Transmogrified Tiger

Before coming to the Cubs, Ramirez had one great year, one terrible year, and was having a decent half-year. Kearns, like Ramirez, came up very young (straight from AA), and more than held his own. There's no question that he's an All-Star caliber talent when healthy and he's only 25 (the same age as Ramirez when he was traded). Any time I can get my hands on a young player like that who's coming from a bad situation, I'd be thrilled. Kearns had one good season in the majors, that can be characterized as lucky, or a fluke due to his ridiculous BABIP. Since then his IsoP and IsoD have remained constant(which indicates he's still got the same power and patience as he did before), but his numbers have caught up with his luck. Sure Kearns is talented, and only 25 with a solid minor league track record. I wouldn't mind him at a discounted price, but I don't think you can expect any improvement out of him if you acquire him.

Ramirez had success before coming a Cub, major league success. Kearns had one good year as a big leaguer, and did so at a completely unsustainable rate. Sure he might turn it around and translate his minor league numbers into major league success, but he doesn't have the background that Ramirez did when he acquired him.

I predict we knock Carpenter all over the park tonight.

IMO = In My Opinion A thread that is stickied has a higher priority than other threads, so it can't be bumped down the list on the forum, except for by other stickies, I believe.

That's what I'm thinking. It's really unlikely he puts up these type of numbers again, but I don't think he'll regress all the way back to his career norms.

Think about this logic for a second. It always assumes that the veteran or incumbent is better until the rookie proves otherwise. That's wrong. For the kid, it's guilty until proven innocent, but the other way around for the vet.

I agree with this. Not to say Perez is below average at short, but just that his reputation is overstated, and that Cedeno would likely be as good defensively.

Very very good.

Exactly. Although I'm okay cutting Neifi yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

BK actually did a study on this and found that small ball teams don't really score runs more consistently than long ball teams. He just found that they tend to score fewer runs. Well empirical generalizations are interesting, but that doesn't mean they apply to every situation - as the word 'generalization' implies. I know I watched the Cubs very closely - and when we had Lofton we scored more consistently from game to game than we did in '04, with a team that lead the NL in home runs. Emprically the 2004 Cubs were one run better in total offense, but that just proves how statistics can be misleading and fail to take many factors into account. If you want to talk about how it's best to have your 1-8 hitters hit 60 home runs apiece as compared with a small ball team, I'd agree, but in real life situations, not in the airless and overconfident void of statistics, having balance to the lineup is a real-world neccesity. I'd like to see a real leadoff hitter like Pierre or Podsednik on the Cubs team to provide balance since we have holes and don't have 8 Babe Ruths and never will. When I think of 'small ball' I don't think of a team that scores a lot of runs, I think of a team that tries to be the most efficient and takes advantage of every opportunity, which results in more consistency, and which (for which there is no stat for) is a more tenacious team to face 3 times in a row. If you're thinking about the same type of 'small ball' I am(sacrifices, advancing runners, stealing bases, 'situational hitting') that is actually a much less efficient way of offense.

In honor of Lewis Black's comedy central special, which was on this evening: I'm going to repeat that, because it bears repeating... 2004 Road: .244/.291/.444/.735 2005 Road: .230/.270/.382/.652

I love the new look too. One thing though, you have the Reds numbers v. Zambrano, not the Cardinals.

Ab-so-freaking-loutely! why dont you lazy bums get real jobs or mine. come get my job. from me. tomorrow. Better do it fast too. Letterman's over in a half hour.

Hey, if you've never heard of it, it must be useless.

OMLOMLOML hardball times now has individual player pages link Lofton's babip is high, but not insanely so. ld% is way way way up from last year though (15.8% vs 24.4%). Pass. THT just got bumped up the bookmark list. They should add career and/or splits though.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but attacking other posters isn't tolerated here.

B-A-B-I-P

In case you were serious, overpaid.

I fear that unless we get a CF that hits like a corner OF, Murton will/should not be a long term solution on this team. I wonder how his defense would be in center.

I concur

For Mueller, minor leaguer Jeff Verplancke. For Tucker, the infamous PTBNL, who later became Shawn Sonnier.

Other people posted stats in the first Pierre discussion, some people just chose to ignore them because it hurt their argument that "Pierre sucked". Awesome.

Dempster does seem to walk alot of betters. He invites blown saves. While he ends up getting the outs, its going to come back and bite his ass sooner or later. His WHIP as a closer going into today was under 1. That's really really good, even if he does walk more people than ideal. So his great rate at preventing hits has made up for his walk rate thus far.

Wood has been our number 1 starter? HAHAHAHA!! Please tell that to opposing teams. Maybe Kerry's not soft, but he sure leaves a lot of games. He'shurt so often, might as well call him soft...whatever, doesnt change the fact that the "man" cant stay healthy. If he's hurt, he shouldnt be pitching cause he obviously hurts the team when he does. Everyone just assumes hes a warrior because unlike Prior, his delivery is very violent and looks very much like his is trying to throw the ball through a brick wall. Why do you think hes always getting hurt? Magic? Did Harry Potter cast a freakin spell on him? No. He refuses to change the issues in his mechanics that cause his arm ailments and that is stubborn. Wood has been A number one starter, not OUR number one starter. He's been among the top pitchers in the league for the last 4 years, look at the numbers if you like. Making judgments about his character is a ridiculous thing to do. Neifi hasn't gotten any better in his career, he hasn't made adjustments to his swing mechanics, he must be stubborn too. It's a ridiculous,unnecessary connection to attempt to make.

I think Brenly made a note during Prior's outing that Blanco loves going on the outside corner. Maybe this is an issue as much with our catchers as it is with Wood and Prior themselves. Just throwing it out there, I haven't seen Wood or Prior pitch much this year to make any sort of judgment.