Magnetic Curses

if a jones supporter can explain to me, in an intelligent fashion, why they think jones is a good option at any position, i would be much obligend. jones is decent defensively, above that i can't think of one reason why he's any different than burnitz. it's as if there are people here who actually FEAR a hitter with a good OBP.

i don't like the idea of nomar playing a corner OF spot. if we bring him back, he should play short. besides, if we get giles and trade for bradley or sign lofton, murton will play left and we won't need him. i like the idea of bringing nomar back at short, adding giles and lofton. it's simple and addresses needs. furcal would be a nice sign, but it's not necessary.

Things generally happen for teams when they get people on base or successfully steal, regardless who it is. What matters when judging the individual player is the rate at which he does those things successfully. case in point: juan pierre, a guy who makes things happen when he's on base--all too often, the exciting thing is an out for the opposing team.

in san diego, i heard that it has something to do with high winds knocking long flies down in left. is there anything to this as well? I remember reading about that in the USA Today when Petco opened. It was in regards to the Santa Anas. Those don't happen that often, BBB is right. i think we read the same paper.

in san diego, i heard that it has something to do with high winds knocking long flies down in left. is there anything to this as well?

you really want stros fans to have a leg up on us now? i'll root for the cards, at least their bragging rights over us extend so far back that most of us can't remember when they began. houston, what have they won? if the cards win, it;s just another world championship and another pebble on the mountain. if the stros win, it's a big fat asteroid falling on our collective heads.

i'd rather root for the cards. if the stros win, that's one more team that can rub our face in the mud. at least we can still say the stros haven't ever been to a series. and the most memorable part of that game was watching the progression of emotions that the 9 year old kid behind the backstop shows before pujols's hr.

but we don't need guys who walk, we need guys who hit.

It wasn't the shot to the head that hurt his season. Clement was stinking up the joint throughout July, with or without the beaning (8.88 ERA). Matt just isn't a very good pitcher. He walks way too many batters and is overpaid. It might work out for him in Boston, where they can put up with his frequent blowup starts with an offense that mashes. But with the shaky lineup the Cubs continue to employ, you just can't have a guy who all too often gets rocked early. I do not want Clement back. Not because I dislike him, quite the opposite. He just isn't the right fit now. But, I'd contest the not a good pitcher claim. I think he is one of those guys who will "find it" for a season or two and put together Cy Young Award worthy numbers during the stretch. I know he is 31, which is old for that type of thing to happen usually, but it's just a feeling I have. Regardless, he isn't right for Chicago. i don't want clement back, and i don't think he'll ever have a great season. he's a pitcher that benefits from his own wildness. his pitches move so much that he often doesn't know where they're going and all you have to do is put pressure on him to throw a straight fastball. he has great stuff, too good for his own good. he'll have great games, and he's a good pitcher, but he's overpaid and not worth bringing back.

It wasn't the shot to the head that hurt his season. Clement was stinking up the joint throughout July, with or without the beaning (8.88 ERA). Matt just isn't a very good pitcher. He walks way too many batters and is overpaid. It might work out for him in Boston, where they can put up with his frequent blowup starts with an offense that mashes. But with the shaky lineup the Cubs continue to employ, you just can't have a guy who all too often gets rocked early. matt's overpaid, but he's a good pitcher. he just didn't have a very good year.

i've heard from several sources that bradley, if traded to the cubs, will refuse to wear a believe bracelet. jim, don't do it! we need clubhouse guys like ned flanders and andy griffith, jim get one of those dudes, andy could bring some of aunt b's pickles to work when we're in a slump, that would cheer us up. and i know that dusty would make a sweet fishin buddy for opie.

Giles has always struck me as an exception to the rule, I think money is less important than other factors, such as location and winning (given that the money is decent, however). I don't think he'll sign for the highest offer unless the highest offer is also from the team that he feels is the best fit. He'll take a small discount to sign for the right team. The question is, exactly what size of discount, and how far off of "the right fit" are the Cubs? i think the cubs will have to offer a lot of money to get him. wrigley's not exactly a huge lefty upgrade to petco and it's definitely not close to an ocean, unless he likes windsurfing on lake michigan. i'd love to get him and think we will, but we aren't getting a discount.

?????

Dempsters career K/9 is 7.40 Hawkins career K/9 is 6.06 Dempster's career G/F is 1.26 Hawkins career G/F is 1.16 Dempster's career BB/9 is 4.72. Hawkins' career BB/9 is 2.72. You don't have to make a comparison to Hawkins to describe Dempster as somebody who walks the tight rope. The guy walks too many people, and that didn't change when he went to the bullpen. hawkins has primarily been used in the bullpen over the course of his career whereas dempster has been used as a starter, so your comparison should be weighted somehow. last season, when used primarily out of the bullpen, dempster got around 2.5 times more groundballs than hawkins, and struck out around 2 more hitters per 9 innings. dempster's numbers make me more than comfortable with him as the closer.

I don't know about that. Hawkins had good peripherals, but fell flat in the end. Dempster walks the tight rope in his outings. It would not take much of a downgrade in those peripherals for me to see him falling on his face. I'd still like to see the Cubs sign a dominant reliever like Ryan or Wagner. Let Dempster pitch the bridge role, not entering in the middle of innings, but starting and finishing the 8th every night. Fell flat? Come on man Hawkins was plain terrible in the closer role. It wasn't even close. I don't deny that, I wasn't trying to sugarcoat. My point though is that Dempster was walking the tightrope. He wasn't a lockdown closer, despite the % (which isn't a great indicator of future success). dempster gets ground balls (a ton of them) and strike outs, two things that hawkins didn't get and hasn't gotten over the course of his career. dempster's nowhere near comparable to hawkins when predicting future success.

don't forget ricky "the dragon" steamboat the mayor of steamboat springs, co shawn springs shawn michaels brett michaels george brett george wallace wallace d. fard d. nice

prior was shut down at the end of 2002 with a hamstring pull, iirc.

You cannot be serious about this. Talk about your HS highly rated system QB's. RB ran a spread offense that was totally Brasic's forte in a terrible conference against awful competition. He was breaking Illinois passing records with a noodle arm and some awful competition. EDIT: I must keep in mind Illinois has had some awful QB'ing in the last decade, so this isn't as much of a stretch as originally thought. He's still bad. his arm is much stronger than any other qb we've had in the past decade, including kittner's, who made it to the NFL throwing fade routes to brandon lloyd. his legs are better than anything we've had since verduzco. unless you think such QB's as johnny johnson, jeff weaver, chris pazan, or jon beutjer are anything special.

You and Whitlock share that opinion. Me, I'm not so sure. there aren't many out there with marino-like arms.

I have no interest in trading Prior or Z for ARod. But ARod is an MVP candidate playing SS. The improvement from last year's production at SS to ARod at SS would be greater than anything we've been talking about in the OF. You'd still have to get something in the OF, but ARod would change much of the existing problem. yes, but he hasn't helped the yankees go any farther than they had without him. my point is that even WITH ARod, our lineup isn't close to the yankees' and without prior or z, we're taking a huge step back. this wouldn't help us at all. if the yankees wouldn't require either of those two, i'd be fine with a deal.

George was on the Bears last year. They could have brought him back this year. They did not. This makes me believe it's rather futile to wish for his return. you're probably right, but it's frustrating, as he's superior to anything that they could bring in.

if hendry is dreaming of any other manager, he sure has me fooled. Mr. hendry has always liked Tracy and if did the right thing and pulled the trigger on Baker he could have had his very first choice. I personally think it'll work out better for the Cubs to not have Tracy available when Baker leaves. the only thing that could change this team would be a management overhaul.

why on earth would we think that arod would save this team? without prior or zambrano, this pitching staff isn't anything special, the lineup certainly isn't in the same universe as the yankees', why would this help us again? we need outfield help.

if hendry is dreaming of any other manager, he sure has me fooled.

this probably good news for those of us who want giles over furcal. seriously, furcal is an upgrade to neifi, but not enough of an upgrade to warrant spending so much more. i still say bring back nomar, sign giles and lofton (lofton to a 1 year deal), and try to grab burnett. if we can trade for abreu, i say do it, i just don't think hendry will, is all.