NorthsideAvenger

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I'm going to agree with baseball7897 on this one. From todays' Under The Knife (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5133): Edit: I didn't realize Will Carroll's take on Prior had already been cited in this thread, but it's consistent with what Carroll has been writing about Prior for the last few days. Again, if this is a problem after a few more starts, then YEAH it would be a concern. But Prior hadn't pitch in a regular game in MONTHS, and this was his first start. So, it is a bit disheartening, but.....time will tell....

Everybody knows about the NTC, but here are a couple of other facts: 1: Kerry's wife is from Chicago, and from all accounts has no desire to move from her hometown. 2: Kerry absolutely loves being a Cub, for whatever it's worth. Considering he hasn't pitch much since his contract extension three yrs ago, he has little to no leverage in contract talks, and with his wife wants to stay in Chicago, KW might be amendable to 2 yr deal worth 5/6 mill per (with incentives, OF COURSE) to re-sign with the Cubs. I seriously doubt KW will get anything near what AJ got last yr. So I didn't say he would take it, but I said he MIGHT be amendable to a paycut type deal. So with that said...I don't see KW waiving his NTC, unless a contract extension is work out with his new team, and given his history...no team is going to give him the extension after giving up a couple of solid prospects for him. So, I believe KW will be a Cubs in 2007.

Prior's "velocity" is not a "major concern" after one start. When was the last time Prior pitched in a regular game? It's looks like to me that Prior was sacrificing velocity for comman tonight. The "velocity" will become a concern, if after 5-6 starts down the road...Prior is still topping 89 mph. But until then, it is not a concern.

Question: Would the above scenario top losing a game on a 2-run sac fly? Or an infield fly bouncing off a defender's head? Would it matter?

I say: The Reds are up 3-2 in the bottom in then ninth. David Weathers loads the bases on 12 straight Ricky Vaughn balls. Nefti Perez comes up with a chance to win the game, but promptly on the first pitch grounds the ball over to third base. Shocked that he even made contact with the ball, just look dumbfounded. Encarnacion takes the grounder, touches third, throws to 2b, and who in turn throws the relay to first. For the seldom seen game ending Triple Play. After the game...Perez is giving the lifetime achievement award for saving David Weathers career.

Nah, it should "We take the CU out of the BS."

Were you joking about preferring he hit it in Oakland? Because he hit 714 in Oakland and a majority of the crowd cheered him. Could it be that the majority of the fans at that game, were say......Giants fans? I will never recognize Bonds in the in the 700 club. To me...there are ONLY two players in MLB with 700 +homeruns(Aaron/Ruth), and 4 total in the history of the game (Oh in Japan, and Gibson in the Negro Leagues being the other two). There weren't necessarily a majority of Giants fans at the game. The A's have limited the number of tickets available for games in the past couple years (namely not seating people in the Al Davis section in center field) therefore increasing the percentage of seats sold. More people cheered because they live in the Bay Area. Hitting a milestone homerun in Oakland is the best road stadium Bonds could have possibly hit a homerun at. In other words...he is cheered in the Bay Area, and ridicule in any other parts of the country. I can deal with that.

Or I'm constantly drunk..... Fact: I have no used whatsoever in being a "stat nerd" don't care for the "Statistical analysis of players." That doesn't mean I don't value tools, stats, whatnot, I just want BASEBALL players who can contribute now, tomorrow, and for the next 10-12 yrs. I don't nec want athletes, the Cubs need baseball players. And that is the BOTTOMLINE, isn't it? Stop with the projection, the "potential", the Cubs should draft for floors, instead of ceilings, cause they've reached for ceilings, and it has NOT done a darn thing for them.

Were you joking about preferring he hit it in Oakland? Because he hit 714 in Oakland and a majority of the crowd cheered him. Could it be that the majority of the fans at that game, were say......Giants fans? I will never recognize Bonds in the in the 700 club. To me...there are ONLY two players in MLB with 700 +homeruns(Aaron/Ruth), and 4 total in the history of the game (Oh in Japan, and Gibson in the Negro Leagues being the other two).

Sort of but not really. What I've been told is that he's got a special set of dice that he uses to make his decisions. One die is for who he's going to send down, and the other is for who he's going to call up. He's also got a magic 8-ball that he uses for trade decisions, and lately it's on a no streak. I can confirmed that said "magic 8-ball" is now officially injuried and will be place on the 60 day DL retroactive to December 7, 2005. This according to the little voices in Hendry's head....

I think you're falsely correlating low K totals with patience. As you said, his walk totals were never anything great. There are tons of hitters that aren't patient that barely strike out, i.e. our (s)crappy leadoff man. On the other hand, some of the most patient hitters have very high strikeout totals (i.e. Dunn). They almost go hand in hand. If you're taking a lot of pitches, you're also taking more strikes. I said "reasonably", I didn't say he was great....but "the dude" did still had an OBP near over .350 10 times in his career, therefore he was semi-patient.

Aww...."The Replacements" reference....Nice.

You MAKE Francouer make the throw. He hasn't earn the respect to hold runners. You bet on him making a bad throw more times then not, till he proves he's a threat from RF. Until then, the decision to send Barrett, was an alright move to me.

That is the second ball he has CRUSHED in the last two innings. How the heck did the Braves hit 8 homeruns today? God.....Aram has had some pretty harsh luck today. If he gets one more at-bat, I believe he wins it. (hopefully, the Cubs don't need another at-bat from ARam, but nonetheless)

I am hoping they show some creativity in losing today. What giving up 8 homeruns, and hitting none isn't creative enough?

Does anybody over in the White Sox ever think about what they say, before the say it? Kenny Williams just proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is an idiot. Sure, Kenny...MLB could have suspended MB the day after the INCIDENT, but MB would have still appeal the decision, which means...Barrett would have still play the game, your friggin, mental midget. Apparently, Williams believes in the "he's guilty because he is a Cub, so he shouldn't get an appeal" theory. Anybody else think....that the White Sox won the WS DESPITE Kenny Williams? I don't see Williams saying that Barrett shouldn't get an appeal. Am I missing something? I think he's just saying that it's unfortunate that Barrett attacked one of his players, and still gets an opportunity to beat them the next time that they play. K-town, I highlight the point, not to insult you, but you did miss the point. The highlighted point, KW insinuate that Barrett should have been "unconditionally suspended" without a chance to appeal the decision. It's would like a first time shoplifer, being sentence to 5 yrs in prison, without the possibility of parole.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bakerdu01.shtml Does anybody else find it weird that Baker had a decent eye during his career (over. 350 OBP 7 time, and 3 other seasons' near .350 OBP)? I mean this is a "dude", who never struck out more the 89 times during any one season in career, and never walked more then 72 times in a season? This dude, was reasonably "patient" as a hitter? What happen between his playing days, and his managing days? :-k 762 926 (Dusty's career BB:K ratio as a hitter)

In other words, a raw college player! ...as opposed to a raw high schooler. Hmmmmmmmmmmm... Yeah, because RAW high schools players the Cubs have taken recently, have definately been productivet..... :roll: Have about the Cubs try a different apprach. What O_O and I are implying is that it doesn't matter if it is a raw HS or a raw college player. We'd prefer to take a polished hitter however old he is. You can prefer all you want my friend but the tools will take a toolsy player. Instead of coaches, we should start hiring mechanics to use all the tools we've got. Instead of a freakin' basketball team we should start a repair shop. And MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, the Cubs should forfeit every pick they have, until they get coaches who can actually coach? See, I can over-the-top too. Look, I prefer production over tools. But hey....if you like tools....I got a hammer to sell ya?

I wonder how safe Baker's job will be if the Cubs lose another 8-10 games in a row?

I hope the media keeps the pressure on Baker and Hendry. I hope it gets so hot, the Baker doesn't even think about taking the extension, and just leaves.

If there is ONE thing the Cubs can do perfectly, is that they KNOW how to build a sinking ship. Ok Hendry,, you can go down with this pathetic team of useless losers. I hope the heat gets so HOT, that Baker can't wait to leave Chicago.

You would think....that if that trend continue....that changes would be made....but wait...this is the Cubs....NM... ------ My "rock bottom" would be to run out of beer before a Cubs game is "officially" over. Haven't happen yet....knock on wood...sorry Kerry.

I don't think Baker is capable of this. He lets the highs get too high and the lows too low. Flipping the "game ball" to Russ Ortiz in Game 7 of the World Series tipped me off to this. this is weird to me, i know (please dont ask) Russ Ortiz through my sister and bro-in-law, they guy (Ortiz) LOVES dusty. My bro-in-law is a huge supporter of what Ortiz has to say.. and hates Leo Mezzone and my bro-in-law is a huge Billy Beane fan...add that up and make 2+2=4. Why does he hate Leo Mazzone? Ortiz hates Leo because he felt he got too much credit for pitching success in Atlanta, and feels he (leo) gets an incredible amount of production out of pitchers but ultimately burns them out shortly...in essance produce now and get lost kinda attitude... Yet, almost no one talks about the number of arms that were wrecked under he and Cox. Getting back to yesterday's game, even with the crappy lineup, we scored five runs and had a lead for the closer. You can still hate Baker without totally blaming him for every loss. You know what...let's blame the crew who WERE going to put up the "white W". I mean...come on....you can't just jinx the Cubs while the game is still going. I mean...hasn't Baker blame those guys yet?

I agree with your point that Hendry/MacPhail seem to have a limited # of people they deal with, but you're underselling most of those players. Guthrie was rather good with us, and Tapani was pretty much on his career averages, which is good considering we were the last team he played with. Coomer was as good with us as he was his career, Jones really hasn't been much worse here than he has the rest of his career, nor had Miller. Lawton was here for about 90 ABs, Merced even less. Ojeda was worthless no matter where he was, and Aguilera was far too old. Conclusion, yes, MacPhail/Hendry should get a little more creative and try to stop trading with the same 3 guys, but the results of what came from the Twins is not the reason that they should. Guthrie was "merely average" between his two stints in Chicago. (an era in the high 4.8 in his first stint, and a low 2 in his 2nd stint). He was less sucky then most relievers the Cubs have had. Tapani was "meh" with his time with the Cubs(especially considering he was making $6 mill from the Cubs), but I do remember him hitting a grand slam against Pitts. ..261/.316/.390 so you consider this "good?" Maybe on the 2006 Cubs, (did I just say that? :( )but no Coomer wasn't "good" for the Cubs. Coomer's "high" came in 1996. Otherwise...Coomer was another "cheap mistake". As I said...I thought Miller was solid for the Cubs, but looking at his numbers...omigod. His tenure with the Cubs, was by far his worst season as a starter. He's "defense" saves him, but he was crap offensively in 2003. I'm not suggesting that the Twins "castoffs" who end up in Chicago is the main reason why the Cubs blow....no....I was just surprise at HOW many former Twins have been on the Cubs, within the last 5-8 yrs. There's like 3-4 teams that the Cubs like doing business with....and if the Cubs are going to do anything in the next_____years...they are going to have to "think outside the box."