Knightlife_in_Lubbock

Thank you for taking time and stopping by Mr. Kasper. My questions to you: Who is the one person you have met in your life (other than relatives) that you are truly glad you did? and why? If you could go back in time what one person would you really like to meet and why? What is a "normal" day like for you? You and Mr. Brenly are doing a great job and I hope you guys stay for a long time to come.

Ah, the old "if you take away stat X" argument. You can make any point by taking away any inconvenient stats. See all arguments regarding Neifi's hot April. Or is it now the post-AS stats? :wink:

Move on? What a great philosophy! Living with an overpaid player instead of critiquing the value of the deal or the competency of the decision does make for a more enjoyable Cub fan experience. I mean, why would it at all be material to a Cubs board to create a post denoting that its aging pitcher with deteriorating skills just vested an option making him one of the highest paid player on the team? It provides no insight into the organization's skills in evaluation and negotiation. Having locked up another rotation spot has no bearing on the offseason pursuit of free agents or the promotion of farm hands. I don't know where my head was. Perhaps I, too, can find some sand to bury it in. What about the highest paid guy? What does it say about the organization when they drop that kind of money on "the possiblities"? I agree that Maddux wasn't the pitcher he was 5 or 6 years ago when the Cubs signed him to this deal. But to say that Wood's contract wasn't a bigger gamble at it's current rate is a bit nearsighted (no offense to those members who are). He (Wood) has been a injury waiting to happen again and the Cubs knew that when they inked that deal and got burnt. Even if Wood comes back and say wins 25 games next year does that make his deal even a decent one?

My animosity is toward Hendry for once again overpaying for underperformance. Exactly. This is an issue that probably is more relevant to the Cubs' poor planning and lack of vision. Maddux's option for 400 innings wasn't ever really in question. Being the icon that he is, Maddux was never going to be sat down, no matter how much he struggled. In addition, his injury history (or lack thereof) and his yearly accumulated innings numbers left little doubt that Maddux's option would vest. Maddux's $9M in 2006 can't be justified as money the Cubs expect him to earn. Even if you average out his salary for 3 years, $8M is too much to have expected to spend on him. The Cubs are paying for past performance and will likely suffer for it. Based on last year's and this year's money and games started and won Total Sal GS W $/GS $/W Maddux $15mill 62 27 $241,935 $555,555 Wood $17.5mill 32 11 $546,875 $1,590,909 Prior $6.7mill 44 16 $152,272 $418,750 Z $4.21mill 59 28 $71,355 $150,357

Agonz has neifi in OBP and slug this year, for the record. and he's cheaper A-Gone is not cheaper than Neifi $1.75 mill vs. $1.00 mill and he is .008 higher in OPS. Not worth the extra $750,000 this year. Neifi has incentives that come with playing time that increase his contract up to 2.5 mil total. I'd bet that he's made up the 750k difference, since I don't know the specifics of the incentives. Neifi's numbers since all-star break (min 75 AB): http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?seasonType=2&type=reg&sort=avg&minpa=75&split=182&season=2005&pos=all&hand=a&league=mlb&ageMin=17&ageMax=51

Agonz has neifi in OBP and slug this year, for the record. and he's cheaper A-Gone is not cheaper than Neifi $1.75 mill vs. $1.00 mill and he is .008 higher in OPS. Not worth the extra $750,000 this year.

Chan Ho Park: C. Park 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 era [b]6.66 [/b]

Who pinch hit Cuse? Not me. I didn't know he was on the bench.

Sure it wasn't Dan Wheldon from the IRL? He's the guy that won the INdy 500 this year.

And who should be ahead of him? Corey? :roll: :roll: Hank?

His .281 OBP outside of April is tied for 40th out of 44 SS with 100 PA's. He's bad compared to everyone. Why do you keep dropping April off? Wasn't it part of this season? 23 games to be exact of which Neifi played in 21. So far his numbers for August are matching his April numbers. Maybe he should start months that start in "A"? Notice how it's generally a pick and choose around here? There have only been a few people on here mention that Lee is hitting around .280 since the middle of June. But because of his great first half, we should just ignore that his career numbers don't suggest that that's the real Lee. Yet, we rely on career numbers for Perez. I don't know what ticks me off more, me sounding as if I'm defending a scrub like Perez or the bias shown by some of certain Cub players. Call it picking and choosing if you like, but the fact is that Neifi's April was a fluke, and showing what he's done outside that month(which is closer to his career norms away from Coors) is probably a better indication of what he will do in the future, since we're talking about next year. Not many people have mentioned Lee dropping off. I don't see what the point is. I haven't seen any threads discussing Lee's future production with the team, it's not like people are analyzing his numbers often and conveniently leaving it out. August so far: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc&cat=OPS&season=2005&split=44&seasonType=2&type=reg With half the at bats as previous months, and a 5-12, 2 BB, 2 2B, 1 HR trip to Coors. How about post AS numbers: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?seasonType=2&type=reg&sort=OPS&minpa=0&split=182&season=2005&pos=ss&hand=a&league=mlb&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&qual=false

His .281 OBP outside of April is tied for 40th out of 44 SS with 100 PA's. He's bad compared to everyone. Why do you keep dropping April off? Wasn't it part of this season? 23 games to be exact of which Neifi played in 21. So far his numbers for August are matching his April numbers. Maybe he should start months that start in "A"? Notice how it's generally a pick and choose around here? There have only been a few people on here mention that Lee is hitting around .280 since the middle of June. But because of his great first half, we should just ignore that his career numbers don't suggest that that's the real Lee. Yet, we rely on career numbers for Perez. I don't know what ticks me off more, me sounding as if I'm defending a scrub like Perez or the bias shown by some of certain Cub players. Call it picking and choosing if you like, but the fact is that Neifi's April was a fluke, and showing what he's done outside that month(which is closer to his career norms away from Coors) is probably a better indication of what he will do in the future, since we're talking about next year. Not many people have mentioned Lee dropping off. I don't see what the point is. I haven't seen any threads discussing Lee's future production with the team, it's not like people are analyzing his numbers often and conveniently leaving it out. August so far: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc&cat=OPS&season=2005&split=44&seasonType=2&type=reg

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2141102

His .281 OBP outside of April is tied for 40th out of 44 SS with 100 PA's. He's bad compared to everyone. Why do you keep dropping April off? Wasn't it part of this season? 23 games to be exact of which Neifi played in 21. So far his numbers for August are matching his April numbers. Maybe he should start months that start in "A"?

Seems a little low to me. Look at his post AS numbers: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc&cat=OPS&season=2005&split=182&seasonType=2&type=reg

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2136760

I think you may want to back Burnitz off that list: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/batting?team=chc&cat=OPS&season=2005&split=182&seasonType=2&type=reg

For a 1-pitch AB? Who do you think would be better?

Come on Corey. They just pitched around Neifi. BOOOOOOOOOOOO!

How about using the student body name? Orange Crush much meaner and just sounds better than Orangemen.

What about Tae-Bo?

I vote other: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8840426/

You forgot to mention that Chief Illiniwek's costume more closely resembles something that would be worn by the Sioux- hated enemies of the Illini. I understand the argument that people are offended and all that. On the other hand, it seems to me that there should be a way to honor the memory of the now extinct Illini tribe in a way that celebrates their good qualities without having to abandon tradition. Some ideas: Get an authentic costume. Dressing Chief Illiniwek as a Sioux is too generic and therefore not much better than the Cleveland Wahoo. Perform a dance that might actually have been performed by a Native American rather than by a gymnast. Require undergrads to take a course to learn about who the Illini were. I believe it's possible to honor the Native people of Illinois for who they were without altering 140 years of tradition. The Boy Scouts, for example, use a lot of Native American symbolism/ imagery/ legends in a very respectful way. Because I was once a Boy Scout I've always thought of Native Americans as reluctant warriors that fought because they had to. Don't we risk forgeting that if we eliminate all these names that are deemed offensive? Sure we could pay tribute by building statues or museums but more people go to sports events. Hello, Tim McGraw's song, Indian Outlaw mentions the Cherokee, Chippewa, and the Choctaw:

Maybe Purdue should get Jim Beam or Jack Daniels to lend their name (and money) to their sports arena? "Welcome folks to tonight's Big Ten match-up between The Fighting Illini, minus their mascot, and the Purdue Boilermakers from The Jack Daniels Mackey Arena here in West Lafayette, Indiana." You know, the funny thing is that the term "Boiler Makers" was originally used as an insult against Purdue in a newspaper article after Purdue beat the snot out of Wabash in football back in the late 1800s. The name stuck, and the school adopted the nickname soon after. With all this talk about whether or not some of these school names are meant to be a tribute or not, Purdue's nickname originated as an insult from a sports writer. I should be offended...maybe I'll protest. Good point. Skip next year's post-season... nevermind. That's what the people from Thad Motta's hometown say about their high school nickname.....cornjerkers!

definition of a boilermaker: Maybe Purdue should get Jim Beam or Jack Daniels to lend their name (and money) to their sports arena? "Welcome folks to tonight's Big Ten match-up between The Fighting Illini, minus their mascot, and the Purdue Boilermakers from The Jack Daniels Mackey Arena here in West Lafayette, Indiana."