Jehrico

Agreed. Pretty ridiculous.

That's what they used to do. Perception lags reality. In this case, it's lagging it by about half a decade.

Personally, I don't want Carlos. Too much money, blah, blah, even tho he would help the offense out tremendously. His contract is the biggest problem for me. Plus I would rather trade the assets that the Cubs do have, for another pitcher or two. I didn't see this rumor anywhere, but if it is somewhere, please delete or merge. He's not playing like an 18+ mil player. If we take his whole contract, he may not cost quite as much as you would think in prospects. I wonder how close an offer of Pie + Marshall/Hill would get us? I know that wouldn't work, but I wonder how far out of the ball park it is?

It might be dumb, that doesn't make what KRod is doing worthless. Batting average is a dumb stat too, but that doesn't mean if someone hits .400 that it's any less impressive. KRod being on pace for over 60 saves is kind of like that.

That was a pretty poorly written blurb. They just assumed that they're only scouting out Giants players and not the As, which is pretty dumb.

I wish we could look for the worst four appearance run for all of our pitchers and complain about them having an ERA over 4 for their worst streak.

That's not an interesting stat. That's yesterday's news, man. Everyone knows that.

link? Which paper?

The Cards have had their blowouts that have bouyed their pythagorean before that. Over the course of a season, it generally evens out.

Otherwise known as Martin.Martin is less deserving than Geo. Not as good defensively, and OPSing about 70 points less. If Doumit had 50 starts or so, he'd have to be your first pick. He's OPSing over 1.000 right now.

Because they already had the season where no one gets hurt (2004). Now they get to have the season where everyone gets hurt and they inexplicably play well anyway. It's not luck that teams that can still win despite injuries or that rotations built on rubber arms and guys coming off of injuries can pitch for an entire season. For as much talk about STL playing over their heads, the Cubs have as well. We're actually one game worse than we should be due to our pythagorean. The Cards are three games better. They're lucky by their record with respect to runs scored vs allowed and their record. We're not playing over our heads anywhere nearly as much as they are. The performances they're getting from Looper, Lohse, and Wellemeyer are more astounding than what we're getting out of Dempster. We don't have anyone on offense producing over their head like Dudwick is. The only starter we have on offense that is significantly outproducing expectations is Theriot. Soto came down to earth, Fuku is performing about what one should have reasonably expected. Aramis is Aramis. Lee is below expectations. We knew CF would suck, and it has. Soriano was Soriano, but now he's out. DeRosa has been maybe slightly better than expectations. Comparing us to the Cards as far as playing over our heads is simply not a valid comparison.

Bonds hasn't been convicted of anything. Bonds is being made an example of mostly because he was an ass, but partly because he broke a sacred record in sports. Perjury has nothing to do with it. You're seriously going to marginalize the perjury indictment behind "being an ass"? They could have gotten a perjury indictment on any of a number of players. Why aren't the going after Palmerio, Clemens, etc., etc., Who said they aren't? Clemens is being investigated. Just because you don't here Raffy's name, doesn't mean it's not being looked into. He used illegal drugs and perjured himself. Because he broke a sacred record, he's getting more media attention than anyone else.

Our farm is weak. Many of our players are close to the end of what is generally regarded as peak years. I don't think we can expect alot of our guys to reproduce next year what they are doing this year. The stars are aligned right now. We'll be good next year, but not as good. Give up whatever it takes from the farm to land Sabathia and don't look back.

Here's some interesting stats on the year so far... Cubs are still leading the NL in runs per game and OBP. We're tied for league lead in doubles (with the Giants of all teams). We are now leading the NL in runs per game and ERA. What's a little peculiar is that we've climbed to the top of the league in both pitching and offense without any one player really standing out. In all of the notable offensive categories, the only representation we have in the top 5 is Aramis is 5th in OBP. On the pitching side, Dempster is giving up the fewest hits per nine, and is fourth in WHIP. Lilly is 5th in K/9. Wood, despite the move to the pen and getting maybe between 1/3 and 1/2 of the innings he would get as a starter, is still managing to hang around the league leaders in hits batsmen, as he is tied for 3rd. Everyone else in the top 10 is a starter. We're leading the league in offense and pitching without anyone carrying us. Also, for the record, we're 2nd in defensive efficiency, just behind Atlanta. This bodes well as the season wears on, as we should be able to more easily sustain inevitable injuries since no one player is really key. Other interesting notes: The Angels are the luckiest team in the league. Their Pythagorean record has them at an even .500 right now which is 6 wins less than what they are really sitting at. Atlanta is the unluckiest team in baseball at -5 on their Pythagorean. The Cards are tied for the luckiets in the NL at +3. Volquez's ERA+ is 270 right now (think Maddux in '94 with his 1.56 ERA). That would rank for the third greatest season in the modern age of baseball if he can keep it up. The second is Maddux at 271. We're second in attendance to the Mets, who have played 5 fewer home games than we have. I wonder how long that will keep up with the way they're playing. It must pay off to have a larger stadium.

Pujols is hurt. Wainwright is on the DL. Wellemeyer is hurt. Molina is out now. Yet, they're still lucking into wins (2 errors lead to winning run in 10th). How lucky can a team be?

Pros and Cons to Burnett: Pros: Shows the ability to dominate when hot. Good bet to put up above average numbers over the course of an entire season. Figures to be the greatest "bang for the buck" the Cubs could acquire before the deadline, in terms of talent it would take to get him. Cubs can more easily afford to take a gamble on his salary than most other teams that would be interested in him (not sure this is a pro or a con..., but it leads to the bang for the buck). Cubs also probably could pick him up without waiting until the deadline. Normally a good bet for a WHIP under 1.25. Normally keeps the ball down and in the park. Cons: Only pitched over 200 innings once since '02 and twice in his career. Having a below average season thus far, though he figures to improve if he stays healthy. Expensive contract relative to expected performance even if he does stay healthy. Contrary to historical performances, gave up more fly balls and homers the last two years which would bode badly for a movement to Wrigley, although he seems back on track for a decent HR total this year.

True, but will the situation affect how YOU vote though?

Gary Gaetti? Wow. No one remembers him as a Cardinal. His legacy was with the Twins. He played with the Cards when he was what, 37-39? I know he was 40 when he was with us after St Louis released him

This could be a very interesting all-star game for Cubs fans this year. We currently have the best record in baseball thanks to an extreme home win record. However, even if we finish with the best record in baseball and make the WS, we won't have home field advantage unless the NL wins the All-Star game. If this could be the year, then we obviously should be taking great interest in how the AS game turns out. With that in mind, will you vote less for Cubs players than you otherwise might? For example, will you still vote for Soto, or would you change your vote and vote for McCann instead to give the NL a better chance (assuming you think he's more likely to hit in the AS game, of course)? Same could go for DLee, ARam, Fuku, DeRo, and Riot. I'd like to see as many Cubs make the ASG as possible, but I want as much playing time going to the best guy at each position, and I don't know if you can call any of our guys the best in the league at their spots.

The Cubs just lost their starting LF and Murton is the most logical man to replace him. . Statistics may suggest otherwise. Not necessarily. Patterson's high OBP is driven by his BA, and I'm doubtful that he'll be able to maintain a BA at the major league level much over .250. Murton on the other hand, his OBP is driven more on walks, so his stats are less likely to drop drastically upon his call up.

Either that, or I wouldn't have minded seeing Theriot lead off and Fuku hit second. EPatt is not a good choice to lead off for us, I don't expect him to post an OBP over .300 while he's up here, if that.

showcasing for a trade? maybe? please?

I'm to the point where I can't see us landing a legit #2 or better without including someone like Lee or Aramis (obviously not going to happen). There's a greater chance of someone from within stepping up and performing like a #2 by the end of the year than there is of us acquiring one. I hope Hendry serves me a big ol' dish of crow on this one. Most teams trading for a legit #2 starter have given up on 2008 and are looking to the future, so they would want young players or prospects. Which we don't have.

Is that the same step Rothschild took with Rich Hill? I didn't know Cub coaches posted here. Yeah, Rothschild is 100% to blame for Hill not throwing strikes... :roll:

ANYONE WE DON'T HAVE MUST BE BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAVE That's why we look at the numbers.