Jehrico

This is great if Dusty is your manager, not so if you're playing against him.

How often does a manager's use of his bullpen and the doubleswitch impact who wins games? I would say that a majority of extra inning games are definitely impacted by the manager's use of the pen and bench. The bench doesn't go nearly as quickly in the AL due to the DH and the lack of double switches, like we saw in the Pittsburgh series.

There isn't enough time for an MLB player to work on hitting? Pitchers, especially starters, only play every 5th game on the norm, with one or two short side sessions. I think they have time. They haven't and they aren't going to chang any rules to baby pitchers. The AL isn't supreme. It just seems that way because they have the two biggest spending teams in the game that get the most attention. If the DH was inevitable in the NL for the reasons you listed, it would have already happened.

IBL

Even when it's against your team, it can still be awesome sometimes. Does anyone else besides me still smirk at the thought of the momentous battles between Glendon Rusch and Bronson Arroyo?

Sorry, but I have to pile on a little bit. I'm surprised no one else brought it up. Saying "blacks or others don't like using the race card" is racist itself, isn't it? Aren't you making predetermined judgements about someone because they belong to a race here? Racism, ignorance, and the willingness to throw out the race card (or reverse racism card) can be found amongst a percentage of all races of people. Any statement that any one race does or doesn't do or like to do something is a bunch of hypocritical malarky. I thought this post deserved to be jumped on, even if it was someone's first post (personally, I suspect another user created a second account to post that, who knows...).

Pedroia hit 182/308/236 in the month of April last year. Chris Young through May 3rd: .202 .255 .383 Tulowitzki through April 25th: .185 .274 .246 Josh Fields through 23 games: .218 .274 .333 Each of these guys had cups of coffees (~80 PAS)the year before and were bad then as well. That's just from guys who got rookie of the year votes last year. The only ones to start well were Braun, Delmon Young, and Reggie Willits. Pie hit .362 .410 .563 in AAA last year. I'd say he has a clue. Are you telling me he has nothing left to work on at the plate? That is just ridiculous...the massive holes in his long swing are glaring and nevermind the fact he doesnt have a good idea of the strike zone at all He is talented but still very raw.....he knows what he needs to work on now, and if he doesnt he probably wont ever stick up here Where do you think Pie has a better chance of getting the coaching he needs to work on those things? In Iowa with minor league hitting coaches or in Chicago with Gerald Perry and Alan Trammell on the coaching staff? I could see if he had mediocre success or minimal time in AAA. But he has hit .306/.362/.484 in nearly 800 ABs in Iowa. You can't expect your rookie players to just come in and be great. Compare it to other sports. How many NBA players come out of college (pretty much the NBA's and NFL's minor leagues) and just tear up the league. Same with the NFL, there is a certain period of adjustment that a player needs to make in order to play at the top level of competition in every sport. Yeah there are players who do really well right off the bat, but not that many. That's why the people who do really well off the bat are famous. Sammy had OPS+ under 100 his first four years tasting the majors, including an OPS+ of 59 in 300+ ABs for the Chisox the year before we got him. (Fun fact: Sammy actually got MVP votes in '97 with an OPS+ under 100). After Sandberg put up an OPS+ of 90 in 1982 with over 600 ab, then put up a worse OPS+ the next year of 82 in 1983, again while getting over 600 ab (in other words, he was healthy, got every chance and wasn't jerked around). Then he suddenly broke out in '84 with an OPS+ of 140. ARod got his second tase of the majors in '95 with over 150 ab, and put up an OPS+ of 72. Sometimes (more like oftentimes) guys just need the time to take some lumps and get over the learning curve.

you must hate football Not really. Football is the exception. It's just not realistic to expect guys to play both ways in the NFL, for obvious reasons. The pace would slow down alot throughout the game, and you'd have alot more injuries, all of which would make the game less enjoyable. There's no good reason in any other sport I can think of for someone to only be able to play half of the game. Plus, if baseball were like football, you'd have nine DHs, not just one. I don't like the DH because it's an exception for one guy. I don't like making special rules for one player or one position.

No to the DH. I view it like Basketball...you have to be able to defend as well, not just shoot. Baseball is the same, you have to be able to play the field and hit. Pitchers who can hit give the other team an advantage, and pitching changes/PHs late in the game introduces more strategy to the game than the DH does.

Rosenthal's latest. Not that I condone trading Murton (especially for cheap), but I wonder what is the asking price the Cubs telling clubs who are interested in Murton? It should be very high. I'm not real big on the Cubs trying to trade Murton. He is cheap, and tremendous insurance in the event that either Soriano or Fukudome get injured. JINX!!! Fixed

Brendan Harris had a pretty solid year last year and is off to a good start this year too.

I didn't expect him to say that Neifi sucked out loud. Couldn't he have told a much more defensible lie like "Neifi deserved to be there," or something? He probably heard Baker say something similar to that so often that he just spat something like that out without even thinking twice about it.

Cedeno is trying and doing a good job. Hopefully he can keep it up and Lou will recognize it fairly soon.

That's a great bet to make, because, as we all know, players are only sent down when they prove they need it after getting a fair shake up here. He might well be sent down in May. That in no way validates your post whatsoever. I can see you're already drooling at the opportunity to say "I told you so" when that happens, regardless of the fact that such a move doesn't validate your opinions whatsoever. You might want to have someone wipe your chin for you.

I forgot that all of NSBB's brilliant minds (who just happen to not be brilliant enough to have jobs in baseball) do. Pretty much always it seems. (I'm not saying I agree with yanking Hill, but seriously, people on NSBB think they know everything about baseball - sometimes it gets tiresome). Ahh...the famous attack the posters when you can't attack the posts strategy...you must be an aspiring politician. When you can't attack another candidates view points or plans, you attack the candidate himself and try to discredit him. Brilliant. Better question - is he wrong? They are taking unusual steps BECAUSE they see how much talent, potential and upside he has. They won't put Marquis or Lilly to the bullpen because this is who they are - what you see is what you get. Hill has the talent to be so much better. Is he wrong? Doesn't matter. If he's right, he should be able to make an argument without resorting to that crap. He wasn't even making an argument at that point, he was simply discrediting the entire board.

I forgot that all of NSBB's brilliant minds (who just happen to not be brilliant enough to have jobs in baseball) do. Pretty much always it seems. (I'm not saying I agree with yanking Hill, but seriously, people on NSBB think they know everything about baseball - sometimes it gets tiresome). Ahh...the famous attack the posters when you can't attack the posts strategy...you must be an aspiring politician. When you can't attack another candidates view points or plans, you attack the candidate himself and try to discredit him. Brilliant.

I don't know which was the more ridiculous post, this one or your first one. First, I don't ever recall anyone trying to compare Pie and Upton. 2nd, Upton was a known quantity and was taken at the top of the draft. Pie was signed off of the streets of the DR. Upton was raised to be a ball player his whole life. Pie never played any organized ball and never had any instruction until after we signed him. He was shining shoes before that. All things said, Pie has some holes in his game, that's true. His learning curve is not "pattersonesque." He's had far less experience playing this game than perhaps everyone else in the league. Probably every other (or at least over 99% of them) player in this league has been playing baseball since they were kids. Not many guys start really learning the game when they're 17, so you can't compare his learning curve to anyone elses. No one ever expected ARod type numbers out of him. That would be ridiculous. It's also ridiculous to cut him off now and say he's reached his limit. The only times he's struggled were his first season at AAA, and at this level. He adjusted and killed AAA the next year. Give the kid a little time to get more comfortable in this league, then enjoy watching the former shoe-shiner succeed while having fun at this level. There's absolutely no reason to hate on Felix Pie. And if you think the difference between Pie and Reed Johnson is going to have any long term impact on our winning this year, you're delusional. That has to be the dumbest statement I've read on this board this month. As a matter of fact, one of those games that Johnson started we won only because Pie came in and got the game winning hit in the 15th. The point of my post is I really don't care if Pie hasn't shown you squat. That's why you thankfully have no say in the matter.

Did anyone else realize this was the first game Kosuke didn't reach base? Let's start another streak, Fukudome!

That just makes it all worse. Also, I missed part of one of Banedon's post about season tickets being an investment. Baseball shouldn't be an investment, it's supposed to be a past time, and a system shouldn't exist that encourages investors at the expense of the common fans.

Nope. The Cubs are actually charging under market value. They want the "common fan" to be able to come to the game. But hey, like everyone in america, they want to make a buck too. And so do a lot of other folks. So scalpers come and buy these tickets and then go out and charge what the market will bear. Or season ticket holders, who have the money to make an "investment" in season tickets, will buy them and take their chances on the value of them down the road. What happens if some budget crazy mizer buys the Cubs and trades away all the high priced talent for low priced junk, and you end up with a bargain basement team? Now the demand is down and all those season ticket holders are sitting on a pile of worthless tickets. It's an investment (one that's likely to pay off, admittedly), but it's still an investment. What you're implying is only true if the Cubs were charging rich people and corporate people less, and the "common fan" more...or if they were charging both the same, but giving the rich/corporate better seating. That's not the case. This is a case of if you have more money, you get a better product. How is that different from anything else in life? They want the common fan to come to the game so badly they sell all of their best seats under market value en masse to known scalpers who jack the price up. Makes sense... :roll:

Yes, it's a vast conspiracy to prevent you from getting good seats. What a bunch of nonsense. If they charged "what the market would bear" the average joe would whine about how high the tickets are. You would still end up paying the same amount. If you want the seats, you can get them, it's that simple. Are you suggesting they should not be able to offer season ticket packages? No, you're putting words into my mouth. I don't think they shouldn't offer season ticket packages. What they shouldn't do is offer all of the lower seats only as season tickets, some should be available through normal channels. Most season ticket holders end up selling most of their tickets at an overall profit. If a season ticket holder is selling more than half of their tickets at twice face value (or more), and it's not too hard to see who is selling them out there, then they shouldn't be season ticket holders. I never said it was a conspiracy to prevent me from getting good seats. I only get to go to one or two games in Chicago a year, and I make them count, I go through scalpers. My dad, on the other hand, won't go through scalpers. He refuses to. He shouldn't have to. He's alway on the phone (and more recently, the internet) the moment they go on sale, has been for 30 years. He's not been able to get lower level seats one time. Why? Because the good seats aren't available to the normal fan. I would prefer to at least have a nominal chance at some premier seats if I'm on the spot when they first go on sale.

Couldn't somebody who is willing to spend a lot of money for good seats be considered die-hard? I don't see why camping out overnight gives somebody more right to seats. Everybody likes to pick on the "the suits" and "corporate seats", but my experience has been that most of the people getting these seats are very big fans. Whether they are the CEO, or a receptionist who got the unused tickets at 6:15, the people who end up going are typically very much interested in the game. Go on stubhub.com and see how many of those guys with ties are selling their tickets well above face value. It would be fairer if they were available for anyone to buy at face value. How many of those guys in t shirts are selling their tickets above face value? You've got people on this site every year in the ticket thread talking about buying tickets so they can sell them. Mizzou was doing it with playoff tickets last year for God's sake. And that justifies it because.... The system is wrong. I don't blame any one individual who is simply doing what the system allows, like everyone else. It's frustrating when you have to pay hundreds for the better tickets through a scapler just because you a) can't afford season tickets, or b) haven't been on the waiting list long enough to get them, or c) don't have the corporate contacts. That's just life. People have opportunites to get jobs I can't get because they know someone. People have better investment opportunities because they know someone. People get better cars or get to go to events or get to visit places I don't get to visit because they have money, or they know people. This is just supply vs demand. There's a finite number of Cubs tickets, and a large demand. Therefore scalpers are just getting what the market will bear. That's just economics. There's nothing unfair about that. If the Cubs were less popular, it wouldn't be an issue, but then you wouldn't want to go. Look at the Pirates the last couple of nights. Not too many people making a lot of money scalping those tickets. You're wrong on so many levels. This isn't supply and demand. It's limited or preferential distribution. If it was simply supply and demand, then face value would be what scalpers were charging, and you'd be able to get tickets through the normal channels. The cubs, as well as all other teams, are limiting the distribution of their product to their fan base with the current season ticket models while allowing third parties to profit at the customers expense.

All non-US and Canada players(am i missing anywhere?) sign as amateur FAs. I figured, but Sosa and Ortiz were pretty bad/mediocre before breaking out and becoming elite hitters, were they not? Sosa was always highly touted as a 5 tool stud. Ortiz I don't know about, and there is a limit to how much I can dick around at work. Of the guys listed there, Sosa, Burnett, Piazza, Ortiz, Thome, Ryan and Dawson were thought of as solid prospects by the time they were trying to break into the big leagues. Don't know about Ryno and Henderson, though I'd find it hard to believe Henderson wasn't considered a good prospect. Sandberg was the throw in for Larry Bowa. That should tell you what the Phils thought about him.

This is improbable, Lilly makes good money, thus he can't be moved from the rotation. His 9.something ERA is why we pay him the big bucks! #-o Who makes what doesn't make a difference to Lou. This isn't Dusty. Yes, but it is Jim Hendry And Jim Hendry, by all accounts, has never been the type of GM to micromanage his managers in game decisions like some. Yeah, glad he's not like that Beane bum. Don't put words in my mouth. I wasn't trying to make any kind of implication that he's a good GM, just pointing out that is *one* fault that he doesn't seem to have.

Anyone else thinking Cedeno is looking pretty servicable in his limited opportunities thus far?