Transmogrified Tiger

Those guys will be getting much bigger contracts then Grabow got. They are all Type A FA's, which is going to depress their value. They also stand a fighting chance of being worth their contract, even if it's higher than Grabow's. Pay for quality, not mediocrity. Shouse is a LH specialist not a full inning reliever like Grabow, and we already been there and done that with Cruz. I don't think taking him after a crap year is a good idea. The is with Grabow were not only getting a LH were also getting our set up guy. So if you bring in a guy like say Shouse then you still need to bring in someone to pitch in the 7th or 8th. I never said they shouldn't have waited. But there's no doubt in mind that they would had to pay a reliever a simliar contract or more then Grabow got. We already have Marmol and Guzman on board on the back end, and for the money were capable of adding a much better reliever than Grabow. He's a completely fungible reliever. It's not difficult to put up a 1.4 whip to go with 7+ K/9 and 4+ BB/9. That's the point, Grabow has no track record. He's consistently mediocre. If you want to pay for security, fine, pay Soriano to be lights out at the back end. But don't pay Grabow just because you're afraid that somehow every single one of Gaub, Stevens, Parker, Caridad, Atkins, Gorzelanny, Marshall, Samardzija, Patton, and even Maine, Cashner, Jackson, and Coleman will not be able to be merely below average coming out of the pen.

There's still an entire offseason. They could sign Rafael Soriano, or Mike Gonzalez, or Crazy Eyes Valverde, or Billy Wagner, or a lesser guy like Shouse or trade for Juan Cruz(who's making less than Grabow and is about a jillion times more likely to be good), or find a Wuertz-esque guy in trade like Jesse Crain, or.. you get the point. Not signing Grabow, a mediocre reliever, to a long term deal does not = we want to fill our pen with 7 guys who have a combined -10 relief appearances at the Major League level.

Maine has real solid numbers, wonder what his stuff is like. And White has a sub .100 ISO as a first baseman, I didn't think we had a shortage of 1B around Daytona. Trades like this are why signing Grabow to his contract was a dumb idea. Maine joins Marshall, Gorzelanny, Gaub, and Russell in the "probably just as good as Grabow, but definitely not 3.5 million worse than him" club.

Better strikeout and walk rate, nearly identical FIP, and did it over nearly 30 more innings than Carpenter. I think that does make his season better.

I'm not 100% sure, I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 60.

Lincecum - 8.2 WAR Vazquez - 6.6 Haren - 6.1 Wainwright - 5.7 Ubaldo - 5.7 Carpenter - 5.6 WAR isn't precise enough to be accurate to the decimal point(although I believe it's better for pitchers than hitters), but it's not like they're lunatics for voting that way.

You've shown me a guy who is marginally better than Marquis, you haven't come close to showing he's good. It seems to me like the obvious solution again is just not making the deal. They need Milton more than they need a better version of Marquis. Millwood and Bradley are both 2-3 win guys, and Miles is nothing, from a value standpoint it's about the same, without considering the off the field stuff that means it's impossible they keep Bradley. It's a deal that trades Bradley without surrendering value or cash, I don't think there are too many of those out there.

It means that with the exception of last year(which is much more about Marquis than Millwood), that Millwood has consistently been anywhere from 10 to 30+ runs better than Marquis. He has similar good qualities, but he's much, much better. Except you're talking about what he did in his prime late 20's years while some of Marquis's time includes his young 20's. And as a 35 year old now, Millwood's value at 29 is meaningless. He is not a very good pitcher. He's a pitcher who shows up and generally doesn't get destroyed. The Cubs don't need guys who can show up, they have that, they need guys who can either shut down opponents to compensate for their weak offense, or help them score more runs. You're focusing too much on the 8 years thing, it was added merely to show Millwood's extraordinary level of consistency. Your coming up with a Marquis comparison just because they're both durable, and it doesn't work, Millwood is much better. He's not top flight, but to get his value in return for Bradley and Miles is a good deal. Unless there's a comparable 2B or CF/RF you think is out there for Bradley, you're not going to do any better and improve the offense. Plus the deal is cash neutral so it doesn't hinder your ability to sign anyone this year, and it allows you to more freely use Marshall/Gorzelanny/Samardzija in a trade.

UZR has Kouzmanoff as 10 runs above average at 3B, a full win above average. They have Zimmerman at 20.

Some 2 star KU football recruit started a fight with him, so he had to leave before meeting with Self. Seems rushed, I think a Mangino screaming at him joke would've played better.

It means that with the exception of last year(which is much more about Marquis than Millwood), that Millwood has consistently been anywhere from 10 to 30+ runs better than Marquis. He has similar good qualities, but he's much, much better.

How much better is Millwodd than Marquis? Including his 3.8 WAR season with the Rockies this year, Marquis has accumulated a 9.6 WAR the last 8 seasons, 1.2 per season. He was 1.7 and 1.8 his two years with the Cubs. Millwood has amassed a 29.7 WAR the last 8 seasons, 3.7 per year. His last 3 seasons have been 2.7, 3.3, and 2.4.

Millwood is plenty good and plenty valuable. He's averaged 30+ starts going back to 2002, and in that time he's never been below a 2.4 WAR. He doesn't project to be worlds better than Marshall or Gorzelanny, but he's got consistency on his side that Gorzelanny doesn't, and durability on his side that Marshall doesn't. We could do far, far worse than getting Millwood for Bradley and Miles.

He's not, that's why this is such a waste. One of Marshall/Gorzelanny is headed to the pen, and John Gaub spent last year incinerating Triple-A hitters. There's not a hole here to be filled. Russell is lying around if you want depth, and if things go bad I'm sure you can do what you did last year, and trade for a mediocre LH reliever at the deadline.

Depending on how much you like Marshelanny and/or projection systems, it might not be a bad idea to let Harden walk. Not offering him arbitration is lunacy though, but I don't think a Millwood deal would hinder that/happen before the arby deadline.

the guy had a 2.49 ERA, 175 ERA+ and pitched 238 innings. I'd say he's in the team picture Greinke was 25 runs better. That's more than the difference between Fontenot and Aramis.

Those remind me of ugly jerseys from 25 years ago. Not a fan.

that about sums it up. I wonder who we could get to fill the position. I hear good things about Bill Callahan.

Pick one: Grant v. SF Slaton v. Ten

Castro stole 28 bases in < 130 games(72%, 100% at AA), and Callis described him as having plus speed.

Seems appropriate: (NSFW language) Much as I hate Kansas, that's an awesome, awesome rant.

Cleveland is heavy Ohio State country.

So the argument is that Willingham torpedoed Weis's tenure until he got his own recruits, by which time people were already grumbling that he isn't the answer and might be coaching for his job?

Converting the 4th down absolutely wins the game. Like was said earlier, Odds of converting 4th down + odds of stopping Indy from 30 yards > odds of stopping Indy from 60-70 yards