Transmogrified Tiger

I am not a fan of the Cards getting Wagner. If the Cubs decide to lose some more, that opinion could change.

Talk to me when Drew gets off the DL. :wink:

He's an excellent defensive receiver. I think he loses a lot of his value if you play him somewhere else. I doubt he'd sign with a team that didn't intend on keeping him behind the plate either. I think that about sums it up. Yeah, I wasn't trying to imply that it would be a huge deal in actuality, but that the unknown of that in addition to being a foreign player, which is a bit of a gamble, will scare away a lot of lesser-minded GMs.

Welcome to the Forum!

Is he going to stay at catcher? The idea of a foreign catcher will scare away a lot of teams I think. Especially since the Cubs haven't been proactive with Japanese players, and have 2 catchers under contract for next season.

I wondered why there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm about a lot of the picks, and found that this is considered a very weak class. I'm no expert on the draft, but it might be worth taking into consideration.

FOR THE LAST TIME BUCK, NO ONE CARES WHAT YOUR OPINION IS! YOU ARE PAID TO DESCRIBE, NOT ANALYZE!

Wow, Gomes looks solid. I'd definitely look into him. And Harper to come with him of course. :D

Well in the past it seems that Cashman don't have a say if the Boss wants it to happen. While that's true, there doesn't seem to be anything here that screams that the Boss would intervene. There's no high profile guy coming or going to NY, if anything Steinbrenner would likely be upset he didn't get the big gun(Dunn) in the deal. JMO.

Is it just me, or is that harder than Ramirez has run out any ground ball in a long long time?

Remlinger's peripherals have been quite good so far this year. near 1 WHIP, near 9 K/9, add in the fact he's a lefty, and that Borowski is worse in all those categories with diminished stuff, and it's a pretty easy decision IMO.

I don't recall Barrett, Burnitz, or Walker "carrying a team" for any stretch this year. That's a ridiculous way to determine anything, completely based on each individual's recollection of events

yeah, this will move him to the bench as punto moves to 3rd. Wow, I didn't realize Cuddyer was struggling as much as he is. Punto is having a solid season, but he's a pretty mediocre offensive third baseman. That doesn't really improve them a whole lot, since Boone hasn't been much better(if at all) than Cuddyer.

I just got steady internet back just now, so I was waiting until then to continue. Since I only received 4 entries(I'll have to double check to be sure), all those who submitted an entry advance. Stay tuned for the posting of these entries and the final scenario, where first prize wins a signed Sean Gallagher baseball!

What?

I was one of his strongest backers, and yes, he's a bust at this point. I'm not sure if it's the back and other problems that have put him on the DL periodically that have sapped his speed & power or if his skills just didn't translate well to MLB. I guess that is just part of the risk/reward when it comes to acquiring players from Japan. There really haven't been a whole lot to date. With Hideki Matsui and Ichiro being the obvious success stories. Although, Iguchi is having a pretty solid ML debut as well. I'm really interested to see how this trend will develop over the next few years. While certainly not an extremely reliable source, ESPN.com's scouting report of Matsui said that he didn't adjust well to two-seam fastballs, a pitch not often thrown in Japanese leagues. Anyone else hear or see anything like that? I wonder why Kaz struggled so mightily if that is the case, while a slap hitter(Ichiro) and a power hitter(Godzilla) have both had success coming over.

Actually, I think the opposite. The Reds don't get enough pitching, they have Encarnacion coming up at 3B so they don't have a need for LaRoche. IMO the Dodgers get hosed. Patterson, Murton Welly, and Mitre for Dunn I'd do every day of the week.

Speed? Dunn is many things, fast isn't one of them.

Abe is years away from free agency (think 2010) and I don't think we'll ever see the Yomiuri Giants post a player to MLB. Kenji Johjima will be a free agent after this season. He'll likely be the next Japanese superstar to take a shot at MLB. Johjima's a catcher too, right? How's he doing this year?

I think that's the same Abe that 1908 was keeping tabs on in the Japanese Prospects thread last year. 1908 is the person to ask, but the most likely way he'll come stateside is being posted.

Not sure where in his post he said Lee won't. Exactly, you're the only person to bring up Lee, and it's not really relevant to Carpenter.

It is great having Hairston and Walker at 1-2, but please don't overlook how the whole lineup's OBP has improved over the last three games. Somewhat related, but I think Barrett's recent approach at the plate has been VERY encouraging. I don't know if he was told to be more patient, or if something in his head clicked in (or maybe it's just one of those weird phenomenon's in baseball and Barrett isn't trying to be more selective), but Barrett's at bats in the Marlins series were almost always awesome. It's a slim sign that maybe management told the players to be less aggressive at the plate, but Barrett's recent approach has left with some semblence of excitement for the 2nd half. I think his better approach may have to do with him getting out of the 8 spot. 8 hitter: .238/.279/.427/.706 .041 IsoD in 149 PA's Elsewhere: .302/.379/.479/.858 .077 IsoD in 108 PA's

I really don't care what his record was, it's basically meaningless. In the past, the thing holding back Hill was his control. This season, he's found a way to spot his pitches while maintaining his ridiculous K rate. Other than 5 innings as a reliever, which he hadn't done all year, what's to say he won't be at least an average major leaguer?

Again, let's not lose sight of the fact that Dunn is still just 25. Sure there are problems with Dunn's game, but in this thread I think they're being made out to be worse than they really are. Dunn is one of the best offensive players in the league, he's quite young, and he's rumored to be available. As has been mentioned, with the dearth of quality players available this offseason, and with no certainty in any of our OF spots for next year, I think if it came down to it I would overpay to get Dunn. Pie, Dope, Hill? That's crazy, despite the flaws of each player. Two of the three? I'd have to think really hard about that if that's the minimum it would take to get Dunn.

I'm thinking of sending this to Phil via e-mail: Phil, I was reading your hopelessly flawed argument about Pujols deserving the MVP over Lee, and I was stunned to see that you mentioned Pujols had more "Runs Created" than Lee did. Then I realized you made up your own "Runs Created", which is essentially completely opposite the real "Runs Created", which Bill James (who I'm sure you revile) put together a couple decades ago. Runs Created measures offensive prowess based on an individual's total contributions. Adding Runs and RBIs (and subtracting homers, whatever) only shows a player's contribution based on the team around him. Is it really Lee's fault that he had to bat behind Patterson and Perez for a month, when neither could get on base to be driven in if their lives depended on it? Just for fun, here's the actual Runs Created leaders in the NL currently: 1. Lee 95.1 2. Pujols 81.1 3. Abreu 77.6 4. Cabrera 68.5 5. Bay 67.7 And here's a link, in case you don't believe it: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?split=0&league=nl&season=2005&seasonType=2&sort=runsCreated&type=sab&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&state=0&college=0&country=0&hand=a&pos=all As you can see, it's not even close. And if you want to talk about team performance, what of the fact that Pujols is surrounded by All-Stars? I think it can be very reasonably asserted that the Cardinals would still be in first place without him. However, without Lee, the Cubs would not even be sniffing the Wild Card -- they'd probably be just behind the Pirates, and looking to sell. Regardless of the argument, I would like to HIGHLY suggest you not use the term Runs Created anymore. That's not the name of the stat you showed, and it's beyond misleading to call it that. On point? I'm sure he'll just delete it (if he knows how), but it'll at least make me feel a little better. I actually thought about going all out in an email, shredding the Pujols over Lee decision and the hypocrisy in the Clark over Dawson decision in addition to the RC bit, but I was too lazy and couldn't find his email address.