squally1313

It would be a brilliant move on the Cubs part to get a guy like Carlos Gonzalez, however, it will never happen. The Cubs aren't willing to give their own prospects a chance. How on Earth is someone else's prospect going to get that chance? Because our prospects aren't very good. This guy is good. If the Diamondbacks need a SP, send them Marquis and a prospect. Gonzalez is a no brainer top 50 prospect and possibly/probably top 25. In other words...you've set the bar pretty high for most ridiculous trade proposal of the day. Yeah I don't think Marquis gets the job done, and I'm pretty sure the same thing goes for Marshall. However, if we throw Hill at them, and manage to sign Fukodome to go along with Soriano, that would leave 3 young, cheap, good prospects in Pie, Gonzalez, and Murton for only 1 real position for the next few years.... With that, would we be able to package two of those guys, Cedeno, Marshall, plus pitching prospects for Tejada and Bedard, pick up a relatively cheap righty outfielder to platoon with Pie/Gonzalez (Kielty has a career 296/379/503/882 line against lefties), and let Dempster, Hart, Prior, Gallagher, etc fight it out for the number 5 spot? Rotation Zambrano Bedard Lilly Marquis Dempster/Prior/Hart/etc Vs Righties/Lefties Soriano/Soriano Fukudome(Right Field)/DeRosa Lee/Lee Ramirez/Ramirez Tejada/Tejada DeRosa/Kielty(Right Field) Soto/Soto Pie/Gonzalez(Center)/Fukudome(Center Field) Pitcher (I didn't give much thought to the line up and know that Fukudome shouldn't be hitting 8th in any lineup, but you get the idea) Sure, it would take a few prospects to get the deals done, but it allows us to keep a top outfield prospect, get a great young pitcher in Bedard, take care of the issue with Pie hitting lefties, and lets us improve a ton at shortstop. With the way Hendry's set up the big contracts, and the ages of our hitters, this kinda puts us in win now mode, and I think that lineup is pretty dangerous. Note: Haven't really thought about salary too much, and if adding Tejada/Fukudome/Kielty would put us over our speculated limit...

I didn't really think it was necessary to start a new thread just to throw a new name around, but I was just wondering if someone smarter than me could tell me the general consensus on the Diamondbacks Carlos Gonzalez....I saw a blurb on rotoworld saying that they were looking for a starter to replace Livan, and that he was their best trading chip available. All I really know about him is that he is a 21 year old left handed outfielder.... Basically I'm just wondering if A. He could potentially be ready to play in the majors next year/platoon in right in Murton B. If he's not quite ready and platooning him would just stunt his growth and C. Do we have anything near what it takes to go after him, if he's even worth it? I'm aware this is completely out of nowhere, but I've been trying to look at anything to try and fix this right field thing, since it looks like the Cubs are set with "fan-favorite" Theriot at short. The Diamondback's need starting pitching, and we seem to have a surplus of potential starters...a 21 year old Lefty corner outfielder wouldn't be too bad to acquire, assuming the price wasn't too steep...

That'd be hot. Can we also trade for Tejada and Bedard while we're at it? Alright I know you were kidding, but I just got really really happy just thinking about that.... Soriano LF DeRosa 2B Lee 1B ARod 3B Tejada SS Kemp RF Soto C Pie CF Z Bedard Lilly Billingsley Prior I think I would be pretty comfortable not having a minor league system if we trotted that team out in 2008. And NSBB could organize a fundraiser to help alleviate the extra costs, although I'm sure it wouldn't be too much of an issue for Owner Mark Cuban (I'm still in fantasy mood) Alright done with the dream, but that just made my night...

On the google aspect of this statistic, which by the way I love... I tried different players on google using "gritty (player name)" I only spent about 30 seconds gathering my data, because frankly, preaching the grittiness of players doesn't include much data, but the results are as follows.... "gritty Barry Bonds"- 1 "gritty Manny Ramirez"- 1 "gritty Ryan Theriot"- 2 And the kicker... "gritty David Eckstein"- 61 That's right, David Eckstein is 61 times more gritty than Barry Bonds.

I think most of us want to see Pie getting the majority of the starts in center field next year, with Soto being the number one catcher. To add another assumption, I think most of us agree that Murton is a better major league hitter than Theriot/Cedeno. With no real center field free agents out there beyond the most likely expensive Andruw Jones coming off his worst season in a while, upgrading right field leaves us with Soto, Pie, and Cedeno/Theriot in the lineup. Soto was amazing the last few weeks of the year, but it's a pretty small sample size. Yes, he tore it up in AAA, but so did Cedeno, and we haven't seen much out of him in the majors yet, admittedly again with a small sample size. Pie is more or less the same thing. Basically my point is that upgrading right field, where as someone pointed out we still OPSed 6th in the NL at the position last year, leaves us with 3 relatively unknowns in the lineup, in addition to Theriot who we pretty much know adds nothing. I personally don't feel comfortable going into 2008 with a $100+ million dollar payroll and having Soto, Pie, Theriot, and Cedeno make up our 6, 7, 8 spots. Yes, trading for Tejada (IMO, clearly the superior choice to Renteria) is a short-term decision, and in a couple years we would be back in the same spot we are now at Short. But the key offensive players, Lee, Ramirez and Sori, are all in their late 20s, early 30s, arguably in the prime, or just past the prime of their careers. With our pitching staff around that same situation, combined with the unclear ownership situation and the amount of money we already have tied into the future, it looks like right now is the time to make a move for the present. Tejada blocks Cedeno, who has done everything he needs to in the minors to deserve a shot with the Cubs, but having him on the bench, compared to Theriot being the first guy off, allows Cedeno to fill in at second and let DeRosa move around where needed. Let Murton get the majority of the starts in right, and if he struggles then you can start platooning him with Jacque, who hopefully would step it up in a contract year. While no one wants to see Marquis in the rotation, he's going to be our number 4 starter for the next 2 years, which means we have a good amount of talent fighting for the number 5 spot. If Marshall's value is high enough to Baltimore, then I think you have to deal him, and hope Hart/Prior/Dempster/etc can come close to his numbers, knowing that you've significantly upgraded your production at Short.

Not sure if this has been pointed out...but this article made it onto FJM. Might want to check it out...

Just don't go. The most logical option, yes, but we've been in a race since the beginning of the year, and, being way too shortsighted, I've already used that reasoning a few too many times...

Man....I just realized that this game started 3 hours earlier than game one on Wednesday will, and it's coming up on midnight in the Eastern time zone. Staying up till 3:00 with a full day of classes the next day is really not something I would choose to do.

Alright wow...I'm really sorry for even saying that

Man, leave it to Rich and the Cubs to get me emotionally invested in one of the two games that don't matter this entire year...

Ugh. Can we modify the title and add "/REALLY HUNGOVER AND USING THIS TOPIC TO TAKE YOUR MIND OFF THE POUNDING HEADACHE" It was great last night....in the left field bleachers for the Cubs game, then to some Cincy bar (Hofbraus?) where I got in, somehow. Celebrating all night there and on the bus ride back to school. Now....doesn't feel quite as great. Still pretty damn good not to have to worry about them for a few days though....

Hey Omar....I know this is a pretty small thing, but just wanted to let you know that unless Piggy and Ohman have a ridiculously similar history against the Reds, I think you put Ohman's numbers again under Piggy. I don't really care myself, because I don't see Piggy coming in anytime this series, but just thought I'd let you know....

I'll be at the Friday game, and then I'm going Sunday if it matters and finding some tickets at the gate/from a scalper. Friday night, look for the group of about 70 extremely inebriated college kids, most likely in the bleachers. That will be me and my fraternity.

x2

I like wild pitch first, just because.

Which one? :lol: The one that likes to snort lines with a red goatee. Oh, so not the one who got his supply along with his HGH shipments. Just wanted to clarify.

Which one? :lol:

I'm waiting for that seemingly random cheer from Wrigley when the scoreboard puts up the 4 spot for the Braves. Although then again I wouldn't mind if that 4 was a 6 or 7.

Nice, graduated in 06 but spent a lot of time in Beverly on the weekends and stuff like that.

Well with all the major league at bats they've gotten this year, you figure they had to contribute at some point....

Feelings in general? I went to Rice in case you didn't know/figure out from my views on Marist. So I'm pretty biased towards Rice. I got a lot of friends from Rita and have since come to the conclusion that Rita would be the only other school I could see myself at in retrospect. Though I do have friends from all the Catholic schools, except for Laurence. Cause seriously, it's St. Laurence. My condolences on your brothers 99plus. Yeah, probably should have figured out the Rice thing after you mentioned Marist. I'm an Iggy guy, so I never had any problem with Rice, but always hated Rita, mostly because of their baseball. I laughed at your Laurence comment though... YEAH RONNY

Off topic, but Ryan....as a Catholic school guy myself, what are your feelings on Rice and Rita?

I feel like I'm watching this game on fast-forward.

I'm LOVING this atmosphere. Z loves this.