BroLight

If Miles is such a bad defender, why is LaRussa upset at his front office for dropping the ball and letting Miles get away???? I'll take his evaluation of Miles over yours! Even "good people" pout sometimes when they feel unjustly treated, are frustrated or sometimes on a bad day, even when they just don't get their way...kind of like you right now! Holy hell you're making such terrible, awful arguments. I could care less what a manager says about a player. Neifi saved us once, remember? Sam Fuld is untouchable. Etc, etc. I'll forget what I read on Baseball Reference about Aaron Miles being awful at baseball. If Tony LaRussa thinks he's good, that adds an invisible 30 points to your OPS+. And BTW...you still haven't addressed that Milton Bradley will miss time (from both sides of the plate-i will concede that.) and that Soriano has played in 135 and 102 games as a Cub. He'd see time in both spots, and while you may have supreme confidence that Mike Fontenot is an everyday option, I'd rather hedge my bets and keep the versatile guy who, at worst, could make one half of a highly effective 2B platoon. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go grow up and read Baseball for Dummies so that I might understand horrible logic a little bit better. BTW....I DID answer the ABs question in a lengthy detailed response about an hour and half ago! I just looked for it and didn't see it, so maybe it will show up later. FYI when I explained it and gave him the benefit of the doubt he still didn't reach 200 ABs for the coming season! But if I have to do it again, I'll be sure and allow for a few of Soriano's likely missed games. But with a better OF that bats LH available, like Gathright who has to get his ABs SOMEWHERE, I doubt that it would add too many to DeRo's likely total.

Your opinion on sliding feet first into first base? Sliding into first base from home is stupid, no matter how you slide, unless you are trying to avoid the tag. In that case, you do what you can under the circumstances that prevail to try and avoid the tag and reach the bag. If you're trying to trick me by meaning getting back to first, then it's stupid if you are just trying to get back to avoid the pickoff, as too much time is lost in positioning. But sliding back to first feet first is entirely appropriate if trying to get back to the bag on a play after an unexpected catch of the batted ball and you are going back fast enough to risk over sliding the bag. Otherwise head first is better on a going back play where no tag is required. When a tag is required, generally it's better to go back feet first! Does that answer your question?

Technically it is the product of OBP & Slugging Pct. But BOTH are greatly influenced by the opportunites afforded through the BATTING ORDER! "Technically" it's the product of OBP and SLG because that's what it is. Neither are influenced much by the batting order because they are hitter dependent. But hey, you used to be on Cubs.com and you are old and have old timey contacts, who I'm sure know all about OPS. There is nothing "old timey" about baseball common sense. But then you young "whipper-snappers" never have shown much patience to really learn before you speak! I suppose you think that players assigned to hit first, second or eighth have the same slugging opportunities as the other slots? Is that what you would have me believe? Is that what is "old timey"? Leadoff hitters have a primary goal of getting on base for their whole AB. That's one of the reasons Soriano isn't any good at it. Second hitters are NOT free to slug with runners on base, their first responsibility until they get strike two is moving the runner! Eighth place hitters don't get much opportunity to slug because they don't get pitches to hit while hitting ahead of the pitcher! Inbetween any hitter with a good hitter hitting behind him and/or with good OBP hitters ahead of him, will get better pitches to slug... as opposed to hitters in the same slots (perhaps on poorer teams or differnet days with different lineups on the same team) who do not have these advantages. So you see there is much more to having a good OPS than being able to get on and slug....Batting order has a HUGE affect on the OPS opportunities of every hitter!

If Miles is such a bad defender, why is LaRussa upset at his front office for dropping the ball and letting Miles get away???? I'll take his evaluation of Miles over yours! Even "good people" pout sometimes when they feel unjustly treated, are frustrated or sometimes on a bad day, even when they just don't get their way...kind of like you right now!

I see why you are having such a tough time grasping this. YOU are the one that's NUTS! It is BOSTON that is desperate, not the Cubs! The Cubs would be dealing from a position of strength, and regardless wouldn't be putting Soto or any regular, other than Soriano, in such a package. Most teams wouldn't be willing to give up such an offensive threat, and that makes a deal for Soriano even more attractive. Remember, I didn't say this was GOING to happen, only that it might. But if the Red Sox were indeed willing to see Beltran as a real offensive threat, how much more valuable would Soriano be to them? Are you Alfonso Soriano's mom or something? No, the old timers on this board know who I am, but for your info, I am someone that reads a lot of "lines", and because of my pedigree in the game, I know what needs to be done, and how to get it done. I am also able to read between those "lines", and keep my ears open. Although my contacts in the game are diminishing due to age and health issues, I still have a few of those, too. I'd love to believe you have a clue what you're talking about. Most people here would love to believe Soriano has positive trade value. But most people here live in reality, where it's clear that Soriano's contract was atrocious even when they thought he could stay healthy and play center field. Now that we know he can't do either of those things, the Cubs are stuck paying a superstar salary to a pretty good but declining player who is already more trouble than he's worth. You're talking two different things: Whether I have "clue" or not, and whether Soriano has any trade value. The answer to the latter is YES, how much will be settled like most barters, by what you get in return, WHEN that bartering is finished, not before! We'll see if Boston can get what they are looking for without coming after Soriano. Is that possible? Sure! Not likely, but sure! To the first, I'll debate any portion of the game you or anyone else would care to debate, but I'd hate to embarrass anyone, that's not my thing...but sometimes I have to come close just to get the attention of some of these dolts!

I'd bet that with insight like your's, you can't see beyond the end of your nose! DeRosa, barring injury, would have had GREATLY diminished PT and would have been UNHAPPY if he stayed. The Cubs are going to balance the lineup with more lefty hitting, PERIOD! Hendry has BIG IDEAS, but is at least temporarily, restricted to a $145M budget, and he wants to save $5-7M of that for July, in case he needs it. So of course he is going to "dump" salaries where he can get the same or better for less. So far he has done a GREAT job of moving the money around, to get what he wants. Miles is NO downgrade! His only negative in comparison with DeRosa is power. They are the same type player and personalities, Miles hits a little better for average, and would be more effective in the 1, 2 or 8 spots in the lineup, is a SWITCH hitter and plugs the same holes for less money, which means Hendry has about $3.3M more to use in trying to fulfill those BIG ideas! Miles best OPS is .753. DeRosa has surpassed that in every year but one. DeRosa is a much, much better player then Miles. OPS is a product of power and batting order. They hardly ever would be used in the same slots in the lineup. Ask yourself this question: Just how much "better player than Miles" would he be sitting on the bench, pouting about his PT and getting 200 or so ABs? If you're referring to DeRosa, he'd probably play everyday on this team as the starting 2B and fill in RF/LF/3B. Seriously, this is awful. This has to be a joke account. The biggest JOKE in this thread is YOU! Unless DeRo learned to switch hit, he wasn't going to see PT unless someone was Injured. Cubs have already stated they want MORE PT for Fontenot, not less, and are seeking LH or S hitters to fill OF slots. If he stayed he would have been fortunate to get 200 ABs! That's what Hendry knew and you obviously don't...but then there have never been people so blind as those that refuse to see! Don't attack other posters. Otherwise, your time here will be short. I "attack" no one...just defending myself and common baseball sense against those attacking me and having none! At least none exhibited.

Oh, now you've gone and done it. If you seriously think that DeRosa was going to get less than 200 AB's you're out of your mind. That's 8 AB's per week, roughly. On a team which is probably going to have Milton Bradley in LF. On a team with a RF who has missed time in each of his first 2 seasons. On a team that has an All Star 3B who needs rest from time to time. Not to mention he'd certainly be the starting 2B against LHP. Which probably on its own gets him to 200 AB. You're horrible. Horrible. Please, please bring some facts to the argument so I can tear you apart. FACTS? Is that what you want? FACTS? Here are a few for you to absorb..... FACT ONE: anyone that thinks 1/3 of the starting pitchers are LH, wouldn't know a FACT if it walked up to him and slapped him in the face! That is what it would take to get 200 ABs from facing LH starters! FACT TWO: You don't know who plays for the Cubs! SORIANO holds down LF unless traded...BRADLEY will play RF FACT THREE: ...AND as a SWITCH hitter Bradley will play about every day. With better OFrs available when Bradley needs a rest, DeRo would be fortunate to get 10 starts in RF and that would be about 50 plate appearances appearances. Unless injured, Ramirez isn't going to give up one game per week. He would be lucky to get 6 games there all year long...another 25 plate appearances. Even if he did platoon at 2b, he would start in about 22% of the games because that's approximately how many LH starters there are in the NL...thats maybe another 135 plate appearances. That leaves about 110 games in which he MIGHT appear as a PH, PR, late inning replacement with NO plate appearances. Normally, that would mean about 60 to 70 plate appearances. Giving him the benefit of the doubt and taking the 70...it only adds up to 280 plate appearances! FACT FOUR: I was talking ABs NOT plate appearances (or don't you know the difference), with his walks, sacrifices and HBPs totaling 100 (he had 116 last year) deducted from the plate appearances he would net out about a whopping total of 180 ABs for the YEAR. He would NOT be happy with that, I wouldn't either! Those are the FACTS! If you can't figure it out, NOW, come back when you can!~

Since when was Mark DeRosa not going to get 500 PA's? What the hell are you talking about? Are you really that DENSE? There are only so many ABs in a season. Roughly 600 at the top two slots in the batting order and diminishing as you traverse down the lineup to closer to 500 in the 8th slot. With regular everyday players at 1b, SS, 3b & LF, along with his inability to catch, play SS or CF, at best he was going to see some PT in RF and 2b plus a few ABs at 3b (maybe) to rest Ramirez. But THIS season with a switch hitter coming in to play RF there would be far less platoon ABs for DeRo or anyone else. The Cubs are putting a premium on LEFT HANDED ABs this year, and have already stated, MANY TIMES, that this is a priority that will mainly be seen in LH ABs at 2b & RF. DeRo would not even get late inning replacement ABs in the outfield with better outfielders like Johnson & Gathright on the bench, except for temporary short term assignments in double switches. He would have had more ABs as a PH than anything else, and you can't do that more than ONCE PER GAME! When you add up the possibilities, at best DeRo would have gotten about 200 to 225 ABs in the coming season, at a time in his career when he needed to be playing every day to get the most from the waning days of his career! THAT is what I am talking about...a point that nearly everyone on this board got except YOU! Now if you can't figure it out from there, come back when you grow up, or when you know enough about the game, to enter in without wasting our time!

Sorry, I missed your post, first time through.... There is WAY TOO much whining about DeRosa! Did I like him? YES, very much. Will the Cubs miss him? At times, probably. But with the Cubs determined to balance the lineup he would have diminished playing time and would have been very unhappy. He was a great fit for either the Twins or Indians, and he was paid too much to sit on the bench, when, unlike Fukudome, he could be profitably traded, and MOST of his usefulness could be replaced by a switch hitter who is much cheaper and two years younger. I thought most of the DeRosa complaining was because of who we replaced him with (Miles) not because of losing DeRo himself. It's a little bit who we're replacing him with (Miles) and a little bit what we got for him (very high risk, very young pitchers). I was fine trading him, but I thought we could get more for him by selling high. And then we use half his salary to sign a guy who would be decent as a strict bench player. These days if you are trading salary, you seldom get high value prospects, because everyone is trying to conserve cash and protect their young players. So if we couldn't get good value, we weren't selling high, so we shouldn't have traded him. We made RF a little better (allowing the signing of Bradley) and made second base much worse with the trade. Unless we get Peavy (which you're assuming and I'm not ready to yet), this was a horrible trade. The risk is in them developing. If they don't, we traded DeRo for nothing. And there's a pretty good chance, given their skill sets, that they don't develop. I've said it numerous times before, if the trade ultimately nets us Peavy, I'll feel a whole lot better about it. If it doesn't, it was terrible. 1) The young pitchers are EXACTLY what you look for in YOUNG pitchers....good stuff exhibited by Ks. These two are no different than most young pitchers in that they need experience to develop the ability to learn to pitch and not throw, and to develop consistent control of their stuff. 2) When you trade, you can NOT "have your cake and eat it, too". The Cubs got a $3.3M payroll reduction (after Miles), 2 kids that will help restock the system with pitching, a piece for the Peavy trade, and equal if not better fielding at 2b. DeRo definitely began to show some cracks in his D at 2b last year, and has lost a step, too. That makes him ideal for the switch to 3b, but NOT with the Cubs! In a year or two, when his days as anything close to a regular are finished, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him back with the Cubs. He is "good people" and they are always welcome! As far as "risk" is concerned, this is about as risk-free of a deal as is possible! That applies even if both kids don't develop, because that is a risk that is inherent in the system, not tied particularly to this or any trade! Besides that, when it comes to flexibility cash in hand is best! You can only "spend" players in some locations, you can spend cash anywhere!

Technically it is the product of OBP & Slugging Pct. But BOTH are greatly influenced by the opportunites afforded through the BATTING ORDER!

YESSSSS!!!!!! I agree on all points, but Theo isn't very happy, as little has changed since he came back. Their front office is still a jealous, backbiting mess along with meddling ownership. It wasn't Theo that messed up the Texiera negotiations! The point is that Boston OWNERSHIP wants insurance in the form of a power packed offensive player and there are FEW to ONE of those available. "Go Packers" ???? Why not just go Kampman and Cole, and Go Bears? Another Hawk fan suffering from DFS! DFS? Apparently, you haven't seen the TV ad for DirecTV by the Mannings (father and sons)...DFS is Displaced Fan Syndrome!!!

I'd bet that with insight like your's, you can't see beyond the end of your nose! DeRosa, barring injury, would have had GREATLY diminished PT and would have been UNHAPPY if he stayed. The Cubs are going to balance the lineup with more lefty hitting, PERIOD! Hendry has BIG IDEAS, but is at least temporarily, restricted to a $145M budget, and he wants to save $5-7M of that for July, in case he needs it. So of course he is going to "dump" salaries where he can get the same or better for less. So far he has done a GREAT job of moving the money around, to get what he wants. Miles is NO downgrade! His only negative in comparison with DeRosa is power. They are the same type player and personalities, Miles hits a little better for average, and would be more effective in the 1, 2 or 8 spots in the lineup, is a SWITCH hitter and plugs the same holes for less money, which means Hendry has about $3.3M more to use in trying to fulfill those BIG ideas! Miles best OPS is .753. DeRosa has surpassed that in every year but one. DeRosa is a much, much better player then Miles. OPS is a product of power and batting order. They hardly ever would be used in the same slots in the lineup. Ask yourself this question: Just how much "better player than Miles" would he be sitting on the bench, pouting about his PT and getting 200 or so ABs? If you're referring to DeRosa, he'd probably play everyday on this team as the starting 2B and fill in RF/LF/3B. Seriously, this is awful. This has to be a joke account. And hasn't he been a bench player most of his career? Why would he pout about being a bench player. I shouldn't have to explain this, but for you, I will: He was just another bench player until he had his breakout season in Texas. Then he became a supersub. After getting his heart surgery out of the way last Spring, he had a phenomenal year for a super sub in the Fall of his career, and has limited years left for production. With the Cubs bent on getting many more LH ABs this year, after 3 consecutive seasons with 500+ ABs his projected personal ABs would likely fall to less than half that level, unless someone was injured for a long period. The projection for his ABs would have been drastically cut, because the Cubs want a LH hitting 2nd baseman and RF as often as possible, and have a S hitting OF (Bradley) coming to fill RF which would further reduce the opportunities to platoon. The Cubs also had better OFrs available for late inning replacements for Bradley and Soriano. At best he was going to get ABs as a platoon 2b agaist LH starters, and a few games to rest Ramirez! Moving him on, which was in both his and the team's best interests opened a slot for a more traditional bench player. The Cubs were just lucky that the Cards bungled handling Miles and making him available. Now do you understand????

I'd bet that with insight like your's, you can't see beyond the end of your nose! DeRosa, barring injury, would have had GREATLY diminished PT and would have been UNHAPPY if he stayed. The Cubs are going to balance the lineup with more lefty hitting, PERIOD! Hendry has BIG IDEAS, but is at least temporarily, restricted to a $145M budget, and he wants to save $5-7M of that for July, in case he needs it. So of course he is going to "dump" salaries where he can get the same or better for less. So far he has done a GREAT job of moving the money around, to get what he wants. Miles is NO downgrade! His only negative in comparison with DeRosa is power. They are the same type player and personalities, Miles hits a little better for average, and would be more effective in the 1, 2 or 8 spots in the lineup, is a SWITCH hitter and plugs the same holes for less money, which means Hendry has about $3.3M more to use in trying to fulfill those BIG ideas! Miles best OPS is .753. DeRosa has surpassed that in every year but one. DeRosa is a much, much better player then Miles. OPS is a product of power and batting order. They hardly ever would be used in the same slots in the lineup. Ask yourself this question: Just how much "better player than Miles" would he be sitting on the bench, pouting about his PT and getting 200 or so ABs? If you're referring to DeRosa, he'd probably play everyday on this team as the starting 2B and fill in RF/LF/3B. Seriously, this is awful. This has to be a joke account. The biggest JOKE in this thread is YOU! Unless DeRo learned to switch hit, he wasn't going to see PT unless someone was Injured. Cubs have already stated they want MORE PT for Fontenot, not less, and are seeking LH or S hitters to fill OF slots. If he stayed he would have been fortunate to get 200 ABs! That's what Hendry knew and you obviously don't...but then there have never been people so blind as those that refuse to see!

Sorry, I missed your post, first time through.... There is WAY TOO much whining about DeRosa! Did I like him? YES, very much. Will the Cubs miss him? At times, probably. But with the Cubs determined to balance the lineup he would have diminished playing time and would have been very unhappy. He was a great fit for either the Twins or Indians, and he was paid too much to sit on the bench, when, unlike Fukudome, he could be profitably traded, and MOST of his usefulness could be replaced by a switch hitter who is much cheaper and two years younger. I thought most of the DeRosa complaining was because of who we replaced him with (Miles) not because of losing DeRo himself. I know that was my issue. Trading DeRosa to sign Bradley is a hmmmmmmm moment, but trading DeRosa to open a spot for Aaron Miles doesn't make a lick of sense to me. You guys need to back off a little so you can get a little broader perspective! Hendry's moves are not black and white. They are more like pieces to the giant jig saw puzzle that he sees coming together for next season. DeRo wasn't traded to open a spot for anybody. He was traded so he would be happy in the end, and Hendry would be more flexible in acquiring pieces that fit! I really hope you're wrong. Trading a productive player for a not so prodective player to make the productive player happy is kind of stupid. Get a little broader perspective! How "productive" was DeRo going to be sitting on the bench pouting about his lack of PT at this juncture of his career. The Cubs needed a "bench" player and Hendry usually tries to look out for the best interests of his players when he can, that's why they like playing for him, and why Free agents like Bradley and Dunn have pre-picked the Cubs as their target team and are patiently waiting to see if there is any chance.

YESSSSS!!!!!! I agree on all points, but Theo isn't very happy, as little has changed since he came back. Their front office is still a jealous, backbiting mess along with meddling ownership. It wasn't Theo that messed up the Texiera negotiations! The point is that Boston OWNERSHIP wants insurance in the form of a power packed offensive player and there are FEW to ONE of those available. "Go Packers" ???? Why not just go Kampman and Cole, and Go Bears? Another Hawk fan suffering from DFS!