DonnieD

I really don't want to elaborate any more, lets just say this person is close to the negotiations.

My source will still be a potential source for the next 3 days so I can't go and ruin it now. If nothing has happened by Friday morning I will give up more information. I just googled Giorgia Palmas and wow, I was missing out.

I don't know who Georgia Palmas is but I actually do have some pics to corroborate. I've been a member for about five years, and I haven't told any lies yet. I admittedly don't post a whole lot, I mostly read. It seems like anytime I have anything to say concerning a subject, it has already been said. Like I said I just lucked into some information today and thought I would share.

Yep, as inferred, you wouldn't believe it.

Okay, I'm sure you guys are going to take this with a grain of salt (as I would), but I just got it from a GREAT source that Jake Peavy will not be traded to the Braves. A deal to the Cubs is extremely close and has been for a little while now. My source is very surprised that it isn't done by now. If by some chance the deal to the Cubs falls through, he will probably end up staying a Padre (very unlikely) or becoming a Yankee (even more unlikely). The only other team that has a chance at all is the Dodgers and they would have to overwhelm the Padres with their offer. I will not identify my source yet and it isn't a permanent one by any means, I just completely lucked into this (unbelievably reliable) information.

I don't think there is any doubt that he is better than Dempster. Their last three years of ERA+ is this: Wickman '05 - 170 '06 - 168 '07 - 121 Dempster '05 - 141 '06 - 96 '07 - 99 I'll even throw in Howry's #s who is probably one of our top 2 relievers: Howry '05 - 170 '06 - 146 '07 - 140 Not saying I would take Wickman over Howry at all, his WHIP, K/9, & K/BB are all worse although he seems to keep the ball in the ballpark a little better. I know there is almost no chance that he could be a Cub with the bullpen situation being what it is, but I would much rather have him at a reasonable price than try to hide a Rule 5 pick on the roster all year.

I know the bullpen is pretty full right now, but would anyone have some interest in Bob Wickman if he came cheap? I haven't heard much about him this offseason so I don't know if he has been linked to anyone. If there isn't much interest out there from other teams, and he would come for ~ $1 million I think he would be a good addition. Am I missing something about him? I know his stats aren't elite, but they are pretty good and I think he would be a good fallback option if one of our closer options doesn't work out.

Don't kid yourself about "3 B prospects". They were 3 of the top 8 in the Sox farm system. Actually the 2 pitchers were B+ prospects and Sweeney was a C+ prospect. http://minorleagueball.com/story/2008/1/3/153310/6909

1 Johnny Bench 2 Ivan Rodriguez 3 Yogi Berra 4 Mike Piazza 5 Bill Dickey 6 Roy Campanella 7 Mickey Cochrane 8 Gabby Hartnett 9 Carlton Fisk 10 Ernie Lombardi

Actually Grace and Ichiro's numbers are strikingly similar. Given the option I would take Ichiro's production and skill set over Grace's though. You're right in the respect that Ichiro probably shouldn't be considered legendary any more than Grace is, but people still ascribe too much value to batting average. Winning 2 batting titles, ROY, MVP, and breaking a few records along the way doesn't hurt either.

Actually Grace and Ichiro's numbers are strikingly similar. Given the option I would take Ichiro's production and skill set over Grace's though. You're right in the respect that Ichiro probably shouldn't be considered legendary any more than Grace is, but people still ascribe too much value to batting average. Winning 2 batting titles, ROY, MVP, and breaking a few records along the way doesn't hurt either.

How many tickets will you be looking for. I have 2 tickets to that game I am trying to get rid of. My wife and I are going out to NY for a few days around then and we wanted to go to the game 5/16 so she started watching some auctions on eBay and I saw one about to end at a reasonable price so I bid on and won them. Then I realized they were for the 5/17 game instead of the 5/16 game. I would just ask what I paid for them if you are interested. They should be really good seats in the Field Box section down the first base line in 147 row A which should be just one or two rows off the field. Let me know if you are interested. Donnie

Alright, I'm going to try this again. I didn't have any luck last time. I have 4 extra bleacher tickets to the Cubs / Brewers game tomorrow. I will be at Wrigley early so if you are interested you can meet me there to pick up the tickets. I'm happy to get rid of them at face value and might even consider less if you are really strapped for cash. Just reply here or PM me if you are interested. I'll check back some tonight and probably before I take off in the morning.

I am 90% sure I will have 4 tickets to Saturdays Cubs/Reds game available if anyone is interested. They are really good seats 3 rows behind the visitor's dugout. I will not know for sure until tomorrow (Friday) afternoon but I will update you once I know for sure. I'm pretty sure face value is ~ $55 and face value is all I will be asking. I will be getting to Wrigley between 9 and 10 AM and I could get the tickets to you then, though I will be entering the park as soon as the gates open. So if you are willing to brave the weather and are interested, post here and I will check back tomorrow. I will try to let you know as soon as I am able.

You can't honestly think Maury Wills is more deserving of a Hall of Fame induction than Ozzie Smith, can you?

My windows say that there are no games yet sold out. That seems unlikely, does anyone else have windows that disagree?

Where are your tickets Vance?

About 20 windows open and I haven't gotten out of the VWR yet

I understand that now, as does any open minded person who has been exposed to new ideas. However, my point remains that he did not know that then nor did nearly anyone in the world much less anyone with any amount of influence inside the game of baseball. I liken this to thinking that Ty Cobb was a stupid player because he has 295 career sacrifices. What a terrible decision to give up that many outs voluntarily, especially when you have nearly a 50% chance of getting on base anyway. Except at the time, sacrifices were thought of as a good thing and the “right way to play the game” so I certainly wouldn’t condemn him because new analytical methods have helped determine that sacrifices are counterproductive. I think that people of my generation and younger have made an incomprehensibly bad decision if they choose to smoke. I do not hold my grandparents to that same standard because they chose to smoke. When there is different information available with which to make decisions, then people who didn’t have that information should not be held to the same standard as the people that do. Bill James and others have introduced a new way of thinking that is just now being grasped by the majority. I think it is unfair to denounce players from previous generations because they did not have that knowledge. I’m curious Tim, how did you evaluate a player in the early to mid 80’s? Unless you were one of Bill James original followers I suspect it was with AVG, HR, & RBI like all of us who thought conventionally and OBP would have been somewhere way down the list.

I fully support Raines for HOF as well. I think people in that era generally are underappreciated (including Raines, Trammell, and Dawson). Dawson made a lot of outs in his career-no doubt. But in his prime, he made fewer outs and created a ton of runs too. Even his production / out in his prime years wasn't equivalent to others of his era. I don’t really think this is a fair assessment of Dawson’s career. In my opinion you have to take the era he played in into consideration before you chastise him for a low OBP or other non-SABR friendly statistics. I completely buy in to the “new baseball knowledge” idea and respect the advancements in statistical analysis that have been made, but I am still vividly aware of the ideas of the “old guard”. Who knows, if Dawson would have come up through a SABR friendly system today, he may be a perpetual .400 OBP guy. But the fact is he came up listening to scouts and coaches that belong to the “Ol’ Boys Club” and had people emphasizing AVG, HR, & RBI. You know he constantly heard that he was a slugger and his job was to drive in runs not to walk. And the fact is he did what people wanted him to do, and he was rewarded for it as his AS selections and MVP voting totals illustrate. I guess I just don’t understand why some people indict Dawson for doing exactly what his coaches, owners, and even the fans wanted (and paid) him to do.

I'll probably spend all my time in the autograph lines...but if I get any good info, I'll post. I'm not into autographs. At all. But if you want to get signatures, your best bet is to hang out in the hotel and catch players as they leave restaurants, bars, etc. The first night of the convention is especially good for that sort of thing. It really depends on what you want out of the encounter too. I have gone the last 4 years (and will be there this year too) and there is usually a large group of fans waiting by the front lobby for the players to come through. When someone does walk through they generally get mobbed and you'll have to reach over and through a dozen people and will end up with a quick rushed signature that may or may not be where and how you wanted it. It also depends on your disposition. I would much rather stand in line, get a nice signature signed with the writing instrument of my choice, take a picture, shake their hand, and say a few short words than the mob scene I described earlier. It is true that the waiting in line approach will only net you a few autographs per day, and the lines can be brutally long. The event itself is extremely disorganized and the people in charge are unapologetic and generally not very helpful. If you prepare yourself for that, and can accept the event for what it is - a chance to meet the people we all watch on TV, you should have a great time.

Thanks, I don't know why I didn't check MLB.com

Does anyone know where I can find information on current and/or former coaching staffs of major league teams. I was surprised that I couldn't find that on any of the main stream sites like ESPN or Baseball-reference. I'm currently just looking for the Rockies assistant coaches, but it would be nice to be able to find any in the future.

I have quite a collection also. Unlike Vance, I don't have enough patience to type even half of them out. Although I do have some miscellaneous signed items like Hats, Bats, Mini-helmets, a bunch of 8x10 photos, and innumerable signed baseball cards, I have, for the most part, started concentrating on single-signed baseballs. My main emphasis right now is on HOF'ers with "award winners" also being an emphasis (MVP, CY, & ROY) for now. If I go to a show or something and can get a star player on a ball, I ususally will, but I have stopped putting non-star players on baseballs. I will still get them, I just try to put them on baseball cards. Right now some of my collection is this (99% of my stuff was signed in person): HOF single signed baseballs 1 Dizzy Dean (a picture of which has been inhabiting my Avatar for a while now) 2 Bob Feller 3 Yogi Berra 4 Monte Irvin 5 Mickey Mantle 6 Ralph Kiner 7 Robin Roberts 8 Bob Lemon 9 Ernie Banks 10 Eddie Matthews 11 Al Kaline 12 Duke Snider 13 Juan Marichal 14 Luis Aparicio 15 Harmon Killebrew 16 Rick Ferrell 17 Enos Slaughter 18 Willie McCovey 19 Bobby Doerr 20 Billy Williams 21 Ray Dandridge 22 Red Schoendienst 23 Jim Palmer 24 Rod Carew 25 Gaylord Perry 26 Fergie Jenkins 27 Tom Seaver 28 Rollie Fingers 29 Reggie Jackson 30 Steve Carlton 31 Jim Bunning 32 Earl Weaver 33 Don Sutton 34 Robin Yount 35 Tony Perez 36 Dave Winfield 37 Kirby Puckett 38 Ozzie Smith 39 Paul Molitor 40 Ryne Sandberg Other Superstars/Award winners on baseballs Pete Rose Greg Maddux Goose Gossage Tony LaRussa Andre Dawson Ron Santo Buck O'Neil Trevor Hoffman Tony Oliva Bert Blyleven Lee Smith Minnie Minoso Maury Wills Dale Murphy LaMarr Hoyt Rick Sutcliffe Bret Saberhagen Jack McDowell Barry Zito Johan Santana Frank Howard Gary Peters Gary Matthews Darryl Strawberry Ron Kittle Pat Listach Todd Hollandsworth Kerry Wood Harold Baines Torii Hunter Carlos Zambrano Bill Madlock Tim Raines Billy Pierce Johnny Podres Joe Mauer Mark Mulder I was just counting the other day and I have 98 baseballs in ball cubes on shelves in my office and another 7 dozen in boxes with no room to display. I still have 29 living HOF'ers still to get, that will keep me busy for a while.