David

I find it mildly humorous how invested you are in defending these guys, david. I point it out when I think people are way off base. Do you honestly think these guys are just making stuff up, got it right a couple times, gained a following, and then convinced the site admin (who went through his own "sources," whatever they may be) to post a BS story on the site's main page and completely risk the credibility of that website? Obviously, the site admin believed he had concrete info when they posted that report up (which had been confirmed independently of the inside posters). He didn't just put it on the front page of the site on a hunch. I just think it's [expletive] and far more far-fetched to think that it's some kind of elaborate hoax is all.

Ok, you're really off base here. Really.

It's funny how massively tall of a horse some of the people who don't buy into the insiders are on here. You don't believe them. You think they're just making stuff up and have a bunch of idiots hanging at their every word. We get it.

Eh, just realized that he's a poster over here too. DeuceBaseman My bad, man. But it was a pretty ridiculous statement. On no planet is Marmol anywhere near as valuable as Bedard.

lawl, a Cubs fan over there said that Marmol is almost as valuable as Bedard right now. Rrrrrrrright.

Yep. :?

The Insiders at OH do seem to be giving the Pie speculation a vague endorsement, though.

It's Rosenthal. I doubt it'll be Pie. You can bet that Gallagher will go in the deal, though. Just my opinion.

I don't think Pie is as highly regarded as Jones though, is he? He used to be, and Bedard wasn't regarded as highly back then as he is now. Nice av....welcome to the forum.

I still think that if we get Roberts, it means Soriano will move down in the order. I don't think Soriano leading off is as set in stone as everyone thinks. As for how I'd line it up (I know Lou is gonna wanna split up his lefties, though)... 2B - Roberts RF - Fukudome 1B - Lee 3B - Aramis LF - Sori C - Geovany Soto CF - Pie SS - Theriot (Ugh)

Now's probably not the best time for that.

Thanks for posting it...

sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors;_ylt=Am.6RHdjFPzHNiHiU7Cd6jcRvLYF Doubt it since it seems like him to the Mariners is all but done, but it is from today so I thought i'd post it. I woulnd't be surprised if MacPhail and Hendry have the Roberts thing agreed on until Bedard is traded and Jim is helping Seattle raise their ante. I could see MacPhail telling Bavassi: "Well we're going to take the Cubs offer of Pie, Hill, and a buncha minor leaguers (obviously not real) unless you replace Sherill with Truinfel", or something like that. it is a shame that we aren't going to get bedard because that trade would be super cool my prediction is that these trades will undoubtedly go down this next week mark it dude! Giving up Hill in a trade for Bedard would in no way be super cool.

Wouldn't it be sweet if the O's wanted Theriot instead of Cedeno or Murton and played hardball with Hendry until he gave in? A guy can dream.

Why do people here keep slamming people on other team's boards as if they're saying these things just to mess wih us? Some of us are WAY too wound up over this. I'm agreeing with you a lot. Watch out, though. Someone is going to call you out for coming to the defense of the insiders. :roll: I have no knowledge of who is who on the Orioles board except for what was posted earlier in this thread. I will point out though, that the only labeled insider talking about the Cubs and Roberts during this whole thread on Bedard appears to be a new poster to the Orioles board with a supposed Cubs source whose veracity is openly questioned on the board. Link to Orioles Hangout Insider Re-cap. ...it was posted that the deal was finalized on the main page, so it definitely wasn't just one new guy. But who cares, it's just stupid rumor season anyway. This kind of stuff happens every year. He actually meant the new thread where the "new" info was coming from.

Rich Hill's ERA looks high for Pecota.

Why do people here keep slamming people on other team's boards as if they're saying these things just to mess wih us? Some of us are WAY too wound up over this. I'm agreeing with you a lot. Watch out, though. Someone is going to call you out for coming to the defense of the insiders. :roll:

I've been thinking along these lines the whole time. Great idea. WCFB is like a ghost town right now, anyway.

That Joey guy (not an O's insider, a guy with supposed Cubs contacts that recently started posting on OH) claims that the Cubs offer for Bedard and Roberts included Pie, Gallagher, Murton, and Hill (and more). I'm glad the M's are apparently offering a better package for Bedard, because exchanging Hill for Bedard in the rotation would've been a slightly better than lateral move, at best, and potentially worse.

Dear Lord, who cares how long a thread is? Especially when they end up inflated due to people poitnlessly commenting on how long the thread is? I feel bad for all the people who bravely come to these threads, even if multiple thread pages apparently crashes their computer or slashes their tires or gives them cancer. I've been thinking this but not saying it for a while now. Who really cares how long a thread is?

ib1000smartassresponsesaboutinsiders Thanks for the update, though, Rammy. Speculation is always fun, but fuel helps a lot. Just take this stuff for what it's worth (lawl).

Wrigley23, What is a better option that might be available that would provide an upgrade for us at SS? I'd be glad to have the type of guy (high OBP, mainly) you're looking for there if you can think of a viable option.

Or how about the fact that somehow he's projecting an indifference toward OBP on this, of all boards. It's like I'm in bizarro world.

Who on earth has said that getting on base doesn't matter? Seriously, find one person who has said this. I implore you. The thing is, you're 100% right in wanting this team to improve it's OBP. OBP is probably the most important basic stat, as it measure's how good a team is at not making outs. The problem is, you're still hanging on to other misguided old-school beliefs at the same time. Strikeouts are neither bad nor good when compared to other outs. Outs are bad, period. It doesn't matter what kind of out it is. Speed is, however, overrated (although not as much these days as it used to be). Again, some of the highest OBP guys in the majors are also going to be among the leaders in strikeouts. Patience and high K totals almost go hand in hand, because patient hitters naturally are going into deeper counts more often. You realize this, right? Some hitters that can hit for more power can make up for a lack of OBP somewhat because, to put it almost too simply, when they hit it, they're making it count by getting the bigger hits (2B's and HRs) more often than other guys do. The real problem with ours and many lineups is when you start lining up completely impotent bats who are good at making contact but don't get on base particularly well (don't take many walks) and can't hit for power. People naturally look to the more visible guys on the team and blame them for this team not scoring enough runs (and yes, I realize the big hitters had a bad three games in the playoffs), but the problem with this team last year was the offensive black holes at C, SS, and CF. The Ryan Theriots and Juan Pierres of the world are the problem.

Greene's OBP is Neifi-esqe, which is never a good thing. The Cubs have enough power guys in the lineup, it would be nice to compliment them with players that actually get on base. The reason we cite his road stats are because his home/road splits are huge and it makes perfect sense considering what type of park his home park is. His road OBP is not Neifi-esque. Over the past 3 years, it's a passable .328. You can live with that when the guy is a SS that plays very good defense and has a SLG of .500. It doesn't matter what "type" of hitter you want to label him or what role you want to give him. He'd be a massive improvement over Ryan Theriot and would result in us scoring more runs and giving up fewer runs. That's, after all, what we want, right?