jyoung55

Does Max's shoulder or Ervin's elbow change any of this? My keepers are due today and I'm stumped. Partly because last year I had Hudson, Smoltz, and Kelvim Escobar (our keepers were due earlier last year) and we can see how that worked out. With the injury concerns I'm thinking about finding a way to keep Jair Jurrgens. There are a lot of quality OFers being dropped and not many 1b and no SS. So I think I have to keep Conor and Yunel now, although I was leaning that way. But I'm unsure if I still keep all 4 of the OF, but don't know who I'd drop, Chris Young had the worst season but he's the only one not past his prime. Any input would be appreciated.

My 20 team keeper has holds as well. It was a really hard stat for me to grasp last year as well. So I would appreciate then input also. I do know guys like Taylor Bucholz were great last year... and if I draft him this year, he'll be awful.

Don't forget when drafting that the draft is for a keeper league. People are going to value Billingsley, Max, and Kershaw more than in a regular draft, which is probably how you lost Lincecum. ::Let's reflect for a second here... you dropped lincecum last year???:: I'd probably take Quentin out of that list because of the type of injury he has and keep another one of your pitchers. But heck, I think its a tough call with only being able to keep 7.

I wouldn't take Arod second even if he was healthy Not a fan of guys who put up big numbers? Come on. You can take a couple other guys at 2 that have roughly the same chance of matching or exceeding the value of a healthy ARod. Almost anyone drafted in the first round will put up big numbers (barring injury, complete collapse, etc). Who you take with the 2nd pick would primarily be driven by your draft strategy. I don't know, if there is still a guy like Arod left in the second round (barring it being like a 10 player league) I would most definitely take him, especially if he's healthy. Even on a 'down' year for him (like last year) he still put up 35HR and 100+RBI with a great OBP. i was talking about second overall pick, not round And I was talking round.

It does make for a lot of continuity on teams with our number of keepers. I'm glad to see I'm not crazy for keeping 4 OF. SS is very scarce in our league and I think last year all of the serviceable ones, even those you listed were kept. And with Yunel's upside, I think I have to keep him. (I actually picked him up on waivers in the playoffs because the guy who had him needed to drop him to pick up another position that he had an injury in so you can see the rags I was dealing with throughout the season). I may wait to see who's kept and if some of the 1B you listed are kept, I could especially handle LaRoche, I'll keep Conor. If not, I may keep Jair, because like you said his upside is pretty good. And your analysis on my two closer options was exactly my concerns with them. If there aren't any options after seeing all the keepers, I may have to keep one of them over Conor though. Thanks.

This is why you set drafts as late as possible. I'm not picking him in the first round of my draft as the information stands right now. 2nd I'm strongly thinking about it. 3rd, I do it without thinking. In the first round I always try to target a stud that is going to carry me throughout the season.

Ok I need some help on a tough call on my keepers. It is a 20 team league so talent is spread thin. I inherited the team last year and took it from 14th out of 20 to 4th. Unfortunately, that means I am at the bottom of the draft. I've got some nice bats but not too many arms. I can keep 10, who would you keep? C, 3B - Russell Martin 1B - Conor Jackson 2b - Chase Utley SS - Yunel Escobar, Jeff Keppinger, Nick Punto 3B - Brandon Wood OF - Manny, Torii Hunter, Raul Ibanez, Chris Young SP - Ervin Santana, Max Scherzer, Jair Jurrgens, Hiroki Kuroda, Ubaldo Jimenez RP - Frank Francisco, LaTroy Hawkins, Fernando Rodney, Arthur Rhodes, George Sherill The absolute locks are Manny, Chase, Martin, and Santana. After that I was thinking of keeping Conor Jackson (1b is so thin outside of people already kept), Escobar (ditto on SS), Hunter, Ibanez (Mr. Consistent going to a better hitters park) and Chris Young (hoping he hits his 30/30 upside). But that only leaves me one pitcher and I'd go with Mad Max. But I like my 3 other starters and am not sure if they are keeper quality. And Frank Fancisco is also interesting, plus I'll need saves. Would any of you do anything different with that roster?

I believe he was a six-year minor league free agent and the Cubs weren't willing to put him on the 40-man roster. If he wanted to re-sign with the Cubs, he probably could've signed a minor league deal, but might have been cut after spring training if his velocity wasn't where it needed to be. My guess is that he felt a guaranteed independent league roster spot was a better long term bet than a non-guaranteed minor league deal with the Cubs. Who knows!?!?!? People are in the Frontier League because that's the best they can do... not because it is a better bet than a non-guaranteed minor league deal. Go Otters!

So you...of all people...are saying he doesn't look like an lf. How hilarious. How many times have you railed on scouts for using phrases like that and making assumptions like that? How many are there? I get your point, but at the most basic level physical stature is important. If he's some sort of latter day Hack Wilson, he'll be the first. Dan Uggla? He's a 2B, but the point still stands. He's a short power hitter who struggles with contact sometimes. Uggla is also 6 feet tall (5'11" anyway). Yea and I'm 6'1". (I'm really 5'11, well maybe more like 5'10"ish) Robnett does look like he has the GlenAllen Hill muscle build that could be productive despite his height.

Robnett III looks like a man child in those pics on Cubsaz.com.

They could have just been gifts to all of the pitchers for helping/supporting him to get to the All-Star game rather than a prank.

Season ticket waitlist. The seats that I would have been able to get (only 1/2 hour after they went on sale) were too bad to purchase. I'd rather go to two games with good seats than 13 with bad ones. But I agree, the package was better this year... hopefully next year it will improve further then I'll buy it.

I'm the exact opposite. You'll be able to get around the VWR problem. The plan for season tickets is downright disgusting. You'll have a situation where only businesses are getting the new season ticket openings. If you read closely they mention that cash in addition to subscriptions would be a way to earn your place. That is absurd. I've been on the list for a number of years now and the thought that some company can jump in front of me because they want be able to schmooz clients rather than watch the game is downright apalling, even if I wasn't going to get on until my sixties anyway. I suppose I could get a subscription and throw it in my waiting area and write it off. But that doesn't look like it'd be enough from having people jump ahead of me. F- this corporate greed which flies in the face of the standards currently in place.

Awesome... it's months from spring training and we're already commenting on a player's weight. Just messin with you UM

+1 I hate the fact that I have to worry about Cubs' players getting injured before the season even starts. In soccer, international competition is more prestigious than club competition. Why is baseball so different? Because baseball's a real sport, Duke Boy. Or it could that it is hard for something to be presitigious that is set to occur for the 2nd time. And potentially why my 2nd annual EdwardBeerHands-a-thon didn't get much press.

If rodent hair could cause you to lose your job, you should eat something besides popcorn. It's widely known that the supplements industry is unregulated. It's happened repeatedly where players have tested positive for something they were sure was perfectly clean. Jim Miller was a highly publicized case of this in 1999. You don't just accidentally injest supplements. Either take stuff that is known to be clean, or don't take the stuff. How many times are you going to mention Jim Miller? Every time you post about this stuff? Way to cut to my obviously playful analogy and ignore the rest. And the point for that matter. HOW DO YOU KNOW IT IS CLEAN???????????????????????????????????????????? Perhaps with the scenario I suggested and I'd welcome other scenarios I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Disagree. It's the players responsibility to make sure what he's taking is legit. But if the supplement did not list an illegal substance and he did his due diligence prior to taking it, how is he supposed to know about it? How do we know he did his due diligence? How do we know he didn't take a supplement with andro so he could use it as an excuse to actually take andro? Players don't have to shop at GNC. It's an unregulated business and the labelling is completely unreliable. Every year we hear about guys being shocked about what was in there supplement. Jim Freaking Miller pulled that crap back in 1999. The bottom line is the players are responsible for what they put in their body. It's not hard to avoid the junk. Your first paragraph is a completely valid issue to raise and is the crux of the problem. But one that could be resolved if it was just talked out. The next two, however, are problematic. At some level none of us know exactly what we put in our body. Popcorn is allowed to have so much rodent hair in it... do you know you're ingesting rodent fibers when you eat popcorn? It is nearly impossible to put your body through a professional season and not take some sort of supplement. And supplements do include Protein and vitamins. Where should they get those at then? The internet... hmmm... that's pretty well regulated and you didn't like retail stores like GNC for that. I suppose an option would be for the MLB to license supplements and someone at each team test a sample from each package before they give them out to the players.

Disagree. It's the players responsibility to make sure what he's taking is legit. But if the supplement did not list an illegal substance and he did his due diligence prior to taking it, how is he supposed to know about it? Which is why the manic state that surrounds "performance enhancing drugs" in sports is absolutely ridiculous and overblown. I think you are eventually going to see more lawsuits like the one recently involving the 5 NFL players over this issue and could evolve into suits against the manufacturers(I won't get into the proof problems that they would have to deal with). All of which is sad because if this issue was approached with a level-headedness across the board a resolution could be reached to avoid some of the nonsense. 50 games for Mitre and Romero just because they took something from GNC which the league knows should not have had the substance contained in it but in fact did. Really? 'Cause that makes sense.

Yea I went to school with Hendry's Close Friend's Kids and I have not heard anything. This can't be true.

aaahhhhhhhhhhhh

I would be interested in Swisher if the price was right. I have no interest in Matsui he's old, expensive, and breaking down. I would rather have Bradley than Swisher but if we could get Swisher for a Marquis+ deal I would consider it. I wonder if the Yanks would consider a Derosa/Marquis/+ for Cano/Swisher/+ deal? We get a RF and Lefthanded bat, both had down years last year but Swisher/Cano could be solid additions to the lineup. Depending on the "+'s", why would the Yankees do that deal? It seems very Cub friendly.

As someone still desperately looking for tickets, why do you say that? Yes half of the "resale market" is people looking to make a quick buck, but the other half are fans and such who would not otherwise have this opportunity. Btw, did you read somewhere about proof of residency? No, it's just something I hope. The Cubs/Hawks didn't have to do this, and it's just something they're doing for the residents of Wrigleyville, not specifically Cubs fans. And it's all for charity, so make a quick buck on something like this when the proceeds are going to charity just seems wrong. The only exception I would give is if a seller donates everything he makes to charity, but that's highly unlikely. Would you also require persons to decline any winnings from a charity raffle? I've never understood why people care so much about what others do with Wrigley tickets.

Goodbye Mark. I don't understand why we are so against anything that Muskat says? I know she's not one for hard hitting in depth analysis but when it comes to this kind of stuff I haven't seen a single reason to trust PETER EFFING GAMMONS over her. And its not like Bruce Levine is the press's very own HoopsCubs.

I believe that rule was changed at the same time they stopped charging teams compensation for "B" level players. If that's the case, good a) I wasn't imagining things, b) it was a stupid rule.

I thought because we did not offer him arbitration that we could not sign him until like spring training or something like that?