

I'm going to have to disagree with you. Take a look at the pic and tell me Nomar wasn't pretty well put together. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/2002/jinx/00s/030501lg.jpg I agree that Nomar is ripped in that picture, but that article was all about how Nomar got that body, explaining his workouts in great detail.

Actually the argument does make some sense because you can't know before the fact whether you will have a productive out or a DP. Now if you know your hitters' tendencies to pull or go the other way, or groundball vs. flyball, you can try to figure it out. But at that point you're not guessing anymore. The A's are always looking to use new information. That's what makes them different. Your plan to build a winner by hitting into force outs is very novel. I never said that was a plan. I said give me a bunch of speedy, contact guys. At least with a ground ball, you put it into play. If you have a guy fast enough (like Patterson), odds are they can leg out those slow rollers to short or third. You can't outrun a strikeout. you should try to force the defense to get you out. And if you put the ball into play, if you put it in the right place, at least something came out of your out, instead of nothing. I thought of this last night, let me see if this better helps illustrate what I'm talking about. Here is the spectrum of possiblities when you let a hitter swing away: [---Strikeout---Out---Productive Out---Single---Extra base hit---Home Run---] Here is the spectrum of possibilities when a player cuts down on their swing to make contact in an effort to avoid K's: [---Out---Productive Out---Single---] This is slightly exaggerated, but it illustrates the point. By trying to cut down on K's, or just put the ball in play, you reduce the likelihood of the most successful of outcomes.

Different era. If Gibson faced today's hitters, he'd get rocked.

It's .343...with 1 HR and 1 RBI. Pretty expensive to pay $8 million+ for a singles hitter with a fading glove. He's a singles hitter based on his first 20-something at bats back?

The Lil' Jon pictures.

I don't think there's any guarantee that Nomar will be more productive than Walker at 2B, and we have Walker on the cheap next year. I like Nomar(with a little Cedeno) + Walker better than Cedeno + Nomar.

Nomar's been hitting .393 since he returned. That's not exactly a shell of his former self.

Last night Morris didn't look to sharp to me. Getting hit in the hand had a lot to do with the last 2 runs being given up, but it looked to me like he was missing in the zone quite a bit. I recall at least 3 or 4 Cubs hitters hitting high deep flyballs that they just got under. As for what is wrong with him, he just seems to be going downhill in every capacity. Before the break he was holding hitters to a .246 average with a 4.5 K/BB rate. Since the break, he's been getting hit more(.310 BAA), K'ing fewer guys, and walking more guys(2.1 K/BB). I don't watch him pitch, so I don't know if he's just wearing down, or there's something mechanically wrong with him(not that I could figure that out anyway), but he's definitely been a different pitcher in the second half. Also, I hayt him.

The Cubs also got Nomar, Wood, and Williamson.

The problem is that 3/4 isn't good enough. The Cubs need to play .800 ball in order to win the 93-95 games it's going to take to win the WC. I'm not sure if any team has ever maintained that level of play for that long of a stretch. In order for the Wild Card leading Astros to win 93 games, they have to play .667 ball from here on out, with 10 of those games against the Cubs. If the Cubs make a run, they won't need to win 93-95 games to win the WC.

Why would the Cards trade him? He's signed through 2007 with an option for 2008.

You seem to understand the idea perfectly. Geez, reading some of the posts, it seems like some feel betrayed that he changes his philosophy. People take Moneyball as a bible and all it really was is a book about a year in baseball. I don't think people are "feeling betrayed". They are interested though because many regard Beane as a smart guy, and are interested to find out more when his philosophies differ from their own, or he changes course on an issue.