anemic offense

Yeah but first to thirds and hit and runs aren't important. :D

I forgot to add I'm pretty torn on his signing. Can't really decide if its good or bad. As always, I reserve the right to rip it if he fails (or praise it if he works out). :lol:

Hendry's handling of the farm system is far from his biggest problem. All one needs to do is look at his FA pickups the last several years to see where he's erred. He's missed on LT, Remy, Maddux (IMO, he way overpaid for him), Burnitz (not bad but overpaid), Fox, Jones (jury's still out but he is overpaid as well), Merk, Lenny Harris, etc. Really, outside of the guys he's extended, Rusch and Dempster are about the only FAs he's signed that were worth a damn. If Hendry hadn't missed so badly in FA the last few years I think we'd have at least one more playoff performance to show for it.

But speed is reflected quite well in the traditional stats. It's what gives Jaun Pierre a a higher batting average than a pitcher. It allows Jaun Pierre to play CF and thus stay in the major leagues. It gives Jaun Pierre an ISO above .10 because he can leg out XBHs. Baseball is uniquely able to be measured (as opposed to an offensive lineman's contribution). If you have no statistical basis for something in baseball, it's the Loch Ness Monster. Not really. Things like 1st to 3rds, or staying out of the DP don't show up in a box score. The same can be said for WHEN Juan steals a base, or when he lays down a bunt. If done successfully, these things are much more important in close games than in a blowout. This was a MAJOR problem last year. Not only did this team not score ENOUGH runs, they were extremely poor at gettin them when they counted. This team was great at piling on the runs when scoring 10+, but they were rather inept at scoring when it was close. I think this team's added abilities to bunt, steal, hit and run, go 1st to from first to third, and stay out of the double play will help us in close games. But, its not going to solve the problem all by itself.

No, I was telling people they can't as in they shouldn't. I should have worded it differently.

I don't know about that, although I would think a speedy pinch hitter may be more useful in certain situations. Coming up when one can ill-afford to hit into a double play comes immediately to mind.

I liked it. It didn't appear as if he was trying to hit him, and it was one of those plunger syringes without a needle. No malice, no harmful objects, just good clean fun. If Barry can make millions off of cheating then I think a fan should be able to pull off this gag. But we all know the fan's going to be crucified (by MLB that is).

It's amazing some of those late 80s teams didn't make it. Ryno was just shy of 30 ( think), and the teams had Grace, Dunston, Rafy, Maddog, Moyer, Bilecki (I think), Berryhill, Smith, Walton, all young guys.

The Edmonds one made me laugh right away. :lol:

So you admit that speed is not as important as OBP, but then you claim it's sickeninig that people don't think it's as important as OBP? Goony, you're putting words in his mouth. Where in his initial post (or any subsequent post) did he claim that it's sickening that people don't thinkit's important as OBP? He merely mentioned that Speed can and will play a huge part in the Cubs team this year - which is accurate. uh... Ok, I'm wrong. I'm gonna go crawl back into the whole from whence I came. :oops: Sorry Goony. No you weren't because I never said it was sickening people don't think its as important as OBP. That part was inserted by Goony. You should have had more faith in your initial assertion. :P

I agree. And I never said it won us today's game (obviously it didn't). But the presence of speed was so profound, as was the ability to put it to good use, that one can easily surmise it will help us win a hand full of games this year. It's not going to do so by itself, but in a close game where we can manipulate situations and runs with our speed, it will nab us a few. That's what I'm saying.

So you admit that speed is not as important as OBP, but then you claim it's sickeninig that people don't think it's as important as OBP? A fast player with no OBP isn't as good as a slow player with lots of OBP. If two guys have the same OBP, it's better to have the faster guy. But speed is already partly factored into OBP, because if a guy is fast he should be beating out more balls than others, which helps his OBP. Is it really necessary to critique people who aren't as enamored of speed as you when you praise the speed of this team? I don't see the point. I don't think anybody is wishing for a slow team, or slower players. I think a lot of people put speed down the list of definitions of a good player. Speed is neither necessary to be good, nor does it guarantee you will be good. It's a small part of the package, but it can still be impactful. I never said that it was as important as OBP! Find that in ANY of my posts and I'll give you a 100 bucks. But you cant' so I won't have to. For the millionth time I have NEVER stated speed was as important as OBP. However, when I HAVE stated that I thought speed could win us a few games, and that Pierre (specifically) adds a dimension to this team numbers can't quantify, I've the statistically inclined posters telling me if "well you can't prove that". Well from a numbers standpoint, your right I can't, but after watching today's game you'd have to be a fool to say this team's speed won't be an added X factor (and win us a few extra games, namely close ones). I don't understand where all this "speed is more important than OBP" crap is coming from. Not from me.

Actually, scoring speed is extremely easy. Just grab a stopwatch. And scoring the use of said speed isn't too difficult either. So I don't see at all how saying speed is important somehow implies it matters more than stats, especially considering said stats include that speed. Here we go again :roll: . The point of this thread IS NOT that speed is more important than stats, or other facets of the game. Its' just that it gets SICKENING how some (not all) can discredit its importance because its not next to OBP and HRs in the statbook. Look, I'll be the first to admit OBP and other things are much more important than speed. However as we saw today, our increase in overall team speed will be an asset which will put us over the top in more than a few games. I wont debate that the speed will put us over the top in a few games. And I even recognize it's importance in keeping us from being so streaky as we've been the last few years. But what I could debate is that the cost of that speed might keep us from winning an equal number. Yeah, given two guys with roughly equal abilities, where one is much faster than the other, it's obvious what to do. But if you give me the option of Juan Pierre or Grady Sizemore, I'll pick Sizemore everytime. Sizemore's better Slug% more than makes up for the difference in speed. Speed certainly is an asset. It's just not as much of a valuable asset to a large-market team like the Cubs. We can afford better talent than a guy like Juan Pierre, no matter how fast he is. Now I certainly don't mean to discredit speed as being unimportant by any means, but I think it is important to keep things in perspective. That all being said, I looooooved watching Pagan burning today. Gotcha. I agree with that. A lot of what I said was in retort to some of the complaining associated with the Pierre trade. Sure Juan Pierre's not the greatest player in the world and he certainly wouldn't have been first choice if I had my pick of the litter. However, when people routinely used his stats to make the argument he wasn't very good, they were leaving out an aspect of his name numbers can't qualify. Every now and then you stumble upon players who are better seen in person than they are from the boxscore. I think Pierre is one of those guys.

Not by me. I just find it unbelievable how many try to diminish the importance of non-Moneyball facets of the game. That's not to say speed in and of itself will win games, however when watching today's game it was pretty easy to see it will be a determining factor in many. I thought it was importnat, that's all. I find it unbelievable that people still use phrases like "moneyball facets of the game." Some people choose not to glorify speed as the greatest thing in the game of baseball. If you want to call that "diminishing the importance" go right ahead. I never said it was THE greatest thing. You sure are good at putting words in my mouth.

Actually, scoring speed is extremely easy. Just grab a stopwatch. And scoring the use of said speed isn't too difficult either. So I don't see at all how saying speed is important somehow implies it matters more than stats, especially considering said stats include that speed. Here we go again :roll: . The point of this thread IS NOT that speed is more important than stats, or other facets of the game. Its' just that it gets SICKENING how some (not all) can discredit its importance because its not next to OBP and HRs in the statbook. Look, I'll be the first to admit OBP and other things are much more important than speed. However as we saw today, our increase in overall team speed will be an asset which will put us over the top in more than a few games.

Everybody knew wht you meant. Besides, there SHOULD be a game tommorrow anyway, but that's a whole other issue.

Not by me. I just find it unbelievable how many try to diminish the importance of non-Moneyball facets of the game. That's not to say speed in and of itself will win games, however when watching today's game it was pretty easy to see it will be a determining factor in many. I thought it was importnat, that's all.

What parts of his body HASN'T he injured?? An eye maybe??

It played a HUGE factor in today's game, and its presence should be prevalent throughout the season. Stats can be a great measure of one's performance, but it doesn't do many facets a great deal of justice. It's not just the ability to score with speed that's important, its being able to use it in certain situations thereby manipulating runs (in close games) which is. IMO, it will win us a substantial amount of games this season.

Yeah. The Tirb has this guy named Phil Rogers who writes the most wonderfully constructed, and well-thought out opines on the web. You really should check him out sometime. :lol:

Recently I've just been going to chicagosports.com (ie the Tribe) since their website is well organized and easy to navigate. The columnists outside of Morrissey kinda suck (especially you know who), but that's not why I go there anyways. If I want opiniated stuff, well, I come here.

Almost looked as though it was in his hip or his ribcage.

...so who's skipping work/class/school to watch opening day tommorrow? I'll definately be tuned in. :D

I can understand WHY most people think Lee will regress some, however I don't quite understand why many predict it will hurt this team. Personally, I'd expect his BA to dip a bit (300-310 range), but it was obvious he made an adjustmetn thus it is unlikely he'd revert back to his career norms. With this lineup, I actually think his production totals will INCREASE from last year. I think you VASTLY underestimate the upgrade Pierre provides over Patterson's last year's performance. Corey was an offensive black hole, who was a pretty poor baserunner to boot. Maybe Pierre will never be what he once was, but I don't think this team needs him to be to show significant improvement. Last year this team had the WORST 1-2 combination in all of baseball. Even if Pierr gets on at a .326 clip its 60 to 70 points better then Corey. That's HUGE!!!! That's why I don't understand how you and the experts can underscore this improvement. It's irrelevant whether or not Pierre regressed some last year. The fact is he's GUARANTEED to be better than Patterson. A lot better.

so you're saying that group A (jones, pierre, eyre, howry, rusch and marshall) are not only as good as group B (burnitz, corey, remlinger, hawkins, prior and wood), but are SEVEN WINS BETTER? now who's being ridiculous? XZero did a superb job of rating the upgrades, but this is how I'd rate this team in comparison to last year's team. Pierre - Huge upgrade over Patterson Murton - Huge upgrade over LFers from last year Jones - About the same (albeit in different areas) as Burny Lee - Slight regression. He DID fix a hole in his swing, therefore I'm not expecting it to be sifnificant. Aram - About the same as last year, maybe a little better. An entire year of his production should help immmensely. Barrett - Same as last year. Cedeno - I expect an improvement over Neifi, although this is far from certain. For arguments sake I'll say he'll give equal offensive production (which shouldn't be hard to do) 2B - It all depends on who gets the most playing time. However I'd think it would be comparabel to last year's production. On the overall for offensive production, we've got roughly 4 washes, 1 slight regression (more BA than anything else), one slight improvement (give more ARam), and huge two upgrades. More importantly, we FINALLY have guys who are capable of scoring runs for our big boppers. This unit pry won't be in the top 4 in RS in the NL, but they should score considerably more than last year. Thus this year's offensive team should be much improved. I'd expect this lineup to be worth at least an exta 5 wins. Dempster - Might not have quite the season of last year, but I don't think his performance was a fluke. Should be about the same with maybe a slight regression. Eyre - Should be a huge upgrade over last year's performers Howry - Another upgrade over last year. Rest of pen - I think they'll be better as well but I'll be conservative and say a wash. Although the bullpen is often the biggest crapshoot in all of sports, I can't imagine the pen being as bad as it was last year. It looks as though we'll finally have some competent setup men capable of getting the games to Dempster. This should be worth at least 3-4 games (and that's being conservative with all the games they blew for us last year) and possibly more depending on the rest of the pen. Zambrano - I expect a slight improvement over last year. Won't have the uncharcteristic meltdowns he experienced last season. With an improved offesne/bullpen he'll win 20 games. Rusch - I think he'll be competent, but if anyone played out of his mind last year it was him. I expect a moderate regression. Maddux - Supposedly he's in better shape, but I'm not expecting that to have a lot of bearing on his performance. He should be about the same as he was last year. Marshall - I think he'll be better than Mitre and company. But for argument's sake I'll say a wash. Jerome/Guzman - One of these guys will emerge for good and give us what Jerome gave us last year. Assuming Prior and Wood make absolutely ZERO starts this year, I think the staff will at least be pretty comparable to what we got in their absense last year. Prior's loss would be huge, but I don't think Wood's loss would hurt us all that much (I don't think he's pitched all that well since the 2003 playoffs). For now, I'll assume the loss of these two (mainly Prior) will account for an 8 game loss (could be more could be less). Adding up the extra wins/losses, and this year's team would figure to be about a wash with last year's team with Prior and Wood absent (and I'm being conservatively pessimistic). Being estimations aren't perfect, I'll say the margin of error is a +- 4 games, which would put the win total between 75 and 83 wins. Although you may disagree with what I have above I don't think it can be labeled ridiculous. If anything, I think I was fairly conservative.