Jehrico

I don't think there's any irrational love for Rose because he's from the Chicago area, that didn't turn out so well last time (see: Eddy Curry). If there's any irrational love for Rose, it is because he's a PG, and any self respecting Bulls fan should have an affinity for a star PG that can run the show (see: Michael Jordan). That said, I want Rose because I'd take a PG over an inside guy every time if the two players are otherwise equals in talent/ability at their position. The PG is the leader of the team, and is more important than a forward.

Agree, especially for what is being proposed. Maybe not for what has been proposed, but the Giants already put word around the league in the offseason that they would entertain trading him for a bat. The fact that some people around here think it's comical other people think he could be traded just says that you're not paying attention in the off season. I was paying attention. Were you? http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/wm/archives/2007/12/payroll_concern.html Ummm....you just confirmed you weren't paying attention. When you are determined NOT to move someone (like Hendry with Hill a couple of years ago), tentative isn't the word to describe that. Tentative indicates doubt, as in you're struggling with the decision. You don't know. You'd be willing, but you want a little more than what is already on the table. They wouldn't be getting offers and pondering them if they hadn't already conceded that they were open to moving him in the right deal.

you could do the same in wrigley and it could go into the well instead of basket Not even close to the same thing. What you just mentioned is due to the shape of the park. Minutemaid is due to an arbitrary line drawn on the wall. There's no reason for it to be drawn where it is.

Forgive me if this conversation is buried inside of another thread, I haven't seen it. I've seen so many stories on Geo's inside-the-parker, and now I've seen yet another popping up today: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080520-geovany-soto-inside-park-chicago-cubs,1,6627056.story Bob Watson basically agrees that it's a home run. What kills me about this whole story is everyone is basically overlooking the stupid park factor of the whole story. In the Astros park, Geo basically could have even hit the ball a little better, a little higher, but had it been a little more to the left, it would have not been an automatic home run like what he hit should have been. The line for hitting a home run should be horizontal, no ifs, ands or buts. Teams shouldn't be allowed to arbitrarily have [expletive] home run lines that run up or down in weird places for no good reason like that ball park. As much press as this story has gotten, I'm amazed no one has commented on the idiocy that is the former Ten Run field.

If the Tigers continue to stink and Verlander doesn't come out of his funk, do we see what Detroit would want for him? Would you consider taking Dontrelle if he comes back from his rehab assignment and pitches average from then until the deadline?

Agree, especially for what is being proposed. Maybe not for what has been proposed, but the Giants already put word around the league in the offseason that they would entertain trading him for a bat. The fact that some people around here think it's comical other people think he could be traded just says that you're not paying attention in the off season.

Guys like Rose at PG don't come around very often. Productive inside guys like Beasly are alot easier to come by outside of the draft than true PGs. You take Rose in the draft, and look elsewhere for help inside. No knock on Beasly, but drafting him over Rose would be a huge mistake.

Best pitching seasons ever by adjusted ERA+ Rank Player (age that year) Adjusted ERA+ Year 1. Tim Keefe+ (23) 294 1880 2. Pedro Martinez (28) 291 2000 3. Dutch Leonard* (22) 279 1914 4. Greg Maddux (28) 271 1994 5. Greg Maddux (29) 262 1995 6. Walter Johnson+ (25) 259 1913 7. Bob Gibson+ (32) 258 1968 8. Mordecai Brown+ (29) 253 1906 9. Pedro Martinez (27) 243 1999 10. Walter Johnson+ (24) 242 1912 11. Christy Mathewson+ (24) 230 1905 12. Dwight Gooden (20) 228 1985 13. Roger Clemens (42) 226 2005 14. Pete Alexander+ (28) 225 1915 15. Christy Mathewson+ (28) 222 1909 16. Roger Clemens (34) 221 1997 17. Denny Driscoll* (26) 220 1882 18t. Lefty Grove+* (31) 219 1931 18t. Pedro Martinez (25) 219 1997 20t. Kevin Brown (31) 216 1996 20t. Jack Pfiester* (29) 216 1907 20t. Cy Young+ (34) 216 1901 23t. Walter Johnson+ (30) 214 1918 23t. Walter Johnson+ (31) 214 1919 25. Roger Clemens (27) 213 1990 26. Carl Lundgren (27) 212 1907 27. Pedro Martinez (31) 210 2003 28. Ed Reulbach (22) 209 1905 29. Ron Guidry* (27) 208 1978 30t. Addie Joss+ (28) 205 1908 30t. Charley Radbourn+ (29) 205 1884 32t. Pedro Martinez (30) 202 2002 32t. Jack Taylor (28) 202 1902 34t. Dolf Luque (32) 201 1923 34t. Billy Pierce* (28) 201 1955 That's 5 appearances in the top 32 of all time, with his best at #2. If you are only considering the modern era (cutoff subject to debate of course), we'll use post WWII for discussions sake (yes, that's completely arbitrary), then that's 5 appearances out of the top 14. The list would then look like this: Rank Player (age that year) Adjusted ERA+ Year 1. Pedro Martinez (28) 291 2000 2. Greg Maddux (28) 271 1994 3. Greg Maddux (29) 262 1995 4. Bob Gibson+ (32) 258 1968 5. Pedro Martinez (27) 243 1999 6. Dwight Gooden (20) 228 1985 7. Roger Clemens (42) 226 2005 8. Roger Clemens (34) 221 1997 9. Pedro Martinez (25) 219 1997 10. Kevin Brown (31) 216 1996 11. Roger Clemens (27) 213 1990 12. Pedro Martinez (31) 210 2003 13. Ron Guidry* (27) 208 1978 14. Pedro Martinez (30) 202 2002 15. Billy Pierce* (28) 201 1955 You could make some arguments that Maddux was as good in his (shorter) peak/prime, or that Walter Johnson should be in the conversation, but it's hard to make an argument that anyone was better than Pedro or as good for as long as he was in his prime. Surprisingly, Koufax doesn't make the list at all. Maybe a better title to this thread would use Walter Johnson's name instead of Koufax.

I suspected that as well. The player who made the catch didn't have his midsection exposed at the time, which was the giveaway.

Don't forget Rick Wilkins's 1993. Don't forget Todd Hund....er.....nevermind...

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8156576/Dodgers'-Jones-may-need-knee-surgery Jones to have surgery on his knee. I guess carrying around all of that extra weight on the field is wearing on his joints...

Probably, but not because of that. His control problems are to be expected, he hasn't thrown prior to his rehab began recently in about a year. It takes some time to regain control. His velocity and movement are more important at this stage of the game. The fact that he's hitting 50% strikes is an improvement (small sample size of course), and is good to see at this stage. If he can get to about 70% strikes after another 5 rehab outings, I'll be very pleased.

Signing him through arbitration would be the worst option of all. You've got him controlled through arbitration already. The only thing you'd gain is cost certainty. As I've illustrated, that's a game in which you can win a little, or lose a lot. Buying a few free agent years is the most reasonable motivation for these early extensions, and that shouldn't be a major concern for a team like the Cubs, who have a track record of keeping their guys anyway. This regime has never had a good position player so there's no way they could have a track record of keeping their guys anyway. They kept Santo, Banks, and Williams. Or sorry, you meant after the reserve clause was amended. Yea, I don't know anyone besides Grace who they've kept around. Sandberg, Sosa off the top of my head. We haven't had many good position players worthy of discussing until recently. However, I can't think of a single player that left the team via free agency that we really wanted to keep since Maddux bolted for Atlanta. We also have all of our core pieces locked up for the forseeable future. As far as extending Soto, there's risk in offering the extension and there is risk in not offering it. If you offer it, the risk is he gets hurt or doesn't perform, and you are overpaying. The risk of not offering it is it costs the Cubs more money in the long run. Considering the Cubs are a big-budget, big-market team, I'd prefer they took risk on the side of paying more for players who are deserving than overpaying players who get hurt or suck. The other part of that risk is that players can leave via FA (once they hit that point) if you don't lock them up. Considering we haven't lost a player we wanted to keep to FA in 17 years, I'm not too worried about that. Another thing to consider is that Geo's a catcher. That's the second riskiest position to be doling out unnecessary contracts to besides pitchers. I'm not worried about loosing Geo to FA, let the Cubs pay him more than they otherwise would have after he continues performing like an All-Star.

I was going to express my dismay at the lack of Yogi quotes until I saw your post. Can't have a discussion about baseball quotes without it being dominated by Yogi.

I laughed at my TV screen when Thorne said he "looped it to LF". yeah, i knew that was long gone when it came off the bat. No kidding. That would have been gone in Wrigley. That would have been gone in Rhode Island.

Who was the Mets GM that made that awful trade? Mets fans have to be looking at the Kazmir - V Zambrano trade like we look at the Brock trade or the Phillies look at the Sandberg trade. Imagine if they had kept Josh Hamilton and traded him for Volquez instead...my goodness...

Does this mean that Eyre finally did something good for us?

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080519-rich-hill-chicago-cubs-dl,1,3925354.story

What did it originally say?

Runs Created Soto-29 McCann-26 Martin-24 Mauer-23 Doumit-22 AJ-22 (and for fun) Yadier-15 Soto also has 5-7% LD% greater than these guys too (McCann is at 15%) Even when he cools off a bit he should remain near the top. I dont have a problem with Soto not hitting to RF, he hits the ball very had and has good power to make that up. Keep on truckin. Plus he is throwing runners out at a great clip - 40%. He is second or third in the NL with, man this hurts, Jason Kendall (46%) ahead of him. Kendall has been so bad, I wonder if teams are actually trying to steal with guys like Daryl Ward on him, which is contributing to his high percentage...

if negative talk really works, tell him he's worthless and he'll never amount to anything in the majors. If that's the case, then tell him I said he stinks too. :wink:

Aramis has always been a streaky hitter. When he hits homers, he usually hits them in bunches, then he won't hit any for awhile until his next streak. As noted earlier, he usually doesn't have hot streaks early in the season.

Am I the only one who sees EPat as little more than a AAAA type player? His best case scenario is about on par with Murton's 2007.

Don't confuse the master and the apprentice. This is all master, so I'll call it a Dusty. Not to be confused as a Yost, who holds a degree from the Dusty Baker school of managing.

Bill Swerski: So Pat, what do you think the score would be in this matchup: Geovany Soto against the American League All-Star team? Pat Arnold: I don't know Bill. Would Geovany Soto be playing all 9 positions by himself, or would this be like 9 Geovany Sotos playing the AL? Bill: It would be one Geovany Soto by himself. Pat: In that case, that's a close match. I would have to guess Geovany Soto 12, AL All Stars 9. Bill: Your turn Todd. What if it was a team of 9 Geovany Sotos against the AL All Stars? Todd O'Connor: Are these full size Geovany Sotos or miniature ones? I mean, a team full of full size Geovany Sotos is just not fair. Bill: Assume the team is made up of 9 three-foot tall Geovany Sotos. Todd: Is he managing the team too? Bill: Yes. Todd: Then in that case, I'd say mini-Geos 127, AL All stars 2. They need to revive the Superfans.