Magnetic Curses

or, we could just enjoy being average.

i think the concensus is that patterson still has the tools to be an effective player in the bigs. my problem is that he's just not a smart player right now and may never develop the instincts to realize his full potential. the worry with getting rid of him is, he just might. he's a mickey mantle talent, there's no disputing that.

i still maintain my hatred for scott skiles. what a jerk. fake news alert. Two weeks after acquiring Tim Duncan, the Bulls do not appear to be improving. Duncan, who scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds in all of 11 minutes last night, stated that he'd like to see some more playing time in the upcoming weeks, but coach Scott Skiles seems intent on letting the center position be handled by committee. "Yeah, Timmy has played pretty well over the last few games, but I'd like to see his conditioning improve before I commit any more minutes to him." Skiles offered. When told about Duncan's desire for more playing time, Skiles added, "As far as I'm concerned, it's a non-issue." With news of the addition of forward Kevin Garnett from Minnesota earlier today, Skiles did not seem at all interested in giving him any playing time. "Kevin Garnett is a great player and a superstar in this league, one of the 5 top players in my estimation, but he'll be behind Darius on the depth chart. I just can't see taking his minutes away. He's given his heart to this team."

quite frankly, i'd rather be rid of hendry than dusty. although dusty is a serious handicap with inappropriate players, if hendry simply acquired good players we wouldn't have such a problem with dusty. dusty has shown that he can win with good players, but allowing him to play subpar OBP guys at important positions is an upper-managemnet decision. the problem of dusty could easily be remedied: 1. by choosing NOT to re-sign neifi. 2. by never allowing macias around the team again. 3. by NOT re-upping rusch at a hefty raise, while concurrently acquiring a superior starter. 4. by getting a veteran RF starter with a good OBP. 5. by not acquiring mediocre veterans at positions where we already have promising young talent. (goes hand-in-hand with #1 and #2) here's a simple breakdown: 1. increase team OBP while decreasing opponents'.

No one knows for sure. Some suspect that one might be with the Devil Rays for Huff and/or Lugo. i'd rather go with cedeno and find someone better than huff. who would probably give us no more than the production we got last year.

can we change the title of this thread to sullivan's article on thursday?

No Depo, thank you very much. We saw in LA how quickly he can wreck a post-season team. If Wood makes 30 starts this year, he'd forget about his past injury record and sign him to a 5+ year deal. depo had 2 years to build that team. not nearly long enough, especially considering that it take a lot more than 2 years to build a farm system.

i think that you need to weight OBP as a little more important than slugging. which is my overall problem with the OPS stat. not that i don't think it's an important one, because i do.

you're kidding, right? there are 162 games in a ML season, correct? if you watch the team play everyday and assume that you can learn everything you need to know, you're naive. if you watched the marlins play 162 games in 2004 and watched them play 162 games in 2005, without having any access to statistics, you wouldn't know the difference between pierre 04 and pierre 05. the difference between a .275 hitter and a .300 hitter is like 1 hit a week, how in the bloody heck can you see that by ignoring stats? trusting only in outdated conventional wisdom is foolish. the world is not flat, nor is the earth the center of the universe, and put your torch and pitchfork down. Your point is well taken, but I think the bolded portion is a bit much. maybe, but i think it fits. the paradigm is shifting, and many who value the old one don't like it one bit. the fact that statistical analysis is gaining more favor around the league should not be a turn-off to people who watch a lot of baseball, it should be an exciting new way to understand the game. i often use analogy to illuminate my points, so the most apt analogy i can use is the resistance to the idea of the sun-centered solar system that galileo ran up against. now, no one has staged a mass burning of baseball abstracts or anything, but you get the point.

huff is burnitz without the glove, but with the ability to play some IF.

you're kidding, right? there are 162 games in a ML season, correct? if you watch the team play everyday and assume that you can learn everything you need to know, you're naive. if you watched the marlins play 162 games in 2004 and watched them play 162 games in 2005, without having any access to statistics, you wouldn't know the difference between pierre 04 and pierre 05. the difference between a .275 hitter and a .300 hitter is like 1 hit a week, how in the bloody heck can you see that by ignoring stats? trusting only in outdated conventional wisdom is foolish. the world is not flat, nor is the earth the center of the universe, and put your torch and pitchfork down.

i don't think hendry will be doing a lot of negotiating for the cubs next season. and epstein and depo better still be available.

give it a rest.

Too small? Neifi's built like a brick s$&% house. He has to be from haulin that gargantuan cranium about. Neifi's body is weird. He has a fat belly, a big ass, and toothpick legs. babe perez?

remember when our stable of arms included haggerty jones sisco nolasco pinto guzman ?

i think the cubs would eventually subtract a prospect from that bunch. i'd imagine guzman or hill.

the steelers really pulled a nocioni on us.

you're forgetting that wood may not be ready for the opener. hendry's already failed, this team is a mess and there's virtually no way of improving it at this point. i honestly don't know what hendry is thinking other than " i don't want to keep my job".

this is an interesting acquisition, seeing as how when i lived in seattle, everett was a routine whipping boy for talk radio. the fans can't stand him. if you remember, it was everett who had all those problems with moyer a few years back.

Some people bring something to the table, other don't. um.....he brings a lot more to the table than you do. play nice, boys i'm playing nice, merely responding to a ridiculous statement made regarding a respected member of this board. hey, it's my favorite phrase. what happened to "long-time?" it was a ridiculous statement...about another ridiculous statement. I'm sure NY earned his respect with better comments than this and by standing up for himself. as goony has stated, he was showing disgust at the dearth of RF options before us. this IS A MESSAGE BOARD, he's free to express his disappointment in cubs management. and i will defend people who have come to my defense if i feel that they have been personally attacked.

Some people bring something to the table, other don't. um.....he brings a lot more to the table than you do. Defending posts like that is laughable! look, i'm not searching for an argument nor defending a post, i'm just calling it how i see it.

Some people bring something to the table, other don't. um.....he brings a lot more to the table than you do. play nice, boys i'm playing nice, merely responding to a ridiculous statement made regarding a respected member of this board.

Some people bring something to the table, other don't. um.....he brings a lot more to the table than you do.

huff's numbers are eerily similar to burnitz's. the only thing huff offers is his ability to play the corner IF positions, albeit poorly. burnitz's defense in RF is worth more than what huff can offer in the IF probably, anyway.

in order to be a bobby abreu type-player, he'd have to walk 100 times as well. you forget that the most attractive feature of abreu's game is his disicpline. if we wanted 30 hrs plus 30 SB's we could go out and acquire soriano. and have a horrible defensive rf. pie is supposed to have a great glove and very strong arm to go along with his offensive production. that's not the point. abreu's walk totals are what sets him apart from your average 30+ HR 30+ steal guy. his worth is in his OBP.