Transmogrified Tiger

A little part of me died inside when he started talking about "talent players" v. "effort players"

Are they serious? Will it really take that long for Vitters to develop? It's not out of the question at all. 2009: A-/A+ 2010: A+/AA 2011: AA/AAA 2012: AAA/MLB

Cameron couldn't have played that any worse unless he was actually tracking a low flying bird instead of the ball.

Hughes is on the 60 day DL with a rib fracture. Hence, "for a player who is currently injured"...contrary to popular belief, you CAN trade a player who is on the DL. Are you sure you can do so for the 60-day DL? I'm not, but I'd imagine that with it's 40 man protections there may be a difference.

Trading Lilly and Wuertz is selling high? Those are some fascinating ideas though. I wonder how little Colletti thinks of Hu right now. At his worst he's a more consistent defender than Cedeno with a similar bat. What about a 3 way deal with the Pirates? I can't find a combo I like yet, but something centered around Wilson to LA, Hu and Bay/McLouth to Chicago, and Dodger/Cub pitching(with Cedeno too) to Pittsburgh.

Welcome, and thanks for a thoughtful contribution with your first post.

Draft order 1. 4th and goal (ChiCubsFan) 2. Smells like Tuna (Vance) 3. Raw Dawgs (Raw) 4. The Football Team (Roast) 5. Burnt (Burnt) 6. The Hall Monitors (O_O) 7. Ditka's Army (rickrolled) 8. Hochuli's syringe (Wolfie) 9. IMB (IMB) 10. Cut for Cap Space (T.T.) Players who are off the board: QB Peyton Manning Tom Brady Tony Romo Drew Brees Carson Palmer Ben Roethlisberger Derrek Anderson Matt Hasselbeck Donovan McNabb David Garrard Jason Campbell Jay Cutler Brett Favre Aaron Rodgers Marc Bulger Vince Young Philip Rivers RB Steven Jackson Marion Barber Frank Gore Willie Parker Willis McGehee Marshawn Lynch Laurence Maroney Brandon Jacobs Maurice Jones-Drew LaDanian Tomlinson Joseph Addai Ronnie Brown Jamal Lewis Adrian Peterson Brian Westbrook Larry Johnson Darren McFadden Clinton Portis Ryan Grant Reggie Bush Michael Turner Edgerrin James Jonathan Stewart Fred Taylor Kevin Smith Matt Forte LenDale White Thomas Jones Earnest Graham Rudi Johnson Rashard Mendenhall Selvin Young DeAngelo Williams Julius Jones Maurice Morris Chester Taylor Kenny Watson WR Terrell Owens Donald Driver Larry Fitzgerald Anquan Boldin TJ Houshmandzadeh Braylon Edwards Reggie Wayne Andre Johnson Plaxico Burress Steve Smith Randy Moss Marques Colston Chad Johnson Brandon Marshall Torry Holt Calvin Johnson Greg Jennings Marvin Harrison Wes Welker Santonio Holmes Dwayne Bowe Roy Williams Roddy White Kevin Curtis Santana Moss Anthony Gonzalez (IND) Chris Chambers Hines Ward Bryant Johnson Laveranues Coles Jericho Cotchery TE Jason Witten Antonio Gates Kellen Winslow II Tony Gonzalez Dallas Clark Chris Cooley Jeremy Shockey Todd Heap Vernon Davis Heath Miller Defenses Minnesota San Diego New England Seattle Chicago Tampa Dallas Kickers Mason Crosby Nick Folk Stephen Gostkowski

Split or Cards winning 3/4 for me. However, I think the Brewers sneak out with one of the first two and make it tough for the Cards to get a split with Sabathia and Sheets in the back end of that series.

His BABIP was a freakishly low .233 last year. This year it's a bit high, but he's also hitting more line drives than he has in years.

I'd like to know what SSR thinks of this.

And how does this have anything to do with him going to the bullpen? It has quite a bit to do with his effectiveness and bounceback from rehab compared to Carpenter. EDIT: And yes, I'll be at the Arch Rivalry again this year. I'm a student, so I imagine they'll line the top of the stadium with the students again and not really care about our exact seats are. It should be much better attended this year though, so who knows.

Matt Morris was also 8 years younger than Carpenter is when he did that, and didn't have Carpenter's injury history prior to the surgery.

Should be some fun numbers when it's time to look at July splits. Fontenot has done a great job of replicating hot Soriano.

I don't know how they handle players who change positions, so I can't be sure. If he keeps a nearly 150 ERA+ this year though, I think it's hard to imagine him not being Type A since he wasn't terrible as a reliever.

Howry has allowed 2 of 21 inherited runners to score. One was when he inherited a bases loaded, no out situation in Pittsburgh, allowing a sac fly. The other was a bases loaded, one out situation in San Diego, he got a weak groundball to SS that was only a FC, scoring a run.

Yeah, Carpenter wasn't very good yesterday. Walking 4 guys in 4 innings and throwing as many balls as strikes isn't all that great. Also, the lineup he was facing had 6 guys OPSing under .700 in a hitter's league.

Outside of 1 month Howry hasnt posted an ERA under 4.5 for any month on the season. He has given up 56 hits in only 46.1 innings pitched. Teams are hitting almost .300 against him. Averaging giving up a hit per inning is not a good thing for a reliever. Howry has been pretty damn bad this year, and there really is no glossing over it. Howry since May 1: 33 IP, 12 ER, 35 H, 26/4 K/BB, 4 HR, that's good for a 3.27 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and .267/.287/.435/.722. You are really stretching it. Howry has been fine since he got off to a slow start, quite good actually.

Rundle stayed hot for Boise, 2 for 3 with a double, triple, walk, and K. Harrison went 2 for 5 with a double, and Brenly doubled in his only plate appearance. Bristow was pretty good as well. 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5/1 K/BB, HBP

I was just going by Cot's, but it looks the difference is mainly in signing bonuses.

I factored in Harden, he's making 4.5M this year. His 2.5M jump is listed above. I didn't include Gaudin, Cotts, Wuertz, or Johnson since they'll be nominal increases that aren't set yet.

Increases for next year: Z: 2.75 ARam: 1.65 Soriano: 3 Lilly: 5 Kosuke: 5.5 or 1.5 depending on how you count the signing bonus, let's just say 5.5 Marquis: 3.5 DeRosa: .75 Harden: 2.5 TOTAL: 24.65 Losses for next year: Lieber(replaced by Gaudin/Marshall/Hill/etc): 3.5 Howry(replaced by Ascanio/Wuertz/Ceda/etc): 4 Eyre(replaced by Pignatiello/Cotts/Veal/etc): 3.8 Blanco(replaced by FA): 2.7(let's assume 1 mil FA for 1.7) TOTAL: 13 Wood is making 4.2 mil, Dempster 5.5 mil. HYPOTHETICAL Wood and Dempster will both sign for 10M annually, and can be slightly backloaded We eat the increase in Marquis' contract to trade him(also helps with our surplus of starters, particularly ones with contracts) Those things happen, and we have a payroll of about ~130 million.

No Vitters or Flaherty for Boise tonight.

That's a good fit for the Illinois offense. I know Mizzou was after him too, but the Illini offense is probably a better fit, and he'd have fewer guys in between him and playing time. Terry Hawthorne, a WR from East St. Louis(Rivals 18th best WR, Scout 57th), also committed to U of I this weekend.

Harden's kinda been beaten to death, imo. I don't know how much is left to evaluate until he pitches a bunch for us. Off the top of my head, I think these could be worth some analysis: - Draft review. However many picks you want, 5, 10, 15, the whole thing, whatever. - Under/Overvalued prospects. Who in the Cubs system you think is getting too much pub, or not enough pub, and why. * Next year's rotation crunch. Starred because it's my favorite. Zambrano, Harden, Lilly, Marquis, Gaudin, Marshall, Hill, possibly Dempster, and possibly Samardzija could all have spots next year. Break down who's best off staying, who's best off in the pen, who's best off in Iowa, who's best off getting dealt(either for not being good enough, or being able to fetch the best value, or both) or not brought back.

"Pixie dust" and it's ilk are dumb phrases, using them shows a lack of thought put into expressing yourself or actually knowing what's going on. That said, it's quite aggravating that everyone on the Cardinal offense save Izturis and Duncan is exceeding expectations. Pujols, Ludwick, Ankiel, Glaus, Molina, Miles, Schumaker, all of them overperforming at the same time is unreal.