vance_the_cubs_fan

I want a championship any way we can get one.

You must be too young to remember Maddux before he went to the Braves.

A cursory look at the numbers in the AL, puts out four true contenders for the Cy Young: Santana, Halladay, Schilling, and Verlander. Had he not been hurt, Liriano could have joined this group, but when taking everything into account, these are the four that have a realistic shot. Beginning with ERA, Santana takes the lead. 1. Santana- 3.03 2. Verlander- 3.05 3. Halladay- 3.18 4. Schilling- 3.84 Santana has such a narrow lead over Verlander that at this stage it is impossible to separate the two. Halladay is close behind at third, and if we based things on ERA alone, Schilling wouldn't even be in the conversation. Moving from ERA to WHIP, Santana remains the leader, but Verlander suddenly looks like the one who doesn't belong. 1. Santana 1.03 2. Halladay 1.10 3. Schilling 1.16 4. Verlander 1.24 After taking these two stats together, I'd rank the contenders Santana, Halladay, Verlander, and Schilling. Moving to win shares, my rankings above become more justified. 1. Santana- 17 T2. Halladay 16 T2 Verlander 16 4. Schilling. Moving to PRC (Pitching Runs Created), Santana really shows his accendency. 1. Santana 120 2. Halladay 99 3. Schilling 96 4. Verlander 88 Based on all of this, I'd rank them just as I did after the first two stats. Santana looks to be the most deserving. Halladay barely edges Verlander for the second spot. Schilling brings up the fourth spot. Now, considering the balloters preference for W-L, record, we take a cursory look. 1. Halladay 16-3 2. Santana 15-5 3. Verlander 15-6 4. Schilling 14-5 Halladay has the lead there, but there's enough time for each of the contenders to close the gap. If Halladay continues to win, he will steal a lot of votes in the eyes of the voters, especially if he keeps the ERA as close to Santana as it currently is. Based on everything, I stand behind my rankings of Santana as the winner with Halladay and Verlander trailing by just a little.

When the results are in, we'll see if he finishes any higher than fifth in the voting. My guess is he won't. The only stat that Johnson finishes high in is ERA. While some may value that over all others, he doesn't have enough in other categories to win the award. I think the top three contenders will be Webb, Zambrano, and Carpenter. While much can change in a month, I think those three will be the top three vote getters as well. Webb should be the winner based on his performance thus far.

I doubt Johnson gets any real consideration. His ERA at 2.90 would lead the league, but he doesn't have enough IP to qualify. His 1.27 WHIP would rank him ahead of Zambrano, but still at the bottom of the list. His PRC is only 72 which is well below the leaders and 28 below Zambrano. He only has 10 pitching win shares, which is just over half-way to Webb's 19. His record of 11-6 likely takes him out of any national consideration. Johnson is putting up a nice season, but I doubt he receives any first place votes for the Cy Young and my guess is he won't finish higher than fifth in the voting. For those reasons, I didn't include him in my discussion.

The Drew Hensen experiment has ended in Dallas. Link

I've heard they sell like hotcakes! I wonder when Veal will be on a non-minor-league card. I've heard if you need one, ask Olin. He's cornered the market on them. BTW, does anyone know if Paweleck's brother is still selling his autograph? :lol:

Is this not for games that start at 7:10? Players start showing up at 1:00? How many teams in the league are practicing on their fields 4+ hours before gametime? I think this is a non-story. I think the Cubs could find the type to practice is they wanted to, but like everything else, they look to excuses to explain failure instead of solutions. For games starting at 7:00, players usually arrive between 2-3. On the other hand, I've seen players arrive as early as 1:00. While regular BP likely doesn't begin until 4:30 or later, I can see how having corporate people on the field up until 3:30 could be disruptive. I'm not saying it's the cause or even a major factor, but it's something that shouldn't be allowed. If the team wants access to the field on game days, they should have it and not have to worry about a bunch of out of shape men having a hitting clinic.

I agree that Webb should be the hands-down favorite. I think Zambrano will have quite a bit of support in the national media. In many ways, I hope Zambrano doesn't win it as it will make him even more expensive to retain as a Cub.

We should care that Hendry might see Alou as an appropriate replacement to Baker.

This is a practice that should end. For an afternoon game, players usually begin arriving at the park around 1:30. There should be a cut-off time of 1:00-1:30 for anyone wanting to use the field when there is a game that night. I find this practice deplorable.

For MVP, I think it factors greatly. For the Cy Young, I'm not sure it matters as much.

There's a lot of talk in the Chicago media about Zambrano's chances for the Cy Young. The Cubs' victory yesterday moved Zambrano, at least temporarily, in the lead for wins in the National League. So, how does the race shake out? I've narrowed the field to seven contenders: Zambrano, Smoltz, Webb, Schmidt, Carpenter, Arroyo, and Oswalt. When beginning with ERA, Zambrano ranks in the bottom half of this group. 1. Webb- 2.99 2. Carpenter- 3.05 T3 Oswalt- 3.23 Schmidt- 3.23 5. Zambrano- 3.31 6. Smoltz- 3.46 7. Arroyo- 3.44 Judging on ERA alone, Webb and Carpenter would be the front-runners. Zambrano also doesn't fare well when looking at the WHIP of this group either. In fact, Zambrano is last among this group in WHIP. 1. Carpenter- 1.08 2. Smoltz- 1.15 3. Schmidt- 1.18 4. Webb- 1.20 5. Arroyo- 1.22 6. Oswalt- 1.23 7. Zambrano - 1.28 When looking at the above categories only, Zambrano has a hard climb in order to win the award. Based only on those two categories, I'd likely give the nod to Carpenter with Webb a close second. Moving on to win shares, and Zambrano leaps to the top of the field, finishing only behind Webb. In fact, win shares seem to break the field into a top two and then a second tier. 1. Webb- 17 2. Zambrano- 16 T3. Carpenter 13 Arroyo 13 T5 Smoltz 12 Oswalt 12 Schmidt 12 Of course, looking at pitching win shares changes these a bit as Zambrano is the only one of the group receiving a positive (nearly a full win share) because of his bat. The rest receive none and some losing a full win share because of their bat. Adjusted to remove batting win shares, the list looks like this: 1. Webb- 19 2. Zambrano- 15.2 3. Arroyo- 14.8 4. Carpenter- 14.5 5. Schmidt- 14.4 6. Oswalt- 13.4 7. Smoltz- 13.2 After that adjustment, Zambrano moves closer to his peers while Webb jumps even further ahead of the field. After observing those stats, Webb becomes my favorite for the award with Carpenter and Zambrano trailing behind. Taking a final stat or PRC which is a stat designed to emulate the RC stat used for hitters puts Zambrano at the top. 1. Zambrano- 100 2. Smoltz- 98 3. Webb- 97 4. Schmidt- 95 5. Carpenter- 95 6. Arroyo- 91 7. Oswalt- 90 While this stat is meant to be comprehensive, I'm still not convinced Zambrano should be at the top. I'm still ranking my Cy contenders as 1. Webb Zambrano and Carpenter are following close behind. Finally, we'll look at each pitcher's record. I'm adverse to doing this, because personally, I find it irrelevant. We do, however, know the Cy Young voters will look at it. 1. Zambrano: 14-5 2. Webb: 13-5 3. Carpenter 12-6 4. Smoltz 11-6 5. Schmidt 10-7 6. Arroyo 10-8 7. Oswalt 10-8 Based on this, and the way voters think, I can assume that the race is down to Zambrano, Webb, Carpenter, and Smoltz. The winning percentages of the remaining three are not good enough to warrant consideration. In my own opinion, Zambrano is third behind Webb and Carpenter. He's close enough for me to believe he could overtake them. My guess is the voters see it differently. My guess is that in the minds of the voters, Zambrano and Webb are neck and neck and that Carpenter trails by a good margin with Smoltz a distant fourth. Each start for those four will be critical and one disaster could eliminate any of the four.

Good luck trying to get an Olin Wick baseball card.

Dusty qualifies valuable players into two categories. Hitters that can slug and hit homers. Hitters that can't but are fast. If you aren't fast, you have to hit homers to be valuable to Dusty. That's why Dusty likely values Pagan and Bynum over Murton. Murton isn't fast enough to make up for his lack of power.

This is where I am at. Marcus is past his prime. Unless he comes at a seriously reduced price, I would pass. He'll be 29 next season. I don't see how that is past his prime.

Oooh boy. I'm speechless in regards to this quote...or maybe I've just become desensitized.

Your going to be very upset when Schmdit lands on the DL in the first month with shoulder problems. Zito is the best pitcher on the FA list. Are you sure? ERA + Last three seasons. Zito- 04: 99; 05: 110; 06: 121 Schmidt- 04: 139; 05: 95; 06: 134 I trust Zito's health a lot more than I trust Schmidt's. I trust Schmidt's ability to get hitters out more than Zito's.

Your going to be very upset when Schmdit lands on the DL in the first month with shoulder problems. Zito is the best pitcher on the FA list. Are you sure? ERA + Last three seasons. Zito- 04: 99; 05: 110; 06: 121 Schmidt- 04: 139; 05: 95; 06: 134

Thank-you. Another vote for my favorite, the underdog, Scott Moore.

But he did have those months. In seven seasons, Pierre has had TWO seasons in which he posted a better than 370 OBP. He's not likely to do that again. This year his OBP is 330. It was 326 last season. His career OBP is 351. A few hot months does not erase his entire career. If you want a lead-off hitter with a better than 350 OBP, you shouldn't look to Pierre. He's not likely to best that mark. There really isnt anybody else out there. Who would you suggest? I would use Giles there if I weren't able to acquire a better option. I've already posted what I'd do. If I could trade for Giles, I'd attempt to get Sheff on a one-year deal and hope for good health. 2b Giles LF Murton 1b Lee RF Sheffield 3b Ramirez CF Jones C Barrett SS Izturis That could have the makings of a very potent line-up. I also might be tempted to see how much it would take for the Braves to trade both Giles and A. Jones.

what do you expect? you post a stupid article by a casual fan/writer and you get responses, some absurd, some intelligent. you might as well have posted a link to an article by an amateur hyper-religious astronomer claiming that copernicus was an idiot and that the earth, in fact, is the center of the universe while using the "epicycle" argument to back his theory up. also, dinosaurs did not exist, discuss. Its exactly the response I expected, which is why I posted it. The quote was a cursory, fairly benign statement that was meant, at least in part, in jest. I wanted to see how far people would go in overreacting to it. It was good for a laugh. So, you were trolling for a response. Ok, I'm glad we cleared that up.

It's a night game. Dem whities perform better when the sun isn't out.

But he did have those months. In seven seasons, Pierre has had TWO seasons in which he posted a better than 370 OBP. He's not likely to do that again. This year his OBP is 330. It was 326 last season. His career OBP is 351. A few hot months does not erase his entire career. If you want a lead-off hitter with a better than 350 OBP, you shouldn't look to Pierre. He's not likely to best that mark.

And yet you're all about Juan Pierre. I was wondering about that myself. Me three.