Transmogrified Tiger

Do you like Van Halen?

I completely disagree. The Cubs greatest need is for a reliable lead-off hitter with outstanding small-ball skills. The Cubs do not need anymore power - they need people on base in front of that power. Pierre is a much better option in the outfield than Hairston IMO. Hairston should return to to splitting 2B duties with Walker in a lefty/righty split, or play the role of super-sub ousting Macias off the bench as a primary option. Todd Walker is the best leadoff option on the team, he's a better leadoff hitter than Pierre. What exactly are small-ball skills?

A third? That's a bit of an exaggeration. For his career Pierre is a 74% base stealer and this year he's at 80%. A slight exaggeration. That's still 10% less than a player like Podsednik, and his OBP still stinks this year. At this point, we're better off with what we have now, especially considering what the Marlins would want for him. I'm not as impressed with Jerry Hairston as some here are. I have yet to see the guy hit a ball the other way (wish I could see his hit chart somewhere), I don't see all the games, but the ones I have he seems pull happy to me. His career OBP is .335 with a SB % of 68%. Pierre is younger than Hairston as well. I'm not saying Pierre is the answer, but he's better than Jerry Hairston in my opinion. Hit Chart I too am not a huge fan of Hairston. However, I don't like him for the same reasons that Pierre doesn't appeal to me. Both are good OBP guys who don't hit for many extra bases. I'd rather not acquire an improved version of Hairston, since he's not exactly the type of player I want in the lineup.

Bummer.

I believe MLB already made that change for next year. This is the last year that the person that has been creating the schedule for years is doing it. If I remember correctly during the offseason or late last season there was a publishing saying a company actually will be creating the schedule for the next two years as they showed better balance and price. I could be wrong but could swear that I read that somewhere. I thought I read that the new company did this year's schedule. I'm not positive though.

Losing Molina's sub-700 OPS is going to be devastating. :) And Einar Diaz is a more than competant defensive catcher. This doesn't hurt the Cards much at all. OT, but about Diaz. A year or two ago, our high school team went to an indoor facility to hit and field, and Diaz showed up since he still was in the Cleveland area from his time on the Indians(he was on the Rangers at the time). He was taking short toss from about 25 feet, and EVERY ball he hit went on a line to the upper left hand corner of the cage. It was amazing, and Diaz is a really bad major league hitter too. Makes you realize how good these guys really are.

Good question. I was wondering the same thing. Where it comes to players like Nefi, everyone assumes (rightly) that they will return to their career norms. However, with Pierre, everyone points to his low OBP this year. I think it's accurate to assume he's be more likely to end this season acheiving his career average of .356 rather than continuing at .318. In terms of the Caugh Stealing, I have a question. I heard that the cutoff from where stealing hurts or helps is 70%. Pierre, for his career, is at 74%, which would be slightly above that cutoff. Pierre 2000: 7/13 53.8% 2001: 46/63 73.0% 2002: 47/59 79.6% 2003: 65/85 76.8% 2004: 45/69 65.2% 2005: 28/35 80.0% Is that right? 70% is the cutoff? I'm pretty sure. If it's not, it may be a couple ticks higher, I vaguely remember hearing 72 or 73 a long time ago, but BK was saying 70 the other day, and I'll definitely take his word for it.

Losing Molina's sub-700 OPS is going to be devastating. :)

Good question. I was wondering the same thing. Where it comes to players like Nefi, everyone assumes (rightly) that they will return to their career norms. However, with Pierre, everyone points to his low OBP this year. I think it's accurate to assume he's be more likely to end this season acheiving his career average of .356 rather than continuing at .318. In terms of the Caugh Stealing, I have a question. I heard that the cutoff from where stealing hurts or helps is 70%. Pierre, for his career, is at 74%, which would be slightly above that cutoff. Pierre 2000: 7/13 53.8% 2001: 46/63 73.0% 2002: 47/59 79.6% 2003: 65/85 76.8% 2004: 45/69 65.2% 2005: 28/35 80.0%

I don't recall exactly, but they are very very very bad. Like worse than Neifi and Corey in their slumps bad. I will be disappointed if we get Kearns or Pierre for anything less than peanuts. yah, those 31 or so at bats he's had in Wrigley field are certainly enough to assume that would be his career numbers if playing here :roll: When did I say that? He asked a question and I answered it. Not advocating one way or another on Pierre, but career at Wrigley (61 AB's) .279/.343/.361, 17 hits, 13 runs, 5 BB, 4 K's, 6 SB, 0 CS. Interestingly enough, his career split in day games is .346/.395/.430. Hmm, that's different than the numbers I saw earlier. I didn't look it up so I have no idea if it was right or not. Thanks for posting them.

I don't recall exactly, but they are very very very bad. Like worse than Neifi and Corey in their slumps bad. I will be disappointed if we get Kearns or Pierre for anything less than peanuts. yah, those 31 or so at bats he's had in Wrigley field are certainly enough to assume that would be his career numbers if playing here :roll: When did I say that? He asked a question and I answered it.

I have a feeling you are correct. But I also have a feeling that IF Cincy ships out Dunn, it will be to a team that entertained the idea of Griffey. ESPN listed Griffey's short list of teams, and ironically, HOU was there. As were the usual suspects. But the Cubs were not on that list. Just as Florida is attempting to get rid of Lowell's contract by dealing him with AJ, I see Cincy attempting to do likewise. I'm not sure if I'm reading DugoutDollars correctly, but it appears that Griffey is done after '06. If the Reds pickup everything they've deferred, I'd be willing to stomach Griffey in CF/RF for a year and a half, if it meant Dunn in LF, and a placeholder keeping it warm for Pie in CF. Putting Griffey in RF would ensure injury, and give Gerut/Murton/CP/Greenberg etc plenty of playing time at 4th OF. Griffey's contract runs through 2008, with a team option for '09.

I don't recall exactly, but they are very very very bad. Like worse than Neifi and Corey in their slumps bad. I will be disappointed if we get Kearns or Pierre for anything less than peanuts. I agree with you about Pierre, but Kearns has HUGE upside potentials. He has great minor league numbers, but his big season was a fluke, and he's gone downhill since then. I'd take him for nothing, cause he still has some potential, but I wouldn't count on him for anything.

I don't recall exactly, but they are very very very bad. Like worse than Neifi and Corey in their slumps bad. I will be disappointed if we get Kearns or Pierre for anything less than peanuts.

I guess it depends on your interpretation. She's 19. A 22-year-old guy interested in a 19-year-old woman? And I thought I had heard everything. Don't mess up. And by that I mean don't knock over little kids to get a HR ball. If you knock over some teenagers to get a HR ball and give it to a little kid, though, that might get you some points. Points???? Heaven forbid he give the ball the kid because he's really a nice guy. :wink: Haha, Jon's such a sleazeball.

Its been brought up before. But seriously, defense in left is not that HUGE of a deal. They get like five chances a game. And when you can produce offensivley like he does. Wow. I couldnt care less. Yeah, people didn't seem to mind how bad Moises was out there last year. Moises wasn't that bad last year.... Yes, yes he was.

No way Dusty benches Hollandsworth for another lefty-hitting outfielder. I think you are wrong. Check back w/ me in six weeks. Gerut has much more talent than Holla does. Yet their performance throughout their careers has been fairly similar. Well, that is a somewhat deceiving point considering that Gerut has less than two full season's worth of at bats in his career and Holla has been up for about 8 seasons (or whatever) now. Also, when comparing the two, I think it is fair to say that a guy like Gerut fits into the team's plans next year while Holla likely does not. Gerut has better minor league numbers, but he was at older ages for the levels. Their career major league numbers are nearly identical, even though Hollandsworth has a longer career to draw from. Gerut may be a better defender, but there's really not much in their numbers to conclude that Gerut will be any better than Hollandsworth. Bah. Gerut was only older because he missed about 18 months with a serious double surgery on his left knee. He was no more experienced than most of the guys he was playing against in AA and AAA. Their career major league numbers are similar. That said, Gerut has more pronounced splits. Gerut really really hits righties well, and he can't hit a lefty to save his life, hugely dampening his overall numbers. That in a way is more useful than Hollandsworth's less pronounced split, at least if you have a manager intelligent enough to exploit the opportunity. The difference between Gerut and Hollandsworth defensively is pretty significant, and one thing that has been constantly overlooked in this discussion. People are quick to point that Dubois completely undermined whatever little good (though more bad) he did at the plate with very poor defence in left, and they're right. Likewise, people here should be able to appreciate more than while Hollandsworth is an average defender, Gerut is something pretty special in the field. Gerut can also play CF, and can be trusted to do so well. Good defence is criminally underrated by people around here when it comes to assessing a player's value. Some people really take the whole OBP and SLG thing are the be all and end all far too far. There's important, very important. But there are other aspects to the game... Gerut can also steal the odd base. Gerut is three/four times cheaper than Hollandsworth, at least this year. Gerut is a lot younger than Hollandsworth. We own the rights to Gerut through 2009. We own the rights to Hollandsworth through 2005. If you have a choice between Gerut and Hollandsworth, you take Gerut every single time. He's many times over a more valuable an asset than Hollandsworth. All good points. I guess what I'm getting at is Gerut that much better than Hollandsworth, that it was worth giving up Dubois to get him?

How do you feel about Felix Rodriguez? He just came back from the DL and we just got a replacement for Holla. Do you think a Holla/F-Rod swap would help the team enough? I have no problem with that. Holla is a bench player in my mind, and Gerut is a better platoon LF. The thing I worry about is paying prospects for middle /setup relief, which can be like playing the lottery in terms of projecting performance.

Welcome to the Forum! Thanks for your disclaimer. I really hope you are right, because that would be fantastic news.

Ramirez since June 1: .358/.403/.704/1.107, 14 HR in 159 ABs.

Pujols and Edmonds last year, Rolen almost made it 3 at .598.

And I bet it will be very humid too. Thank goodness I have never been to St. Louis. Yes, humid. I try to avoid going outside between 10 and 6.

16 walks in his last 71 at bats

Patterson only gets one spot on the list? Disappointing.

AHH! Why do you have that........THING......as your avatar. Kill it. Kill it! <- doesnt like him. I agree. I'd rather watch hamster races than his new show.