David

Fair enough. As for the comparison to Sam Smith, I don't know if that even applies... Smith seems to come up with crazy trade scenarios, but he never really reports them as rumor. He pretty much overtly states that he's speculating and really just making up his own fantasies. At least, that's the impression I get. You might be able to come up with examples to the contrary.

All that other stuff aside...I'm just saying we should take his scoops with the same grain of salt we'd take anyone else's. All of those guys are just as reliable as one another. Just because he reports something as being imminent doesn't make it any less likely to happen than if someone else had reported it, IMO.

Levine isn't very good at his job. He nailed one scoop. That's like saying Neifi's awesome because he hit one walk off HR. Who in that profession nails most of their scoops? Dairy Queen Employees. Hah That reminds me of this... http://blogebrity.com/images/cuban_homeless3.jpg How awesome is he?

Levine isn't very good at his job. He nailed one scoop. That's like saying Neifi's awesome because he hit one walk off HR. Which trade are we referring to here? Nomar

Levine isn't very good at his job. He nailed one scoop. That's like saying Neifi's awesome because he hit one walk off HR. Who in that profession nails most of their scoops? Let's face it... for the most part, scoops are just rumors and the vast majority of them don't come true. Doesn't mean there wasn't something to them most of the time, either.

I also remember reading that the Nomar deal was only a myth until a day or two before the deadline when Hendry pulled everyone together and made a deal. I could be remembering wrong though. I highly doubt that it was just a coincidence. It makes more sense that that would be the media covering their asses after 99% of them thought that Nomar was going nowhere, especially not the Cubs. There had to have been talks of some level for a while.

Nah, I'd say he deserves 100% of it. You're right. The fact that he was the only reporter in town with the scoop on the biggest Cubs trade in recent memory (a month before it even happened) means nothing.

I know most here don't respect Levine's reports because of some report he made a year or two ago that a trade was about to go down which wound up not being true, but for whatever reason, I don't really agree. Levine was the only person reporting the Nomar deal for all of July 04 (might've even picked up on it in late June), while almost every other reporter said there was nothing to any Nomar rumors. Levine was also the only one who even suggested we could get him without giving up Clement. I think he gets a lot more crap on here than he deserves. Who knows if there wasn't a trade about to go down at the time he made that report and it didn't just fall through?

Quade gave him his #18.

technically that's MJ&H You are right. :x

Kendall now on WMVP with MJ&H

Sori's up to the plate first, and he can bust like a bubble Aramis and Fonzi together, now you know you in trouble Ain't nothin but a 'C' thing, babayy Thank you, thank you Hey, I tried...

Bonds, while not at his best, is still an immensely productive hitter.

the future? unless im mistaken he's a free agent after this season. I don't think he's a very good player anymore but this isnt the worst deal hes done. the money isnt an issue for the Cubs and its a buy low chance. there's a pretty damn good chance kendalls obp is .340+ the rest of the season. power? no but as long as hes not an auto out im happy. There really are uninformed fans here...first thing A's and Pirates are basically paying for Kendall, Cubs getting $1M, second he is FA after this year, no risk. 3rd Bowen was simply a body and some knowledge regarding what SD knows on Hill...Blevins is not a real prospect of note, a chance average FB, change and curve. That all said, what Kendall has is a CERA...best in baseball, hmmm that is not an offensive number for the fantasy heads, and he did have a good June at the plate, back at his usual numbers. Is he Gaitti or Karras, possibly but you guys know it all... A - IMB! made his post before we knew how much of Kendall's salary we were taking on. Did he react a little early? Maybe, but it was in the heat of the moment, if you will. B - Catcher ERA has been shown to be a worthless stat. A catcher who catches good pitchers will have a good one, a catcher who catches bad pitchers will have a bad one. C - He was not at his usual numbers in June. His OBP (his main strength throughout his career) was still only .326 in June. Was he better than he has been most of the year? Absolutely. It's one of the reasons I'm holding out a little hope that he can, to some extent, revert to his old form.

In other words what every single one of these type of interviews sound like. Basically.

A few things from the interview that I can remember... - Wrigley has always been his favorite place to play - Having caught for many years, you learn a lot of nuances and pick up tells from hitters that you can use to your advantage in calling the game (when asked about his reputation as a great game caller). - Nothing physically wrong with him. He feels good. Feels like bounces just haven't gone his way this year. All in all, not a whole lot of substance. I might've even made some of that up, wasn't listening that close. :)

Good stuff. I was thinking about the similarities between that team and this one the other night.

Just a heads up.

Just to reiterate... davearm and I are different people. Don't get confused by the somewhat opposing opinions.

I agree, completely.

The only shocker would be that another team wanted his services. Oh, and didn't Izzy try to give ARam a shocker in the dugout a few weeks ago? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GagIe5W_nI

Guesses on lineup? Theriot Fontenot Lee Aramis Sori DeRo Kendall Pagan Marshall

That would be pretty sick. Super hard to sustain, though.

I agree with the last point. I agree with the fact that ARam had no chance to reach 3rd there, either. I'm also not really bothered by ARam's occasional displays of a lack of hustle. I'd rather he stay healthy and continue to mash the ball. Still, to be fair, it's not really about whether he would've made it to second or not. It's process over outcome. Just like a lot of us will criticize Hendry if he makes a bad pickup and it turns out roses. You want people approaching their jobs the right way so that they will consistently achieve the best possible outcome. We want Hendry to make smarter decisions because that way more of his moves will wind up good and less will wind up bad. It's inevitable that some will go either way, but the right approach will yield the most consistent results. In other words, the only point of my rant there was that, "He wouldn't have made it to 3rd anyway" isn't really a valid argument against anyone criticizing Ram for what he did.

When did you meet Sullivan in person? And there is a reason Teddy is off the baseball beat...he isn't allowed to travel. LONNNGGG story. Looks like he's saying that Sullivan is as close as it gets for him to hate somebody he's never met.