CUBZ99

Yeah Dempster didn't have any blame on that steal. Yeah the other crap pitchers don't have any blame for the steals against Geo. But, hey let's keep doing the status quo Cubs. Sure it hasn't worked for 102 years, but your way is the right way. It's all curses and Bartmans. Play the superior player, it's not that hard to figure out. Molina wouldn't have thrown out Bourne on that play. There are plenty of things to fault Hill for, or Lou for that matter, but that play was not one of them.

Yeah Dempster didn't have any blame on that steal.

He has already stated that he felt terrible and that he blew the biggest call of his career. I think people need to cut the guy some slack. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=300602106

I think it is time for Ricketts to seriously look at blowing up the current team and maximizing the trade value of several players. Despite a generally poor performance as a team, there are several players that should look inviting to other teams. Lilly -- Has recovered nicely from shoulder surgery and seems to have not missed a beat. Due to the surplus of starting pitchers in the rotation and this being his last year, I got to believe that some team would overpay in prospects to have him for the rest of the year. I doubt the Cubs will be able to resign him in the offseason anyways, considering his production over the life of his contract. Lee -- Although his average is down, his OBP is still decent, his defense is spectacular and there would be some team that would give good value. Dempster -- Although it would never happen under a Hendry regime, the Cubs could realize some serious salary relief by dealing him, and they should be able to get some great prospects. Theriot -- As mentioned earlier in the thread, would be an ideal trade candidate. Fukudome -- He only has 1 1/2 years left on his contract and has put up some decent #'s this year. A team that values OBP might be willing to shell out for him.

I don't know, but this looks like the 14th Hill start, which would put him on pace for a good 40-42 starts, which would leave Soto with only 120. Koyie is getting 25% of the PA at catcher, which is too much for a terrible hitter, and leaves Soto with relatively few for a good hitting catcher forced to bat at the bottom of a bad lineup. I thought Soto has been battling some type of virus or something?

And he's owed: 10:$12M, 11:$12M (Cot's) Omar Minaya is giving Hendry a run for stupid contracts to bad pitchers. Hendry's biggest issue with pitchers is overpaying for "proven" relievers, like Grabow and Howry. But even then, he's paying Howry less than $500k total (assuming they buy him out at the end of the year). The Grabow contract is bad, but even that is $7m over 2 years, which isn't anywhere near the $24m the Mets are paying Perez. Maybe we should have co-GMs. Hendry can be in charge of signing SPs and trades with the Pirates and the other guy can be in charge of everything else. Big Z's contract is looking worse than Perez's at the moment.

ESPN is reporting that Grabow was put on the 15 day DL, as the corresponding move. Apparently he is still having knee troubles.

Looks like the Cubs would prefer a potential 8th inning reliever over a potential ace. I hate this organization. http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/05/cubs-to-call-up-cashner-gorzelanny-to-pen.html Here is the chicagosports link also.

If anyone should be deferring their contract it is Grabow. Hopefully this doesn't assist Hendry in making a terrible trade.

Lou should send the runners in this situation.

Not to mention that Carpenter is pitching.

Guess that 12 hr turn around time was a disadvantage for the Cards?

Not a great start to the series.

Don't forget to adjust for the league he's playing in. .328/.365/.498 in Boise (hitters league) .316/.351/.535 in Peoria (significant pitchers league) .291/.350/.445 in Daytona (the best league for pitchers) What numbers do you need to see him put up before you promote him? Significant period of time. When I last looked at his Daytona numbers he was something like 20th, behind a whole bunch of other corner position players, and some middle infielders. That's not dominating a league, and that's not any significant period of time either. I just don't see why he's a 20 year old in AA given his track record. Once a guy hits AA, the calls to bring him to the majors start up. I just think he's so far from being a potential big leaguer, there's no reason why he can't still be in Daytona, slowly climbing the ladder (and that wouldn't even be slow). The scouts' opinions on him have always been higher than his actual production. I don't have a problem with them pushing him to AA and challenging him if they feel he would benefit from it. At this point, I would prefer that they let him spend the rest of the year at AA and allow him the chance to adjust to more advanced pitching.

Based on past actions, it is probably not much more than ineptitude. But it could be that Jackson and/or Cashner were sore or experiencing pain and that Cubs want to play it safe. Could be that the organization is going to reward Cashner for being lights out, and feel that he is ready to pitch in Chicago, but they don't have a spot. Based on his numbers this year, it is hard to justify keeping him in Iowa beyond this year anyhow. Could be posturing for a trade for a seasoned set up person. Maybe by moving Cashner to the Iowa pen for a week, they don't appear as desperate as they really are.

Fontenot was hit in the right elbow with a fastball last night. My guess is that he is probably pretty sore and Baker is starting out of necessity.

Exactly. Unless they plan on calling up Cashner this weekend for the Cards series, and want his arm fresh, it makes absolutely no sense to move him to the bullpen in the minors. Especially considering how dominant he has been out of the starting role. What is really baffling is that the extra innings he was pitching as a starter have produced great results to this point. His command is getting much better, and it appears that he has two pretty good off speed pitches to compliment his fastball.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?This might catch me some flak, but honesty reigns: NSBB can be a very polarizing message board at times. There are, without a shadow of a doubt, many extremely intelligent, humorous and well-spoken people that post on NSBB. There's also a fair amount of elitism and a subtle bullying streak aimed towards specific members and people who aren't as well-versed in "advanced" baseball. Not saying that NSBB is a bad place - quite the contrary. It's just flawed like people in general and everything else on earth. And of course I can't say for certain that people who used to post here regularly did leave due to the above ... but I can say that if I were to leave, it would be a factor. Witnessing the alternatives first-hand, NSBB is the best Cubs board I've found. Agreed. Tim and the other mods have a nearly impossible job on this site. On one hand I'm sure they want to have intelligent baseball discussion, but on the other hand control the bullying etc. So no matter how they address situations someone is left feeling snubbed. The high caliber of posters on this board, and the minor league discussions (raisin, craig, OO, toonster, etc.) will likely keep me addicted.

I was at the game last night and lucked out getting to see Cashner. Got some pics that I will try to upload later. There is no doubt that he pitched a good game, but I have to question the scouting report from TCR. It is possible that Wellman brought a radar gun to the game or sat behind a scout with a radar gun, but according to the scoreboard radar gun Cashner wasn't pitching in the mid-90's. Do you happen to remember whether anyone else pitched above 94 last night? Minor League Ballparks are notorious for having inaccurate radar guns, so I'm curious as to whether it was a few ticks off. I think it is likely that it was a bit slow, but not sure how much. Schlitter was throwing in the 90's when he came in but nobody else touched 94. And like I said, Cashner only hit 94 on one pitch.

I was at the game last night and lucked out getting to see Cashner. Got some pics that I will try to upload later. There is no doubt that he pitched a good game, but I have to question the scouting report from TCR. It is possible that Wellman brought a radar gun to the game or sat behind a scout with a radar gun, but according to the scoreboard radar gun Cashner wasn't pitching in the mid-90's. The first inning Cashner was throwing from 86-89 with his FB and off speed pitches of about 79-82mph. His velocity did start to increase during the game and in the 4th inning he was working in the 88-91 range. I saw a couple of 92's and he topped out at 94 with one pitch toward the end of his outing. He appeared to be throwing two different off speed pitches. Slider and perhaps the change up that he has been working on? A lot of check swing strikes on the off speed stuff. There were only 3 or so well struck balls, two of which Adducci made terrific plays on. The first one just missed leaving the yard and Aducci held the hitter to a single. The second one, Adducci went into the wall and made a spectacular catch to save a run. As far as position players go, Barney looked solid at SS. He showed some range and had a better arm than I expected. Adducci had a very solid game at the plate and in the field. I was impressed with his speed and the ground he covered in the OF.

Berg is being sent down to make room for Howry.

Does that mean Jeff is safe? I could see Grabow going to the DL. He is killing the team right now and the Cubs are going to have to free up two spots in the next week. One for Howry and one to move Z back into the rotation.

http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/5205878 According to Levine it is a done deal. Howry will be with the team in Texas today.

What is Howry's velocity like this year? I looked at his splits to see if perhaps there was some glimmer of hope. Instead opposing batters are OPSing over 1.000 against him. Lefties, righties, every one seems to be teeing off on him. Maybe Rothschild sees some issue that could get him jump started, but my hope is that this is a minor league deal and they let him work it out in Iowa.

I like the Howry signing if it is true. Clearly Rothschild has the pixie dust working well with Silva. Why not give it a shot with Howry as well?