CubbieRich

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=chc Based on that link, Aardsma is on the 40-man. The asterik by Aardsma's name refers to a statement below that he is not on the 40 man active roster.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=chc

It's apparent you don't live in the Chicagoland area. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/roster_40man.jsp?c_id=chc

Not true. Eyre and Howry have been announced and they're not on the 40-man roster yet. Eyre and Howry are on the 40 man active roster. Aardsma is not at this point.

won't happen until there is a 40-man roster move. I am sure there is some rules obligation to not announce it or have Mabry officially sign a contract, until there is a roster spot open. Dave Kaplan of WGN thinks that something will happen this week on the trade front.

If you're going to be that specific for his job title, then give the name. Otherwise....

Well, at least he was close. He did name a Robinson that was a star for the late 60s and early 70s Orioles. :D Mrs. Robinson, she was a star in the 60's and knows alot about small men in their 20's who have lost their direction. Just ask Ben(Dustin Hoffman).

I have friends in Nevada who say that Las Vegas could be the next home of the Marlins. There is apparently a number of stadium designs in the works and the financing will come from private investors and some hotel properties. The kicker is that they want the team from Jeff Laurie. They don't trust him(funny that someone in Las Vegas wouldn't trust someone). There are problems with MLB and open gambling, but the market has 25 million+ visitors and fast growing area. This also makes sense in the long range plan of Bud and MLB to have more geographic rivalries. The Marlins move into the NL West and the Pirates would be moved into the NL East. Just passing it along.

I believe the Cubs hold a buyout of about $3.5 million for 2007 and the Cubs should do that. They simply can not afford to pay him so much, especially for a #3 starter at best.

At $12 million+ in 2006, if the oft-injured esrstwhile Kerry has a Cy Young season, do you think he would take a paycut for 2007 and beyond? He's overpaid now and the Cubs aren't going to pay him more money in the future. Trade him for anything, if merely to clear the salary drag off the books.

I did it four years ago and it feels really good. I know there's somebody ready to take my place, but it makes me feel a little better. I don't know why but the whole "Wrigley" experience doesn't mean a lot to me anymore. A World Series title is more important to me and I won't go back until I feel the effort is being made toward that goal. I believe the disturbing price increase is for bleacher seats into the $40 range. That's pretty steep if you want to take your family. I don't know if there is a site or information about how Wrigley seating is broken down-how many total seats in each category. That would give all of us an idea what kind of potential $$$ would make for attendance alone. It is still nice to go there. I like the experience, but I'd trade the Wrigley experience for a title in an instant.

Ned's 23 year old son is quite smart also and a baseball fanatic. He just graduated college and is looking to join the front office of a team. I'm thinking Ned could give him some valuable experience.

throwing at batters and then sitting in the dugout afraid to come out. He did it with the White Sox(ask the Orioles in the playoffs), he did it with Oakland and he's doing it with St. Louis. It's one thing to pitch inside, it's another to go head-hunting. As much as I wish Dusty was a little more active in the dugout, I'll give him that he won't stand there and let Cubs batters be tossed at. Larussa can't take it to be shown up. Morris hits one of the Cubs and Prior knocks Morris down twice. Larussa wet his pants...as did Morris. As to the classless St. Louis organization, it is a far cry from the days of A-B owning them. Gussie Busch would not put up with this nonsense. The list of former Cardinals who have issues with the current ownership and manager is quite long: Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, Jeff Brantley, Andy Van Slyke, etc..

This organization is really low class. They fired Hagin after having him sign some medical papers and then WHOP! Shannon is a strange bird. He married a distant relative of the Busch family and the team and Al Fleischman(PR guy) put him in the radio/tv booth. Jack Buck NEVER liked him and didn't mention him at all in his book, although he spent more years with Shannon than Harry Caray. Joe Buck doesn't care for him either. Shannon is so bad, that few professional announcers can work with him and not get sick. The joke is they dumped KMOX for a very small radio station, which the team owns a part of. Ad sales for next year are way down, they needed a boost.

I agree that the Cubs would be foolish to say 'they will spend whatever it takes' to land any player. Hendry has been quiet so far, preferring to stay out of the fray. Sullivan is just like Sam Smith(TRIB basketball columnist) he throws out all kinds of stuff-most of it just to get people to read their columns. Things are a little slow right now on the trade front, but these guys still have to crank out columns. Here are some of the random items I have read(don't know where): The Yankees and the Red Sox(if Damon leaves) would be interested in Corey Patterson for CF. Giles can't cover 'death valley' at Yankee Stadium at his age. CPat is cheap and while his hitting is pretty screwed up, he can still cover CF. The Cubs are interested in looking at another 'Woody' for Spring Training- Former Giants LH. Aubrey Huff may not be the player everyone thought. There were reports of his defensive problems. Does this make him less attractive for a possible Cubs trade? Speaking of Tampa Bay, what are they going to do about Jonny Gomes? Is Pirate SS Jack Wilson suddenly on the block?

I'd say that the Dodgers will make a move on Theo Epstein pretty quick this week. Whether Theo is interested or not, I can't say. The Dodgers are a mess right now and Tommy Lasorda has his hands back in the advising ownership mix. Used to be the Dodgers were one of the best teams at developing younger players who were skilled in fundamentals. Our old friend Ned Colletti, now with the Giants front office, was supposed to talk with the Dodgers last week about the GM job.

WHIP is fatally flawed, because it excludes: 1) HBP-Which is the responsibility of the pitcher. 2) No distinction between a walk and a HR. Two pitchers could have similar 1.0 WHIP. One gives up a single per inning with no runs scoring for 7 innings, while another has a HBP and a HR per inning. Both would have the same WHIP-but one has a shutout, while the other has given up 14 runs. By the way, in oft-injured Kerry Wood's best year(2003) he had 21 HBP. I checked on the correlation between 'great pitchers' with 'Wins' and 'WHIP'. My source is Baseball-Reference.Com. The 10 All-Time WHIP leaders are: Addie Jones, Ed Walsh, Pedro Martinez, John Ward, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Moredcai Brown, Charlie Sweeney, Reb Russell and Joe Wood. The 10 All-Time WIN leaders(with their WHIP #) are: Cy Young(35), Walter Johnson(6), Pete Alexander(31), Christy Mathewson(52), Pud Galvin(NA), Warren Spahn(NA), Kid Nichols(NA), Tim Keefe(NA), Roger Clemens(85) and Steve Carlton(NA). In fact, of the Top 100 winningest pitchers all-time(about 200+ victories), less than 15 are ranked in the Top 100 WHIP category. That means pitchers with higher WHIP(#-101+ all time) include: Warren Spahn(363 wins), Steve Carlton(329 wins), Nolan Ryan(324 wins), Phil Niekro(318 wins), Lefty Grove(300 wins), Early Wynn(330 wins), Tommy John, Bert Blyleven, Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Tom Glavine, Bob Feller, Bob Gibson. We needn't worry about Kerry Wood ever reaching 250 wins or HOF status.

I didn't hear that one, but I'm sure you could post a link that I could do so. I did find proof to the contrary from TSN: Not only did he change his mechanics, but his approach. I'll be looking for that ESPN proof.

Wal-Mart loss is Burger King's gain.

It's like evaluating a QB by W/L record and pass attempts. Like Brady? Wins by Brady mean nothing to this bunch.

I asked you a couple weeks ago how your performance is measured at your place of employment. You seemed unable to give me an answer. Why not begin by telling how performance is measured at your place of work before asking it of others, or will the SCORE not let you divulge that information? USS is the the one that says performance doesn't matter in his work. I'm sure as a 'teacher', you have certain standards and requirements which must be met. I can tell you that teachers are underpaid for the contributions they make to our society. Nonetheless, they too have reviews from superiors based on previous performances and goals for the year.

Way to dance away from the truth about performance. Baseball-Reference, certainly a non-biased source, lists similiar pitchers and players. Here are the top 3 'similiar pitchers' for those mentioned. Roger Clemens: Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux, Steve Carlton Randy Johnson:: Jim Palmer, Bob Gibson, Bob Feller Kerry Wood: Dave Boswell, Steve Busby, Jim Nash Standards never change. 20 wins in a year, .300 BA, 100 RBI, under 2.00 ERA, etc... You can project all the numbers you want and say 'what if?'..but you have to produce on the field.

I asked you a couple weeks ago how your performance is measured at your place of employment. You seemed unable to give me an answer. What does USS' performance measurement at work have to do with anything? This is about how to measure a pitcher's performance and you can't measure that by wins. Wins is a team stat. Roger Clemens is the perfect example. He only won 13 games this year because the Astros' offense was pathetic behind him. He had the best ERA in the game. If he were playing for the Cardinals he would probably have had more wins than Carpenter this year. Clemens and Wood are not even in the same league. Clemens has won with every team-good and bad. Clemens finishes what he starts.

Very true. To measure a pitcher with a stat that he has at best 50% control of the outcome is ludicrous, ridiculous, and assinine. I don't care if people have been doing it for years, its still a foolish way to look at things. I think a refresher course in Baseball 101 is needed. 20 wins in a season, 250+ wins for a career are the standards by which starting pitching is measured. You can't dress up that pig to look like a winner.

I asked you a couple weeks ago how your performance is measured at your place of employment. You seemed unable to give me an answer.