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champaignchris

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Everything posted by champaignchris

  1. champaignchris
    I saw that on SC, too, and told my wife, "That's crazy." The thing to remember is that odds more than anything are set by the market. It opens where the experts think it should be but the more money placed on the team the worse the payout gets. So I have to think two things... 1. A bunch of people blindly placing money on the Cubs due to the Theo hire; 2. A bunch of joke bets placed on the Cubs because 2012 is supposed to be the end of the world.
  2. champaignchris
    Well, other than Pujols signing a short-term deal with the Cubs, I don't see how that could have gone any better for the Cubs.
  3. champaignchris
    They'll be paying a relief pitcher $9M a year when he's 36. Yikes!
  4. champaignchris
    Soriano is essentially a one win over replacement type of player. If you can trade him for nothing but a smidgen of salary relief that allows you to sign a two wins over replacement type player(s), you've still improved the team. Thus, trade him for 20% of his salary and a bag of rocks, put Jackson in the outfield, and use the extra $2M - $3M/year saved on more productive players. Seems like it could be done with a small market AL team that has nothing at the DH.
  5. champaignchris
    We didn't have a right fielder. We now have a 3.0 WAR right fielder for a perfectly reasonable contract. What's not to like?
  6. champaignchris
    Assuming Ram really is done with the Cubs, his all-time Cubs career ranks are 3rd in Slugging % 5th in OPS 15th in total bases 14th in doubles 6th in HRs 12th in RBI 11th in Extra base hits 5th in hit by pitch
  7. champaignchris
    Derrick May. I thought he was going to be another Darryl Strawberry. Wrong! I didn't look at any of the other responses, so I don't know if he's already been mentioned.
  8. champaignchris
    It's not so much the 200 hits. It's the 200 hits prior to age 22. Which would make him the 10th to ever do that... Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Joe DiMaggio, Buddy Lewis, Vada Pinson, Alex Rodriguez, Garry Templeton, Hal Trosky, and Lloyd Waner. I think we all know that Starlin needs to improve his defense, take more walks, and hit for more power. Luckily, at least the first and third of those things tend to get better as players enter their prime, which Starlin is probably 2 or 3 years away from.
  9. champaignchris
    He's pretty expensive for an above average middle reliever. He's pretty cheap for a below average 4th or 5th starter. The Cubs are going to need starting pitchers next year. I'd have them pick up the option with the intention of him stretching out to be a starter in the Spring. If it works out, great. If it doesn't work out and he goes back to the pen, it's not like you're blowing a huge wad of cash on him.
  10. champaignchris
    Rangers fans would have to love this. Something like 35 or 40 of their games every year start at 9 pm central. Can't be easy to follow for the fans with jobs. Adding Houston to their division would cut that number by about 8.
  11. champaignchris
    Just for fun, Old Hoss Radbourn's 1884 stats with the Providence Grays: 59 wins, 12 losses, 2 saves, 1.38 ERA, 73 CG, 11 SO, 678.2 IP, 441 Ks, .922 WHIP, 19.8 WAR He was 5'9" and weighed 168 lbs. Bizarre. As for post-dead ball era, I have to concur with those saying Steve Carlton's 1972.
  12. champaignchris
    C'mon. Its's not so bad. Let's play ball! (Posted from under the overhang, aisle 215.)
  13. champaignchris
    Doesn't Soriano have a 5 and 10 right to refuse a trade regardless of what his contract says? Ditto Ram, Z, and Dempster. Seems like a lot of people slam Hendry for NTCs when those players could nix a trade anyway under the CBA.
  14. champaignchris
    That's it.
  15. champaignchris
    The problem with the Cubs is that they have a generations long history of never rolling a 7. Here's the complete list of Cubs draft picks (who actually signed with the team) with at least a 5.0 Career WAR since 1990: Doug Glanville Steve Trachsel Kerry Wood Justin Speier Kyle Loshe Jon Garland Scott Downs Corey Patterson Eric Hinske Dontrelle Willis Mark Prior Ryan Theriot Ricky Nolasco Geovany Soto Randy Wells Sean Marshall We should be seeing the "fruits" of the 2004-2006 drafts right now, but there's just no one there. Colvin and Samardjiza are the only two from those three drafts on our major league roster in 2011. I suspect that the issue is not necessarily who they've drafted, but how they develop the players after they draft them. Regardless, the Cubs sheer inability or refusal to produce players out of their system is beyond frustrating.
  16. champaignchris
    If people want to complain about the Cubs drafting, how about some actual questionable draft decisions... Brownlie over Matt Cain in 2002 Harvey over Nick Markakis in 2003 Pawalek over Ellsbury or Garza in 2005 Vitters over Heyward in 2007
  17. champaignchris
    It's not just that he got Karros and Grudzielanek. In the same deal, he got rid of Todd Hundley. Got rid of a cancer in exchange for two starters on a division champ team. Probably not his best trade, but it might be his most underrated. Not mentioned so far, I think... Bradley for Silva.
  18. champaignchris
    Nolasco, Piggy and Willis for Pierre, right? I forgot about that one. No. Mitre, Nolasco, and Pinto. Willis was sent with Cueto, Tavarez, and Jorgensen for Alfonseca and Clement. I'd defend that trade as one that was pretty good for both teams. But it was a Lynch transaction, so isn't part of the conversation.
  19. champaignchris
    I forgot about that one. Yes, that was probably Hendry's single worst trade as GM of the Cubs.
  20. champaignchris
    Hendry's worst sequence of transactions was the following from December 2008 to February 2009: 1. Signs Aaron Miles and Joey Gaithright as free agents. 2. Engages in a series of trades with the Orioles and Mariners which essentially net the Cubs Aaron Heilman (and a minor leaguer who is no longer in baseball) in exchange for Ronnie Cedeno and Felix Pie. 2. Trades Michael Wuertz to Oakland for two minor league players, one of which is out of baseball and the other of which is no longer in the Cubs' organization. So you get rid of relatively young and cheap players for older, more expensive, worse versions of those same players. I'm not saying the Cubs would have been world-beaters in 2009 if Hendry had just stood pat, but I just don't see why you pay over $4.6 million to Miles, Gaithright, and Heilman instead of paying about $2.3 million for Cedeno, Pie, and Wuertz.
  21. champaignchris
    Nah... The target audience won't actually watch the movie. They'll just look at the ticket sales and revenue stats to decide whether it's a good movie. \:D/
  22. champaignchris
    Even if you take out the replacement starters' 6.62 ERA in 29 starts, the quintet of Cashner, Garza, Zambrano, Dempster, and Wells have a combined ERA of 4.79, which would still be the worst starters' ERA in the league. While the replacement starters throwing batting practice in a quarter of the starts this season is certainly a major factor in the Cubs doing so poorly, it is only exacerbated by the fact that Dempster and Wells are both performing well below the level anyone would have reasonably expected, and Garza and Zambrano aren't having good enough years to make up for the underperformance of the others.
  23. champaignchris
    Compared to Derrick Lee last year, Pena is cheaper, better, doesn't have a no trade clause, and is left handed. I would not be surprised to see the Cubs get a marginally better deal for Pena than they did for Lee last year.
  24. champaignchris
    I think the impliciation is that it's wrong that he isn't healthy enough to fly with the team, but is healthy enough to take a much longer international flight. How dare he fly for something frivolous like the adoption of his son, while refusing to do so for something important like a baseball game!!! Zambrano is obviously a bad person!!! And what's this I hear about him actually trying during batting practice? The shame!!!
  25. champaignchris
    I think injuries go along way towards explaining why the team is a sub-.400 club instead of the .480-ish club most of us expected. They're the difference between the team being dreadful and merely below average.
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