Keener98

Griffey has some pretty good post moves. Hes going to be a valuable player for the Illini

BUBBA FOR 3!

ITS BUBBA TIME!

No TV for this one?

Not a bad run eh? Yea they came out asleep, but once they woke up, they have looked pretty good. This team is going to be fun to watch, and could be really tough come late Jan/early Feb. I'm most relieved that they've picked up the defensive intensity for the first time all year. Yea me too. We know this team is going to be able to score, but if they play some D the way Weber wants them too, watch out.

Hey Legion, keep shooting like this all year please?

Not a bad run eh? Yea they came out asleep, but once they woke up, they have looked pretty good. This team is going to be fun to watch, and could be really tough come late Jan/early Feb.

ALEX LEGION SIGHTING! Holy [expletive] again!

I have a huge mancrush on DJ Richardson.

People weren't complaining in Aug and Sept because nobody was watching..... Hendry overpaid AGAIN, and its the same thing every offseason. Overpay, overpay, outbid himself, and overpay some more.

The latest from Muskat.

You ask why age 33 matters by not age 34, but I ask why the fact that his poor season was due to injury can be so dismissed. He's an old dude who has dealt with health issues for several years. That's just a sign of more to come. You don't increase your ability to stay uninjured in your mid 30's. And while OBP is great, it's not the only thing, and a .350 isn't all that special. Low ks and putting the ball in play don't impress me. He's slower now and he's only going to get slower, he's clumsy fool in the field and that's only going to get worse. I'm not saying Castillo is the ideal, must have, go get him now, type of guy. Like I said, I just dont see us getting anything better in return for Bradley at this point, and I think Castillo does have some value. More so than Fontenot in my opinion.

I would have no problem with Castillo playing second base here next season. I think he only has one more year left on his contract. He had a nice bounce back season as a lot of intellegent baseball minds thought he might. A Baker/Fontenot platoon would be better, offensively and defensively, than Castillo. And since they are both already on the roster, why waste more money on Castillo? Defensively yea it would probably be better, but how can you say it would be better offensively? Mike Fontenot was horrible last year, and is no guarantee to improve on that, whereas Castillo has been about as consistent as you can be over the last 12 years or so. A Castillo/Baker platoon is basically guaranteed to be better offensively than Baker/Fontenot. And its not like Fontenot is some defensive whiz out there at 2nd base either. How much better? Castillo's numbers as a LH vs RHP have been all over the place, and he hasn't been particularly good for a few years now. Castillo was decent against RHP(as a LH) this past season, but was worse than Fontenot(2009) the previous two years. And Baker has been better against LHP than Castillo. Fontenot has shown at least some ability against RHP. Plus he costs WAY less than Castillo. Even if you figure 100% pay increases for both Baker and Fontenot, they would combine to make less than a third of what Castillo will get paid. Then add in that both Baker and Fontenot were much better defensively, at 2B, than Castillo this year. I'm not convinced that Castillo would be better, at best it would be a break even situation, but even if he is, would he be worth spending 3x as much at 2B. A .319 .411 line vs RH's is "just decent"? Fontenot is an unknown still at this point, he had a completely miserable year last year, and there really isnt much track record to go on with him. Hes had good minor league seasons, and shown a little promise in split time also, but he was given the job last year, and tanked. Depending on the money situation, Id bet on Castillo/Baker platoon being more productive than a Baker/Fontenot platton. In an ideal world we would just keep Bradley, but Castillo would be a pretty decent return for Bradley, in my opinion. I like Castillo/Baker in the 2 hole in front of Lee, Aram, Sori, alot more than Baker/Fontenot. Fontenot seemed completely lost last year, and no one knows if its because the book is out on him, or what.

I would have no problem with Castillo playing second base here next season. I think he only has one more year left on his contract. He had a nice bounce back season as a lot of intellegent baseball minds thought he might. A Baker/Fontenot platoon would be better, offensively and defensively, than Castillo. And since they are both already on the roster, why waste more money on Castillo? Defensively yea it would probably be better, but how can you say it would be better offensively? Mike Fontenot was horrible last year, and is no guarantee to improve on that, whereas Castillo has been about as consistent as you can be over the last 12 years or so. A Castillo/Baker platoon is basically guaranteed to be better offensively than Baker/Fontenot. And its not like Fontenot is some defensive whiz out there at 2nd base either. Luis Castillo was a consistent performer, not a particularly good one, but fairly consistent. However, he was also in his 20's and early 30's. He's 34 now, and one year removed from a horrible season. And he's under contract for 2 more seasons. The only mid-30's middle infielders I have any interest in are the elite, not the guys who had a nice career in their 20's but have hit stumbling blocks in their early 30's and are already 34. There's a fairly good chance Castillo would become the Milton Bradley of next offseason, as in the guy Hendry needs to figure out how to get rid of, likely resulting in picking up a chunk of his contract or taking back somebody else's problem. I understand the money and age argument, but my problem was with the poster saying Baker/Fontenot would be better offensively. There really is no basis for that. Also in Castillos "horrible" year he still posted a +350. OBP something hes done 11 of his last 12 years in the Majors. I think its pretty obvious Castillo was hurt in 08, and he managed to stay healthy this year and post some pretty good numbers, and numbers that would look great in the 2 spot for the Cubs. I mean why is his age 33 season more important to look at than his age 34 season when he was pretty good? His numbers may decline in the coming years but he has always been a low K guy who manages to put the ball in play. I dont see that stopping now just because hes gotten older. The key would be trying to keep him healthy obviously, and with Baker here to get some at bats, and possible Fontenot, there is a decent chance they can do that. Im not in favor of trading Bradley, but since Hendry is so hell bent on it, I think Castillo is probably about the best we can get. Id much rather have Castillo than Burrell, or Millwood.

I would have no problem with Castillo playing second base here next season. I think he only has one more year left on his contract. He had a nice bounce back season as a lot of intellegent baseball minds thought he might. A Baker/Fontenot platoon would be better, offensively and defensively, than Castillo. And since they are both already on the roster, why waste more money on Castillo? Defensively yea it would probably be better, but how can you say it would be better offensively? Mike Fontenot was horrible last year, and is no guarantee to improve on that, whereas Castillo has been about as consistent as you can be over the last 12 years or so. A Castillo/Baker platoon is basically guaranteed to be better offensively than Baker/Fontenot. And its not like Fontenot is some defensive whiz out there at 2nd base either.

Wade is easily better than Durant. Durant's great but let's not draw sweeping conclusions from one game shall we? KD is also an absolutely horrific defender too. Although from what I've seen of him so far this year he's gone from historically awful to merely terrible. He still needs a ton of work in that area. I actually think Durant is now above average. There's a guy that charts defensive possessions, and Durant's been in the positives in almost every game this year. The thunder are the fourth best defensive team in the league, if durant was really that bad we wouldn't be this good overall Obviously it's just 12 games, but defensively, he's been 100 perecent better. I actually think that's why his shooting percentages are down, he's not used to expending this much energy on D. Unless everyone else on his team is a really good defender, and his bad defense is covered up by being surrounded by really good defenders.

i think you should look at vazquez's numbers And Haren's, for that matter. And I think you guys need to look at Carpenters numbers, for that matter.

i think you should look at vazquez's numbers He has better strikeout numbers than Carp, thats it(outside of the WAR TT referenced above). Carpenters numbers are better than Vazquez

Lincecum - 8.2 WAR Vazquez - 6.6 Haren - 6.1 Wainwright - 5.7 Ubaldo - 5.7 Carpenter - 5.6 WAR isn't precise enough to be accurate to the decimal point(although I believe it's better for pitchers than hitters), but it's not like they're lunatics for voting that way. So Vazquez has better strikeout numbers and better WAR, and that makes his season better than Carp?

If its really true that Keith Law left Carpenter off his Cy Young ballot, he needs his voting rights revoked. Javier Vazquez 2nd? Come on. Also Will Carrol left Carpenter off his ballot and voted Haren 3rd wtf.

This was the best thing to come out of that postgame: Thats fantastic

Yea you are right D Wade sucks......

Mendenhall is the vs KC not Jamal Lewis. Lewis is vs Detroit. With that said, Id go Mendenall for sure, and its a toss up between Jones and Williams. I doubt Jones does much vs NE, but its hard telling how many carries Williams will get vs NO because of the chance of them getting blown out. I think I'd lean towards Williams though.

I REALLY hope Lincecum gets the NL Cy Young, just for the fact I can hear all my Cardinal fan friends bitch like crazy how Carp/Wain got screwed!

DeSean Jackson is going to tear this team apart.