soccer10k

If he's hurt, then he collects. If he retires, then he does not. I don't know exactly how it works, but would the bereavement list work for something long term like this? Where the Cubs could essentially give Lee a year or so off if he needed it? But again, this is getting too morbid and serious for my liking, I really don't want to think about such things. Agreed. I just want to think that all will be well with his daughter and he will report healthy for Spring Training next year.

Would that be followed shortly after by Air Mail?

They have been winning divisions as long as I can remember.

Again, WE ARE AN NL TEAM. We compete against teams in the NL for the playoffs. We play in a division with 5 other NL teams. Every single NL team has a gaping hole in the pitchers spot. You know that no matter who you pick up and don't pick up, that the pitcher still has to bat. Ok you made your f****** point. FOR THOSE OF US WHO DIDN'T KNOW, THE CUBS ARE IN THE NL!! Regardless, we need to upgrade our team on offense and pitching this off-season. If we better one at the expense of the other, we still may not be in the playoffs, hitting pitchers be damned. Who says we couldn't upgrade both the offense and the pitching without doing so at the expense of the other?

If that's true, I don't see why it would be any harder to call a guy offsides based on being past or being a yard past. Because you don't have a yardstick to tell you exactly what a yard is. The way it is now, either the attacking player is past the defender or he isn't. Making it a yard would bring a lot more judgement into the decision. Well, it doesn't have to a yard, it could be something like "significantly past". I've seen quite a bit of controversy over the current calls with the "he is or he isn't" system, I don't see why it would be anymore with a different system. agreed, I was called three times on great two on one break-outs and my girl was no more than a half step , if that, in front of the defender. It penalized the more agressive team and penalizes the swifer athlete. Now there should be a rule for cherry picking by the defenders goal. That's why you teach them to run laterally until the ball is played and then you turn upfield. Either way, you are going to gain an advantage because you are already moving while the defender is either standing still or moving in the opposite direction. EDIT: And how do you know your girl (the attacker) is the swifter athlete? Couldn't the defender that stepped up to cause the offsides be considered swifter?

Again, WE ARE AN NL TEAM. We compete against teams in the NL for the playoffs. We play in a division with 5 other NL teams. Every single NL team has a gaping hole in the pitchers spot. You know that no matter who you pick up and don't pick up, that the pitcher still has to bat.

This lineup would also look good if we got Andruw Jones: 1b: Lee 2b: Neifi Perez SS: Izturis 3b: Ramirez LF: Murton CF: Jones RF: Jones C: Barrett Either way, we'd still have a huge hole So you don't think those lineups are capable of scoring runs and aren't playoff quality lineups? No, I think those lineups are capable of scoring runs, but with potentially three holes in the lineup (2B, SS, P) - they probably won't score enough. Combine that with average or below average pitching, and you've got problems. You can't cite the pitchers spot as a gaping hole because there is no better option. The Cubs are in the NL. The pitcher has to bat. How do you know the Cubs will ave "average or below average pitching" as well? You don't. That lineup plus a decent rotation (depending on who they pick up) equals a contending team. I'm describing the Cubs pitching as average or below average because that's what it is right now - and I can't see it changing in the near future, barring significant moves. If we want Andruw Jones, we'll have to trade for him, and we'll probably trade some of our young pitchers away, thus reducing our depth even further. I could play your game and say that a team of 1B Lee 2B Below average player SS Below average player 3B Ramirez LF Murton CF Jones RF Jones C Barrett SP Zambrano SP Zito SP Prior SP Liriano SP Carpenter is good too, but that's projecting too much now isn't it? Yup, that's my game right there. Unrealistic offseason moves. You hit it right on the head. I believe I stated "decent rotation" not "all-star rotation". We are a major market team. There is no reason we shouldn't be able to add a big bat and a solid starter to the rotation in the offseason.

This lineup would also look good if we got Andruw Jones: 1b: Lee 2b: Neifi Perez SS: Izturis 3b: Ramirez LF: Murton CF: Jones RF: Jones C: Barrett Either way, we'd still have a huge hole So you don't think those lineups are capable of scoring runs and aren't playoff quality lineups? No, I think those lineups are capable of scoring runs, but with potentially three holes in the lineup (2B, SS, P) - they probably won't score enough. Combine that with average or below average pitching, and you've got problems. You can't cite the pitchers spot as a gaping hole because there is no better option. The Cubs are in the NL. The pitcher has to bat. How do you know the Cubs will ave "average or below average pitching" as well? You don't. That lineup plus a decent rotation (depending on who they pick up) equals a contending team.

This lineup would also look good if we got Andruw Jones: 1b: Lee 2b: Neifi Perez SS: Izturis 3b: Ramirez LF: Murton CF: Jones RF: Jones C: Barrett Either way, we'd still have a huge hole So you don't think those lineups are capable of scoring runs and aren't playoff quality lineups?

What people are saying is that our offense is so bad we can't afford to give him that chance. And if we give up on next season, then there are players more deserving than Theriot that should get a shot. Why would we even consider giving up on next season? Ridiculous. If the choice was between Ronny Cedeno or Ryan Theriot starting at second base next year, who would you pick? I wouldn't think twice before choosing Theriot. We've seen what Cedeno can do playing full time and .612 OPS is horrendous. 23 year-old middle infield prospects typically don't have great offensive seasons in their first full year, particularly when they have been rushed and have had only 1/2 a year of AAA. I think you're giving up on Cedeno too early. While I agree with many that having an Izturis/Cedeno combo would be horrible offensively, I'd rather have it than a Theriot/Izturis combo, simply because Cedeno has more potential. If you're going to rebuild, you should have the players out there with the most potential. And if you're going for the playoffs, you probably shouldn't have either out there with Izturis. Let's just throw out a hypothetical here. What if the Cubs acquired Andruw Jones? A starting lineup of... 1B: Lee 2B: Theriot SS: Izturis 3B: Ramirez LF: Murton CF: Jones RF: Jones C: Barrett would be a solid lineup. Three big bats in the middle along with J. Jones, Barrett, and Murton. You are making it sound like we need a lineup like the Yankees here.

What people are saying is that our offense is so bad we can't afford to give him that chance. And if we give up on next season, then there are players more deserving than Theriot that should get a shot. Why would we even consider giving up on next season? Ridiculous. If the choice was between Ronny Cedeno or Ryan Theriot starting at second base next year, who would you pick? I wouldn't think twice before choosing Theriot. We've seen what Cedeno can do playing full time and .612 OPS is horrendous.

Theriot has 5 HR in over 2300 Minor League plate appearances. His IsoP is an almost humorous .066. He was old for his leagues too, he simply hasn't shown any ability to hit for power. Well, power isn't the "end all/be all" to making a ballplayer. There are plenty of solid players with little to no power...guys like David Eckstein, Mark Loretta have made careers out of playing the game hard, and playing it right. Besides power is a requirment out of 2B, unless you have a Jeff Kent/Jose Vidro/ type 2b. Theriot for 2b in 07. Even lightweights like Eckstein and Loretta had minor league IsoP's pushing .100. Power is a requirement out of every position, some you're able to get more than others, but hitting as few XBH's as Theriot does just isn't going to cut it. If he's the only option we might as well bring up EPatt and see if he isn't overmatched before trotting out Theriot regularly. Or play Mike bloody Fontenot, even though he came down with a mysterious injury at the end fo the year. Yeah, let's bring somebody up to the ML too early and have him fail. That's a brilliant idea. I've seen that ending before.

I just don't see how you can be so definative about something like this. While I agree that it's not likely, you just can't be 100% sure about this sort of thing. You can go ahead and cite all the minor league statistics you want and compare Theriot to any player you want to but the fact remains that there is just one Ryan Theriot and you don't know what his major league career is going to end up looking like. To say he is a "bench player. Period." is just stupid. Let the guy perform. Give him a chance.

Aramis Wins!!!

Riding the Pine til the End of Time by the rookies on the team.

I don't expect anyone to take this seriously because it's from an ND outlet and obviously it didn't have any impact on the outcome of the game, but I agree fully with this paragraph, and it hasn't just been the Michigan game. First, I do agree with him that they shouldn't have Big 10 officials to call this game. As I stated in the other thread, in a game between two teams from opposing conferences, the officials should come from a third conference. I do think that a game between two BCS teams should have officials from a BCS conference though. Second, I don't understand why this guy is complaining about the holding calls when in the very next paragraph he states: If the offensive line "sucks" as he so nicely put it, don't you think it's possible that they hold the players on the opposing team more because they, well, "suck" more than their opponent's offensive line?

With Georgia at Florida being scheduled for the same day (Oct 28) Missouri-OU doesn't have a chance for GameDay. That's a CBS game, right? If Mizzou-OU is the saturday night game, I'd think they'd come to CoMo rather than fly Herbstreit from Florida to Missouri. Especially if neither team loses before then(which would mean OU beating Texas and Mizzou being 8-0). Heck, poll wise it would probably be a similar matchup, especially with Florida having a chance to lose at Auburn the week before. It doesn't list anything on ESPN.com's schedules as to what channel but the Florida-Georgia game is at 1230. There don't appear to be any marquee games that weekend that are TBA. Obviously that could change in 5 weeks but we'll have to wait and see.

Blow up the team. This decision is even easier if ARam opts out and signs with another team.

Just checked the box score and it seems ARam is having a decent night so far.

On the Mizzou end, the Colorado game next week will be on FSN in many regions, which is good news($$ and exposure). Unfortunately it means another 11:30 start for those attending. Also, the Mizzou website lists the following two games(@ Tech, @ aTm) as TBA, but ESPN has them as 7 PM and 2PM EST starts respectively. Could be good news for Cubbies75's hope that the Tech game is national. Congrats on your hot start TT! When does your team play a divison 1 team? :D After each win the better the exposure. If you guys can continue to go undefeated soon enough you'll have Corso gracing your stage. Corso said something this past weekend along the lines of: "Watch out for the Missouri Tigers." It'd be awesome if we were playing well enough and could get them here for the OU game, if not sooner. Yeah I bet Gameday is just drooling to get to any of those Missouri/Colorado, Mizzou/Texas Tech or Mizzou/A&M matchups. I know you guys are excited about being 3-0 but you aren't going to get much national attention until you play a good team and beat them. Looking at your schedule (wow), you don't get many chances. Gameday doesn't come to watch two unranked or barely ranked Big 12 teams play each other for a game on a regional sports network that isn't available to large parts of the country. You guys could have had your shot to get some major attention nationally and a ranking if Pinkel and your A.D. wouldn't have weasled out of the series with Iowa. Instead you chose Arkansas State last year and Murray State this year. I said OU has a chance on GameDay, not TT, CU, or A&M. With Georgia at Florida being scheduled for the same day (Oct 28) Missouri-OU doesn't have a chance for GameDay.

I'm not sure if the refs necessarily did anything wrong, but the replay officials should have been fired. This is why I hate having refs from one of the conference teams do the games. There are enough teams out there playing out of conference games to have them get refs that are not with either conference. I agree. I know in some of the games they would have the referees from one team's conference and the replay officials for the other team's conference to make it "fair" but that isn't right either. If you have Oklahoma vs Oregon you should not have officials, whether that be on field or replay, from either the Big 12 or the Pac 10.

The Art of Making an Strong and Accurate Throw to Home Plate cowritten by Jacque Jones and Juan Pierre. How to Throw the Ball to First Base by Ronny Cedeno Getting the Opponent Out by Glendon Rusch How to Close a Ballgame by Ryan Dempster Throwing Strikes by the whole pitching staff Winning Ballgames by Angel Guzman Don't suck in spring training or you'll be exiled to AAA by Michael Wuertz

Has anyone ever run any quantitative studies that actually document steroids improve performance? I'm not saying they don't, but I'm also not willing to just accept that they can make a great player superhuman (or a good player great). They certainly didn't turn Alex Sanchez into anybody's definition of "great". btw - I understand the theory of making the athlete stronger, quicker, yada, yada, yada. But the mainstream is just as convinced a corked bat will make the ball go further and that just isn't the case when they test it. Steroids alone aren't just going to improve a players performance on the field because the player still has to work at getting better. If you just take steroids and don't work out at all, they aren't going to build muscle mass because you still have to go and lift weights. A baseball player still has to work out to get bigger and stronger. Somebody else mentioned that steroids help a player heal faster and recover from the daily duty of playing a baseball game. Look at a player like Mark McGwire. Nobody will deny that he had home run power - as evidenced by his 49 HR's as a 23 year old rookie in 1987. But he was also known just as much for his inability to stay healthy. He had 4 great years in 1996-1999 in which he hit 42% of his career home runs (245/583). Steroids likely helped McGwire stay healthy. And there have been studies to prove that steroids do help people heal quicker. This also allows athletes to play a baseball game and then go have a hardcore workout in the gym after the game. The other way steroids help is the bat speed. In defense of potential steroid users I always hear "steroids don't help you recognize/hit a curveball or a 95 mph fastball." This is true. But since steroids help make a player stronger, they also help a player swing a bat faster. If you can get your bat through the zone a split second quicker, you have an extra split second to recognize what the pitch is. That split second is the difference between no contact and contact as well as between bad contact and good contact. That makes all the difference in the world. For a player like Barry Bonds, who has the ability to recognize pitches extremely well, that extra split second will allow him to make better contact on the ball more often than he used to and the extra muscle mass from steroids will help him hit the ball harder and subsequently, with the right swing, farther than he used to. I don't know how much Alex Sanchez worked at being a better baseball player. I also can't comment on the workout habits of other players like Brady Anderson and Luis Gonzalez. But I do know that Barry Bonds worked extremely hard at being a better hitter and worked out hard in the gym as well because the Giants (along with the A's) are the home team out here that the newspapers cover. They detail his offseason regimens and talk about how he gets up early to work out. "Game of Shadows" also talks about how Bonds would frequent a gym with Greg Anderson. That's how he became one of the best players in the game and won 3 MVP awards. It's wasn't the steroids. As myself and rawaction said, Bonds would have been a HOFer and likely would have been a first ballot HOFer even if he didn't, allegedly, take steroids. Bonds was a great player anyway and was likely to go down as one of the best to play the game. But because of the steroids he enters into the discussion of being the best hitter the game has ever seen (i.e. superhuman) and did things nobody has ever done before. To quote my original statement: "steroids can make an average player good and a good player great, but what affect will steroids have on a great player?" The key word is "can". Steroids can make an average player good and a good player great. They won't do that every time if the player doesn't continue to work to make himself a better player. And I do firmly believe that Bonds is the example of what could happen if a great player takes steroids. Steroids are almost akin to natural talent. You can have all the natural talent in the world, but if you don't practice and apply yourself, you are never going to reach your potential. Sure, steroids can help you, but if you don't work at what you do, in this case playing baseball, you aren't going to reach the heights you could reach.

That is partly due to the NFL having a salary cap and the ability for a football team to cut a player and not owe them the rest of the salary.

Thanks for the lineups Bruce. It's good to see Scott Moore in the lineup. Blanco batting 6th? At this rate he'll be batting cleanup by the weekend.