Jehrico

That's a bad year for him too. I don't know why everyone is shocked by Boras's initial expectations, he always starts unrealistically. Wasn't he asking 10/200 mil for Aaron freaking Rowand awhile ago? He'll probably get a contract somewhere in the neighborhood of what we gave Z. If he played a position of need for us, he'd be worth it too.

We'll see if he's still unemployed on 1 September. You have to be on a roster to be eligible for the postseason on 31 August. If there's still no interest on the last day of August, then they can start saying that. Bonds has alot of baggage, no one's going to pick it up until the very last minute.

Is he hurt, or has he been hanging around Rich Hill too much?

I wouldn't be surprised if Beane is actively shopping Emil Brown to make room for Murton. Beane gave up two guys off of his roster for three guys that need to be on the roster. He's got a little juggling to do, and projects to make at least one or two more trades. Once all of those moves flush out, I'd be surprised if Murton is still in AAA.

ooh! ooh! lemme guess! one of those pitchers hasn't hurt himself in their game this week. maakmotaERRRRRRRRmark mulder was taken out of the game in the first inning against philadelphia. Mulder needs to just give up that guy is as bad as Prior and was never as good to begin with. Mulder was never good? He was very good in 2001-2003 (142 ERA+ in 2003), and had a pretty good 2005 as well. He's been hurt, yes. Saying he was never good to begin with is just a flat out lie.

Jeter is currently signed through 2010. It will be interesting if contract talks heat up starting this offseason. I wonder how he'd handle going into 2010 with an expiring contract. He'll be 37 in 2011 and if his skills have diminished as much as people think, I'd have to think he would contemplate retirement. Possibly. But 20 years of having the entire NY metropolitan area blow smoke up your butt could make it difficult for a man to walk away. And he's not going to be banging every 24 year old celebrity when he's an unemployed former ballplayer. Guys who just wrapped up a 200 million dollar contract aren't called "unemployed." They're called "retired." And yes, I'm jealous.

Jeter and its not particularly close. Just look at the RC. It's almost laughable. Jeter is 34, appears to be on the decline, and is making $21M a year. There is just about no player I would take him over with that salary. Who said anything about salary. Jeter's decline and Theriot's incline will never meet. It's almost a joke of a question. I really don't understand the level of Jeter hate on this board. Just look at his numbers. They've already intersected. Both have an OPS+ right now of 98. Jeter's decline is considerable right now, and I think you're underestimating it. In terms of BA/OBP/SLG/OPS/OPS+, here's Jeters numbers over the last three years: 2006:.343/.417/.483/.900/132 2007:.322/.388/.452/.840/121 2008:.284/.345/.390/.735/98 You pointed out runs created. Theriot is leading Jeter this year in RC27 and total RC for the year. Theriot's career best years will never approach Jeter's mediocre years, but lets not ignore how far Jeter has fallen the last couple of years. Additionally, very, very few shortstops historically have been able to maintain anything close to league average defense from 35 and on. Theriot will never be a gold glover, but he should be expected to maintain slightly-below league average defense for a SS for the next several years. Based on his age and other comparable defenders at SS, I wouldn't be willing to wager anything that Jeter will be able to provide acceptable defense for much longer at all, as he's been slightly below average for awhile now. Then you throw in the money angle on top of that, I definitely take Theriot in the future. I'd still go with Jeter this year, next year's a wash. 2010-2012 or so, I'd rather have Theriot.

The DBacks won't finish over .500. Sure they will. Time will tell, but they've been horrible since the first month, and don't have alot of major injuries or anything like that to blame it on. They started 19-7, 12 games over .500. Since the hot start, they've gone 25-38, 13 games under (under .400). They need to improve considerably over what they did the last two months just to play .500 ball. They are 21-10 against the West this year, and 41 of their last 73 games are against that putrid division. While I don't think it's a guarantee that they go over .500, it seems pretty likely. Of course, I expect Colorado to get better as the season goes along which could cut into their wins, and I think the Dodgers are going to hang in there as well. I forgot to consider how much they play the rest of their crappy division. They're not a .500 team, but they may finish over .500 based solely on their incredibly weak freaking schedule. We'd possibly win 110-120 games this year if we were in the west.

I'd rather dump Marquis, he sucks. I'd rather dump Marquis to any willing taker (if any, if not, then release), and find a taker for Howry. I'd rather have Wuertz getting the mop up innings that Howry is taking up at this point, I have little hope that Howry will provide any VORP in the second half, unlike Wuertz.

This is their best hope at finishing over .500.

Just wanted to add my perspective on the trade: Harden, best talent available via trade with obvious risks, no need to beat that dead horse. Gaudin: Someone referred to him as a typical inconsistant reliever. If you look a little closer, he's only 25 years old. Inconsistency from 22-23-24-25 isn't unusual, it should be expected. He's a guy who's already had success before he was 25, has show good durability, can start or work out of the pen, and whose best years are still ahead of him. He's more of a wild card than a straight throw in; I equate him to Murton in the Nomar trade, but better. Obviously, we're all hoping Harden's injury woes are behind him and he sticks around for a long time. If he spends significant time on the DL over the next season and a half, I can see us in three years commenting on how great of a deal it was that we got Gaudin in that deal. Unless we spin him off on someone else in the next year or so, I'd be surprised if he's not pitching for us still 4-5 years or more from now. In other words, no matter how Harden ends up, we should have something to show for this trade several years from now. I wholly agree with the sentiment that this isn't a high-risk move. It's a low-risk, high reward move in the short term, and at worst, it's a medium risk, high reward move in the long-term.

I know Nomar got one from 2004 so I think yes I think it is up to the players who gets a ring, I could be wrong though. I'm sad to see Gally go. For him to be the key piece in a deal for Harden should be taken as a pretty good compliment though. If Hendry had traded Gally for a lesser pitcher (Burnett, Wolf, etc), I would have been upset.

I still think Hoffpauir is more likely. If Soriano wasn't close to coming back they might think about adding a RH hitter like Dubois to the 40 man but if he is going to be back right after the all star break it would be a waste to add someone just to sit on the bench for a few games. I agree it will probably be Hoffpauir even though it makes the bench a bit LH heavy. My guess is Hoffpauir in, Marshall (unfortunately) out for now. When Eyre comes back most likely Wuertz goes down since Lou seems to like having two lefties in the pen. When Soriano comes back Hoffpauir goes back down. Even if Marquis struggles Gaudin probably gets a shot at his rotation spot before Marshall with Marquis going to the bullpen unless they can find someone to dump him on. Hendry just doesn't have a history of DFA'ing guys who still have significant money left on their contracts. That is doable now after the trade. If not Duboise, then who else could be a 40-man candidate? I would think Hendry would leave it open as long as possible in case he makes another trade.

His 1.33 WHIP, 2.70 ERA, and 166 ERA+ beg to differ with the definition of "good". Honestly, when Eyre comes back, it should be one of Eyre/Cotts/Lieber that's most likely gone. Howry, anyone?

The DBacks won't finish over .500. Sure they will. Time will tell, but they've been horrible since the first month, and don't have alot of major injuries or anything like that to blame it on. They started 19-7, 12 games over .500. Since the hot start, they've gone 25-38, 13 games under (under .400). They need to improve considerably over what they did the last two months just to play .500 ball.

The DBacks won't finish over .500.

They picked us prior to '04. Milwaukee, meet the SI jinx. I'd rather potentially face the Cards than the Brewers in the playoffs, so hopefully, they don't make it.

Yeah I blame the whole thing on Banedon. ROFL wtf? Am I missing something? you're the new CT. No offense to CT, but...pass. The old CT tried that too. If it didn't work for him, then it wouldn't be fair to allow you to pass either.

You've been following the Cubs long enough to realize that Nolasco had no chance to break into the Cubs rotation and even if he got the shot they wouldn't have stuck with him this long. As recently as June 5, Nolasco had a 5+ERA and was getting lit up. Sure he is having a decent run at it right now, but the Cubs are not known to be overly patient with young pitchers, and Nolasco is benefiting from being on a team that doesn't have many other options other than giving playing time to young players. I think they would have had him in the pen a lot more than the Fish did but I don't know if I'd count him out as a starter. I suppose there is something to be said about letting a young pitcher get some good game experience. That's where I give them (fish) credit, they go young and see who steps up and once they win or the guy gets too expensive they deal him and get some quality in return. Maybe Hendry should ask the Fish who they want for Nolasco and then turn them down and insert that player onto the 25 man roster! Hendry should look at the Marlins and others to find out how to have a decent minor league system. The sad thing is we did have an awesome farm system, and Hendry was a huge part of it. He knows how to build an awesome farm system. Ever since Hendry left the scouting department and took over as GM our farm system has been down hill. That's what's so incredibly mind-boggling behind the downfall of our farm, as that should be our main strength if you look at our GM. I wish they'd go back to drafting tons of pitchers like they were when our farm was amongst the best.

486?

He still cannot hit a breaking pitch. When I saw him in Memphis he hit a screaming line drive about 400 feet over the left field fence. I mean that thing got out in mili-seconds. That was the last fastball he saw for the two games I went to. I don't think he had another hit and struck out at least 3 times. He's a physical specimen but has no plate discipline at all. I wonder what would have become of him had he spent his key developmental years in an organization that is competent at developing position players?

Guys like Soriano and Pujols go from 21 to 23 or 24. They don't do 22.

That is fine. Believe what you wish but I have no reason to make up such a story and post it on an internet message board. What story? That's half the problem. "There's some bad human beings in that there organization, so I don't like to watch them anymore" isn't a story, it's a cry for attention. That's all you've given us. Stories at least have plots and villians, yours is a headline with no story.

Yes. She has explained as much in the past. Okay, you want it then you have it. I have pretty much kept this off the board but here it goes. And no I expect no one to believe me but you go ahead and ask Bruce Miles if I am lying and then you can get back to me. For the past 8 seasons prior to the one, I was indeed employed in the front office of the Chicago Cubs. I left of my own choosing partly to get out before a new owner comes in and sweeps the place clean and partly to be closer to my family as my parents are getting up there in age and the price of gas made commuting into the city was costing me more that it was worth. One of my two direct bosses is no longer with the club and left a year before I did. I suspected he left because he knew the Tribune was going to sell well before it was ever announced. The location of my office in the ballpark allowed me direct access most of the baseball braintrust on site whom I had contact with on a daily basis. In fact, my boss was interim GM from 2000 - 2002 until he handed it over to Jim Hendry. It's why I know the business side of this game as well as I do and it's why I have a great understanding of the rules, etc of this game. It's why maybe I get a bit perturbed when my knowledge of these areas is challenged by the people on this board even though I never came clean before now but that really shouldn't matter. I couldn't say anything for some time and didn't even want to bother until now but I am tired of the piling on and not being able to say one word back without being told I am a complete idiot or getting my hand slapped for responding. Regardless of my background, it shouldn't be assumed that because I am a female and I am not part of the little clique on this board that I know nothing about baseball. If it seems like I have met or know some of these guys, well guess what, this should explain that I have. Not all of the players but many...and because of my position, I always met all of the coaching staff. So fire away boys, I think it's time for me to take another break from the action. I still call BS, and it has nothing to do with you being female (which I didn't even recall at first). Over her credentials? They've been confirmed by Bruce at least once on this board and I think multiple times. I can understand the not wanting to watch the Cubs anymore but still being a sports fan after spending so much time close to the players. Ever worked in a bad restaurant/normal fast food place for a while? You've seen up close what they do, and you don't want to eat there anymore, even though you also know that people come through everyday and don't get sick. At the same time, you're still willing to eat at other restaurants/fast food places, even though your head acknowledges that the same sorts of things are probably happening there as well. That's basically what I think is probably happening here, and it's perfectly normal. I call BS that she has legit dirt on the majority of the Cubs in order to justify her qualms about them all as "human beings," not that she worked in the front office.

Yes. She has explained as much in the past. Okay, you want it then you have it. I have pretty much kept this off the board but here it goes. And no I expect no one to believe me but you go ahead and ask Bruce Miles if I am lying and then you can get back to me. For the past 8 seasons prior to the one, I was indeed employed in the front office of the Chicago Cubs. I left of my own choosing partly to get out before a new owner comes in and sweeps the place clean and partly to be closer to my family as my parents are getting up there in age and the price of gas made commuting into the city was costing me more that it was worth. One of my two direct bosses is no longer with the club and left a year before I did. I suspected he left because he knew the Tribune was going to sell well before it was ever announced. The location of my office in the ballpark allowed me direct access most of the baseball braintrust on site whom I had contact with on a daily basis. In fact, my boss was interim GM from 2000 - 2002 until he handed it over to Jim Hendry. It's why I know the business side of this game as well as I do and it's why I have a great understanding of the rules, etc of this game. It's why maybe I get a bit perturbed when my knowledge of these areas is challenged by the people on this board even though I never came clean before now but that really shouldn't matter. I couldn't say anything for some time and didn't even want to bother until now but I am tired of the piling on and not being able to say one word back without being told I am a complete idiot or getting my hand slapped for responding. Regardless of my background, it shouldn't be assumed that because I am a female and I am not part of the little clique on this board that I know nothing about baseball. If it seems like I have met or know some of these guys, well guess what, this should explain that I have. Not all of the players but many...and because of my position, I always met all of the coaching staff. So fire away boys, I think it's time for me to take another break from the action. I still call BS, and it has nothing to do with you being female (which I didn't even recall at first).