CaliforniaRaisin

The odds of that happening are remote. Yeah, no kidding. The Lee issue has really moved to the backburner in discussions, but going into last season, he wasn't a real good bet to repeat 2005. Now, a year older, after a terrible injury for a hitter that ruined an entire season (even though people maintained it was largely harmless and he'd recover quickly), we might be looking at a guy who puts up a sub 900 OPS in 2007. Quality numbers, but not superstar numbers. His OPS+ was 177 in 2005, the next highest number in his career was 135, at age 27. If he's much below his 2005 numbers, the acquisitions will have to be that much better, just to improve upon the weak 2005/2006 offense. If Lee puts up his 2004 line of .278/.356/.504 next season I'd be somewhat suprised. His 2005 was so far out of line, and he's past the age where we can expect him to sustain that kind of production. But his improvement was due to some adjustments, not a fluke. While he won't post 2005 type numbers again, I can't see him regressing to his pre-2005 numbers, at least not in the next year or two. I think a .290/.375/.550 line is quite realistic. Adrian Beltre made some major adjustments in 2004. The key is to keep on top of those adjustments going forward and not revert back to old, easier habits. And, of course, there is concern over his wrist injury.

Sing and Montanez signed with the Orioles.

Heh, fair enough.

I check out a few of the blogs, Cub Reporter is one of my favorites. Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus too, but that's not just Cubs-related.

Fremont is closer to San Jose than Oakland, but it is in Alameda County (like Oakland). It's basically in the middle of the two. I wish they'd just put a new stadium in a better part of Oakland and leave the team there. They better not re-name the team something lame like the East Bay A's

The New York Times has a story about academic support for college athletes, emphasis on tutoring programs: link. They also have a slideshow about a day in the life of UCLA freshman corner Alterraun Verner.

Humboldt State comes down to Pauley for UCLA's final exhibition game on Thursday. The season starts the Wednesday after with BYU at Pauley.

Licey won 5-3, box: CF F. Pie 2/4, K (12), SB (3) Overall: 16/58, .276/.300/.345/.645, 1 HBP, 1 BB, 12 K, 4 2B, 3/3 SB

The BB/K numbers are atrocious and his numbers are a byproduct of that. He was in a 1/12 and 5/23 slumps before today - that's not long enough to necessarly think he's just worn out.

Mesa won 10-6, box: 2B E. Patterson 3/5, R, 2B (4), RBI (10), K (10), SB (10) 1B S. Moore 1/3, 3 R, 2 BB (12), K (17) RP C. Pignatiello 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K/0 BB, 1 GO-0 FO, 13 pitches (8 strikes) - first game back from cut on right hand RP C. Rapada 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 K/0 BB, 1 GO-0 FO, 16 pitches (9 strikes) Overall: Eric Patterson: 25/73, .342/.415/.493/.908, 9 BB, 10 K, 10/12 SB, 6 E Scott Moore: 17/70, .243/.354/.471/.825, 12 BB, 17 K, 4/5 SB, 3 E Clay Rapada: 10.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 16 K/2 BB, 2.61 ERA, 0.87 WHIP Carmen Pignatiello: 4.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 6 K/1 BB, 0.00 ERA, 0.64 WHIP

Whoops, forgot to start this thread last night. GREAT news about Urlacher.

Tomorrow is his 30th birthday.

Ugh, Urlacher better not be hurt too bad.

He's played SS both games and has no errors. Interesting.... from an organizational perspective, does this indicate the only hope they see for him is at SS? And/or he/Izturis is trade bait? Or, is this the case of the VWL putting people where they want, not where the teams who send them there want them to get experience? Ronny is a pretty important guy for the Tigres - he's the guy they highlight on their web site as their star and he bats cleanup. If he wanted/needed to play 2B, they probably would be more willing to let him swap positions than most other guys on the team. On the flip side, these games are pretty darn competitive, so I don't know that the Tigres would be too keen on him learning a new position on their watch (and the atmosphere might not be too forgiving if he makes the mistakes that are expected with learning a new position) and the Cubs might not want him to learn a position away from their eyes. All in all, I don't know - but I don't think it means too much either way. It'll be more telling if Ronny shows up in Mesa early and is working at 2B.

Caribes beat the Leones 5-1, box: Caribes: CF C. Walker 0/5, 2 K (16) Leones: C H. Blanco 1/4, R, 2 K (6) Tigres win 13-6, box: SS R. Cedeño 0/5 CF B. Coats 2/5, 2 R, 2 RBI, K (10) Overall: Chris Walker (Caribes): 21/81, .259/.371/.346/.717, 3 HBP, 12 BB, 16 K, 14/17 SB - I missed a CS somewhere Henry Blanco (Leones): 13/49, .265/.308/.327/.635, 1 HBP, 2 BB, 6 K Ronny Cedeño (Tigres): 2/13, .154/.214/.231/.445, 1 HBP, 2 K Buck Coats (Tigres): 14/62, .226/.304/.371/.675, 1 HBP, 6 BB, 10 K, 3 HR, 1/1 SB

Culiacan lost 5-4, box: 3B C. McGehee 2/4, R, 2B (7), E (6, fielding) Overall: 24/78, .308/.386/.474/.860, 2 HR, 7 2B, 10 BB, 7 K, 6 E

Estrellas won 5-3, will post Jose Reyes' line when their box is updated. Licey lost 4-2, box CF F. Pie 0/3, K (11) Overall: 14/54, .259/.286/.333/.619, 1 HBP, 1 BB, 11 K, 4 2B, 2/2 SB

North Shore lost 5-1, box: SP S. Koerber 4 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 5 K/1 BB, 3 HR, 5 GO-2 FO, 73 pitches (49 strikes) Overall: 27 IP, 17 ER, 33 H, 30 K/9 BB, 1 HBP, 4 HR, 5.67 ERA, 1.56 WHIP

Rutgers is certainly far more likely to beat Louisville than WVU.

They still win!

Hahhahaha, WTG Vikings.

It might be me, but I didn't think the Dolphins successfully blitzed that much (a few times, yes, but it didn't seem that much more than a team normally does). I thought the OL was just getting beat no matter what.

It'd be nice to beat Oregon State AT Pasadena, especially since the Bruins then have ASU at Tempe and USC. It'd be really unpleasant to finish the season with 7 losses. Of course, politics aside, finishing the season 4-7 would really put Dorrell on a short leash for next season. Man, we're flirting for 2nd to last place in the Pac-10. :(

Benson had a couple of decent runs, but he is still not a very good pass blocker. Thomas Jones will get the start next week. Benson was a better pass blocker than TJ today.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061103&content_id=1731107&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc