treebird

how about some players demand that the next time the owners collude against them, they get a 500 million dollar bonus? then they could separate the honest teams from the dirty ones. i mean, come on. it's just not reasonable to ask people to stick their necks out for what would be a tiny p.r. benefit for a very brief period of time. besides, it would prove nothing. the technology is still (always) advancing and there's already stuff we can't test people for. it'd be nothing for a player to sign that special contract and then take all the benefits without changing his behavior one iota.

agreed. and projecting injuries/playing time is not exactly pecota's strong suit. really, pecota is just telling us what we already know: if everyone stays healthy, including those have horrible injury histories, our team will be amazing. i don't think too many here would disagree with that.

the shark doesn't work for pecota because his numbers in the minors don't make any sense, likely because he was working on developing certain pitches. he's also a special case due to his brief pitching history and extensive football concentration. i'm not a huge samardzija fan, but if there was ever a guy whom you couldn't evaluate simply by looking at the numbers, it's jeff.

they have bradley hitting 290/400/520 in 490 ab and fukudome hitting 290/390/440 in 460 ab. this team is constructed very well if those things happen.

how do you decide whom to grant this designation?

Manny >>>>>>>>>>> Dunn, and I like Dunn yeah, you can definitely go get dunn instead of manny if you want, but signing a lesser player is hardly giving manny the finger.

What you think we have 3 mediocre minor leaguers lying around? i suspect cleveland would very reasonably ask for more than that, unfortunately.

i thought will carroll was the mlb injury tool boom, roasted

when he's right, he's right this should be amazing

Those "stats" are horrible. They are especially horrible for OF. If you've got better ones, feel free to volunteer them. *crickets* the fact that you don't have anything better than a magic rock to keep tigers away doesn't mean you should use the rock (and yes, i realize i've completely changed the context of the reference; i have no idea why this scenario came to mind, but it did)

smart. the cubs should've done the same.

god i love this guy

debunked many times Maybe not Dunn, but we could have got a lot more than a PTBNL. While sophmore slumps do happen, nobody would have imagined that 2008 would be the trainwreck it was for him. the hill departure doesn't sadden me too much outside of the fact that he was really good, lost it and could never find it. theoretically there's nothing to lose by keeping him and letting him try and find it during spring training, but im sure the cubs have been monitoring his progress and probably figured it was best for them both to cut ties now and re-unite him with the minor league instructors that helped him get it together in the first place. what really gets me is the pie situation. just like three years ago the whole organization was calling him the michael jordan of baseball, and no matter what you think of him as a prospect, 300-400 ABs spread out over two or three years is not enough of a chance to give him. Especially not before just shipping him out for garbage. i'd agree with that. i'd much prefer to keep hill on the extreme off-chance he figures it out, but throwing away that tiny chance isn't a huge deal. throwing away pie so you can keep a guy like joey gathright on the roster is complete nonsense. there is absolutely no reason to give up on a guy like pie at this stage. 260 major league at bats over two seasons is not a good way to evaluate a young player, especially if he was 22 and 23 in those seasons. and ESPECIALLY when you look at his minor league track record.

Because he's got the tools that impress scouts but not the production that impresses numbers people? BP has him as a 5-Star Prospect. kevin goldstein is hardly a numbers person

if you can only keep guzman or wuertz, and trading either will result in getting junk back, don't you have to keep wuertz? i mean, what's the likelihood that guzman both stays healthy and is effective?

the michael wuertz era should have been a lot different.

there's no way miles/fontenot is the only non-1b if backup. hoff's in trouble.

you really can't do what you're trying to do with WAR or WARP or VORP (translated into wins without considering defense, of course). those numbers exist completely irrespective of what actually takes place during games as far as wins and losses. also, i really don't like WAR.

"mike davis hasn't been touching it lately"

i think that's a fantastic summation of the offseason and the team as it stands.

gaudin is more like the exact definition of adequate as a fill-in starter. if somebody's hurt for a while and he becomes a regular starter, you need to go back to looking elsewhere.

Blanco bats with his right hand, stupid. maybe that's why he sucks so much, i mean, how many guys only hold the bat with one hand? (1.2)

holla vet vet vet

So help me God if that was one of the reasons for this trade... bako hit .217/.299/.328 last year, and it was his best offensive season since 2005. also, he'll turn 37 in june. if you don't think koyie hill can replicate bako will do, you should clear the spot you need for bako by cutting hill.

i am shocked [sHOCKED] that you would not only stoop to shoving people's old posts in their faces, but also siding with truffle. shocked.