17 Seconds

Guess who is back? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idQmNjMICnA He's devastated about the loss of Miles (seriously) and is basically saying he was an integral part to the Cards recent "success". He says that Miles was his favorite player and that he was mad that the Cards didn't offer him a contract (even though Miles said he'd stay for whatever they offered), and then goes on to say he wishes nothing but the absolute worst for Miles. This kis really delusional about the whole Cubs/Cards rivalry. He needs to get out of his fantasy world and realize that these guys didn't grow up Cardinal fans and that this is a job for them.

So we can't criticize bad moves and praise good ones? Also, we can't use numbers/facts to debate whether a move was good or not?

Have you watched Dempster pitch? He's so much better than those guys. I don't understand the people who don't think that Dempster is good. Watch his stuff; it's filthy! He was mis-cast as a reliever and still wasn't terrible. He will continue to put up 15+ win seasons for the Cubs. Wow, a "use your eyes" AND using wins as a measurement in the same post. That was a gritty post. You can use any measurement you like, Dempster was awesome last year and it should continue. Remember how awesome Adrian Beltre was in 2004? Man, he was so awesome.

The space between how excellent Dempster pitched last year and how Jason Marquis usually pitches over a season is pretty gigantic. I agree he almost certainly won't repeat last year, but to just assume he'll plunge all the way down to Marquis' level is incredibly pessimistic. Dempster and Marquis both have a 4.55 career era. Marquis career 198 starts 79 wins,Dempster 195 starts 76 wins.Marquis has averaged 13 wins a year for the last 5. Dempster was a regular starter from 98-03. Only once in that span was his era under 4.50. Dempsters history suggests that if he makes 30 starts,he'll pitch more innings than Marquis. But,Marquis making 30 starts is more likely. So your basis for this argument is wins and ERA?

Have you watched Dempster pitch? He's so much better than those guys. I don't understand the people who don't think that Dempster is good. Watch his stuff; it's filthy! He was mis-cast as a reliever and still wasn't terrible. He will continue to put up 15+ win seasons for the Cubs. His stuff has always been good, that's never been the question. You talk about his being "mis-cat" as a reliever. He was a starter for several years and sucked as that also. Really the difference this year was that he limited his walks, which he's never been able to do. His stuff has never been in question. He's sucked with good stuff before and he can do it again if he doesn't maintain his control.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ArSSbMBzs281YXsFnKArpt0RvLYF?slug=ti-peavy123108&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

CALM DOWN DUDE. WE GET IT. i don't even see what this has to do with gus frerrote

this is absolutely one of the dumbest, most indefensible things you've ever said Our CF last season put up a .290/.374/.484 line. Sizemore put up a .268/.374/.502 line. He's pretty bad defensively too... so all he's really got is a tick extra power and some speed. It's not a terrible comparison. well if you're going by last season's numbers then you have to mentiont that he stole bases at an excellent rate last season. 39 of 44

In another thread somebody said Hendry was on XM today and basically said they weren't going to pursue Roberts.

If the chose is between playing for a contender like the Cubs, or a 2nd tier team like the Nats, imagine what team Bradley will sign with? The only way the Nats will sign Bradley is if they severely overpay for him. And really, the Nats need another OF like the Cubs need another backup 2nd baseman. I'm not concern about the Nats for Bradley. It means that much like Roberts and Peavy before him, the deal is not as "done" as we've been lead to believe. Seriously, just because Washington isnt a good team, doesnt mean that they wont throw more money at the guy than hes worth, and he wont accept. Remember, as stated, they were about to dump a truck load of money on Tex, and now that hes out of the pictre, they still have said truck load of money, and nowhere to dump it. If they were willing to offer Tex that kind of money, surely they can afford Bradley plus another decent free agent. Granted, it would be like the Giants chosing Rowand as their cornerstone-a player who would be a great addition to a contender, but not the type of guy that they can take an all around bad team and make a contender. The whole point of them going after Tex was so they'd have a franchise player/superstar that would draw attendance and a guy they thought they could build a team around. Milton Bradley is none of these things.

So Grady Sizemore is an .858 OPS guy with poor defense and no speed?

I agree but Gregg has had a mid 3 era the last three years out of the pen, so I expect the same thing out of him next year. I expect him to be much better then Howry was last season. Plus I'm still hoping that he will end up being the closer in the long run. But I don't think Lou will change the way he uses Marmol all that much either way. I think we will see alot of 5-6 out saves by Marmol, so Marmol will be pitching 8-9th inning instead of 7-8th inning. If Gregg or another pitcher get in the jam in the 8th in a close game Marmol is still gonna come in to shut the door. I don't see him using him as a one inning closer and just coming in the game with the lead in the 9th. ERA is a very deceiving stat for relievers

The one we just signed to a 2 year deal. Unfortunately, he sucks.

More like this team is really average and Orlando (er, Dwight Howard) is really, really good. david it's okay to admit that this team is below average.

I can explain that ... contract year. with the cardinals

wat

Not one of those replacements is accurate in expected roles, so your notion of downgrading across the board is wrong. Replace Wood with Marmol at closer (even). Replace Howry with Gregg at set-up (even). Replace Edmonds with Fukudome in CF (moderate downgrade). Replace Fukudome with Bradley in RF (notable upgrade). Replace Marquis with Marshall at 5th starter (slight upgrade). Replace DeRosa with Fontenot at 2B (slight downgrade). Replace Fontenot with Miles on bench (slight downgrade). Replace Jon Lieber with Vizcaino in relief (moderate downgrade). That's how I see it. That's extremely flawed logic. It doesn't matter what the specific roles are... Wood was essentially replaces by Gregg. You say we replaced Wood with Marmol at closer, but then we say we replaced Howry as a setup man with Gregg? Uhh, no. We're replacing Marmol with Gregg, not Howry, and that's a significant downgrade. The rest of your downgrade list just doesn't Make sense. You say how we replace Marquis with Marshall, but you don't acknowledge the lack of depth, or the loss of Marshall in the pen. You say how we replace DeRosa with Fontenot, but you don't mention DeRosa's value as a guy that can play anywhere, which will be very significant when Bradley gets hurt. Now instead of sliding DeRosa to RF and giving Fontenot more at-bats, we're suddenly giving more at-bats to Aaron Miles and other similar players. That big, especially when you look at the amount of time that Bradley misses each year.

Who's paying Gregg $5 mil? ???

Everyone in our division except maybe the Reds are having a terrible offseason. In fact everyone outside the AL East is having a terrible offseason. The Indians and Mets are doing alright Not sure the Indians are having a great offseason but they have improved over last year. Wood and DeRosa won't make too much of a difference though. My point is they're improving instead of butchering the team like Jim Hendry is doing right now.

Not that I disagree or anything, but for what it is worth. Ryan Dempster has had two ASG appearances, which is two more than AJ Burnett and only one fewer than CC Sabathia. stop

Everyone in our division except maybe the Reds are having a terrible offseason. In fact everyone outside the AL East is having a terrible offseason. The Indians and Mets are doing alright

Wow I'm so glad I've never listened to the Score. So let me get this straight - The Cubs can't win a title with an .800-.850 OPS 2B - Aaron Miles is a good leadoff hitter Yeah, that's perfectly reasonable.

ya think. when it seems so obvious that this is all leading up to a Peavy deal... No it doesn't. It's obvious with the stuff that's been coming out lately that this is just to clear payroll so Hendry can add Bradley, which is awful. I was kinda "meh" on including DeRosa in a trade for Peavy if we were signing Bradley, but now we're trading DeRosa and we're not even getting Peavy? Awful.

Man, this is turning out to be the worst offseason ever. Now what happens when Bradley gets injured? Instead of more at-bats for Fontenot we're looking at more at-bats for Miles, Johnson vs RHP, or Fukudome vs LHP. Maybe instead of giving Dempster a ridiculous contract we should have just kept DeRosa and re-signed Wood. Dempster was a huge waste of money. Really this team is looking very mediocre for next season when you take into account all the fulkey seasons we got last year. Bullpen looks mediocre, offensive looks slightly above average, and the rotation will look pretty average when Dempster regresses and Harden is out. Good thing the Brewers are having an even worse offseason.

the only thing i would change is every player in that lineup