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why are you leaving out vitters?

Well he definitely was unavailable, but hopefully it's because Lou didn't want to use him again so soon as opposed to injury

i can't believe anybody can still defend lou's in-game managing. it's absolutely brutal. that decision to send the runners with bradley up was the turning point of the game. should have been bases loaded and no outs and instead it turns into a double play. really though i'm worried about how hurt soto and marmol are

Heilman is 1.33 career and 1.59 last year, and people insist that he's got great stuff. Clement's WHIP was always high despite great "stuff". I don't think a high WHIP corrrelates to lesser stuff. 05- 1.15 06- 1.16 07- 1.07 I think those are the WHIPs people are looking at when talking about Heilman

No he didn't. He was awesome for about the first month. In his first 14.2 innings with the Cubs he gave up 3 ER, 9 hits, 3 walks, and had 18 k's. Then he kind of fell apart after the injury. They just got rid of a proven league average swingman for a 24 year reliever who can't even get guys out in A+, just because of spring training numbers. No, they got rid of him because of how god awful he was soon after arriving here throughout the end of the season and the horrific spring, and the fact that he injured himself while drunk, thus entering Piniella's doghouse. A) I just explained that he wasn't bad for the first month with the Cubs. He was very good B) This "he got into Lou's doghouse because he fell down when he was drunk supposedly" BS has to stop. we've already been over this. you're completely speculating ans basically making things up by trying to act like it's a fact. just like when you claimed that if a guy falls down while drunk that means he automatically has a drinking problem, even if he doesn't drink often. how do you know he was in lou's "doghouse" for that supposed incident? do you have anything to back that up? maybe he was in lou's "doghouse" because, you know, he stopped being good.

They won 86 games. They WERE good. The only reason they finished 4th is because they played in an awesome division. They didn't "go away". We just were lucky enough to have an unbelievable season. If they win 86 games again this season that means they're probably in the division race right to the end. I don't think they'll be as good as last year, but I think it's ridiculous to ever write that team off at this point. They're the Cardinals.

No he didn't. He was awesome for about the first month. In his first 14.2 innings with the Cubs he gave up 3 ER, 9 hits, 3 walks, and had 18 k's. Then he kind of fell apart after the injury. They just got rid of a proven league average swingman for a 24 year reliever who can't even get guys out in A+, just because of spring training numbers.

lack of experience? the only 2 guys in the pen with a lack of experience are patton and guzman

neither of them are attractive

the pp has been atrocious today

If his facial hair factored into the decision of Lou/Jim even the slightest bit, that would be ridiculous

Parra and Bush could easily put up ERA's lower than 4.20.

Of course we should worry about the Brewers, but not because of spring training numbers. Seriously, Casey McGehee has raked in 2 straight spring trainings. That should tell you all you need to know.

What a waste. We need start pitching depth

half a season?

rodman was way better than avery is

what is wrong with you The fact this makes people so mad that they wish death upon him is awesome. Obviously if he's pissing you guys off on your couches/computer chairs at home... think what he does to the people on the ice with him? Best role player in the NHL plus he can add on the offensive end! he doesn't piss me off. i really don't care about him. he's just another a-hole. it's just kind of embarrassing that you root for him. Why? It's not like he intentionally hurts people... he TAPPED Thomas on the helmet not even very hard. What did Thomas do? Chased after him like a mad man and made him focus on Avery more than the game he was goal tending (final score notwithstanding). He's an [expletive] and a douchebag, but he knows what he's doing out there and is damn good at it. The day he intentionally injures someone badly I will renounce my fandom of Sean Avery. i never said he hurts people. i said he's a douchebag. why does it excite you so much to see a guy act like a douchebag? and i really think you're overstating the whole "he gets under peoples skin and makes them play worse" stuff. i think that's bs. i think it makes people play harder and better. if what you're saying is true, ex teammates would like him, and it doesnt seem like they do. so to summarize, i don't really care about avery. i care more aobut the fact that you love him so much.

I'm not talking about spring numbers. I'm talking about the fact that Harden's velocity is way down, Lilly's is down and probably will be for a while, and Dempster has had one good year and has horrible career numbers.

what is wrong with you The fact this makes people so mad that they wish death upon him is awesome. Obviously if he's pissing you guys off on your couches/computer chairs at home... think what he does to the people on the ice with him? Best role player in the NHL plus he can add on the offensive end! he doesn't piss me off. i really don't care about him. he's just another a-hole. it's just kind of embarrassing that you root for him. gives them extra motivation and makes them play harder to beat him?

what is wrong with you

The Cardinals and the Brewers. Who is saying that the Cardinals and Brewers have good rotations?

The Angels. 3 of their top starters are opening the season on the DL. And there's a lot to worry about there too.

I'm sure this will be followed by a bunch of "here's the first irrational worry thread", but I think this is a pretty valid concern. Harden is Harden and he's looked awful so far this spring. His velocity is way down. Is that him taking it easy, or is that what we can expect in the regular season? You'd think he would have dialed it up a little today since it's his last start before the regular season, but he looked awful. Then there's Lilly. We all remember how it took Lilly like a month into the regular season to get his velocity back up, and we all saw that he can't have success if he's lost 2-3 MPH on his fastball. I fully expect that to happen again at the beginning of this season, especially with the lack of workload he got due to being in the WBC. But what if it lasts beyond the first month of the season? He's 33, so it wouldn't be that shocking. Dempster shhould be good enough (I'm expecting like a 3.95 ERA, 1.30 WHIP), but he's obviously another question mark. I know you can play this game with a lot of rotations, but what contender with a supposedly good rotation has questions marks this big? Would it really be a shock if all 3 of these guys sucked, or at least 2 of the 3?

man when it's all said and done, if the sale of the cubs ended up costing us peavy, that would really really suck

he throws high 90's?